Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Glad to see that Caleb Klaces has won the Hawthornden Prize. Here are a couple of his poems that we published in Blackbox Manifold: blackboxmanifold.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/issues/issue...blackboxmanifold.sites.sheffield.ac.ukBlackbox Manifold - Caleb KlacesPrisoner's Dilemma The United States, a lesser nation, is worth ten. There’s a somewhat technical move unfolding where the Norwegian Sea meets the Barents Sea. The purple dust on the Colombian road ne... 021
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 22/09/2026I’m looking fwd to doing a poetry reading at the Italian Cultural Institute in London on Weds 30th Sept. I’ll be reading from my chapbook MALAPARTINGS which engages and parts with poems by the Italian writer Curzio Malaparte. Event details and bookings here 👇 iiclondra.esteri.it/en/gli_event...iiclondra.esteri.itMalaparte, Englishmen and othersMalaparte, Englishmen and Others International Seminar 30 September 2026, 6 pm Casa Italia, Italian Cultural Institute, London 4–5 Buckingham Gate London SW1E 6JP Complex, charismatic and provocative,... 110
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Some ‘documentalists’ argue that an animal such as an antelope is not a document, but an antelope catalogued in a zoo is a document. But surely a catalogued antelope is more like a melon — a cantaloupe? 010
Reposted by Alex HouenIan Hunt @ianhunt.bsky.social · 30/08/2026I am glad to find out about these European examples. A recent one I like is See You Through: A Novel by Geoff Gilbert & Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social 2025 which really should be written about. www.brokensleepbooks.com/product-page...brokensleepbooks.comGeoff Gilbert and Alex Houen - See You Through: A Novel | Broken Sleep BooksGeoff Gilbert and Alex Houen’s See You Through: A Novel is a formally restless, genre-collapsing hybrid that inhabits the threshold between poetry and fiction. Structured around a shifting dialogue of... 141
Reposted by Alex HouenLos Angeles Review of Books @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social · 19/08/2026"It's an emptied-out image: the maudlin hag. I found permission in poems by Baudelaire." Lisa Robertson talks about aging, wandering, bodies, and her new novel, "Riverwork": lareviewofbooks.org/article/lisa-ro… 094
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 19/08/2026The terrific Romanian artist Teodora Axente has drawn controversy in Siena and Italy more generally over how the Virgin Mary should be depicted infovaticana.com/en/2026/08/1...infovaticana.comControversy in Siena over an androgynous depiction of the Virgin in the Palio of the Assumption – INFOVATICANAThe image of the Virgin chosen for the Drappellone of the Palio of the Assumption in Siena has sparked controversy due to its androgynous features and its departure from traditional Marian iconography... 000
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 14/08/2026I’ve been befriended by a young crow that our kids have named Crowky. Here it is having a go at my (tepid) green tea a few days ago 040
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 12/08/2026Woah! look at the aftermath effect of the #eclipse on my house! 😮🥸 010
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 11/08/2026“You’ll be able to interact with your [‘personal’ ’superintelligent’] AI agent through any device, including your glasses to keep you present in the moment with the people you care about.” That’s not ‘presence’, it’s mediation. Mediated ‘care’ 🤢 www.theguardian.com/technology/2...theguardian.comZuckerberg pushes ‘superintelligent’ AI for all as Meta drops open-source modelMeta CEO presents utopian vision of AI in 6,000-word essay amid Silicon Valley debate over government regulation 020
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 06/08/2026I’m in #Trieste for the first time — wonderful city with great food and beaches! And tonight, a gig at a 1930s bathing complex that’s part of an ANNUAL Bruce Springsteen Festival. No wonder James Joyce lived here so long 🤩 180
Reposted by Alex HouenIan Seed @ianseedauthor.bsky.social · 31/07/2026Delighted to find myself in this treasure trove. Thank you! 096
Reposted by Alex HouenCorbett Buchly @buchly.bsky.social · 01/08/2026Check out Isssue 36 of Blackbox Manifold. I have 3 poems in it: “planted,” “the relationship diminishing,” and “golden fruit.” I especially enjoyed poems by Dr. Alicia Byrne Keane & Ashik Kahina. @alexhouen.bsky.social #poetry #poetrycommunity #BlackboxManifold blackboxmanifold.sites.sheffield.ac.ukblackboxmanifold.sites.sheffield.ac.ukBlackbox ManifoldIssue 36: Summer 2026 042
