Jan Carson
@jancarsonwrites.bsky.social
I’m not terrific but I’m competent
All bookings via website www.jancarson.co.uk
All bookings via website www.jancarson.co.uk
Tonight I got an Uber home and the driver had an IPad mounted in the backseat for passengers to watch which was screening a documentary about how to butcher a cow. At the time this did not strike me as odd but now I am safely home it strikes me as very odd indeed.
November 30, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Tonight I got an Uber home and the driver had an IPad mounted in the backseat for passengers to watch which was screening a documentary about how to butcher a cow. At the time this did not strike me as odd but now I am safely home it strikes me as very odd indeed.
Sitting in a cinema in Boston and the trailer for Midwinter Break came on and I don’t think I’ve ever felt quite so far from home.
November 30, 2025 at 3:20 AM
Sitting in a cinema in Boston and the trailer for Midwinter Break came on and I don’t think I’ve ever felt quite so far from home.
Reposted by Jan Carson
contributor copy!! My chapter on "Dubliners" & @deeshaphilyaw.bsky.social was seeded by @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social review of Philyaw's stories in @irishtimes.com! Congrats, eds. Barry Devine & @ellenscheible.bsky.social
November 29, 2025 at 4:34 PM
contributor copy!! My chapter on "Dubliners" & @deeshaphilyaw.bsky.social was seeded by @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social review of Philyaw's stories in @irishtimes.com! Congrats, eds. Barry Devine & @ellenscheible.bsky.social
Main take away from this residency - books are stupid, jigsaw puzzles are the art form of the gods
November 29, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Main take away from this residency - books are stupid, jigsaw puzzles are the art form of the gods
In the last 24 hours I’ve been visiting writer with both Lucy Caldwell and Hannah Copley’s current crop of emerging writers. It’s always a privilege to be trusted with someone else’s students and also lovely to see emerging writers really flourishing because their tutors are going above and beyond
November 28, 2025 at 4:04 PM
In the last 24 hours I’ve been visiting writer with both Lucy Caldwell and Hannah Copley’s current crop of emerging writers. It’s always a privilege to be trusted with someone else’s students and also lovely to see emerging writers really flourishing because their tutors are going above and beyond
In 2026 I'll be reading all of Hilary Mantel and Flannery O'Connor's work in chronological order. It's going to be an amazing reading year. I've just posted my schedule on the blog if you'd like to read along with me.
www.jancarson.co.uk/blog/my-reading-project-2026
www.jancarson.co.uk/blog/my-reading-project-2026
My Reading Project 2026 — Jan Carson
In 2026 I’m going big. I’ll be reading all of Hilary Mantel’s writings alongside re-reading all of my beloved Flannery O’Connor’s work.
www.jancarson.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 3:21 AM
In 2026 I'll be reading all of Hilary Mantel and Flannery O'Connor's work in chronological order. It's going to be an amazing reading year. I've just posted my schedule on the blog if you'd like to read along with me.
www.jancarson.co.uk/blog/my-reading-project-2026
www.jancarson.co.uk/blog/my-reading-project-2026
Just discovered you can be pervious as well as impervious - the dictionary is a wonderful thing
November 26, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Just discovered you can be pervious as well as impervious - the dictionary is a wonderful thing
Rambling about round Mystic today.
November 26, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Rambling about round Mystic today.
I think I might be re-entering my John Cusack phase.
November 26, 2025 at 2:15 AM
I think I might be re-entering my John Cusack phase.
America - what is the point in a large brown paper grocery sack with no handles? How am I meant to carry two of these?
November 25, 2025 at 9:51 PM
America - what is the point in a large brown paper grocery sack with no handles? How am I meant to carry two of these?
Reposted by Jan Carson
Dooneen will be published next June, by Fitzcarraldo Editions here, and New Directions there. And this is the New Directions cover, by Paul Sahre, and I love it.
@ndbooks.bsky.social
@ndbooks.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Dooneen will be published next June, by Fitzcarraldo Editions here, and New Directions there. And this is the New Directions cover, by Paul Sahre, and I love it.
@ndbooks.bsky.social
@ndbooks.bsky.social
First sighting of a proof in the wild
— Are you reading the -
— The Jan Carson Few and Far Between proof? Yeah I am.
Very excited to get stuck into this @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social !
@doubledayuk.bsky.social
— The Jan Carson Few and Far Between proof? Yeah I am.
Very excited to get stuck into this @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social !
@doubledayuk.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 9:09 PM
First sighting of a proof in the wild
Reposted by Jan Carson
A reminder that gas-powered leafblowers are nightmare devices that are bad for you, bad for your lawn, and very bad for the environment. They fume and scream and kill the world all so you can messily and ineffectively move leaves around, leaves which are generally supposed to stay where they fell.
