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Polly Atkin

@pollyrowena.bsky.social

6.9K followers 1.6K following 1.3K posts

Writer, Lake-swimmer, Bookseller. FRSL hEDS/Haemochromatosis/all the comorbs she/her rep @PortyLiterary Basic Nest Architecture Much with Body Recovering Dorothy Some Of Us Just Fall The Company of Owls https://linktr.ee/pollyatkin

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · Aug 26

I keep getting asked for my salty thoughts about the Salt Path as my position on nature cure narratives is v clear! A mere fraction of those thoughts published here @literaryhub.bsky.social, with thanks to @bookwormvaught.bsky.social and @nicwilson.bsky.social for their earlier pieces linked below.

Nature is Not Going to Cure You: On Raynor Winn’s Fabricated Memoir

Like many writers, I have been following the unfolding revelations about Raynor Winn and The Salt Path with great interest, and a degree of self-interest. I am a memoirist and nature writer, and I …

lithub.com

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Persiflage @persiflage.bsky.social · 1h

Which is all very well, but they're still going after poor/sick/disabled people's benefits, still going after immigrants, & still going after trans folx's rights, so who the fuck cares?!
They're being hateful and unnecessarily cruel - these pledges being met doesn't negate that hateful cruelty!

Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 5h

Labour has already delivered or making progress towards two-thirds of its manifesto pledges

www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/lab...

Labour has already delivered or making progress towards two-thirds of its manifesto pledges

The Labour government has already delivered or is making progress towards around two thirds of its manifesto pledges.

www.thelondoneconomic.com

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Tristan Grayford @tristangrayford.scot · 1h

I think it would have surprised even the most pessimistic if you'd told people during the 2024 campaign that a year into Government Starmer's team would be negatively briefing against the ECHR and Council of Europe for daring to question their assault on trans rights

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Elliott & Thompson @eandtbooks.bsky.social · 8h

The i Paper's 'best new paperbacks to read in October' including @pollyrowena.bsky.social's #TheCompanyOfOwls!

‘Atkin recounts the nightly visitation of owls to her garden and reflects on solitude, belonging and the quiet power of nature … heartwarming’ @theipaper.com

inews.co.uk/culture/book...

The best new paperbacks to read in October 2025

14 great books, now in their cheaper and lighter formats

inews.co.uk

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Draught @draughtjournal.bsky.social · 11h

'The coupling of boredom and intensity is constitutive of crip time, which is warped time'
The first Adjacencies, in which two works are considered in relation to one another: Daisy Lafarge on illness, Netflix show Outlast & Alphonse Daudet's In the Land of Pain
www.draughtjournal.com/article/flare

Flare!

<p>‘Quitting is a disease,’ says Jordan, a 25-year-old ex-marine construction worker when his teammate Dawn has been vomiting for several hours after

www.draughtjournal.com

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Effie Cyborg @effies.bsky.social · 22h

It is good and useful to distinguish between "this piece is not to my taste" and "this piece is badly written", and likewise to distinguish between "this piece is my catnip" and "this piece is well-written"

Corollary: Let people like what they like.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 1d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 1d

So great to know these are online too!

Centre for Place Writing @centreplacewriting.bsky.social · 1d

All of Jean Sprackland's events at Manchester Poetry Library are ONLINE & in person!
Book here for this week's launch, 1st/3 in Jean's curated series - Andrew Hurley & Jacob Polley in conversation
#Manchester @dcahf-met.bsky.social @manchesterreview.bsky.social
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/night-visi...

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Georgina Kiersten @ingloriousgigi.bsky.social · 1d

Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day! If you want to get into the Halloween spirit and want to support Indigenous people, may I suggest you pick up Never Whistle At Night, edited by Shawn Hawk with an introduction by Stephen Graham Jones.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/75...

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 6d

Are you a @societyofauthors.bsky.social member? Remember to vote in the management committee elections! Follow me as I go to post my ballot voting for Jen Calleja, Mohamed Tonsy & Matt Abbott.

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@DrJoePajak CSci CChem FRSC @drjoepajak.bsky.social · 3d

Healthwatch Canada: 'Starting Tuesday, October 14, 2025, masks will be mandatory in all Health Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) facilities due to rising respiratory illness rates across the Island'. @canadahealthwatch.ca
👉 'To protect both patients and healthcare workers.'
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 3d

Happy #BookshopDay to all who celebrate... which is clearly everyone. Here are some bookshopbooks drawn from our bookshop shelves to help you celebrate the world of bricks and mortar bookshops. #BookshopsBookshopsBooksBooks etc

Book heap on a wall with sunny fells and the bookshop in the background. 
* Tom Gauld, The Snooty Bookshop: 50 Literary Postcards
* George Orwell, Keep the Aspidistra Flying
 * Carol Ann Duffy (ed), Off the Shelf: A Celebration of Bookshops in Verse
 * Nanako Hanada and Cat Anderson (trans.), The Bookshop Woman
 * Adam Biles (ed) and Sylvia Whitman (introduced), The Shakespeare and Company Book of Interviews
 * Nadia Wassef, Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller 
 * Annie Gray, The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker
 * Lily Braun-Arnold, The Last Bookstore on Earth 
 * Mario Escobar, A Bookseller in Madrid
 * Sharon Gosling, The Lighthouse Bookshop 
 * Kei Aono and Haydn Trowell (trans), Bookstore Girls
 * Poppy Alexander, The Battle of the Bookshops

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elia ayoub 🌱 @ayoub.bsky.social · 3d

Israel bombed south Lebanon overnight

This is what Israel means by ceasefire

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 3d

Running up to #BookshopDay we were delighted to have @profbookshops.bsky.social in the shop this week, doing bookshop research the best way, by seeing how it all works. Grasmere produced some classic queries for her. You can read a bit about it here: www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/free-ar...

