Emma Butler-Way
@ebutler-way.bsky.social
Dr | Lecturer - Aberystwyth University's Integrated Foundation Year Programme.
I mostly research and write about the corset in (neo-)Victorian fiction. Web Manager for the VPFA.
Clarinettist, pianist, recorder player. Occasional potter and painter.
I mostly research and write about the corset in (neo-)Victorian fiction. Web Manager for the VPFA.
Clarinettist, pianist, recorder player. Occasional potter and painter.
My top 10 fiction reads of the year, with 3 NF honourable mentions. At least 2 made me cry, & I was able to help launch another 2 here in Aber.
Hear me out re: Rivals. Bonkbuster is may be, but it's also a biting social commentary with a fascinatingly observational narrative voice. I was a big fan.
Hear me out re: Rivals. Bonkbuster is may be, but it's also a biting social commentary with a fascinatingly observational narrative voice. I was a big fan.
December 30, 2025 at 11:39 AM
My top 10 fiction reads of the year, with 3 NF honourable mentions. At least 2 made me cry, & I was able to help launch another 2 here in Aber.
Hear me out re: Rivals. Bonkbuster is may be, but it's also a biting social commentary with a fascinatingly observational narrative voice. I was a big fan.
Hear me out re: Rivals. Bonkbuster is may be, but it's also a biting social commentary with a fascinatingly observational narrative voice. I was a big fan.
Christopher Columbus! I've written a new blog post for @vpfa.bsky.social, this time on the Christmassiness of Little Women adaptations...
It was much harder than anticipated. I changed the ranking many times. I began to question everything. I still am...
victorianpopularfiction.org/christmas-wo...
It was much harder than anticipated. I changed the ranking many times. I began to question everything. I still am...
victorianpopularfiction.org/christmas-wo...
Christmas Won’t Be Christmas without ‘Little Women’…
A subjective ranking of Christmassiness by Emma Butler-WayIn my years of teaching Little Women in adaptation, the one question I have never asked either myself or my students is: ‘And what about ho…
victorianpopularfiction.org
December 17, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Christopher Columbus! I've written a new blog post for @vpfa.bsky.social, this time on the Christmassiness of Little Women adaptations...
It was much harder than anticipated. I changed the ranking many times. I began to question everything. I still am...
victorianpopularfiction.org/christmas-wo...
It was much harder than anticipated. I changed the ranking many times. I began to question everything. I still am...
victorianpopularfiction.org/christmas-wo...
Reposted by Emma Butler-Way
Ghosted is in Bloomsbury's Christmas sale and the hardback is currently £14 until 7th December. It even includes a recipe for ectoplasm you can shoot from your nose - a reliable way to get out of any complicated post-Christmas-dinner board game.
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/ghosted-9...
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/ghosted-9...
Ghosted
A social, historical and scientific exploration of ghost-hunting, and why our fascination with the paranormal is as timeless as the ghosts we hope to find.The h…
www.bloomsbury.com
December 4, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Ghosted is in Bloomsbury's Christmas sale and the hardback is currently £14 until 7th December. It even includes a recipe for ectoplasm you can shoot from your nose - a reliable way to get out of any complicated post-Christmas-dinner board game.
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/ghosted-9...
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/ghosted-9...
Reposted by Emma Butler-Way
Please give Emma's wonderful blog post about Guillermo del Torro's Frankenstein a read. Let us know your thoughts, did you enjoy the film? What did you like and dislike? Even if it deviated from the book, did it, as Emma says, still keep its 'soul'?
I had some thoughts (and many emotions) about the new Frankenstein film, so wrote this review for the VPFA Blog @vpfa.bsky.social
Philomena Cunk memes: a major part of the review, or a side thought? You'll have to read it to find out...
victorianpopularfiction.org/frankenstein...
Philomena Cunk memes: a major part of the review, or a side thought? You'll have to read it to find out...
victorianpopularfiction.org/frankenstein...
Frankenstein (2025); or, the Adaptation Shelley Deserves
A review by Emma Butler-WayEvery interview that I saw snippets of suggested to me that Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein was going to be quite something; this was a director and a cast who cl…
victorianpopularfiction.org
November 21, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Please give Emma's wonderful blog post about Guillermo del Torro's Frankenstein a read. Let us know your thoughts, did you enjoy the film? What did you like and dislike? Even if it deviated from the book, did it, as Emma says, still keep its 'soul'?
