Come to Westminster on 27 May for this year’s Raymond Williams Society Annual Lecture by Mark Steven (Exeter), ‘24 Revolutions Per Second’: raymondwilliams.co.uk/2026/04/17/2...

Awful and outrageous. Solidarity with you all.

24 Revolutions Per Second: The Raymond Williams Society Annual Lecture 2026 Please join us in London on 27 May 2026 for this year’s Raymond Williams Society Annual Lecture, to be delivered by Professor Mark Steven (University of Exeter). Mark’s lecture,&nbs…

This year, Prof. Mark Steven (Exeter) is delivering the RWS annual lecture. Join us on 27 May 2026 at the University of Westminster. More details and free tickets available here: raymondwilliams.co.uk/2026/04/17/2...

Fully-funded AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership project:

'Cold War Socialism, Non-Alignment and Anti-Colonialism in the Yugoslav Press, 1961-1979' - British Library & University of Exeter

www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...

Deadline for student applications: 5 May (noon)

Raymond Williams Society Postgrad Essay Prize 2026 We are delighted to announce the return of the Raymond Williams Society postgraduate essay competition for its 12th year. The deadline for entries is Friday 3 April 2026. The prize for the winning …

Our annual postgraduate essay prize is back for a 12th year! The winner receives £250 and a year's subs to RWS, plus the opportunity to revise their essay for publication in Key Words. For details, see: raymondwilliams.co.uk/2026/02/23/r.... Please share widely with relevant postgrads! 🙏

The 1930s: A Decade of Modern British Fiction Nick Hubble, Luke Seaber and Elinor Taylor, eds, The 1930s: A Decade of Modern British Fiction, London: Bloomsbury, 2021. Ten years ago, very few people were predicting that we would move into a pe…

I wrote about The 1930s (co-edited with @elinormtaylor.bsky.social & @thelong1930s.bsky.social) on my own blog (4/-)

The Popular Front’s Enduring but Ambivalent Legacy - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Unity against the far right is a vital precondition for social transformation, but socialist strategy must go further

My essay on the Popular Front is now also available in English via the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung website @rosaluxstiftung.bsky.social www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/5...

Call for Papers: Cultural Materialism, Fascism and the Far Right, A Special Issue of Key Words: A Journal of Cultural Materialism Speaking in 1980 amid the New Right upsurge, Raymond Williams noted that ‘cultural struggle is absolutely crucial, because this is the terrain on which the interpretation of the crisis had to be es…

I’m editing a special issue of Key Words on cultural materialism, fascism and the far right for publication next year. Call for contributions and full details here: raymondwilliams.co.uk/2026/01/28/c...

Call for Papers: Cultural Materialism, Fascism and the Far Right, A Special Issue of Key Words: A Journal of Cultural Materialism Speaking in 1980 amid the New Right upsurge, Raymond Williams noted that ‘cultural struggle is absolutely crucial, because this is the terrain on which the interpretation of the crisis had to be es…

I’m editing a special issue of Key Words on cultural materialism, fascism and the far right for publication next year. Call for contributions and full details here: raymondwilliams.co.uk/2026/01/28/c...

Call for Papers: Cultural Materialism, Fascism and the Far Right, A Special Issue of Key Words: A Journal of Cultural Materialism Speaking in 1980 amid the New Right upsurge, Raymond Williams noted that ‘cultural struggle is absolutely crucial, because this is the terrain on which the interpretation of the crisis had to be es…

🚨🚨CALL FOR PAPERS🚨🚨Fancy contributing to a special issue on Cultural Materialism, Fascism and the Far Right, edited by @elinormtaylor.bsky.social? Look no further... Details, including the deadline, at the link: raymondwilliams.co.uk/2026/01/28/c...

Artistic image of an MST militant in traditional dress holding a scythe stood next to harvested crops with a slogan "MST 40 anos de luta e resistência". The art work is by Judy Duarte.

With the contract now signed, I’m pleased to say that I’ll be publishing my second book, *Peasant Modernism: Marx, Culture, and the Future of Eating Well*, with Brill in the @histmat.bsky.social Book Series. It should be out by early 2028 at the latest.

Sounds amazing, Dan!

Really sorry to see this, Cath, that’s brutal

if you wrote a book on labor history published in 2025, I encourage you to apply for the Philip Taft Labor History Award. The term “labor history” is defined broadly to include the history of workers, institutions, and workplaces & working-class life www.ilr.cornell.edu/taft-award

Starting 9 October, we have a series of free CRMEP public lectures at Westminster: www.tickettailor.com/events/radic...

Open letter from UK university staff: Request for biometric deferral and safe evacuation of incoming Palestinian students and scholars from Gaza to UK Universities More than 40 students currently trapped in Gaza with full scholarships to UK Universities are asking for a safe route to come and study. We, the academic community hoping to welcome these scholars, ca...

An open letter has been launched today (27/7/25) for members of the UK academic community (academics and other university staff) to sign, to press the UK Home Office to facilitate safe passage out of Gaza for 40+ students with offers for UK universities.

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Call for Contributors: Foreclosure, a Special Issue of Key Words: A Journal of Cultural Materialism British cultural production has a long history of foreclosure. Understood as a premature abandonment, or an abortive failure, of radical political projects, foreclosure has an imaginative and mater…

🚨🚨Call for contributors to next year's issue of Key Words, a special issue on 'Foreclosure,' guest edited by Chloe Ashbridge and Owain Burrell🚨🚨 Deadline for abstracts is July 18th, 2025. Read more here: raymondwilliams.co.uk/2025/06/09/c... Please share widely.

Home of the freemasons' history. Visit a free museum in London today

The museum of Freemasonry is really good museumfreemasonry.org.uk also a very good and cheap bar :)

Really excited for this (free!) event at MayDay Rooms on 26 June about The Aesthetics of Resistance

As course leader for said Westminster MA I endorse this message :) A lovely afternoon talking about our modules and the great work our students produce

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, giant of African literature, dies aged 87 Kenyan writer’s death announced by his daughter, who wrote: ‘He lived a full life, fought a good fight’

Rest in peace Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

Thanks Nick! Hope you’re well.

I’ve written a bit about interwar British antifascism and anti-imperialism (and their limits) for this. Available via this VE Day subscription offer…

We are devastated to say that our comrade, teacher and friend Joshua Clover passed away last night. He is irreplaceable; We will miss him forever.

Scotslanguage.com - Yuri Gagarin This song is in praise of the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who, on 12 April 1961, became the first man to go into space and orbit the Earth.The song was written in Glesga language by Glasgow actor ...

And www.scotslanguage.com/articles/nod...

"A Song About Yuri Gagarin" - Bulgarian Pop Song YouTube video by Kamerad Kosmos

And now, we must sing his anthems: m.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs8Z...

A grey tabby is cat sat on a table, and to his right a woman is sat stroking him on his ear. His head is tilted towards her

Happy Birthday, Yuri Gagarin, 12 years old today!

On until 12 April, Londoners, go see it!

The Women of Llanrumney Azuka Oforka’s searing new play powerfully explores the experience of women during slavery.

Just watched The Women of Llanrumney at Stratford East. Amazing work on Wales’s relationship with slavery, really bowled over by it. www.stratfordeast.com/whats-on/all...

Grants | Raymond Williams Foundation

✨ THE RAYMOND WILLIAMS FOUNDATION TARGETED GRANTS SCHEME 2025

The RWF invites applications for up to eight grants of max £1,500 to support self-organised adult learning activities to help realise social justice aims. Deadline: 29 June 2025.

Full info: www.raymondwilliamsfoundation.org.uk/grants