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James Cook

@jamesbpcook.bsky.social
296 followers 285 following 62 posts

Writer. MEMORY SONGS | IN HER ROOM | Editor @Review31. Bylines @TheTLS @Guardian. Agent @oliagent @AMHeathLtd. jamesbpcook.blogspot.com

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S France Thomason @france-thomason.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Absolutely delighted to have made it onto the 2026 shortlist! @iaminprint.bsky.social #writingsky #writingcommunity #CreativeWriting #Writer #WritingCommunity #WriterSky #Fantasy #SciFi #SFFH
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Rock ‘n’ Roll Book Club @rnrbook-club.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
@willhodgkinson.bsky.social talks to Steve Mason of the Beta Band in the Sunday Times ($) Failure Is Always An Option @newmodernbooks.bsky.social is a very readable, funny, candid memoir.
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Jude Cook @judecook.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Only 5 days to go before the launch of @smwwriting.bsky.social's brilliant debut novel MALC'S BOY! Join us at The Social on Tues 21st April at 7pm for music, readings and an in-conversation between Shaun & Lias Saoudi from Fat White Family. @conduitbooks.bsky.social www.thesocial.com/event/condui...
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James Cook @jamesbpcook.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
My review of Someone Like Me, an excellent collection of essays by autistic writers, in this week's @thetls.bsky.social www.the-tls.com/regular-feat...
the-tls.com
‘Mimic, practise, repeat’
Someone Like Me is an expanded edition of an essay collection originally published in Australia last year in which thirty-one autistic gender-diverse and
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SomersetWhovian 💙 🇺🇦 @clairecopperman.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Really interesting interview with James Hunt, father of two autistic sons. I hadn't come across him before, but my daughter says she's been following him on Insta for ages! Thank you, @johnharris1969.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
Life with my autistic sons: ‘How do you explain all the worries, the sleepless nights?’
When James Hunt began posting about his boys online, it was a way to describe the emotions and experiences of their extraordinary lives. In sharing his family’s joy and struggles, he realised they wer...
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John Harris @johnharris1969.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Out in paperback on April 2nd! Quote from Cameron Crowe and everything!
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Jude Cook @judecook.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
A piece of memoir for my March Substack: read The Happiest Man Alive: My Iranian Uncle for FREE here: 👇https://judecook.substack.com/p/the-happiest-man-alive
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Rock ‘n’ Roll Book Club @rnrbook-club.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
London, Leytonstone a week today @musicmaps.bsky.social Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1983727792...
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Michael Eades @drmichaeleades.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Top night in East London for the launch of @stuhennigan.bsky.social’s novel Keshed. Savage Northern poetic literature onslaught in darkest Mile End. Perfect 👌
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Jude Cook @judecook.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Last call for this tonight. Do come along to hear @stuhennigan.bsky.social talk about his debut novel, KESHED, with me at Bárd Books this evening at 7pm. Should be a belter. @ortacpress.bsky.social. Tickets here: www.wearebardbooks.co.uk/event-detail...
wearebardbooks.co.uk
MEET THE BÀRD: Stu Hennigan | Bard Books
We are delighted to be hosting the first London event for Stu Hennigan's hotly tipped debut novel 'Keshed', a brutally poetic examination of class, belonging, masculinity, addiction and fatherhood. St...
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John Harris @johnharris1969.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
The war sidelined this from the news, but dissent continues www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
SEND reforms to 'strip away' children's legal protections, charity says
Planned changes to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system in England were announced last month.
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Jude Cook @judecook.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
This should be awesome. Do come along to hear @stuhennigan.bsky.social talk about his fierce & moving debut novel, KESHED, with me at Bárd Books this Thursday 12th March, 7pm. @ortacpress.bsky.social Tickets going fast: 👇 www.wearebardbooks.co.uk/event-detail...
wearebardbooks.co.uk
MEET THE BÀRD: Stu Hennigan | Bard Books
We are delighted to be hosting the first London event for Stu Hennigan's hotly tipped debut novel 'Keshed', a brutally poetic examination of class, belonging, masculinity, addiction and fatherhood. St...
