Nicola Bigwood | Proofreader, Copyeditor, former Translator ✍️📚
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nicolabigwood.uk
Nicola Bigwood | Proofreader, Copyeditor, former Translator ✍️📚
@nicolabigwood.uk
4.2K followers 1K following 270 posts
Proofreader & copyeditor of fiction & non-fiction, with background as a translator into English from French & German • CIEP Professional member • She/her • https://linktr.ee/nicolabigwood • Learning Italian, Welsh, Irish, Gaelic… slowly! 📍Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
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Reposted by Nicola Bigwood | Proofreader, Copyeditor, former Translator ✍️📚
biggreenbooks.bsky.social
I don't want a lot for Christmas
There is just one thing I need
I don't care about the presents
I just want a book to read

I just want one for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true oh
All I want’s a book bought by you.
December 13, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Reposted by Nicola Bigwood | Proofreader, Copyeditor, former Translator ✍️📚
brianbilston.bsky.social
Here’s a poem called ‘An Invention of Collective Nouns’.
An Invention of Collective Nouns   A reckoning of spreadsheets. A distraction of smartphones. A prattle of podcasts. A mispronunciation of scones.   A clique of photographers. A heard of precedents. An enjambment of poets. A grope of presidents.   A pile of haemorrhoids. A bunion of personal trainers. A bout of estimations. A condescension of mansplainers.   A stroke of geniuses. A spot of adolescents. An embarrassment of Richards. A collection correction of pedants. Brian Bilston
December 13, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Reposted by Nicola Bigwood | Proofreader, Copyeditor, former Translator ✍️📚
ninawils.bsky.social
Relatable Corvid
December 3, 2025 at 9:27 PM
nicolabigwood.uk
I was so chuffed to be asked to work on this fascinating book! Great to see it out in the world 😊 🙌
November 19, 2025 at 3:19 PM
nicolabigwood.uk
It’s the law, isn’t it?

#BookSky 💙📚
angryrobotbooks.bsky.social Angry Robot Books @angryrobotbooks.bsky.social · 27d
“Book collecting is an obsession, an occupation, a disease, an addiction, a fascination, an absurdity, a fate. It is not a hobby. Those who do it must do it.”
Jeanette Winterson, author of The Passion
November 19, 2025 at 2:29 PM
nicolabigwood.uk
Super busy at the moment, and my brain feels like it’s constantly buzzing – but I’m glad I made myself take a #StetWalk in the soft drizzle today 😊🍁🍂
View through an autumnal woodland, following the line of a low stone wall. The ground is completely covered with autumn leaves.
October 28, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Reposted by Nicola Bigwood | Proofreader, Copyeditor, former Translator ✍️📚
brianbilston.bsky.social
It’s Bookshop Day so here’s a poem in celebration of all those amazing bookshops out there.
Never Judge a Bookshop by its Cover   It may call itself a bookshop, but don’t be fooled by that. There may be books in the window, on the tables and shelves, but really, it’s a travel agent selling all-immersive holidays, weekend breaks, first-class tickets to other worlds, with a low carbon footprint. It’s a pharmacy as well, dispensing medicines, pick-me-ups, balms: if symptoms persist, please consult your local bookseller; it’s a tailor’s, offering a made-to-measure service to achieve the perfect fit;   and a hardware store, with a range of empowering tools to fix you up, recharge your batteries, switch on lightbulbs. Its walls are lined with treasure as precious as any jeweller’s, and twice as bright. Spines shine gold, silver, sapphire, emerald;   there are diamonds amongst them. It’s a garden centre, a place where ideas get planted and a thousand stories bloom, and a greengrocer, selling fresh, locally-sourced produce, as vital as your five-a-day and more readily consumed. It’s a multiscreen cinema. Peek behind the curtain of each jacket and you’ll find a movie waiting silently to begin. A stationer’s supplying notepads, reams of paper, with the words conveniently filled in   to save you both the time and bother. A wholefood store and a fast-food joint. A cosy haven from the cold. A friendly, family restaurant: Today’s special will revive a flagging spirit and restore a lagging soul.   It’s a tourist information centre equipped with maps and helpful guides to steer us on our way. A busy square in which a whole town gathers or just a place to hold the world at bay   for a few untroubled stolen minutes. It’s itself, and yet it’s something larger, a universe so vast you could spend ten thousand lifetimes there – it may call itself a bookshop, but don’t be fooled by that. Brian Bilston
October 11, 2025 at 7:11 AM
Reposted by Nicola Bigwood | Proofreader, Copyeditor, former Translator ✍️📚
bigbeardybooks.bsky.social
Thursdays are for Translators!

