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Catherine Spooner

@catherinespooner.bsky.social
2K followers 405 following 146 posts

Academic and creative writer | Professor of Literature and Culture, Lancaster University | all things Gothic | fashion | folk horror | she/her

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Reposted by Catherine Spooner
THE MOURNING PAPER @themourningpaper.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Anti AI Statement from the TMP team 🖤 #goth #gothic #indiemagazine
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Dale Townshend @dalegothic96.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
University departments that are doing away with research-led teaching and getting their academic staff to teach on broad, non-specialist modules instead are effectively deskilling their workforce.
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Eddie Robson @eddierobson.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
TITLE AND COVER REVEAL: My next novel, Painting With A Dead God's Blood, will be published on 22 June 2027. us.macmillan.com/books/978125...
Painting With A Dead God's Blood by Eddie Robson. The cover shows a mural of alien beings in a street in Kyoto.
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Carnyx Press @carnyxpress.co.uk · 04/09/2026
It's coming 👀 Writers in the North of England are invited to send us weird and horrifying tales of existential dread for anthology 3: cosmic horror. Opening to submissions next month. Read the guidelines here: carnyxpress.co.uk/anthology-3-...
Submissions will be open 1st October to the 30th November. We’re seeking weird and literary tales of cosmic horror, from writers living in the North of England, for our third anthology.
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Haunted Shores @hauntedshores.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
New CFP! We're delighted to invite abstracts for the next Haunted Shores conference: Beyond the Blue Planet: Outer Space, Inner Space, and Extraterrestrial Oceans – online 2 April 2027 Please share with anyone who might be interested! Thank you! Full info: haunted-shores.com/beyond-the-b...
haunted-shores.com
Beyond the Blue Planet: Haunted Shores 2027
Join us for the next Haunted Shores conference! Beyond the Blue Planet: Outer Space, Inner Space, and Extraterrestrial Oceans Online: 2 April 2027 (Double, a crater in the Moon’s Sea of Tranquility…
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Deirdre Flynn @deirdreflynn.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Lecturer in British Romantic Literature University of Glasgow Full time permanent www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSS069/l...
jobs.ac.uk
Lecturer in British Romantic Literature at University of Glasgow
Explore an exciting academic career as a Lecturer in British Romantic Literature. Don't miss out on other academic jobs. Click to apply and explore more opportunities.
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Obviously plagiarism is unacceptable and credible allegations should be investigated. But (a) since when has an academic integrity hearing been front-page headline news and (b) where were the tabloids when LLMs stole *hundreds of thousands* of academics’ and other writers’ work?
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Dr Laura Eastlake @victorianmasc.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
📚"Covers designed by folk who didn't bother to read the book" Episode 5: Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. “Get in, loser. We’re going rowing on the Thames in a boat of dirty and disreputable appearance. Also on Wednesdays we wear arsenic green.” #c19th
Cover of Our Mutual Friend featuring two young women, at school judging by their backpack and casual dress, and wearing jewellery and low rise jeans of c. 2002
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Mike Collins - Chair British Association for American Studies @baaschair.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Excited to offer a fully funded PhD with Maeve Ryan and I at KCL. Details below. www.kcl.ac.uk/study/fundin...
kcl.ac.uk
CRSW / AHRC Doctoral Studentship: Narratives of Enslavement and their Legacies | King's College London
King’s College London’s Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War (CRSW) is pleased to announce a fully funded AHRC doctoral studentship, jointly supervised by English and War Studies.
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
“This is not just a crisis for higher education – it is a crisis for social mobility, young people’s careers, the skills our economy depends on and the opportunities available in communities across the UK” www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Humanities among degrees being ‘extinguished’ by hard-up universities
Exclusive: Experts fear rise in education ‘cold spots’ and social immobility as 4,000 academic posts lost in one year
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Jenny Holzer @jennyholzer.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
PLAYING IT SAFE CAN CAUSE A LOT OF DAMAGE IN THE LONG RUN
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
So much here that’s relevant to writing and other creative professions too. ❤️ Sam Neill (click through for video of Sam talking acting and mental health).
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Wandered back over to the old place in my lunch break. So very happy we will be back here, in individual offices once more, in a month’s time. 🌳 🤞
A giant oak tree with sunlight streaming through its branches in front of a university building.