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 31/07/2026⚡️BLACKBOX MANIFOLD 36 is now live!⚡️ One of our best Issues yet. Poems by @ianseedauthor.bsky.social, Hannah Linden, Forrest Gander, @keane_byrne, @suchmayer.bsky.social, & others Adam Piette reviews Denise Riley, Peter Riley, Bernadette Mayer, Sara Nicholson sites.google.com/sheffield.ac...sites.google.comBlackbox ManifoldIssue 36: Summer 2026 1125
Reposted by Alex HouenSacred Parasite @sacredparasite.bsky.social · 10/07/2026Starting this September, these 10 Sacred Parasite books will be on sale at Bookartbookshop, SP's 2nd London location, so today I'm sending a big Dankeschön west to owner Tanya Peixoto, to her and to all the other bookstore owners seeing Sacred Parasite through door after door. 0276
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Ella Baron’s cartoons for The Guardian — so good 👌 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...theguardian.comElla Baron on Keir Starmer and new funding for drones – cartoonThe prime minister has revealed his long-awaited defence investment plan 000
Reposted by Alex HouenDr Matt Mahmoudi @docmattmoudi.bsky.social · 28/05/2026So we’ve been cooking up some thoughts on Gen AI at @amnesty.org and I’m ecstatic to finally see it out in the world! Our 🗝️ conclusion: standalone gen AI systems, built on unlawful web scraping, constitute mass invasions of privacy by design & should be prohibited www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne... 11899462
Reposted by Alex HouenIan Hunt @ianhunt.bsky.social · 29/05/2026Xing the line, Sunday June 14, includes Stephen Watts and Ghazal Mosadeq. 'Join hosts Iris Colomb and Jeff Hilson for a bumper evening of basement words and sounds from Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes, 32-36 Kingsland Rd E2 8DA. £5 waged, £3 unwaged. Doors at 6pm for a 7pm start.' 011
Reposted by Alex HouenJeremy Noel-Tod @jntod.bsky.social · 26/04/2026I wrote about what it's like to read the poetry of J.H. Prynnesomeflowerssoon.substack.comIn Darkness by DayReading J.H. Prynne (1936-2026) 34419
Reposted by Alex HouenUni of Sheffield Special Collections, Heritage and Archives SCHA @uoscollections.bsky.social · 21/03/2026Our Small Press Poetry Collection contains publications from over 100 non-mainstream international presses, focussing on the avant-garde. We recently added Louis Zukovsky's posthumously published final work '80 Flowers' (1978) to this collection. SPP tinyurl.com/mrx5rx87 🖼️SPP 1983, Broadside 50 142
Reposted by Alex HouenBroken Sleep Books @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social · 11/03/2026We've won Small Press of the Year for Wales! It's great to be recognised for our work degentrifying the arts, platforming low socio-economic writers, & without grants or institutional support! To celebrate, everything is 10% off on our website with code 'WINNERS2026' www.brokensleepbooks.com/books 35917
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 28/02/2026‘As one Iranian Telegram channel put it: “Once again the US attacked while Iran was pursuing diplomacy. Once again diplomacy does not work with the terrorist state of the US.”’ www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...theguardian.comYet another mid-talks attack jeopardises chances of Iran taking Trump seriouslySecond Israeli-US attack during nuclear negotiations may finally jettison any chance of agreement 010
Reposted by Alex HouenBilly Bragg @billybragg.bsky.social · 12/02/2026Just going to leave this here 4729111183
Reposted by Alex HouenScott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 23/11/2025At the opening of her recent London show, Romanian artist Teodora Axente wore a dress she had stitched herself for the occasion: a sheer chiffon number, with three sleeves. The extra limb wasn’t mere whimsy, but a reference to Saint John of Damascus, who, accused of treachery, had his right hand cutft.comTeodora Axente’s Transylvanian fantasiesThe Romanian artist blends Orthodox tradition with witty surrealism. It’s her vocation... 131
Reposted by Alex Houentbewes.bsky.social @tbewes.bsky.social · 05/02/2026I am very glad to have been the occasion of this new series for C21 Literature. Huge thanks to Alex Houen, Leonid Bilmes, Laura A. Zander, and Adam Kelly for their engagements with Free Indirect, and to Denise Wong and Oli Haslam for the invitation to respond. 154
