Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Vik Shirley

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪 @neonpajamas.bsky.social · 28d

virtual event next Saturday for Lit Balm!

going to be reading some surrealist poems alongside my Mercurius Magazine editors

DM me if you'd like a link ❤️

@vikshirley.bsky.social / @postpran.bsky.social

5 11

Reposted by Vik Shirley

Vik Shirley @vikshirley.bsky.social · Aug 10

My third book of photo poetry, Persona Digitalia, is published in November! @photoworks-uk.bsky.social 🍂 📷

“hyper-focused, obsessive play w/fragmentation, time shifts, multiple selves & intensity of life thru colour, aesthetic & lens of the neurodivergent mind.”

photoworks.org.uk/news/p5-phot...

4 17

Reposted by Vik Shirley

Vik Shirley @vikshirley.bsky.social · Jul 15

Beyond thrilled to have been selected for the inaugural P5 series @photoworks-uk.bsky.social in collab w/David Solo!

My third photo poetry book is coming soon & will be designed by @janeandjeremy.bsky.social!

More details to come & you can read about it here:

photoworks.org.uk/news/p5-phot...

2 10

Reposted by Vik Shirley

Ian Seed @ianseedauthor.bsky.social · Aug 18

The Surreal-Absurd. A brilliant anthology from Mercurius Press. Honoured and delighted to be included. Lovely to discover lots of new names, too. Huge thanks to the editors Thomas Helm @postpran.bsky.social , @vikshirley.bsky.social and Ben Niespodziany!

2 7 19

Reposted by Vik Shirley

Judson Hamilton @judsonhamilton.bsky.social · Aug 26

This was a blast✨️

Watch it here: youtu.be/SrXQLfeUsbg

Thanks so much to @neonpajamas.bsky.social for hosting and the editorial team of Thomas Helm, @postpran.bsky.social and @vikshirley.bsky.social

3 4

Reposted by Vik Shirley

rob mclennan @robmclennan.bsky.social · Aug 30

some above/ground press author activity: mclennan, Niespodziany, Jenks, Shirley, Williams, Logan, Kemp-Gee + Young, / @tomjenksuk.bsky.social @meghankempgee.bsky.social @vikshirley.bsky.social @neonpajamas.bsky.social ;
abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2025/08/some...

some author activity: mclennan, Niespodziany, Jenks, Shirley, Williams, Logan, Kemp-Gee + Young,

rob mclennan has a poem up at Pamenar Press online ; the full event of Benjamin Niespodziany's Surreal-Absurd Reading Marathon, featuring a ...

abovegroundpress.blogspot.com

4 10

Reposted by Vik Shirley

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪 @neonpajamas.bsky.social · Aug 19

Virtual launch is this upcoming Sunday!

Join us for a marathon featuring over a dozen surrealists

bit.ly/surrealabsurd

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪 @neonpajamas.bsky.social · Aug 11

An anthology of contemporary surrealism? Say less!

Compiling four years of our Surreal-Absurd Sampler series, we have 80+ poets across 370 pages, full of weird poems & micro essays on the surreal

Thrilled to have helped with this tome 📚

More here: www.mercurius.one/books/the-su...

The Surreal-Absurd Sampler: a print anthology

Zachary Schomburg
Jennifer L. Knox
Tom Jenks
Michael Chang
Barton Smock
Rachel B. Glaser
John Maradik
Aase Berg
Réka Nyitrai
Liam Bates
Evan Nicholls
Shivani Mehta
Satoshi Iwai
Sawako Nakayasu
Joyelle McSweeney
Lesle Lewis
Evan Williams
Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi
Kristin Bock
Howie Good
Jeff Alessandrelli

1 10 19

Vik Shirley @vikshirley.bsky.social · Aug 10

My third book of photo poetry, Persona Digitalia, is published in November! @photoworks-uk.bsky.social 🍂 📷

“hyper-focused, obsessive play w/fragmentation, time shifts, multiple selves & intensity of life thru colour, aesthetic & lens of the neurodivergent mind.”

photoworks.org.uk/news/p5-phot...