If you're a translator why not tell us a little bit about yourself, what projects you've on the go, what you've written, any events in the near future, or just drop your bio and links and follow and support each other

#TranslatorThursday #BookSky 💙📚

alt text please
an icon showing a circular translation from one language to another
October 9, 2025 at 7:18 AM
Reposted by Nicola Bigwood | Proofreader, Copyeditor, former Translator ✍️📚
adamcsharp.bsky.social
As today is World Octopus Day I’ll again mention that a Spanish equivalent to “like a fish out of water” is como un pulpo en un garaje. It means “like an octopus in a garage.”
October 8, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Reposted by Nicola Bigwood | Proofreader, Copyeditor, former Translator ✍️📚
racheltranslates.bsky.social
Hi to new followers, via the translators starter pack and the ETN discussion! #amtranslating #literarytranslation and #booksky are useful for finding likeminded people too... Let's keep the chat going :)
October 7, 2025 at 9:49 AM
nicolabigwood.uk
New week, same project, same earworm 😊

🎶 ‘… What if none of the Pickwick triplets did it? Who’d have had a menacing motive and hid it?’ 🎶

#AmCopyediting #MurderMystery
October 6, 2025 at 11:16 AM
nicolabigwood.uk
When you’re #copyediting a locked-room murder mystery and your brain insists on keep singing at you ‘Which of the Pickwick triplets did it, who of the crew would commit this crime…’ 🎶

#OMITB #Earworm #FriYay
a man walking past a sign that says savoy on it
Alt: Steve Martin as Charles-Haden Savage in ‘Only Murders in the Building’ walking jauntily in front of bassinets on a small, makeshift stage, in a scene where he has to sing a patter song.
media.tenor.com
October 3, 2025 at 9:26 AM
nicolabigwood.uk
Delighted to see a title I proofread on this shortlist! 🤩

(Alt text for shared image: cover art for 4 books – Anima by Kapka Kassabova, Dust and Pomegranates by Victoria Whitworth, One Ukrainian Summer by Viv Groskop, One Woman Walks Europe by Ursula Martin – and headshots of the authors.)
societyofauthors.bsky.social The Society of Authors @societyofauthors.bsky.social · Sep 23
The shortlist for the Ilse Schwepcke Prize has now been announced.

Congratulations to Kapka Kassabova, Ursula Martin, Viv Groskop (@vivgroskop) and Victoria Whitworth,

It is an annual award, administered by the SoA, for women’s travel writing in the English language.
September 23, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Nicola Bigwood | Proofreader, Copyeditor, former Translator ✍️📚
adamcsharp.bsky.social
In Swedish, a word for what you eat to bridge the gap between meals (or while waiting for the main course to cook) is stödmacka. It means "support sandwich."

A similar word in Norwegian is ventepølse, or "waiting sausage."
September 21, 2025 at 3:34 PM
nicolabigwood.uk
Can’t believe it’s time for @the-ciep.bsky.social’s annual conference already! I’m attending virtually, but circumstances mean I won’t be able to make many sessions, unfortunately, so I won’t be live posting this time. Looking forward to catching up with online chatter & the recordings! 🙌
#CIEP2025
September 20, 2025 at 10:43 AM
nicolabigwood.uk
Watching the trees dance.

#StetWalk
August 29, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Reposted by Nicola Bigwood | Proofreader, Copyeditor, former Translator ✍️📚
translatorsaloud.bsky.social
With the brilliance of #WITMonth in August and #WorldKidLitMonth in September, this time of year is a surfeit of riches for literature in translation! We've got dedicated playlists for #WIT + #kidlit + so much more--do check us out!
www.youtube.com/@Translators...
Translators Aloud
TRANSLATORS ALOUD: THE VOICE OF TRANSLATED LITERATURE A place for translators to read their own work; a positive space for sharing great literature, read aloud by the translators themselves. Submiss...
www.youtube.com
August 22, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Reposted by Nicola Bigwood | Proofreader, Copyeditor, former Translator ✍️📚
tomgauld.bsky.social
My latest cartoon for @newscientist.com
Panel 1: A figure wheels a large suitcase. It is labelled with a huge X. X: number of books taken on my summer holiday this year. Panel 2: The figures sits in a deckchair reading. A pile of books is labelled with a Y. Y: number of books I did not get round to reading. Panel 3: The figures works out an equation on a whiteboard. It reads X-Y =Z Z: number of books I should take with me next year. Panel 4 Caption: And yet, one year later… The figures wheels the suitcase once again. It is once again marked with a huge X
August 26, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Reposted by Nicola Bigwood | Proofreader, Copyeditor, former Translator ✍️📚
garethlpowell.bsky.social
Hardbacks are books.
Paperbacks are books.
eBooks are books.
Audio books are books.

