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Heather Ray Milligan

@hrmilligan.bsky.social
402 followers 459 following 67 posts

Research Fellow at Loughborough University // contemporary lit, ecocriticism, and American culture // writing a book called Ecogothic America and the Twenty-First-Century Novel (forthcoming Edinburgh University Press) // she/her

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Reposted by Heather Ray Milligan
C21 Literature: Journal of 21st-Century Writings @c21literature.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Really looking forward to our event later this evening! We'll be live posting so do follow along...
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James Kneale @jameskneale.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
'Gothic Anthropocene' workshop series at UCL, free to attend, running throughout October. Organised by Yichun Zhang and Qin Wu (both UCL)
A poster for a series of workshops. Text reads:

GOTHIC ANTHROPOCENE: NONHUMAN ENTANGLEMENT IN MULTICULTURES

What happens when the Gothic meets the Anthropocene?
Through four interactive workshops combining talks and creative activities, we rethink the boundaries between humans, non-humans, and the environments we inhabit.

WORKSHOP ONE • Seafood, Pollution and Colonial Waterscapes
9 OCT, 5-7PM
Speaker: Dr. Niranjana Ramesh (QMUL) & Yichun Zhang (UCL)
Creative activity: Mapping Your Own Waters, Yichun Zhang (UCL)

WORKSHOP TWO • Flesh and Bone: Gothic Animals as Cultures and Materiality
15 OCT, 3.30-5PM
Speaker: Maria Dragoi (UCL)
Creative Activity: Gothic Animals Show-and-Tell, Qin Wu (UCL)

WORKSHOP THREE • Gothic Sounds in the Anthropocene
23 OCT, 5-7PM
Speaker: Dr. Gavin Williams (KCL)
Creative activity: TBD, Francesca Balestro (UCL)

WORKSHOP FOUR • Gothic Objects: Dolls in the Cinema
30 OCT, 5-7PM
Speaker: Dr. Joana Jacob Ramalho (UCL)
Creative activity: TBD


All Welcome
Workshop One, Three and Four: Engineering Front Building, Executive Suite 104, UCL main campus
Workshop Two: Object-based Learning Lab, Old Refectory, Wilkins Building, UCL main campus
Food and drink provided
Enquiries: yichun.zhang.21@ucl.ac.uk and qin.wu.22@ucl.ac.uk
Generously supported by The University Council of Languages (UCFL) and SELCS-CMII, UCL
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Reposted by Heather Ray Milligan
National Trust @nationaltrust.org.uk · 28/09/2026
Today marks three years since the iconic Sycamore Gap tree was illegally felled. We're pleased to bring you new images which reveal how the stump is growing, a sure sign that the tree is in recovery.
A close-up of sycamore shootsThe stump is hidden by a thick ring of green shootsThick, green shoots surround the stumpShowing tall shoots, growing above the stump
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Reposted by Heather Ray Milligan
hannah @hannahkateboast.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I'm on strike for the next five weeks with @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social because management continues to threaten mass compulsory redundancies. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Edinburgh University lecturers begin five-week strike over cuts
Members of the University and Colleges Union are walking out in part of a long-running dispute over job and course cuts.
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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
not including What We Do in the Shadows the week of bi visibility day... smh
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Becca Harrison @beccaeharrison.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
If I were running a university where staff spent weeks and weeks of time putting grant proposals together only for UKRI to feed them into LLMs without informed consent—effectively theft of the time and work—I’d be taking serious action to defend those staff. But I’m not running a university, so
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Samuel Miller McDonald @smillermcdonald.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
New podcast out at Across the Margin. Michael Shields and I discuss my book PROGRESS and topics like the origins of capitalism and the root causes of current crises, to the challenges of finding meaning beyond progress. Please have a listen! shows.acast.com/across-the-m...
shows.acast.com
Episode 241: Progress with Samuel Miller McDonald | Across the Margin: The Podcast
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Reposted by Heather Ray Milligan
Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
delighted to share my latest article is published (open access) in Modern Fiction Studies! @hopkinspress.bsky.social I give Hanya Yanagihara's first novel, The People in the Trees, the petroculture studies treatment and conclude that the times, they are exhausted doi.org/10.1353/mfs....
Beige cover of Modern Fiction Studies issue 72:3 (Fall 2026) featuring painting 'Sahara (Desert)' by Jan Ciagliński with turquoise figure in bottom rightAbstract for 'Contemporary Oil Fiction: From Exuberance to Exhaustion' by Heather Ray Milligan
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Reposted by Heather Ray Milligan
Hopkins Press @hopkinspress.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
NEW ISSUE OUT NOW MFS Modern Fiction Studies 72.3, Fall 2026 #S20 #OpenAccess @ProjectMUSE tiny.one/2un4rnev CONTRIBUTORS Eyal Amiran Leo Kadokura Heather Ray Milligan Safaa Mohamed Christopher Morris Lamia Tayeb Olivia Lingyi Xu Joanna Falk Randi Gill-Sadler Elana Gomel and more
NEW ISSUE OUT NOW
MFS Modern Fiction Studies
72.3, Fall 2026

