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Andy Kesson

@andykesson.bsky.social
390 followers 513 following 101 posts

Research, performance, history, creativity, wrestling and a lot of bears.

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Simon Jackson @sjjackson32.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
A new post over on Substack: Edmund Spenser, Epithalamion, and some change-ringing refrains voiceandverse.substack.com/p/the-woods-...
voiceandverse.substack.com
“The woods shall to me answer and my Eccho ring”
Echoes, Refrains and Reverberation in Spenser
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Emma Smith @oldfortunatus.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Tickets now on sale for Stratford Literary Festival www.stratfordliteraryfestival.co.uk/events - recommend the values as well as the programme of this small festival, using income from author events for community reading, schools, and prison work
stratfordliteraryfestival.co.uk
Events Page
Stratford-upon-Avon Literary Festival is an exciting mixture of debate, ideas, celebrity author events, workshops and humour. We run in Spring and Autumn.
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Mark Williams @mrfw17thc.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
It's real, and due out in March! 'Imaginative Pasts', which has been a joy to edit with Tracey Loughran, aims to reckon - and play - with the role of the imagination in historical research and writing. #skystorians #earlymodern manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526187154/
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Francesca Brooks @francescabrooks.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Wonderful to see this collection - 'Beyond Medieval Archives: rethinking the medieval archive through creative & critical practice' - which I've edited with Carl Kears, up on the @uclpress.bsky.social website & with a pub. date! You can learn more about the chapters: uclpress.co.uk/book/beyond-...
uclpress.co.uk
Beyond Medieval Archives
Beyond Medieval Archives hopes to open the field of medieval studies to more diverse, dynamic and innovative forms of creativity, criticism, publication and collective action in response to the resona...
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Andy Kesson @andykesson.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Tragic to think how few whales will have had the opportunity to read Moby Dick due to basic accessibility issues. 1) English-to-whale translation not yet that advanced; 2) flipper-to-page ratio; 3) omg, that book is getting soggy.
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Nettlecake @nettlecake.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Brilliant letter from Stuart Thompson to Jeremy Clarkson about his comments that benefit claimants should write weekly thank you letters to tax payers detailing how they spend their benefits each week.
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will pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Some historical background to the fires in southwestern France, drawing on reading I did for my 2019 book about the moorlands, and lamenting the deeply depressing reality that we have known many of the causes of this ecological disaster for 150years 🗃️ williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2026/07/30/u...
williamgpooley.wordpress.com
Unintentional Arson
The fires in southwestern France are an appalling demonstration of the reality of climate change in 2026. But this is not the first ecological devastation in the region, and the role of human actio…
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Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Puck: give me your hands ❤️ #MoonMad www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... My 8th #SlowShakespeare blog since 2018, DONE. A last magical image of Puck (Rosie Sheehy) @the-rsc.bsky.social Dream 2024. Of all the versions I've included, the 2 that have resonated most have been Brook 1970 & Noble 1994.
A photograph of a play in performance. On a very dimly lit stage, with haze, a person is standing wearing dark trousers and boots, with a pale shirt and red braces. Their arms are outstretched to the side and they're looking up at an enormous cluster of blue-lit orbs of various sizes. It looks magical. A photograph of a play in performance. In a white box set, four people are lounging asleep in swings hanging from the ceiling; they wear white and brightly coloured clothes. On the stage, in front of an enormous red feather, a man wearing a white singlet and cloth cap, with black button nose, is leaning against a beautiful woman in a green satin caftan. Other people wearing pale grey silk pyjamas are gathered around. A photograph of a stage set. The background is deep blue and hanging from the lighting rig are lightbulbs that look like drops of gold. There are 5 doorways in the blue backdrop, and the back of the stage is lit red. There is an enormous red umbrella hanging upside down over the stage. It looks magical.
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Andy Kesson @andykesson.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Extremely obsessed with this intervention in the Nolan Odyssey chat
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
It's funny how no-one ever asks where the money is coming from when you announce a cut in immigration.
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STEMMA: Systems of Transmitting Early Modern Manuscript Verse @stemma.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Ink making workshop with @meghankern.bsky.social!
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Andy Kesson @andykesson.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Seems like the one sacking no one is commenting on this morning is the very first one Andy Burnham made: that Podium Guy.
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Elly Robson Dezateux @ellydezateux.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Now I'm back from parental leave, a shout out to my book - Violent Waters: Environmental Politics in Early Modern England - which came out four months after our baby. 🐣 👉 www.cambridge.org/core/books/v...
Elly Dezateux reading Violent Waters with baby on her lap
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Illuminations @illuminations.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Conference reflections Finally, some brief thoughts on The Cultures of Early Television conference a fortnight back. If you attended, do please consider adding your own reactions and suggestions for improvements. www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/conference-r...
illuminationsmedia.co.uk
Conference reflections - Illuminations
John Wyver writes: Just over a fortnight since The Cultures of Early Television wrapped, with much – although far from all – of the admin done, and with the distractions of a weekend in Paris and the ...
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
This, in particular. Increasingly of the view that government policy towards universities is the test case of whether it really has a wider economic policy.