The delivery mechanism doesn't matter. What matters is the enjoyment of story.
August 18, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Nicola Bigwood | Proofreader, Copyeditor, former Translator ✍️📚
brianbilston.bsky.social
Here’s a new poem called ‘Wild Weekend’.
Wild Weekend   Sunday – and the squirrels are lazing in their branches, the sheep are congregating for morning service, and the bears are sleeping off their sore heads.   The sloths are taking things slow, the hippos are wallowing, the cats are curling up on the newspaper in front of the television. The alpacas will spend the day in their fluffies.   Not everyone is taking it easy. The deer are up already for a walk around the park. The ducks are planning a trip across the lake. The salmon have gone wild swimming.   The snails are pottering about the garden, while the crows scan its aisles for materials and a spot of DIY. The pigeons have split up: some are hanging around the shopping centre,   others intend to spend the afternoon at the Test match. The lions are having an old friend over for dinner, the camels are baking, the spiders are browsing their webs, and the humans…   the humans are wondering where the weekend has gone as they stave off the prospect of another beastly Monday, questioning the natural order of things.   Brian Bilston
July 20, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Reposted by Nicola Bigwood | Proofreader, Copyeditor, former Translator ✍️📚
tomgauld.bsky.social
My cartoon for this week’s @theguardian.com books.
Two figures approach the Baggage Reclaim area of an airport. One says “We wouldn't need to put things in the hold if you brought fewer books on holiday.” Arriving on the carousel, amongst the bags and suitcases is a very large, well-stocked bookcase.
July 20, 2025 at 10:07 AM
nicolabigwood.uk
There was a lot of swullocking going on at the Highland Games yesterday.
susiedentwords.bsky.social Susie Dent @susiedentwords.bsky.social · Jul 12
Word of the day is ‘swullocking’, from 19th-century East Anglian dialect: sultry, sweltering, and sudiferous (sweat-inducing).
July 13, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Reposted by Nicola Bigwood | Proofreader, Copyeditor, former Translator ✍️📚
tomgauld.bsky.social
‘Useful phrases for the murder mystery writer abroad’ (my cartoon for this week’s Guardian Books)
Title: Useful phrases for the murder mystery writer abroad An eight-panel cartoon showing a writer in a series of situations in a foreign country. Panel 1: looking at historic buildings saying "Kia bela vilaĝo!" which is translated below as "What a lovely village!" Panel 2: in a pretty garden asking the gardener "Ĉu ĉi tiuj estas venenaj" meaning "Are any of these plants poisonous? Panel 3: in a bar asking the server “Kie oni povas aĉeti pafilon?" meaning " Can one purchase a firearm nearby?" Panel 4: on a beach asking a fisherman "Ĉu la tajdo povus forporti kadavron?" meaning "Could the tide carry a dead body away?" Panel 5: approached by a police officer and saying "Saluton, oficiro." which is translated below as "Hello officer." Panel 6: being marched to the police station protesting "Okazis miskompreno!" meaning "There has been a misunderstanding!" Panel 7: in the interrogation room the officer holds up a moleskine notebook, the writer explains "La murdo en mia notlibro estas fikcia." meaning "The murder planned in my notebook is fictional." Panel 8: locked in a cell asking "Mi ŝatus telefoni al la Brita konsulejo." which means "I would like to telephone the British consulate." Note: The foreign language used by the writer in the cartoon is Esperanto. It has not been proofread by an Esperanto speaker so there may be errors.
July 7, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Nicola Bigwood | Proofreader, Copyeditor, former Translator ✍️📚
gralefrit.bsky.social
Yeah. Good luck putting Asterix through AI. Translators for books are skilled workers. It’s not the same as understanding a holiday menu.
suchmayer.bsky.social So Mayer @suchmayer.bsky.social · Jul 7
Writers! Note that AI translation (under the guise of "global access") is being seen/used as the weak point to get AI into publishing (possible bc Eng lang publishing is weak on translation). Stand with translators & for more human translation, fairly paid!
thebookseller.com The Bookseller @thebookseller.com · Jul 7
The founders of independent publisher Bloodhound Books have launched a new AI fiction translation service, Globescribe.ai 👇 #BookSky
July 7, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Reposted by Nicola Bigwood | Proofreader, Copyeditor, former Translator ✍️📚
commapress.bsky.social
PUBLISHING INSIGHTS DAY TICKET SALES ENDING SOON! 🎟️🔥

Sign up so you don't miss out on 👇

🎨Cover Design w/ David Pearson

📚Starting a Press w/ @flyonthewallpress.bsky.social

🔊 Industry talks from @dauntbookspub.bsky.social, @northodoxpress.bsky.social & more!

🎟️ eventbrite.co.uk/e/publishing...
June 30, 2025 at 12:57 PM