November 24, 2025 at 2:58 PM
A reminder that gas-powered leafblowers are nightmare devices that are bad for you, bad for your lawn, and very bad for the environment. They fume and scream and kill the world all so you can messily and ineffectively move leaves around, leaves which are generally supposed to stay where they fell.
Last five days of writing residency - do I prioritise writing like a demon or completing the enormously complicated jigsaw I started last weekend? (I think we all know the correct answer here)
November 24, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Last five days of writing residency - do I prioritise writing like a demon or completing the enormously complicated jigsaw I started last weekend? (I think we all know the correct answer here)
I don’t have to picture myself in Mystic because I went there for the afternoon and learnt lots and lots about building wooden boats and catching whales
November 23, 2025 at 11:05 PM
I don’t have to picture myself in Mystic because I went there for the afternoon and learnt lots and lots about building wooden boats and catching whales
We’re taking a Christmas break in December. @mexico_and_below book group will be back in the New Year. January’s book is Bitter Orange Tree by Jokha Alharthi (translated by Marilyn Booth) we meet Jan 21st 6:30pm at No Alibis all welcome. The book’s 10% off in store.
November 23, 2025 at 10:21 PM
We’re taking a Christmas break in December. @mexico_and_below book group will be back in the New Year. January’s book is Bitter Orange Tree by Jokha Alharthi (translated by Marilyn Booth) we meet Jan 21st 6:30pm at No Alibis all welcome. The book’s 10% off in store.
Reposted by Jan Carson
Halfway through this book & (as a Francis Bacon fan) it is a vivid delight. We never give due credit to translators (as a shamefully monolingual cretin, I possess no expertise) but the poetic savagery of the language in this book, points to Cliona Ni Riordain’s huge talent/imagination. #BookSky💙📚
November 23, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Halfway through this book & (as a Francis Bacon fan) it is a vivid delight. We never give due credit to translators (as a shamefully monolingual cretin, I possess no expertise) but the poetic savagery of the language in this book, points to Cliona Ni Riordain’s huge talent/imagination. #BookSky💙📚
Reposted by Jan Carson
Bitter Literary Pigeon does NOT want your pity
November 22, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Bitter Literary Pigeon does NOT want your pity
Reposted by Jan Carson
Come to Belfast’s Continental Christmas Xmas market if you like slowly being carried along through a crowd of people looking at exotic treats like burgers, waffles, Game of Thrones chess sets, desk toys made of bolts, two hats for £10 and Nutella.
November 22, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Come to Belfast’s Continental Christmas Xmas market if you like slowly being carried along through a crowd of people looking at exotic treats like burgers, waffles, Game of Thrones chess sets, desk toys made of bolts, two hats for £10 and Nutella.
Reposted by Jan Carson
Raked leaves for the first time in six years today and remembered how much I hated raking leaves. Like, immediately. Your one wild and precious life shouldn’t involve piling up and gathering these bastard things.
I give this activity zero stars. Fuck you, leaves.
I give this activity zero stars. Fuck you, leaves.
November 22, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Raked leaves for the first time in six years today and remembered how much I hated raking leaves. Like, immediately. Your one wild and precious life shouldn’t involve piling up and gathering these bastard things.
I give this activity zero stars. Fuck you, leaves.
I give this activity zero stars. Fuck you, leaves.
The tree of lobster pots has been lit up. It’s officially Christmas in Stonington
November 23, 2025 at 1:44 AM
The tree of lobster pots has been lit up. It’s officially Christmas in Stonington
Damn it. Once again tricked into clicking on a small child’s cardigan that looked like something I’d want to wear. They should put actual toddlers in the photographs so people know the lovely brightly coloured clothes are meant for people who are only two foot tall.
November 22, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Damn it. Once again tricked into clicking on a small child’s cardigan that looked like something I’d want to wear. They should put actual toddlers in the photographs so people know the lovely brightly coloured clothes are meant for people who are only two foot tall.
I still want this quote from Jenny Offill’s Dept of Speculation on my headstone.
November 21, 2025 at 9:29 PM
I still want this quote from Jenny Offill’s Dept of Speculation on my headstone.
Plans for tonight - watch Train Dreams. Currently praying to the gods of cinema that they haven’t messed a great thing up.
November 21, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Plans for tonight - watch Train Dreams. Currently praying to the gods of cinema that they haven’t messed a great thing up.
Can anyone explain to me the American obsession with raking and blowing leaves? At such a windy time of the year it seems like a Sisyphean pursuit.
November 21, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Can anyone explain to me the American obsession with raking and blowing leaves? At such a windy time of the year it seems like a Sisyphean pursuit.