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alex orr 🌷

@alexorr.bsky.social
1.4K followers 241 following 94 posts

marketing with Hodder & Stoughton | @alexreads_ elsewhere | views my own | they/them 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

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Jehad Abusalim @jehadabusalim.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
A detailed and heartbreaking report on how Israel systematically destroyed Gaza’s bookstores, printing presses, and publishing houses. It turned centers of learning and knowledge production into ruins and ashes. Please share widely.
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
what a great shame for the Scottish publishing landscape. Laura and Heather are literary legends who made such an impact in their ten years. so glad to see 404 Ink finds a home with Saraband 404 Ink announces closure ahead of 10th anniversary www.thebookseller.com/news/404-ink...
thebookseller.com
404 Ink: closure announced ahead of 10th anniversary
When Heather McDaid and Laura Jones-Rivera made the decision to sunset their labour of love, 404 Ink, going out on a high was paramount.
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
so looking forward to this - it will be a privilege to hear more of Pelicot's voice. no doubt A HYMN TO LIFE will take its place alongside Chanel Miller's KNOW MY NAME as one of the most vital reads of a post-MeToo world www.thebookseller.com/rights/the-b...
thebookseller.com
The Bodley Head to publish memoir from Gisèle Pelicot
The Bodley Head, an imprint of Vintage, is set to publish a memoir from Gisèle Pelicot, "in her words, to offer solace and hope, and make a positive contribution to changing the conversation around sh...
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
starting a log of my monthly reads (ignore the fact that it’s March!) two reads following the International Booker, two weird girl reads, a queer Irish audiobook, and an upcoming @sceptrebooks.bsky.social by @wednesdayerskin.bsky.social — BRILLIANT
my hand is holding Alice Franklin’s Life Hacks for a Little Alien, Lucy Rose’s The Lamb, Wendy Erskine’s The Benefactors, Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume, Saou Ichikawa’s Hunchback. the background is bookshelvesa graphic showing Sunbhrn by Chloe’s Howarth’s cover. top right reads Libro.fm and top left reads My listening supports Argonaut Books
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The Booker Prizes @thebookerprizes.com · 25/02/2025
Presenting the #InternationalBooker2025 longlist. Find out more about all the books, authors and translators: thebookerprizes.com/ibp2025
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The Booker Prizes @thebookerprizes.com · 25/02/2025
From fresh voices to a fifth-time nominee, here's everything you need to know about the #InternationalBooker2025 longlist. thebookerprizes.com/IBP2025longl...
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Hodder & Stoughton @hodderbooks.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Published today, #BetweenTwoRivers by @moudhy.bsky.social breathes new life into the stories left behind when the people of ancient Mesopotamia began writing things down for the very first time... ✨ Get your copy here: lnk.to/BetweenTwoRivers
A hardback copy of Between Two Rivers laid against a map of ancient Mesopotamia
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
thrilled to be joining the 2025 committee of Hachette’s Pride network as secretary and Edinburgh office rep 🌈
a list of faces and names under ‘Meet the 2025 Pride Committee’
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Sceptre Books @sceptrebooks.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Kicking off our #SceptreSalon25 by remembering our amazing 2024 publishing with @mrfeditor.bsky.social, before looking ahead at some of the fantastic books ahead 📚
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
pics from Sceptre Salon! we heard from the wildly talented authors on their 2025 list, including superstars below: @wednesdayerskin.bsky.social, @jennymustard.bsky.social, @gabrielflynn.bsky.social, @arifa.bsky.social, @elfodongo.bsky.social & @jennashworth.bsky.social @sceptrebooks.bsky.social
a dark room with chairs facing a screen which reads ‘welcome to Sceptre Salon 2025’ followed by social media handles and hashtagsLeah Davis sits across from Gabriel Flynn and Leon Craig in front of a screen bearing their names and pictures of their books, Poor Ghost! and The DecadenceWendy Erskine stands in front of a screen bearing her name and a picture of her books, The BenefactorsLeah Davis sits across from James Cahill and Jenny Mustard in front of a screen bearing their names and pictures of their books, The Violet Hour and What a Time to Be Alive
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Laura Jones-Rivera @laurafjones.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
The Creative Scotland Multi-Year Funding outcome is here and relieved to see some familiar faces continuing to be supported: www.creativescotland.com/news-stories...
creativescotland.com
Multi-Year Funding Outcome Announcement
A record number of cultural organisations to receive stable, year-on-year funding to deliver culture and creativity for Scotland’s people.
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
storm Éowyn caused a power cut in the East Neuk of Fife — there’s worse ways to spend a friday evening, i guess 💙📚
solvej balle’s ‘on the calculation of volume’ sits on a table surrounded by two candles and a glass of red wine
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
mega exciting book post from @faberbooks.bsky.social 📙 Tara Selter has slipped out of time — with nobody believing her, she is approaching her 365th morning of waking up on the 18th of November Barbara J. Haveland translates the first in the septology from Danish can’t wait to dive in !
my hand is holding a proof copy of Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume. the wall in the background has printing on it saying Hachette Edinburgh my hand is holding a proof copy of Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume. the wall in the background has printing on it saying Hachette Edinburgh
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
this *excellent* book published yesterday horror/thriller about a crime scene cleaner — whose sister was murdered by a man calling her a ‘bat eater’ — uncovering a serial killer targeting East Asian women. oh, and it’s got hungry ghosts! femgore at its finest!
my hand is holding a copy of Kylie Lee Baker’s Bat Eater with bookshelves behind it
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
this is really brilliant - independent publishers have the opportunity to gain funding to run traineeships! hoping to see lots of regional publishers or publishers in Scotland/Wales/Ireland securing this funding 🤞
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
One of my favorite parts of Ministry for the Future was the abolition of the billionaires. Just to be that rich makes you an enemy of democracy. Wrote early this year:
Let me put it this way: if you made $10,000 a week – a princely sum by the standards of most people – you would have to work every week from the year of Jesus’s birth until this week to earn over a billion dollars. To earn as much as Elon Musk’s net worth at that rate – currently $180bn, according to Forbes – you’d have to work every week for more than a third of a million years – that is, since before Homo sapiens first emerged in Africa.