Reposted by Alex HouenLongbarrow Press @longbarrowpress.bsky.social · 31/01/2026Visionary, urgent… truly extraordinary blendings of environmental & social history. - Mark Wormald A spirited, astonishing, bewildering collection. - Adam Piette One of 2024's wildest volumes of poetry. - Christian Bok 'Eely' Steve Ely £2 off until 4 February longbarrowpress.com/current-publ... 1114
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 30/01/2026C21 journal has published a ‘round table review’ of Timothy Bewes’s book FREE INDIRECT. It includes a short essay by me; other contributors include Leonid Bilmes, Laura Zander & Adam Kelly. Bewes does a response at the end 👇 c21.openlibhums.org/article/id/2... @c21literature.bsky.socialc21.openlibhums.org<em>C21</em>’s Roundtable Review of Timothy Bewes’s <em>Free Indirect: The Novel in a Postfictional Age</em> (2022) 0156
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 30/01/2026Chicago Review seeks pitches of critical reviews, commentary essays, notes and reflections on contemporary British experimental poetry 👇 mailchi.mp/d31d83f35611...mailchi.mpCHICAGO REVIEW CALL FOR PITCHES: NEW BRITISH POETRY 075
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 21/01/2026London’s Gallery Rosenfeld has announced the launch of the Ian Rosenfeld Fund—a £7,500 annual award supporting an early- to mid-career artist. Details👇 www.prazzlearts.com/opportunitie...prazzlearts.comGrant: The Ian Rosenfeld FundGallery Rosenfeld has announced the launch of the Ian Rosenfeld Fund—a £7,500 annual award supporting an early- to mid-career artist, continuing Ian Rosenfeld’s legacy of championi 000
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 16/01/2026✨BLACKBOX MANIFOLD 35✨ is now live, with poems by Shara McCallum, Dorothy Lehane, Rebecca Goss, Angela Gardner, Philip Terry, and others. Plus Adam Piette reviews Keaton Sutherland and Jennifer Scappettone blackboxmanifold.sites.sheffield.ac.ukblackboxmanifold.sites.sheffield.ac.ukBlackbox ManifoldDanielle Boodoo-Fortuné Cameron Clark James Coghill Toby d'Arpino David Eileen Naomi Foyle Angela Gardner Rebecca Goss Kevin Graham Michael Grieve Eddie Heaton 092
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 09/01/2026www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...cam.ac.ukAssistant Professorship in Modern and Contemporary LiteratureThe Faculty of English wishes to appoint to an Assistant Professorship in Modern and Contemporary Literature, with a desirable focus on eco-criticism, from 1 September 2026. We seek applicants who 022
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 07/01/2026‘From 2028, universities must pay a new flat tax or “levy” of £925 for every international student they recruit. Coming on top of tighter visa restrictions, which make recruitment harder, some universities will find it increasingly tough to balance their books’ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...theguardian.comThe Guardian view on universities: Labour needs a clearer plan | EditorialEditorial: Ministers promised a ‘change of approach’, but their new tax could tip weaker institutions over the edge 000
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 05/01/2026Hard to roll this powdery snow into a ball, so my daughter made a snow blob named Jimathon ❄️ 050
Reposted by Alex HouenReactor Magazine @reactorsff.bsky.social · 12/12/2025Amazon announces Ask This Book AI bot. Authors and publishers were not asked to be included and cannot opt-out.reactormag.comNew Kindle Feature Uses AI to Answer Questions About Books—And Authors Can't Opt Out - ReactorThe new feature, called Ask this Book, is already drawing controversy and unanswered questions. 97655
Reposted by Alex HouenIan Hunt @ianhunt.bsky.social · 11/12/2025Going to this on Sunday. Still reading Alex and Geoff's poem-novel *See You Through* published by @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social & finding it pretty astonishing. Hope it finds some of the readers who have responded to e.g. writing by @waidner.bsky.social -- anyway, come if you can, London 052
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 11/12/2025“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted its own video edit of the seizure, soundtracked with an excerpt from LL Cool J’s song Mama Said Knock You Out” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...theguardian.comVenezuela decries ‘act of piracy’ after US forces seize oil tanker off country’s coastFootage uploaded to X by US attorney general shows its forces landing on the tanker in major escalation of Trump’s pressure campaign 000