I had some thoughts (and many emotions) about the new Frankenstein film, so wrote this review for the VPFA Blog @vpfa.bsky.social
Philomena Cunk memes: a major part of the review, or a side thought? You'll have to read it to find out...
victorianpopularfiction.org/frankenstein...
Philomena Cunk memes: a major part of the review, or a side thought? You'll have to read it to find out...
victorianpopularfiction.org/frankenstein...
Frankenstein (2025); or, the Adaptation Shelley Deserves
A review by Emma Butler-WayEvery interview that I saw snippets of suggested to me that Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein was going to be quite something; this was a director and a cast who cl…
victorianpopularfiction.org
November 20, 2025 at 4:05 PM
I had some thoughts (and many emotions) about the new Frankenstein film, so wrote this review for the VPFA Blog @vpfa.bsky.social
Philomena Cunk memes: a major part of the review, or a side thought? You'll have to read it to find out...
victorianpopularfiction.org/frankenstein...
Philomena Cunk memes: a major part of the review, or a side thought? You'll have to read it to find out...
victorianpopularfiction.org/frankenstein...
I never expected Project Gutenberg to be the deliverer of such a thrill. Lord Byron would be *fuming*...
November 14, 2025 at 10:26 AM
I never expected Project Gutenberg to be the deliverer of such a thrill. Lord Byron would be *fuming*...
Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein is amazing. What a spectacular film, and adaptation. A work of art. Costumes: amazing. Visuals: stunning. Heart and soul of the book? Firmly in place. My emotions? All over the place. So many tears. Exquisite stuff, cannot recommend highly enough.
a woman wearing a green scarf around her head
ALT: a woman wearing a green scarf around her head
media.tenor.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein is amazing. What a spectacular film, and adaptation. A work of art. Costumes: amazing. Visuals: stunning. Heart and soul of the book? Firmly in place. My emotions? All over the place. So many tears. Exquisite stuff, cannot recommend highly enough.
A pleasure & a privilege to have helped my good friend @mariellisdunning.bsky.social launch her debut novel WITSH last week in the Drwm @librarywales.bsky.social, mere hours after Aber was announced as Wales's first UNESCO City of Literature!
Missed out? ⬇️
youtu.be/Xa8P98gUQoQ?...
Missed out? ⬇️
youtu.be/Xa8P98gUQoQ?...
Witsh: In Conversation with Mari Ellis Dunning
YouTube video by Llyfrgell Genedlaethol - National Library of Wales
youtu.be
November 7, 2025 at 2:40 PM
A pleasure & a privilege to have helped my good friend @mariellisdunning.bsky.social launch her debut novel WITSH last week in the Drwm @librarywales.bsky.social, mere hours after Aber was announced as Wales's first UNESCO City of Literature!
Missed out? ⬇️
youtu.be/Xa8P98gUQoQ?...
Missed out? ⬇️
youtu.be/Xa8P98gUQoQ?...
Reposted by Emma Butler-Way
Really looking forward to this evening's launch at @librarywales.bsky.social 📚✨
Tickets have flown & while I'm a tad nervous to be addressing The Drwm after attending so many events there, I can't wait to chat about Welsh witshes, spells, superstition, religion & misogyny.
tinyurl.com/37ddc4fn
Tickets have flown & while I'm a tad nervous to be addressing The Drwm after attending so many events there, I can't wait to chat about Welsh witshes, spells, superstition, religion & misogyny.
tinyurl.com/37ddc4fn
www.ticketsource.co.uk
October 31, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Really looking forward to this evening's launch at @librarywales.bsky.social 📚✨
Tickets have flown & while I'm a tad nervous to be addressing The Drwm after attending so many events there, I can't wait to chat about Welsh witshes, spells, superstition, religion & misogyny.
tinyurl.com/37ddc4fn
Tickets have flown & while I'm a tad nervous to be addressing The Drwm after attending so many events there, I can't wait to chat about Welsh witshes, spells, superstition, religion & misogyny.
tinyurl.com/37ddc4fn
Reposted by Emma Butler-Way
📖 A haunting novel inspired by the largely unknown history of Welsh witchcraft has been published by one of our lecturers.
