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Rachel Willie

@racheljwillie.bsky.social
2.4K followers 812 following 1.5K posts

Professional bookworm, amateur hill wanderer, cake, music, and #EarlyModern enthusiast. If lost, likely to be found in the dustier corners of the seventeenth century. Researches early modern English literary history and culture shorturl.at/uXujC

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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
There was talk of this at the last REF. The idea that my monograph & first edited collection might have gone into the UoA of an institution that left me too numb to feel a sense of achievement in having published them (or to celebrate their publication) was a pretty horrible feeling.
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
THERE’S STILL TIME!!!!!!
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
We won’t be stringent on the deadline, but it the official deadline is today!
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I’m very grateful to have a SCONUL card, ILL, etc., but the increasing move to electronic-only purchases is making it hard to fulfil some revisions — e.g., citing a poem from a particular edn that would cost £395 to purchase since none of the libraries in the region seem to have a hard copy.
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
👀 I spy @willtosh.bsky.social at Shakespeare North! If you can’t get to Prescot to nab a copy, you can now buy it in glorious paperback elsewhere: uk.bookshop.org/p/books/stra...
One hardback copy of “Straight Acting: The Many Queer Lives of William Shakespeare” by Will Tosh, in glorious pink, standing proud and erect. To its right, three copies of the same tome languidly lie horizontally, saucily flaunting their yellow spines to flirtatiously entice many an unruly reader.
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
🥰 if you were in @ellierycroft.bsky.social’s @saaupdates.bsky.social seminar a couple of years’ ago, you would have read an earlier draft of this. Glad to be in this volume, even if I’m a little intimidated by the excellence of the company I keep!
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Come one, come all! Shower us with your lovely abstracts!
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
static.klipy.com
Kunal's Jerry Mouse Popcorn Moment
ALT: Kunal's Jerry Mouse Popcorn Moment
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I think I’m on a mission to submit the weirdest paper titles for conferences ever.
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
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Society for Renaissance Studies @srsrensoc.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The winner of the article prize is 🥁 🥁 🥁 Jessica Maratsos!! For her article ‘From Asia to Iberia: The Mobility of #EarlyModern Reliquaries’. Congratulations Jessica! We award this prize annually to the best article that appeared in Renaissance Studies. rensoc.org.uk/renaissance-...
The Renaissance Studies article prize 2026 has been awarded to Jessica Maratsos for ‘From Asia to Iberia: The Mobility of Early Modern Reliquaries', Vol. 39 No. 5, pages 547-64, November 2025. DOI 10.1111/rest.12969

