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thecelticist.bsky.social
Elizabeth Boyle
@thecelticist.bsky.social
6.4K followers 3.2K following 870 posts
Historian/writer • @maynoothuniversity.ie • executive committee @mediumaevum.bsky.social • board member @dublinnorthwest.bsky.social • Fierce Appetites (Penguin, 2022) • rep'd by Robert Caskie • extreme metal fan • she/her
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thecelticist.bsky.social
Thank you so much to @realmandeville.bsky.social for organizing this & directing us so well!
thecelticist.bsky.social Elizabeth Boyle @thecelticist.bsky.social · 21h
Just had the most inspiring & invigorating couple of days @ Creative Medievalisms Now workshop @ Cambridge. Fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, print-makers, comic-makers, film-makers, visual artists & more, all drawing on medieval sources. I spoke about my work & received so much in return ❤️
A PowerPoint slide showing an artwork by comic-maker Marnie Galloway, in which modern (digital) artists are presented as though they were scribe-artists in a medieval monastic scriptorium. The three modern-medieval figures are surrounded by mythical creatures and leafwork in a modern take on medieval manuscript art. Comic-maker Kristen Haas Curtis stands at a lectern, looking towards a screen showing a PowerPoint slide. The bottom right quarter of the slide shows a pair of scissors, the blades of which are pointing towards Curtis's face in an alarming/amusing way that makes it seem as though the scissors are coming for her. A screen showing a PowerPoint slide with images showing 12 pages from Isabel Davis, Conceiving Histories: Trying for Pregnancy, Past and Present (MIT Press, 2025). The images in the book are done by Anna Burel and they are analog/collage art. In the bottom right of the photo Isabel Davis is speaking at a lectern. Laura Varnam (University College, University of Oxford) presenting her work which is projected on a PowerPoint slide on a screen behind her - the slide gives the title of her paper "Beowulf and Margery Kempe Poetry: Show and Tell".
January 16, 2026 at 11:12 PM
thecelticist.bsky.social
Just had the most inspiring & invigorating couple of days @ Creative Medievalisms Now workshop @ Cambridge. Fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, print-makers, comic-makers, film-makers, visual artists & more, all drawing on medieval sources. I spoke about my work & received so much in return ❤️
A PowerPoint slide showing an artwork by comic-maker Marnie Galloway, in which modern (digital) artists are presented as though they were scribe-artists in a medieval monastic scriptorium. The three modern-medieval figures are surrounded by mythical creatures and leafwork in a modern take on medieval manuscript art. Comic-maker Kristen Haas Curtis stands at a lectern, looking towards a screen showing a PowerPoint slide. The bottom right quarter of the slide shows a pair of scissors, the blades of which are pointing towards Curtis's face in an alarming/amusing way that makes it seem as though the scissors are coming for her. A screen showing a PowerPoint slide with images showing 12 pages from Isabel Davis, Conceiving Histories: Trying for Pregnancy, Past and Present (MIT Press, 2025). The images in the book are done by Anna Burel and they are analog/collage art. In the bottom right of the photo Isabel Davis is speaking at a lectern. Laura Varnam (University College, University of Oxford) presenting her work which is projected on a PowerPoint slide on a screen behind her - the slide gives the title of her paper "Beowulf and Margery Kempe Poetry: Show and Tell".
January 16, 2026 at 10:00 PM
thecelticist.bsky.social
"Robertson became Brian James, to avoid confusion with Thin Lizzy’s guitarist, Lett became Dave Vanian (as in Transyl-), Millar became Rat Scabies, because he looked like a dead rat and had suffered scabies, and Burns became Captain Sensible, because he wasn’t."
‘We wouldn’t still be playing if we’d got stinking rich’: the Damned celebrate 50 years of punk, goth and holy grail hunting
An appetite for self-destruction left Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible and Rat Scabies hugely influential but financially insecure. They’re back with a big show and their first album together since 1995
www.theguardian.com
January 16, 2026 at 8:55 AM
thecelticist.bsky.social
"Much as you can’t cheat an honest man, the Landry confidence game required a college admissions culture that saw poor Black children as trophies more than people."

