Kat Hall 📚

Great post! 🙏

#GermanLitMonth: Volker Kutscher’s Lunapark A hefty book of 556 pages, so most certainly not a novella, but the sixth in the Gereon Rath crime fiction series, a part of them having been adapted for TV in the internationally successful Babylo…

wp.me/p29ydL-7wp

ChatGPT violated copyright law by ‘learning’ from song lyrics, German court rules OpenAI ordered to pay undisclosed damages for training its language models on artists’ work without permission

🚨 “A court in Munich has ruled that OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT violated German copyright laws by using hits from musicians to train its language models”

A landmark European ruling!

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Amazon here, targeting the market consisting of people who for some reason buy books but don't actually like books, or writers, or reading.

(Authors, please have nothing to do with this slop-dispenser, which will mangle your prose and put translators — your allies — out of work.)

I am hearing that @uniofnottingham.bsky.social is suspending (i.e shutting down) *all modern language courses* in 2026-27. One of the largest departments in the UK. A shocking short sighted move that damages regional and national prospects @britishacademy.bsky.social @hetanshah.bsky.social

A pile of twelve books, wrapped in red and white striped paper. They're covered in tinsel and other Christmas decorations.

ANNOUNCEMENT!

The Big Green Books Advent Calendar!

Choose from 4, 6 or 12 books.

Your chance to unwrap a new surprise book every few days in the run up to Christmas.

The books will be chosen based on what you enjoy reading.

More info HERE

www.biggreenbookshop.com/simon-likes-...

PLEASE SHARE

Amazon is helping fund a $300 million build of a ballroom for the White House.

Independent bookstores are donating to food banks and organizations that help with food insecurity.

They are not the same.

Farage: epic grifter

RIP to David Bellos whose book Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything massively contributed to me wanting to become a literary translator. When I was writing my own book about translation, I kept in mind how funny and accessible his book was.

How wonderful, Rachel. What a beautiful painting!

May the force be with you!

I saw that. Beyond awful. America deserves so much better.

How it started….
How it’s going…

Is there any more potent symbol of how Trump is wrecking America?

#BallroomBlitz

Brexit has robbed young people of exciting opportunities, such as Erasmus, while also hurting our economy.

Baroness Coussins: "The international experience provided by Erasmus significantly enhances future employability and language skills."

Whatever you do, please don’t stop reading.

Read for joy. Read for education. Read for resistance. Read banned books. Read books by marginalized authors. Read about experiences that differ from your own.

Just. Keep. Reading.

"I think the greatest single enemy is the misuse of information, the perversion of truth in the hands of terribly skillful people."
John le Carre, born on this day in 1931

😍 Boston, you are beautiful. #NoKings

CNN talking about the possibility of violence as a guy in a giraffe costume waddles by

Beautifully done, Margot x

To Post or Not to Post… As this is posted, it’s 81 years since Otto Preminger’s Laura was released in cinemas. The film is, of course, based on Vera Caspary’s novel of the same name, and it’s a solid example of a noir sto…

On my blog today: margot-kin-berg.com/2025/10/11/t...

repost this if an editor has ever saved you from yourself

35 years ago today this happened. I’d grown up in the belief it could never happen, but then it did. It’s not been easy and even now reunification is an ongoing process. However, it makes me wonder what good things may be just around the corner that we currently think are impossible.

Some good news.

London is meeting legal limits for toxic NO2 pollution for the first time – almost 200 years earlier than predicted – following the Mayor’s "world leading air pollution policies," City Hall announces.

The Ultra Low Emissions Zone - and similar policies - really do work.

Happy International Translation Day!

Here’s part of my translation manifesto, which can be found in full at the end of Fair: The Life-Art of Translation.

(Written out in replies)

📢 Translators, you too can join the @alcs.co.uk and get paid for having your books checked out of the library.

A lifetime membership costs just £36. They take it out of your first payment, so you don’t pay a penny up front.

Since I joined in 2020, I have received £515.45! What are you waiting for?

Virtual fellowships as ‘material solidarity’ against scholasticide Gaza virtual research fellows and UK-based scholars share reflections, alongside a practical overview of the design, development and early implementation of a virtual fellowship

Academics in #Gaza reflect on how a virtual fellowship scheme with the @bristoluni.bsky.social has offered "a lifeline for researchers, fighting to keep our voices heard despite the #war and the destruction of our academic institutions" and explain how it works: ow.ly/yfsl50WZisX #academicsky

Petrona Award 2025- Best Scandinavian Crime Novel Of The Year- The Shortlist #PetronaAward25 Outstanding crime fiction from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden shortlisted for the 2025 Petrona Award. Seven impressive crime novels from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have been shortlist…

It's here! The Petrona Award 2025- Best Scandinavian Crime Novel Of The Year- The Shortlist. #PetronaAward25

ravencrimereads.wordpress.com/2025/09/18/p...

Hope that goes smoothly, or at least as smoothly as German admin can go!

Waving from Hamburg! 👋 Great to see you’ve made the move. Wishing you every happiness in Berlin - such an amazing city x