Leanne

Reading for 🌹award nominations🌹?

We published eight short stories and seven poems in 2025, and we loved each and every one of them!

If any of these pieces spoke to you, moved you, made you feel feelings like they made us feel feelings, please consider nominating them!

🧵 of issue links below:

A medieval illustration of a hedgehog with grapes skewered on its spines

It was believed in medieval times that hedgehogs had spikes so they could roll over fruit to carry home to their children, which is not true but is a really cute idea

Not sure what the collective noun would be for a collection of Heaneys - a rake of Heaneys? #irishpoetry

#OnThisDay 100 years ago, The Plough and the Stars by Sean O'Casey premiered at the Abbey Theatre.

At its original production in February 1926, the audience rioted. Now regarded as a masterpiece, this provocative play is an essential part of our understanding of Irish history and Irish theatre.

Ich koude wynne a gold medal at the olympics yf ther was an olympic sport called worryinge about everyethinge all the tyme

Ian McKellen performs “The Strangers’ Case” speech from “Sir Thomas More” on Colbert.

Oh this is an amazing deal on a wonderful series

Voting NO on the DHS funding bill is the bare minimum.

Backing Kristi Noem’s impeachment is the bare minimum.

Holding law-breaking ICE agents legally accountable is the bare minimum.

ICE is beyond reform. Abolish it.

"Strawberry Thief" by William Morris, was created in 1883. The design was first printed that year and registered on March 12, 1883.

Love this moment 😍

S/D/Y Jan 3 – Brother, What is Your Name? by Leanna Howard – Haven Spec This is a beautifully told tale of a monk who goes looking for one thing and finds another. The prose is brilliant, without a wasted word, and the characters are compelling. The themes of feminine …

Day 3! I read Brother, What is Your Name by @leannehoward.bsky.social published in @havenspec.bsky.social . A beautiful tale of community, identity, and truth. Read my review here: mickstaniforth.wordpress.com/2026/01/03/s...

This is true and I was the only one on set excited about it (and playing the song on my phone to blank stares)

Go get her, Fraser!!! 😫

“Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery.” - Mansfield Park

Happy 250th birthday, Jane Austen!

The Great Defector Bell X1 · Blue Lights on the Runway · Song · 2009

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on #KEXP's #DriveTime

Bell X1:
🎵 The Great Defector

#BellX1

▶️ 🪄 Automagic 🔊 show 📻 playlist on Spotify

▶️ Song on #Spotify:

Here’s to a great opening night to Caitríona McLaughlin and the brilliant company of The Playboy of the Western World at the @nationaltheatre.org.uk
Can’t wait to see you all later

I hope someone draws this wonderful story about Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and the power of the arts to help us see things differently, to the attention of our Education Secretary. Do read it, it will lift your spirits.

The Pillsbury Dough Boy float at the Macy's Parade

He is risen

A cropped screenshot from a Canadian government website with the prompt "What's your occupation?" The answer "Writer" has been provided, generating the red text error response "Please enter a valid occupation."

Almost a year now since I received this absolutely classic burn from the Canadian government.

A photo of the Japanese pond and a huge maple tree in orange color at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The tree is surrounded by smaller trees in other colors of red, yellow and green.

Fall foliage on a blustery day at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.

[Exit Clown.]

film bros, star wars bros and reylos are all in agreement on twitter right now and that makes me genuinely laugh

the funniest part is the implication that adam also hates tros, yes king

‘Days since I’ve moved on from Star Wars’ resets to 0

Circular stained glass artwork featuring two mice facing each other holding acorn cups while resting against tree roots under a cresent moon, all against a golden background

English stained glass artist Tamsin Abbott, who is inspired by folklore and nature #WomensArt

Painting of a giant raven emerging from the mist, claws raised above a candle held by a girl, standing alone in the meadow. The raven's eyes glow the same orange as the flame, a gathering of grey clouds parting to make way for a full moon.

It's time for #Drawtober ! Here's my interpretation of 'Candlelit Messenger' 🕯️

#darkart #illustration #folklore

Image shows Saleha Chowdhury's art of a dark figure over a red background, their organs made up of strange animals. Superimposed on the image is an excerpt from issue twenty of Haven Spec Magazine, published July 2025. Author: Leanne Howard Title: Brother, What Is Your Name? Excerpt: The publican greets me warmly; perhaps I am the first monk he's seen in a long time. But I decline his offer of a brew. I'm sure it's come from up there, from the mountain, from the Sisterhood. People say their beer makes princes cry. People say their beer can do a lot of things.

👀Fiction Highlight👀

ICYMI, the short story "Brother, What Is Your Name?" by @leannehoward.bsky.social is free to read!

A sisterhood of brewers and their magic beer await you on the mountaintop. Find yourself again with every drop you drink!

Story:
buff.ly/SBhFiBf

Issue:
buff.ly/sTRxEtv

"How Are the Very Rich Feeling About New York’s Next Mayor?"

A Dramatic Reading of The Recent New York Times Dispatch from the Hamptons.

Presented by The Gilded Age's Morgan Spector.

In Which Nadine Amuses a Dragon and Makes Autumn Happen

Tell Congress to #FundLibraries The American Library Association is leading the charge for libraries. Librarians, information professionals, and everyone who loves them must tell their members of Congress to support full federal…

Tell Congress to #FundLibraries | ALA www.ala.org/advocacy/fun...