Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Creative Manchester @uomcreativemcr.bsky.social · 6h

Huge congratulations to our friends at @mcrlitfest.bsky.social as this year’s Manchester Literature Festival begins! 🎉 This year celebrates 20 years of literary magic - and once again @manchester.ac.uk is the proud official HE partner.

Explore the full programme: manchesterliterature...

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Martin Doyle @martindoyle.bsky.social · 7h

Colm Tóibín on The Poems of Seamus Heaney: For those familiar with Heaney’s work, the new poems will keep them going well beyond Christmas. But soon, the core of the book will matter more – the 12 volumes Heaney published in his lifetime placed in sequence.

www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

Colm Tóibín on The Poems of Seamus Heaney: ‘A process of finding echoes and associations’

This book contains Heaney’s unpublished poems plus all those from his single books of poetry published

www.irishtimes.com

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Laine Thompson @marlinhoister.bsky.social · 5h

Expletives galore.

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 6h

'The imminent post-16 education and skills white paper is expected to set out measures to enhance collaboration between higher and further education in England. Or at least pleasant words about the value of such collaboration – we’ll have to see.'

FE-HE collaboration needs to be more than pointing both sectors at the same diminishing funding pot

Though it may end up being just that

wonkhe.com

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Radio Lento @radiolento.bsky.social · 3d

Save the East Midlands Parkway cooling towers!

Sign the @c20society.bsky.social petition about the Ratcliffe-on-Soar site in Nottinghamshire.

👉 www.change.org/p/save-brita...

cooling towers bathed in golden sunshine next to the platform at east midlands parkway train station

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 6h

'It is no secret that student attendance has plummeted in recent years, with near-empty lecture halls a staple of the post-pandemic world.'

Really? I lecture to all our 1st years. Lecture hall is full, not near-empty. Student engagement picked up last year and (early days) seems stronger again. 1/2

Fiction ‘brings lectures to life’ as academics face empty classes

University ‘whodunnit’ inspired by attempts to tackle poor attendance as scholars look for novel ways to engage mainstream audiences

www.timeshighereducation.com

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Small Publishers Fair @smallpublishers.bsky.social · 4h

Don't miss the #smallpublishersfair25 readings and talks on both days of the Fair. Friday's readings take place in The Green Room (2pm-5pm); Saturday's readings take place in The Library (12.30pm-5pm). All are free.

Full programme for Fri 24 / Sat 25 Oct:
smallpublishersfair.co.uk/readings-2025

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Manchester Literature Festival @mcrlitfest.bsky.social · 6h

Happy Festival day🎉 We kick it off with a very strong first day. Get your last minute tickets at manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk/whats-on%F0%...

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The Poetry Society @poetrysociety.org.uk · 4h

Find out more about the 2025 National Poetry Competition here: npc.poetrysociety.org.uk

National Poetry Competition – from The Poetry Society

2025 competition artwork by Myriam Wares

npc.poetrysociety.org.uk

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The Poetry Society @poetrysociety.org.uk · 4h

💭 To help inspire your entries for this year's National Poetry Competition, The Poetry Society will be releasing a series of prompts throughout the competition.

Today's prompt comes from Chris Beckett, who was commended in the 2024 National Poetry Competition. Thank you, Chris!

Poetry prompt by Chris Beckett: Try picking a person/place you dislike, or a feeling like mud on your bare feet. Describe how loathsome it is, but then choose one good aspect however tiny and let the sun come out! Replicate that in the form to, e.g. start with short angry lines and then suddenly switch to a long line, like letting the poem off its leash.

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Gregory Norminton @gregorynorminton.bsky.social · 2d

Indie publishing is the ecological niche where literature survives. This is especially true of the short story. @saltpublishing.com needs help to stay healthy in tough times. Can you pitch in - or share this skeet?