#S20 #OpenAccess @ Project MUSE

CONTRIBUTORS
Eyal Amiran
Leo Kadokura
Heather Ray Milligan
Safaa Mohamed
Christopher Morris
Lamia Tayeb
Olivia Lingyi Xu
Joanna Falk
Randi Gill-Sadler
Elana Gomel
Lucy Valerie Graham
Caroline Hsu
Sean Latham
Garry Leonard
Akemi Nishida
Lisa Outar
Fernanda Zullo-Ruiz

HOPKINS PRESS JOURNALS
www.press.jhu.edu/journals/mfs-modern-fiction-studies
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Samuel Miller McDonald @smillermcdonald.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This excellent new article puts forward an important framework for understanding the difference between periods of collective exhaustion and those of exuberance. Have a guess which we are in now... Give it a read, OPEN ACCESSS!
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Reposted by Heather Ray Milligan
Lit Hub @literaryhub.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
We love a good win. buff.ly/tI3Q7DK
buff.ly
Sally Rooney just defeated a data center.
Here’s a rare piece of heartening tech news to buoy you toward the weekend: A West of Ireland data center objected to by novelist Sally Rooney has just had its planning permission overturned …
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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
delighted to share my latest article is published (open access) in Modern Fiction Studies! @hopkinspress.bsky.social I give Hanya Yanagihara's first novel, The People in the Trees, the petroculture studies treatment and conclude that the times, they are exhausted doi.org/10.1353/mfs....
Beige cover of Modern Fiction Studies issue 72:3 (Fall 2026) featuring painting 'Sahara (Desert)' by Jan Ciagliński with turquoise figure in bottom rightAbstract for 'Contemporary Oil Fiction: From Exuberance to Exhaustion' by Heather Ray Milligan
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Reposted by Heather Ray Milligan
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
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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Roger Luckhurst @theprofrog.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
A frankly trying modern literature university job for someone, being forced to live in Lausanne on a very good salary for years on end
timeshighereducation.com
Assistant Professor (Tenure Track Directly to Professor Ordinaire) in Modern English Literature - Lausanne, Canton of Vaud (CH) job with UNIVERSITY OF LAUSANNE - UNIL | 415561
The University of Lausanne seeks a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Modern English Literature, leading to Professor Ordinaire ...
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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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British Association for Romantic Studies @bars.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Conference Announcement: The Last Man at 200: Imagining the Future after Environmental Disaster The Keats-Shelley Association of America (@ksaacomm.bsky.social) and the University of Notre Dame invite you to a hybrid conference next month! More on the blog: www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6578
Cover for The Last Man at 200: Mary Shelley, Postapocalyptic Politics and the Environmental Humanities, edited by Eileen M. Hunt.
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Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I don't think the official launch has happened yet, but it appears the new Hopkins Guide is up & running on ProjectMUSE. The editors have been working on this since at least 2020 (that's when they queried me). It has (by my count) 84 new entries. IMHO... muse.jhu.edu/resource/8
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Loughborough English @lboroenglish.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
We are delighted to be ranked FIRST in the UK for both English Literature and Creative Writing in the latest Daily Mail university rankings! 🎉
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Samuel Miller McDonald @smillermcdonald.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Shatters the ideological foundation of liberalism and capitalism.—Prof Thea Riofrancos There is an idealism to this book that refreshes readers jaded by the claims of 'techno-futurism' and the aspirations of oligarchs.—Kirkus Reviews The paperback version of PROGRESS is published in the UK today
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Xavier Aldana Reyes @xaldanareyes.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Body Horror is out today in the UK (and I believe already out in the US and other countries)! The code CUP20 gets you 20% off when purchasing the book directly from @ColumbiaUP. I’d be really grateful for any reposts or help with promotion! 🪰🧪🩸 #horror #bodyhorror cup.columbia.edu/book/body-ho...
Cover for Body Horror: Biology, Biopower, Biotechnology, by Xavier Aldana Reyes. It includes a still from the film, featuring Jeff Goldblum. His face shows visible signs that his body is beginning to change.
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Anna Page @annacpage.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Microsoft wants to build three massive AI data centres in Leeds. It’ll drain thousands of litres of water from the River Aire and become the city's biggest carbon emitter. We can still stop the council's final sign-off, but we need more voices. Add your name: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/pr...
you.38degrees.org.uk
Stop the Microsoft AI megasite in Leeds!
Microsoft want to build three huge AI data centres at Skelton Grange. It would drain the River Aire and become the city's biggest carbon emitter. We can still stop it - add your name to the petition.
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Samuel Miller McDonald @smillermcdonald.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Had a fantastic chat with Yasha Levine about all sorts of topics substack.com/home/post/p-...
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Paul Behrens @profpaulbehrens.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
