iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Simon Kővesi @kovesi.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Ronald Blythe Fellowship 2026 The John Clare Society runs an annual bursary scheme, providing £1,000 for PhD researchers in the field of John Clare studies. Closing date: 30 October. @bars.bsky.social @bavs-uk.bsky.social @bsecs.bsky.social @univeng.bsky.social johnclaresociety.org/2026/10/01/r...

johnclaresociety.org

Apply for John Clare Society Bursary by 30 October 2026

Apply for the Ronald Blythe Fellowship bursary for John Clare studies! Deadline: 30 October 2026. Fund your research projects

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Matthew Sangster @mjrsangster.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Institutions offering fellowships: if you ask for three reference letters, please consider sincerely what the third letter is adding. Providing three letters is hardest on the least privileged; requesting two instead would both aid inclusion and cut by 33% the work you're asking from colleagues.

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Ursula K. Le Guin @ursulakleguin.com · 18/09/2026

We'd like your help with something. The one hundredth anniversary of Ursula's birth will take place in 2029. This may seem a long time away, but we’re already starting to think about how to celebrate Ursula’s life and art. We’d love to add your ideas to the mix—there's a brief survey here:

form.jotform.com

Centenary event planning

Please click the link to complete this form.

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British Association for Romantic Studies @bars.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Call for Proposals: BARS Digital Events Series Autumn Winter 2026-27 www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6621 Please share widely!!

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UofG Fantasy @uofgfantasy.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The second European Conference on the Fantastic, Fantastic Spaces and Places, will take place at the University of Karlstad in Sweden from June 15th to 17th 2027. CfP here (deadline Nov 1st): www.kau.se/kufo/aktivit... Hope to see many of you there!

kau.se

Fantastic Spaces and Places | Karlstads universitet

The second European Conference on the Fantastic Karlstad, Sweden 15-17 June, 2027

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Usman T. Malik @usmantm.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Ted Chiang's fav writing quote is from her essay 'Write till you drop' "There is something you find interesting, for a reason hard to explain. It is hard to explain because you have never read it on any page; there you begin. You were made and set here to give voice to this, your own astonishment."

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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I wrote about Barrie's film in this (open access) journal article. Chesterton's later account of his involvement is more self-reproachful than might be expected of an apparently harmless escapade, because he connects it directly to the outbreak of war.

thewellsian.awh.durham.ac.uk

‘This odd game called war’: The Ethics of Game Playing in the War Writing of H. G. Wells, G. K. Chesterton, and Wyndham Lewis | The Wellsian: The Journal of the H. G. Wells Society

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Matthew Sangster @mjrsangster.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Your occasional reminder that in the year the First World War began, J.M. Barrie wrote a comedy cowboy film called How Men Love, which was filmed in Essex with G.K. Chesterton and George Bernard Shaw as two of the cowboys. www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1274695

L-R: Lord Howard de Walden, William Archer, J.M. Barrie, G.K. Chesterton and George Bernard Shaw. All bar Barrie dressed as cowboys. Photograph by Harley Granville-Barker. National Trust Collection: https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1274695.

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Matthew Sangster @mjrsangster.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

A new Five Questions interview is up on the @bars.bsky.social Blog: Yasmin Solomonescu on her new monograph Reimagining Persuasion in British Romantic Literature (published by @universitypress.cambridge.org). www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6612

bars.ac.uk

Five Questions: Yasmin Solomonescu on Reimagining Persuasion in British Romantic Literature – BARS Blog

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What is life without Books?! @wherearethebooks.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

So excited to be in Hyde Park getting ready for the #LordByron statue unveiling ceremony (it's taken almost 10 years of politicking and fundraising- but here we are at last: relocated and restored!!)

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Josh Smith @smithjj.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Excited that my first monograph, The Politics of Reading at the British Subscription Library, has been published by @degruyterbrill.bsky.social. The book examines the political, social and intellectual culture of late 18thC Britain through books and reading habits. brill.com/display/titl...

brill.com

The Politics of Reading at the British Subscription Library, 1789-1832

"The Politics of Reading at the British Subscription Library, 1789-1832" published on 08 Sep 2026 by Brill.

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Ria Cheyne @riacheyne.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

As someone who's been involved in lots of student engagement initiatives over the years (including looking at the literature on SE), I agree with this take from my @ljmuofficial.bsky.social colleagues Fredrick Agboma and Andrew Doyle. 1/2

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Fan Studies Network @fanstudies.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Save the Date: Fan Studies at 35 After an 8 year hiatus the FSN conference is back! We’re thinking about the state of the field 35 years after the publication of Henry Jenkins’ Textual Poachers, Camille Bacon-Smith’s Enterprising Women, & Lisa the edited collection The Adoring Audience in 1992.

