Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 31/12/2025As 2025 draws to a close, I’m grateful for what the past year has brought me. And looking forward to 2026, I have, with the poet W. S. Merwin, a keen sense of ‘our hopes such as they are / invisible before us / untouched and still possible’ (‘To the New Year’, 2005). Happy New Year to one and all! 120
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 30/10/2025I’m delighted to have been appointed as the ninth Warden of Trinity College, University of Melbourne www.trinity.unimelb.edu.au/whats-happen... 140
Reposted by Russell GoulbourneKara N. Slade @karanslade.bsky.social · 03/10/2025Today on this website 315323
Reposted by Russell GoulbourneDr Anna Clark @drannaclark.bsky.social · 13/09/2025Que sais-je? Michel de Montaigne, French Renaissance philosopher, whose gentle scepticism shaped European thought; died #OTD 1592. Many books originally in his library at Tour Montaigne are now in the University of Cambridge Library @theUL.bsky.social 1598
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 08/09/2025Seven of the top ten skills employers say they most need are not technical but human: resilience, empathy, adaptability, curiosity, leadership, creativity and self-awareness. And these are precisely the skills students develop when they do a BA… #HASS 073
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 02/09/2025A welcome statement from the Anglican Church in Victoria about Camp Sovereignty 051
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 22/08/2025Remembering with thankfulness Fr Gerry O’Collins SJ on the first anniversary of his death 040
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 21/08/2025Ever wondered how letters were folded and sealed before the use of gummed envelopes in the 19th century? Wonder no more: you’ll have hours of instructive fun on this ‘letterlocking’ YouTube channel, including a demonstration of the ‘tuck-and-seal’ method favoured by Voltaire… youtu.be/iNMoq28X2sQyoutu.beHenri Christophe’s tuck-and-seal letter to Toussaint Louverture’ Haiti (1802)YouTube video by Letterlocking videos 120
Reposted by Russell GoulbourneHetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 21/08/2025Failure to study languages ‘damages Britain’s reputation’. Former Schools Minister Nick Gibb says it may be time to make languages compulsory again up to age 16, but with a long lead time to ensure there are enough teachers www.thetimes.com/article/5332...thetimes.comFailure to study languages ‘damages Britain’s reputation’The former schools minister says it may be time to return to make the study of a foreign language compulsory at GCSE 3217
Reposted by Russell GoulbourneThe New Yorker @newyorker.com · 14/08/2025James Baldwin’s message was simple: we’re afraid of love, because we’re afraid of exposing our true selves. To manage that fear, we “other” the groups we don’t belong to in order to avoid a reckoning with ourselves.newyorker.comThe Lives and Loves of James BaldwinAn older generation dismissed him as passé; a newer one has recast him as a secular saint. But Baldwin’s true message remains more unsettling than either camp recognizes. 141168231
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 19/08/2025‘Beginning to wonder’… George Oppen’s ‘The Forms of Love’ (1975) 020
Reposted by Russell GoulbournePaul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 16/08/2025So, you mean 80% of graduates have benefited financially from it? And, whisper it quietly, but *UNIVERSITY EDUCATION ISN’T JUST ABOUT SALARY* 30469102
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 17/08/2025On carrying poetry abroad… youtu.be/0nTmSu6v0LAyoutu.beSuitable Poetry Sketch - A Bit of Fry and Laurie - BBCYouTube video by BBC Studios 010
Reposted by Russell GoulbourneAdam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 16/08/2025“Putin would eat you for lunch.” Today, exactly that happened. 676233227442
Reposted by Russell GoulbourneBlake Emerson @blakeprof.bsky.social · 15/08/2025🚨 150 University of California law professors (and counting) have now signed this open letter to the UC Regents and other officials, explaining the flagrant illegality of the Trump Administration’s UCLA funding cut offs, and urging the UC to fight back. sites.google.com/view/uclawfa... 101025337
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 16/08/2025A coffee in my @voltaire.ox.ac.uk travel cup while I watch the boys play soccer at Manningham Juventus FC in Doncaster: an almost typical Aussie Saturday morning ⚽️ 040
