He has many defenders, alas, who ignore or explain away his race-thinking. As with GB Shaw, it was especially extreme in the 1930s.

Berlin, Brussels, Paris & Zurich, see you soon!!

The fight is not over — we still have a lot of work to do. We’re coming to Europe to chat with you about this moment in Israel-Palestine and what we’re doing on the ground to fight for justice, equality and peace.

Registration links 🔗⬇️

Lovely to read this. 😎

What a great project.

Check out our new website!

(Here’s the page for my project: liminalwater.uni-graz.at/en/projects/... )

‘Give PhD archive attention it deserves,’ British Library urged Scholars criticise lack of progress on restoring repository of 600,000 PhD theses more than two years after it was felled by cyberattack

I am really disappointed that the new version of EThOS at the British Library (the service for getting PhD theses) will be metadata-only. I really think we should use such resources, even if they are not books. They are still contributions to knowledge.

www.timeshighereducation.com/news/give-ph...

Could Nazi cosplayer and all-round fascist Bovino be an antisemite? If only there had been some kind of sign.

Great you could get there OK. Weather looks extreme.

In amongst the daily whiplash of US events -

Anyone have a source for numbers detained / imprisoned so far - and numbers of people sent to another country?

Vote Mark P.

Mark (left) and Anna (right) in front of the Housmans bookshop, smiling widely.

I am so grateful that Mark Pendleton is running as the next UCU VP (Higher Education). He is a dedicated, strategic, kind, and level headed union organizer; brilliant historian; and a dear friend. He will make a terrific vicepresident; please vote for him, all.
ucucommons.org/about-mark/

Deadline is 6pm today!!

The Literary Encyclopedia Podcast, Episode One, De-cosifying Dickens An occasional podcast from the online Literary Encyclopedia (www.litencyc.com) a non-profit, containing more than ten thousand entries.

Great, innovative use of KC Works: academic podcasts. Just uploaded: The Literary Encyclopedia Podcast, Episode One, De-cosifying Dickens

works.hcommons.org/records/33yj...

The cover to Contemporary Fiction, Celebrity Culture, and the Market for Modernism: Fictions of Celebrity. It shows a stylised version of The Thinker statue.

More traditional but rigorous philosophical and close-reading approaches also, of course, welcome!

I second that!

The front cover for Douglas Coupland’s Literature and Art: The Extreme Present. It shows a silhouetted face with colored pixellated blocks in front

If you are considering writing and publishing a book on any aspect of contemporary writing: just a reminder that I am a series editor of the New Horizons in Contemporary Writing series at Bloomsbury. We'd love to have your submissions and books!

A bookshelf, with my book displayed!

Someone just sent me a picture of my book "Password" (a short foray into the philosophies and histories of passwords), in translation, in Lima!

Big congratulations to @ellenforget.bsky.social, who has just, I see, won a fellowship from SHARP (The Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing) for a project on “A History of Tactile Writing and Reading”!

The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care? The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity

I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...

This is how to convert from a for-profit Big Deal to an equitable, but professionalised, diamond OA system!

@theblochian.bsky.social and I dreamed of this scale when we launched @openlibhums.org Now, she has done it. Consortial funding, at scale.

Now over to the library community to support it.

It’s about time

Just finished writing a feature on Laurie Taylor @ 90 for a Sociological Review Magazine… what a life Laurie has led. Should be out in May. He is recording a new season of Thinking Allowed at the moment for BBC Radio 4. 28 years of putting socioligy on the airwaves. 👏👏👏

Black and white photograph of Israel Zangwill. He has wavy dark hair. He is wearing wire framed glasses sat on his nose. He is wearing a suit jacket and silk cravat tied at the neck.

#OnThisDay in 1864 Israel Zangwill was born.
A British author at the forefront of cultural Zionism during the 19th century, his work earned him the nickname the “Dickens of the Ghetto”.
Find out more about his life and work in our blog buff.ly/ByNZFQU
@parkesinstitute.bsky.social

It was great to co-host a conference on Zangwill which was published in European Judaism. He is resurgent today.

Sign the Petition Hold a Parliamentary Debate on Palantir’s Role in UK Defence, Security & Public Services

c.org/Zn2c8tjnVg

Image shows a jacket spread (front and back) for new book 'Vonnegut's War' by Susan Farrell. The front cover is a cartoonish image of a stickperson being beamed up by the icon of a UFO. This image is surrounded by icons of eyes. The back jacket contains endorsements from John Irving, Ken Kalfus and Suzanne McConnell.

Delighted to have a final jacket for @bloomsburylit.bsky.social 'Vonnegut's War'! A fetching £20/$27 jacketed hardback, it fuses biography with popular history & textual analysis, telling the story of the making of a modern classic and the writer that created it. www.bloomsbury.com/vonneguts-wa...

A last post #HMD2026

Thank you to the crowd who turned out on a dark cold January night to hear about the Kitchener camp rescue in 1939

What a warm, interesting, friendly set of people

It was nerve-wracking but I had a great evening with many thoughtful follow-ups.

Thanks so much Pinner shul🙏

Image shows the jacket proof for 'Black Feminist Theories: Transnational Approaches'. Front cover has a green background with multicolour leaves edging it and an illustration of a Black figure in profile, wearing colourful dress. Back cover copy reads: An innovative contribution to the field of Black Feminist Studies, this landmark collection brings together the most influential historical and contemporary thinkers in Black feminist theories across transnational contexts. Featuring ground-breaking new work alongside canonical essays from key thinkers, this book adopts a truly global approach to its subject. In doing so, it looks beyond North America to showcase a diverse range of continents and perspectives. The collection includes not only standard academic essays, but also vital statements, interviews, manifestoes, and creative work, which transmit and embody Black feminist thought. The book is broken up into five carefully curated sections: - Black Feminist Foundations - Statements and Manifestos - Cultures and Aesthetics - Bodies, Genders, and Sexualities - Black Feminist Futures Timely and important, this is an indispensable resource for students and scholars of Black Studies, Women & Gender Studies and Black Feminist Studies, as well as more generally to American Studies, African Studies, Caribbean Studies, and African Diaspora Studies. A number of endorsements are also included from Amina Mama, Rhoda Reddock, Barbara Smith, and Beverly Guy-Sheftall.

Also publishing in Aug (but you can order your paperback copy now): 'Black Feminist Theories', an amazing collection which brings together the most influential historical and contemporary thinkers across transnational contexts. Perfect for course use! www.bloomsbury.com/black-femini...

Correction: BIAJS Book Prize call BIAJS Book Prize 2026 We are pleased to announce that the 2026 BIAJS Book Prize competition is now open. The book prize initiative was launched in 2018 to recognise and promote outstanding scholars…

🏆 The 2026 BIAJS Book Prize competition is now open!

We invite submissions focused on topics relating to the ancient and medieval periods for a prize of £1,000 to be announced at our July conference

See eligibility details and how to submit here: bajsbulletin.wpcomstaging.com/2026/01/26/c...

Deadline is 15 Feb for abstracts for the next NGG of JHSE conference!