Being a billionaire is arguably a disqualification for participating in the affairs of ordinary people
Another way to put it is: one day last year, walking on San Francisco’s western edge, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, I saw whales spouting, and then I came home and rescued a bee buzzing at my window. The extremely disparate scale of these two wild creatures impressed me, and so I did the sums: a honeybee weighs about 0.11 grams and 4,000 bees weigh a pound; a grey whale weighs between 60,000 and 90,000 pounds, meaning that, even at the lower weight, it weighs about as much as a quarter of a billion bees. According to Oxfam, 81 billionaires hold more wealth than the poorest half of all humanity, meaning that in monetary terms 81 people are bigger than 4 billion people. So when it comes to wealth and impact, billionaires are whales and poor people are bees. Except that whales aren’t a menace to bees.
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Louie Stowell @louiestowell.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
You: slouching towards bethlehem to be born. Me: crawling towards the christmas holidays to watch Doctor Who
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
flicking through some of It's Nice That's articles of the year and this one stopped me in my tracks www.itsnicethat.com/features/jer...
itsnicethat.com
“Art is a way of saying the unsayable”: Jeremy Deller and John Costi on curating an exhibition by people in prison
Koestler Arts is a charity that supports those in criminal justice settings, and each year it hosts an exhibition of prisoner-made art. Here, the artists Jeremy Deller and John Costi discuss their rel...
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
this was insanely good. motherhood, friendship, modern womanhood — and the pain that accompanies them in the first half i was cackling aloud but by halfway through i was holding back tears and racing through it i don’t think i can accurately do this book justice… READ IT, READ IT!!!!
the front cover of a proof copy of Holly Bourne’s So Thrilled for You the back cover of a proof copy of Holly Bourne’s So Thrilled for You
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Lighthouse - Edinburgh's Radical Bookshop @lighthousebks.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
‘The children are always ours’ - James Baldwin *ALL* kids deserve life, a future and a present, childhoods and adolescence and adulthoods shaped by love, marked by joy, and full of possibility. But our government doesn’t think that’s true for trans kids. 1/3
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
this was insanely good. motherhood, friendship, modern womanhood — and the pain that accompanies them in the first half i was cackling aloud but by halfway through i was holding back tears and racing through it i don’t think i can accurately do this book justice… READ IT, READ IT!!!!
the front cover of a proof copy of Holly Bourne’s So Thrilled for You the back cover of a proof copy of Holly Bourne’s So Thrilled for You
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404 Ink @404ink.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
Last few days to take advantage of this!
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
sped through the first third of this on the train from Edinburgh to London… Holly Bourne’s latest novel is FIIIIRE* *not a spoiler if it happens on the first page!
a copy of Holly Bourne’s So Thrilled for You lies on a bedsheet
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Institute for Palestine Studies @palestinestudies.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
One year since Israel killed Refaat Alareer in Gaza. The poet & professor moved millions with his writing and defiance of the Israeli occupation. Yousef Aljamal honors his memory in the Journal of Palestine Studies. doi.org/10.1080/0377...
Gaza’s storyteller, connected many in Gaza to the world beyond siege. In return, the world of these young people changed forever on December 6, 2023, when Israel assassinated Refaat.

