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Catherine Clarke

@cathamclarke.bsky.social

6.4K followers 3.2K following 2.2K posts

Writer, academic. Professor & Director @chppc.bsky.social & @vchlondon.bsky.social. Beach hut days. New book: #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems, Penguin Allen Lane, 04.09.25. https://www.catherineclarke.info/ / https://www.history.ac.uk/people/catherine-clarke

www.catherineclarke.info

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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · Aug 7

You can now 'look inside' my new #history book on the Penguin website! Read the introduction and first chapters, see the list of poems and moments in history I explore, and discover the wormhole which inspired this particular kind of time travel...
www.penguin.co.uk/books/461263...

A History of England in 25 Poems by Catherine Clarke - cover image

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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 2h

Are you looking for a unique and special #AdventCalendar this year? Join us for a #TimeTravelAdvent - here's how!

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Reposted by Catherine Clarke

Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 7d

I'm hugely honoured and very excited to be giving this year's Historical Research #Lecture at @ihr.bsky.social, on 'Can popular #history be radical? Historical research and writing for the #public'. Tuesday 4 November, all welcome. More info in AltText. Book here: www.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

In this lecture, Catherine Clarke will re-visit the question of what makes history radical, asking what kind of radical history we need in our public life and contemporary context today. In particular, she’ll explore ways in which popular history – trade publishing for a wide public audience – has the capacity to be radical, drawing on experiences and examples from her own new book A History of England in 25 Poems (Penguin Allen Lane, September 2025). Catherine’s lecture will move towards a manifesto for how research-led, scholarship-driven popular history can and does make necessary, vital public interventions – from opening inclusive conversations and confronting the rise of AI, to modelling radical empathy and imagination.

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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 1d

And brilliant news that local @vch-home.bsky.social groups will be involved in this research project! Watch this space for more detail...

Victoria County History @vch-home.bsky.social · 1d

Well. This has stirred us over our (ok, 3rd or 4th) cuppa.

Such an important document and up until now, relatively hard to use and access. Great news! #Skystorians

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 1d

'A nationwide survey commissioned by Henry VIII on the property and wealth of 16th century England and Wales is to be made publicly accessible for the first time.

The survey, known as the Valor Ecclesiasticus, set out to discover the financial state of the Church'.

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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 2d

Such a hogger

Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 2d

😂😂

Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 2d

😬🤞

Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 2d

Tbh I'd hold off as long as you can

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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 2d

Particularly weird for distance, where I didn't really need them anyway. Not planning to wear them all the time, but we'll see (ha). Definitely proceeding with caution...

Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 2d

WHAM! BIFF! POW! Take that, Homer!

Dr Anna Reeve @cypriotartleeds.bsky.social · 2d

Well, will you look at that - @cathamclarke.bsky.social's 'A History of England in 25 Poems' outstripping 'The Odyssey' in Penguin's Poetry bestseller list!

Penguin's Poetry bestseller list, with 'A History of England in 25 Poems' at Number 1.

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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 2d

Appearances may deceive

Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 2d

In my first pair of #varifocals, outside a medieval priory. #middleaged #middleages

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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 2d

"I caught this morning morning's minion..." Monday morning on the #clifftop, watching a #kestrel hunt. I was too spellbound to take photos as it hovered right in front of me, so you'll have to make do with this zoomed-in shot in a tree. www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44402/...

A view east along the cliff from Southbourne

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Reposted by Catherine Clarke

Matthew Roberts @matqbritholiday.bsky.social · Aug 27

www.sal.org.uk/event/queeri...
Tuesday 27th January 2026 I will be presenting Queering the British Holiday @antiquaries.bsky.social Book tickets (FREE) in person or zoom. NO PASSPORT REQUIRED! 😊

Queering the British Holiday - Society of Antiquaries of London

This lecture explores queering the British holiday by intersecting the Long Eighteenth Century Grand Tour; the impact of Music Hall theatricality on the Victorian Coast by male impersonator, Vesta Til...

www.sal.org.uk

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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 3d

Great to see you - keep in touch!

Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 3d

It was so lovely to see you!

Reposted by Catherine Clarke

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 3d

This was such a wonderful day! Enormously grateful to @cathamclarke.bsky.social for chairing the discussion & poetry reading with the astonishingly brilliant Caroline Bergvall 🤩 (Such a thrill to share a platform with her!) And I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop session with Catherine too! ✨

Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 4d

I hugely enjoyed hosting a discussion with the brilliant @drlauravarnam.bsky.social & Caroline Bergvall today on creative engagement with #Chaucer and #medieval literature, including readings from their #poetry. Thank you @ies-sas.bsky.social & @englishassociation.bsky.social for an excellent day!

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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 4d

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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 4d

The event is being recorded! 😊

Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 4d

Professor Alfred Hiatt welcomes us to #Chaucer our Contemporary: Teaching, Reading and Rewriting #Medieval #Literature Today at @ies-sas.bsky.social with @englishassociation.bsky.social. Great to be sharing resources and expertise with academics and school teachers.

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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 5d

How interesting!

Reposted by Catherine Clarke

Victoria County History @vch-home.bsky.social · 5d

On 13 November, please join our friends in Somerset at the Museum of Somerset, Taunton, to support work in that county.

In 'Through the Windows of an Ordinary House', Dr Ian Mortimer looks at national histories through the windows of a Devon house.

Tickets £10 (concessions £5).

VCH Annual Lecture 2025

Join author and historian Dr Ian Mortimer on a journey through English history as seen through a single, ordinary building.

swheritage.org.uk

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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 5d

So the church (C of E, anyway) has finally caught up with the very first moments of Christianity as a faith, in which women were the first witnesses and teachers.

Large group of male disciples to three women: 'So ladies, thanks for being the first to witness and report the resurrection and we'll take it from here'. Cartoon by @nakedpastor: https://nakedpastor.com/

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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 5d

😃

Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 5d

oh my god

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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 5d

DORSET: sea air, fish and chips, cow parsley, your hands after using the penny slots, the pension triple lock, SUV fumes, gorse and bracken

Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 5d

I see English Heritage got there first, but surely this should be a @vch-home.bsky.social collab?? 🕯️📕

The Home County Co, selling scented candles inspired by English counties...

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