iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Research Society for Victorian Periodicals @rs4vp.org · 26/08/2026

In keeping with the nostalgic turn we've taken this week, the full recordings of our #RSVP2026 Dublin keynotes are now available to stream on our YouTube channel! 🧵 below features direct links to both talks.

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Research Society for Victorian Periodicals @rs4vp.org · 18/08/2026

Our Fall 2026 #RSVPDigiEvent line-up is officially here! 🍂 Check out the graphic below for topics and dates. More info will be forthcoming as each individual event approaches, but you can reserve your spot now by registering here: rs4vp.org/fall-digital...

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Patrick Leary @patrickleary.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

If you work on the 19th-c press and are looking at bills for travel, repro fees, etc., applying for a Curran Fellowship should be a no-brainer. Not a lot of hoops to jump through, and the folks making the decisions are researchers just like you. These are open to anybody, of any age, anywhere. #C19

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Our 18th Annual Conference is now over, and some of you may be staving off the post-VPFA conference depression. Not to worry, because we have JUST the cure: Volume 8, issue 1 of Victorian Popular Fictions Journal 🤩💫 Read it online here: victorianpopularfiction.org/publications...

victorianpopularfiction.org

Table of Contents ArticlesJulia Kuehn and Diane Eveline van den Brink. The Good, the Bad, and the Popular: The Question of a Popular Canon and Other Methodological ContemplationsLinda K. Hughes. Cr…

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Lucie Matthews-Jones @luciejones83.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Thank you to @vpfa.bsky.social for inviting me to give my 1st (pedagogy focused) keynote where I playful thought about What the Victorians Taught Me About Teaching? I focused on creative production, emotion, sociability&wellbeing. I shared some of my students creative work too. #vpfapublics

A lecture theatre environment. Looking onto a PowerPoint screen with a slide that reads What the Victorians Taught Me About Teaching?: Creative Pedagogy in the Classroom. In the front three desks with creative work on them.

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A new regular feature on the VPFA blog: 'On This Day in the Pages of the Victorians'. Emma Butler-Way considers dates in fiction, and periodicals. An entry from everyone's favourite heroine, Marian Halcombe might feature in this post 👀

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Andrew King @andrewkingc19.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

What do we do when we career pivot? That's an increasingly commin phenomenon for academics these days.

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Internet Archive @archive.org · 21/05/2026

Tell publishers to keep the news in the Wayback Machine: www.savethearchive.com/newsleaders/

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Devin Garofalo @devingarofalo.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Please encourage any early career & NTT scholars doing fantastic work on Victorian poetries to submit to @victorianpoetry.bsky.social ‘s 2026 Early Career Prize — more info in the thread (have not had enough coffee, text of the call is embedded in a reply to the post linked below)!

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Daniel Grey @djrgrey.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Reminder - just 5 days left to submit a paper proposal for "Belonging to the Victorians? Community, Collections, and Care", a 1-day conference on 4 September 2026 to be held at Wilton's Music Hall. Details in attached image. 🌟

Call for Papers for conference "Belonging to the Victorians? Community, Collections and Care" on 4 September 2026 - deadline 22 May 2026.

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Victorian Poetry @victorianpoetry.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Victorian Poetry invites submissions for its 2026 Early Career Prize. Please share far and wide! More info in the image / alt-text. Submissions due 3 August 2026.

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Andrew King @andrewkingc19.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Some time ago I called for reflection on our disciplinary practices and the risks of too automatic and conservative practices: youtu.be/cGxS6H8bflg?...

youtu.be

The Shape of Water Andrew King Colby Acceptance Speech 2018

YouTube video by Andrew King

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Andrew King @andrewkingc19.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Shocking news that the University of Hertfordshire is closing Humanities. Sign the petition here if you care about the place of ethics, creativity and critical reflection in #HigherEducation. c.org/5WwymVxR8G

c.org

Sign the Petition

Save the Humanities at the University of Hertfordshire

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In a new VPFA Blog Post, Helena Esser interviews Roy Reads Anything (@edgerat.bsky.social) about his Neglected Victorian Bestsellers project. There's Marryat, Lytton, Corelli, Ouida, and more! Read the post here: victorianpopularfiction.org/neglected-vi... Roy's YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist...