Reposted by Russell GoulbourneSacha Coward @sachacoward.bsky.social · 15/08/2025I am one of the 14 authors who chose to leave the Polari Prize, and I find myself frustrated and saddened at the way this entire story has been represented. 1/ 11361782349
Reposted by Russell GoulbourneLiverpool University Press @livunipress.bsky.social · 13/08/2025We are pleased to announce that the Australian Society for French Studies are now accepting submissions for the Jarrod Hayes AJFS Prize for 2025. 🏆 Find out more: bit.ly/JH-AJFS-Prize @sfhs.bsky.social @sfps.bsky.social @ilcs.bsky.social @profnatedwards.bsky.social 039
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 14/08/2025A blessed Feast of the Assumption! This sixteenth-century Macedonian icon of the Dormition of the Virgin is now part of the wonderful collection of icons in the Petit Palais, Paris. 020
Reposted by Russell GoulbourneLiz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 13/08/2025Got distracted whilst looking for early 20th century sound effects. Can we use this for a 1926 British soundscape? No. Do I want to shoehorn it in regardless? Clearly, yes. www.iwm.org.uk/collections/... 0215
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 13/08/2025Congratulations to all those on the shortlist for this year’s Prime Minister’s Literary Awards creative.gov.au/news-events/...creative.gov.auAnnouncing the shortlists for the 2025 Prime Minister’s Literary AwardsCreative Australia has today revealed the shortlist for the 2025 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, the richest literary prize in the nation. 101
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 10/08/2025I had the honour of preaching at Christ Church St Laurence, Sydney, this morning for their Patronal Festival 031
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 05/08/2025‘Not all spaces are empty’: a beautiful new poem by Amy Crutchfield, ‘De Chirico, after Bruce Bond’s “Oval”’, published today for #PoetryMonth by #RedRoomPoetry #30in30 redroompoetry.org/poets/amy-cr...redroompoetry.orgDe ChiricoAustralian poems by Australian poets are at the heart of Red Room Poetry, an organisation devoted to creating, publishing and promoting the reading and writing of great new work. 000
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 04/08/2025Welcome news from the Albanese government ministers.education.gov.au/clare/managi...ministers.education.gov.au 010
Reposted by Russell GoulbourneianVisits @ianvisits.co.uk · 22/07/2025A north London school hall is to be restored to its 1960s appearance and become home to the UK’s first Museum of Brutalist Architecture (MoBA) after it secured a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant. www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/lon...ianvisits.co.ukLondon is getting a Museum of Brutalist ArchitectureA north London school hall is to be restored to its 1960s appearance and become home to the UK’s first Museum of Brutalist Architecture (MoBA) after it secured a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant. 25217
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 30/07/2025Very clever reworking of this Nicolas-André Monsiau painting 👏 000
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 29/07/2025What a delight it will be to keep the feast of St Laurence in Sydney the weekend after next… 011
Reposted by Russell GoulbourneVoltaire Foundation @voltaire.ox.ac.uk · 24/06/2025Reading Voltaire's entire correspondence (over 20,000 letters in 45 vols) has its disadvantages and rewards, says Gillian Pink. Read her blog post on one of the latter - a 1753 letter containing elements of Voltaire's Candide (1759): voltairefoundation.wordpress.com/2025/06/20/f...voltairefoundation.wordpress.comFinding Candide where you least expect itThis blog is based on the article by Gillian Pink, ‘L’allégorie d’Alcibiade et le dossier génétique de Candide’, recently published in the Revue Voltaire 24 (2025), p.239-251. Deciding to read Volt… 0133
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 26/07/2025It’s 26 July — on this day last year, the Paris Olympics were just beginning — and I find myself drawn to this Mary Oliver poem… 010
Reposted by Russell Goulbournechiller @chiller.eurosky.social · 24/07/2025I've never seen *anything* like this, either. Joint statement from BBC, Reuters, AFP, AP about their journalists literally starving.bbc.comJoint statement on Gaza from AFP, AP, BBC News and Reuters 3236142
Reposted by Russell GoulbourneArchbishop of York @www.archbishopofyork.org · 23/07/2025A statement on the situation in Gaza. 26043