Exceptional for its geographical, linguistic, and methodological breadth, this article impressed for its ability to capture the many different mutations that these reliquaries undertook in the course of global movement. With clear and precise prose, Maratsos shows at many scales the way that meaning was generated, disputed, and again re-formed across the early modern period. Challenging and enlightening at once, it resonates with many of the themes that drive current Renaissance scholarship. Amidst a very strong field of scholarship, the Article Prize Committee were unanimous in awarding this year's prize.
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Society for Renaissance Studies @srsrensoc.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
And the winner of the biennial book prize is 🥁 🥁 🥁 Chloe Ireton and her book Slavery and Freedom in Black Thought in the Early Spanish Atlantic! 🎉 Congratulations @chloeireton.bsky.social!! Find authors’ videos and our judges’ comments for all shortlisted books here: rensoc.org.uk/srs-book-pri...
Chloe L. Ireton, Slavery and Freedom in Black Thought in the Early Spanish Atlantic, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025)
Rigorously researched, Slavery and Freedom in Black Thought in the Early Spanish Atlantic is a model for how to excavate the archive and how to find and reanimate the lives and hidden voices latent in letters, trials and petitions. It uncovers the rich and varied experiences of those whom European legal codes racialised as Black in the Iberian world. Ireton attends sensitively to the violence and trauma of the history of slavery while unearthing how those with African heritage negotiated the legal ecologies of enslavement and liberation in Spain, its colonies, and other Atlantic colonised spaces. The book brilliantly uncovers a conceptual and intellectual history of Black thought in the evidence of these legal and logistical documents. Its command of materials is impeccable and its blueprint for approaching archival research will be felt across disciplines for many years to come. The committee were unanimous in its decision to award this book the prize.
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Society for Renaissance Studies @srsrensoc.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
TODAY IS THE DAY! Come and join us in celebrating these five glorious shortlisted authors as well as the winner of our article prize! Join us here: www.crowdcast.io/c/festival20... #earlymodern #SkyStorians
crowdcast.io
SRS Prizes 2026
Register now for SRS Prizes 2026 on crowdcast, scheduled to go live on September 18, 2026, 04:00 PM GMT+1.
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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Join us on Friday for this celebration of all the exciting #earlymodern research that’s being done! Your joyful way to get to know 5 excellent books, 2 brilliant post-doctoral projects, and the exciting articles we’re publishing in Renaissance Studies. Get some champagne and join us! #SkyStorians
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Society for Renaissance Studies @srsrensoc.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
TWO SLEEPS! And then we get to hear about so much exciting research and celebrate extraordinary achievements! Do join us! #earlymodern #skystorians
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Only after I hit “send” did I realise I wrote “canonical” instead of “conical” in an email and now I am giggling the possibilities of this malapropism.
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Prof. Liz Oakley-Brown @earlymodlancs.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Fantastic programme of speakers - including my wonderful colleague Clare Egan and the equally wonderful @callanjd.bsky.social Online registration available 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇 @reedproject.bsky.social REED 50th Anniversary Colloquium / September 19- 20, 2026 share.google/rkecbO66ktGE...
share.google
Records of Early English Drama 50th Anniversary Colloquium - Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies
Location Emmanuel College, Room 119 75 Queen’s Park Cres E, Toronto, ON M5S 1K5 September 19–20, 2026University of Toronto Applying REED to Reality: Pedagogy, Performance and Data Futures The internat...
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Marissa Nicosia @nicosiamarissa.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Time to send us your proposals for Stuart Drama! HT @racheljwillie.bsky.social @bkadams.bsky.social @cazzert.bsky.social
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Emilie K. M. Murphy @emiliekmmurphy.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Well what an unreal long run that was this morning in Trento along the river admiring the mountains. Also my first 15k since 2020 and all in aid of fighting dementia - so here is where I shake my tin again. £2 - less than your morning coffee - would mean the world! www.justgiving.com/page/emilie-...
Mountains and river and a church- Strava run 15.01 km in 1h42
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
👀
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
static.klipy.com
Band Of Misfits Monkey
ALT: Band Of Misfits Monkey
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Having my bathroom refitted this week. I didn’t quite get what they were talking about when it came to the options for my bathroom door. They suggested I wait for my [imaginary?] husband to come home from work and then I can discuss it with him 🥴🫣🙄
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I hope this saccharine story isn’t true.
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
👀 @aidannorrie.bsky.social & @matthewsteggle.bsky.social!!!!!!!!!!!
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Nature is healing.
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Just giving this a little bump!
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Am failing to write a conclusion. Why is it that some essays just can’t be nicely tied up at the end? Where’s the big red bow?
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Am failing to write a conclusion. Why I’d it that some days just can’t be nicely tied up at the end? Where’s the big red bow?
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Oh my goodness! Too many potential avenues with this one!
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Sarah Kay @k-interarma.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Transphobia isn’t an opinion, for the same reason that its uncle, white supremacy, isn’t an opinion. Both are extremist ideologies based on dehumanisation. They must be addressed accordingly. Solidarity to parents now afraid for their child. Love to all those children, victims of hate.
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
It’s great there’s a campaign to get more progressive people on synod in the forthcoming elections but would it be so bad if there was also a schism? An inclusive & broad church isn’t inclusive if it tries to include people who question other people’s right to exist… togethercofe.org.uk/about-us/
togethercofe.org.uk
About us – Together for the Church of England
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Society for Renaissance Studies @srsrensoc.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
SEVENTY-ONE SUBMISSIONS. #Earlymodern studies alive and kicking. Our poor book prize committee slightly less so...
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Peter McCullough @mcculloughp.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Congratulations to the wonderful Mary Ann Lund (Leicester) on publication of her second (!) vol. in the Oxford Donne Sermons edition. Fantastic textual and critical scholarship on his mid-career at St Paul's.
Looking down into a box of author's copies of volume 13 in the Oxford Edition of the Sermons of John Donne: Sermons Preached at St Paul's Cathedral, 1626-1628, in their trademark Oxford English Texts light blue dust jackets.Tondo portrait in gold frame of John Donne when Dean of St Paul's; thick dark hair and beard and draped in what looks like a very un-clerical black satin toga, channeling Roman orator (latter day preacher). V&A and a contemporary copy in St Paul's Cathedral Chapter House.
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
And marvel at The Great Marvell Shift.
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Currently writing something and wondering if there will ever be a time when I’m not citing the brilliant @jennyrichards.bsky.social’s “Voices and Books”. I have read other scholarship, honest! 😳
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Dolly Parton AND Tim Curry??? Oh come on!
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Society for Renaissance Studies @srsrensoc.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Congratulations to our #SRSlyGood Book Prize 2026 shortlist: @jwscolley.bsky.social, Colby Gordon, Chloe Ireton, Jack Hartnell, & Tiffany Jo Werth! 🎊🎊🎊💫💫💫👏👏👏💫💫💫 🥳🥳🥳💫💫💫👏👏👏💫💫💫🎊🎊🎊 #Skystorians #EarlyModern rensoc.org.uk/srs-book-pri...
A Banner of BEAUTIFUL BOOK Covers, detailing all the shortlisted books:

