Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 1h

This looks fantastic!

Kristen Haas Curtis @hellomizk.bsky.social · 5d

My buddy’s book is out now! www.arc-humanities.org/978180270096... Fantastic read for my medievalist friends and fellow @guildmedmak.bsky.social mates! E-book available open access!!

Public Engagement in the European Middle Ages - Arc Humanities Press

This manual uses the medieval past to teach modern scholars how to succeed in public engagement. Combining a careful study of public engagement in Europe bet...

www.arc-humanities.org

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Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

Clare Pollard @poetclare.bsky.social · 1d

COVER REVEAL for The Othernauts!!! Thankyou to illustrator Macha Yao for bringing Phoebe, Perry, Cora and the Argo to life! Can’t wait to take you on this adventure 🌊🏛️🏺🐍♟️⚡️🔮⚓️🐉 @bonnierbooks.bsky.social

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Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 18h

Excellent work, Claire!! 10/10 from the Headmistress of Horror 👻🎃

Claire @thechesilbeach.bsky.social · 18h

The anticipation is palpable … what book will be joining my @backlisted.bsky.social Hallowe’en shrine this year?

A collection of the Backlisted books featured on previous Hallowe’en episodes:
Cold Hand in Mine by Robert Aickman
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Ghost Stories by Edith Wharton
The Breaking Point by Daphne du Maurier
Beowulf
Something in Disguise by Elizabeth Jane Howard
The Altar of the Dead by Henry James
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary by M. R. James
Round the Fire Stories by Arthur Conan Doyle

All the books are arranged on a dark green background and are surrounded by Hallowe’en decorations including a black cat, some tombstones, candles, spiders and cobwebs, pumpkins and coffins.

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Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

Bodleian Humanities Library @bodhumslib.bsky.social · 14d

We've been delighted that so many of you have come to see the new library! If you haven't had a chance to make it yet, here's a little sneak peek of our new library for you ✨📚✨

A photograph of the entrance to the Bodleian Humanities Library. The entrance is a wood-pannelled interior door with chairs arranged outside

A photograph of a central chamber in the Bodleian Humanities Library. There is soft lighting, wooden panelling, and chairs and tables.

A photograph of the second floor reading room in the Bodleian Humanities Library: you can see an array of seating, tables, and a view of a nearby college

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Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 22h

Really enjoyed delivering my micro lecture on Medievalism at the new Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities this morning, alongside my brilliant colleagues Dan Wakelin and Ayoush Lazikani. Kicking off the medieval paper in style in the new auditorium! ✨

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Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 5d

One of the things I love about poems is that you can read the same poem on a different day and it can have a different heart

This poem, today, beats differently than the last day I read it

'The Last Toast' - Anna Akhmatova

#poetry
#poemoftheday

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Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 2d

Oh lovely! Thank you! And no hurry!!

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 2d

Incredible! 👏

Dr Eleanor Baker @eleanormaybaker.bsky.social · 2d

Peeling wolves. #printsky #linocut #print

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Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 2d

Oh WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

Sara Charles @saracharles.bsky.social · 2d

Homegrown madder pigment. It's wonderful to create medieval pigment from something grown in your garden #bookhistory #medievalpigments #medievalsky

Dried madder roots in a bowl on some scales

Madder pigment being mulled on a glass slab

Madder pigment surrounded by examples of dried paint on paper and parchment

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Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

Rose Ruane @regretteruane.bsky.social · 2d

Excellently threatening energy from Deborah Findlay’s entry to the Puffin Post’s Concrete Poetry Competition.
A superb, subtle, sarcastic little poetic diss to the moon

Detail from a page from puffin post magazine black text on white reads, Deborah finally 13, the moon above a black outline of a crescent moon inside which is a poem that reads “poor moon, will you really shine so well when men step upon you and break your spell” under which italicised text reads a black and white copy of a charming painting by Deborah Findlay

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Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

Daniel Carpenter @dancarpenter.bsky.social · 2d

A reminder that E. Nesbit wrote the greatest opening to a ghost story ever.

THIS is not an artistically rounded off ghost story and nothing is explained in it; and there seems to be no reason why any of it should have happened. But that is no reason why it should not be told. You must have noticed that all the real ghost stories you ever come close to are like this in these respects: no explanation, no logical coherence. Here is the story.

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

🤣

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Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 4d

The @backlisted.bsky.social family will know Rob best from his astonishingly clever ‘choose your own adventure’ short story collection WE ALL HEAR STORIES IN THE DARK, discussed on the Beowulf episode! Fans of the Halloween show will really enjoy CHIMES OF MIDNIGHT for its riff on ghost stories! 👻

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 4d

Many congratulations to the brilliant @robertshearman.bsky.social whose two new Doctor Who novels were published this week- JUBILEE & CHIMES OF MIDNIGHT! 👏🥂🍾🥳 And check out the new issue of Doctor Who magazine for an interview about the new books & how Rob adapted the original Big Finish audios ✨

Jubilee and The Chimes of Midnight by Robert Shearman

Doctor Who magazine cover featuring a golden Dalek

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Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 4d

Many congratulations to the brilliant @robertshearman.bsky.social whose two new Doctor Who novels were published this week- JUBILEE & CHIMES OF MIDNIGHT! 👏🥂🍾🥳 And check out the new issue of Doctor Who magazine for an interview about the new books & how Rob adapted the original Big Finish audios ✨

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Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 4d

Aw 🥹💞

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Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 4d

I thought of you immediately!

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Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 4d

I feel like this will please @ccurran.bsky.social ☝️

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Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 4d

I was glad to see that the bust of Tolkien from the old English Faculty library is now in the new Schwarzman Centre Humanities Library! 📚

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Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 5d

I had a lovely time with my new Team English students at our freshers’ dinner last night at Univ! 💙💛 Really looking forward to teaching starting properly on Monday!

Chocolate brownie pudding with strawberries and cream

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Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 6d

New commemorative Royal mugs for the office collection! 👑👸 (I often find that they are a very pleasing shape to drink from!!) Picked up these beauties in an antique shop in Lyme Regis on holiday last month 💖

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Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 6d

🤭🤭🤭

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Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 6d

OMG 😳😂

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Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

The Guild of Medievalist Makers @guildmedmak.bsky.social · 12d

Those who teach and research Sir Gawain and the Green Knight will be interested in this fantastic research hub concerned with historic and contemporary creative responses to the late medieval poem. They're also looking for contributors, so do get in contact with @michaeledenart.bsky.social! 👇

Representing Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Representing Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a research hub concerned with historic and contemporary creative responses to the late medieval poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (circa 1370). Illu...

www.representing-sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight.com

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Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 7d

You’ve reminded me that that episode made me want to seek out Charlie Bubbles because it stars Billie Whitelaw, who I was lucky enough to meet a couple of years before she died.

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