Philip Womack
@philipwomack.bsky.social
Author: Ghostlord and Wildlord 12+, The Arrow of Apollo, The Double Axe, 10+, How to Teach Classics to Your Dog, for adults.
Writes for many papers, mostly about books. Shakespearean, Classicist, etc
Ghostlord - Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week
Writes for many papers, mostly about books. Shakespearean, Classicist, etc
Ghostlord - Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week
Reposted by Philip Womack
At its heart, it feels like a symptom of an industry that has insisted on the idea of personal material as intellectual property; that a book is only its blurb, that it can only do one thing, that it can be reduced to KPIs, that there's no value in prose style, no value in the very act of writing.
December 4, 2025 at 10:25 AM
At its heart, it feels like a symptom of an industry that has insisted on the idea of personal material as intellectual property; that a book is only its blurb, that it can only do one thing, that it can be reduced to KPIs, that there's no value in prose style, no value in the very act of writing.
Reposted by Philip Womack
This concept that an idea is all that matters – that writing is secondary, is an afterthought, is best outsourced to a machine – I can't get my head around it.
December 4, 2025 at 10:25 AM
This concept that an idea is all that matters – that writing is secondary, is an afterthought, is best outsourced to a machine – I can't get my head around it.
Reposted by Philip Womack
What do we think writing IS? What is an author? Why bother, if you don't want to write, if you are not challenged and exhausted and exhilarated and electrocuted in the doing of it?
December 4, 2025 at 10:22 AM
What do we think writing IS? What is an author? Why bother, if you don't want to write, if you are not challenged and exhausted and exhilarated and electrocuted in the doing of it?
Reposted by Philip Womack
Some of my editorial work comes via Reedsy. Over the past year it's become completely overrun by people (I can't call them authors) who are asking for editorial help on manuscripts that have been generated by #AI. Often, what they want is for someone to make the text sound more human.
December 4, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Some of my editorial work comes via Reedsy. Over the past year it's become completely overrun by people (I can't call them authors) who are asking for editorial help on manuscripts that have been generated by #AI. Often, what they want is for someone to make the text sound more human.
Classics Teachers! If you'd like to book a creative writing workshop for your students, aged 8-13, based on Greek myth, and combine it with an author visit, then do get in touch! My book, #thearrowofapollo is newly republished by Wilton Square Books, and is a great introduction to myth.
December 1, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Classics Teachers! If you'd like to book a creative writing workshop for your students, aged 8-13, based on Greek myth, and combine it with an author visit, then do get in touch! My book, #thearrowofapollo is newly republished by Wilton Square Books, and is a great introduction to myth.
Here's my latest children's book round up for Literary Review, featuring Katya Balen, @emcarrollauthor.bsky.social @pennychrimes.bsky.social @pgbellwriter.bsky.social @mazevansauthor.bsky.social @curtisjobling.bsky.social @finbarhawkins.bsky.social literaryreview.co.uk/dont-look-no...
Philip Womack - Don’t Look Now
Philip Womack: Don’t Look Now - Seven new books for younger readers
literaryreview.co.uk
December 1, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Here's my latest children's book round up for Literary Review, featuring Katya Balen, @emcarrollauthor.bsky.social @pennychrimes.bsky.social @pgbellwriter.bsky.social @mazevansauthor.bsky.social @curtisjobling.bsky.social @finbarhawkins.bsky.social literaryreview.co.uk/dont-look-no...
Reposted by Philip Womack
Some hyphens surprise – have you looked recently at the title page of Moby-Dick?
✍️ Philip Womack
www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-...
✍️ Philip Womack
www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-...
How the hyphen turned political
When Buckingham Palace announced that its errant prince, Andrew, would be known as boring old Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, some surprise arose at the initial omission of the hyphen from his surname.…
www.spectator.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Some hyphens surprise – have you looked recently at the title page of Moby-Dick?
✍️ Philip Womack
www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-...
✍️ Philip Womack
www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-...
Reposted by Philip Womack
How delightfully quaint some of these old Devon village names are, their etymologies lost in the mists of time.
November 17, 2025 at 3:24 PM
How delightfully quaint some of these old Devon village names are, their etymologies lost in the mists of time.
I loved doing this interview for Mathew
New on the Writer’s Bookshelf: eight questions about writers, books, and reading with the wonderful @philipwomack.bsky.social.