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 07/12/2025Looking fwd to doing a poetry reading with Geoff Gilbert and Maria Sledmere for the ✨Xing the Line✨ series, next Sun 14th Dec, 6pm at Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes, 32-36 Kingsland Rd, London, E2 8DA 👇 www.facebook.com/groups/14049...facebook.comXing the Line | FacebookIris Colomb created an event for the group. 131
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 02/12/2025✨Submissions are now open for The Propel Cambridge Poetry Prize 2026✨ Entry is free and poets anywhere in the world who have not yet published a full-length collection can submit. The winning poem will receive a prize of £750 and publication in Propel Magazine. english.cam.ac.uk/news/archives/…english.cam.ac.uk 022
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 29/11/2025‘The new UN report, covering a two-year period since the beginning of the Gaza war on 7 October 2023, draws attention to the “high proportion of children who are currently detained without charge or on remand”’ www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...theguardian.comIsrael has ‘de facto state policy’ of organised torture, says UN reportCommittee highlights allegations including dog attacks and sexual violence, raising concern about impunity for war crimes 01210
Reposted by Alex HouenRobert Sheppard @robertsheppard.bsky.social · 22/11/2025One week to publication of ELLE: a verse novel. Online launch and publication details here: robertsheppard.blogspot.com/2025/10/my-n...robertsheppard.blogspot.comMy new book Elle: A Verse Novel is published by Broken Sleep BooksMy new book Elle: A Verse Novel is published by Broken Sleep Books in November 2025 Details for PRE ORDER: Robert Sheppard - Elle, a ... 073
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 17/11/2025Looking fwd to this poetry reading by ✨ROD MENGHAM and JOHN WILKINSON ✨ in Pembroke College, Cambridge, 7pm this Thurs 20th. *Free and open to all*. Full details here 👇 poetics.english.cam.ac.uk/2025/11/14/r...poetics.english.cam.ac.ukRod Mengham / John Wilkinson – Judith E Wilson Centre for Poetics 000
Reposted by Alex HouenPam Thurschwell @pamthur.bsky.social · 15/11/2025Cambridge folk, I am giving a talk on Tuesday 18th Nov, 5 pm, at the English Faculty 9 West Road called "Destructive Characters: Graham Greene to the KLF". There will be Walter Benjamin plus film clips! Come along if you are so inclined; I understand there will be wine. 141
Reposted by Alex HouenDavid Wheatley @nemoloris.bsky.social · 04/11/2025Stoat Poetry, a new magazine edited by Ingrid Leonard. www.stoatmagazine.co.uk/aboutstoatmagazine.co.ukStoat Poetry - AboutStoat Poetry is a new, paper-based magazine operating out of the North of Scotland and Greece. Stoat aims to publish the best original poetry on any theme from new and established poets. We receive no... 185
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 30/10/2025The national Jane Martin Poetry Prize 2026 will be open on 3rd Nov for entries (two poems max) from UK residents aged 18 to 30. No fee for entry. First prize is £1000, second prize is £500. More details here👇 www.girton.cam.ac.uk/jane-martin-...girton.cam.ac.ukJane Martin Poetry Prize 010
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 17/10/2025Looking forward to launching SEE YOU THROUGH in Cambridge with Geoff Gilbert at 7pm, Thurs 23rd October. We’ll be reading with Iain Britton, who’ll be launching his pamphlet UNCERTAIN DENSITIES. The event is free and open to all. Further details here👇 poetics.english.cam.ac.uk/2025/10/16/i...poetics.english.cam.ac.ukIain Britton / Geoff Gilbert / Alex Houen – Judith E Wilson Centre for Poetics 141
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 29/09/2025Very much looking forward to launching SEE YOU THROUGH at this Broken Sleep Books online launch event tomorrow 8pm UK time: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/broken-sle...eventbrite.co.ukBroken Sleep Books September 2025 LaunchWith readings from Anna Brook, Adrienne Wilkinson, Alex Houen & Geoff Gilbert, Len Lukowski, Nisha Bhakoo, Laura Blomvall, and Eleanor Rees 031
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 28/09/2025‘Ground troops have demolished greenhouses; bulldozers have toppled orchards, ploughed out crops and crushed the soil; and planes have sprayed herbicides over the fields.’ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...theguardian.comIsrael’s ecocide in Gaza sends this message: even if we stopped dropping bombs, you couldn’t live here | George MonbiotConsider the annihilation of agricultural land alongside the genocide – and grasp the chilling totality of this attempt to eliminate all life, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot 000