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Peter Adkins

@peteradkins.bsky.social
1.8K followers 772 following 120 posts

Lecturer in Modernism at University of Edinburgh | Author of 'The Modernist Anthropocene' and editor of 'Virginia Woolf and the Anthropocene' | Judge of James Tait Black Prize in Fiction | Views here not necessarily those of my employer etc etc | He/him

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Reposted by Peter Adkins
Matthew Leggatt @matthewleggatt.bsky.social · 12h
Excited that we'll be welcoming a new member to the English Literature team. For more details and to apply see the link below. We're looking for a 0.5 colleague with a specialism in pre-1800s. www.winchester.ac.uk/About-Us/Wor...
winchester.ac.uk
Work with us - University of Winchester
Explore the University of Winchester and discover your new career. We have a variety of positions in academic and professional services. Work with us.
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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I'm trying (and failing) to figure out an appropriate honorarium to offer a keynote speaker at a small in-person symposium I'm planning. Would be very keen to hear from anyone who has organised a similiar event and might be able to help. DMs are open, as they used to say.
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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
If you're in Edinburgh, please do come along to what will be a fantastic talk!
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I'm probably a dinosaur, but I wish students were allowed more time just to be students: to study, to read, to think, to talk to each other, to have big ideas - maybe even to have fun now & then. I'm not convinced turning unis into training centres is going to fix bigger problems in the jobs market
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Modernism/modernity @mmodernity.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Attention: Call for Co-editor of Modernism/modernity Due Date: November 16, 2026. Please see attached image for further details.
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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
!!!
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Alex Prichard @profalexp.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
A thread on the dispute at Exeter Uni. #ucu #defendexeteruni @ucu.org.uk On 15 June HR called Exeter UCU into a confidential meeting and informed us they would be putting over 500 colleagues at risk of redundancy and expected to loose around 200 staff. The number of c.150 you’ll have seen is FTE.
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Fraser MacDonald @frasermacdonald.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
I have a limited appetite for fiscal wonkism, but this seems like a major story about systemic underfunding of universities in Scotland, Wales and NI. Scotland is being penalised for not charging tuition fees.
wonkhe.com
The Treasury is bankrupting three nations' universities
With funding reviews underway in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Justine Pedussel and Jim Dickinson worry none will examine the hidden accounting rules driving the crisis
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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
If you're in Edinburgh this afternoon and free at 4pm, consider coming along to "Much Ado About Climate" to see a group of talented young peolpe improv a Shakespearean play about climate change and hear @eoinprice.bsky.social and myself offer our thoughts! www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Babes in arms policy: Babies are not allowed in the venue, please refer to the age suitability for the show
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Mabel Logan @mabellogan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Glen Affric, Highlands, Scotland, Scottish Munro Journey!💙🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
The theme this year is ‘Humans and Nature: More resilient towards the future’. Please tell your friends, and repost.
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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Some good news of late for animals. From this month, glue traps are now banned in Scotland. The proposed octopus farm in Gran Canaria (the first in the world) has been scrapped. Pockets of brightness in dark times.
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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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The British Academy @britishacademy.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Applications for the Postdoctoral Fellowships are open. This fellowship is a three-year award made to an annual cohort of outstanding early-career researchers in the humanities or social sciences. Learn more: bit.ly/4xWduAS
A colour block banner promoting Postdoctoral Fellowships funding. Deadline: Wednesday 30 September 2026
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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
It's finally here - huge congrats to Linden, Derek, Jane and Saskia (who transcribed some of the drafts)!
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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
