Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Julie Phillips

The War on Cars @thewaroncars.bsky.social · 7d

The War on Cars 🤝 The War on Fascists

Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 7d

Portland enacts emergency powers of nudity to check federal overreach.

Emergency World Naked Bike Ride planned in Portland, with blurred photi of naked bicyclists.

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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 7d

The ARCs are here!! “Trace Elements: Conversations on the Project of Science Fiction and Fantasy” coming out Tor Books in March 2026 from me and @bluejo.bsky.social

Photo of Ada Palmer and Jo Walton holding the advanced release copy of the book, sitting in front of a bookcase covered with science fiction and action figures.

The book cover. It shows stacks of old and much loved paperback books with classic science fiction and fantasy fonts, stacked so their titles spell out the title of the book. The mood is cozy, warm, and bibliophilic, like curling up in a corner overstuffed armchair to look over a friend’s bookcase and smile at the mixture of familiar and new book friends.

The back of the book. The blurb reads: “in “Trace Elements”, Jo Walton and Ada Palmer have come together in a supremely entertaining look at modern science fiction and fantasy, at how out genre is written and how it is read, that will join nonfiction works like Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Language of the Night,” Samuel R. Delany’s “The Jewel-Hinged Jaw”, and “Understanding Comics” by Scot McCloud, on the short shelf of titles essential to all readers of our genre.” ☺️😅

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Julie Phillips @julie-phillips.com · 9d

I feel connected to my cousin whenever I use her kitchen utensils. And I love writing with her mechanical pencils; I know they're only orange plastic, but still.

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Dr. Damien P. Williams Wants A Better Sociotechnical Paradigm @wolvendamien.bsky.social · 10d

Call Gavin Newsom's office like you called ABC/Disney/Sinclair/Nexstar

South Bay Queer Solidarity @sbqsolidarity.bsky.social · 12d

A huge win for trans people in California: the state legislature passed five bills protecting our rights!

Now it's time to call on Governor Gavin Newsom to sign them. Contact him before October 12th: transfamilysos.org/action-neede...

#TransRights #TransYouth #TransCalifornia

Action Needed: Urge Governor Newsom to Sign Five Critical Trans Rights Bills

TransFamily Support Services is proud to co-sponsor five critical trans rights bills that have officially passed the California Legislature. This is a major victory—one made possible through a powerfu...

transfamilysos.org

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Anne Billson @annebillson.bsky.social · 10d

"Michaelina Wautier: the female Flemish artist now seen as an old master"

Michaelina Wautier: the female Flemish artist now seen as an old master

Opening in Vienna on Tuesday, a new exhibition gathers her works into one show for the first time

www.theguardian.com

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Julie Phillips @julie-phillips.com · 12d

Amsterdam friends, I'm joining up with Nina Siegal (The Diary Keepers) to discuss banned books, Oct 8 at the American Book Center. Nina will talk about Orwell and the current media landscape. I'll talk about Le Guin's activism.

Hope to see you there.

abc.nl/events/event...

Banned Books Night: Book Banning, Fake News, and Dystopian America

Banned Books Week is from 6 to 12 October, a week we're focussing on banned books and opposition to censorship. In this context you're invited to ABC for Banned Books Night, where we'll have talks and...

abc.nl

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Voices of Motherhood @voicesofmotherhood.bsky.social · 14d

We're pleased to share this call for papers for our upcoming conference!

📍Online via Zoom
🗓️Thursday 5 - Friday 6 February 2026
⏱️Abstract deadline Saturday 1 November 2025

See our website for full details 👇

voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk/index.php/news-and-resources/updates-from-the-project

The Politics of Motherhood: Maternalism, Maternity and Mothering.

Thursday 5 and Friday 6 February 2026, Online Conference.

Ruth Davidson, Anna Muggeridge, Eve Pennington and Beckie Rutherford.

Keynote address by Dr Sarah Crook, Swansea University: ‘Cradles of Discontent: Motherhood as a pathway to activism in modern Britain’.

This conference is supported by a UKRI Future Leaders’ Fellowship ‘Voices of Motherhood’ Project reference MR/Y018184/1 and the University of Worcester.

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Julie Phillips @julie-phillips.com · 21d

DM'ed you

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Silver Press @silver-press.bsky.social · Aug 18

You can now pre-order The Word for World: The Maps of Ursula K. Le Guin, edited by @suchmayer.bsky.social and Sarah Shin, directly from our site - use the code AUTUMNPREORDER at check-out for 10% off (applies to all our forthcoming books) www.silverpress.org/collections/...

The Word for World: The Maps of Ursula K. Le Guin

Edited by So Mayer and Sarah Shin Pre-order: publishing October 2025 When Ursula K. Le Guin started writing a new story, she would begin by drawing a map. The Word for World presents a selection of t...

www.silverpress.org

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Silver Press @silver-press.bsky.social · Sep 8

Contributors Federico Campagna, Bhanu Kapil, @unamccormack.bsky.social, Nisha Ramayya and Marilyn Strathern will join editors @suchmayer.bsky.social and Sarah Shin on 10 October.

Book free tix for the book launch, 4-6pm at the Architectural Association: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-word-f...