John Colley, Humanism, English Literature and the Translation of Greek, 1430-1560, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025)

Colby Gordon, Glorious Bodies: Trans Theology and Renaissance Literature (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2024)

Jack Hartnell, Wound Man: The Many Lives of a Surgical Image (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press,2025)

Chloe L. Ireton, Slavery and Freedom in Black Thought in the Early Spanish Alantic (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025)

Tiffany Jo Werth, The Lithic Imagination from More to Milton (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024)
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Does OUP no longer sell copies of their books directly? I get a “forbidden” message when I attempt to use a url I’ve used before and the e-text url only seems to have the option to buy via Amazon. 🤨
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
#BeMoreDolly
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Mobeena @mobeena.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
I don’t know what the library equivalent of dimming our lights is but whatever it is, we should be doing it for Dolly because what that woman did for literacy deserves so much more recognition than it got
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
www.ticketsource.com/thehopetheat...
ticketsource.com
The Haunting of Verity Evans at The Hope Theatre
Tickets are now available for The Haunting of Verity Evans at The Hope Theatre, London between Tue 25 Aug 2026 and Wed 26 Aug 2026. Click the link for further information and to secure your tickets no...
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Who do we need to lobby for a vote of no confidence in Exeter’s Senior Management Team?
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Was just reading up on masques and music and then remembered the time when I worked at Bangor and taught a module with colleagues in Music and Modern Languages. Context: Modern Languages was on the floor above the English Corridor; Music had its own separate building.
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alice @alicebennett.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
I still have a lot of liverpool people on here so I’m boosting the arts emergency sign-up for merseyside they’re looking for mentors in the areas below — it’s lovely and rewarding and you get to meet some brilliant young people! www.arts-emergency.org/get-involved...
Below is a list of which industries we're particularly short of mentors in:
- Greater Manchester: Gaming, Animation, Architecture & Interior Design, Photography and Film & TV (on-screen)
- Merseyside: Print Journalism, Broadcast Journalism, Fashion Design, Architecture & Interior Design, Music, Film & TV (off-screen), Gaming
- London: Gaming, Animation, Fashion Design, Print Journalism, Broadcast Journalism, Film & TV (on-screen)
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
When I went to a conference at Portsmouth a decade or so ago, I stayed at the pub Buckingham was assassinated in because, well…why wouldn’t you? www.yespotteddogge.co.uk
yespotteddogge.co.uk
Home - Ye Spotted Dogge, Accommodation in Portsmouth
Accommodation in Portsmouth. Book direct for best prices guaranteed online. For great accommodation inchoose Ye Spotted Dogge
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
It’s true Monmouth assizes were added to the Oxford circuit in the late seventeenth century, but…
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Jonathan @jsench.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
PBSA is searching for an Editorial Assistant! Review of applications begins September 1 and goes through the 15th. Information & instructions to apply are at the link below. Position manages logistics of journal processes. $5000 annual honorarium, 1 year w possibility of renewal.
docs.google.com
Editorial Assistant job description
PBSA Editorial Assistant description and qualifications The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America (PBSA) seeks an Editorial Assistant. PBSA is a peer-reviewed quarterly journal published o...
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Emilie K. M. Murphy @emiliekmmurphy.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Ooo there's a webpage up for my little book Listening to #EarlyModern Travel Writing, and I see that expected publication is 6 October! Exciting! 🗃️ www.cambridge.org/core/element...
The title page of Purchas His Pilgrimes, which is lavishly described and discussed in my forthcoming Element 'Listening to Early Modern Travel Writing' - so you'll have to read all about it there!
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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Who’s a Wikipedia editor? I feel Helen Gardner’s entry needs updating to include this vital piece of information about her and the Spanish Steps.
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Simon Jackson @sjjackson32.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
A new post over on Substack: Edmund Spenser, Epithalamion, and some change-ringing refrains voiceandverse.substack.com/p/the-woods-...
voiceandverse.substack.com
“The woods shall to me answer and my Eccho ring”
Echoes, Refrains and Reverberation in Spenser
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