Julian Girdham

A Personal Anthology, by John Self At first I thought of choosing the shortest stories I could, and some of those remain in the list below, but in the end I broadened my thinking as some stories kept pushing their way in.

Here is my Personal Anthology of twelve short stories, including Bruce calling from Mulholland, a daughter leaving for Rhodesia, a washed-up hack in Hollywood (by a washed-up hack in Hollywood) and a story from the Dubliners of 20C Jewish-American life. Ta @jonathangibbs.bsky.social for asking me.

Thanks - yes, I now see it's the Gallery Press 1979 book, this being the first paperback edition.

Just read your own PA and enjoyed the recommendations. Plenty to catch up on. Have done a review of 'Pulse' for the IT and agree. Off now to read 'Arrival'.

My experience of Friel stories is from this O’Brien Press version from 1983. Guess similar content to the new book?

A long time since I’ve read the Leavitt and wonder how they stand up now. V early book from him.

Our 12 favourite rediscovered books of 2025 The adventures of an East End gambler, forgotten Bram Stoker stories and the saucy memories of a president’s mistress — vintage tales that still pack a punch

A chase across Paris; the madness of Ted Hughes; a painter goes off-grid in New Zealand; the hunt for a president's love letters; an odd woman and the city; hooptedoodle-free crime; and more.

Me on twelve of the best reissued books of the year:

Good to see the Friel there - have always thought those stories were under-noticed (compared to the plays of course).

196: Three weeks of fondant bloom! Audrey Molloy, Stephen Grosz, Laura Cumming on Turner and Constable, Patrick Marber on Tom Stoppard, George Eliot, Mike Hobbiss, Ian Mortimer and Elizabethan England.

196: Three weeks of fondant bloom!

The latest Fortnightly, and the final regular one in 2025.

open.substack.com/pub/juliangi...

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!

Today’s episode is the second part of David’s conversation with historian @robertsaunders.bsky.social about the life and legacy of Margaret Thatcher. What is the meaning of Thatcherism in the twenty-first century?

Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

BBC Radio 3 - Carols Across the Country - a Seasonal Journey, Live from the Peak District in Staffordshire Mark Forrest at the Peak Wildlife Park with musicians Jackie Oates and Belinda O'Hooley.

A splendid BBCRadio3 celebration of #Advent 1—in the form of a whole schedule of programmes today devoted to the performance of carol-singing, traditional & new, across the UK. Maintenance & revival of regional #carols a true glory of Insular music-making
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

The Occasional 11 Neil Postman, Lara Pawson, Thomas Newkirk, Harriet Walter, John Warner, John McGahern, AI in English teaching, Michael Longley, Shannon Vallor, Nicholas Carr and more.

open.substack.com/pub/juliangi...

1. Thread.
Ed tech and the best lesson I taught this year.
The best Ed tech in the world for my subject is a book.
It is the ideal delivery method because the effort of concentrating on it helps people learn what's in it.

Many thanks to Conor Pope for featuring us in this list of 100 Irish websites to shop with this Christmas. He has all avenues covered with Irish retailers listed for clothes, toys, food and drink, beauty, jewellery and more in this brilliant guide. www.irishtimes.com/your-money/2...

Re-reading 'Middlemarch' — Julian Girdham Some notes from a long-delayed re-reading of George Eliot's masterpiece Middlemarch .

Excellent. Many thanks.
Reread it not so long after decades - some links here which might be of interest
www.juliangirdham.com/blog/re-read...

Middlemarch: Epigraphs and Mirrors George Eliot and Pascal

Now in my early 60s I have only just started reading Middlemarch (blame the education system…), so I am immensely grateful to @adamroberts.bsky.social for this wonderfully perceptive exploration of the epigrams at the head of each chapter. open.substack.com/pub/profadam...

A child who has been forced to face his powerlessness.

King Lear: 'O reason not the need...' and then the rest of that powerful speech by Lear.

#SundayMacbethChat

195: Mine own, and not mine own A Midsummer Night's Dream, E.M. Forster, Claire-Louise Bennett, Magdalene Laundries, Jennifer Roberts, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Kate Clanchy, Audrey Watters and more.

Fortnightly 195: Directing Shakespeare in school, E.M. Forster’s ‘The Machine Stops’, Claire-Louise Bennett, ‘Testimony’ on the Magdalene Laundries, Vic Goddard on leading schools, ‘Anatomy of a Cancellation’, @backlisted.bsky.social on Rachel Cusk.

juliangirdham.substack.com/p/195-mine-o...

Directing 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' — Julian Girdham Thoughts on directing a school production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream .

