A photo of me, holding up a copy of The Times which features a review of my book, accompanied by the headline: ‘A genius with claws - the picaresque life of Muriel Spark’
Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark is BOOK OF THE WEEK in The Times, and it's frankly outrageous that a small marching band hasn't trundled into my house to make some little celebratory parps in my honour 😤
'Recollect'
Winifred Nicholson, 1973
The women published by Persephone Books. Malachi Whitaker is 4th from left, on bottom row.
The Journey Home & Other Stories (2017; foreword by Philip Hensher) is the only work of Whitaker's fiction currently in print.
Thanks to Persephone for the image & for publishing Malachi 💛 💛 💛
Nicholas Boggs longlisted for the prestigious Plutarch Award for 'Baldwin: A Love Story'
open.substack.com/pub/gabriell...
@panmacmillan.bsky.social
Looking for a great biography to read? You couldn't do any better than read ANY of the ten books long listed for the Plutarch Award, presented annually by @biographersintl.bsky.social.
biographersinternational.org/news/2026-pl...
Francesca Wade longlisted for the prestigious Plutarch Award for 'Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife'
open.substack.com/pub/gabriell...
@francescawade.bsky.social
Malachi Whitaker's memoir, And So Did I, was recently reprinted by Boiler House Press. Individual stories are available in anthologies, including The Book of Bradford (2025) and Stories for Lovers (2026). But The Journey Home (Persephone) is the only collection of Whitaker's fiction in print.
The women published by Persephone Books. Malachi Whitaker is 4th from left, on bottom row.
The Journey Home & Other Stories (2017; foreword by Philip Hensher) is the only work of Whitaker's fiction currently in print.
Thanks to Persephone for the image & for publishing Malachi 💛 💛 💛
'Amaryllis'
Piet Mondrian, 1910, watercolour
Malachi Whitaker's And So Did I goes stateside!
In the window (bottom left) of Phinney Books, Seattle. On the occasion of Boiler House Editor Brad Bigelow's presentation of his new biography of Virginia Faulkner (with a display of beautiful books from @bhousepress.bsky.social)
@neglectedbooks.com
W.H. Smith bookshop, Victoria station, Manchester, 1925.
Excellent choices, if we may say so! ❤️
Malachi Whitaker's list of influential authors include her favourite Brontë sister, Emily.
"Wuthering Heights for inward physical passion. I mean Emily Brontë, some poems, force behind marrow channel."
The brief notes in a 1948 letter describe Brontë's powerful impact on her inner life and work.
An engraving looking up at a song thrush in full voice as it perches on a twig against a white sky in early spring
Other work of the Ladybird artists.
‘Missel Thrush’, 1937
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
Exciting news for Anita Brookner fans! #BookSky 💙📚
Hermione Lee’s biography, ANITA BROOKNER: ART & LIFE, is due to be published on 10th September 2026. Details here:
www.penguin.co.uk/books/445930...
Thank you @heavenalibooks.bsky.social
We hope you enjoy it!
🤍 ♥️ 🤍
"When Cathy says: “I’m sure I should be myself were I once among the heather on those hills,” she articulates a truth that resonates with me deeply."
Spot on article by Anjelika May in The Guardian
www.theguardian.com/film/2026/fe...
Book cover. White band toward the bottom bearing the title And so Did I and author Malachi Whitaker. Two thirds of the book blue/grey coloured featuring the image of a woman's eyes.
Last night I started reading a rather lovely little book. And So Did I by Malachi Whitaker, a kind of mix of memoir and journal. First published in 1939, and reissued by Boiler House Press. @malachiwhitaker.bsky.social 📚💙
Thanks Sairish Hussain and Silver Star Reads ✨
Spotted in Bradford Waterstones 🤍
Bottom left:
Malachi Whitaker's The Journey Home (Persephone, 2017) & And So Did I (Boiler House Press, 2025).
In the company of:
Emily Brontë, JB Priestley, Sairish Hussain, AA Dhand & more.
Bradford writing rocks! 🪨 ❤️ 🪨
The documentary (How to Build a Library) about reinventing the Nairobi MacMillan Memorial Library was one of the best things on the programme @bradfordlitfest.bsky.social in 2025.
The documentary deserves wider distribution. Great to see this project getting some love. ❤️
Thanks. I'll be in touch soon.
Yes! Thanks for letting me know who you are! I'd love to contact you sometime, if that is possible? (Valerie Waterhouse)
On this week's Little Atoms podcast, Francesca Wade on her brilliant new biography Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife. Out now from @faberbooks.bsky.social. Listen to it wherever you find your podcasts or via this link:
shows.acast.com/b5fe8d16-751...
❤️ Intelligent stories for Valentine's day (& not only) by the likes of Virginia Woolf & Malachi Whitaker! ❤️
British Library Women Writers series @blpublishing.bsky.social
Malachi Whitaker's 1st book, Frost in April, was sold at WH Smith stall, Bradford Forster Sq Station, in 1929. JB Priestley's Good Companions came out the same year. The stallholder, a friend, repositioned JBP's 'By a local author' labels to advertise Malachi's book.
Did the stall look like this?
My review of The Boundless Deep, Richard Holmes' biography of the young Tennyson, a man struggling with familial demons and both excited and terrified by the implications of geological and astronomical science. Thanks as always to @engelsbergideas.bsky.social. engelsbergideas.com/reviews/tenn...
Fabulous biography of the great man
'Electric Spark: The Enigma of Muriel Spark' is live!
open.substack.com/pub/gabriell...
@bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social
