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Reposted by Emma Butler-Way

VPFA are now accepting abstracts for our 19th Annual Conference "Beaches and Borders in Victorian Popular Fiction and Culture". To read the full CfP and submission guidelines, head to: victorianpopularfiction.org/vpfa-annual-...

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Available to pre-order! Out in 2 months & 2 days! My book, THE CORSET IN VICTORIAN AND NEO-VICTORIAN FICTION: UNLACING THE PAST, will be out on 12th November with @bloomsburyacademic.bsky.social @bloomsburylit.bsky.social Incredibly exciting stuff ... www.bloomsbury.com/uk/corset-in...

bloomsbury.com

The Corset in Victorian and Neo-Victorian Fiction

An exploration of how the corset is employed to construct character and narrative in mid-Victorian sensation fiction and contemporary Neo-Victorian literature,…

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Featuring yours truly on Louisa May Alcott's *delightful* 'A Long Fatal Love Chase'. I feel very lucky to be able to have enormous fun reading a novel, then enjoy presenting on the novel at a conference, before then having even more fun researching and writing about it in more depth...

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Today sees another entry for the @vpfa.bsky.social Blog's On This Day series, featuring royal happenings, a volatile convalescent, notes on quietness, advice for sweethearts, miracle cures, and some musical notes... victorianpopularfiction.org/on-this-day-...

victorianpopularfiction.org

On This Day in the Pages of the Victorians: 28th August

A selection by Emma Butler-WayWe have a bumper issue of ‘On This Day’ today! If you want to know what Queen Victoria was up to, or if the periodicals have any advice for sweethearts look no further…

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Reposted by Emma Butler-Way

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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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

A *fantastic* time at #VPFAPublics the last few days. Fascinating papers, fruitful discussions (Some fun things on the horizon)... Caught up with old pals, made some new ones - every year I'm blown away by the incredible warmth of @vpfa.bsky.social. All the thanks to Jo and Janine for organising!

Sunset view over the River Mersey from Albert Docks. Old lamppost in the foreground

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David Ibitson @arry-k-arry.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Great time at #VPFAPublics this week. And amazing to hear from @ebutler-way.bsky.social, @ccapancioni.bsky.social , & @helenaesser.bsky.social that papers at next year's conference in Aberystwyth will exclusively take place in bathing machines & on funicular railways, as unlikely as that sounds.

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Absolutely loved being part of this panel! Always fun talking about Victorian and neo-Victorian corsets, bodies, and so on...!

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Delightful that as we gear up for #VPFAPublics, the new issue of VPFJ is out, featuring yours truly in some great company! Have I been wanting to write this since my MA? Quite possibly. Alcott, sensation, Genette, Goethe ... What more could you want? doi.org/10.46911/YER... @vpfa.bsky.social

doi.org

“The omen never fails”: Appropriating Intertexts in Louisa May Alcott’s A Long Fatal Love ChaseEmma Butler-WayDownload PDF hereAbstractNot seeing publication until 130 years after it was written, L…

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Reposted by Emma Butler-Way

Get to know our Web Manager, Emma Butler-Way ✨ @ebutler-way.bsky.social Here are her answers to our 5 questions: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/... Read her blog post about joining VPFA here: victorianpopularfiction.org/in-which-emm...

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Reposted by Emma Butler-Way

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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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

New on the @vpfa.bsky.social Blog in 'Fun Facts and Bizarre Books': On This Day in the Pages of the Victorians: 19th June. Was this post born out of procrastination? I couldn't possibly comment. But it was a fantastic way to while away an afternoon... victorianpopularfiction.org/on-this-day-...

victorianpopularfiction.org

On This Day in the Pages of the Victorians: 19th June

A selection by Emma Butler-WayEven though the years pass, the seasons change, and society goes through its various developments, one thing that doesn’t really change is the way in which we mark the…

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Reposted by Emma Butler-Way

VPFJ is seeking to expand its pool of expert reviewers. Send an email to VPFJournal@gmail.com with subject "VPFJ Reviewer Database" including: - A short CV (or link to institutional profile) and ORCID. - Preferred email address for contact. - Up to 10 research keywords - Any recent publications

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

The day may come when I watch the extended editions over the long Easter weekend without crying in every single one and being a blubbering mess by the end of Return of the King, but it is not this day! (But seriously. What a way to spend the long weekend.)

