Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · 29d

The OK Gatsby
Man-Flu in Venice
The Wings of the Pigeon
Confessions of an English Toast-Eater
(I like this game!)

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Sep 4

This was a great event in a lovely venue. Home-made cakes and bicycles repaired! (That’s one for any Jennings fans out there.) Thanks to Mary, and Brian, and everyone who came along.

Longbarrow Press @longbarrowpress.bsky.social · Sep 4

Thanks to everyone who joined us for the Longbarrow showcase at Mecycle in Southport last night. Very special thanks to @maryearnshaw.bsky.social for organising & hosting the event. Some excellent readings from @cwjoneschris.bsky.social Fay Musselwhite @helentookey.bsky.social & @petegreensolo.com.

Chris Jones reading at Mecycle Cafe & Bike Workshop, Southport, 3 September 2025.

Fay Musselwhite reading at Mecycle Cafe & Bike Workshop, Southport, 3 September 2025.

Helen Tookey reading at Mecycle Cafe & Bike Workshop, Southport, 3 September 2025.

Pete Green reading at Mecycle Cafe & Bike Workshop, Southport, 3 September 2025.

1 4 14

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Aug 27

Immediately made me think of Yvonne’s postcard in Under the Volcano: ‘Darling, why did I leave? Why did you let me?’

1

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Aug 7

Congrats to Steve and to Longbarrow! Great news.

1

Reposted by Helen Tookey

Longbarrow Press @longbarrowpress.bsky.social · Jul 15

"Those places are so resonant, they speak of the past, but that inevitably makes you think of the future..."

@helentookey.bsky.social and @martinheslop.bsky.social on their new text/audio collaboration 'To the End of the Land'. Full interview here:
longbarrowpress.substack.com/p/on-the-air

The pamphlet and CD editions of 'To the End of the Land' by Martin Heslop and Helen Tookey: the blue-grey coastal edge of Nova Scotia, with dilapidated wooden lobster traps in the foreground, sea and distant land beyond, and white clouds and blue sky above.

10 23

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Jul 5

For those of you in Liverpool, this is in stock at the fantastic @deadinkbooks.bsky.social on Smithdown Rd, along with all kinds of intriguing books you won’t find in other bookshops… so get down there and check it out!

Longbarrow Press @longbarrowpress.bsky.social · Jun 18

'all the way to the end of the land'

To the End of the Land: a text & audio collaboration between @martinheslop.bsky.social & @helentookey.bsky.social, grounded in the landscapes of Nova Scotia.

Published today by Longbarrow Press. Order the pamphlet & CD here:
longbarrowpress.com/current-publ...

2 10

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Jun 18

Published today! Text and sound work by me and Martin Heslop, derived from a residency at the Elizabeth Bishop House in Nova Scotia, beautifully produced by Longbarrow Press.

Longbarrow Press @longbarrowpress.bsky.social · Jun 18

'all the way to the end of the land'

To the End of the Land: a text & audio collaboration between @martinheslop.bsky.social & @helentookey.bsky.social, grounded in the landscapes of Nova Scotia.

Published today by Longbarrow Press. Order the pamphlet & CD here:
longbarrowpress.com/current-publ...

1 6 18

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Jun 12

Here’s the text of one of the pieces from To the End of the Land, by Martin Heslop and me, out next week from Longbarrow Press longbarrowpress.com/featured-poem/

Featured Poem

Lake | Martin Heslop and Helen Tookey this country has a lake in it hour after hour the blue of it unfolds at my hand quiet companion the blue of it like an earth hum a low song long salt water …

longbarrowpress.com

1 2 8

Reposted by Helen Tookey

Longbarrow Press @longbarrowpress.bsky.social · Jun 12

"It’s as though you’re able to stand outside the present and see yourself as a kind of ghost..."

@helentookey.bsky.social and @martinheslop.bsky.social on their new text/audio collaboration 'To the End of the Land'. Full interview here:
longbarrowpress.substack.com/p/on-the-air

An edge of land in Nova Scotia: broken, splintered trees in the foreground; dark earth; a distant, curving line of trees; part-blue, part-clouded skies.

5 16

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · May 28

So pleased to have this work coming out with the fantastic @longbarrowpress.bsky.social!