Yousef M. Aljamal for the Journal of Palestine Studies Vol. 53 no. 2

Refaat Alareer (1979-2023)
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
a ghostwriter sexually harassed by an author, a publicist sexually harassed by another. how many people in publishing have been forced to suffer harassment and abuse at the hands of famous authors? www.thebookseller.com/news/masterc...
thebookseller.com
MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace's ghostwriter accuses him of 'sexually harassing' her
Shannon Kyle, the ghostwriter behind Gregg Wallace’s Life On A Plate: The Autobiography (Orion), has claimed that the MasterChef presenter sexually harassed her.
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
i want to gobble and munch and lick all these up
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
i’m going home for *checks notes* three days… clearly have a GoodReads goal i’m trying to hit with my slimmest books 💙📚 (75 pages left of The Outrun and i don’t want it to end)
a stack of books: Tanaka Mhishi’s Sons and Others, Jeanette Winterson’s Love, Jon Fosse’s A Shining, Savannah Brown’s Closer Baby Closer, Jenni Fagan’s Hex, Lola Olufemi’s Experiments in Imagining Otherwise, and Amy Liptrot’s The Outrun
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
having reached demographic parity in 2023, it is very disappointing to see that BPOC presence in the industry has dipped. instead of focusing on hiring BPOC workers, the industry must take better care of BPOC workers already within it to see permanent change www.thebookseller.com/news/publish...
thebookseller.com
Publishers Association report reveals 'disappointing drop' in ethnic minority representation within industry
A report by the Publishers Association (PA) has revealed that "ethnic minority" representation fell by 2% in 2024, with a decline in the numbers of Asian and British Asian staff.
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Sceptre is here!! and with such wonderful news 💙📚
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Emma Cowing @emmacowing.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
The ✨spectacular✨ cover reveal for THE SHOW WOMAN, my debut novel about the first all-female circus act. Set in Edwardian Scotland it’s a story about unconventional women and family secrets, for fans of The Whalebone Theatre & The Greatest Showman. Available for preorder, and to request on NetGalley
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
the cover. the premise. CAN’T DEAL !!!!
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James Ashe @jamesashestudio.com · 01/12/2024
It’s World AIDS Day, we hear of the stories of loved ones that were lost. I was approached by Somewhere: For Us, a LGBTQ+ magazine in Scotland to illustrate the cover story of the AIDS hospice Milestone House, and its significance in Scottish LGBTQ+ history. Case study coming soon #illustration
Screenshot from Somewhere: For Us’s instagram post highlighting James’ magazine cover. It is for their Winter 2024 edition. It is about the AIDS hospice Milestone House in Edinburgh.

