Andrew Thacker

Further to this @thetls.bsky.social essay about Una Marson's early work as a publisher, the full run of Marson's 1920s/1930s magazine, The Cosmopolitan, is now freely available on the Digital Library of the Caribbean (@dlocaribbean.bsky.social): www.dloc.com/AA00114844/0...

Tarot card image of the empress with a crown of stars. Text reads Weird Modernisms BAMS/ MSA 1- 4 July 2026 Loughborough University, UK

In 2026, the MSA Conference will look a bit different-- weird, even! That's because we're having a joint conference with BAMS @modernistudies.bsky.social in Loughborough, UK from July 1- 4, 2026. The CFP will be out soon! But in the meantime, please save the date.

Lagos and the Uncertain New Modernism of Teju Cole | Modernist Cultures This article offers an innovative account of the work of the Nigerian American writer, Teju Cole, and argues that his fiction demonstrates an ‘uncertain new’ modernism of the city. In particular, the ...

Very pleased to see my piece on Teju Cole published and available as open access for now.

www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/...

WeTransfer TOS says they can use all your uploaded content for genAI

Bye forever, WeTransfer.

Our latest cluster, "Hope Mirrlees's 'Paris: A Poem' @ 100", edited by Nell Wasserstrom and Rio Matchett, takes a long walk along the Seine.

Read more here: modernismmodernity.org/forums/mirrl...

A New Regulatory Framework for University Cuts

Superb piece from the ISRF on the Great University Crisis: all financial changes to Higher Ed should have to undergo an open and public Educational Impact Assesment. Great to see an actual new idea in what passes for the 'debate'. isrf.org/blog/a-new-r...

Balliol College (University of Oxford) and the Proceeds of Slavery: Project Report.

#highered #history

www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/sites/defaul...

Daniel Hannan day greetings to all those working in the higher education sector. www.reaction.life/p/britain-lo...

Just caught up with this fine summary of the total mess of UK universities today.

L’historien Pierre Nora est mort Historien, maître d’œuvre des « Lieux de mémoire », publiés en sept volumes à partir de 1984, le créateur de la revue « Le Débat » est mort le 2 juin, à l’âge de 93 ans.

We just lost an immense historian and editor: Pierre Nora.

www.lemonde.fr/disparitions...

Will the government’s immigration plans be good for our universities? The Immigration White Paper aims to reduce international student numbers. But universities need them. Can the circle be squared?

Britain’s universities train global leaders, generate billions in exports, & lead world class research.

The government’s immigration plans aim to cut international student numbers.

Stephen McNair asks: Isn’t it time that policies build on our strengths?

Translating Science in the 18th and 19th Centuries | Interdisciplinary This book explores the role of translation in shaping the knowledge-sharing processes that were and are seminal to scientific endeavour. It considers the

My latest book, Translating Science in the 18th and 19th centuries (co-edited with my dear friend Alison E. Martin), is now available in open access format at tinyurl.com/yy3wt4h7

A contributor has had to withdraw from something I'm editing, late in the day. I'm looking for a sprightly 10,000 book historical words on the broad theme of 'consumers/consumption' and the period 1450-1650 (not necessarily all of it).

“Even so, demand for humanities majors is on the rise, and with good reason. “At a conference last year, Robert Goldstein, the chief operating officer of BlackRock, the world’s biggest money manager, said the firm was adjusting its hiring strategy for recent grads. “We have more and more conviction that we need people who majored in history, in English, and things that have nothing to do with finance or technology,” Goldstein said. “This demand for liberal arts degrees is due in part to the rise of artificial intelligence, which drives the need for creative thinking and so-called soft skills.”

👀 www.cnbc.com/2025/05/16/c...

LAST CHANCE to sign up for this, on 23rd May! A hands-on study day in UCL special collections, exploring their most experimental magazines, from the Modernist avant-garde to the mimeo revolution.
ies.sas.ac.uk/events/magaz...

Listen, put down that copy of Hello! and take a trip through the wilder side of magazines. We'll be exploring the inky world of alternative publishing: poets, artists, innovators and visionaries. 23rd May in London - still places left and not much time to register. Please SHARE SHARE SHARE!

A graphic for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), showing a historical portrait of Marie Skłodowska-Curie overlaid with an image of four young researchers walking down a hallway. The European Commission logo is in the top left. Text reads: "Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions – €404.3 million to support postdoctoral researchers”

Choose Science. Choose Europe.

A new Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 call is now open.

With a budget of €404.3 million, it will support around 1,650 researchers from Europe and beyond.

Apply by 10 September → europa.eu/!fBTMgF

Bravo to this WWII veteran. He seemed very excited about smashing Fascism.

10/10, no notes.

How Irish booksellers feel about the arrival of Amazon.ie: ‘It’s a very real danger to the industry’ Bookshops offer something that an exclusively online retailer cannot, but they may need support to compete against a corporate giant

I spoke to some booksellers about the arrival of Amazon's Irish website and what it might mean for them:

"It’s not your job to be resilient, it’s your employer’s job to provide you with decent working conditions." Good piece from @cash4questions.bsky.social. I think a lot of people will find this helpful in current *waves hand*

Future of Coventry University 'uncertain', auditors say Independent auditors are questioning the university's

Universities' existential crisis latest: Coventry University lost £60m last year and its auditors now question its ability to continue in being. Stop this madness now. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

British Steel employs 3.6k people. Coventry Uni group, which auditors say may not survive, employs 7.7k. But there is an emergency debate in parliament for British Steel and nothing for the whole HE sector imploding

CFP: Special VPR Issue (Winter 2026) – RSVP Call for proposals for a special issue of VPR honoring the late Brian Maidment! Proposals due May 15, 2025 and will be published Winter 2026.

CFP: Essays in Honor of Brian Maidment (Proposals due May 15; Essays due Nov. 1). Guest editors Mary Elizabeth Leighton and Lisa Surridge invite proposals for a special issue of VPR. For full details, visit rs4vp.org/cfp-vpr-spec... @rs4vp.bsky.social

Portability within REF remains key to fairness Maria Delgado, Nandini Das, and Miles Padgett warn that separating research outputs from the researchers who created them in REF 2029 would undermine the integrity of the whole research environment

A good guide to the next great university scandal: they will be able to submit big groups of researchers to the 2029 Research Excellence Framework, get millions of your money, then sack all the staff and pocket their nice yearly income from you the taxpayer until c2036/37. wonkhe.com/blogs/portab...

There has been so much devastation, but for my communities this is especially devastating. I cannot overstate how much we owe to the Office of Digital Humanities & the incredible people who have worked there. The work won’t end, but it will be severely curtailed

🐦

You can now register for the Amy Lowell and Her Imagist Networks Symposium, taking place in London on Fri 23 May:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/amy-lowell...

Please share and promote to your modernist networks!

Bless u @verybadllama.bsky.social

Not one of these EOs listed in this letter is valid. Notably, no statutory language is listed. The President’s agenda is not a statutory reason for termination. It really is just straight up lying and people should start just suing the government in the Court of Claims.

If your NEH grant was rescinded, contact your representative and help @humanitiesall.bsky.social track grant terminations by using this form: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...