Longbarrow Press @longbarrowpress.bsky.social · May 28

I hold out my hands to show they are empty
that we’ve come for a while to the end of things

'To the End of the Land': a new collaborative work by @martinheslop.bsky.social & @helentookey.bsky.social, published as a pamphlet and an audio CD. Out 18 June.

longbarrowpress.com/current-publ...

The cover of 'To the End of the Land' by Martin Heslop and Helen Tookey: the blue-grey coastal edge of Nova Scotia, with dilapidated wooden lobster traps in the foreground, sea and distant land beyond, and white clouds and blue sky above.

3 13

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Apr 10

Really looking forward to this event at @deadinkbooks.bsky.social Smithdown Rd on 24th - Jake will be reading from his fantastic new book and we’ll be chatting about it:

Jake Morris-Campbell @jakecampbell88.bsky.social · Apr 4

Scousers: the next Salt & Ash event is at your mega indie bookseller on Smithdown Road, @deadinkbookshop.bsky.social where I'll be in conversation with my friend and colleague, the wonderful writer Helen Tookey. Get doon!

1 3

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Jan 24

Script lichen! What a fantastic name/descriptor.

1

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Jan 19

Oops, pressed post too soon. Thanks to the AHRC for supporting this project. It started from thinking about Lowry’s stories in Hear Us O Lord from Heaven Thy Dwelling Place, which refer to the Isle of Man and have an overriding concern for the natural world.

Malcolm Lowry @malcolmlowry.bsky.social · Jan 19

An exhibition showcasing the sounds of the "extraordinarily rich environment" beneath the surface of the surrounding sea has opened at the Manx Museum.

Led by Alan Dunn and @helentookey.bsky.social, it's aimed to help people "develop a deeper appreciation for the island's diverse marine life"

Exhibition explores sounds found beneath seas around Isle of Man

Hear Us: Sounds of the Sea features underwater recordings made in the waters around the Isle of Man.

www.bbc.com

5

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Jan 19

Thanks to

Malcolm Lowry @malcolmlowry.bsky.social · Jan 19

An exhibition showcasing the sounds of the "extraordinarily rich environment" beneath the surface of the surrounding sea has opened at the Manx Museum.

Led by Alan Dunn and @helentookey.bsky.social, it's aimed to help people "develop a deeper appreciation for the island's diverse marine life"

Exhibition explores sounds found beneath seas around Isle of Man

Hear Us: Sounds of the Sea features underwater recordings made in the waters around the Isle of Man.

www.bbc.com

5

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Jan 17

Absolutely love the idea of error gardens.

1

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Jan 16

Interesting. I’ve noticed this at work, and felt at odds with it, because I don’t think that it’s at all what I’m interested in as a writer. (And I doubt whether it’s primarily what many poets are interested in.) But I hadn’t really thought about it as symptomatic of a wider thing.

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Jan 14

I really fancy the artisanal flans

2

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Jan 14

Have you read Olga Ravn’s The Employees? It’s a brilliant, moving, unsettling sf novella that also skewers the language of ‘workflows’ and ‘upgrades’

1 3

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Jan 14

University management seem to be suckers for pointless, expensive, third-party bits of software, none of which connect to each other, and which mostly just create more work. I assume ‘rolling out’ this stuff makes them feel like tech bros…

1 4

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Jan 14

Our Canvas is currently promising ‘exciting new updates’. I’d rather stick my head in a bag of wet sand.

1

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Jan 12

The Mersey, rippling across itself like a kind of static

1 7

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Jan 12

Or, in my case, it’s often laziness - an unwillingness to be open to the demands of the thing, whatever they might turn out to be. I think this is partly why I so often find myself rereading the same books, listening to the same records.

1

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Jan 12

I reckon it’s the unwillingness to give up the unbounded possibilities the thing holds in anticipation. For as long as you don’t watch/read etc the thing, it can have any properties, in your imagination, but once you do, it can only be itself.

1 1

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Jan 11

Currently midway through my second reading of The Blue Hour. It’s one to take slowly, spend time in the rooms of the poems.

3

Helen Tookey @helentookey.bsky.social · Jan 1

‘It is a far, far better thing…’

2