Cover for the book “The first actress“ which shows the actress Sarah Bernhardt in a portrait by Georges Clairin from 1876. Bernhardt is lounging in a fabulous white dress, gazing directly at the viewer.

Reading “The First Actress” by @cwgortner.bsky.social - and learning that Sarah Bernhardt was a heck of a woman! #BookSky #reading 📚

2/2 @edelsemple.bsky.social, and @emilyrowe1.bsky.social. A wide array of performance styles and media from the US, UK and beyond. If you'd like to contribute a performance review for @shaxbull.bsky.social, email me at SBPerformance@marybaldwin.edu or reply/DM here - I'd love to hear from you 🙂

A schedule for the Irish Renaissance Seminar in the University of Galway, November 2025.

Today the University of Galway is hosting the Irish Renaissance Seminar. The theme of this meeting is #earlymodern books 📚 #IrishRenSeminar #renaissance

Cover of the novel “The Darkening Globe” showing a globe in the centre, a lit candlestick on either side, and in the four corners are a ship, mermaid, cockatrice, and bear rampant.

Just finished @naomikelsey.bsky.social The Darkening Globe and liked it very much. Lots to engage the imagination; a sort of Renaissance gothic tale, centred on two women, seafaring, intrigue, and even a Frost Fair on the frozen Thames.

I had Cheerios for the first time ever recently and thought “So this this is why @merrymacsanctuary.bsky.social uses them as treats!”

Cover of the book American Wife, showing a woman on a bicycle, looking back over her shoulder. A house and field are in the background.

Just finished reading @csittenfeld.bsky.social American Wife (which I enjoyed, but also had to shout at - the husband character mainly) The novel “Rodham” is still my favourite by this author.

🚨 Job alert 🚨 NorseMap is recruiting for a new team member: a 3-year postdoctoral researcher with a background in Politics OR Old Norse Viking Studies to lead the 'Politics & Identity' strand of the project. Come and work with us at UCC!

my.corehr.com/pls/uccrecru...

Research Vacancies | University College Cork Learn, Study and Research in UCC, Ireland's first 5 star university. Our tradition of independent thinking will prepare you for the world and the workplace in a vibrant, modern, green campus.

A reminder that there are still a few days left to apply for this funded PhD, working on literary and cultural reception of the Vikings. University fees and a budget for conference attendance included in addition to the stipend: it's a great opportunity for someone! www.ucc.ie/en/hr/vacanc...

Large skeletons in a Halloween parade in Cork city.

A Halloween float of an ornate giant demonic head, with brains popping out of the top.

A Halloween parade float of large and s white skeletons in twisted poses.

The skeletal head of the Dragon of Shandon, lit up internally, the centrepiece of this Halloween parade in Cork city.

The Dragon of Shandon #Halloween parade in Cork city, #Ireland was great fun! Well done to all the makers and performers!
#Cork #CorkCity #Halloween2025

Just so good

The cover of “The death of shame” showing a snake wrapped around an apple. The colours of the cover are silver, gold, and dark purple. The text also states that this is the final Raven and Fisher mystery.

The cover for the book “The last word” shows an isolated cottage against a beautiful golden sunset. There is an open gate leading to an old laneway, surrounded by heathers, scrub, and a few trees. The tagline says: words can be dangerous sometimes they kill.

Finished The Death of Shame @ambroseparry.bsky.social (& recommend the series if Edinburgh gothic-y detective sounds appealing!) and starting The Last Word @ellygriffiths.bsky.social (another series I can’t get enough of!)

The cover of the audiobook for Yarros’ FOURTH WING. The tagline reads “Fly… or die” The golden cover includes line drawings of clouds and dragons.

After seeing it everywhere and waiting months to borrow it from the library, I’m starting to read Fourth Wing by @rebeccayarros.bsky.social 📚 💙

A red and black Dalek in a hallway

Saw a Dalek in Bradford and after years of watching #DoctorWho meant that it was cool but also properly creepy!

