iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Morton @drjmorton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Delighted to see Black Bag by @lukekennard.bsky.social on the Booker shortlist! Well deserved, I've been singing this novel's praises to anyone who will listen - fingers crossed (within black bag) for the win...!

020

Reposted by John Morton

Research Society for Victorian Periodicals @rs4vp.org · 01/09/2026

The applications portal for #RSVP2027 is now officially open! We invite all of your latest ideas on the intersections of 'Structure' and #19thC periodicals/print culture. Final proposals due 1 November. Get inspired and more information on our website: rs4vp.org/rsvp-confere...

0128

Reposted by John Morton

Helena Goodwyn @helenagoodwyn.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

The Americanisation of W. T. Stead is out now! So delighted to get my author copies, huge thanks to @edinburghup.bsky.social. We’ve a 30% launch discount, if you’re a librarian/ in collection development, pls consider recommending for your library. #VictorianStudies #PeriodicalStudies #BookHistory

Helena Goodwyn holding a copy of her monograph The Americanisation of W. T. Stead.

Flyer with QR code link to 30% discount for The Americanisation of W. T. Stead by Helena Goodwyn

104716

John Morton @drjmorton.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

And now @lukekennard.bsky.social is Booker longlisted! I've been singing the praises of #BlackBag to all and sundry - good luck and very well deserved.

110

John Morton @drjmorton.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Brilliant time at the @tennysonsociety.bsky.social conference today. Great keynote by Claire Pettitt, excellent panel incl the ace @jimchesh.bsky.social, trip to Bardney Manor and then Tennyson's birthplace at Somersby. Sorry I could only make one day of the conf. Thx @ccapancioni.bsky.social !

021

John Morton @drjmorton.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

At @thisisgala.bsky.social yesterday, brilliant times - 2 rewinds for "topper top"?

011

Reposted by John Morton

Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

I’ve written more about statistics of the Guardian’s 100 best novels list, including: – Books that just missed out – Two errors in the data (Cather and Camus lost out) – Best novelists – Alternative rankings – Weirdest and least-weird ballots mpaldridge.github.io/blog/guardia...

mpaldridge.github.io

Guardian 100 best novels (stats and errors)

The website of Dr Matthew Aldridge, Lecturer in Statistics at the University of Leeds

1816456

Reposted by John Morton

The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) @themerl.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

We’re appointing a writer-in-residence! Join us to respond to our holdings related to the Bloomsbury Group (including the archives of Leonard and Virginia Woolf’s Hogarth Press) ahead of a major exhibition in 2027. Applications close 19 May. Best of luck! collections.reading.ac.uk/news-and-vie...

collections.reading.ac.uk

Call for Applications: Writer in Residence - Blooming Bloomsbury and the Modernist Archives Publishing Project -Creativity and Community Co-Curation (2026) | Museums and Collections

The selected writer will spend the summer months (June—September 2026) drawing inspiration from MAPP to develop new creative work. From September to December, they will build on this...

8209172

Reposted by John Morton

Jeremy Noel-Tod @jntod.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

There's a great new Senior Research Associate role being advertised in the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing at University of East Anglia this month, working on an AHRC-funded project on creative-critical teaching in English studies. Please share! vacancies.uea.ac.uk/vacancies/21...

vacancies.uea.ac.uk

Senior Research Associate (RA2392) in University of East Anglia | UEA

View details and apply for this Senior Research Associate (RA2392) vacancy in University of East Anglia. Faculty of Arts and Humanities (HUM) School of Literature, Drama, and Creative Writing (L...

0612

Reposted by John Morton

Patrick Leary @patrickleary.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Mudie's Select Circulating Library lay at the heart of the Victorian publishing system. Karen Wade's site, now at a new URL, makes it possible to explore the library's catalogues as never before, with an index of 22,000 novels by 6000 authors. curatr.ucd.ie/mudies/ #victorian #bookhistory

curatr.ucd.ie

Mudie's Library Online

Mudie's Library Online Catalogue - UCD Centre for Cultural Analytics, University College Dublin

05335

John Morton @drjmorton.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

I've just finished Black Bag by @lukekennard.bsky.social and highly recommend it - really funny, thoughtful and original. Best new novel I've read this year and will take some work to knock of that top spot

131

Reposted by John Morton

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

More exciting VPR news!

076

Reposted by John Morton

Stephen Curry @scurry.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Always a joy to find a piece by Kathryn Schulz in the latest New Yorker. This article (nay, meditation) on Richard Holmes’ new biography of Tennyson is quite wonderful. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

newyorker.com

In an Age of Science, Tennyson Grappled with an Unsettling New World

His poetry reckoned with the immensities of reality, time, and grief, confronting a world upended by new truths about the earth and the heavens.