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Fab day @ the VPFA Sensation Fiction & the Health Humanities study day yesterday. As ever, wonderful to catch up with everyone, make new connections, & be immersed in so much interesting research. Thank you @braddonite.bsky.social for putting together such a great day & programme! @vpfa.bsky.social

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Aberystwyth University @aberuni.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

In a new article, Toni Beardmore from our Department of Geography and Earth Sciences discusses how ‘Banter’ about where you’re from or how you speak is harder to define than racism or sexism, but it is damaging. 🖱️ tinyurl.com/5n7p4dr8 #SocialJustice

tinyurl.com

Mocking people for their class is discrimination – so why don’t we treat it as such?

‘Banter’ about where you’re from or how you speak is harder to define than racism or sexism, but it is damaging.

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

I went to a VPFA 'Turning your thesis into a monograph' workshop in 2022. After completing my PhD, I thought I'd maybe mine my thesis for a couple of articles and leave it at that. I left the workshop motivated, re-inspired, and my monograph is now in production 👀 So: sign up! @vpfa.bsky.social

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Reposted by Emma Butler-Way

Join the VPFA for a workshop on publishing Victorian Popular Fiction! ✅ Turning your thesis into a monograph. ✅ Writing a winning book proposal. ✅ Insights from the VPFJ editorial committee. ✅ Handling peer review & rejection 📅 26th February at 6pm 🔗 See your emails for the registration link!

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

My top 10 fiction reads of the year, with 3 NF honourable mentions. At least 2 made me cry, & I was able to help launch another 2 here in Aber. Hear me out re: Rivals. Bonkbuster is may be, but it's also a biting social commentary with a fascinatingly observational narrative voice. I was a big fan.

Thirteen books, flanked by a plant, a brass Labrador, and an orange pot: Hera, by Jennifer Saint; The 12 Days of Xmas, by Susan Stokes-Chapman; The Siren of Sussex, by Mimi Matthews; Palestine +100, ed. by Basma Ghalayini; Babel, by R.F. Kiang; Welcome to the Hyuanam-Dong Bookshop, by Hwang Boreum; Witsh, by Mari Ellis Dunning; Rivals, by Jilly Cooper; Enter Ghost, by Isabella Hammad; Sunrise on the Reaping, by Suzanne Collins. Laying on top: Ghosted, by Alice Vernon; Pixel Flesh, by Ellen Atlanta; Teta, Mother, and Me, by Jean Said Makdisi.

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Christopher Columbus! I've written a new blog post for @vpfa.bsky.social, this time on the Christmassiness of Little Women adaptations... It was much harder than anticipated. I changed the ranking many times. I began to question everything. I still am... victorianpopularfiction.org/christmas-wo...

victorianpopularfiction.org

Christmas Won’t Be Christmas without ‘Little Women’…

A subjective ranking of Christmassiness by Emma Butler-WayIn my years of teaching Little Women in adaptation, the one question I have never asked either myself or my students is: ‘And what about ho…

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Reposted by Emma Butler-Way

Alice Vernon @alicevernon10.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Ghosted is in Bloomsbury's Christmas sale and the hardback is currently £14 until 7th December. It even includes a recipe for ectoplasm you can shoot from your nose - a reliable way to get out of any complicated post-Christmas-dinner board game. www.bloomsbury.com/uk/ghosted-9...

bloomsbury.com

Ghosted

A social, historical and scientific exploration of ghost-hunting, and why our fascination with the paranormal is as timeless as the ghosts we hope to find.The h…

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Reposted by Emma Butler-Way

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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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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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

I never expected Project Gutenberg to be the deliverer of such a thrill. Lord Byron would be *fuming*...