#Sneakpeak You can expect up-right apes, blue grains of fog, flesh-eating termites and cracked oil paintings as I "weird" Woolf.
Image shows a powerpoint slide. In white text on the right hand side is written "Apes in the Drawing Room: Weirding Night and Day". On the left hand side is a detail taken from from Gabriel Von Max, Affe vor Skelett showing a small monkey gazing at a skeleton.
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British Association for Modernist Studies (BAMS) @modernistudies.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
It’s ModWrite Monday! ✍️Are you making final preparations for the upcoming conference in Loughborough, or are you onto something else today? Share with us using the hashtag #ModWrite
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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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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
This is horribly familiar. Solidarity with colleagues and students at Exeter!
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Literature Cambridge @litcamb.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Next weekend, Saturday 13 June, 6.00-8.00 pm British Summer Time. Join us for the final session in our live online Virginia Woolf Season. Our theme is Woolf’s Rooms. Ellie Mitchell will talk about Rooms in The Waves (1931). Brilliant. www.literaturecambridge.co.uk/vw-season-6/...
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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Lab workers are sounding the alarm on animal toxicity testing. See the evidence. Act now. toxicity.inc
toxicity.inc
TOXICITY.inc—End Animal Toxicity Testing
Lab workers are sounding the alarm on animal toxicity testing. See the evidence. Act now.
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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
"Data suggests there are now at least 180 dairy farms where cows have no access to the outdoors, up from about 70 in 2015."
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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Huge rise in factory-style dairy farming of ‘battery cows’ in UK as costs rise. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Huge rise in factory-style dairy farming of ‘battery cows’ in UK as costs rise
Investigation finds number of dairy farms where cows cannot go outside has more than doubled since 2015
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UCU Edinburgh @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
1/8
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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
'The dog ate a chocolate cake and a cream cheese. This morning he was ill under Nessa's bed.' The teenage Virginia Woolf (Stephen) on holiday in Hove in April 1899 having a right jolly time. The dog was named after a Walter Scott sheep herd, because of course he was.
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Philipp Krämer @phkraemer.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Things are moving faster than we can document them - after a first round of analysis, we're now continuing the collection: we'd like to hear about recent cases in the UK or the Netherlands, but also get a better picture of the situation in Central and Eastern Europe. All input is welcome. 1/2
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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
new blog post:
peteradkins.net
Cloaked in Smog: On Re-reading The Lonely Londoners — Peter Adkins
I read Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners for the first time in February 2012. I was 24 and in the first year of my degree at the University of Kent, taking a course entitled ‘Readings in the Twentie...
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Dr Andrew McInnes @drbeard79.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
DREAM postdoc for ME circa 2013 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
jobs.ac.uk
Research Fellowship: The Collected Works of Mary Wollstonecraft at University of York
Discover Research Fellowship: The Collected Works of Mary Wollstonecraft jobs and more in higher education on jobs.ac.uk. Apply for further details on the top job board.
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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
I am currently taking part in a marking and assessment boycott due to the U of Edinburgh's plans for mass redundancies and rushed, rash restructuring. In response, my employer is withholding 100% of my pay, essentially a lock out. No student supervisions. No prep for next year. No exam boards.
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Tim Howard @tmhwrd.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
👏👏 worth reading Coetzee’s letter which is quoted at length here
theguardian.com
JM Coetzee declines to attend Jerusalem writers festival over Israel’s ‘genocidal campaign in Gaza’
Nobel laureate says he previously considered himself a supporter of Israel, but ‘the campaign of annihilation in Gaza has changed all that’
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National Trust Research @ntresearch.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