Donate to Keep Independent Publishing Alive – Support Salt Books 2026, organized by Christopher Hamilton-Emery

New books and reprints arrive daily at Salty Towers – and we'… Christopher Hamilton-Emery needs your support for Keep Independent Publishing Alive – Support Salt Books 2026

www.gofundme.com

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Dr Jérémy Filet @drjeremyfilet.bsky.social · 22d

The Histories and Cultures of Conflict (HaCC) research group invites proposals from Early Career Researchers (including PGRs) for a workshop on ‘Histories and Cultures of Conflict’.

The seminar is on March, 4th 2026.
Send your proposals!

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Victorian Popular Fiction Association @vpfa.bsky.social · 9d

🚨Call for Papers!
❓Sensation Fiction and the Health Humanities: A VPFA Study Day
🗺️Loughborough University
📅27 March 2026
💷 FREE
For full CfP: victorianpopularfiction.org/studyday/for...
Contact the organiser Anne-Marie Beller (@braddonite.bsky.social) at [email protected] for more information

Mentally ill patients dancing at a ball at Somerset County Asylum. Process
print after a lithograph by K. Drake, ca. 1850/1855.
https://wellcomecollection.org/works/xswz3swa

CFP: Sensation Fiction and the Health Humanities
A VPFA Study Day
Loughborough University, 27 March 2026

The Health Humanities and Victorian popular fiction intersect in revealing ways, offering insights into how 19th-century literature shaped and reflected contemporary understandings of health, illness, and the body. Popular narratives not only mirrored anxieties surrounding public health and medical progress but also contributed to shaping public perceptions of health and healing. Health Humanities approaches re-examine these texts to uncover how cultural narratives and literary representations influenced attitudes toward physical and mental well-being, gendered experiences of illness, and the ethics of care in an age of rapid scientific change.

Health Humanities is a particularly useful approach to sensation fiction because it illuminates the ways in which these emotionally charged, often morally ambiguous narratives explore and interrogate concepts of the body, illness, and mental health. Sensation fiction, with its focus on secrets, trauma, nervous disorders, and abnormal psychological states, frequently dramatizes the anxieties of Victorian society surrounding health, gender, and identity. By applying the lens of Health Humanities, scholars can uncover how these texts reflect and shape contemporary medical discourse. Interdisciplinary approaches also highlight how sensation fiction critiques institutional medicine, domestic care practices, and the pathologization of women’s experiences. Ultimately, Health Humanities allows us to see sensation fiction not just as entertainment, but as a culturally significant form that negotiates the meanings of illness, morality, and human vulnerability in a rapidly changing world.

20-minute papers are invited on any aspect of the health humanities and sensation fiction. Topics may include, but are not limited to the following:

• Madness, Hysteria, and the Sensation Heroine
• The Role of Doctors and Medical Authority in Se…

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Long Nineteenth-Century Network @ Manchester Met @l19cmanmet.bsky.social · 3d

The Manchester Centre for Public Histories + Heritage and the Histories of RGSI (Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Identity) research group is hosting this exciting screening this Thursday - do come along! mcphh.wordpress.com/film-screeni...

Film Screening: City of Ali

MCPHH and RGSI Film Screening: City of Ali Thursday October 9th 2025, 5.30pm-7.30pm, Manchester Metropolitan University Muhammad Ali inspired many people with his athletic achievements, but h…

mcphh.wordpress.com

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Centre for Place Writing @centreplacewriting.bsky.social · 3d

Congratulations to all those shortlisted in this year's Images of Research - including PGRs @lydiaunsworth.bsky.social & @louisekenward.bsky.social and staff researchers.
@dcahf-met.bsky.social
Take a look at the images on the link below and vote for your favourite:
www.mmu.ac.uk/research/res...

Images of Research: 2025 entries

View the images in the online gallery

www.mmu.ac.uk

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Centre for Place Writing @centreplacewriting.bsky.social · 3d

Congratulations to all those shortlisted in this year's Images of Research - including PGRs @lydiaunsworth.bsky.social & @louisekenward.bsky.social and staff researchers.
@dcahf-met.bsky.social
Take a look at the images on the link below and vote for your favourite:
www.mmu.ac.uk/research/res...