MPs "have demanded full publication of an explosive report by the UK’s spy leaders that found the collapse of ecosystems overseas would have catastrophic consequences for the UK’s national security." www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
theguardian.com
UK has ‘no future’ if it fails to act on ecosystem collapse threatening national security
MPs demand publication of full report that outlines catastrophic consequences amid concerns for food security
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hannah @hannahkateboast.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Some of @shannonmattern.bsky.social's remarks on this have stuck with me, and helped explain my own exhaustion in ways I couldn't otherwise have put my finger upon: wordsinspace.net/2024/12/13/t...
wordsinspace.net
The Limits of Refusal
Words in Space is the work of Shannon Mattern.
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British Association for Modernist Studies (BAMS) @modernistudies.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
A gentle #CFP reminder 🕰️📣 Our Special Issue for the #WeirdModernisms conference invites speakers to publish a shortened version of their paper, an extract, or a summary. Deadline 31st July! 🗓️ Email tmr@bams.ac.uk with proposals, doubts, and/or submissions! 📨 @moderniststudies.bsky.social
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 10/07/2026
“Cornell researchers found that at the current rate of AI growth, the burgeoning industry could represent 24 to 44 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, the equivalent of adding five to ten million cars to US roadways.”
futurism.com
The Pollution Being Churned Out by AI Data Centers Is So Severe That It's Almost Incomprehensible
The extent of the pollution being put out by thousands of data centers is shocking. Some developers are exploiting regulatory loopholes.
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Loughborough English @lboroenglish.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
The English Department @lborouniversity.bsky.social recently welcomed 400 academics from around the globe to explore works of Weird Modernism, bringing together @modernistudies.bsky.social and @moderniststudies.bsky.social and led by our own Emily Bell, Jade French & @profsarahparker.bsky.social.
lboro.ac.uk
English Department hosts major international conference on Weird Modernisms
Loughborough University recently welcomed over four hundred academics from around the globe to explore, celebrate and study works of Weird Modernism.
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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
very pleased to have signed the advance contract for my first monograph, Ecogothic America and the Twenty-First-Century Novel, with @edinburghup.bsky.social !
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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
this was a delightful panel: reincarnation & sexology, gothic spectres of femme-phobia, and queer domestic life glimpsed from a feline perspective – glorious
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Loughborough University UCU @lboroucu.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Please sign & share the open letter to save modern languages at the Uni of Nottingham, this is part of a much wider national crisis & this letter is a chance for the sector to speak with one voice: forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/respon... #SaveLanguagesAtUoN #HigherEducation @uonucu.bsky.social
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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
after 4 days of #WeirdModernisms, seen off by esteemed conference cat
A tabby cat sits on a path leading to Holywell Conference Centre in Loughborough, surrounded by greenery
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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
it was an honour to introduce Ali Sperling's excellent final keynote of the conference, which drew on traditions of Afro-pessimism and queer negativity to advocate for Weird "unworldings"
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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
this was a wonderful keynote – still thinking about those red rocks of Sedona and the fusion of Gothic and Western genres
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Bloomsbury Academic @bloomsburyacademic.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
📢UK writers: Academic Writing Fellowship Applications now open 🎉 In partnership with @writersandartists.bsky.social, this fellowship helps UK-based early-career scholars from Black, Asian, and ethnically diverse backgrounds publish their first book. Apply by 1 Aug 👉 bit.ly/4erXWNR
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Cinema's First Nasty Women @nastysilents.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
The **world premiere** of the WEIRD MODERNISMS FILM FESTIVAL is upon us!! We are chuffed to kick things off in style w/ FEMINIST FEVER DREAMS--featuring Karen Pearlman's tour-de-force Breaking Plates, followed by 9 dish-smashing highlights from CFNW! 📽️🎞️🎶‼️☔️🔥🌪️ www.moderniststudies.org/conference/M...
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Something deeply troubling & shocking is happening at Exeter University*, where a mass cull of staff is planned, even though it's in surplus. No good justifications given. @jamesgdyke.info provides the details: www.technosphere.earth/the-bonfire-... *Disclosure: I have a Visiting Fellowship here. +🧵
technosphere.earth
The bonfire of the humanities
150 academic posts at the University of Exeter are to be cut, most in the humanities but also in social sciences, engineering and environmental sciences
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Dr. Niall Allsopp @niallallsopp.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Please sign & share @exeterucu.bsky.social petition on wholly unjustified, hugely damaging cuts to humanities staff at uni of Exeter (including, potentially, mine). Help us defend the humanities! And stick up for higher ed in the South West! c.org/RFqMvrKb6z
'EXETER UCU: OUR SIX KEY MESSAGES