The writer’s bookshelf: Philip Womack
Eight questions about writers, books, and reading…
open.substack.com
November 3, 2025 at 4:30 PM
I loved doing this interview for Mathew
Reposted by Philip Womack
‘Only in a very few cases has the journey back to sound that Kennedy writes about in relation to Hermann’s cello been possible. Most of these stories end in silence and rupture.’
Thomas Laqueur on Kate Kennedy’s ‘Cello’ and the instruments stolen by the Nazis: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Thomas Laqueur on Kate Kennedy’s ‘Cello’ and the instruments stolen by the Nazis: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Thomas Laqueur · A Different Life: Can cellos remember?
Cellists and violinists in particular are haunted by the musicians who played their instruments before them and those...
www.lrb.co.uk
October 13, 2025 at 12:14 PM
‘Only in a very few cases has the journey back to sound that Kennedy writes about in relation to Hermann’s cello been possible. Most of these stories end in silence and rupture.’
Thomas Laqueur on Kate Kennedy’s ‘Cello’ and the instruments stolen by the Nazis: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Thomas Laqueur on Kate Kennedy’s ‘Cello’ and the instruments stolen by the Nazis: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
My review of two books about Winnie-the-Pooh, A A Milne, and E H Shepard literaryreview.co.uk/beyond-the-h...
Philip Womack - Beyond the Hundred Acre Wood
Philip Womack: Beyond the Hundred Acre Wood - Somewhere, a Boy and a Bear: A Biography of A A Milne and Winnie-the-Pooh by Gyles Brandreth; The Men Who Created Winnie-the-Pooh: The Lives of A A Milne ...
literaryreview.co.uk
October 2, 2025 at 12:10 PM
My review of two books about Winnie-the-Pooh, A A Milne, and E H Shepard literaryreview.co.uk/beyond-the-h...
I very much enjoyed Chris Laoutaris' account of the making of the First Folio.
September 25, 2025 at 1:34 PM
I very much enjoyed Chris Laoutaris' account of the making of the First Folio.
I had a lovely message from someone who'd attended a talk which I gave at a school, in 2018. It's really true: school visits are so important. Authors, of all stripes: keep doing them! You never know what will hit home.
September 18, 2025 at 8:40 PM
I had a lovely message from someone who'd attended a talk which I gave at a school, in 2018. It's really true: school visits are so important. Authors, of all stripes: keep doing them! You never know what will hit home.
Reposted by Philip Womack
can't really begin to explain the extent to which I do Not want to be filmed without my knowledge by someone wearing smart glasses while out and about
good video hands-on with meta's smart glasses. i've been skeptical on smart glasses for a while, but it looks like the hardware side of this is finally becoming feasible? plus, in a world where kids list "creator" as their dream job, POV video recording is v attractive youtu.be/5cVGKvl7Oek?...
Meta Ray-Ban Display hands-on: best smart glasses I’ve ever tried
YouTube video by The Verge
youtu.be
September 18, 2025 at 8:22 AM
can't really begin to explain the extent to which I do Not want to be filmed without my knowledge by someone wearing smart glasses while out and about
The new Pullman has landed. THE ROSE FIELD, here we go...
September 16, 2025 at 12:26 PM
The new Pullman has landed. THE ROSE FIELD, here we go...
September 9, 2025 at 12:23 PM
My piece on happy prep school days: www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-...
Why do people feel sorry for me for going to boarding school aged nine?
Sometimes, when I’m chatting about childhood, at some point it will become clear I went to a boarding school from the age of nine. Reactions can be comical. ‘You poor thing!’ an interlocutor might gas...
www.spectator.co.uk
September 6, 2025 at 8:37 AM
My piece on happy prep school days: www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-...
A treat for subscribers over on my Substack: philipwomack.substack.com/p/on-english...
On English Surnames
Since I’m going to the launch of Eleanor Doughty’s history of the aristocracy, Heirs and Graces, tonight, I thought I’d dig up this old Tatler piece on surnames for subscribers.
philipwomack.substack.com
September 5, 2025 at 9:10 AM
A treat for subscribers over on my Substack: philipwomack.substack.com/p/on-english...
This week's Substack, on Richard Burbage open.substack.com/pub/philipwo...
Shakespeare in Context: The Burbages
A theatrical family
open.substack.com
August 29, 2025 at 10:30 AM
This week's Substack, on Richard Burbage open.substack.com/pub/philipwo...