Bookshop Bulletin

BookBrunch - The publishing trade's daily news magazine

www.bookbrunch.co.uk

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QM_UCU @qmucu.bsky.social · 3d

*FIFTEEN THOUSAND JOBS LOST*.
If this were in a sector in which the PM could go and do a photoshoot looking like One Of The People, we’d have had a government intervention by now.

LopaLeach @lopa.bsky.social · 4d

Cuts equivalent to 15,000 jobs planned at UK universities – UCU www.timeshighereducation.com/news/cuts-eq...

Cuts equivalent to 15,000 jobs planned at UK universities – UCU

Proposed job losses almost triple since March as unions prepare to vote on nationwide industrial action

www.timeshighereducation.com

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Eze @ezetheigwe.blacksky.app · 4d

About to activate my 3 free months of Health+ so I can get in on the eventual class action lawsuit

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 4d

“Apple is reportedly prepping a Health+ service that will use AI to dispense advice on nutrition, exercise and more.”

Apple might launch Health+ with AI doctor, food tracking and more

Apple is reportedly prepping a Health+ service that will use AI to dispense advice on exercise and eating right.

www.cultofmac.com

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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 4d

Tommy Robinson has endorsed Robert Jenrick's decision to turn up in person to offer support and solidarity to the asylum seeker Hamit Coskun, who shouted, “Koran is burning”, “Fuck Islam” and “Islam is the religion of terrorism" while burning the Quran.

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The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 5d

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 5d

breaking: man who got over £10million book advance doesn't known the price of a book

Indie bookshops absolutely CANNOT discount a £30 to £20. We'd be making a loss. We sell books at RRP, unlike big chains.

www.thebookseller.com/comment/richard-osmans-sums-dont-add-up?

Osman's sums don't add up

Despite widespread belief, indies just can't afford to discount books.

www.thebookseller.com

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Nadia Whittome MP @nadiawhittomemp.bsky.social · 5d

A ceasefire does not erase Israel's genocide and illegal occupation. Alongside aid and reconstruction, there must be justice, accountability, and self-determination for the Palestinian people. (2/2)

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Nadia Whittome MP @nadiawhittomemp.bsky.social · 5d

My heart breaks watching people in Gaza celebrate a possible ceasefire deal, even while Israeli attacks continue.

A ceasefire must be reached, and it must hold this time. Our government needs to put real pressure on Israel to ensure this happens. (1/2)

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 5d

oh! that's so lovely! My first tawny owl of autumn was heard from that hill, when I was dropping a friend off behind it, so I knew there were owls up there, but hadn't thought of it the other night x

Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 5d

It's taken over 24 hours to get this uploaded with passable captions, but here's my talk from last night @cumbriauni.bsky.social with @drpennybradshaw.bsky.social on #TheCompanyOfOwls and #DorothyWordsworth. Including some terrible slights on robins, and blackbird impressions. youtu.be/goiC3hhlsx4

Companions of Nature: from sickbed consolations to mimic hootings

YouTube video by Polly Atkin

youtu.be

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The Bookseller @thebookseller.com · 6d

ICYMI: Viking has won an eight-way bidding war for Almost the Whole Truth, the first adult novel from the bestselling and award-winning children’s author, Robin Stevens. It will be published in early 2027 👇 #BookSky

Viking wins eight-way auction for Robin Stevens' adult debut

ebx.sh

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Sue Wilkinson @suewilkinson.bsky.social · 6d

Out with the Roamers today, to see/hear the red deer rut in Martindale.
Thanks Lena for leading a great walk!

Small herd of red deer hinds on a hillside

Stag herding hinds across a hillside (red deer)

Stag and hinds on a rocky hillside (red deer)

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Barbara Sutton @barbscov.bsky.social · 6d

This ☝️ I'm CEV and a carer but I can't get a Covid jab 🙄

Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 6d

We need preventative medicine back - which includes making covid boosters available freely to ANYONE who wants one - which means masking in healthcare at the very least, which means a focus on clean air in schools, hospitals, workplaces. You can't limit long covid without limiting covid infections.

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Lit Hub @literaryhub.bsky.social · 6d

And the horrors continue: Cory Doctorow explains how corporate tech enshittifies apps to skirt the law.

How American Tech Cartels Use Apps to Break the Law

The death of competition spells doom for regulation. Competition is an essential component of effective regulation, for two reasons: First, competition keeps the companies within a sector from all …

buff.ly

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