iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Amongst all of the responses to the news of cuts at Edinburgh, this adds some very important nuance re the teaching of Scottish Literature (which is actually being expanded, NOT cut, and with no Scottish literature courses closing).

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Paul Laity @paullaity.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The Martha Mills Young Writers’ Prize 2026: the Winners! www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/blog/2026/se...

londonreviewbookshop.co.uk

The Martha Mills Young Writers’ Prize 2026: the Winners! | London Review Bookshop

The Martha Mills Young Writers Prize 2026

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

These cuts disproportionately target the arts & humanities: the Business School loses only three courses; the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures loses 48 – many of these are joint degrees, removing the optional breadth of study which has always been one of the appeals of a Scottish degree

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Not sure what to think about this.

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The Centre of African Studies is the only academic institute in Scotland of its kind - with its own budget, space, and leadership - and has produced, and brought to Edinburgh, generations of scholars. The proposal to close ('restructure') it diminishes the university, and Edinburgh, as a whole.

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

This is utterly horrendous for everyone working and studying at University of Brighton, & the community more widely. It also feels like Brighton is the canary in the mine – their unjustifiable 2023 cuts have since been emulated across the sector. Will this removal of workers' rights come for us all?

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Daniel C. Blight @danielcblight.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

***URGENT PLEASE SHARE*** University of Brighton management have announced today that they ‘give notice of termination of all collective agreements’. This is a fundamental erasure of workers' rights. Management have announced the termination of all contractual documents, which includes:

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Jason Haslam @jasonhaslam.ca · 30/08/2026

🧵 It’s great that we’re “attracting talent,” as they say, but where’s the half-billion $ to hire permanently the generations of beyond-excellent, Canadian-trained academics who have been forced into precarious positions by systematic defunding by federal & provincial gov’s for the past 30 years?

thestar.com

Why Ivy League professors are leaving Trump’s U.S. for Canada’s new $541-million research program

AI researchers, Ivy League professors, and at least one winner of the MacArthur “genius” grant will move to Canada from the U.S. with funds from the federal government’s research chair program.

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Never was a book so anticipated (by me). 'You don’t finish “The Disappearers.” It finishes you' – Dwight Garner's review is itself something of a maximalist’s feast and brilliantly conveys the thrill of being completely consumed by a novel.

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Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Parton's legacy as a songwriter, a performer, a personality, and a beacon of warmth and acceptance all make her one of the greatest to have ever done it. But when you add the truly astounding level of her philanthropy...what is there to say? She inspired decency and shamed the wicked. All hail.

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Alex Zalben @azalben.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Dolly Parton, among a thousand other amazing things she did in her life, gifted over 330 million books to kids through her Imagination Library program. Her passing is a tremendous loss to the world, but you can support the program today to keep it going imaginationlibrary.com

imaginationlibrary.com

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library | USA, UK, IE, CA, AU

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free books to children from birth until they begin school in participating areas.

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Alex Zalben @azalben.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Here's the official announcement of Parton's passing from her reps, along with the request that in lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to be made to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library at www.imaginationlibrary.com

NASHVILLE, TN (August 25, 2026) – Global icon and humanitarian, Dolly Parton, known to the world as a beloved singer, songwriter, philanthropist, actress, playwright, and author died peacefully today in Nashville, Tennessee. She was 80 years old.

Dolly is preceded in death by her beloved husband of 59 years Carl Thomas Dean (1942 – 2025), her mother Avie Lee Caroline Owens (1923 – 2003), and father, Robert Lee Parton, Sr. (1921 – 2000).

A rhinestone life that shone bright enough for the world to see, Dolly will forever stand as an inspiration not only through her timeless music and prolific songwriting, but also her wit, warmth, and kindness that made us all feel like family. Dolly Parton’s legacy is one of love, compassion, and resilience. With a seven-decade career, she inspired multiple generations of artists and fans with her music and an unwavering commitment to making the world a better place. Her songs will continue to resonate with people of all ages, and her philanthropic work will have a lasting impact.

At Dolly’s request, a small, private service will be held for immediate family. Dolly’s fans and friends from around the world are encouraged to pay tribute to Dolly on social media by tagging @DollyParton or by leaving a message at www.dollyparton.com.

In lieu of flowers the family asks for donations to be made to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library at www.imaginationlibrary.com.

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

I’m not sure I want to live in a world without Dolly in it 💔💔💔 I still remember first hearing her voice when I was a toddler (Love is Like a Butterfly on a scratchy tape) and declaring my love for her – and I have loved her ever since. We are so lucky to have had her with us.