133

John Morton @drjmorton.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Phrases to use if you want to write a convincing gen z character, according to my students. Though doing so would be absolute cringe, imagine. (From an interactive lecture on #Intermezzo by #sallyrooney at @uniofgreenwich.bsky.social )

110

Reposted by John Morton

Beth Gaskell @bethgaskell.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

The British Library’s PhD placement scheme for 26/27 is now open. My team are offering an exciting placement aiming to raise the profile of our illustrated newspaper collection: www.bl.uk/services/res...

bl.uk

PhD placement scheme

Our annual placement scheme offers doctoral researchers from all disciplines the chance to develop and apply skills and expertise outside the university sector.

01817

Reposted by John Morton

Martin Paul Eve @eve.gd · 16/01/2026

Here are 8 successful *proposals* for academic books/monographs. I am hoping that these help someone who is starting out trying to write one and wants to see what worked for me. They are provided as examples, rather than exemplars. A lot of it was just finding my own way eve.gd/2026/01/16/s...

eve.gd

Some example academic book proposal forms in case they help

A pivotal moment in my academic career, or at least one I remember clearly, was when a very senior professor in the US sent me his book proposal for an acade...

617873

Reposted by John Morton

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.

11910

John Morton @drjmorton.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

FAO whoever has messaged me on here, I am not verifying so please can you email my work mj20 @ gre . Ac. UK and I'll pick it up on 5 jan.

000

John Morton @drjmorton.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Here are my cultural highlights of 2025: Best new novel = Fun and Games by John Patrick McHugh - incisive coming of age/ending school novel which is also one of the best treatments of sport in prose fiction I've read. Also loved Geoff Dyer's memoir Homework. (Cont)

110

Reposted by John Morton

Linda K Hughes @lindakhughes.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Save the date for the next Tennyson Talk on Thursday, December 4 at 7:30 PM GMT, 230 EST by Professor Alison Chapman, University of Victoria Her title is “Cut-and-Paste Tennyson: illustrated periodical poetry extracts and the poetic line.” Contact vpurton@hotmail.co.uk for the Zoom link if needed

163

Reposted by John Morton

Research Society for Victorian Periodicals @rs4vp.org · 24/07/2025

As announced at the close of #RSVP2025, congratulations are in order to our two Colby Book Prize winners, Andrew Lewis and @tejapusapati.bsky.social! You can read what our committee has to say about these fantastic additions to the field of periodical studies here: rs4vp.org/awards/colby...

Graphic design of the two book covers of Colby Prize winners in ovals on a navy blue back with white wavy design. Text reads, "2025 Colby Book Prize Winners - Congratulations!"

0138

Reposted by John Morton

Lucie Matthews-Jones @luciejones83.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

#skyhistorians My uni, LJMU, have announced their VC PhD scholarships. Reach out to me if you are interested in doing something on homes; philanthropy/ charity; material culture and lived religion in the long c19th. These are competitive. You do need strong marks www.ljmu.ac.uk/research/phd...

ljmu.ac.uk

Vice-Chancellor PhD Scholarship 2026 application form

Apply for one of the studentships available to PhD students at Liverpool John Moores University, and join a fantastic, vibrant community of researchers.

11315

John Morton @drjmorton.bsky.social · 13/07/2025

Breakfast (still jet lagged so early!) the morning after #rsvp2025 #voicesandvisions and it only felt right to buy a paper after a lot of discussion of the uncertain future of print... Brilliant conference and so nice to catch up with friends and make new ones.

080

John Morton @drjmorton.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Am not keen on this piece by Crewe. For a hit job like this to work it needs to at least acknowledge what the potential justification for the choices taken might be (& for the writer's popularity) - scoffing at the endorsements, 1 of which is imo intentionally misread, is not enough. 1/3

alt text:
‪London Review of Books‬
‪@lrb.co.uk‬
· 23h
Issue 47.11 is now online, featuring:

William Davies on right-wing TikTok
Andrew O’Hagan on Joan Didion
Tom Crewe on Ocean Vuong
Francesca Wade on the librarian Belle da Costa Greene
Jenny Turner on Olga Tokarczuk
and a cover by Lola Bunting.

Read online at
www.lrb.co.uk

2121

Reposted by John Morton

Devin Garofalo @devingarofalo.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

See the call for @victorianpoetry.bsky.social’s 2025 Early Career Essay Prize (more info below & in the alt text) — please help me get the word out, with thanks!

11611

Reposted by John Morton

Jeremy Noel-Tod @jntod.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

A really good opportunity here to study Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia: the Birch Family Scholarship is available to a home fees applicant who has applied for a place on the Poetry MA and identifies as a writer of colour. Deadline: 30 May. Please RT! www.uea.ac.uk/study/fees-a...

uea.ac.uk

The Birch Family Scholarship

University of East Anglia

01423

Reposted by John Morton

The Dickens Society @dickenssociety.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Call for presentations for an online event, Dickens and Death! This will be livestreamed on June 7 and then posted on our YouTube channel June 9. Proposals should center on the theme of Dickens and Death. Submit proposals of 100-200 words by May 1, 2025 to Céleste Callen: celeston60@gmail.com.

