Dr Cathryn McWilliams

Samuel Taylor Coleridge wanted to ‘bid farewell’ to writing at 22, letter reveals Young poet details low mood and disappointment in love in 1795 letter, written not long before he met Wordsworth

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

Woman’s memoirs give fascinating insight into life in 17th-century northern England Newly reunited manuscripts by Alice Thornton show how she navigated personal crises during tumultuous events such as the civil war

Lovely to see Alice Thornton and @cordeliabeattie.bsky.social getting some love in the press. 'A female Samuel Pepys' Thornton is a bit less self-obsessed! www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

What an incredible lady to share a birthday with!

#OtD 4 Aug 1765 French actor and revolutionary Claire Lacombe was born. She took part in the 1792 Paris insurrection and co-founded the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women, an organisation so radical it led all women's organisations to be banned stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/1040...

The killing code: strange symbols in a WA settler’s diaries lay bare frontier atrocities Exclusive: Stories of murders passed down by Yamatji elders are confirmed by a cipher hidden in the 1850s journals of prominent pastoralist Major Logue. Now descendants on both sides want to break the...

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

#OtD 1 Aug 1993 Joy Gardner, a 40-year-old Jamaican woman, died in north London, a few days after police tried to deport her. They held her down and wrapped 13ft of surgical tape round her head, suffocating her stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8055...

Cropped image from an exhibition board showing a black and white photograph of Daphne and her sister Angela du Maurier standing on the far end of a balcony. The photograph has been designed to look like a stamp, as part of a exhibition board for the PenPals exhibition. Typed under the photograph is the reference number: EUL MS 462/3/10/24.

Cropped image from an exhibition board. It shows a black and white photograph of Agatha Christie at her honorary graduation in 1961, standing with three other honorary graduates and the Chancellor of the University. The photograph has been fashioned into a stamp. Above the photograph is typed: 'Christie (far left) at her honourary graduation in 1961'. And below the photograph is typed 'Photographer: Dart & Bernard Ltd. EUL UA/P/5i(58)'.

On International Day of Friendship, why not visit our online 'PenPals' exhibit!

It explores friendships & connections between writers in South-West England, incl. Daphne du Maurier & Agatha Christie.

➡️ specialcollectionsarchive.exeter.ac.uk/exhibits/sho...

#InternationalDayOfFriendship #Archives

A Guide to Thesis Writing and a Guide to Life Writing and research manuals like Umberto Eco’s “How to Write a Thesis” offer a vision of our best selves, Hua Hsu wrote, in 2015.

Umberto Eco’s enduringly popular manual “How to Write a Thesis” is more than a guide for undergraduates; the book is a celebration of the magical process of self-realization.

Screen shot of word document detailing information about the “power couples” conference. Please email z.thomas@bham.ac.uk for more info.

Call for Papers, please share! “Power Couples? Collaborations at work and at home, c.1750-1914” workshop to be held at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany 11-13 May 2026. Deadline for expression of interest 1 Sep 2025. Please see more info in the attached & email me if any questions.

Alexei Navalny’s Prison Diaries The Russian opposition leader’s account of his last years and his admonition to his country and the world.

Pursued relentlessly by the government of Vladimir Putin, the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in prison. He left behind an account of his final years—and an admonition to his country and the world.

Harvard hired a researcher to uncover its ties to slavery. He says the results cost him his job: ‘We found too many slaves’ When the extent of the university’s involvement with slavery was unearthed, a scholar tracking descendants of enslaved workers was suddenly fired

Harvard hired a researcher to look into its connection to slavery, and then allegedly fired the researcher for finding too many enslaved people www.theguardian.com/news/2025/ju...

Sign the Petition Ban Bottom Trawling in 41 English Marine Protected Areas: Pledge Your Support

chng.it/Z7ZKK9r5yc

Pitt Rivers begins process to repatriate human remains - Museums Association Delegation of Naga representatives visit museum to discuss return and care of ancestral remains

News | @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social begins process to repatriate human remains – delegation of Naga representatives visit museum to discuss return and care of ancestral remains

Would you like to see your name on this page? Simply write us a letter at

The Letters Page
School of English
The University of Nottingham
Nottingham
NG7 2RD

and you will receive a personalised, hand-folded aerogramme in return!

