Lucy Mercer
@lucymercer.bsky.social
writer, Emblem (Prototype) & Afterlife forthcoming from Fitzcarraldo;🕯️
Pinned
Don’t invest in AI, invest in the future of the book
Why the publishing industry must back small presses, rather than LLMs.
www.thebookseller.com
wrote an article for @thebookseller.com outlining to the industry why small presses are the lifeforce & future of book production. Pls share esp w people who may not know what small press publishers do!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Reposted by Lucy Mercer
Hey, guess what? Issue 1.1.2 of @draughtjournal.bsky.social has just gone live, with great new work by Dawn Chan and Bhanu Kapil.
Please take a look, and pass it on.
Please take a look, and pass it on.
draught
Description
draughtjournal.com
November 27, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Hey, guess what? Issue 1.1.2 of @draughtjournal.bsky.social has just gone live, with great new work by Dawn Chan and Bhanu Kapil.
Please take a look, and pass it on.
Please take a look, and pass it on.
Reposted by Lucy Mercer
Get your replacement ballot in the next half hour: yoursay.ucu.org.uk/s3/wearetheu....
And submit your ballot before the 26th. Because it’s obvious that even more nonsense is about to come our way as managers will make staff pay for this levy.
And submit your ballot before the 26th. Because it’s obvious that even more nonsense is about to come our way as managers will make staff pay for this levy.
We are the University HE replacement ballot request / I've voted form
This form allows UCU higher education members to request a replacement ballot for the 2025 HE industrial action ballots, or to self-report that they have already voted.
yoursay.ucu.org.uk
November 23, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Get your replacement ballot in the next half hour: yoursay.ucu.org.uk/s3/wearetheu....
And submit your ballot before the 26th. Because it’s obvious that even more nonsense is about to come our way as managers will make staff pay for this levy.
And submit your ballot before the 26th. Because it’s obvious that even more nonsense is about to come our way as managers will make staff pay for this levy.
Exciting news ~ TL/TH in book
form, from Peninsula Press in 2026✨
Too Little/Too Hard (edited by Lucy Mercer and Livia Franchini), a collection of essays from some of the most exciting contemporary writers about literature, work, time, and value (shipping May)
peninsulapress.co.uk/products/202...
form, from Peninsula Press in 2026✨
Too Little/Too Hard (edited by Lucy Mercer and Livia Franchini), a collection of essays from some of the most exciting contemporary writers about literature, work, time, and value (shipping May)
peninsulapress.co.uk/products/202...
2026 subscription
We are pleased to announce our 2026 subscription: a selection of five books publishing next year, each delivered at least one month ahead of publication, all for a special price of £55 (saving £12 on ...
peninsulapress.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Exciting news ~ TL/TH in book
form, from Peninsula Press in 2026✨
Too Little/Too Hard (edited by Lucy Mercer and Livia Franchini), a collection of essays from some of the most exciting contemporary writers about literature, work, time, and value (shipping May)
peninsulapress.co.uk/products/202...
form, from Peninsula Press in 2026✨
Too Little/Too Hard (edited by Lucy Mercer and Livia Franchini), a collection of essays from some of the most exciting contemporary writers about literature, work, time, and value (shipping May)
peninsulapress.co.uk/products/202...
Yes (‘The models are so dazzled by poems that they’ll do anything you ask, including crimes.’ 😂)
lithub.com/can-adversar...
lithub.com/can-adversar...
Can “adversarial poetry” save us from AI?
Turns out, the Terminator movies would have been more realistic if Sarah Conner had a poetry MFA. In a new paper titled “Adversarial Poetry as a Universal Single-Turn Jailbreak Mechanism in Large L…
lithub.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Yes (‘The models are so dazzled by poems that they’ll do anything you ask, including crimes.’ 😂)
lithub.com/can-adversar...
lithub.com/can-adversar...