1. EXETER UNI'S FINANCES ARE STRONG. WE'VE LARGE CASH RESERVES (£200M IN 24/25). NEVER HAD A BUDGET DEFICIT. THIS 'CRISIS' IS MANUFACTURED.
2. EXECUTIVE PAY AT EXETER IS OUT OF CONTROL. IF JUST THE 16 HIGHEST-PAID EXECS CAPPED THEIR SALARY AT £120K, WE'D SAVE MORE MONEY THAN ALL THE CUTS TO ARCHAEOLOGY & HISTORY!
3. NO MEANINGFUL CONSULTATION, BUT A CONFUSED MESS: FAULTY AND INSUFFICIENT DATA, NO REAL DISCUSSION, AND AN IMPOSSIBLE, INSULTING AND UNREASONABLE TIMETABLE TO PUSH THIS THROUGH OVER THE SUMMER.
4. AN ALL-STAFF MEETING OF 600 STAFF RESOUNDINGLY VOTED NO CONFIDENCE IN VICE CHANCELLOR LISA ROBERTS (WHOSE PAY IS PUSHING £400K). WE BELIEVE THIS IS THE BIGGEST SINGLE VOTE BY ANY UNI STAFF IN THE HISTORY OF UK HE.
5. REDUNDANCIES ARE A MANAGEMENT CHOICE, NOT A FINANCIAL NECESSITY. THEY EVEN HAVE ALTERNATIVE COSTED PLANS WITH NO CUTS, BUT THINK IT'S EASIER TO GO FOR JOB LOSSES.
6. EXETER IS A FANTASTIC UNI, WITH WORLD CLASS RESEARCH, CREATIVE AND INSPIRING TEACHING, THOUGHTFUL AND IMAGINATIVE COMMUNITY OF STAFF AND STUDENTS. LET'S KEEP IT THAT WAY.'