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 19/07/2025I’m delighted that my presentation on Flaubert’s ‘Madame Bovary’ is now available on the YouTube channel of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne as part of the ‘Great Books: bite size’ series youtu.be/Jwu26CmOSuQyoutu.be10 Great Books 2021: Madame BovaryYouTube video by ArtsUnimelb 020
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 18/07/2025What a privilege it has been to spend the last three weeks studying the Renaissance with these smart University of Melbourne students on a Summer School in the Loire Valley. 050
Reposted by Russell GoulbourneAustralian Anglican @austanglican.bsky.social · 16/07/202517 July 1999: installation of the Very Rev. David John Leyburn Richardson, previously Dean of St Peter's Cathedral Adelaide, at St Paul's Cathedral Melbourne, to be 13th Dean of Melbourne. #anglican #26years Dean Emeritus 2008. Director of the Anglican Centre at Rome 2008-2013. OBE 2013. AO 2016. 022
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 15/07/2025www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...theguardian.comAndrea Gibson, poet and subject of documentary Come See Me in the Good Light, dies aged 49Gibson, who was Colorado’s poet laureate and diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer, died at their home on Monday 000
Reposted by Russell GoulbourneThe British Academy @britishacademy.bsky.social · 11/07/2025What really happened in the Battle of Trafalgar? And who shot Admiral Nelson? In this 10-Minute Talk, Dr David McCallam explores contemporary French responses to the battle and how they offer a fascinating alternative perspective on a well-rehearsed historical event. bit.ly/4kAnqIBbit.ly 1144
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 06/07/2025In Tours, the discerning gentleman could buy a pink three-piece suit for 679€… 🤔 010
Reposted by Russell GoulbourneAriadne Vromen @ariadnevromen.bsky.social · 04/07/2025The attacks on humanities & social sciences continue in Australian universities - this week the university of Tasmania chooses to make a significant proportion of its small faculty redundant www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...abc.net.auUniversity of Tasmania confirms job cuts amid humanities restructureUp to 13 full-time academic positions will be lost as part of the University of Tasmania's restructure of its arts and humanities courses. 32414
Reposted by Russell GoulbourneJérémie Foa @anakroniks.bsky.social · 30/06/2025Grande joie ! Survivre s’est vu attribuer ce soir le prix de l’essai France Culture / Arte 2025 !! 1316824
Reposted by Russell GoulbourneOxford Academic @academic.oup.com · 26/06/2025Learn how humility and pride come together in many LGBTQ+ Christian journeys. Dawne Moon and Theresa W. Tobin tell Shae's story of sexuality and spirituality here: oxford.ly/44w34v7 #pride 🏳️🌈 052
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 25/06/2025It’s good to be back in the Chapel of the Holy Angels in St Sulpice, spending time with Delacroix’s ‘Jacob Wrestling with the Angel’ 010
Reposted by Russell GoulbourneAdam Sharp @adamcsharp.bsky.social · 19/06/2025A Greek way of describing something that fails miserably is μάπα το καρπούζι. It means “the watermelon proved to be a cabbage.” 614020
Reposted by Russell GoulbourneJo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 19/06/2025Absolutely hate University rankings. Especially QS. But can someone please show the government that the UK has 3 in top 6, and 4 in top 10 and ask if there’s any other sector where the UK does so well, especially with government putting obstacles in its path www.topuniversities.com/world-univer...topuniversities.comQS World University Rankings 2026: Top global universitiesExplore QS World University Rankings® 2026 of 1501 institutions based on 8 key ranking indicators- academics, faculty/student ratio, international student & more. 47819
Reposted by Russell Goulbourne🍁🇨🇦Team Canada Forever🇨🇦🍁 @teamcanadaforever.bsky.social · 15/06/2025Honestly I still can’t stop laughing 😂😅🤣 20243758012105
Russell Goulbourne @frenchprofessor.bsky.social · 14/06/2025‘How it snowed in clumps of white quiet’: I love Sophie Dumont’s poem ‘Yarrow’, just published in Issue 14 of Dust Poetry, with its poignant evocation of the effects of dementia. 071
Reposted by Russell Goulbournewill pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 13/06/2025omgomgomg french history woodstock lineup just dropped frenchhistorysociety.co.uk/blog/wp-cont... 🗃️frenchhistorysociety.co.uk 1248