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Kieron Connolly

@kieronconnolly.bsky.social
212 followers 368 following 78 posts

Commissioning Editor, Old Street Publishing @oldstpublishing Previously Bloomsbury, Mail on Sunday, Amber Books Author of THE HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD and ABANDONED PLACES, among others. Editorial consultancy work at: kieronconnolly.com

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Kieron Connolly @kieronconnolly.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
JAKE ARNOTT: 'I think if I had taken some of the advice about writing I was given, I’d never have got anywhere! I remember someone saying: “write what you know” and realising that just wasn’t going to work for me.'
royalliteraryfund.substack.com
My Writing Life: Jake Arnott
“Success came quite late, and one of the best things about it was that it made my mother happy. My proudest moment was knowing that she was proud of me.”
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HappyToast @happytoast.co.uk · 14/08/2026
#Clacton
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Kieron Connolly @kieronconnolly.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Ten years ago today my book ABANDONED PLACES was published. After the Guardian trailed it on their front page, we quickly had to reprint. Translation rights were sold to Germany, France, Japan, Sweden, Iceland... And the updated edition is still selling well.
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Michael Warburton @michaelwarburton.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
STEVE McQUEEN plays Matador on the East side Drive - New York while filming "Love With A Proper Stranger” in 1962.
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Kieron Connolly @kieronconnolly.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
It's Krzysztof Kieslowski's birthday. Here's an old piece I wrote about the films he was making that brought us to Decalogue, Veronique, Three Colours. film-makersinconversation.blogspot.com/2026/
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Paul Diamond @pbdiamond.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Ah, the formula for the late Alan Coren's "Golfing for Cats."
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Steven Sheil @scsheil.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
New aftershave in Lidl: gives you the precise aroma of a widowed policeman investigating the murder of his daughter, drawn into a wide-ranging political conspiracy involving nuclear weapons.
Two boxes of aftershave called ‘Edge Of Darkness’
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Joanne Harris @joannechocolat.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
In today's inbox: three requests to work for free. One would cost me £190 in rail fare, another would cost me at least 40 hours of work, and the last says "we don't have a budget for speakers, but we can promise a nice lunch." Folks, if you're paying the caterers, you can pay your speaker.
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Kieron Connolly @kieronconnolly.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
I was asked to pick my five favourite books on movie-making: Billy Wilder, William Goldman, Kieslowski, Sidney Lumet and Scott Fitzgerald @bookdna.bsky.social bookdna.com/best-books/m...
bookdna.com
Kieron Connolly's favorite books on moviemaking
Kieron Connolly wrote Dark History of Hollywood. These are their favorite books on moviemaking.
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Prashant 🌊 @prasshant.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Nowadays, we get so much coverage of certain people trying to divide. Everything we’ve seen this week has been the antidote to that. It deserves the same attention in the mainstream — not bcz it’s abt Arsenal, but bcz it’s abt a community celebrating together. More people need to see this. 🔴⚪
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Lauren Deschain @thatnerdchick.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Thanks, Vonnegut. 💜
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Kieron Connolly @kieronconnolly.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Ian McEwan says that when he showed a draft of ATONEMENT to his editor, Dan Franklin, he was told it had three things guaranteed to shift copies - Second World War, country house, love affair. www.thetimes.com/culture/thea...
thetimes.com
Ian McEwan on putting Atonement on stage: ‘My wife invented the green dress’
As an adaptation of his novel comes to Chichester, the author talks about the key to bestsellers, finding theatre embarrassing and his next novel
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Kieron Connolly @kieronconnolly.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
“The whole Russian Empire collapsed in a couple of months in 1989 and if we don’t think the UK can go the same way, we’re in cloud cuckoo land.” James Hawes, author of The Shortest History of Ireland, on @bylinetimes.bsky.social @jameshawes.bsky.social www.bylinesupplement.com/p/is-the-uni...
bylinesupplement.com
Is the United Kingdom Heading for Divorce?
