marybeard

Sign the Petition Keep the Classical Languages Major at the University of Iowa

shortsighted decision to cut classical languages at UIowa Petition here c.org/ZVhdNSckD8

Women's power and women's music. Celebrate International Women's Day 8 March with me, NardusWilliams & Liz Kenny at Wigmore Hall. From Sappho to Carol Ann Duffy, Errollyn Wallen and MORE (inc a handful of feisty 17th century nuns!) Details: www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/202...

The reference was not to book festivals (where I agree there is loads of non fiction). But to the celebrations round the Year of Reading (where fiction dramatically dominates). Don’t get me wrong I think fiction is hugely important… but reading includes more.

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

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... my friend Charlotte here on why reading for “pleasure” is NOT the be all and end all of reading. With a shout out for non fiction too which hasn’t got too much of a look in during this year of reading.

Women's power and women's music. Celebrate International Women's Day 8 March with me, NardusWilliams & Liz Kenny at Wigmore Hall. From Sappho to Carol Ann Duffy, Errollyn Wallen and MORE (inc a handful of feisty 17th century nuns!) Details: www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/202...

Promotional graphic for Waterstones: “25% OFF RRP – Books Coming Soon” (Online Only, 17–20 February). The image shows a selection of upcoming book covers including Enough Said by Alan Bennett, Talking Classics: The Shock of the Old by Mary Beard, To Exist As I Am by Grace Spence Green, What Happened to Liberal Democracy? by Daron Acemoglu, Boglands by Merritt R. Turetsky, Out of Colditz by David Lascelles, Worlds of Fear and Wonder by Malcolm Gaskill, The Law of the Sublime by Robert Greene (cover to be revealed), The Wordspotter’s Guide by Olivia Swarthout, and Amicable Divorce by Kate Daly.

A deal you do not want to miss! ✨

Get 25% off the books below, when you pre-order from
@waterstones.bsky.social until February 20th and use code: FEB26

Bargain. Until 23.59 on 20 Feb you can order my new book 25%off RRP from Waterstones online. Discount code is FEB26. Details here: www.waterstones.com/campaign/feb...

Who's Afraid of Lupercalia? Podcast Episode · Instant Classics · 19/02/2026 · 47m

Here it is! Our Instant Classics episode on the Lupercalia: whipping, nudity, laughter. How do we begin to understand it? podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...

My new book #TalkingClassics is 25% off RRP between now & 20 Feb. If you have already ordered, you can cancel & use this offer. Details: www.waterstones.com/book/talking...

25% off my new book from Waterstones. See below 👇 for details. If you have already preordered the easiest thing is to cancel that order and reorder using this code.

I meant “out on Thursday “. I will post a link! M

We'll be talking about the Lupercalia (thanks for this 👇👇Sarah) on the next episode of Instant Classics, out on Tuesday: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...

Villain, Victim... Double Agent? The Many Lives of Helen of Troy pt 3 Podcast Episode · Instant Classics · 05/02/2026 · 45m

The third episode in our Helen of Troy mini series on Instant Classics Here it’s Helen of Egypt !! podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...

Nardus Williams soprano; Elizabeth Kenny archlute, theorbo; Mary Beard speaker Nardus Williams soprano; Elizabeth Kenny archlute, theorbo; Mary Beard speaker Women and Power

Words and music for International Women's Day with me, Nardus Williams and Elizabeth Kenny . Wigmore Hall 8 March. Book here: www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/202...

Great to hear James Graham talk on BBC radio 4. I think I was echoing that sense of constructive debate about what "we" are when I was talking yesterday in Dublin. How do we think about what it would be not to be "us"? History and fiction are crucial. I am with @carlosfnorena.bsky.social here

Really enjoyed my conversation with Sophie Gee for @slobpodcast.bsky.social on the #Frankenstein MS @bodleian.ox.ac.uk

You dont win 'em all! Reform's Matt Goodwin in Sunday Times: 'Most .. people criticising me are nerds.The last thing I want is to be at some dinner party table with Nick Robinson & Mary Beard. I'd rather shoot myself in the head'. Hang on, I'm not THAT bad!Nerds sometimes have a (thoughtful!) point.

Villain, Victim... Double Agent? The Many Lives of Helen of Troy pt2 Podcast Episode · Instant Classics · 29/01/2026 · 50m

The sevond episode of our 4 part mini series on Helen of Troy What did she do at Troy during the war over her? A double agent?? podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...

Noone could claim I'm not invested in fiction (chairing Booker this year). But non-fiction is getting a bit short-changed, I think, in this UK "year of reading". For some, it's always been non fiction (glimpses of other worlds, other ways of thinking) that started the reading vibe.

could someone briefly explain what accounts for the US volte face on the Chagos settlement since May!?

Villain, Victim... Double Agent? The Many Lives of Helen of Troy part 1 Podcast Episode · Instant Classics · 22/01/2026 · 41m

Born of the coupling of Leda and the Swan, then hatched from an egg There’s more to Helen of Troy than the most beautiful woman in the world - as Charlotte and I discuss in our 4 part Instant Classics mini series podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...

Making empires bigger, then and now There are many different forms of imperial control. A couple of weeks ago, I (lightly) compared the US/Venezuelan model with the imperialism of the Roman

What IS it with people who want to add territory to their country? (Eventually) the imperial Romans had a fair degree of ambivalence about this. In my blog tinyurl.com/p7635jc6 @thetls.bsky.social

And to add to the Classics in this week's @thetls.bsky.social , there's also Ollie Randall on Radical Antiquity! Go read

In @TheTLS this week, there's some meaty classics: Nigel Spivey (on T Holscher's Diver of Paestum); Simon Goldhill (on the long history of "Greek" theatre); Tim Whitmarsh (on Padilla Peralta's Classicism).

Haha Mini series!!!

Villain, Victim... Double Agent? The Many Lives of Helen of Troy part 1 Podcast Episode · Instant Classics · 22/01/2026 · 41m

On instant classics we’re starting a four part moni series on Helen of Troy”villain, victim and double agent” (yes double agent) podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...

Mary Beard Tickets & Tour Dates - Fane Renowned historian Mary Beard returns to the stage for one night only to discuss her book Talking Classics and to explore why the deep past does really affect us all.

Do join us on 19 April in London (other locations follow) to discuss why we should be interested in deep history: tinyurl.com/yc6tnvup

Today, the United States welcomed the historic agreement between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Mauritius on the future of the British Indian Ocean Territory—specifically, the Chagos Archipelago. m Rubio may 2025

Today, we had the pleasure and honor to welcome the classicist Mary Beard at CAS LMU. She is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts and of the famous @newnhamcollege.bsky.social. She discussed with John Weisweiler and members of the #CASResearchGroup “Femicide”. Thank you for making this possible!

The fame of Fano? Fano is a small town, with a population of around 60,000, about 100 kilometres south of Ravenna on the Adriatic coast. It is a rather sleepy and not very

If you are into classical architecture, it looks like the basilica designed by Vitruvius has been discovered in Fano in Italy. Not sure it is quite as it's been hyped (as amazing as Tutankhamun), but important none the less. tinyurl.com/4chwjseu @thetls.bsky.social