Briony Neilson

b&w photo of a staircase landing with a woman in dark dress looking directly at the camera and carrying a large sack on her shoulder

close-up of the same photo of the woman hauling the large sack

Ambiguous facial expression and direct gaze of this woman hauling a large sack of coal up to the 5th floor of a Parisian apartment building in 1917 (Gallica, BnF) 🗃️

b&w photo of a staircase landing with a woman in dark dress looking directly at the camera and carrying a large sack on her shoulder

close-up of the same photo of the woman hauling the large sack

Ambiguous facial expression and direct gaze of this woman hauling a large sack of coal up to the 5th floor of a Parisian apartment building in 1917 (Gallica, BnF) 🗃️

Yes, agreed. Another that comes to mind is Love is the Devil (about Francis Bacon – modern artist not philosopher – though I saw it a million years ago and maybe I wouldn't think so now). Much more recently the recent biopic about Franz Fanon (boldly titled 'Fanon') was interesting.

Do literary biopics ever really hit the mark though? Maybe I'm overlooking one/some...?

(Franck Dubosc would sort of be ideal)

Let the antiquarians have their fun

Adelaide University would cancel the UN if they could

Grim indeed. (More commonly hair/blood from animals, I’m assuming?)

Roughly around what time were they there, do you remember?

^attempted murder

On the same poignant theme, this snippet from a Sydney newspaper in 1832 reports a prisoner on Norfolk Island facing execution for murder was claiming that the governor once ordered the heads of 400 prisoners be shaved so as to use the hair to bind the lime mortar in buildings in the penal colony 🗃️

colour photograph of a sandstone building with lawns in front and a low sign reading 'Parramatta Female Factory' in the foreground

TIL that hair shaved from the heads of convict women incarcerated at the Parramatta Female Factory in the 19th century was used as a binding agent in the mortar in the building's stonework. Convicts often had to build their own prisons, but the corporeal aspect of this is particularly poignant.

A woman tends the chickens in a coop at the same Paris address (the headquarters of the Rol photojournalism agency) in 1920 (Gallica, BnF) 🗃️

b&w photo of a chicken coop on a balcony with a woman bending into the coop and a small dog leaping up to it

Tending a chicken coop on a balcony high up on a Parisian building in the 9th arrondissement in 1917 (@gallicabnf.bsky.social, @labnf.bsky.social) 🗃️

Callan Park for our Community Sign our petition: Protect Callan Park from privatisation and secure its future for community use

The historic and green space of Sydney's Callan Park is (yet again) under threat. The NSW Labor Government is seeking to privatise this jewel of public land. Sign the petition to oppose the proposal here: www.kobishetty.org.au/callan-park-...

A drawing in pen and black ink, gray wash, gouache, and watercolour of a fulgoroid (top) and a bumble bee (bottom)

This drawing on a small piece of paper of a bumble bee and a planthopper – the work of an unknown Netherlandish artist, probably from the 17th century (The Met)

b&w photo shows a man in a light-coloured shirt and trousers and hat standing next to a wooden cart on a street. A couple of pedestrians are behind him walking away from the camera.

A man sells ice-cream from a wooden cart on the streets of Havana, Cuba, c.1900 (Detroit Publishing Company photograph collection, US Library of Congress)

Note the ice-cream glasses hanging from the cart – fancy!

Fixed-term (employment through to end of 2030), full-time, teaching-focused position as Lecturer in French available at the University of Queensland. Applications close 15 March 2026.

1 year editorial cadetship Job at The Conversation AU/NZ in Melbourne, Australia Apply for THE CONVERSATION AU/NZ 1 year editorial cadetship Job in Melbourne, Australia with Compensation: $68,000

The Conversation is hiring two cadet journalists, send this on to all the young journos and new grads jobs.theconversation.com/jobs/5026001...

Photo of a sculpture made out of wire twisted into the shape of a fish

'Fish' wire sculpture by Alexander Calder, 1929 (brass wire, Calder Foundation)

An ID card for René Faralicq, commissaire de police with his photo on the right hand side.

book cover for a collection of poems 'L’Offrande à Béatrice' by René Faralicq

"P" is for "poet" and/or "police".
Meet René Faralicq, French police commissioner who not only presided over the Special Brigade in the interwar years and published several crime-related books, but was also a celebrated poet and a big fan of Dante 🕵️✍️🗃️

Very unexpected and welcome news!

QUT will become the new custodian of Meanjin, Australia's most eminent literary journal, bringing the publication back to Brisbane.

www.qut.edu.au/about/meanjin

Shame

Grokipedia vo.2 Family Origins and Childhood Julia Carrie Wong was born to a Chinese immigrant father and a white Jewish mother, resulting in her biracial Chinese-Jewish heritage and brown skin tone. 181

is it normal for encyclopedias to include “skin tone” or just when they’re generated by a white nationalist’s ai?

I'm looking for a Paris apartment to rent for 3-4 weeks in late March - early April (preferably 2 bedrooms, although a bedroom plus a sofa bed would work). Two adults and a kid. Does anyone have any leads? Thanks!

Not to make light of the alarming situation but this language does make it sound like Macron’s referring to teams hopping on buses to take part in an inter-school sports carnival

You can contribute to the fundraiser to support Randa Abdel-Fattah's legal fees here

From the Adelaide Festival Board, in relation to what it did to Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah

Adelaide Festival reverses decision on Writers’ Week exclusion, invites Dr Abdel-Fattah to speak in 2027 Image credit: Macquarie University The Adelaide Festival Corporation has issued a further statement addressing the fallout surrounding Adelaide Writers’ Week, confirming a reversal of its earlier posi...

"While Adelaide Writers’ Week will not proceed in 2026, Dr Abdel-Fattah has been invited to speak at the next festival in 2027." What a farce.

A Day with David Bowie: how a visit to a psychiatric clinic changed him – and his music In 1994 the singer and Brian Eno spent a day with ‘outsider’ artists. Intimate photographs, showing in Australia for the first time, reveal the effect it had

In 1994 David Bowie and Brian Eno spent a day with ‘outsider’ artists at Maria Gugging psychiatric clinic on the outskirts of Vienna. Photos, currently on show in Western Australia, reveal the effect the experience had on Bowie.