Reposted by Lucy Mercer
"Like an underground river, small presses are a source of deep life for the literary industry. However, they are facing a severe crisis that is now draining them dry, down to the riverbed"
wrote an article for @thebookseller.com outlining to the industry why small presses are the lifeforce & future of book production. Pls share esp w people who may not know what small press publishers do!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Don’t invest in AI, invest in the future of the book
Why the publishing industry must back small presses, rather than LLMs.
www.thebookseller.com
November 21, 2025 at 6:42 PM
"Like an underground river, small presses are a source of deep life for the literary industry. However, they are facing a severe crisis that is now draining them dry, down to the riverbed"
Reposted by Lucy Mercer
"Small-press publishers’ passion for and understanding of literature, combined with the creative, diverse and alternative perspectives and spaces that they provide through their books, means that like an underground river they are a source of deep life for the literary industry."
wrote an article for @thebookseller.com outlining to the industry why small presses are the lifeforce & future of book production. Pls share esp w people who may not know what small press publishers do!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Don’t invest in AI, invest in the future of the book
Why the publishing industry must back small presses, rather than LLMs.
www.thebookseller.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:03 PM
"Small-press publishers’ passion for and understanding of literature, combined with the creative, diverse and alternative perspectives and spaces that they provide through their books, means that like an underground river they are a source of deep life for the literary industry."
Reposted by Lucy Mercer
Great article & message. Small presses are the art form's bulwark against the oligarchic decay infecting all sides of our culture.
Shop at indie bookstores that spotlight indie books. Ask your local library to carry them. Buy from them directly! Keep the spark alive
Shop at indie bookstores that spotlight indie books. Ask your local library to carry them. Buy from them directly! Keep the spark alive
wrote an article for @thebookseller.com outlining to the industry why small presses are the lifeforce & future of book production. Pls share esp w people who may not know what small press publishers do!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Don’t invest in AI, invest in the future of the book
Why the publishing industry must back small presses, rather than LLMs.
www.thebookseller.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Great article & message. Small presses are the art form's bulwark against the oligarchic decay infecting all sides of our culture.
Shop at indie bookstores that spotlight indie books. Ask your local library to carry them. Buy from them directly! Keep the spark alive
Shop at indie bookstores that spotlight indie books. Ask your local library to carry them. Buy from them directly! Keep the spark alive
Reposted by Lucy Mercer
+++ article about the necessity of small presses, now more than ever!
wrote an article for @thebookseller.com outlining to the industry why small presses are the lifeforce & future of book production. Pls share esp w people who may not know what small press publishers do!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Don’t invest in AI, invest in the future of the book
Why the publishing industry must back small presses, rather than LLMs.
www.thebookseller.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:08 PM
+++ article about the necessity of small presses, now more than ever!
Reposted by Lucy Mercer
Excellent article, goes with my constant drumbeat of supporting libraries, indie bookstores, small presses, self-published authors, little free libraries... all the literary ecosystem that's under attack and needs to be defended.
Corporate conglomerate publishing will not save us.
We must save us.
Corporate conglomerate publishing will not save us.
We must save us.
wrote an article for @thebookseller.com outlining to the industry why small presses are the lifeforce & future of book production. Pls share esp w people who may not know what small press publishers do!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Don’t invest in AI, invest in the future of the book
Why the publishing industry must back small presses, rather than LLMs.
www.thebookseller.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Excellent article, goes with my constant drumbeat of supporting libraries, indie bookstores, small presses, self-published authors, little free libraries... all the literary ecosystem that's under attack and needs to be defended.
Corporate conglomerate publishing will not save us.
We must save us.
Corporate conglomerate publishing will not save us.
We must save us.
