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James Bailey

@drjamesbailey.bsky.social

5.7K followers 9.9K following 240 posts

Writer who lives in Manchester. Rep’d by Creative Artists Agency. LIKE A CAT LOVES A BIRD, my biography of Muriel Spark, is out in April 2026 🐈‍⬛ Instagram.com/drjamesbailey https://www.caa.com/entertainmenttalent/books/author/james-bailey

www.caa.com

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James Bailey @drjamesbailey.bsky.social · 20h

The first blurb for my book is in!

I’m so delighted that the brilliant Francesca Wade (whose new Gertrude Stein biography is amazing) had this to say about LIKE A CAT LOVES A BIRD

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Bailey's slippery Spark is chaotic, complex, often hilarious, and constantly shapeshifting. His kaleidoscopic portrait illuminates Spark's life and work from every angle, yet - crucially - allows her the freedom she craved to confound and elude those who would try to pin her down. This is a deeply stylish, astute and illuminating biography of a fascinating writer - Francesca Wade, author of SQUARE HAUNTING

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 21h

Beautiful everyday Ladybird things.
The Trimphone
(How it Works: The Telephone, 1972)
Artist: BH Robinson

Photo realistic illustration of a green trimphone on a beige background.

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James Bailey @drjamesbailey.bsky.social · 21h

He has something very grave to impart.

A blue-grey staffie, placing his paw on my arm and wearing a look of grave concern

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James Bailey @drjamesbailey.bsky.social · 23h

I love this photo because it looks like it belongs in a life insurance brochure, which is all I’ve ever really wanted, to be honest.

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wormbuxx @wormbuxx.bsky.social · 1d

Now I’m falling asleep and she’s calling a cob

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Vintage Audio Love @vintageaudiolove.bsky.social · 2d

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Lit Hub @literaryhub.bsky.social · 1d

Francesca Wade examines how Gertrude Stein’s “desire to wring every ounce of meaning from a limited set of words” made the expatriate writer famous in her own country.

Inventing Gertrude Stein, Literary Cubist

Near the beginning of The Making of Americans, Gertrude Stein breaks off abruptly to address her reader—“but truly,” she adds, “I never feel it that there ever can be for me any such a creature, no…

buff.ly

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James Bailey @drjamesbailey.bsky.social · 4d

Update: a thoroughly demented read, 10/10

Pages from Hyacinth Bucket’s Book of Etiquette, titled ‘The Art of the Telephone’ and featuring several pictures of Patricia Routledge on the phone

James Bailey @drjamesbailey.bsky.social · 4d

This is how I find my people

James Bailey @drjamesbailey.bsky.social · 4d

Curiosity got the better of me and I had to see what was in this book. The Index alone is really quite something.

Index, which contains items including: ‘animal kingdom, proper place for’, ‘chimpanzees, avoiding teabags recommended by’ and ‘hands, importance of ensuring cleanliness of in tradespersons’

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James Bailey @drjamesbailey.bsky.social · 5d

Ah it’s so brilliant and heartbreaking

James Bailey @drjamesbailey.bsky.social · 5d

Very sad to hear of the death of Patricia Routledge, although I’m now laughing at the memory of first moving in with my boyfriend, and finding out that he owned a copy of Hyacinth Bucket’s Book of Etiquette: For the Socially Less Fortunate 💜

A copy of Hyacinth Bucket’s Book of Etiquette: For the Socially Less Fortunate

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James Bailey @drjamesbailey.bsky.social · 7d

Brilliant! May I message you so that I can get a contact detail for the publisher?

James Bailey @drjamesbailey.bsky.social · 7d

Hello Robin, I’d love to get a proof of my book on Muriel Spark to you, if you’re interested in reading it? www.waterstones.com/book/like-a-...

Just drop me a message if so and I’ll let the publisher know!

Like a Cat Loves a Bird by James Bailey | Waterstones

Buy Like a Cat Loves a Bird by James Bailey from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.

www.waterstones.com

James Bailey @drjamesbailey.bsky.social · 8d

This may shock you, but I did not even get an interview

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James Bailey @drjamesbailey.bsky.social · 8d

I was, unbelievably, not invited to an interview

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James Bailey @drjamesbailey.bsky.social · 8d

Would you like to have a guess

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James Bailey @drjamesbailey.bsky.social · 8d

Some days I’m doing okay, but on others I recall the time I accidentally submitted a recipe for orange-scented peach cobblers instead of my CV when applying for my first graduate job