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James Cook @jamesbpcook.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Bon voyage!
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Richard Morris @ahistoryinart.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
More than any other British artist, Paul Nash revived the English landscape tradition in modern terms. In 'The Rye Marshes, East Sussex,' (1932) he brings his understanding of Cézanne on his search for a satisfying compositional design.
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Stu Hennigan @stuhennigan.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
#GetKeshed with us in London, it's gonna be a right schmooze.
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Apollo @apollo-magazine.com · 27/02/2026
In a world saturated with images, learning to think about what we see is vitally important. ‘Letting art history become endangered and drift further into elite status is not only unfair, it’s also perilous,’ writes Helen Barrett
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Art history is too important to be the preserve of the privileged
The subject is endangered at A level just as it couldn’t be more essential or universal. Helen Barrett makes the case for its survival in British schools
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Jude Cook @judecook.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
I reviewed Helle Helle's precise, controlled unforgettable novella, They, in @theguardian.com. Translated by Martin Aitken, published by new small press Akoya. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...
theguardian.com
They by Helle Helle review – a novel to make the reader slow down and take notice
Minimalist but never austere, this mother-daughter portrait from the Danish author finds its power in everyday detail
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Jude Cook @judecook.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
New event alert: Do come along to the @owlbookshop.bsky.social in Kentish town on Thursday 23rd April to hear Shaun Wilson and Sam Mills talk about his brilliant debut novel MALC'S BOY (it's publication day too so should be great!) @conduitbooks.bsky.social Tickets: owlbookshop.co.uk/product/shau...
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Jude Cook @judecook.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Having played a gig to just a soundman & his dog before (just the dog when the soundman went for a leak), 15 paying punters to see the fabulous, fierce Stu Hennigan is a pretty good start. Do please swell the throng & see me & Stu in conversation at Bàrd Books on 12th March 7pm (tickets below).
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Stu Hennigan @stuhennigan.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Still a way to go but I can't believe only 15 of you are coming to this so far. If this ends up like Ghost Signs where everyone flakes out an an anticipated packed house of 60 ends up being barely double figures there's gonna be trouble at t'mill 😂 www.wearebardbooks.co.uk/event-detail...
wearebardbooks.co.uk
MEET THE BÀRD: Stu Hennigan | Bard Books
We are delighted to be hosting the first London event for Stu Hennigan's hotly tipped debut novel 'Keshed', a brutally poetic examination of class, belonging, masculinity, addiction and fatherhood. St...
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James Cook @jamesbpcook.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Mark Ronson’s memoir is a hoot. He makes 90s NYC sound even more exciting than 90s London. My review for this week’s @thetls.bsky.social www.the-tls.com/lives/autobi...
the-tls.com
Coming of age in New York’s music scene
“Every room was to be destroyed”, Mark Ronson writes in Night People, his rapturous account of his early life as a hip-hop DJ in New York in the 1990s.
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John Harris @johnharris1969.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
And here it is: the SEND reform plan, and why - for all its good intentions - it threatens a terrifying loss of rights, just when the worst imaginable govt might be newly in power www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Labour’s Send revolution is a high-stakes experiment. It also threatens precious parental rights | John Harris
Bridget Phillipson’s 10-year plan is generous in places, but it has its problems. Not least that it could be trashed by a Reform government, says Guardian columnist John Harris
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Graeme Thomson @graemethomson.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
'Come gentle spring, come at winter's end.' Released 40 years ago today.