0129

Reposted by John Morton

Victorian Periodicals Review @vpreditors.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Brian Maidment, past president and friend of RSVP, passed away on Jan 28. This past summer, he spoke with Marysa Demoor for our Roots of RSVP series and reflected on a long career of studying mass circulation print culture. Read the interview in VPR: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.bsky.social

062

Reposted by John Morton

Victorian Poetry @victorianpoetry.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Victorian Poetry is thrilled to announce a new open-access special issue, “Transition and Transformation.” Guest edited by Erik Gray, it features contributions by Florence Boos, Mary Ellis Gibson, @lindakhughes.bsky.social , Britta Martens, & Herbert F. Tucker. muse.jhu.edu/issue/53644

Table of contents for the new special issue, “Transition and Transformation”:

Special issue preface by ERIK GRAY tracing Victorian Poetry’s recent transitions and
celebrating the field’s debt to JOHN B. LAMB, journal editor from 2005 to 2024

LINDA K. HUGHES, “Queer Forms, Queer Grief: Reclaiming and Transcending Loved
Remains in Tennyson’s In Memoriam and Michael Field’s The Longer Allegiance”

MARY ELLIS GIBSON, “Sensation, Sati, and Retribution in Mary E. Leslie’s Sonnets on
the Indian Mutiny”

HERBERT F. TUCKER, “Compost Happens: Composition and Decomposition in
Victorian Literature”

BRITTA MARTENS, “From the Execution Ballad to the Dramatic Monologue: Criminal
Confession Reconfigured”

FLORENCE BOOS, “Morris the Skald: Icelandic Translation as Social Liberation”

Table of contents for 60th anniversary issue:

JOHN B. LAMB, “Introduction: The Place of Victorian Poetry”

ERIK GRAY, “Keeping Faith in Victorian Poetry”

STEPHANIE KUDUK WEINER, “Reflections on Years in Victorian Poetry”

LEE O’BRIEN, “Victorian Women’s Poetry and the Near-Death Experience of a
Category”

MICHELE MARTINEZ, “Undisciplining Art Sisterhood”

HELEN GROTH, “Photography, Novelty, and Victorian Poetry”

MONIQUE R. MORGAN, “Poetry, Politics, Possibilities”

JASON RUDY, “Reaching Wider: Anecdotes from a Victorianist in the Australian
Archive”

LEE BEHLMAN, “Women and Light Verse: On May Kendall”

MARION THAIN, “Reading Victorian Poetry as the World Burns”

ANDREW M. STAUFFER, “Analog Intelligence”

CHARLES LAPORTE, “Victorian Poetry in an Age of Cultural Secularization”

LINDA K. HUGHES, “Whithering: Or ’Tis Twenty Years Since”

186

Reposted by John Morton

Research Society for Victorian Periodicals @rs4vp.org · 10/02/2025

Do you have an innovative idea for advancing periodicals research? Do you need 💰 to make this idea a reality? Consider applying for our annual Patrick Leary Field Development Grant! Applications are open through March 15. More details can be found on our website: rs4vp.org/awards/leary...

rs4vp.org

The Patrick Leary Field Development Grant – RSVP

The Patrick Leary Field Development Grant is named for long-time RSVP supporter, Board member and former President, Patrick Leary. It is intended to support one scholar or a team of researchers in cre...

01517

Reposted by John Morton

Research Society for Victorian Periodicals @rs4vp.org · 04/02/2025

👋Hello Bluesky! We are now officially "live" and will regularly post announcements, tidbits, and other exciting news that will interest our members and friends across the sky! Follow us, tag us, invite your friends to join us and we will endeavor to do the same!

24827

John Morton @drjmorton.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

I'm so sorry to hear this. Brian was an absolute star.

020

Reposted by John Morton

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

RIP David Lodge, one of the great comic novelists and a literary critic v committed to public engagement

67820

John Morton @drjmorton.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Doing my usual brief cultural highlights of the year. New novels I liked the most were Intermezzo by Sally Rooney and I Will Crash by Rebecca Watson, and I'm enjoying Isaac by Curtis Garner right now. (Cont in next post)

130

Reposted by John Morton

@Galleybeggars @galleybeggars.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Galley Beggar Press is hiring! We need a reliable, book-loving, Norwich-based administrative assistant for six months - starting January, 10 hours a week, and with the possibility of extending: Closing date: 13 December 2024 Full details: www.galleybeggar.co.uk/new-page-34 (Please do share!)

galleybeggar.co.uk

Job Advertisement: Administrator — Galley Beggar Press

3113102

John Morton @drjmorton.bsky.social · 10/01/2024

You can read 2 of my articles for free this month! 'Science in Neo-Victorian Poetry (2016) here: euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3... 'Wordsworth's Death and the Figure of the Poet in 1850' (2022) here: euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3...

000

John Morton @drjmorton.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

Quick cultural highlights of the year. New novels I liked the most were Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton and Mrs S. by K. Patrick. Tremor by Teju Cole too. Otherwise there weren't many books (incl non fic) I loved, & I was extremely underwhelmed by a couple of high profile novels that I'll not name.

130