Search result for 'lord byron' showing John Polidori's 'The Vampyre; a Tale' as the top result

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein is amazing. What a spectacular film, and adaptation. A work of art. Costumes: amazing. Visuals: stunning. Heart and soul of the book? Firmly in place. My emotions? All over the place. So many tears. Exquisite stuff, cannot recommend highly enough.

media.tenor.com

a woman wearing a green scarf around her head

ALT: a woman wearing a green scarf around her head

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

A pleasure & a privilege to have helped my good friend @mariellisdunning.bsky.social launch her debut novel WITSH last week in the Drwm @librarywales.bsky.social, mere hours after Aber was announced as Wales's first UNESCO City of Literature! Missed out? ⬇️ youtu.be/Xa8P98gUQoQ?...

youtu.be

Witsh: In Conversation with Mari Ellis Dunning

YouTube video by Llyfrgell Genedlaethol - National Library of Wales

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Mari Ellis Dunning 🖋️ @mariellisdunning.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Really looking forward to this evening's launch at @librarywales.bsky.social 📚✨ Tickets have flown & while I'm a tad nervous to be addressing The Drwm after attending so many events there, I can't wait to chat about Welsh witshes, spells, superstition, religion & misogyny. tinyurl.com/37ddc4fn

ticketsource.co.uk

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Aberystwyth University @aberuni.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

📖 A haunting novel inspired by the largely unknown history of Welsh witchcraft has been published by one of our lecturers. 🖱️ tinyurl.com/3nhm5fyc @mariellisdunning.bsky.social #novel #history #wales #witchcraft

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Aberystwyth University @aberuni.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

👻 Writing in The Conversation, Dr Alice Vernon from the Department of English & Creative Writing discusses how our hunt for ghosts reveals more about the living than the dead. 🖱 tinyurl.com/yhrk9av7 @alicevernon10.bsky.social #ghosts #ghosthunting #supernatural

tinyurl.com

Why we keep hunting ghosts – and what it says about us

From Victorian séances to TikTok, our hunt for ghosts reveals more about the living than the dead.

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

This was a super encouraging read - I am *so* excited about this adaptation!

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

I'm very much looking forward to my busy Halloween night this year. First up, chatting to @mariellisdunning.bsky.social at the National Library of Wales about her haunting debut novel, WITSH, set in C16th Wales during the Welsh witch trials... www.ticketsource.co.uk/llgcnlw/evt-...

ticketsource.co.uk

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Alice Vernon @alicevernon10.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

I'm doing a book launch for Ghosted at Waterstones Aberystwyth on Halloween night at 7pm. It's going to be a spooky evening! Info and tickets: www.waterstones.com/events/alice...

waterstones.com

Alice Vernon launches Ghosted | Events at Waterstones Bookshops | Waterstones

Events at Waterstones get you closer to the books and authors you admire most. Find information and tickets about Alice Vernon launches Ghosted today.

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

What a joy it was getting this page ready to go! All the thanks to @helenaesser.bsky.social for the material! Here we'll have reflections, contemplations, speculations and more (all of a Victorian/neo-Victorian nature, of course). Interested in contributing? Follow the link below & get in touch!

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

There are, I think, few things as humbling as the automatic captions to a lecture that reveal just how often you say 'Um'... Oh, and Panopto has spoken: my name is now, apparently, Emma Holloway...

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Mari Ellis Dunning 🖋️ @mariellisdunning.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

Want to try something new? I'm running #Writing Women again through Aberystwyth Uni's Lifelong Learning. ✶ Online course ✶ Self-paced ✶ One to one feedback ✶ Expert guidance Here's the link to my course, & there are heaps of others to choose from too! www.aber.ac.uk/en/lifelong-... #WritingSky

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Alice Vernon @alicevernon10.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

Happy publication day to Ghosted! This book was so much fun to research and write, and I can't wait to go on a ghost hunt again. Thank you to everyone who's ordered a copy! I hope you enjoy reading it...with all the lights on, obviously. 👻 (Note: video plays crackling static sound)

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Mari Ellis Dunning 🖋️ @mariellisdunning.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

I'll be running Writing Women again in the new semester through Aberystwyth University's Lifelong Learning. ✶ Online course ✶ Self-paced ✶ One to one feedback ✶ Expert guidance Here's the link to my course, but there are heaps of others to choose from too! www.aber.ac.uk/en/lifelong-...