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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
A country that is determined to destroy its own economy, and to make everyone's lives greyer and grimmer into the bargain. Peanuts, with vast multipliers. Unbelievable. www.artsprofessional.co.uk/news/dfe-sla...
artsprofessional.co.uk
DfE slashes creative and performing arts teaching grants for universities - Arts Professional
Performing and creative arts university courses will no longer receive funding from a government teaching grant as part of "difficult decisions" about
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
At the launch of A Ghost Story: Into the Gothic Imagination at Wordsworth Grasmere. Featuring Byron’s snuffbox and the oldest surviving manuscript of Christabel!
Torn pages tumble down a deep red wall, loosely covered by a black veil. Two candles illuminate the image of a ghastly eye opening.A cake-like arrangement of books illuminated with different coloured lights.Byron’s gold snuff box in a blue velvet case.The manuscript of Christabel, in an old leather notebook written in faded brown ink.
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Oliver K. Langmead @oliverklangmead.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Susanna Clarke on illness www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...
theguardian.com
Susanna Clarke: ‘I had been ill for 11 years. I felt like I was about to fall off the world’
One hundred years after Virginia Woolf explored the limitations of language in On Being Ill, the Piranesi author reflects on the power of storytelling to shape our experience of sickness
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Angela Wright @angelawright1794.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
All set up and ready for Women in White: The New Gothic cinema lecture by @catherinespooner.bsky.social @radcliffecup.bsky.social @dalegothic96.bsky.social
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Christine Ferguson @cferguson.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
I had a blast doing this interview for The Mourning Paper, alongside @catherinespooner.bsky.social, about the origins and futures of Gothic as a subculture and a literary genre. Thanks to Shaun McLaren for these great questions! themourningpaper.co.uk/2026/06/15/f...
themourningpaper.co.uk
From Goths to Gothicism (and back to Goths): An Interview with Christine Ferguson and Catherine Spooner
An interview with professors, Christine Ferguson and Catherine Spooner on their experience of the goth subculture, goth academic spaces and more.
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Magma Poetry @magmapoetry.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Amazing evening of poetry and celebration at our competition winners event at the gorgeous Theatreship earlier this week with @betarish.bsky.social Pics: @catherinespooner.bsky.social , @eleanorholmes.bsky.social, Sam Harvey, @elcurwen.bsky.social More: www.instagram.com/p/DZK7Fhtip01/
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Essential reading for anyone concerned about the current state of British universities. Completely nails the complex economics and political wrangling behind the situation and the cultural vandalism that results.
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Dr Amanda Blake Davis 🌱 @abdavis.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
📣 Job Alert (permanent) 📣 Lecturer in English Literature (Romanticism), The Open University www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRQ222/l...
jobs.ac.uk
Lecturer in English Literature at The Open University
Start your UK & international job search for academic jobs, research jobs, science jobs and managerial jobs in leading universities and top...
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
I was delighted to be asked onto @hayfestival.bsky.social Book Club last week to talk about Dracula with Anthony Delaney and Eimear McBride - watch the full conversation at www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1Ff...
youtube.com
Dracula by Bram Stoker | Hay Festival Book Club MAY 2026
YouTube video by Hay Festival
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Dr Jen Baker @jendeavour.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
*Very* excited that vol.1 of New Directions in the Ghost Story, edited by myself, @henrybartholomew.bsky.social & @joanpassey.bsky.social is out! Well done to all the contributors, and thanks for bearing with us! :) Please recommend to your academic libraries! link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
link.springer.com
New Directions in the Ghost Story, Volume I
Discover New Directions in the Ghost Story, Volume 1, a landmark collection of essays exploring haunted narratives and Gothic fiction.
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
This is a dance off. If you see this, repost a dance.
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Whitby Gothic @whitbygothic.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
+++ Wishing a most wonderful birthday, to Robert James Smith of The Cure, who was born on this day, the 21st of April 1959, in Blackpool, Lancashire. +++ #robertsmith #thecure #postpunk #newwave #icon #altrock #goth #OTD #blackpool #lancashire #gothcore #gothic #alt
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
New Lancaster University School of Arts podcast dropped! Listen in on me, Richard Rushton, @debraferreday.bsky.social and Kamilla Elliott get over-excited about Wuthering Heights, Charli XCX, costume design and much more: open.spotify.com/episode/2hKg...
open.spotify.com
Episode 4 - On Wuthering Heights (Directed by Emerald Fennell, 2026)
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
I'm headed to Sheffield later this term to talk about one of my obsessions for the Ann Radcliffe, Then and Now project. Come and join me and talk women in white dresses and why we are all watching Gothic cinema now!
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Thrilled that my poem 'Scrimshaw' has been commended in the Magma Poetry Competition Editor's Prize. Magma Poetry is a fabulous magazine, so the commendation is really worth having.
