@FrancesC.bsky.social

🥁🥁🥁Author Announcement!🥁🥁🥁

We are delighted to present a panel of debut authors at #baytales26 on Sat 28 Feb

Woohoo for Rebecca Philipson, Tanya Sweeney & @Frances Crawford!

Tickets available now: baytales.com/shop-2/

Hanging out with the talented kids 😁

Glasgow Argyle street with ash tree growing from pavement

#uktreeoftheyear 2025. Well done to the Glasgow ash. A true survivor 👏

suicide prevention poster with uk phone number 116 123

Buzzin!

Frances Crawford with poster and copies of book

Frances at book signing table

Thank you @bloodyscotland.bsky.social I had a fantastic day signing advance copies of #ABadBadPlace. I was so excited I misspelled many names. Sorry if it was you (especially Bill, who I named Bull 🙄)

I just love the sound of @franapunk.bsky.social A Bad, Bad Place coming from @bantambooksuk.bsky.social @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social in February.
My huge thanks to Becky Short for a surprise copy 💙📚

www.penguin.co.uk/books/471170...

What a stoater! Cover reveal for A BAD BAD PLACE. @transworldbooks.bsky.social

Frances Crawford at Harrogate wearing T-shirt for book A Bad Bad Place

Frances punting her novel at author lunch. Wearing T-shirt for A Bad Bad Place

My first #theakstoncrime
weekend. Exciting and nerve wracking! Wore my own T-shirt because I have no shame

RSL Scriptorium Awards - Royal Society of Literature Ten writer residencies presented to professionally active writers in need of a place to write.The 2025 Prize This year marks the inaugural presentation of the RSL Scriptorium Awards, inviting applicat...

An amazing opportunity for 10 writers to spend up to a month for free at seaside cottage to write.

All details in the link below.

Please share :)

Afro-Scottish Poetry Event 2025 A vibrant evening of poetry and music celebrating African, Scottish and multicultural voices through powerful live performances.

Afro-Scottish Poetry Event 2025
25 July, Glasgow. Tickets £0–£10

A multicultural evening of poetry, music, & storytelling that celebrates African & Scottish identities through powerful performances. Created & curated by Chisom Okoronkwo with U Belong Glasgow
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/afro-scott...

Iain Banks: A BBC Radio Collection Selected readings and full-cast dramatisations from across the literary and science fiction of Iain Banks Iain Banks, aka Iain M Banks, came to fame in 1984 with his transfixing debut The Wasp Factor...

Iain Banks: A BBC Radio Collection

New from Penguin: selected readings & full-cast dramatisations from across the literary & science fiction of Iain (& Iain M) Banks

🐝 The Wasp Factory
🚀 The State of the Art
📚 Piece
🎸 Espedair Street

www.penguin.co.uk/books/470032...

Photo of woman using a Potato vending machine in 1962

The 1960s were a special time.

Crime in the Spotlight, our support slot for new and emerging writers (sponsored by ‪@ouscotland.bsky.social)is now OPEN for submissions. More details and entry form here: bloodyscotland.com/take-part/#s...

News report - local campaign saves libraries from closure in Aberdeenshire

On ye go Aberdeenshire 💪📚

I would sell my soul for a truculent beagle

A big bang! Fabulous news. Congrats Maud 👏👏

Dr John Cooper Clarke in conversation Dr John Cooper Clarke in conversation

Dr John Cooper Clarke in conversation at Salford Lads Club in June ... Return to Beasley Street? louderthanwar.com/c/ via @louderthanwar

'Audible is set to offer "end-to-end" AI production technology - including translation and narration - for audiobooks.'

Or

'Translators, editors, actors, producers, studio managers, office managers, accountants, cleaners and other human staff LOSE WORK, MONEY AND SECURITY because of AI & Amazon'

A brilliant piece of poetry from Michael Rosen, clearly directed at Starmer and the current Labour Government.

Exciting!! Best of luck Jamie ☘️

Mental health week poster

1950s couple with vending machine labelled Mince and Tatties

Out for a lovely lunch

We're launching The Bee magazine today because the UK publishing and writing industries have a bit of a class problem.

Sceptre triumphs in four-way auction for 'distinctive and gripping' new biography of Muriel Spark Sceptre has triumphed in a four-way auction for Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark, James Bailey's biography of Muriel Spark. Editorial director Charlotte Humphery bought British Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from John Ash at CAA. Sceptre will publish the book in physical, e-book and audio formats in April 2026, to mark the 20th anniversary of Spark's death.

"As sly, nimble and elegant as Spark's own work, Like a Cat Loves a Bird is a thrilling new perspective on a remarkable life and career of one of Britain's greatest writers," the synopsis says. "From her childhood in Edinburgh to her final years in Tuscany - via South Africa, London, New York and Rome - it traces a light-footed journey around the world and through her strange and magnificent bibliography. It tells an irresistible story of transformation, wit and fierce determination and makes a passionate case for this vital modern artist." Humphery said: "As a keen reader, I thought I knew and admired Muriel Spark. But Like a Cat Loves a Bird has shown me how much more there is to understand and adore about this fierce, spiky and incomparable writer. I am obsessed and it is all thanks to James Bailey, who has written the kind of biography that I most love - one that is both deeply researched and knowledgeable but also vibrant, distinctive and gripping."

Bailey added: "For a long time, I've thought of Muriel Spark as modern literature's finest shapeshifter. Over the course of her 88 years, and in the 20 years since her death, she has remained elusive, contradictory and endlessly fascinating; just when you think you have the measure of her, she slips out of sight before reinventing herself anew. Getting to tell the story - or rather the many stories - of her life and work has been a writing experience like no other."

A photograph of Muriel Spark holding a black cat and smiling at the camera

The cat’s out of the bag! 🐈‍⬛

LIKE A CAT LOVES A BIRD, my weird, slippery biography of Muriel Spark, will be out in April next year.

A huge thank you to the team at @sceptrebooks.bsky.social for helping me bring it to life.

Please tell your libraries and favourite bookshops!

The Mo Siewcharran Prize this year is for non fiction. The prize is to help discover unpublished non-fiction writers from Black, Asian, mixed heritage and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Details in link.

Please Share :)

www.thefuturebookshelf.co.uk/landing-page...

Scotland's Next Generation Young Makars 2025 The poetry library seeks submissions for its young makars' mentoring scheme.

Our young makars' mentoring programme for poets living in Scotland aged 16 to 25 years is open for applications.

There is a £500 bursary for 3 sessions.

We welcome applications from poets working in Scottish Gaelic, Scots & the Spoken Word form.

www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/scotlands-ne...

Bloomsbury to publish 'living legend' Patti Smith's new memoir

Bloomsbury will publish Bread of Angels, Patti Smith’s new memoir, on 4th November 2025. 👇 #BookSky

90 Little Book Stops Penguin celebrates 90 years of reading moments with 90 Little Book Stops, honouring the significance of books in our local communities.

Penguin spreading access to books. Apply if your area needs a little Book Stop

www.penguin.co.uk/discover/cam...

Society of Authors protest at Meta's London HQ over 'theft' of books Yesterday, authors and publishing creatives gathered outside Meta's HQ at King's Cross in peaceful protest following revelations that pirated books have been used to train Meta’s LLM

👇
www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/article...