At Islington Library today selling mystery micro books plus all our mainline anthology series with multi-buy discounts.

Something for all those with a suddenly-revived interest in journeys to the moon.

sidekickbooks.com/booklab/book...

Idea: rename the white Russian mocha 'Leon Chocski'.

Poetry Blog Digest 2026, Week 12 A personal selection of posts from the Poetry Blogging Network and beyond.

2/4 @shotscarecrow.bsky.social @robin-gow-poet.bsky.social @rmhaines.bsky.social @victoriamoul.bsky.social @suefinch.bsky.social @clareshawpoet.bsky.social @myheadtheforest.bsky.social @jannoble.bsky.social
www.vianegativa.us/2026/03/poet...

It's a racist attack. The people who bear the most responsibility for it are the racist attackers themselves. The people next most responsible are those who cynically conflate Israel with Jewishness, which includes anyone claiming 'globalise the intifada' is a call for anti-Jewish racism.

Young poets sought as Latitude Festival turns 20 Six finalists will get the chance to read their work from the festival's Waterfront Stage in July.

I'm assuming none of you are young enough to enter, but do you know any young poets? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I know I've said this a trillion times but I have to say it periodically to keep from going insane:

The right ran a huge, well-funded, & ultimately successful campaign to completely take over political media & the infosphere more generally. This is by far the most important political development...

Game Poems Issue 1 is now available on Itch! If you enjoyed the issue, please consider leaving an honest rating or comment to help with traction and discovery on the platform. <3 gamepoems.itch.io/game-poems-i...

It wasn't "cancel culture" when women and people of color got used up, silenced, and dismissed before their careers even began. It only became "cancel culture" when powerful abusers started having established careers momentarily inconvenienced by revelations of what they'd done.

Again: Not hyperbole, misinterpretation, or a joke that Christian Dominionism is a strain of apocalyptic accelerationism which VERY LITERALLY SEEKS to hasten their vision of the Biblical end of the world, & the people who believe this have VERY CAREFULLY worked their way into the halls of U.S. power

A billion dollars is the socio-economic equivalent of a loose nuke, and we should work to prevent the acquisition of the former with the same urgency and ruthlessness we use to prevent the acquisition of the latter.

Join me on for the launch of my book Gothic Celebrity: Fame and Immortality from Lord Byron to Lady Gaga! The event will take place on 20 March at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. If you'd like to attend, you can sign up via Eventbrite
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launc...

I've really enjoyed this one after bouncing hard off Discovery and finding Strange New Worlds only mildly diverting.

I mean, they both feature a lot of hyperventilating and intense looks?

Shattering the historic voting bloc of left, libs and Sensible Moderates was *the entire point* of McSweeney’s project, at first in secret and then openly. The entire plan was to replace it with a crushing natural party of government composed of Sensible Moderates, Reasonable Tories and bullied libs

I need to sit down at some point and organise the channels properly because it seems like the tools are there to get a good feed through. Generally, I think we've got a way to go still in building up the network here.

(Gave you a shout-out in my latest Substack by the way).

DIARY: Talking Very Loudly in Big, Hot Rooms Readings and events, gone and upcoming. Tarot, Twine, toys, transformation etc.

Here's my big (but relatively short) round-up of various events and readings over the last few months, as well as what's just around the corner. Of particular interest to those of you who really like looking at posters!

shotscarecrow.substack.com/p/diary-talk...

Les hasards heureux de l'escarpolette (The Swing) after Jean-Honoré Fragonard They've all broken in. The floating girl in her blancmange of petticoats, who kicks off her shoe like a ravenous convict tossing away a sucked-clean bone. The one who grips the ropes of the swing as if losing control of his chariot. And the hatless little priest for whom an angel just blazed into view. They've all broken in to the nuage d'orage in a flying machine.

'Les hasards heureux de l’escarpolette (The Swing)' by @shotscarecrow.bsky.social badlilies.uk/jon-stone-1

Opinion The Labour Together scandal goes right to the heart of No 10 - Starmer has nowhere to hide

The core of “the Labour Together scandal” is Peter Mandelson’s party insiders secretly collaborating with the national press to a) terrorise a twitchy minority group, b) shitehouse the Tories to election victory, then c) bullshit Sir Keir to power. I’d say a few others have questions to answer.

Made a new poster. London launch for Pirates and Vampires, a week this Friday, at The Angel in Holborn from 6pm.

'Wildfires', the new issue of Bad Lilies is out, and I have a poem in it based on this painting, 'Les Hasards heureux de l'escarpolette' by Jean-Honoré Fragonard:

"... kicks off her shoe
like a ravenous convict tossing away
a sucked-clean bone."

Oof. Then I got nothing.

Given that it's an invitation to give a keynote, I'm wondering if the email is not on behalf of a faculty or department but a conference organiser who is operating without a proper budget?

Yeah, I have never in my life heard this "Universities don't pay speaker fees" nonsense before.

'Blind Fish' by Yusef Komunyakaa, from Night Animals. (I posted a short review of this yesterday).

Icebox. An empty icebox.

Why Does Contemporary Fascism Fetishize the Classics? Having acquired a hundred acres adjacent to the royal residences in Castelporziano in 1906, the House of Savoy commissioned an archeological dig on their new land. From the sandy soil displaced dur…

Good article, but I've got a simpler answer: the only aspect of culture the far right cares about is mythic representations of power.

lithub.com/why-does-con...

Two new Future Karaoke events coming up in March! Onwards to March, when I can also overseed my wretched lawn!

100-Word Reviews: Fae/Spy Edition On theme with our latest submissions call: Night Animals; Animal Well; Slow Horses; Codenames Duet.

Four new 100-word reviews thematically tied to the current @sidekickbooks.bsky.social submissions call. Night Animals, Animal Well, Slow Horses, Codenames Duet.

sidekickbooks.substack.com/p/100-word-r...

Sometimes?