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
Great blog by @harrietfletcher.bsky.social on Lady Gaga and Gothic Celebrity: theconversation.com/lady-gagas-m...
theconversation.com
Lady Gaga’s Mayhem Ball reveals the gothic tradition behind modern celebrity
The tour delivered everything fans have come to expect from the artist: spectacle, innovation and, above all, immersion in a gothic world.
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Young men get a lot of bad press at the moment, but my 18yo & 8 of his friends walked from Lancaster to Kendal (40km) this weekend to support a friend with mental health difficulties & raise money for Lancashire Mind. They’re still accepting donations at www.justgiving.com/page/mighty-...
justgiving.com
Mighty Nine for Lancashire Mind
Help Caleb Woodhouse raise money to support Lancashire Mind
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Julie Bell @buliejell.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
Superb afternoon @litfest.bsky.social listening to the most talented #authors and #illustrators @moohara.bsky.social @mglnrd.bsky.social @chrismould.bsky.social with @catherinespooner.bsky.social thank you to all of you for sharing your talent and stories today 👏👏
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Lancaster’s first LGBTQ+ bookstore opened today on the charter market and look what I got! Brand new books by @louisewelsh00.bsky.social and @inkyrosey.bsky.social
Book covers of The Cut Up by Louise Welsh and We Call Them Witches by India Rose-Bower
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Eddie Robson @eddierobson.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
One of the projects you can support on Smelt is a new sitcom by me. It's called The Least Bad Of All Possible Worlds and it's about refugees from parallel universes trying to integrate into society in Morecambe. You can pledge to fund it here: if you fund it, we make it! mirlo.space/leadmojo/rel...
mirlo.space
The Least Bad of All Possible Worlds, by Eddie Robson
An album by Lead Mojo | Smelt Released Fri Dec 18 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) A boarding house on the Lancashire coast has taken in some unusual residents. Violet is a battle-...
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
How I’m walking out of 2025
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
How I’m walking out of 2025
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
Please someone remake It’s a Wonderful Life but from the POV of Violet narrating her adventures in Pottersville.
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Elen Caldecott @elencaldecott.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
As a journal editor this is fucken horrifying. Asbestos in the walls.
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Boze Herrington, Library Owl @sketchesbyboze.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
People say AI is a magic shortcut to creativity & success. I’ll tell you the real secret and it’s voraciously reading, being interested in everything, being diligent in the pursuit of learning, paying attention to the interior lives of others & keeping a heart open to the world.
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
Just officially launched this wonderful @sidekickbooks.bsky.social anthology which I contributed to... it's perfectly stocking-sized, just right for the vampire lover in your life! sidekickbooks.com/booklab/book...
sidekickbooks.com
Ten Poets Spend the Night in a Vampire's Castle - Sidekick Books
An anthology of vampire poetry, featuring erotic writing, horror, romantasy and paranormal romance.
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Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Seals singing in a sea cave #Orkney 🦭🎧
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Dr Sam Hirst @romgothsam.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
When people say that Wuthering Heights doesn't have anything to do with race or that no film has engaged with race, what they mean is that for them Romani people do not count and they also haven't been paying attention. I'm going to share a little material from a recent talk. Content note: racism 1/
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Strong editorial in the Independent today www.independent.co.uk/voices/edito...
independent.co.uk
You don’t need a master’s degree to see Britain depends on foreign students
Editorial: The government’s effort to drive down the number of student visas coming to study in this country is misguided and self-defeating – it will do untold damage to our universities and communit...
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Dr Selena Wisnom @lswisnom.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
I contributed to this one… guess what I chose?
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Present & Correct @presentcorrect.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
How to Hibernate. Scanned by us from the 1952 book Animal Fair, by the Provensens. It’s time.
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Eddie Robson @eddierobson.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
#BlackCatAppreciationDay
Big black cat on a window sill sniffing a pumpkin
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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
So I've been reading the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper. There's some good things in there. But when it comes to universities there's very little to cheer. The situation is very tough and will get worse. The last chance to preserve what we've got has passed. Let me explain why. (1/?)
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
My fab colleague Sharon Ruston on the new Guillermo Del Toro Frankenstein: theconversation.com/guillermo-de...
theconversation.com
Guillermo de Toro’s Frankenstein: beguiling adaptation stays true to heart of Mary Shelley’s story
Guillermo del Toro’s retelling of the story about a scientist trying to create life is a visual treat and a rousing adaptation.
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Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
´It’s not about knowing. It’s about being present.´ Devastating essay on the power of gaps, errors, mishearing in the way we teach.
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