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/b...
The Lie That Elite Colleges, and a Nation, Wanted to Believe
www.nytimes.com
January 15, 2026 at 8:41 AM
thecelticist.bsky.social
“Many Christians were challenged for the first time to be Christians,” Lee wrote, adding, “What was heart-breaking was to discover that people you loved — friends, relatives, neighbors — whom you assumed were civilized, harbored the most vicious feelings.”

Plus ça change ...
In Letters to a Friend, Harper Lee Expanded on Her View of the South
www.nytimes.com
January 15, 2026 at 8:36 AM
Reposted by Elizabeth Boyle
ciaraioch.bsky.social
"It's not the same as Twitter", friend Twitter isn't the same as Twitter. Old Twitter died years ago, we need to accept that almost no-one under 30 is interested in joining text-based social media - the format will die with us, like floppy discs, Mars Delights, and the concept of hope for the future
January 14, 2026 at 9:56 PM
thecelticist.bsky.social
Arrived in Cambridge, and am staying at the college where I was a postgraduate student and postdoc. Looking forward to the "Creative Medievalisms Now" symposium, which begins tomorrow!
Part of New Court at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. This is a 19th-century addition to the 14th-century college, built in Ketton stone. The entrance to the chapel is visible at the right of the picture and the entrance to the dining hall is left of centre. The photo is taken in early evening, so the building is lit inside and a lamp post is in the foreground at the far left of the picture.
January 14, 2026 at 9:25 PM
thecelticist.bsky.social
Sunn0))) in the New York Times?! 😱

🤘🎸🎸🎸🤘

[Gift article]

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/a...
130 Tracks of Guitar Per Song? Sunn O))) Is Back, and Going Big.
www.nytimes.com
January 14, 2026 at 5:24 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Boyle
suzpaul.bsky.social
Amazing collections, lovely people. Come and spend a year doing research @theul.bsky.social @theulspeccoll.bsky.social
January 6, 2026 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Boyle
historytoday.com
History Today was first published 75 years ago this week to make sense of a world undergoing ‘bewilderingly swift’ change.

✍️ Our editors reflect on the story so far

www.historytoday.com/archive/75th...
A 75th Anniversary Letter from the Editors
www.historytoday.com
January 14, 2026 at 11:05 AM
thecelticist.bsky.social
"Half His Age is a bleak, often hilarious and uncomfortable triumph that underscores McCurdy’s talent for focusing in on the multilayered nature of trauma and artfully unpicking it, one scab at a time."

I absolutely LOVED "I'm Glad My Mom Died", so I can't wait to read this!
Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy – the follow-up to I’m Glad My Mom Died
Family trauma shapes a student’s affair with her teacher in this bleak and funny fiction debut from the American memoirist
www.theguardian.com
January 14, 2026 at 10:48 AM
thecelticist.bsky.social
Welcome to Bluesky, RIA Library! 📚 📖
January 14, 2026 at 10:46 AM
Reposted by Elizabeth Boyle
washingtonpost.com
Breaking news: Claudette Colvin, a civil rights pioneer who refused to give up her seat on a segregated city bus in Montgomery, Alabama, nine months before Rosa Parks, died at 86.
Claudette Colvin, civil rights pioneer on a Montgomery bus, dies at 86
Nine months before Rosa Parks made history, Ms. Colvin refused to give up her seat on a segregated city bus. She became a star witness in a civil rights case.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 13, 2026 at 9:36 PM
thecelticist.bsky.social
Absolutely one of the most fascinating things I have seen in a long time. Thanks for this report, Jamal Osman!
January 13, 2026 at 9:33 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Boyle
pseudo-isidore.bsky.social
Finally, 2026 has started properly, with a new issue of Early Medieval Europe! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14680254...
Early Medieval Europe: Vol 34, No 1
Early Medieval Europe is an interdisciplinary medieval studies journal covering European history from the fall of the Roman Empire up until the 11th century.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
January 13, 2026 at 9:48 AM
thecelticist.bsky.social
"Over the years, “Catapult” has become a cult book, a literary outlier. It has provided offbeat solace for readers who like good capers and stupid and futile gestures. I’m happy to report that this modest and shaggy book, newly republished, is as winning today as it was back then." 📚
Have Some Spare Time? Why Not Build a Medieval War Machine?
www.nytimes.com
January 13, 2026 at 9:30 AM
thecelticist.bsky.social
The Picasso exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland is fantastic. It's on until 22nd February.
Picasso, Women at their Toilette (1956) A detail from Picasso, Woman Reading (1935) Detail from Picasso, Goat (1950). Picasso, Woman in a Red Armchair (1918).
January 12, 2026 at 7:06 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Boyle
codecs.bsky.social
A little announcement to start the year: over the next few days all sites of the Van Hamel Foundation (CODECS included) will go offline for an upgrade and unless anything unforeseen happens, should be back up within a week or so.
January 8, 2026 at 12:41 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Boyle
guildmedmak.bsky.social
Our upcoming spring term events are now live on our website and detailed below on our term card!