Images of Research: 2025 entries

View the images in the online gallery

www.mmu.ac.uk

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Louise Kenward @louisekenward.bsky.social · 4d

Thrilled to be invited to run this course again with the wonderful @mailbykite.bsky.social for @arvonfoundation.bsky.social
Looking for support/time/space/encouragement/nurturing/nourishment for your writing? This might be the one for you.
#PlaceWriting #DisabilitySky
www.arvon.org/writing-cour...

Online Writing Month (daytime): Writing the Body | Embodied Place Writing | Arvon

To be able to connect with place, it is not possible to ignore the body that carries you there, that arrives and that journeys through, however that might happen. It is impossible to ignore the human ...

www.arvon.org

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Centre for Place Writing @centreplacewriting.bsky.social · 3d

Congratulations @lydiaunsworth.bsky.social !

Lydia Unsworth @lydiaunsworth.bsky.social · 3d

I've got a press! www.nakedeyepublishing.co.uk

NAKED EYE PUBLISHING

www.nakedeyepublishing.co.uk

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Centre for Place Writing @centreplacewriting.bsky.social · 4d

We're really excited about the forthcoming launch of Night Vision by Jean Sprackland! In celebration Manchester Poetry Library are running a series of events - for more, including this event next Wednesday w Andrew Hurley & Jacob Polley, link here
@dcahf-met.bsky.social
www.mmu.ac.uk/poetry-libra...

Night Vision: Andrew Michael Hurley and Jacob Polley, 15 Oct 2025

Reading, Manchester Poetry Library

www.mmu.ac.uk

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Centre for Place Writing @centreplacewriting.bsky.social · 5d

October's Rising Up in York with @helenmort.bsky.social Jazmine Linklater and Rachel Curzon

22nd Oct Bluebird Bakery
201 Acomb Road Acomb YO24 3HD
www.eventbrite.com/e/october-ri...

October Rise Up!

Join us to welcome Helen Mort, Jazmine Linklater and Rachel Curzon to the stage.

www.eventbrite.com

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Centre for Place Writing @centreplacewriting.bsky.social · 4d

You can see some of @janesamuels.bsky.social beautiful work (cover art of The Low Drift album A Gift of Unknown Things) here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzFV...

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Centre for Place Writing @centreplacewriting.bsky.social · 4d

PGR @supriyadhaliwal.bsky.social is running a poetry drop-in today at Manchester Poetry Library.
Got a project brewing, a poem in limbo, or just need to talk it through? Maybe you’re navigating the winding path of creative freelancing, or wondering what to read next?
www.mmu.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

Poetry Library Drop In with Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal, 07 Oct 2025 - 03 Feb 2026

Drop-in Evening, Manchester Poetry Library

www.mmu.ac.uk

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Centre for Place Writing @centreplacewriting.bsky.social · 4d

We're really excited about the forthcoming launch of Night Vision by Jean Sprackland! In celebration Manchester Poetry Library are running a series of events - for more, including this event next Wednesday w Andrew Hurley & Jacob Polley, link here
@dcahf-met.bsky.social
www.mmu.ac.uk/poetry-libra...

Night Vision: Andrew Michael Hurley and Jacob Polley, 15 Oct 2025

Reading, Manchester Poetry Library

www.mmu.ac.uk

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Rachael de Moravia @moravia.bsky.social · 4d

My feet in walking boots on Cotswold stone shingle, with granite border blocks and Welsh slate raised bed, all strewn with autumn leaves (maple, birch & beech) in vivid reds and yellows. The underside of the maples are pinkish, and there are a few green leaves blown down by the storm.

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Centre for Place Writing @centreplacewriting.bsky.social · 4d

You can see some of @janesamuels.bsky.social beautiful work (cover art of The Low Drift album A Gift of Unknown Things) here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzFV...

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