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

The latest issue of Bim is out & is typically rich and wide in scope, with wonderful archival material, & much new exciting work, both critical & creative. I'm also very pleased to see my review of Alison Donnell's recent Lost and Found: An A to Z of of Neglected Writers of the Anglophone Caribbean.

bimmag.org

Current Issue | BIM Magazine Online

BIM Mag Worldwide

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

It is still very unreal to see this, but I am so pleased to have Leverhulme ECF funding that will allow me to continue this research on Jamaican and Caribbean literary and intellectual history over the next few years– I'm really looking forward to participating in ongoing conversations in this area!

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Leverhulme Trust @leverhulme.ac.uk · 21/08/2026

Leverhulme Early Career Fellow @annagirling.bsky.social’s project @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social will allow us to reimagine colonially inflected genealogies of cosmopolitanism, aestheticism and Caribbean literary history. www.flipsnack.com/leverhulmetr...

flipsnack.com

‘The most cosmopolitan country on Earth’: cosmopolitanism, aestheticism and Jamaican literary culture in the mid-twentieth century

Anna Girling’s project will develop the first complete account of Jamaican ‘cosmopolitan worldmaking’

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Don't trust the cover - this is actually the Alan Hollinghurst on Ronald Firbank issue of the LRB: 'Firbank’s apparently unnaturalistic technique crystallises something about our apprehension and construal of real life, as the mind’s eye adjusts to the mystery of others’ thoughts and motivations.'

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Dr Chiara Bullen @chiarab.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

It was a proper dream come true moment at my sold out launch event in Glasgow on Tuesday!! I could not have asked for a better way to launch The Inn at the Foot of Mount Vengeance ♥️🏔️ I'm so grateful to everyone who came and picked up a copy!

A crowd of about 100 people in the Waterstones Sauchiehall Street Cafe. There are large windows and fairylights. At the front is a stage with two seated speakers, and a large screen behind them.

I am sitting on the Waterstones stage. There is a Waterstones banner next to me and a copy of my book on a table on the other side. I am wearing a black dress, docs, and am holding a microphone.

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Shawn Micallef @shawnmicallef.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Writers against fascism & Franco. Great thread.

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

The news of brutal cuts to the Arts and Humanities at Exeter and elsewhere highlights the self-destructive nature of the ´strategies’ being pursued across UK HE. Exeter’s English Dept was rated the best research unit in English in the country in RAE 2008. 1/4

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Ben Phillips @benphillips1989.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

A statement from Exeter UCU branch @ucu.org.uk - please share far and wide.

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

They would care if it was Oxbridge, but Oxford and Cambridge (both astronomically over-represented in UK politics, media, civil service) are thriving unchanged. What seems to us like the torching of a sector, the foreclosing of myriad futures, must seem like a puff of smoke on a distant horizon...

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Please apply, share, tell your students: four Edith Wharton Society essay/research awards, deadline 30th July: Elsa Nettels Prize for a Beginning Scholar; Award for Archival Research; UG Research Prize; Carole Shaffer-Koros Mid-Career Scholar Award edithwhartonsociety.wordpress.com/2026/06/13/c...

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Ewan Gibbs @ewangibbs.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

I spoke to @scotsman.com about social class as a dominant inequality which rarely speaks its name in Scottish politics. Holyrood is dominated by a professional polo class and has failed to meet the trade union movement’s hopes for a ‘workers’ parliament’.

scotsman.com

Is social class Holyrood's hidden inequality?

A new study shines a harsh light on the Scottish Parliament’s class representation

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Hot birds, cold beer – just as Virginia would have wanted.

Awning reading Hot Chicks, Cold Beer next to blue plaque for Virginia Woolf and Leonard Woolf.

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Jo Grady @drjogrady.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Nearly half of our universities are forecasting deficits. Institutions across the country are closing departments and issuing redundancy notices. The government don’t yet consider this a crisis. How many more jobs must be lost before ministers act?

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ucustandrews.bsky.social @ucustandrews.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

URGENT - UCU St Andrews Member - Antonis Vradis is on the Qannir La Cirena boat in the Global Summid Flotilla which has been intercepted by Israel Contact your MP and MSP Contact the Principal Please share

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

It will have taken at least a decade between 72 people being killed at Grenfell by 'systematic dishonesty' and anyone even facing the possibility of being held accountable. It's not even a case of justice delayed, but justice infinitely postponed - Hillsborough all over again.