victorianpopularfiction.org

Neglected Victorian Bestsellers with Roy Reads Anything

Helena Esser interviews Roy Bayfield about the most VPFA book club ever On YouTube, Roy Reads Anything heads up a year-long read-along that will be right up the VPFA members’ alley: We’ve got Marry…

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In a time of fixed-term or zero-hour contracts and uncertainty in HE, come join us as we discuss alternative careers. We'll hear from 3 members working outside academia, and there will be Q&A after! This event is free for VPFA members, so don't forget to check that your membership is up to date.

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Registration is OPEN for our 18th Annual Conference: "Victorians and Their Publics". 🌎Liverpool John Moores University 📅6-8th July, 2026 💸£20-135 (depending on in-person/ student status). To read the full conference programme and to register, head to: victorianpopularfiction.org/vpfa-annual-...

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Andrew King @andrewkingc19.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Been thinking about #critical #creativity/ #creative #criticism recently as alternatives to literary critical essays and decided to set extracts from #Ouida novels to music, and then music video. Here's the first. How successful is it at clarifying her argument here? youtu.be/JSDkZsMKjS4

youtu.be

Characters from Ouida, for Voice and String Quartet. 1 Bebee and the Sun

YouTube video by Andrew King

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Research Society for Victorian Periodicals @rs4vp.org · 03/03/2026

More exciting VPR news!

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Research Society for Victorian Periodicals @rs4vp.org · 21/01/2026

Did you read or review a great new book on #19thC periodical studies? Was it published in the last year? If yes, nominate it for a Colby Book Prize! We're still accepting nominations through 31 January. [NB: For tax reasons, authors *cannot* self-nominate.] More info here:

buff.ly

The Robert and Vineta Colby Scholarly Book Prize – RSVP

The Colby Book Prize was endowed in 2006 in memory of Robert Colby by his wife, Vineta Colby, distinguished scholars and long-time members of RSVP. In 2011, following Vineta’s death, the Board of…

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Romance, Revolution & Reform @rrrjournal.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

It's here! We are delighted to announce that Issue 8 of the RRR Journal, Play in the Long Nineteenth Century, is available to read now at the link below. We can't wait to hear your thoughts on these brilliant articles! www.rrrjournal.com/issue/8

rrrjournal.com

Issue 8: Play in the Long Nineteenth Century

Issue 8 of Romance, Revolution and Reform.

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Research Society for Victorian Periodicals @rs4vp.org · 23/12/2025

Happy Holidays from RSVP! Our gift 🎁 to you is the debut of a new interview series, starting with @patrickleary.bsky.social, who sat down with @c19thnewshound.bsky.social this past year to discuss "Getting Started with Periodicals Research." Stay tuned for more in 2026! rs4vp.org/introducing-...

rs4vp.org

Introducing A New Interview Series – RSVP

We're launching a new series of interviews of senior RSVP members, who will discuss their advice for researching 19th-century periodicals.

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Gwent Archives @gwentarchives.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

Merry Christmas from all of us here at Gwent Archives! One of our favourite items in our collection, is a set of Victorian Christmas cards. Turn your phones and screen to uncover a twist with this particular card!

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Amnesty International UK @amnestyuk.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

The arrest of Greta Thunberg for peacefully opposing genocide and supporting those on hunger strike is wrongful and disturbing. This is yet another shocking example of the UK’s broad terrorism laws being used to target those exercising their right to freedom of expression and assembly rights.

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Submissions for the VPFA First Book Prize are now OPEN! Deadline is 31st December 2025. For full eligibility criteria and submission guidelines, go to: victorianpopularfiction.org/vpfa-book-pr...

