Ann Kennedy Smith

Sequel to a Reminiscence The archive of enigmatic 19th-century writer Amy Levy has a new home at Cambridge University Library

Today on #IWD we honour Amy Levy, Jewish poet, novelist, essayist, and Cambridge Alumna.

🔎Levy's Archive at the UL: https://loom.ly/RHh3bbc

With thanks to @thefnl.bsky.social, Arts Council England, Rothschild Foundation, T. S. Eliot Foundation.

The arms of the 3rd Duke of Marlborough (d. 1758), on a volume containing three works by the Sienese writer Ventura Falconetti, a member of the city’s Accademia dei Travagliati. All three were printed at Bologna in 1563. Now @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Rel.d.56.3.

How A Hard Day’s Night ripped up the pop movie rulebook Podcast Episode · Word In Your Ear · 6 March · 44m

Been talking about the joy of the first Beatles film 🎥 A Hard Day’s Night- subject of my new book on The Word… podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/h...

*to... I'll give your campaign a mention this weekend. Also, the biographer Frances Wilson is a RW fan, so might lend her support.

Let’s get a blue plaque for Rebecca West. (Why isn’t there one already?)

Have said this before in other forms, but will reiterate it here: if you're doing long-form writing of any sort, reading the words aloud into a microphone is a completely unparalleled cheat code. It's free, easy, and so effective it feels like it shouldn't be allowed. I do it in a few stages...

Would be very interested yo hear more, Deborah. Thinking of featuring The Fountain Overflows (1957) in my mid-century book club on Substack.

Hello Bluesky! I am looking for anyone who cares about/writes about/thinks about Rebecca West.

I've been on a 10 year mission to get her a blue plaque in London and am finally allowed to re-apply after it was last turned down.

I'd welcome help building a strong application.

Thank you 💙🙏

The cult of Holbein; the uncertain future of reading; dreaming of Cairo; how the Bible came to be; an Orwellian dilemma – and much more.

The new TLS is out now: www.the-tls.com/issues/curr...

The Power of Light | What's On | The Dock The Dock is Leitrim’s flagship arts centre, housed in a landmark, riverside venue in Carrick-on-Shannon, Ireland.

Also at The Dock: on Friday March 27th, a celebration of John McGahern, on the 20th anniversary of his death. @mylesdungan.bsky.social, Jane Brennan and I will be discussing his work with Vincent Woods. Tickets: www.thedock.ie/whats-on/the...

(More McGahern news soon... @faberbooks.bsky.social)

Definitely! We need more small nonfiction books, nonfic chapbooks, etc. I've got piles of @uminnpress.bsky.social's Forerunners series because they're short, provocative, & inexpensive. And @punctumbooks.bsky.social's Dead Letter Office imprint rocks. More of this, please!

Book covers : Late Heaney by Nicholas Allen The Spirit Level by Seamus Heaney

You know that thing where you start reading the guide book and you then realise you'd better visit the place.

Voices will always resonate more loudly than “men’s great cannons” - the words of Anna Trapnel, which gave me the title of my book and remain truer than ever

All these non-fiction authors appearing on podcasts that cannibalise the market for their books... And all for publicity and 'profile-building'. Heard that one before? Who else thinks podcasts should #paytheguest?

Book cover of Urban Plants by Trevor Dines

I'm made happy by all the excellent, slightly abstruse words in Urban Plants by @trevorthebotanist.bsky.social. Here's one: endozoochory (seed dispersal in animal poop). But my favourite so far is BATOLOGIST: one who studies BRAMBLES. Thanks, Trevor, for brightening this rainy day 😊
#urbanplants

Salford's Shelagh Delaney outside Wyndham's Theatre, London, where her play 'A Taste of Honey' is running, in 1959. Photo by Howell Evans.

Hand-coloured illustration of a Lizard orchid.

Indignant looking Lizard orchid flowers from volume one of Sowerby’s ‘Botany’ (1790). CCC.47.54 @theulspeccoll.bsky.social @theul.bsky.social

Mostly hardbacks, preferably all the same size.

Elijah Furnish-John; David Furnish; Elton John; Zachary Furnish-John ('Elijah, David, Elton and Zachary') - National Portrait Gallery by Catherine Opie unique pigment print 2025

Not overly interested in Elton John and his family, but have greatly enjoyed enlarging the photo on the National Portrait Gallery website to see how many of his books I can identify.

Also trying to work out the filing system.

Always a pleasure to hear @dedalusdenaries.bsky.social speak about his writing. So thoughtful and fluent and rich in consideration.

Here he is in conversation with John Brannigan at the launch of Late Heaney @hodgesfiggis.bsky.social this evening.

Jane Harrison with Ann Kennedy Smith - The Virginia Woolf Podcast This podcast is all about the wonderful Jane Harrison, the inimitable classicist who was a significant influence on Virginia Woolf. To discuss Jane's life and legacy we have Ann Kennedy Smith. An...

In case anyone needs more Jane Harrison in their lives.

The moon over Balbriggan harbour and lighthouse.

Photo taken while waiting on the train to Dublin in Balbriggan station. The moon over Balbriggan harbour and lighthouse. Photo doesn’t do it justice but it was just gorgeous

'Evening, Killarney.' (1941) Speaking to an art critic in the 1930s, Paul Henry said: 'What always strikes me about the Irish landscape is its otherworldliness. There's an air of mystery about it ... you feel that anything may happen round the corner.'

What do you do with eight cases of Baskerville font punches?!
Have lots of digital letter fun of course!
There's even RTI and 3D Models to play with ...
cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/...

Ha! The original Lancet article on the dangers of reading in bed is here: doi.org/10.1016/S014...

Current exhibition | LSE Library Find out about our current exhibition drawing on themes within our collections.

NEW EXHIBITION NOW OPEN ✨
The Women’s Library at 100: Celebrating a Century of Collections.
Join us Thu 12 March to celebrate - meet the curators alongside colleagues from other archives including @nationalarchives.gov.uk.web.brid.gy @thelondonarchives.bsky.social
www.lse.ac.uk/library/twl100

Mad, The Beano, Victor, Wizard, The Buster Book Of Spooky Stories but, most importantly, the Coronet Peanuts books and Raymond Briggs’ Fungus The Bogeyman. All were written by men (occasionally women) who’d happily employ words like “engender” and “absolve” that I’d have to look up and learn. 1/2

The National Year of Reading celebrates the ‘joy’ of books. But let’s not forget they can also be deeply troubling, too | Charlotte Higgins Encounters with great art can be absorbing, unsettling and even painful. How has this been tamed into ‘reading for pleasure’, asks Charlotte Higgins, the Guardian’s chief culture writer

Reading for pleasure? Reading for survival. Reading for the human condition. Reading for thinking.

Great piece by Charlotte Higgins & I can't think of a time when I haven't wanted to the world to just stop and read.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A reminder of how remarkable and resilient the people and culture of Iran have always been…