Nasim Marie Jafry

Yann Andrea Steiner by Marguerite Duras

This book! I read Simone de Beauvoir’s THE IMAGE OF HER in one sitting. Absolutely phenomenal. Translated beautifully by @lauren_elkin_
Imagine some of the psychological and linguistic slippages of Virginia Woolf with the acuity of de Beauvoir as she describes the inner workings of a bourgeois (1)

Zoë Wicomb, the South African-Scottish writer who told powerful stories about belonging A guide to the work of an acclaimed writer who represented the marginalised in society.

Good piece here about Zoë Wicomb, who died earlier this week, by Derek Attridge. She was brilliant in so many ways. 💔💔

So, John and I worked on this book forever and ever. Calling it a labor of love is a bit cliché. A labor of obsession? Of adoration? The Penguin Book of the International Short Story comes out on April 7, 2026 (from @penguinpress.bsky.social, of course). Just check out the stories in the book . . .

Tulips in October

Made me guffaw too.

This made me guffaw

Moth on other side of window, I love how they stay there for hours, so still. Feather in rain.

Sunset

Autumn pink

Title page of a collection of animal stories by Henry Williamson: TARKA THE OTTER, SALAR THE SALMON, THE EPIC OF BROCK THE BADGER, CHAKCHEK THE PEREGRINE.

Today I am mostly thinking about the popular inter-war literary genre 'animal stories written by fascists'. Join me.

'Every story has an expiration date. Like a jar of marmalade or a candle.' THE BOOK OF GOOSE, Yiyun Li.

Love novels that make me laugh out loud. Reading LESS by Andrew Sean Greer.

Autumn colour and a (very old) wooden cat.

sunrise, 7.30

Visiting cat

Autumn arrival alert: the Yellow-browed Warbler has landed! 😍

Once rare, these tiny travellers from Siberia are becoming a more familiar sight as they pass through each autumn.

Weighing just 6 grams, their sharp, distinctive call is usually the first clue they're around.

Have you seen one?

Nice essay in The Author from @rsmythfreelance.bsky.social on fiction within non-fiction. Love the first line. @societyofauthors.bsky.social

geranium petals

Rinsing plums and strawberries.

Kamila Shamsie in conversation with Sonia Faleiro. Am always fascinated by the not knowing when we write. #writing

Iggy I was looking for a trace, a whiff, a rumor—anything that would bring alive the greatest guitarist you’d never heard about.

‘I was looking for a trace, a whiff, a rumor—anything that would bring alive the greatest guitarist you’d never heard about.’ @osmansamiuddin.bsky.social writes, brilliantly, in Guernica about chasing a forgotten musical legend from Karachi. I’m proud to have edited it.

www.guernicamag.com/iggy/

She Won the Booker Prize. Then She Disappeared for 20 Years.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/b...

Sunflowers

Writers Unbound As another literary festival season draws to a close, a writers’ group is highlighting the connections between publishing, the fossil fuel industry, and the genocide in Gaza.

I’ve written a long read for @tribunemagazine.bsky.social about happened with Baillie Gifford, @fossilfreebooks.org and all the festivals. A lot of fake news circulated at the time so, whatever side you came down on, I’d be grateful if you read and shared it. tribunemag.co.uk/2025/09/writ...

You've inspired me to go back. I always write date of purchase inside my books - I've had my copy for 12 years!

Have been reading this off and on for years!

YouTube video by Antony Antoniou Property Expert Zorba the Greek - The Final Dance

Always makes me smile, final scene in Zorba the Greek.

youtu.be/BS0w3Wkric8?...

'I'll lose everything': Gaza student left out of Home Office plans issues urgent plea A PALESTINIAN student with a full scholarship to study in Scotland has warned that the UK Government must act within two weeks or he will “lose…

Ibrahim has a scholarship to study at Glasgow Uni - but he's trapped in Gaza and needs UK Government help to get out.

This week Labour told the media they would bring 40 Gaza students here. Ibrahim heard the news ... then learned he wasn't one of them.

www.thenational.scot/news/2542399...

Your article is excellent, Polly. If publishing industry truly wants to be inclusive, has to actually *understand* that many of us live w chronic disabling illness because we have no choice. And we may still write splendid books - albeit slowly, slowly - in spite of our lack of recovery/redemption.