🖱️ tinyurl.com/3nhm5fyc
@mariellisdunning.bsky.social
#novel #history #wales #witchcraft
🖱️ tinyurl.com/3nhm5fyc
@mariellisdunning.bsky.social
#novel #history #wales #witchcraft
October 17, 2025 at 12:33 PM
📖 A haunting novel inspired by the largely unknown history of Welsh witchcraft has been published by one of our lecturers.
🖱️ tinyurl.com/3nhm5fyc
@mariellisdunning.bsky.social
#novel #history #wales #witchcraft
🖱️ tinyurl.com/3nhm5fyc
@mariellisdunning.bsky.social
#novel #history #wales #witchcraft
Reposted by Emma Butler-Way
👻 Writing in The Conversation, Dr Alice Vernon from the Department of English & Creative Writing discusses how our hunt for ghosts reveals more about the living than the dead.
🖱 tinyurl.com/yhrk9av7
@alicevernon10.bsky.social
#ghosts #ghosthunting #supernatural
🖱 tinyurl.com/yhrk9av7
@alicevernon10.bsky.social
#ghosts #ghosthunting #supernatural
Why we keep hunting ghosts – and what it says about us
From Victorian séances to TikTok, our hunt for ghosts reveals more about the living than the dead.
tinyurl.com
October 21, 2025 at 12:04 PM
👻 Writing in The Conversation, Dr Alice Vernon from the Department of English & Creative Writing discusses how our hunt for ghosts reveals more about the living than the dead.
🖱 tinyurl.com/yhrk9av7
@alicevernon10.bsky.social
#ghosts #ghosthunting #supernatural
🖱 tinyurl.com/yhrk9av7
@alicevernon10.bsky.social
#ghosts #ghosthunting #supernatural
This was a super encouraging read - I am *so* excited about this adaptation!
Guillermo del Toro’s retelling of the story about a scientist trying to create life is a visual treat and a rousing adaptation.
Guillermo de Toro’s Frankenstein: beguiling adaptation stays true to heart of Mary Shelley’s story
Guillermo del Toro’s retelling of the story about a scientist trying to create life is a visual treat and a rousing adaptation.
tcnv.link
October 17, 2025 at 7:38 AM
This was a super encouraging read - I am *so* excited about this adaptation!
Reposted by Emma Butler-Way
Kemi Badenoch wants to end ‘rip-off degrees’ – but I wouldn’t have created Horrid Henry without mine | Francesca Simon
Kemi Badenoch wants to end ‘rip-off degrees’ – but I wouldn’t have created Horrid Henry without mine | Francesca Simon
I studied Old and Middle English. Although I didn’t know it, I couldn’t have chosen a better subject to train me to become a children’s author, says author Francesca Simon
www.theguardian.com
October 15, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Kemi Badenoch wants to end ‘rip-off degrees’ – but I wouldn’t have created Horrid Henry without mine | Francesca Simon
I'm very much looking forward to my busy Halloween night this year. First up, chatting to @mariellisdunning.bsky.social at the National Library of Wales about her haunting debut novel, WITSH, set in C16th Wales during the Welsh witch trials...
www.ticketsource.co.uk/llgcnlw/evt-...
www.ticketsource.co.uk/llgcnlw/evt-...
www.ticketsource.co.uk
October 12, 2025 at 12:26 PM
I'm very much looking forward to my busy Halloween night this year. First up, chatting to @mariellisdunning.bsky.social at the National Library of Wales about her haunting debut novel, WITSH, set in C16th Wales during the Welsh witch trials...
www.ticketsource.co.uk/llgcnlw/evt-...
www.ticketsource.co.uk/llgcnlw/evt-...
Reposted by Emma Butler-Way
I'm doing a book launch for Ghosted at Waterstones Aberystwyth on Halloween night at 7pm. It's going to be a spooky evening!
Info and tickets: www.waterstones.com/events/alice...
Info and tickets: www.waterstones.com/events/alice...