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deven parker @devenparker.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

ROMANTIC MEDIA AND WARTIME NETWORKS, my first monograph, is out today with @stanfordpress.bsky.social. It tells the story of how the state revolutionized its wartime communication networks in the Romantic period and how writers responded to - and resisted - this media revolution.

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Jed Hartman @elysdir.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Hugo Award stats are up! Stats report and admin report are linked from here: (www.lacon.org/2026hugos/).

lacon.org

The 2026 Hugo Awards Report – LAcon V

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Matthew Sangster @mjrsangster.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Quite enjoyed The Odyssey, but any notion of Odysseus being clever goes out of the window fairly quickly when you begin to realise all the ways that the design of the Trojan Horse is bad.

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British Association for Romantic Studies @bars.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

🌟Call for Applications: BARS Communications Fellow 2026-27 to assist with the BARS Blog and social media 🌟 Deadline - Monday 14th September Details - www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6572

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British Association for Romantic Studies @bars.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

BARS Election Results 2026 - We are happy to announce that @mjrsangster.bsky.social and @maryfairclough.bsky.social will continue in their roles as President and Treasurer of BARS respectively for the coming two years! BARS’ next round of elections will be in 2027. www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6565

bars.ac.uk

BARS Election 2026: Results – BARS Blog

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Will Tattersdill @tattersdill.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

So here we go then: the result of many years thinking about how dinosaurs make science and the imagination work together. It's written for both literary critics and scientists and my dearest hope is that it will help foster an academy where we talk to each other more

Photo of a copy of 'The Social Dinosaur', out now from Bloomsbury omg

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Matthew Sangster @mjrsangster.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

A really interesting and intellectually stimulating day at Romantic Retrospection online, following up the excellent in-person days in Birmingham last week. Congratulations and many thanks to the organisers for a smart, well-run, inclusive and convivial @bars.bsky.social conference.

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British Association for Romantic Studies @bars.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Thank you to all attendees of the in-person portion of #BARS2026 'Romantic Retrospection' at the University of Birmingham. It was a wonderful few days! Reminder too that the online Conference is taking place tomorrow - Thursday 6th Aug starting at 12 noon (UK time). (1/5)

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P. Djéli Clark | The Disgruntled Haradrim @pdjeliclark.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Lots chatter in these social media streets bout Children of Blood and Bone. ALL BLACK EVERYTHING flick got ALL BLACK DRAMA. But this blog ain't bout none of that. Instead, I tackle another related controversy about the joys, rewards, perils, and pitfalls of writing African-inspired fantasy.

disgruntledharadrim.com

Africa, Fantasy, and Worldbuilding

Movie still featuring royal family in film adaptation of Children of Blood and Bone Over the past few weeks there’s been a lot of discourse about the film adaptation of Nigerian-American writ…

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Simon Kővesi @kovesi.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

March 2027: Oxford World's Classics edition of Pierce Egan's "Life in London" (1821) will be published. First modern, annotated edition of a novel that defined the age. In this plate by the Cruikshank brothers, the chums get in a fight & Egan has his notebook nicked. global.oup.com/academic/pro...

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Matthew Sangster @mjrsangster.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

The hardback of my first book, Living as an Author in the Romantic Period, appears to be deeply but mysteriously discounted at the moment (to £23.99): link.springer.com/book/10.1007.... If you've been waiting on purchasing a Palgrave book, might be worth a check to see if this discount applies.

link.springer.com

Living as an Author in the Romantic Period

To allow for a greater understanding of Romantic-period culture, this work explores how authors profited from their writings in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, contending that the ...

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British Association for Romantic Studies @bars.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

BARS Conference 2026 - Final Registration: Next week, the University of Birmingham hosts the British Association for Romantic Studies international conference. The conference theme, Romantic Retrospection, has led to a diverse range of papers, sessions, and roundtables (1/6)

Image Credit: H. E. Pountney, Tudor Gateway to Aston Hall (1895), Birmingham Museum
With overlaid at the top of the page the University of Birmingham and BARS logos, then 'Romantic Retrospection' and the dates '29-31 July 2026'.

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British Association for Romantic Studies @bars.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

New on the blog: a 'Five Questions' interview with Yasemin Hacıoğlu on her new monograph, 'Thinking Through Poems: Composition, Emotion and Decision-Making in Romantic-Era Women’s Novels' www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6523

bars.ac.uk

Five Questions: Yasemin Hacıoğlu on Thinking Through Poems – BARS Blog

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Matthew Sangster @mjrsangster.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

I'm running for a second term as President of @bars.bsky.social, along with the fabulous @maryfairclough.bsky.social as Treasurer. Election statements are here: www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6540. Take a look if you're interested in seeing what BARS has been up to and what we propose.

bars.ac.uk

The BARS 2026 Executive Elections: President and Treasurer – BARS Blog

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British Association for Romantic Studies @bars.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Join us for our first BARS Writing Group, from 9.30am - 11.30am BST on Tuesday 21st July, via Teams. Please complete the short form below and we will send over the Teams joining link to your email at 9am on the morning of 21st July. forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/Respon...