Bestselling author James Hawes talks to the Byline Podcast about why history suggests that the union will become ever more precarious
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Kieron Connolly @kieronconnolly.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
After 25 years, we have decided to bring the work of the Oli Bennett Charitable Trust to a close. Our final event, on Thursday 4 June at Westminster School, will celebrate the charity's work and remember Oli. Tickets are free, but spaces are limited: www.ticketsource.com/oli-bennett-...
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Kieron Connolly @kieronconnolly.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
After 25 years, we have decided to bring the work of the Oli Bennett Charitable Trust to a close. Our final event, on Thursday 4 June at Westminster School, will celebrate the charity's work and remember Oli. Tickets are free but spaces are limited. www.ticketsource.com/oli-bennett-...
ticketsource.com
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Old Street Publishing @oldstpublishing.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
A No.1 bestseller - John-Paul Stonard's book on German degenerate art THE WORST EXHIBITION IN THE WORLD.
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Kieron Connolly @kieronconnolly.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
I'm very pleased to have had an idea for a book where, two years later, the author is invited to discuss it on Start the Week. Live now.
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Kieron Connolly @kieronconnolly.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
I'm very pleased to see the idea that I had for a book on German degenerate art reach fruition with John-Paul Stonard's THE WORST EXHIBITION IN THE WORLD: Degenerate art, 1937, which is published today. 'Fascinating and timely' JOHN BANVILLE Vol.3 in Old Street's Great Events series
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Tom Reagan’s Witch’s Hat @rufustsuperfly.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
It’s time once more for one of my favourite things ever. Written by @quantick.bsky.social #StarWarsDay
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Michael Warburton @michaelwarburton.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Behind the scenes on Walt Disney’s huge box office hit 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1954)
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Tom Reagan’s Witch’s Hat @rufustsuperfly.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Ken Loach’s Godzilla (2026)
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Conduit Books @conduitbooks.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Wishing @smwwriting.bsky.social a happy publication day for MALC’S BOY! A bold, irreverent, funny, intellectually nimble debut novel exploring fathers and sons, northern working-class culture and masculinity. It’s our launch title & a novel like no other. From all good bookshops as of today 23.4.26
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Kieron Connolly @kieronconnolly.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
After 25 years, we have decided to bring the work of the Oli Bennett Charitable Trust to a close. Our final event, on 4 June, will celebrate the charity's work and remember Oli. Tickets are free, but places are limited: www.ticketsource.com/booking/sele...
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Tom Reagan’s Witch’s Hat @rufustsuperfly.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
‘If all of the people who hate Ishtar had seen it I’d be a rich woman today.’ Elaine May is 94.
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Paul Blinkhorn @paulblinkhorn.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Meanwhile, on the moon...
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Kieron Connolly @kieronconnolly.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Very good to have James Hawes's THE SHORTEST HISTORY OF IRELAND at no.7 in the UK hardback non-fiction charts. 'There isn't currently a written exam for Irish citizenship - but if there were, applicants could do a lot worse than employ Hawes's excellent guide' PAT CARTY, IRISH INDEPENDENT
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Des @desdelboy.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
Morning all. Photograph by Harry Gruyaert, Ireland, County Kerry, 1983.
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Kieron Connolly @kieronconnolly.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
I'm thrilled that a book I worked on - James Trapp's translation of the ancient Chinese Book of Songs - has been chosen on @fivebooks.com as one of the best oldest works of fiction. Published by Amber Books Ltd. fivebooks.com/best-books/o...
fivebooks.com
The World's Oldest Books
The oldest books known to us, from religious hymns and love poetry to the Epic of Gilgamesh and the quest of its hero for immortality
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Des @desdelboy.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
Morning all. Photographer Homer Sykes. London, 1970's.
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Des @desdelboy.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Morning all. Photograph by Daniel Meadows. Workington, Cumbria, 1974.