Grenfell Next of Kin said: “The criminal investigation and justice process should always have come first and been given priority. Instead, the £172m public inquiry was prioritised ahead of criminal accountability and delayed our justice.

“That decision is the central reason criminal accountability has been delayed for so many years and why justice for the Grenfell community continues to be denied.”

Grenfell United, which represents survivors and bereaved families, said: “For our community, this is not news we meet with celebration. We meet it with caution, grief and determination. We have waited almost a decade for accountability.”

The Grenfell inquiry concluded in 2024 that at the heart of the tragedy was the “systematic dishonesty” of multimillion-dollar companies whose products caused the fire to spread so rapidly.

Grenfell United said: “The Ministry of Justice and the government must ensure the courts are properly resourced so that any prosecutions linked to Grenfell are heard swiftly. Justice delayed any further would be unacceptable.”

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Actually, SHAPE subjects cross-subsidise STEM subjects in most comprehensive UK universities annually through differential central charge or 'contribution' models. It's another reason we're all in the current HE crisis together, whether our own particular discipline is 'at risk' at present or not.

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Fraser MacDonald @frasermacdonald.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

I witnessed this from the public gallery. The weight and pain in the Assembly Hall were palpable. Moving responses from Jamaican, Nigerian and Ghanaian churches.

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University of Nottingham UCU branch @uonucu.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Tell me- if you need to let 2700 of your employees know that they are in danger of being fired, does that means you are good or bad at running your university? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

University of Nottingham puts 2,700 staff at risk of redundancy

The University of Nottingham says it is facing "significant financial challenges".

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Brilliant to see Rowena Kennedy-Epstein on this list for a biography of Muriel Rukeyser - it will be amazing, I know (and unbelievable to think that it will be the first biography of the endlessly fascinating, and relevant, Rukeyser)

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Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

This should be a scandal, but the government response seems a collective shrug.

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Langston Hughes's Popular Front bacchanal, 'Chant for May Day' (1938): Be like the flowers... Life is everywhere for you, When the sap of your own strength rises Life is everywhere. May Day!

Chant for May Day
To be read by a Workman with, for background, the rhythmic waves of rising and re-rising Mass Voices, multiplying like the roar of the sea.
WORKER:
10 VOICES:
20 VOICES:
40 VOICES:
50 VOICES:
WORKER:
10 VOICES:
20 VOICES:
40 VOICES:
50 VOICES:
WORKER:
10 VOICES:
10 OTHERS:
10 OTHERS:
10 OTHERS:
50 VOICES:
WORKER:
50 VOICES
10 VOICES:
20 VOICES:
40 VOICES:
50 VOICES:
WORKER:
20 VOICES:
40 VOICES:
60 VOICES:
8o VOICES:
100 VOICES:
The first of May:
When the flowers break through the earth, When the sap rises in the trees, When the birds come back from the South.
Workers:
Be like the flowers,
Bloom in the strength of your unknown power,
Grow out of the passive carth, Grow strong with Union, All hands together-
To beautify this hour, this spring, And all the springs to come Forever for the workers!
Workers:
Be like the sap rising in the trees, Strengthening each branch,
Reaching alece word.
All workers:
White workers, Black workers, Yellow workers,
Workers in the islands of the sea—
Life is everywhere for you,
When the sap of your own strength rises
Life is everywhere.
May Day!
May Day!
May Day!
When the earth is new, Proletarians of all the world:
Arise,
Grow strong, Take Power,
Till the forces of the earth are yours
From this hour.

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Is nobody is immune to Frank O'Hara's charms? Here he is allowing the late great J H Prynne to talk seriously about pleasure & fun – and the place of these, with misery & terror, in the dialectical work of poetry: 'the pursuit of fun was a fragile affair... your friends kept falling by the wayside'.

O’Hara loved fun, and he was exceptionally, ironically, estranged from the idea of simple and unquestionable enjoyment. Enjoyment was a kind of task for Frank. He was an extremely moral poet. Very burdened with a sense of obligation and of self-question with regard to the liveliness of life. He was very jocular, and jostled with the possibilities of making fun, and making fun of, being full of satirical wit. And underneath this satirical wit, there was a constant, barely perceptible nibble of melancholia, in the sense that the pursuit of fun was a fragile affair. It kept breaking down, your friends kept falling by the wayside. Your sense of the buoyancy of life was constantly at risk. And this risk was something he was tasked to endure. It was the task of the poet to recognise that this risk was real, and he was prepared to throw the possibility of happiness, and fun, into the risk-play of being a poet. “To Hell with It,” for example, one of O’Hara’s wonderful ode poems, is witty, buoyant, flamboyant, but at the same time, gloomily melancholic. Why should O’Hara, confronted with grief, or sorrow, feel that as a poet he has some duty to write an elegy? No, he had a duty to be happy. A duty to himself, to maintain the buoyancy of poetical happiness. But this sense of inward consistency was always at risk. And he accepted this risk. I think he pursued it. That’s why he was so much better than most of the poets around him, who juggled with playfulness of increasingly imitative kinds.