4 17

Reposted by Vik Shirley

rob mclennan @robmclennan.bsky.social · Aug 2

some above/ground press author activity: Ellen Chang-Richardson, Beatriz Hausner, Benjamin Niespodziany, Vik Shirley, Gary Barwin + Monty Reid, / @mreid.bsky.social @vikshirley.bsky.social @neonpajamas.bsky.social ;
abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2025/08/some...

some author activity: Chang-Richardson, Hausner, Niespodziany, Shirley, Barwin + Reid,

Ellen Chang-Richardson is featured in the "Canadian Poets Series" via Peripety and/or Tronies ; Beatriz Hausner is interviewed over at Touch...

abovegroundpress.blogspot.com

3 7

Reposted by Vik Shirley

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪 @neonpajamas.bsky.social · Jul 29

Did you miss the Easy Tiger virtual launch on Sunday? You can rest easy now, because the full reading is up on YouTube!

🐅🐅🐅

youtu.be/HymLeGr6zVs

@garybarwin.bsky.social
@vikshirley.bsky.social
@markleidner.bsky.social
@futuretensebooks.bsky.social

5 14

Reposted by Vik Shirley

Rosie Garland @rosiegarlandwriter.bsky.social · Jul 24

Oh, what a night!
Had a flippin lovely time at @lighthousebks.bsky.social in Edinburgh last night, launching This Is How I Fight 💜💜💜

A delight to read with @vikshirley.bsky.social Janette Ayachi & Jane Goldman!✨✨✨

@ninearchespress.bsky.social

Colour photograph with L to R poets Vik Shirley, Rosie Garland, Janette Ayachi, Jane Goldman

1 4 14

Reposted by Vik Shirley

Rosie Garland @rosiegarlandwriter.bsky.social · Jul 17

Next week Weds 23 July I’m thrilled to be visiting @lighthousebks in Edinburgh!

Sharing a poetry stage with fabulous Janette Ayachi @vikshirley.bsky.social @janegoldman.bsky.social ✨💜✨

AND it’s available online too 🌹

lighthousebookshop.com/events/this-...

@ninearchespress.bsky.social

Image shows event announcement for book launch of This Is How I Fight 23 July

Image is black text on yellow background - event information for launch of poetry collection This is How I Fight

4 10

Reposted by Vik Shirley

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪 @neonpajamas.bsky.social · Jul 18

🌿✂️🎨

@futuretensebooks.bsky.social / @zacharyschomburg.bsky.social / @markleidner.bsky.social / @vikshirley.bsky.social / @garybarwin.bsky.social

bit.ly/easytigerlau...

1 9

Reposted by Vik Shirley

Vik Shirley @vikshirley.bsky.social · Jul 12

”an uncanny and blackly comic fable-cycle for a collapsing world”

Infinite thanks to @stephensunderland.bsky.social for this in depth review of Some Deer @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social just published over at the mighty 3am magazine.

🦌🖤🦌🖤🦌🖤🦌🖤🦌🖤🦌🖤

www.3ammagazine.com/3am/a-surrea...

3 7

Vik Shirley @vikshirley.bsky.social · Jul 15

Beyond thrilled to have been selected for the inaugural P5 series @photoworks-uk.bsky.social in collab w/David Solo!

My third photo poetry book is coming soon & will be designed by @janeandjeremy.bsky.social!

More details to come & you can read about it here:

photoworks.org.uk/news/p5-phot...

2 10

Reposted by Vik Shirley

Disrupted Blue Indie Press Publicity @disruptedblue.bsky.social · Jul 14

Spotted in @goldenharebooks.bsky.social in Edinburgh yesterday on the 'Bookseller Favourites' shelf @mayeroflondon.bsky.social Time|Life published by @renardpress.com!

😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍
💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙

renardpress.com/books/time-l...

4 6

Vik Shirley @vikshirley.bsky.social · Jul 12

”an uncanny and blackly comic fable-cycle for a collapsing world”

Infinite thanks to @stephensunderland.bsky.social for this in depth review of Some Deer @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social just published over at the mighty 3am magazine.

🦌🖤🦌🖤🦌🖤🦌🖤🦌🖤🦌🖤

www.3ammagazine.com/3am/a-surrea...

3 7

Reposted by Vik Shirley

Stephen Sunderland @stephensunderland.bsky.social · Jul 12

www.3ammagazine.com/3am/a-surrea...