Alice Vernon launches Ghosted | Events at Waterstones Bookshops | Waterstones
Events at Waterstones get you closer to the books and authors you admire most. Find information and tickets about Alice Vernon launches Ghosted today.
www.waterstones.com
October 11, 2025 at 10:45 AM
I'm doing a book launch for Ghosted at Waterstones Aberystwyth on Halloween night at 7pm. It's going to be a spooky evening!
Info and tickets: www.waterstones.com/events/alice...
Info and tickets: www.waterstones.com/events/alice...
What a joy it was getting this page ready to go! All the thanks to @helenaesser.bsky.social for the material!
Here we'll have reflections, contemplations, speculations and more (all of a Victorian/neo-Victorian nature, of course).
Interested in contributing? Follow the link below & get in touch!
Here we'll have reflections, contemplations, speculations and more (all of a Victorian/neo-Victorian nature, of course).
Interested in contributing? Follow the link below & get in touch!
Excited to announce that the VPFA blog has launched! Thanks to Emma Butler-Way for her hard work in getting it ready for today, for more information check out the blog at the link below:
victorianpopularfiction.org/the-vpfa-blog/
victorianpopularfiction.org/the-vpfa-blog/
The VPFA Blog
The VPFA Blog Welcome to the VPFA Blog! Here we will have ponderings, reflections, speculative readings, and more, for the reading pleasure of our fellow Victorianists. If you would like to submit …
victorianpopularfiction.org
October 1, 2025 at 11:53 AM
What a joy it was getting this page ready to go! All the thanks to @helenaesser.bsky.social for the material!
Here we'll have reflections, contemplations, speculations and more (all of a Victorian/neo-Victorian nature, of course).
Interested in contributing? Follow the link below & get in touch!
Here we'll have reflections, contemplations, speculations and more (all of a Victorian/neo-Victorian nature, of course).
Interested in contributing? Follow the link below & get in touch!
There are, I think, few things as humbling as the automatic captions to a lecture that reveal just how often you say 'Um'...
Oh, and Panopto has spoken: my name is now, apparently, Emma Holloway...
Oh, and Panopto has spoken: my name is now, apparently, Emma Holloway...
September 30, 2025 at 1:00 PM
There are, I think, few things as humbling as the automatic captions to a lecture that reveal just how often you say 'Um'...
Oh, and Panopto has spoken: my name is now, apparently, Emma Holloway...
Oh, and Panopto has spoken: my name is now, apparently, Emma Holloway...
Reposted by Emma Butler-Way
Want to try something new? I'm running #Writing Women again through Aberystwyth Uni's Lifelong Learning.
✶ Online course
✶ Self-paced
✶ One to one feedback
✶ Expert guidance
Here's the link to my course, & there are heaps of others to choose from too!
www.aber.ac.uk/en/lifelong-...
#WritingSky
✶ Online course
✶ Self-paced
✶ One to one feedback
✶ Expert guidance
Here's the link to my course, & there are heaps of others to choose from too!
www.aber.ac.uk/en/lifelong-...
#WritingSky
September 28, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Want to try something new? I'm running #Writing Women again through Aberystwyth Uni's Lifelong Learning.
✶ Online course
✶ Self-paced
✶ One to one feedback
✶ Expert guidance
Here's the link to my course, & there are heaps of others to choose from too!
www.aber.ac.uk/en/lifelong-...
#WritingSky
✶ Online course
✶ Self-paced
✶ One to one feedback
✶ Expert guidance
Here's the link to my course, & there are heaps of others to choose from too!
www.aber.ac.uk/en/lifelong-...
#WritingSky
Reposted by Emma Butler-Way
Happy publication day to Ghosted! This book was so much fun to research and write, and I can't wait to go on a ghost hunt again.
Thank you to everyone who's ordered a copy! I hope you enjoy reading it...with all the lights on, obviously. 👻
(Note: video plays crackling static sound)
Thank you to everyone who's ordered a copy! I hope you enjoy reading it...with all the lights on, obviously. 👻
(Note: video plays crackling static sound)
September 11, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Happy publication day to Ghosted! This book was so much fun to research and write, and I can't wait to go on a ghost hunt again.
