Melissa Fegan
melissafegan.bsky.social
Melissa Fegan
@melissafegan.bsky.social
Irish literature, Victorian literature, Famine studies
Reposted by Melissa Fegan
My article on letters left by Austen’s grave has been published @theconversation.com Thanks to @annalouwalker.bsky.social for her help.

theconversation.com/why-jane-aus...
Why Jane Austen readers still leave letters at her graveside
I was also amazed to discover a basket by Austen’s graveside which was overflowing with handwritten letters.
theconversation.com
December 13, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Reposted by Melissa Fegan
I'm excited to share my piece in Los Angeles Review of Books @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, which examines OpenAI's claims about ChatGPT's creative writing skills, Big Tech's weaponisation of grief and nostalgia, and the collapse of the academic humanities. lareviewofbooks.org/article/lite...
Literature Is Not a Vibe: On ChatGPT and the Humanities | Los Angeles Review of Books
Rachele Dini discusses OpenAI’s “A Machine-Shaped Hand” and an academic sector in crisis.
lareviewofbooks.org
October 31, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Reposted by Melissa Fegan
yet another way that the war on academic knowledge is a war on the past & a violent thinning out of historical experience — you’re taking years & often decades of slow-building expertise (& the investments that made it possible) and just tossing it in the bin
As more of my valued colleagues face the threat of redundancy, here’s a quick reminder that it takes years and years of public investment to train an academic. Cutting someone with this wealth of experience loose isn’t “saving” anything. It is a massive waste of our collective resources.
UK Universities in Crisis? Time to Transform Higher Ed Finance
by Rob Hawkes and Scott Ferguson Universities in the UK are in crisis. Job cuts in the sector are reaching ‘cataclysmic’ levels, with an estimated 10,000 already lost and many more at risk. Just da…
moneyontheleft.org
October 4, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Reposted by Melissa Fegan
Win win.
I just registered my name & book details with the appropriate law firm.
Check if your book/article/paper is on the list here:
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
If it is, go here:
www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-au...
August 28, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Reposted by Melissa Fegan
Precarious contracts keep getting shorter. Until recently short-term associate lecturer contracts were for 10 months. Now UCL advertises for 7 months. What does it say about our field, about how we treat the new generation of scholars? www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNW277/a...
Associate Lecturer (Teaching) in Modern British History at UCL
Explore an exciting academic career as a Associate Lecturer (Teaching) in Modern British History. Don't miss out on other academic jobs. Click to apply and explore more opportunities.
www.jobs.ac.uk
July 10, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Reposted by Melissa Fegan
Famine confirmed for first time in Gaza
FAO, UNICEF, WFP & WHO reiterate call for immediate ceasefire & unhindered humanitarian access to curb deaths from hunger & malnutrition.
August 22, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Reposted by Melissa Fegan
Do you have opinions about book covers? (I know you do. ;-))

Could you please spare a few minutes to help our @stirlingpublishing.bsky.social student @oliviagw.bsky.social with her dissertation research by answering her survey?

(Please share, too!)
Hello, I’m Olivia Wood and I am a Publishing MLitt student at Stirling University. For my dissertation, I am running a survey to examine the reader response to the use of people on book cover designs. The survey should take around 5 – 10 minutes to complete. Thank you!
forms.office.com/e/xhcRvsrUjU
Microsoft Forms
forms.office.com
July 31, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Reposted by Melissa Fegan
The business secretary Jonathan Reynolds says the racist protesters intimidating asylum seekers in Epping are "upset for legitimate reasons.”
I don't remember any Labour frontbencher saying the same about people protesting the genocide in Gaza. On the contrary, they've criminalised peaceful dissent.
July 24, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Reposted by Melissa Fegan
The internet archive / wayback machine is an invaluable free resource. It's one of the few enactments of the utopian 1990s vision of the internet and will be a key point of resistance against AI, rising anti-intellectualism, and fascist cultural vandalism. Help them if you can afford it
June 10, 2025 at 2:39 PM
The arrival of this beautiful Edinburgh Companion to The Brontës and the Arts is a lovely way to celebrate the end of 2024 - congrats to editors Deborah Wynne and Amber Regis
December 31, 2024 at 11:18 AM
Reposted by Melissa Fegan
I see @seamas.bsky.social got in early with his assessment of AI yesterday.

www.thegist.ie/the-gist-3/
December 28, 2024 at 10:15 AM
Reposted by Melissa Fegan
Save and stay for the first time in February 2025!

You can book directly on www.gladstoneslibrary.org - just click the button on the top right. 🛏️ 📚
December 15, 2024 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by Melissa Fegan
Because some damn fool asked, here's a thread about Baxter.

This was taken on the day I brought home Baxter and threw away all hope of an easy life.

Look at him. Absolutely irresistible.

And that's how they get you, the utter bastards
November 20, 2024 at 2:48 PM