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Dinah Rose KC @dinahrose.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
My niece in Stonehaven, near Aberdeen, has made a snow dalek that's featured in the Aberdeen Press and Journal. #proudaunt
A magnificently detailed dalek made of snow, complete with sink plunger.
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Des @desdelboy.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Morning all. Photographer Don McPhee for The Guardian, January 1979. A Mini appears to have careered off the road and been abandoned in heavy snow near Buxton, in Derbyshire
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Bryan @elwick70.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
London, 1948 Two Bobbies examine the Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree through the smog of a grey December day #Christmas 🎄
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Des @desdelboy.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
Morning all. Photograph by Chris Killip ‘Wallsend in the snow’ 1976.
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MꙬse Allain @mooseallain.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
Cartoon of a typical Stonehenge-style arch, except the top stone is hinged and lifting upwards. Caption: Stonehinge
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Kieron Connolly @kieronconnolly.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
And @dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/trave...
dailymail.co.uk
Haunting images capture fascinating lost worlds around the globe
New book Abandoned Places explores 65 fascinating lost worlds around the globe from rusted locomotives in Bolivia to a dilapidated opera house in Massachusetts.
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Kieron Connolly @kieronconnolly.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Colin Burrow fascinating and funny in @lrb.co.uk on Orwell (from a couple of years ago).
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Kieron Connolly @kieronconnolly.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
I was delighted to be able to write this piece on the updated edition of my book ABANDONED PLACES for THE BIG ISSUE. @bigissue.com www.bigissue.com/culture/book...
bigissue.com
What we can learn from the eerie and mysterious worlds we leave behind
Abandoned Places explores the worlds that we’ve left behind – eerie ghost towns, trains half-buried in the sand, forlorn movie palaces.
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Kieron Connolly @kieronconnolly.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
My book ABANDONED PLACES has been lightly updated and is republished today by Amber Books. First published in 2016, it was featured on the front page of the Guardian and widely translated - German, French, Japanese, among others - as well as launching a whole series of Abandoned books.
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Tom Reagan’s Witch’s Hat @rufustsuperfly.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Some of my happiest times as a teacher were showing Stand By Me to my Yr11 classes during their last 2 lessons with me. I did it for decades and each class loved watching it. Rob Reiner perfectly captured that wistful tone about childhood’s end as seen here: youtu.be/oBvRV_-FJwg?...
youtu.be
1986 - Stand by Me - the final last ending scene (Goodbye)
YouTube video by Child of the 80s
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Conduit Books @conduitbooks.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Thrilled to reveal the cover of Conduit Books' first title, MALC'S BOY by Shaun Wilson, designed by Michal Kuzmierkiewicz, with an image by legendary photographer of working-class life, Tom Wood. Publishing April 2026. Available for preorder here: www.conduitbooks.co.uk
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Dave Haslam @davehaslam.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
RIP Martin Parr. What an amazing body of work he leaves us. Always had a lot of fondness for his photo of the shenanigans one evening at the Union Hotel, Manchester. 1974.
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Miranda Green @greenmirandahere.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
As someone who is still here five years later and had this type of chemotherapy for BC, and has looked (through my fingers) at the stats, in a very real sense ET IN ARCADIA EGO - an absolutely wonderful letter about how the human mind makes creative connections
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Andy Watson #MDANT @andywatson8.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Tuesday
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Tom Reagan’s Witch’s Hat @rufustsuperfly.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
RIP Tom Stoppard Dazzling talent obviously but I loved that this was the line he wished he’d written.
media.tenor.com
a man is making a funny face and says i don 't care !
ALT: a man is making a funny face and says i don 't care !
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MꙬse Allain @mooseallain.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Cartoon of a fish with thought bubbles which says “I love living under water. I can see myself think.”
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Des @desdelboy.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Morning all. Photographer Robert Blomfield. Edinburgh Castle in the fog from Princes Street, 1960.
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Des @desdelboy.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
Wednesday
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Des @desdelboy.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Morning all. Photographer Gordon Haws, Govan 1973. flickr.com/photos/22960...
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