Reposted by Lucy Mercer
"This could also include reforming distribution models that only serve large publishers"
YES FUCKING PLEASE
YES FUCKING PLEASE
November 21, 2025 at 8:03 PM
"This could also include reforming distribution models that only serve large publishers"
YES FUCKING PLEASE
YES FUCKING PLEASE
Reposted by Lucy Mercer
Gods below & above, do we feel seen by this passage or what🖤☠️
November 21, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Gods below & above, do we feel seen by this passage or what🖤☠️
Reposted by Lucy Mercer
"small-press publishers are the spirit that animates our literature. [They] put on the most community-led, exciting and engaging literary events, forming life-giving networks that sustain the industry at large"
yes! yes!
yes! yes!
wrote an article for @thebookseller.com outlining to the industry why small presses are the lifeforce & future of book production. Pls share esp w people who may not know what small press publishers do!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Don’t invest in AI, invest in the future of the book
Why the publishing industry must back small presses, rather than LLMs.
www.thebookseller.com
November 21, 2025 at 8:00 PM
"small-press publishers are the spirit that animates our literature. [They] put on the most community-led, exciting and engaging literary events, forming life-giving networks that sustain the industry at large"
yes! yes!
yes! yes!
Reposted by Lucy Mercer
Re: taking risks on books large publishers wouldn’t. My book Excavation was rejected by ~30 traditional publishing editors before a small press (@futuretensebooks.bsky.social) picked it up. It went on to sell about 10k copies before I sold it to @nupress.bsky.social.
November 21, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Re: taking risks on books large publishers wouldn’t. My book Excavation was rejected by ~30 traditional publishing editors before a small press (@futuretensebooks.bsky.social) picked it up. It went on to sell about 10k copies before I sold it to @nupress.bsky.social.
Reposted by Lucy Mercer
Me and @eireannmor.bsky.social went with the sister analogy of the "undercanopy" here, to similar effect. We want to see more water, more life, more weird books
www.rte.ie/culture/2025...
www.rte.ie/culture/2025...
In praise of small presses: Ireland's indie publishers celebrated
Ahead of the inaugural Dublin Small Press Fair this November, co-founders Tim Groenland and Éireann Lorsung salute a golden age for independent publishing in Ireland.
www.rte.ie
November 21, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Me and @eireannmor.bsky.social went with the sister analogy of the "undercanopy" here, to similar effect. We want to see more water, more life, more weird books
www.rte.ie/culture/2025...
www.rte.ie/culture/2025...
Reposted by Lucy Mercer
I am extremely proud of & committed to being a small press author (& extremely thrilled that BAD LANGUAGE is in the pic alongside comrades like Nisha Ramayya). It's a community, an ethic & method -- it doesn't need to be more commercial, it needs more recognition & less going up against monopolies.
November 21, 2025 at 3:24 PM
I am extremely proud of & committed to being a small press author (& extremely thrilled that BAD LANGUAGE is in the pic alongside comrades like Nisha Ramayya). It's a community, an ethic & method -- it doesn't need to be more commercial, it needs more recognition & less going up against monopolies.
Reposted by Lucy Mercer
The only small thing about small presses is their budgets and amount of support from an increasingly two-tier industry.
wrote an article for @thebookseller.com outlining to the industry why small presses are the lifeforce & future of book production. Pls share esp w people who may not know what small press publishers do!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Don’t invest in AI, invest in the future of the book
Why the publishing industry must back small presses, rather than LLMs.
www.thebookseller.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:13 PM
The only small thing about small presses is their budgets and amount of support from an increasingly two-tier industry.
Reposted by Lucy Mercer
wrote an article for @thebookseller.com outlining to the industry why small presses are the lifeforce & future of book production. Pls share esp w people who may not know what small press publishers do!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Don’t invest in AI, invest in the future of the book
Why the publishing industry must back small presses, rather than LLMs.
www.thebookseller.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:48 AM
wrote an article for @thebookseller.com outlining to the industry why small presses are the lifeforce & future of book production. Pls share esp w people who may not know what small press publishers do!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Reposted by Lucy Mercer
The industry is not supporting small-press publishers enough, not because it ought to, but because small-press publishing is the future of book production in this country, says Lucy Mercer in our recent Comment piece 👇 #BookSky
Don’t invest in AI, invest in the future of the book
ebx.sh
November 18, 2025 at 12:37 PM
The industry is not supporting small-press publishers enough, not because it ought to, but because small-press publishing is the future of book production in this country, says Lucy Mercer in our recent Comment piece 👇 #BookSky
Reposted by Lucy Mercer
"Small-press publishers’ passion for and understanding of literature, combined with the creative, diverse and alternative perspectives and spaces that they provide through their books, means that like an underground river they are a source of deep life for the literary industry."