If you expand your range beyond the experience of friends and family and the joys of nature, happiness is a very fragile idea. Because the world is so full of misery—so full of disaster and destruction, and violence, and vituperative vindictiveness, of political exploitation, of financial insecurity, of the breakdown of trust, and the whole international crisis world of terror and struggles for justice, that it’s not easy to see how a poet can claim any right to be happy, while all this is going on. To be a poet, and to be there in the thick of an important and powerful language, is to be in direct potential communication with every part of the world’s action, including, without doubt, all its misery.

It’s difficult not to be overwhelmed by the sense that language joins you up to the powers of lamentation. At the same time, that’s where the dialectical aspect frequently has its task to perform. Contradiction and oppositional thinking, ironical thinking, has to find a way to juggle up these terms, so that the mood quality, and the emotional, and moral tonalities involved, maintain their power without becoming oppressively single-minded. Single-mindedness is no good to a poet.

He was a great fountainhead of energy. He was a great originator of metrical and prosodic experiment. His poems had terrific brio, and they moved about the page and galvanised the page space. Sometimes he would nearly stop, and then not stop. He was extremely skilled at playing this notion of his own continuity in writing a piece. He wasn’t really writing projective verse in an Olsonian manner, because the Olson manner has a personality projection. Although O’Hara allows a kind of poetic personality to be at stake on the page, it’s a kind of rhetorical projection. We know it’s a plaything, and he’s toying it around with great skill and some degree of abandonment. It doesn’t matter to him if it gets damaged, because he’s got others up his sleeve. “In Memory of My Feelings” has got a whole series of alternative personalities, and when one gets damaged, or lost on the way, he’ll mobilise another. It’s exceptionally virtuosic.

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

It's wonderful to see this plan to open a new radical bookshop in Newcastle - Books from Below. A worthy successor to (among others) the 1930s People's Bookshop on Westgate Road (home of the northeast committee for British supporters of the International Brigade). Four days left to support!

Blurry image of headed notepaper with this text:

INTERNATIONAL BRIGADE
Dependants and Wounded Aid Committee.
NORTHEAST COMMITTEE.
c/o PEOPLE'S BOOKSHOP.
118, WESTGATE ROAD.
NEWCASTLE-ON.TYNE.

And list of national patrons.

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

This is absolutely brilliant news; while funding for UK PhDs is very difficult, funding for Masters is almost non-existent, meaning many students self-select out of academia (it's why I went abroad for mine). It's wonderful to think that I might be able to direct students towards this in the future.

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Not to be too Angela Carter, but I think I might really be in love with this young fox who keeps coming to look in through my bedroom window 💔

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Heike Bauer @heikebauer.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Fully funded Bloomsbury PhD studentship (SOAS/Birkbeck): Queer Meaning-Making in South Asian Literature: New Comparative Perspectives. Supervised by Anandi Rao & me. Application deadline 6 May. www.soas.ac.uk/study/studen... 🌈🎓

soas.ac.uk

The Bloomsbury Colleges PhD Studentships: Queer Meaning-Making in South Asian Literature: New Comparative Perspectives

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

a tiny consolation to realise that the hated head-bucket currently being worn by my poor beloved dog is actually called an Elizabethan collar!!

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Plashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

It just never ends.

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

The lack of public accountability of senior managers (with those pay rises & reliance on management consultants) across the UK HE sector is a scandal comparable to the privatisation/corporatisation of other public services; universities are now ultimately ruled by former bankers & their worldviews.

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University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 14/04/2026

🚨 1 in 4 staff at Goldsmiths to be axed. All while senior management get eye-watering pay rises and £16m is spent on consultants and lawyers. This is the reality of Higher Education in the UK. Our members have voted for industrial action, support them. www.ucu.org.uk/article/1447...

ucu.org.uk

Marking boycott looms at Goldsmiths over £20m of cuts to staff

Staff at Goldsmiths, University of London, have overwhelmingly voted for industrial action in a fight to protect jobs, UCU announced today.

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