The artwork is directly inspired by the AIDS quilt movement, each square represents the history of Milestone House. From a red ribbon with ‘#GetToZero’ written underneath it, a fox sleeping underneath leaves in the colours of the Pride flag, a guestbook Princess Diana signed in 1991 for Waverley Care, a statue of two people hugging, the sun under a blue sky, the symbol of Undetectable = Untransmittable, the words Love and Loss, in the centre is Milestone House itself. The illustration has been made to look like an AIDS quilt, each panel is stitched together, and has different shades and textures to make it look tactile.
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
vital work done by CLPE shedding light on how far short our industry falls on diversity and representation for children — very far, the worst in years
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Janelle McCurdy @janellemccurdy.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
Disappointing, but sadly not surprising. During the 2020 BLM movement, there was an obvious uptick, but of course, unless publishers support Black authors (and other ethnic minorities) long term, it often feels like it's all just "for show" despite good intentions, resulting in this downward spiral
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
Black Friday is coming up. i will sort Christmas presents and i will not buy myself any books. i will sort Christmas presents and i will not buy myself any books. i wwwwiillll nnnoooot b-b-bBUY MYSELF any BOOKS
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
some more @404ink.bsky.social greatness to add to the collection ! love a wonky book™ sale 💙📚
the user’s hand is holding a copy of Zara Rahman’s Machine Readable Me and the collection of essays named Nasty Women. in the background are other books by the same publisher: Carrie Kills a Man, Gathering, The Appendix, We’re Falling Through Space, and Sons and Others
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
cosplayed as a publicist last night! helped superstar @readeatretreat.bsky.social hosting Scottish booksellers meeting Callie Hart, author of Quicksilver just look at those endpapers!!
a photo of a room in a pub. there are many glasses on the bar and, in the background, a large stack of Hodder & Stoughton branded totes filled with booksCallie Hart’s Quicksilver on a tablethe inside cover of a book. the copy reads ‘the devil is in the details…’
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Kate Keehan @readeatretreat.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
What a week promoting Quicksilver with superstar author Callie Hart! We’ve been to the warehouse to sign 1000s of copies, recorded a BRILLIANT event with Fane, and made jewellery with just some of the amazing bookish community that have supported this title. So much more to come next week!
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
research call out for writers who have submitted an unpublished work to a literary prize:
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Alycia Pirmohamed @alycia.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
Today is publication day for 'this too is a glistening' (Bitter Melon Press) by me, Pratyusha, Nina Mingya Powles & @jessicajlee.bsky.social 💜 Thanks to @jaygao.bsky.social for this amazing blurb! Last copies of our first print run are avail at bookstores & bittermelon.weebly.com/store/p13/th...
The cover of this too is a glistening on a blue-purple-pink gradient background. The cover is a cyanotype of two leaves. The cover is printed in bright pink. These fieldnotes burst through with vivid and slow time. Gleamingly suffused with an architecture - an ecotecture - of small details, this accretion of textures and feelings meditatively render what it means to sense oneself and to sense the other in a world made different. - Jay Gao
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
the Hachette Edinburgh office had our Christmas party last night! 🎀🎄 i’ll not be moonlighting as a candle decorator any time soon, but it was a load of fun
a table covered in crafting materials and candles which are being decorated. tinsel and other christmas ornaments adorn the table the user’s hand is holding a thick white candle decorated with gold stars and christmas trees with gold baubles the user’s hand is holding a thick white candle decorated with red bows and pink hearts
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Kate ✨🐱 but spooky 🎃🍁 @magickitten.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
I’m horrified by Spines but I very much enjoyed the way Matilda has written this piece about their so-called disruption of the publishing industry with a tech-washed pay-to-publish model, especially the lack of sales data 👀 www.thebookseller.com/news/new-pub...
thebookseller.com
New publisher Spines aims to 'disrupt' industry by using AI to publish 8,000 books in 2025 alone
A new publisher has claimed it aims to “disrupt” the books industry by publishing 8,000 books in 2025 alone using artificial intelligence.
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Wild Hunt Books @wildhuntbooks.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Just a reminder that none of us are tech bros (we also have a no AI stealing clause on our copyright page going into 2025). You want to follow some exceptional indie publishing? Start here 👇 *AI not included go.bsky.app/HwjSvKq
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Canongate @canongate.co.uk · 25/11/2024
What's interesting about this trend for book marketing AI companies—who secure £Xmil in seed funding, get a write-up in the Bookseller, and will now wither away, leaving only a slime trail of AI generated goop across the surface of culture—is mainly what it says about capital’s engagement with books
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Wild Hunt Books @wildhuntbooks.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
A shiny new Starter Pack of some of the finest independent publishers from the @indiepressnetwork.bsky.social
go.bsky.app
Indie Press Network Member Presses
Join the conversation
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
at the @lighthousebks.bsky.social Radical BookFair listening to Leah Cowan and Gracie Mae Bradley speaking with Nish Doshi about resisting state violence thinking about abolition as abundance; how the state disciplines imagination; giving power to those at the sharpest edge of state violence
Nish Doshi, Leah Cowan, and Gracie Mae Bradley sit on a stage with a banner for Lighthouse Books behind them
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alex orr 🌷 @alexorr.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
me this whole weekend 📚💙❄️
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