(New). On directing Shakespeare in school:

www.juliangirdham.com/blog/directi...

#SundayMacbethChat intro page

Okay, so let's do officially do this! a slow-read of Macbeth with Sunday discussion threads starting November 23rd! #SundayMacbethChat

Everyone's welcome! And just like Beloved, I am definitely going to be looking at this with very-fresh (i.e. humble) eyes!

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Right.

Thanks.
'not taken seriously' by the biographer rather than CT?

Quite the headline.

The Occasional 10 Carl Hendrick, Barbara Oakley, George Saunders, Audrey Watters, Marc Watkins, Andrew Campbell, Daisy Christodoulou, Bennie Kara, Alan Jacobs, Jonathan Gibbs, Peps Mccrea and more.

The Occasional 10: excellent newsletters.

open.substack.com/pub/juliangi...

The Fortnightly from Julian Girdham | Substack The Fortnightly is about thinking, writing, reading, teaching & more. Every 2 weeks in the school term since 2016 - on Substack since 2024. Always free, but contributions are most welcome, and paid co...

The Fortnightly continues its break until Saturday 22nd, when issue 195 will be out.

Tomorrow morning there’s the 10th edition of its close-cousin, The Occasional, for paid subscribers: really good newsletters I subscribe to.

juliangirdham.substack.com

Yes, there’s a link in my review.

E.M. Forster's 'The Machine Stops' — Julian Girdham E.M. Forster’s 1909 short story ‘The Machine Stops’ is an uncanny predictor of our own tech-saturated existence.

(New). On E.M. Forster's 1909 story 'The Machine Stops', eerily prescient about our online world.

'The Machine develops - but not on our lines. The Machine Proceeds - but not to our goal.'

www.juliangirdham.com/blog/em-fors...

Seamus Heaney: a new glimpse of his life and poetry With previously uncollected or unpublished works, a definitive edition deepens our understanding of the Nobel laureate’s creative process

Love this piece by @ruthpadel.bsky.social in @financialtimes.com about the 'The Poems of Seamus Heaney', a new book of collected and previously unpublished poems released by @faberbooks.bsky.social @seamusheaneyestate.bsky.social
www.ft.com/content/d562...

Two colour stills from a film. The top image shows soldiers running across a snowy landscape - the park and formal garden in front of a palace, perhaps. The bottom image shows the same troops, wearing grey uniforms, with rucksacks, with a group of cavalry on horseback wearing long grey coats, in the snowy courtyard of an enormous country house.

A colour still from a film, the same scene as the previous images. Closer view of officers on horseback, with troops formed up in lines as they ride through. There is a standard bearer with a red and white flag and leader has a gold breastplate under his coat as well as a golden helmet with a cockade.

[noises off] Hamlet: what NOW? Norwegians incoming.
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Because he CAN, Branagh shows the Norwegian army arriving at Elsinore in his 1996 film. With Rufus Sewell as Fortinbras in a nice shiny breastplate. #InkyCloak #SlowShakespeare is in its 14th month. Days to go.

194: Begin afresh, afresh, afresh INOTE, AI in schools, 'Macbeth', Emma Smith on 'Hamlet', Carl Hendrick & the science of learning, school librarians, Irish short stories, Anne Enright, Prunella Scales and more.

Fortnightly 194: @inotenews.bsky.social '25 | AI in schools | CPD with @clanavtra.bsky.social: 'Macbeth', @carlhendrick.substack.com & the science of learning, | Anne Enright interviewed by Martin Doyle | @oldfortunatus.bsky.social on Hamlet.

And more.

juliangirdham.substack.com/p/194-begin-...

25TRA418 Revising and Thinking about ‘Macbeth’ for the Leaving Certificate Date: Tuesday 18th November 2025 Time: 7.00pm – 8.00pm Venue: Online via Zoom Target Audience: Senior Cycle English Teachers This webinar for teachers of post-primary English will: ● Outline...

Webinar for teachers of Leaving Certificate English on revising the play leading up to the exam.

Tuesday 18th November, 7.00pm-8.00pm.

Free registration via @clanavtra.bsky.social
www.edcentretralee.ie/cpd-courses-...

#edchatie

Ten excellent novellas I highly recommend There’s something very satisfying about reading a whole book in one or two sittings on the same day, especially when time is tight. I’ve always been fond of novellas, which often offer the best of …

New on the blog today, I've written about ten excellent novellas I highly recommend.

Featuring books by Anita Brookner, William Trevor. Muriel Spark and many more! #BookSky #Novellas #NovNov 💙📚

jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/10/30/t...