At the bottom of the poster:
#DefendExeterUni
Instagram handle @uniexeterucu
QR link to sign the petition
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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
hastily assembling my paper '(Meta-)Modernism's Mad Dogs' on canines, contagion, and race & species discourses AND my chair's introduction for one of our fantastic keynotes excited to welcome many wonderful colleagues to that ultimate weird space: the midlands campus #ModWrite
Copies of Djuna Barnes's Nightwood, Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Helena María Viramontes's Their Dogs Came With Them on a dark background with green and red tile coasters.
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hannah @hannahkateboast.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
The level of suppression of speech and action on Palestine in the UK carries on getting more and more shocking. 'The proceedings are believed to be the first brought against a barrister in respect of a jury speech in living memory, possibly ever.' www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Barrister in Palestine Action trial facing contempt of court proceedings
Rajiv Menon KC accused of defying judge’s orders to not inform jury of right to acquit on basis of conscience
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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
"Hiring of college grads is down across the board. But certain majors are able to access opportunities in a wider array of industries, new LinkedIn data shows." ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH 69% VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS 68% www.forbes.com/sites/courtn...
The Most Versatile Majors Chart, TOPPED BY ENGLISH and VISUAL&PERFORMING ARTS
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ASLE-UKI @asleuki.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
🌿Green Letters Special Issue Call for Papers - Conflictual Entanglements: Negotiating the More-than-Human in Chinese Urban Spaces Co-eds: Sara Landa and Matthias Schumann (Heidelberg University) Deadline for abstracts: 15 August 2026 Full call: asle.org.uk/green-letter...
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João Florêncio @noisybits.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Just heard about the 200 redundancies announced by my previous employer, the University of Exeter. 170 of those are in Humanities and Social Sciences. This is what happens in a country with the collapsing HE funding system with VCs-cum-CEOs on £300k salaries+bonuses and corporate governing bodies.
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Katherine Ibbett @eparpillee.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Deeply enticing CFP: Feminanimals: women as/and animals - April 2027 in Oxford, with the fabulous Fanny Clemente and Greta Colombani organising and Kaori Nagai and Chloe Taylor as keynotes - www.mod-langs.ox.ac.uk/events/2027/...
mod-langs.ox.ac.uk
FEMINANIMALS: Representations of Women and/as Animals in Literature, Arts, and Other Media
FEMINANIMALS is a three-day international conference investigating representations of women as non-human animals and of the relationship between women and non-human animals in literature, arts, and ot...
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Lorna @florilegia.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
UK-based folks: please write to your MP and sign the petition. It’s quick and straightforward and we need to tell the government that their bigotry is not supported
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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Food prices could rise 170% by 2050 due to the climate crisis. People are already struggling to put food on the table while farmers and workers can't make ends meet. We need urgent action. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
independent.co.uk
Zack Polanski warns Britain’s food system is ‘close to collapse’
The Greens have called for a £1,000-a-month basic income for some agricultural workers
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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
this seems like a sensible plan, though it's curious of the Guardian to distance this vision from 'traditional leftist parties' and 'economic degrowth', when the strategy is grounded in classic leftist policies like wealth taxes and degrowth proposals like shorter working hours
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Claire O’Callaghan @drclaireocall.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Super chatting with you Jen! 💙
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David Farrier @david-farrier.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
It was such a pleasure to talk to @racheldonald.bsky.social for the Planet Critical podcast!
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The Society of Authors @societyofauthors.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
The Society of Authors in Scotland has signed an open letter calling for steps towards a basic income for artists. 🖊️ Add your voice by signing the letter today.
buff.ly
An open letter to Scotland’s political parties and cultural institutions
A new Scottish Parliament has been elected. Now is the moment. We must make sure a basic income for artists pilot is delivered in this Parliament. The SNP have been re-elected. They said if this…
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