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Digital Scholarship @ British Library @bldigischol.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

EThOS platform restored! 'Following restoration work, all metadata records previously available on EThOS have now been restored, along with an additional 14,000 records added since the service was taken offline' - more to come www.bl.uk/stories/news...

bl.uk

EThOS records restored

We are pleased to share that EThOS (E-Theses Online Service) is now available again following restoration work after the cyber-attack.

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Dr Amanda Blake Davis 🌱 @abdavis.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

✨️Job Alert✨️ Lecturer in English Literature (18-19c) 📍Liverpool John Moores University, fixed term jobs.ljmu.ac.uk/vacancy/lect...

jobs.ljmu.ac.uk

Lecturer in English Literature (12 months fixed term) (5480)

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Dr Amanda Blake Davis 🌱 @abdavis.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

⚡️Job Alert⚡️ 📖 Research Associate - The Oxford Complete Works of Mary Shelley 📍Manchester Metropolitan University, fixed term Please share with ECRs! manmetjobs.mmu.ac.uk/jobs/vacancy...

manmetjobs.mmu.ac.uk

Research Associate (Mary Shelley) - (9237) | Manchester Metropolitan University Careers

All about Manchester Metropolitan - an exciting, modern university in the heart of one of the UK's great student cities.

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Dimitra Rizou @ahoyuniverse.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Solutions to all the world's problems #cartoon

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UofG Fantasy @uofgfantasy.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Many thanks to everyone who made Fantasy's Present Pasts such a success, especially our delegates from around the world who gave such excellent papers and contributions. The next European Conference on the Fantastic will be in Karlstad, Sweden next June - hope to see you there!

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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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UofG Fantasy @uofgfantasy.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Fantasy's Present Pasts kicks off tomorrow - look forward to seeing delegates in the morning! (We have some dangerously bright conference bags...) www.gla.ac.uk/schools/crit...

gla.ac.uk

University of Glasgow - Schools - School of Critical Studies - Research - Research Centres and Networks - Fantasy - Fantasy's Present Pasts

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UofG Fantasy @uofgfantasy.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

We've slightly extended the sign-up period for Fantasy's Present Pasts (23rd-25th June) to accommodate a final few speakers - this means if you'd like to come along, you can still register until 9pm on Tuesday 16th June. Registration can be completed here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fantasys-p....

eventbrite.co.uk

Fantasy's Present Pasts

The first European Conference on the Fantastic, organised by the University of Glasgow's Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic

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Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 09/06/2026

“I mean, your society’s broken… Should we blame the rich, powerful people who caused it? No let’s blame the people with no power & no money & these immigrants who don’t even have the vote, yeah it must be their fucking fault.” —Iain Banks died #OTD, 9 June, 2013 www.theguardian.com/books/2013/j...

theguardian.com

Iain Banks: the final interview

Iain Banks died last Sunday, just before the publication of his final novel The Quarry. Last month he talked to Stuart Kelly about writing, politics and all the things still left to do . . .

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Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Applications are open for the 2026/27 BSECS-Northumbria Fellowship, offering expenses up to the value of £4000 to support a visiting scholar undertaking research into the long eighteenth century. More information and apply at bsecs.org.uk/prizes-and-a... @bsecs.bsky.social

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UofG Fantasy @uofgfantasy.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Registration for the Fantasy's Present Pasts conference (23rd-25th June) closes on Sunday 14th June. If you'd like to engage with a line-up including Helen Young, Sofia Samatar, Stefan Ekman and over 150 speakers and workshop leaders, registration is here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fantasys-p....

eventbrite.co.uk

Fantasy's Present Pasts

The first European Conference on the Fantastic, organised by the University of Glasgow's Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic

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British Association for Romantic Studies @bars.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

BARS International Conference 2028: Second Call for Expressions of Interest We received no firm responses to our initial call for Expressions of Interest in hosting the 2028 BARS conference. We’re therefore reopening the call for EoIs until June 19th: www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6451

bars.ac.uk

BARS International Conference 2028: Second Call for Expressions of Interest – BARS Blog

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British Association for Romantic Studies @bars.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Appointed Role Advertisements: The BARS Review Editor and BARS Postgraduate and Early Career Officers 2026-2028 BARS is currently looking to appoint new Postgraduate and Early Career Officers to replace the outgoing role-holders, and a new Editor for The BARS Review. www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6454

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Matthew Sangster @mjrsangster.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Fantasy's Present Pasts is approaching fast (23rd-25th June). Really pleased with how the line-up has turned out - think it should be a sparky and convivial conference. Please do consider registering and attending if you're interested. Full details here: www.gla.ac.uk/schools/crit....

gla.ac.uk

University of Glasgow - Schools - School of Critical Studies - Research - Research Centres and Networks - Fantasy - Fantasy's Present Pasts

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