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Excited to announce that the VPFA blog has launched! Thanks to Emma Butler-Way for her hard work in getting it ready for today, for more information check out the blog at the link below: victorianpopularfiction.org/the-vpfa-blog/

victorianpopularfiction.org

The VPFA Blog

The VPFA Blog Welcome to the VPFA Blog! Here we will have ponderings, reflections, speculative readings, and more, for the reading pleasure of our fellow Victorianists. If you would like to submit …

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Anna @annaulrika75.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Don't miss my account of what it was like for a first-timer at this summer's #vpfaextremes conference. A very exciting read indeed ;-)

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Becca @beccalham.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

I have written a Blog Post for @vpfa.bsky.social about my time at @chawtonhouse.bsky.social as a Visiting Fellow! To read about the value of organisations like Chawton House to scholarly associations like VPFA, and an amusing snippet from a woman's diary: victorianpopularfiction.org/in-which-i-s...

victorianpopularfiction.org

In Which…I Spent a Month at Chawton House!

A reflection by Rebecca HamiltonI spent the entire month of August feeling as though I were a character in a Jane Austen’s novel, in the very place Jane Austen wrote all her major novels: Chawton. …

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A reminder to get your abstracts in for VPFA's next upcoming Study Day, organised by Anne-Marie Beller: 'Sensation Fiction and the Health Humanities: A VPFA Study Day'. Email a.m.beller@lboro.ac.uk for any additional information.

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Dr Anne-Marie Beller FRHistS @braddonite.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

Send me your abstracts for Sensation Fiction and the Health Humanities #VPFA #HealthHumsLboro

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Another VPFA Study Day: 'The Critical Age in Victorian Popular Literature' ❓literary representations of the (peri-) menopause 🌏 online 📅 19th May 2026 💰 free for VPFA Members/ £5 for non-members Send proposals (250) to jessica.cox@brunel.ac.uk and siobhan.smith@tees.ac.uk by 19th February 2026

This one-day symposium seeks to explore representations of the ‘critical age’ – the (peri-)
menopause – in Victorian popular literature. The peri-menopausal and menopausal
experiences of Victorian women have to date been overlooked or underrepresented in
scholarly discussions of the period. Victorian popular literature, from novels to periodicals
to advice books, provided an essential forum for discussing and shaping the public
understanding of women’s bodies, even as much of it sought to obscure the female body.
The (peri-) menopausal experience was often framed in terms of illness, excess, and
degeneration, or, conversely, was relegated to silence. Women at the ‘critical age’ are
frequently marginalised and associated with a range of negative stereotypes in literary and
cultural narratives. This call for papers invites exploration of how this phase of women’s lives
was constructed in the Victorian imagination, in medical discourses and advice literature,
and in women’s lived experiences.
We invite 20-minute papers exploring any aspect of the critical age in Victorian popular
literature. Topics for exploration include but are not limited to:
• Representations of the critical age in Victorian popular fiction
• The medicalisation of (peri-) menopause
• Cultural constructions of middle-aged women
• Class and (peri-) menopause
• (Peri-) Menopause in Victorian advice literature
• Motherhood and (peri-) menopause
• Experiences of the critical age in Victorian women’s life writing
• Myths and popular misconceptions

The event will also include a Digital Humanities Research Skills Workshop, with an emphasis
on making digital methods more accessible. We invite short papers or workshop proposals
that showcase how digital tools can be used to research women and their bodies in
Victorian literature. Possible topics include data creation/cleaning/visualisations, textual,
quantitative or statistical analysis, using AI or specific tools (such as Voyant or Power BI).

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Siobhan-Michelle Smith @smdsmith.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

I'm thrilled to be co-organising this study day next year. Please consider submitting an abstract and joining us in this important and fascinating conversation about women's (peri-) menopause in Victorian literature

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This is the first of many Member Spotlights. We want to make this a fortnightly series, where we highlight any achievements of our Members, because YOU are the heart and soul of VPFA. Email vpfamedia@gmail.com with any achievements and a photo of yourself and we will be delighted to share.