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 03/07/2026
these debates about what the north is, where it starts, etc etc, always remind me of how geographically dinky England is, if you tried to argue with a French person about whether some north/south line is here or 40 miles down they'd look at you like you were an alien I think
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Andy Kesson @andykesson.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Can you imagine the shock in the UK as it discovers today, 250 years too late, that those states across the ocean have declared themselves independent
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Illuminations @illuminations.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
The full, 24-page programme for this week's The Cultures of Early Television conference, with a schedule, abstracts and speaker bios, and further reading, can be downloaded here. Also, a link to sign up - but hurry, there are just a few places left. www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/the-cultures...
illuminationsmedia.co.uk
The Cultures of Early Television programme - Illuminations
John Wyver writes: After months of preparation The Cultures of Early Television conference takes place at Portland Hall in London on Thursday and Friday this week. A University of Westminster conferen...
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Andy Kesson @andykesson.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Pebblehenge
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Excellent comment this. Needs to land.
wonkhe.com
National productivity and wellbeing is the output of our creative capacity
Creative degrees may not attract the largest graduate salaries, but you can't achieve critical national priorities without creative skills. Randall Whittaker and Stephen Farrier make the case for inve...
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will pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Yes to all of this on the ubiquitous doom and gloom about the appalling state of British higher education: “we ought to be building solidarity and acknowledging efforts to hold back the tide”
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Kathleen E. Kennedy @themedievaldrk.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
It! Is! Here! Open Access (and already hoovered up by the scrapers no doubt such is our world) UK/EU paper copies will be available eventually but until then, EVERYONE now has free access! press.library.concordia.ca/projects/ill...
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Sarah Elizabeth Cox @oispooky.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
10 days until DAM and Collections Management for Cultural Heritage 2026! Excited and nervous to be opening the London conference with 'From Archive to Primetime: How One Photograph Transformed Hidden History into Global Impact'. Plus other great speakers! henrystewartconferences.com/events/dam-c...
Photo of Malachi Kirby on TV playing Hezekiah Moscow in A Thousand Blows - a young Black actor in white Victorian boxing tights with fists raised. On the right, the real photo of Hezekiah Moscow which started this whole crazy life.
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Andy Kesson @andykesson.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
It seems to me that we have discovered here is that clocks have an anti-human bias, yet another reason not to trust them
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Sarah Werner @wynkenhimself.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Finally being released in paperback at a great price! global.oup.com/academic/pro...
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 08/06/2026
reading about the May government for a thing and mad, mad, mad that a Conservative Prime Minister said this nine years ago, I hate how much we've lost since then! I hate it so much! www.theguardian.com/society/2017...
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Illuminations @illuminations.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Delighted to unveil the schedule for The Cultures of Early Television, a conference on 2 + 3 July in London. The gathering focuses on television before the Second World War in Britain, continental Europe, the United States and the Soviet Union. www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/the-cultures...
illuminationsmedia.co.uk
The Cultures of Early Television - Illuminations
John Wyver writes: I’m delighted to unveil the schedule for the The Cultures of Early Television, a University of Westminster conference that I am convening on 2 and 3 July at Portland Hall in London....
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
I’m old enough to remember some rightwingers calling out Obama for having an opinion on Brexit, presumably they’ll be shocked by this
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Jack Shoulder @jackshoulder.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Hey, look! Over there! IT'S LOTS OF UPCOMING EVENTS!
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CN Lester 🏳️‍⚧️ @cnlester.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Something beautiful: Saturday 13th June I'll be performing with ILĀ and London Contemporary Voices, creating an immersive, unwinding soundbath. If you're in London that evening then come and escape the ugliness and be held through music. dice.fm/event/nvdwo5...
dice.fm
UN/VEIL Choral Sound Bath Tickets | £10 | 13 Jun @ 160DL studios, London | DICE
Step inside the opening chapter of UN/VEIL. ILĀ invites you to immerse yourself in a sound bath performed by twenty voices from London Contemporary Voices. ...
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Samira Shackle @samirashackle.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Excellent piece by @stephenkb.bsky.social about the Henry Nowak case and what it does/doesn't show about policing www.ft.com/content/aa94...
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Andy Kesson @andykesson.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
After a very ott week of summer-in-spring, we've now moved straight into winter. I've got several layers on, the house lights turned up bright, and what I presume must be a lion and a witch in the wardrobe
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Prof Tracey Hill @tracelarkhall.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Lovely peeps, exciting news! The inestimable @clairejowitt.bsky.social is giving a talk at Founders' Hall on 21st July: this is a great opportunity to visit my livery company hall and experience our warm hospitality. Cost is £70 for which you'll get a superb 3 course dinner and *all* the wine!
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Samira Ahmed @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
My Beatles train is pulling into London on Jun 11.With the ace @danielrachel.bsky.social on board. Tickets (to ride) please!🎸🎥🎬🎶📚 www.tickettailor.com/events/insti...
tickettailor.com
Select tickets – The Long Play Sessions : Samira Ahmed with 'A Hard Day's Night' – ICMP London (Queen's Park Campus)
The Long Play Sessions : Samira Ahmed with 'A Hard Day's Night' – ICMP London (Queen's Park Campus), Thu 11 Jun 2026 - Join us at ICMP’s Queen’s Park campus for a special in‑conversation event with aw...