Thank you to everyone who's ordered a copy! I hope you enjoy reading it...with all the lights on, obviously. 👻
(Note: video plays crackling static sound)
Thank you to everyone who's ordered a copy! I hope you enjoy reading it...with all the lights on, obviously. 👻
(Note: video plays crackling static sound)
Reposted by Emma Butler-Way
Reposted by Emma Butler-Way
I'll be running Writing Women again in the new semester through Aberystwyth University's Lifelong Learning.
✶ Online course
✶ Self-paced
✶ One to one feedback
✶ Expert guidance
Here's the link to my course, but there are heaps of others to choose from too!
www.aber.ac.uk/en/lifelong-...
✶ Online course
✶ Self-paced
✶ One to one feedback
✶ Expert guidance
Here's the link to my course, but there are heaps of others to choose from too!
www.aber.ac.uk/en/lifelong-...
August 15, 2025 at 6:30 PM
I'll be running Writing Women again in the new semester through Aberystwyth University's Lifelong Learning.
✶ Online course
✶ Self-paced
✶ One to one feedback
✶ Expert guidance
Here's the link to my course, but there are heaps of others to choose from too!
www.aber.ac.uk/en/lifelong-...
✶ Online course
✶ Self-paced
✶ One to one feedback
✶ Expert guidance
Here's the link to my course, but there are heaps of others to choose from too!
www.aber.ac.uk/en/lifelong-...
Reposted by Emma Butler-Way
Ghosted is published in one month! It's all getting very exciting. Bev the Haunted Doll is positively crawling the walls.
No, really. She's crawling up the walls. Send help.
Pre-order: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/ghosted-9...
No, really. She's crawling up the walls. Send help.
Pre-order: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/ghosted-9...
August 11, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Ghosted is published in one month! It's all getting very exciting. Bev the Haunted Doll is positively crawling the walls.
No, really. She's crawling up the walls. Send help.
Pre-order: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/ghosted-9...
No, really. She's crawling up the walls. Send help.
Pre-order: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/ghosted-9...
Reposted by Emma Butler-Way
‘This famine is an engineered one – a war on our bodies, our clarity, our ability to move’ Read Sondos Sabra’s Letter from Gaza in The New Statesman. www.newstatesman.com/internationa...
Letter from Gaza: “What I feel isn’t just hunger. It’s slow, internal erosion”
This famine is an engineered one – a war on our bodies, our clarity, our ability to move.
www.newstatesman.com
August 4, 2025 at 9:08 PM
‘This famine is an engineered one – a war on our bodies, our clarity, our ability to move’ Read Sondos Sabra’s Letter from Gaza in The New Statesman. www.newstatesman.com/internationa...
"Is there a felicity in the world superior to this?"
Celebrating meeting a Big Deadline with a holiday to reconnect with the chalk of my childhood. Have I been finding myself crying every now and then at the scenery I've not seen for 4 years? Yes. Am I relaxed, and feeling at ease? Also yes.
Celebrating meeting a Big Deadline with a holiday to reconnect with the chalk of my childhood. Have I been finding myself crying every now and then at the scenery I've not seen for 4 years? Yes. Am I relaxed, and feeling at ease? Also yes.
August 2, 2025 at 4:08 PM
"Is there a felicity in the world superior to this?"
Celebrating meeting a Big Deadline with a holiday to reconnect with the chalk of my childhood. Have I been finding myself crying every now and then at the scenery I've not seen for 4 years? Yes. Am I relaxed, and feeling at ease? Also yes.
Celebrating meeting a Big Deadline with a holiday to reconnect with the chalk of my childhood. Have I been finding myself crying every now and then at the scenery I've not seen for 4 years? Yes. Am I relaxed, and feeling at ease? Also yes.
Aberystwyth MusicFest is a truly glorious thing - we're so lucky to have it & all the wonderful variety of music it brings to Aber. Very much looking forward to this evening's offering: Jane Austen @ 250: The Beautiful Cassandra - a recital of some of Austen's letters underscored by piano music...
July 30, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Aberystwyth MusicFest is a truly glorious thing - we're so lucky to have it & all the wonderful variety of music it brings to Aber. Very much looking forward to this evening's offering: Jane Austen @ 250: The Beautiful Cassandra - a recital of some of Austen's letters underscored by piano music...