More details at link in bio. 🔗

British Library to reinstate Oscar Wilde’s reader card 130 years after it was revoked Exclusive: Pass to be presented to playwright’s grandson after original cancelled over conviction for gross indecency

British Library to reinstate Oscar Wilde’s reader card 130 years after it was revoked www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Call for Contributors: Routledge Companion to Book Studies Call for ContributorsThe Routledge Companion to Book StudiesEdited by Michael Durrant and Cynthia Johnston Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London

Call for Contributors!

@michaelwdurrant.bsky.social and Cynthia Johnson are co-editing a new Routledge Companion to Book Studies, and are seeking chapter proposals!

Deadline: 30 September 2025

More info here 👇
ies.sas.ac.uk/news/call-co...

This will be of interest to many.

Congratulations to Maeve! 🎉

MacCurtain/Cullen Essay Prize Winner 2025 We are delighted to announce that this year’s winner of the MacCurtain/Cullen Essay prize is Maeve Hagerty. As in other years, the judges were very impressed with the high quality of all the …

We are delighted to announce Maeve Hagerty as this year's McCurtain/Cullen Prize Winner.

womenshistoryassociation.com/2025/05/30/m...

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, giant of African literature, dies aged 87 Kenyan writer’s death announced by his daughter, who wrote: ‘He lived a full life, fought a good fight’

Rest in peace Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

Seas off Cork a 'marine desert' due to overfishing of sprat, says owner of whale-watching business Skipper Colin Barnes said the whales have left his search area of ocean off Cork because the sprat they feed on has been fished to near extinction

"Seas off Cork a 'marine desert' due to overfishing of sprat, says owner of whale-watching business."

Sprat, the basis of entire ecosystems, is being hoovered out to turn into fishmeal, an *insanely* wasteful process.

Who or what gives them the right???
www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster...

Thanks so much for an amazing experience at #WHAI2025 @whaireland.bsky.social I had an absolute blast & met a bunch of very friendly scholars - feeling super inspired & motivated right now! 😊

Settling into sunny Carlow and getting warmed up for first day of #WHAI2025 tomorrow - very excited! 😆

Still publishing research articles at nearly 102 years old The first time she participated in fieldwork was in the 1940s, the last time was in 2020. And soon, another research article will be published with geologist Kari Egede Henningsmoen listed as one of t...

Still publishing research articles at nearly 102 years old
The first time she did fieldwork was in the 1940s, the last time was in 2020 & another research article will be published with geologist Kari Egede Henningsmoen listed as one author
#WomeninSTEM
www.sciencenorway.no/geology-rese...

My island of strangers: a poem | Michael Rosen The prime minister warns that immigration could turn Britain into an ‘island of strangers’. Author and poet Michael Rosen responds

Today’s poetry from @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social will counterbalance the xenophobia from some of our political leaders.
The UK needs immigrants!
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Photo of statement

“We will not be silent in front of the man-made humanitarian catastrophe that is taking place before our eyes in Gaza.”

A joint statement from Ireland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Norway, Spain, Malta and Slovenia.

Dr Trainor Memorial Lecture THIS Monday 12 May at 11am @PRONI_DFC

To watch online: us02web.zoom.us/j/8267590917...

2025 marks 40th anniversary of Foundation's journal 'Familia' - its editor Trevor Parkhill will speak on Emigrants' letters as a source for Irish historians & genealogists #genealogy

Illustration of new camogie uniforms suggested by fashion designer Neillí Mulcahy (1969) on display at the GAA: People, Objects & Stories exhibition at the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks. © National Museum of Ireland

Maeve Gilroy's tweed camogie dress that she wore playing for Antrim in the 1960s (DT:2023.11) © National Museum of Ireland on display at the GAA: People, Objects & Stories exhibition at the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks. © National Museum of Ireland

Camogie sportswear has evolved dramatically, reflecting broader changes in women's sportswear and celebrating strides towards equality and functionality.
NMI Curator Siobhán Doyle dives into camogie kits' history and current controversies.
www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...

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

Charlotte Bronte: Poems written by author aged 13 go on sale Museum in Yorkshire has original 1829 copy of volume of poems that has now been reproduced.

Charlotte Brontë's Book of Ryhmes written when she was 13 in 1829 which contains 10 works has been published in a new paperback book which is available for £20. 👇
BBC News - Book of Charlotte Brontë's teenage poems on sale
www.bbc.com/news/article...