Join us for more Making Space sessions, and our special 1st Birthday celebrations 👇
A term card advertising the Guild of Medievalist Makers upcoming events, January-April 2026. The card reads: Join The Guild of Medievalist Makers, a newly formed organisation for academic & academic-adjacent creatives and makers dedicated to furthering creative-critical practice in the humanities, and making space for creative play! Our online Making Space Sessions offer you the chance to set aside time for your creative-critical project. We are regularly joined by a lively and generous company of zine makers, textile artists, cartoonists, novelists, poets, translators, illustrators, flax spinners, print makers and more! Please note that you must become a member of the Guild to join our Making Space Sessions (this is so we can avoid being overrun by bots). Read more about us and join today for free at www.guildmedmak.com. The card advertises the following events: 1. Thurs 5th Feb, 5:30pm-7:00pm Making Space Session, optional theme: birds 2. Thurs 5th March, 5:30pm-7:00pm Making Space Session, optional theme: regrowth 3. Thurs 2nd April, 5:30pm-7:00pm, The Guild's 2st Birthday Show and Tell
January 11, 2026 at 12:28 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Boyle
mediumaevum.bsky.social
Our friends at the Early English Text Society are holding a workshop on editing texts from medieval Britain for graduate students and early career scholars.

📖Texts in Transition
📍St Hilda's College, Oxford
📆18/04/2026
🕐11am-5pm

For registration email eets[at]ell.ox.ac.uk
January 10, 2026 at 1:05 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Boyle
quantick.bsky.social
David Bowie's Star Special.

www.undertheradarmag.com/news/listen_...
Listen to David Bowie Take Over BBC Radio 1 for Two Hours in 1979
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www.undertheradarmag.com
January 10, 2026 at 11:41 AM
thecelticist.bsky.social
Here's a gift article link to a thoughtful interview with a great writer. Enjoy! 📚

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/m...
George Saunders Is No Saint (Despite What You May Have Heard)
www.nytimes.com
January 10, 2026 at 12:11 PM
thecelticist.bsky.social
"When ... Sophie Pinkham ... claim[s] that “Russia has more trees than there are stars in our galaxy”, it might seem ... a poetic turn of phrase. But the statistic is correct: while the Milky Way is estimated to have roughly 200bn stars, Russia has something in the region of 642bn trees." 🤯
The Oak and the Larch by Sophie Pinkham review – are Russia’s forests the key to its identity?
How billions of trees left their mark on an empire’s psyche – shaping ideological and literal battles up to the present day
www.theguardian.com
January 8, 2026 at 8:37 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Boyle
pseudo-isidore.bsky.social
Remarkable!
helengittos.bsky.social Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 10d
'A Complete Byzantine Monastery Discovered Beneath the Desert Sands of Southern Egypt'
www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2026/01/a...
January 7, 2026 at 3:05 PM
thecelticist.bsky.social
I'm going to be speaking at this symposium in Cambridge next week about my practice and current work-in-progress 📚 Can't wait to hear the other speakers & see what emerges!
#MedievalSky
realmandeville.bsky.social Anthony Bale FBA @realmandeville.bsky.social · Dec 17
'Creative Medievalisms Now: Writing the Middle Ages Today and Tomorrow', forthcoming symposium at Cambridge. A two-day symposium for writer-researchers working on medieval materials to reflect on craft, research processes, and work in progress.
Booking essential: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/creative-m...
Creative Medievalisms Now: Writing the Middle Ages Today and Tomorrow
A two-day symposium on creative writing, the creative-critical seam, and the Middle Ages
www.eventbrite.co.uk
January 7, 2026 at 9:16 AM