The vinyl lp of The Colour of Spring by Talk Talk
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John Harris @johnharris1969.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
Latest from me: on the govt's imminent Special Needs revolution, and a familiar (old) Labour story: of lofty aims undermined by meagre budgets, constant anonymous briefings – and a drive to remove families’ basic rights www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
I fear that Labour’s special needs revolution will instead be a catastrophic letdown | John Harris
A familiar Labour story is unfolding: of lofty aims undermined by budgets, constant anonymous briefing – and a drive to remove families’ basic rights, says Guardian columnist John Harris
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archivetvmusings @archivetvmusings.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
The first episode of Bagpuss was originally broadcast on this day in 1974. Created by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate, the series ran for just 13 episodes (with voices provided by Postgate, Sandra Kerr and John Faulkner).
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Ortac Press @ortacpress.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Happy publication day to the deep, dark, beautiful ride that is Keshed by Stu Hennigan. We’re incredibly proud to be publishing this bold, uncompromising novel. Congratulations @stuhennigan.bsky.social, and thanks to @turnarounduk.bsky.social, Jack Smyth, Tom and Jaime Witcomb and Alex Billington.
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John Harris @johnharris1969.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Another SEND move today. The brilliant @spcialndsjungle.bsky.social has what you need to know www.specialneedsjungle.com/inclusion-ba...
specialneedsjungle.com
Inclusion bases: a new label, a big ambition, same unanswered questions - Special Needs Jungle
More government announcements—this time changing units and resourced provision to “Inclusion Bases”: new label, same unanswered questions
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Backlisted Podcast @backlisted.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
New episode up now. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis, with guest Doctor Rowan Williams. www.backlisted.fm/episodes/257...
backlisted.fm
257. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis — Backlisted
Dr Rowan Williams, theologian, poet and former Archbishop of Canterbury, joins Andy and John for a thoughtful and moving discussion of  Till We Have Faces  (1956), the last novel by C.S. Lew...
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John Harris @johnharris1969.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Latest from me on Substack (it's free!) maybeimamazed.substack.com/p/what-does-...
maybeimamazed.substack.com
What does all this chaos mean for the government's SEND plans?
Keir Starmer's meltdown surely makes any drastic cutting-back of families' rights even more politically reckless, but that doesn't mean it won't happen
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John Harris @johnharris1969.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
inews.co.uk/opinion/pare...
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James Cook @jamesbpcook.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Agreed. And 'I Want You' being one of the best side-one closers of all time, with its nod to Abbey Road.
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James Cook @jamesbpcook.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Listening to Blood and Chocolate now, LOUD.
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James Cook @jamesbpcook.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
I guess it was more of a Phil Collins/UB 40 type of place. The second song was the VU's What Goes on.
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James Cook @jamesbpcook.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Jude and I once opened a 'matinee' pub gig at the The Longship in Stevenage in 1987 with 'Uncomplicated'. I'm amazed we're still alive.
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James Cook @jamesbpcook.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Blood on the tracks. Great stuff from @iammilliam.bsky.social
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Jude Cook @judecook.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
A late-January Substack essay from me. Read In Plain Sight: The Dark Side of the 70s for FREE here: judecook.substack.com/p/in-plain-s...
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James Cook @jamesbpcook.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
I wrote about John Davidson’s moving, courageous memoir 'I Swear: My Life With Tourette’s' for this week’s TLS. @thetls.bsky.social www.the-tls.com/lives/autobi...
the-tls.com
An engaging and affecting portrait of Tourette syndrome
In March 1989, the BBC screened a thirty-minute documentary, John’s Not Mad, as part of its Q.E.D series. It followed sixteen-year-old John Davidson, who
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John Harris @johnharris1969.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
From the i's well-briefed breakdown of SEND changes: our increasingly nuanced, complex understanding of psychology & child development reduced to four "tiers" with an ejector-seat fifth that will seemingly involve actual rights. Humanity carved up by bureaucracy: No-one will like this system
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John Harris @johnharris1969.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
If any journalists are covering the mounting controversy/briefing war about SEND changes, pls remember that the current system goes up to the age of 25. Abs no mention of this so far, which terrifies many people (inc me)
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