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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Anyone interested in playhouses and their legacies, please do consider registering for this @saaupdates.bsky.social semina!
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Change can and does happen. Good change. 'Hungary will rejoin the Erasmus student exchange programme “as early as the next academic year” and “phase out” state-linked foundations that have taken control of universities, the European Commission president has announced.' 1/3
timeshighereducation.com
Hungary to rejoin Erasmus and ‘phase out’ university foundations
Ursula von der Leyen and Peter Magyar hail ‘great progress’ as leaders agree to unlock EU funds after Orbán defeat
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Maggie Wiggin @maggie162.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
My god, Octavia Butler, just miss ONCE
 Page from a book saying:

From EARTHSEED: THE BOOKS OF THE LIVING
Choose your Leaders with wisdom and forethought.
To be led by a coward is to be controlled
by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool is to be led
by the opportunists who control the fool.
To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen.
To be led by a liar
is to ask to be told lies.
To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery.
t
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Robert Houghton @robehoughton.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
My book, "The Middle Ages in Computer Games" is out in paperback tomorrow (2 Jun). If you've been waiting to get hold of it, now could be a good time! boydellandbrewer.com/book/the-mid...
The book, "The Middle Ages in Computer Games" by Robert Houghton lying on a wooden desk with a computer keyboard visible.
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Andy Kesson @andykesson.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Ok so at my Greek class this weekend I had to read out loud the word 'geographia' (γεωγραφία) and basically I think something went wrong with that first vowel because my teacher fell about laughing for a bit and then said 'That would be the study of gay people'
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Paul salzman @pjsalzman.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
#earlymodern delighted that this is now out it has been a privilege to work with such fine scholars and a tribute to Betty Hageman who commissioned the volume
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Andy Kesson @andykesson.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Happy publication day to @rentravailer.bsky.social's new book, This Little World: A New History of Tudor and Stuart England. See below for a little thread on the book, including - if you can believe it - surprising English food.
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Mariana J López @marianajlopez.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
On 1st June I'll be presenting a talk titled 'Echoes of the Past: exploring sound heritage' at @school-of-act.bsky.social as part of the @yorkfestofideas.bsky.social. A talk based on my book 'Sonic Pasts'. Free tickets available for in person/online attendance: tftv.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/...
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Emily Vine @emilymayvine.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
This is a brilliant and really friendly regular pub night - I've met so many great people over the years (and discovered so many great historic pubs). Do message Anna if you're interested in dropping in, now or in the future 👇
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Tom Hulme @tomhulme.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Note: relatively stable institution; HAPP's a supportive (even harmonious) School; there's another Ancient History colleague; and pay at Queen's is now relatively high (starting salary is junior; post confirmation-in-post, lecturer starts c. £52k, SL starts c. £66k). www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRP030/l...
jobs.ac.uk
Lecturer in Ancient History at Queen's University Belfast
Looking for a new job opportunity in academia? Check out this job opening for a Lecturer in Ancient History on jobs.ac.uk!
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Illuminations @illuminations.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
80 now revealed, with final 20 to come. Disappointed to discover The Portrait of a Lady only makes it to no 21. Of those listed to date, I have read 33. Lots of great recommendations. www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...
theguardian.com
The 100 best novels of all time
A countdown of the greatest literature ever published in English, as voted for by authors, critics and academics worldwide, 40-21. How many have you read? On Saturday we reveal the full list. What’s n...
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
It’s time for Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and STEMM staff to talk and stand together. We are actually all on the same ship. Stronger and better together.
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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Great to spend morning w Ralph Treswell's 1600s surveys. Amazing to map tiny details of an inn & its yard (like the Crown in Aldgate) & pick up the quirks of London's properties: a shop vs a "fair shop"; "a little Closset hanging into the streete"; "drinking rooms" open.substack.com/pub/shakespe...
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Erika Gaffney @erikagaffney.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
I've just seen that this book is published; looks terrific! Through Arab Eyes Protestantism and Tridentine Catholicism in the Islamic Mediterranean, 1517-1798 by Nabil Matar Series: New Transculturalisms, 1400-1800 link.springer.com/book/9783031...
The front cover visual of a book; feature image is a bronze (?) statue of a seated man, mounted on a plinth outside a stone building.
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The English Association @englishassociation.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
🌻🌟🎉EA Conference (13 June 2026, 10:00 – 18:15)🎉🌟🌻 Come together with colleagues from #primary, #secondary, #further, #higher #education to explore innovations & hot topics in teaching across English #language, #literature, and #creative #writing.Sign up ! englishassociation.ac.uk/ea-conferenc...
englishassociation.ac.uk
EA Conference (13 June 2026, 10:00 - 18:15) | The English Association
We support the teaching, learning, and enjoyment of English at all levels of education, from early years to further and higher education and beyond.
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Andy Kesson @andykesson.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
This looks amazing
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