Really pleased to have this review of Some Deer by @vikshirley.bsky.social at 3:AM now! 🖤🙏🔆

A Surrealism of Pure Endurance – 3:AM Magazine

Carrington’s animals shift, transmute, and exit human epistemologies. Vik Shirley’s deer cannot. Instead, they persist—not because they expect to change anything, but because stopping would mean total...

www.3ammagazine.com

2 4

Reposted by Vik Shirley

Tapsalteerie @tapsalteerie.bsky.social · Jul 10

www.tapsalteerie.co.uk/product/lang...

languishing, cute by Ian Macartney & Maria Sledmere - Tapsalteerie

languishing, cute presents a collection of jittery missives that propels the speculative Scottish canon of Morgan, Gray and Mitchison into a maximalist ‘high femme goth surrealism’ via hyperpop, Celti...

www.tapsalteerie.co.uk

3 2

Reposted by Vik Shirley

Tapsalteerie @tapsalteerie.bsky.social · Jul 10

'Reading Edwin Morgan to French Hyperpop' from languishing, cute by lan Macartney & Maria Sledmere.

languishing, cute presents a collection of jittery missives that propels the speculative Scottish canon into a maximalist ‘high femme goth surrealism’ via hyperpop, Celtic futurism & digital culture.

1 8 9

Reposted by Vik Shirley

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪 @neonpajamas.bsky.social · Jul 9

I'm hosting a super cool virtual reading at the end of the month to celebrate Evan's new book! Featuring some of my favorite writers on this planet

RSVP for free: bit.ly/easytigerlaunch

@markleidner.bsky.social / @vikshirley.bsky.social / @garybarwin.bsky.social / @futuretensebooks.bsky.social

EASY TIGER: a virtual reading, Evan Nicholls reading from his new book, Easy Tiger, July 27 at 4pm ET, with readings from Mark Leidner, Vik Shirley, Gary Barwin, and Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi

5 13

Reposted by Vik Shirley

Disrupted Blue Indie Press Publicity @disruptedblue.bsky.social · Jul 8

Disrupted Blue is excited to now be working w/Scottish press @tapsalteerie.bsky.social
& their imprint Stewed Rhubarb! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🥳

We'll be sharing lots from their books & pamphlets soon, but in meantime, you can browse the already impressive back catalogue of this up & coming press!
www.tapsalteerie.co.uk

3 3

Reposted by Vik Shirley

Tapsalteerie @tapsalteerie.bsky.social · Jul 8

Big things ahead for Tapsalteerie and our imprint Stewed Rhubarb!

We’ve recruited @disruptedblue.bsky.social to help us get the word out! Expect more from our social media pages and from Disrupted Blue’s. We’ve got a back catalogue to celebrate as well as exciting projects ahead!

📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚

Disrupted Blue Indie Press Publicity @disruptedblue.bsky.social · Jul 8

Disrupted Blue is excited to now be working w/Scottish press @tapsalteerie.bsky.social
& their imprint Stewed Rhubarb! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🥳

We'll be sharing lots from their books & pamphlets soon, but in meantime, you can browse the already impressive back catalogue of this up & coming press!
www.tapsalteerie.co.uk

3 2

Vik Shirley @vikshirley.bsky.social · Jul 7

Not really posting on here anymore/at the moment. Don’t have the energy for all the different platforms. I’m over at the more visual place if anyone needs me/wants to follow. Checking in here now again though & will retweet stuff if tagged.

Stop the genocide & free Palestine. 🇵🇸

Vik Shirley @vikshirley.bsky.social · Apr 7

Finally updating my books-by-me-&-where-to find-them pinned post!

Corpses @sublunary.bsky.social
The Continued Closure of the Blue Door (HVTN/Haverthorn)
Disrupted Blue & other poems on Polaroid (Hesterglock)
Grotesquerie for the Apocalypse (out of print. Will be in my next collection)

1/2

1 1 19

Reposted by Vik Shirley

James Knight @badbadpoet.bsky.social · Jul 1

I got inspiration from AI adverts for loft insulation removal for my piece, “Jean Baudrillard Got Fucked Up at the Foam Party”, up now at @ailiteraryreview.bsky.social, along with lots of brilliant work by @hesterglock.bsky.social @lauradavispoems.bsky.social @vikshirley.bsky.social & more

1 5 10