If you, or anyone you know, would be willing to provide a 1,000-1,500 word review for Shakespeare Bulletin of Born With Teeth at Wyndham's Theatre, and you're available to attend the matinee performance on Wed 16 October (tomorrow), then please reply/DM here! 🙂

Poster for the film Hamnet

Thanks for the shoutout @emer.bsky.social - I know you and I would love to write about #Hamnet #Shakespeare #biofiction

if anyone is looking to commission writing on chloé zhao’s hamnet over the next few months:
💀 @edelsemple.bsky.social is the undisputed queen of shakespeare biofiction studies
💀 i myself specialise in irish shakespeares (especially actors), and celebrity casting.

let us write/give talks for u!

Cover of audiobook for MURDER IN BLOOM, part of The Gardener Mysteries series, by Rosie Sandler. The cover seems to be lined by grass, and in the centre is the book title and a cartoonish red lily in a broken pot, with blood along the pot’s crack.

Reading last in a mystery series for a bit of cosy crime - Murder in Bloom by Rosie Sandler
#BookSky #AmReading📚 💙

Reading The Impossible Fortune, @richardosman1.bsky.social latest, because I can’t get enough of the Thursday Murder Club 📚 💙 #BookSky

A one-eyed tabby cat sits at the door of a cat-tree box, with her white paws on the threshold.

Anita looks like she’s about to deliver the #Caturday main evening news. #cats

The audiobook cover of the book The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths, which is read by Nina Wadia. The tagline, in small font, says “Inventing crime stories can get you killed”. The cover image shows Brighton Pier shrouded in fog, under a moody grey sky, and a beach chair sat on a stony shore.

The Postscript Murders, part of the DS Harbinder Kaur series, which came recommended - by detective fiction expert @mary1010.bsky.social - and I’ve the next book lined up already!
#Booksky 📚 💙 #crimefiction

The three witches from Orson Welles 1948 adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

Post one of the most haunting shots in movie history from a film made before the year 2000

Early modern autofiction?

'This glamorous Life writing began early. Weeks before Marlowe’s untimely and violent death, a shady intelligencer called Richard Baines had drafted the outline of the playwright’s afterlife'

Emma Smith: Our ideas of Christopher Marlowe

We're hiring! It's a job that asks *a lot* of you, I won't lie. But it's a department with solid, brilliant , resilient colleagues who try to fight the good fights. And we're unionized (APSCUF). West Chester University, Tenure-Track Asst Prof Brit Lit, Early Modern thru 18th Century

😆👏👏👏

The lilac cover to Juno Dawson’s book Human Rites, with the tagline “There’ll be the devil to pay”.

The black, white, and gold cover to R F Kuang’s book Katabasis. The tagline reads “To hell with love”.

Just finished Human Rites by @junodawson.bsky.social and started Katabasis by R.F. Kuang. And look at the very cool book covers! 📚 💙

The 17th-century woman who wrote about surviving domestic abuse In the 17th century, Anne Wentworth spoke out against her abusive husband and the religious institution that protected him.

Women have been speaking out about abuse for centuries! I wrote about Anne Wentworth, a 17th-century survivor of domestic abuse, for @theconversation.com #earlymodern

Richard Burbage: the Elizabethan De Niro to Shakespeare’s Scorsese Inhabiting some of Shakespeare’s most famous characters, this Elizabethan actor deserves some proper recognition for inspiring the Bard.

If you're interested in learning more about Richard Burbage's impact on Shakespeare, you might enjoy the piece I've just written for The Conversation @uk.theconversation.com - theconversation.com/richard-burb...

Speeding through the third book in @junodawson.bsky.social superb series “Her Majesty’s Coven” - so good I can’t get enough of it &don’t want it to end! #BookSky 📚 💙 Bonus - audiobook is read by @nicolacoughlanbr.bsky.social!

A leaflet for the 2025 Meath Film Festival, in Ireland, in an auditorium before a screen.

Marionettes of William Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw stand on a stage beside the title of the film “SHAKES versus SHAV”. The puppets are voiced by Colm Meaney and Derek Jacobi.

Today’s movie viewing was “Shakes versus Shav”, an Irish-made short film where #Shakespeare & #GBShaw, in puppet-form, square up to one another to debate the quality of their art and their legacies! #biofiction

Feel extremely lucky to work with the class act, poetic genius, and all round legend that is @lizquirke.bsky.social. Read her new essay in @stingingfly.bsky.social, it's amazing!!

stingingfly.org/2025/09/09/t...