📢Funded PhD studentship alert! Are you interested in using digital tools to make heritage spaces accessible? You might be the perfect candidate for our new collaborative PhD with @uniofsurrey.bsky.social. Find out more: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 29/04/2026
Sussex University overturns £585,000 fine as high court rejects free speech breach claim
theguardian.com
Sussex University overturns £585,000 fine as high court rejects free speech breach claim
Ruling is blow to OfS after regulator issued fine over handling of protests aimed at professor over trans rights views Sussex University has overturned a £585,000 fine by England’s higher education watchdog after the high court rejected claims the university had breached free speech regulations involving its former professor Kathleen Stock. The ruling is a damaging blow to the credibility and management of the Office for Students, after the court rejected the regulator’s lengthy investigation into Sussex’s handling of the protests aimed at Stock over her views on transgender rights and her subsequent resignation in 2021. Continue reading...
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The British Society for Literature and Science @thebsls.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
The BSLS and the JLS are pleased to announce the opening of the 2026 PGR/ECR Essay Prize Competition! Entries should be between 4,000-5,000 words in length, and are due by 5 June. More details here: www.bsls.ac.uk/2025/04/call...
bsls.ac.uk
Call for entries: 2026 BSLS/JLS Essay Prize – The British Society for Literature and Science
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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Field-defining journal on Energy Humanities moves to the OLH www.openlibhums.org/news/811/
openlibhums.org
Field-defining journal on Energy Humanities moves to the OLH
The OLH is pleased to welcome a field-defining journal to its portfolio of leading humanities and social sciences titles. Energy Humanities, which will begin publishing at the OLH in 2026, …
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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
In what (I hope!) will be the first in a series of events taking To the Lighthouse *back* to Skye, Bethan Roberts and I will be leading a workshop in Portree on Tues 5th May, reflecting on how Woolf's novel resonates with sustainability, housing, and tourism today atlasarts.org.uk/programme/to...
A short, squat white lighthouse on rocks, surrounded by water. A road bridge crosses over from outside the frame of the photo and passes behind the lighthouse.
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Dolly Jørgensen @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
We are looking for a 3-year postdoc to work on a self-defined research project in environmental history that places electronic or digital technologies at the center of its historical inquiry. More details in the announcement linked to below. #envhist
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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Good morning.
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Faber Books @faberbooks.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Vivek Shanbhag’s Sakina's Kiss, translated by Srinath Perur, has been shortlisted for this year’s James Tait Black Prizes. james-tait-black.ed.ac.uk/indie-talent...
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Fitzcarraldo Editions @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
We are thrilled that BIG KISS, BYE-BYE by Claire-Louise Bennett has been shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for fiction: james-tait-black.ed.ac.uk/indie-talent...
james-tait-black.ed.ac.uk
The James Tait Black Prizes
Established in 1919, The James Tait Black Prizes are Britain's oldest literary awards.
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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
*Announcement Time!* Delighted to share the shortlist for the James Tait Black Prizes in fiction and biography! I co-judged fiction this year and we had over 300 entries. The shortlisted five are exceptional. #JamesTaitBlackPrize www.ed.ac.uk/news/indie-t...
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Pippa Crerar @pippacrerar.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
NEW: Nigel Farage has sold videos in which he endorsed a neo-Nazi event, repeated extremist slogans and supported a man convicted over his involvement in a far-right riot - @direthoughts.com & @michaelgoodier.bsky.social report www.theguardian.com/uk-news/ng-i...
theguardian.com
Newly unearthed Nigel Farage videos reveal support for rioter, neo-Nazi event and far-right slogans
Exclusive: Analysis of more than 4,000 of Reform UK leader’s paid-for Cameo videos also shows they contain misogynistic remarks and antisemitic conspiracies
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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
In June 1937 Nancy Cunard, on behalf of various left-wing thinkers, asked 'writers and poets' to state where they stood on the Spanish Civil War. Although the focus was on Spain, the question was framed in terms of anti-fascist internationalism and commitment: 'ironic detachment will no longer do'.
SPAIN. 

