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Alan Humm

@alanhumm.bsky.social

Editor of the online arts journal One Hand Clapping. Novelist, poet, teacher and father but not necessarily in that order. You can find my writing here: https://www.alanhummswriting.com/

725 Followers  |  1,152 Following  |  51 Posts  |  Joined: 10.01.2025  |  2.0553

Latest posts by alanhumm.bsky.social on Bluesky

Thank you.

15.11.2025 08:14 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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The Sparkler The Sparkler eBook : Humm, Alan: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

I don't know who decides the pricing but my novel is now extremely reasonable.

20.10.2025 08:03 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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Join a local event | Weekend of HOPE | 18-19 October On 18–19 Oct, thousands of us will take to the streets with one message:our communities are stronger when we stand together.
15.10.2025 07:52 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

She'll always be Annie Hall to me.

14.10.2025 14:55 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Child abuse!

14.10.2025 13:18 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Post you from a different era...

When your mum cuts your hair in the 1970s.

14.10.2025 11:10 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I do sometimes struggle with the passages where he seems to be working out his own private preoccupations. He seems to be prodding the reader in the chest. But, yes, I do appreciate them as well. His structure is woeful but his books are very much alive.

14.10.2025 07:41 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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My Father is Calling the Neighbours Names by Alan Humm β€œSo fresh, so frightening, so hauntingly familiar.” Fran Lock β€œIntense, intelligent and intoxicating.” Maggie Sawkins Described as a poet who "knows the ropes", Alan Humm takes us through a wide varie...

I did the launch for this on Saturday. A terrific night.

13.10.2025 14:22 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Tommy, what kind of writing are you looking for? I'm a published novelist and poet who could really do with an agent. In the UK, though.

08.10.2025 13:13 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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If you're thinking of coming to the launch this Saturday then could you possibly DM me? It means I can make sure that you're on the guest list. It's in the George on Wardour Street and it's from 7 til 10.30. Fran Lock will be reading too and Ian Montague and Linda Moylan will be providing the music.

07.10.2025 08:44 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Mr Iannuci. Apologies for message here. Would you be interested in reading a new published novel about the young Charles Dickens' love life? I've talked about it on BBC Radio and in The Dickens Museum and there's a review coming in The Dickensian. Now I'm stuck. (Struggling for reviews.)

06.10.2025 12:54 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Thank you.

30.09.2025 12:24 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Nice. Thanks.

24.09.2025 07:33 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

The cancellation is bad but I don't think that's the whole point. What's worse is the Kirk tribute, i.e. the replacement of free speech with naked ideology. Can what the Trump administration's doing be defined as fascism? Does it matter? It's a show of extreme authoritarianism. It's frightening.

19.09.2025 16:19 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Thank you.

19.09.2025 12:57 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Semi-advanced despair. Mustn't sound like Morrissey.

19.09.2025 10:38 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I'm in a state of advanced despair. I don't think posting on FB, for example, is the answer - gesture politics - but I feel useless and hopeless.

19.09.2025 10:36 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Don't get me wrong: I hate privatisation too. And the trains are shit. But my main worry is what happened on Saturday in London. And the co-opting of the British flag. And Reform. I think that's what we should all be concentrating on right now. Having said that, I don't really know where to start.

19.09.2025 10:32 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I've always greatly enjoyed your work, Robin, but I think that, as far as taking our country back is concerned, trains are currently the least of our worries.

19.09.2025 10:07 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 0
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I am genuinely delighted to announce that Fran Lock will be reading at the launch of my new poetry book on 11th October in The George on Wardour Street. She's one of my favourite poets and she reads up a storm. So absolutely no pressure then.

19.09.2025 07:45 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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My Father is Calling the Neighbours Names by Alan Humm β€œSo fresh, so frightening, so hauntingly familiar.” Fran Lock β€œIntense, intelligent and intoxicating.” Maggie Sawkins Described as a poet who "knows the ropes", Alan Humm takes us through a wide varie...

My new book of poems is out today. A huge thank you to all at Vine Leaves Press.

16.09.2025 08:09 β€” πŸ‘ 18    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Poetry evening - readings galore | The cornerHOUSE Ably chaired by Tim Harrison and featuring the cheese ( and vegan alternatives ) buffet.

I'm reading here tonight. Only Β£6. And there's cheese.

05.09.2025 08:45 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
A Conversation | Alan Humm's Writing

Here, for those of you that haven't seen it, is my conversation with Professor Robert Douglas-Fairhurst about my novel, The Sparkler.

29.08.2025 08:41 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Alan Humm, author, speaking about his novel, The Sparkler, A worldwide association of people who share an interest in the life and works of Charles Dickens

The link is very meat and potatoes but suffice to say that I'll be speaking at the Dickens Fellowship about my novel, The Sparkler, on Tuesday 30th September.

25.08.2025 09:11 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Woolwich The river, like stroked fur,is silver in the placeswhere the wind has touched it.Tate & Lyle;Canary Wharf;the Barrier – all are diminished by the river’s breadth.The world is largerthan you think. The...

Here's another poem from my new book of poetry, published by Vine Leaves Press on September 16th.

22.08.2025 09:33 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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Julia Copus: a poem Love, Like Water Tumbling from some far-flung cloud into your bathroom alone, to sleevea toe, five toes, a metatarsal arch,it does its best to feign indifferenceto the body, but will go on creeping up ...

Here, from the One Hand Clapping archive, is a lovely poem by Julia Copus.

20.08.2025 08:28 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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My Father is Calling the Neighbours Names by Alan Humm - Review Copy | BookSirens Join the review team for My Father is Calling the Neighbours Names. Read it for free before the rest of the world does. Share your honest review. Discover hundreds of other books in your favorit...

Here are advanced reader copies of my new book of poetry, My Father is Calling the Neighbours Names. The idea is that those who feel inclined can review it. I'd be grateful for any reviews, to be honest.

18.08.2025 08:11 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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In Memoriam For Thomas Morrow1 PegasusThe bike, the bike’s momentum and the roadare all one thing.It’s like manoeuvres:every gesturesomething that you’re swimming in.You don’t heft a gun;something within you does...

This poem's in my new collection. I wrote it for my grandfather.

12.08.2025 08:06 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Blackstar Yes, something happened on the day he died.Something was let out of the world, like airfrom a balloon. We cried, mostly, for us:for all those times the world was just an echo,dully reverberant, and he...

My new book of poems is called My Father is Calling the Neighbours Names and it's out on September 16th. I've nicked and adapted a Wallace Stevens title for a sequence called Thirteen Ways of Looking at David Bowie. Here's one of the poems.

05.08.2025 08:15 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Diary | Alan Humm's Writing

New writer's diary:

01.08.2025 07:55 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

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