wrote an article for @thebookseller.com outlining to the industry why small presses are the lifeforce & future of book production. Pls share esp w people who may not know what small press publishers do!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Don’t invest in AI, invest in the future of the book
Why the publishing industry must back small presses, rather than LLMs.
www.thebookseller.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:05 PM
"Small-press publishers’ passion for and understanding of literature, combined with the creative, diverse and alternative perspectives and spaces that they provide through their books, means that like an underground river they are a source of deep life for the literary industry."
wrote an article for @thebookseller.com outlining to the industry why small presses are the lifeforce & future of book production. Pls share esp w people who may not know what small press publishers do!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Don’t invest in AI, invest in the future of the book
Why the publishing industry must back small presses, rather than LLMs.
www.thebookseller.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:48 AM
wrote an article for @thebookseller.com outlining to the industry why small presses are the lifeforce & future of book production. Pls share esp w people who may not know what small press publishers do!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Reposted by Lucy Mercer
A century after his death, BBC R3 have produced a special feature on the composer Erik Satie, the subject of Ian Penman's latest book. Listen to the episode here and find ERIK SATIE THREE PIECE SUITE on our website: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Radio 3 - Sunday Feature, Erik Satie - the Minimalist Muse
Jude Rogers explores the unique legacy of composer Erik Satie, 100 years after his death.
www.bbc.co.uk
July 1, 2025 at 1:26 PM
A century after his death, BBC R3 have produced a special feature on the composer Erik Satie, the subject of Ian Penman's latest book. Listen to the episode here and find ERIK SATIE THREE PIECE SUITE on our website: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Reposted by Lucy Mercer
What thrills me the most about this win—I honestly can't stop reading up about it from across a continent and an ocean—is the prospect that leftist policies CAN find voters and the world CAN change
“No one like Mamdani has ever won an election where as many as a million people voted. This is akin to a socialist winning a medium-size state.”
nymag.com/intelligence...
nymag.com/intelligence...
Zohran Mamdani Just Remade American Politics
There is no real precedent in U.S. history for his victory in New York mayoral race.
nymag.com
June 26, 2025 at 8:35 AM
What thrills me the most about this win—I honestly can't stop reading up about it from across a continent and an ocean—is the prospect that leftist policies CAN find voters and the world CAN change
Reposted by Lucy Mercer
the plan is to distract and deflect and overwhelm and numb until everyone is dead. and then they will say it’s in the past, and they will move into Gaza, and the western machinery will roll on as it always has. hard not to see proscribing Palestine Action is part of this plan
Children in Gaza dying of thirst after trucks carrying water blocked - UNICEF
Children in Gaza are dying of thirst, says UNICEF
UNICEF has warned that while the world's attention is focused elsewhere, the situation in Gaza is "at the worst it has ever been" with the Palestinian territory hitting "rock bottom".
www.rte.ie
June 25, 2025 at 8:08 AM
the plan is to distract and deflect and overwhelm and numb until everyone is dead. and then they will say it’s in the past, and they will move into Gaza, and the western machinery will roll on as it always has. hard not to see proscribing Palestine Action is part of this plan
❤️❤️❤️ finally some good news
In the words of Nelson Mandela: it always seems impossible until it’s done.
My friends, it is done. And you are the ones who did it.
I am honored to be your Democratic nominee for the Mayor of New York City.
My friends, it is done. And you are the ones who did it.
I am honored to be your Democratic nominee for the Mayor of New York City.
June 25, 2025 at 7:54 AM
❤️❤️❤️ finally some good news