THE QUESTION. 

WRITERS and POETS of ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, IRELAND and WALES.

It is clear to many of us throughout the whole world that now, as certainly never before, we are determined, or compelled, to take sides. The equivocal attitude, the Ivory Tower, the paradoxical, the ironic detachment, will no longer do.

We have seen murder and destruction by Fascism in Italy, in Germany --- the organisation there of social injustice and cultural death --. and how revived, imperial Rome, abetted by international treachery, has conquered her place in the Abyssinian sun. The dark millions in the colonies are unavenged.

Today, the struggle is in Spain.
To-morrow it may be in other countries-- our own.

But there are some who, despite the martyrdom of Durango and Guernica, the enduring agony of Madrid, of Bilbao, and Germany's shelling of Almeria, are still in doubt, or who aver that it is possible that Fascism may be what it proclaims it is: “the saviour of civilisation”.

This is the question we are asking you:
Are you for, or against, the legal Government and the People of Republican Spain?
Are you for, or against, Franco and Fascism?
For it is impossible any longer to take no side.

Writers and Poets, we wish to print your answers.
We wish the world to know what you, writers and poets, who are amongst the most sensitive instruments of a nation, feel.
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Penny Fielding @penfielding.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Our annual Susan Manning Lecture is an exciting one this year. Cedric Tolliver will be speaking on African-American spy novels. Book here: llc.ed.ac.uk/english-lite... @uoe-llc.bsky.social
llc.ed.ac.uk
The Susan Manning Memorial Lecture | English and Scottish Literature | Literatures Languages and Culture
Join us in person for the Susan Manning Memorial Lecture 2026 by Professor Cedric Tolliver (University of Oklahoma), followed by a Q&A and reception.
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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
I have been re-reading The Lonely Londoner for the first time in a decade ahead of teaching it and struck by how smog seeps into the bodies, labour, even the food of Selvon's characters and today discover this article from Saba Pakdel just published by @mmodernity.bsky.social!
modernismmodernity.org
Black Migrants and Climate Change Vulnerability Amid the Great Smog of London in Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners | Modernism / Modernity Print+
What would it mean to reread Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners (1956) as a narrative about the representation of Black migrants during the smog? The smog, the 1950s’ concerning ecological and climate issue, results from the mix of coal-burning smoke with London fog. Upon combustion, coal emits visible black smoke into the lingering fog, causing various health and respiratory
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British Association for American Studies @officialbaas.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Call for Editors! The 'Critical Insights in American Studies' series from Edinburgh University Press is seeking a new co-editor. Apply before 18:00, 13th March. @edinburghup.bsky.social @emilysharp.bsky.social
buff.ly
Call for Editors: Critical Insights in American Studies Series at Edinburgh University Press - British Association for American Studies
Co-Editor of the Critical Insights in American Studies Series at Edinburgh University Press                                                                                          […]
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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
I posted some thoughts on Virginia Woolf and Henry David Thoreau on my new blog: www.peteradkins.net/blog-1/virgi...
peteradkins.net
Virginia Woolf on Thoreau — Peter Adkins
I’ve been dipping into Woolf’s essays again recently, as I work on an article about Night and Day . And re-read her commemorative essay on Henry David Thoreau, which was published as the lead artic...
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Peter Adkins @peteradkins.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
Beach clean finds. A corroded PCB likely from a phone with barnacles forming, a pre-2005 Smarties lid and a lamb castration ring that reminded me of my childhood on a farm.
Corroded PCB board with several rusted components Yellow Smarties lid top with the letter C embossed.Underside of yellow Smarties lid showing the name of the sweet. Orange rubber castration ring.
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Compassion in World Farming UK @ciwf.org.uk · 10/02/2026
Calves aren’t cargo. However, Brittany Ferries is still cruelly exporting unweaned calves from Ireland to France - despite acknowledging that this breaches EU law. #BanLiveExports
ciwf.org.uk
Brittany Ferries: campaign to stop calf trade escalates
Social media outrage grows after ferry firm ignores animal welfare warnings
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SGSAH @sgsah.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
We're hiring! 📣 SGSAH is recruiting an EDI Associate Director (0.2FTE, Secondment) for a 2‑year term starting May 2026. Open to colleagues across SGSAH’s 17 member institutions. 🗓 Apply by 9th March 2026 📄 Full details: www.sgsah.ac.uk/about/news/h...
Illustrated job advert graphic containing the text We're hiring Equality Diversity & Inclusion Associate Director Apply by 9th March 2026
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