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So Mayer @suchmayer.bsky.social · 28d

Glasgow, we're bringing the forest to you! 🍃

4 Nov: celebrate @silver-press.bsky.social Ursula K. Le Guin titles THE WORD FOR WORLD & SPACE CRONE w @taylorwdriggers.bsky.social, Phil Crockett-Thomas (Abolition Science Fiction!), Matthew Sangster & me in convo.

www.waterstones.com/events/a-cel...

A Celebration of Ursula K. Le Guin | Events at Waterstones Bookshops | Waterstones

Events at Waterstones get you closer to the books and authors you admire most. Find information and tickets about A Celebration of Ursula K. Le Guin today.

www.waterstones.com

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Julie Phillips @julie-phillips.com · 21d

Le Guin stuff! The opening in London is also the book launch for "The Word for World: The Maps of Ursula K. Le Guin," ed. @suchmayer.bsky.social and Sarah Shin, with contributions by @unamccormack.bsky.social and @davidnaimon.bsky.social among others.

Ursula K. Le Guin @ursulakleguin.com · 22d

This fall brings not just one but two exhibitions about Ursula and her work.

In Portland, A Larger Reality: Ursula K. Le Guin opens October 31st at Oregon Contemporary.

In London, The Word for World: The Maps of Ursula K. Le Guin opens October 10th at the AA Gallery.

Ursula K. Le Guin, wearing a white button-down shirt, sits amid a pile of cushions, resting her head on her fist. Image by Marion Wood Kolisch | Courtesy Portland Art Museum

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Gwynne Ghoulfinkle @gwynnega.bsky.social · 26d

www.loa.org/news-and-vie...

“Fellow Beings”: The Many Lives of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Cats - Library of America

Cats were community to Ursula K. Le Guin. The beloved author, perhaps best known for her influential speculative fiction such as the Hainish cycle and The Lathe of Heaven, also possessed an earthbound...

www.loa.org

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Julie Phillips @julie-phillips.com · 26d

What was that like?

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Julie Phillips @julie-phillips.com · 26d

Ooh, I wish I'd seen that. This is from a section in the book on how, starting in the 1910s and '20s, contraception enabled the careers of mother-writers and mother-artists.

Naomi Mitchison thought sex was “utterly important,
it is fuel for the imagination, it puts brilliance and vigor into one’s
vision.” From Mitchison's memoir "You May Well Ask."

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Mia You @miayou.bsky.social · Sep 7

Now with Gloria Wekker too ❤️‍🔥

Mia You @miayou.bsky.social · Aug 15

Happy to get to join this program on Audre Lorde’s literary & political legacy with Mariken Heitman, @sylvanasimons.bsky.social & @lazeefuik.bsky.social .

As Lorde said, “Every day of your lives is practice in becoming the person you want to be.” 🍉

ILFU Boeken etc. @ilfu.com · Aug 15

Een nieuwe spelling van onze namen – over 'Zami' van Audre Lorde

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Julie Phillips @julie-phillips.com · 26d

As it should be!

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Julie Phillips @julie-phillips.com · 26d

In my last book, The Baby on the Fire Escape, I wrote about Naomi Mitchison's motherhood and her polyamory, drawing on your work on her. www.aqueductpress.com/books/978-1-...

Aqueduct Press

www.aqueductpress.com

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Julie Phillips @julie-phillips.com · 26d

I cited your work!

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Julie Phillips @julie-phillips.com · Sep 7

❤️

Julie Phillips @julie-phillips.com · Sep 6

Great news! I hope you'll be reading in Amsterdam

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Colson Whitehead @colsonwhitehead.com · Sep 3

Summer 2026

A sign announcing Cool Machine, bitches!

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Eric Gordy @ericgordy.bsky.social · Sep 2

Can we be clear? When you create a hostile environment, the environment is not hostile to only one group. The environment is hostile to everybody. And this is a political choice.

Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · Sep 2

The Hostile Environment is dead. Long live the Hostile Environment!

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Gay League @gayleague.bsky.social · Sep 2

Out today in book stores...maybe (some) comic shops tomorrow. Bread And Wine in which Samuel R Delany relates with the help of artist Mia Wolff the story of how he found love in a very unlikely place. Thoughts to come soonish in a review.

@fantagraphics.bsky.social

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Ursula K. Le Guin @ursulakleguin.com · Aug 6

Three more images from the new Croatian edition of The Wind's Twelve Quarters, which includes an illustration by a different artist for each story in the collection.

"Darkness Box" art by Franka Tretinjak
"Nine Lives" art by Laura Martinović
"Things" art by Melisa Gračić

Franka Tretinjak's art for "Darkness Box" has, in the foreground, a cat with its head turned to eye the viewer. The cat has its tail wrapped around a trunk that is open just slightly, and billowing dark clouds surround both cat and trunk. In the background, a figure stands in a hallway painted in shades of blue, with an orange doorway and a bright sun at the end.

Laura Martinović's art for "Nine Lives" depicts nine somewhat abstract figures, all in shades of gray and white, standing close together against an orange-yellow background

Melisa Gračić's art for "Things" is all in black ink on a white background, and shows a stylized mountain floating above a body of water, with the mountain's shadow on the water.

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