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Alice Vernon @alicevernon10.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Ghosted is published in one month! It's all getting very exciting. Bev the Haunted Doll is positively crawling the walls. No, really. She's crawling up the walls. Send help. Pre-order: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/ghosted-9...

A banner advertising my book Ghosted: A History of Ghost Hunting, and Why We Keep Looking. A spooky candle is in one corner, and an upside-down crucifix in the other, with the tagline: 'A social, historic and scientific exploration of our fascination with the paranormal.'

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Comma Press @commapress.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

‘This famine is an engineered one – a war on our bodies, our clarity, our ability to move’ Read Sondos Sabra’s Letter from Gaza in The New Statesman. www.newstatesman.com/internationa...

newstatesman.com

Letter from Gaza: “What I feel isn’t just hunger. It’s slow, internal erosion”

This famine is an engineered one – a war on our bodies, our clarity, our ability to move.

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

"Is there a felicity in the world superior to this?" Celebrating meeting a Big Deadline with a holiday to reconnect with the chalk of my childhood. Have I been finding myself crying every now and then at the scenery I've not seen for 4 years? Yes. Am I relaxed, and feeling at ease? Also yes.

View of Seaford head, looking over Cuckmere Haven. White chalk cliff, green hill, shingle beach. Bramble and hedgerow in foreground, with a wire fence

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

Aberystwyth MusicFest is a truly glorious thing - we're so lucky to have it & all the wonderful variety of music it brings to Aber. Very much looking forward to this evening's offering: Jane Austen @ 250: The Beautiful Cassandra - a recital of some of Austen's letters underscored by piano music...

Bi-lingual English and Welsh programme for Aberystwyth MusicFest event, Jane Austen @ 250: The Beautiful Cassandra

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Alice Vernon @alicevernon10.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

👻GHOSTED pre-order offer at Waterstones!👻 From now until Thursday, you can get 25% off pre-ordered copies of Ghosted with the code SUMMER25. Everyone who pre-orders it will be forever blessed by Bev the Haunted Doll. #paranormal #ghosthunting #nonfiction www.waterstones.com/book/ghosted...

An advert for my book Ghosted in the Waterstones 25% off summer offer. Pre-order with code SUMMER25 to get the discount.

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

When I say I am very excited about this... Mari has done something really rather special with Witsh, shedding some much-needed light on the witch trials in Wales - not as well known as those in Scotland or Pendle, but no less indicative of the precarious position of women in a patriarchal society

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Reposted by Emma Butler-Way

Delivered a paper at our conference this week? Why not turn it into a full article for the next general issue of Victorian Popular Fictions? Our latest issue is out now and is open access: victorianpopularfiction.org/publications...

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Andrew King @andrewkingc19.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

Hear hear! It's the @vpfa's deeply rooted refusal of hierarchy in the interest of welcome and joy combined with serious intellectual ambition, isn't it? It's proof renewed every year that fun and rigour make a great alloy!

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Well, #VPFAExtremes has been wonderful - the height of my summer so far, as ever! I am deeply grateful to be part such a fantastic, extremely warm and collegiate association. Thoroughly enjoyed the last few days - diolch pawb!

Conference programme: 17th Annual Conference of the Victorian Popular Fiction Association. Heights, Depths, and Extremes. The Birmingham & Midland Institute, Birmingham UK. Victorian picture of a group of people confronted by a sea monster

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Emma Butler-Way @ebutler-way.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Fantastic work by a fellow Aberystwythian! Really interesting paper about the connections between Corelli and Curie, the assumed relationship between women working and then aging, and, of course, the patriarchy... (Women being able to work *despite* going grey? The horror!!) #VPFAExtremes

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