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MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: Helena Esser. Helena's book, Ouida, was a runner up in our Second Book Prize. It has recently been reviewed by Professor Sara Murphy on The Victorian Web: www.victorianweb.org/authors/ouid... Esser runs VPFA Blog, and she serves on the committee for VPFA's Third Sex Reading Group

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: Helena Esser. Helena has been a loyal VPFA member since 2018. She runs the VPFA Blog, and she serves on the committee for VPFA's Third Sex Reading Group, making all of the fantastic reading packs many of you know and love. As some of you may already know, Helena's book, Ouida, was a runner up in our Second Book Prize. It has recently been reviewed by Professor Sara Murphy on The Victorian Web, and we wanted to highlight Helena's book and this wonderful review. Murphy writes: "this book constitutes a valuable contribution as both an introduction and, with its extensive bibliography, a provocation to further research. Esser's volume not only takes us on a tour, more or less chronological, of a long and prolific career, but also opens up important ways in which popular fiction — an appellation that, as Esser points out, Ouida would have protested — helps us tell an important and under-recognized story of the nineteenth-century literary field".
Read the full review here: https://lnkd.in/dWvnCz_g

If you love this book, might we recommend you also read her book Steampunk London: Neo-Victorian Urban Space and Popular Transmedia Memory?

This is the first of (hopefully) many Member Spotlights to come. We want to make this a fortnightly series, where we highlight any achievements of our Members, because YOU are the heart and soul of VPFA. So if you have anything you want us to highlight or broadcast - whether that be a publication, a review, a fellowship, or ANYTHING - please get in touch with us at vpfamedia@gmail.com with details and a photo of yourself and we will be delighted to share.

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We are Study Day MAD: 'The Victorian Short Story: Influence, Innovation, and Legacy'. 🌏 Online 📅 19th April 2026 💰 Fee for non-members Full CfP: victorianpopularfiction.org/the-victoria... Send abstracts (250-300) for 20-min papers and bio (50) to VPFAconference@gmail.com by 20/12/25

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

I had some thoughts (and many emotions) about the new Frankenstein film, so wrote this review for the VPFA Blog @vpfa.bsky.social Philomena Cunk memes: a major part of the review, or a side thought? You'll have to read it to find out... victorianpopularfiction.org/frankenstein...

victorianpopularfiction.org

Frankenstein (2025); or, the Adaptation Shelley Deserves

A review by Emma Butler-WayEvery interview that I saw snippets of suggested to me that Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein was going to be quite something; this was a director and a cast who cl…

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Please give Emma's wonderful blog post about Guillermo del Torro's Frankenstein a read. Let us know your thoughts, did you enjoy the film? What did you like and dislike? Even if it deviated from the book, did it, as Emma says, still keep its 'soul'?

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Just a reminder that the deadline for our First Book Prize is coming up (31 December). Full submission guidelines are in the original post - we'd love to see your entry!

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Victorian Periodicals Review is hiring an Associate Editor! Send a 1 page letter detailing interest and qualifications and 1 page CV to katherine.malone@sdstate.edu by Monday, December 15, 2025 @rs4vp.org

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CfP for VPFA's 18th Annual Conference is now live and the topic is 'Victorians and their Publics'. To read the CfP and full submission guidelines online, please head to: victorianpopularfiction.org/vpfa-annual-....

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Join us for our final Virtual Tea Salon of 2025! Continue the festivities by networking with fellow Victorianists. Christmas attire and festive drinks encouraged! ☃️❄️

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To be featured in the Member Spotlight series to showcase your research or any achievements, please email vpfamedia@gmail.com with a photo of yourself and details of what you would like shared.

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MEMBER SPOTLIGHT! 🔦 : Milly Harrison. Milly has been a VPFA member since 2021. Her thesis, 'Deviant Cartographies', examines how British Weird fiction allowed late-Victorian authors to explore deviant masculinity. Harrison recently published in Gothic Studies: www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/...

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Reminder to sign up for our Christmas Virtual Tea Salon!! Why not take the opportunity of some time off by talking with like minded people?

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The London Journal @thelondonjournal.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Reminder: If you're a postgraduate student or early career researcher working on London as a scholarly subject, do submit an expression of interest! And even if not, do spread the word!

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