Happy #SapphicVisibilityDay to all who celebrate from a pair of visibly happy sapphics!

She's a quietly blazing example of what rich people could and should be doing with their wealth.

It's wonderful, isn't it? Michael wrote it after watching the painter Phil Archer work for hours to get the right blue.

Screenshot of the poem "Ultramarine" by Michael Symmons Roberts.

That immediately made me think of this poem from Michael Symmons Roberts's collection "Raising Sparks".

Was so good to see you and hear you read again last week!

Novartis settles with Henrietta Lacks' estate over use of her 'stolen' cells to advance medicine Novartis has settled a lawsuit by the estate of Henrietta Lacks that alleged the pharmaceutical giant unjustly profited off her cells, which were taken from her tumor without her knowledge in 1951 and...

Justice sure took a long while…

apnews.com/article/henr...

In this story, there is a lot of support for trans people that you rarely see covered in the media unless they're being attacked. Businesses and individuals all standing up and saying 'I will not be a part of this' and I think that needs to be highlighted because it can feel lonely out there.

Excited to be reading at this on Thursday at bijoubistro.co.uk!

We have a new Bishop Elect of Edinburgh!

New Ukip logo slammed over 'similarities to Nazi symbol' A NEW party logo proposed by the UK Independence Party (Ukip) has been slammed for being strikingly similar to a Nazi symbol.

And as for their logo, if they're appopriating the body of Christ in the Eucharist for their politics, I look forward to seeing how they will lay down their lives sacrificially for all.

New Ukip logo slated over 'similarities to Nazi symbol' | The National share.google/fNdgc204UNOD...

New Ukip logo slammed over 'similarities to Nazi symbol' A NEW party logo proposed by the UK Independence Party (Ukip) has been slammed for being strikingly similar to a Nazi symbol.

UKIP say they aim to put #Christianity back in the heart of Govt. I look forward to a manifesto that lays out how they'll welcome the stranger, care for the vulnerable, release the prisoners, love their neighbours and enemies & all that woke nonsense --sorry, I mean Gospel lifestyle.

And the lovely and wonderful @clareshawpoet.bsky.social

And a further suggestion: the marvellous @revrachelmann.bsky.social

Thank you!

Thank you so much!

So much excellent work at the @quill.scot #TDoR reading tonight at @argonautbooks.bsky.social but the standout performance for me was @alysdragon.bsky.social's *phenomenal* set.

AOCB - almost off to commence barding.

Join me and a host of others at @argonautbooks.bsky.social in Leith in just under an hour!

JJ Fadaka profile photo

Jj Fadaka is a writer, facilitator, and radical based in Edinburgh. Their work explores the possibility of abolition, feminism, and love to create change.

Our host for our Trans Day of Remembrance event next Sunday @argonautbooks.bsky.social is JJ Fadaka!

Sol Vardi - TDOR readings evening

Sol is a writer and spoken word poet who explored queer and immigrant experiences. Their poetry weaves political issues, humour, and queer joy alongside everyday experiences of life in their acquired home of Edinburgh.

Returning for a second QUILL event this year it's Sol Vardi!

Join us @argonautbooks.bsky.social next week - www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/quill-pres...

Titlayo Farukyoye #TDOR Readings Evening

Titilayo Farukuoye (they/them) is a writer, educator and organiser based in Glasgow. Their work addresses social justice and community care and is informed by rights and cultural leaders like Assata Shakur, Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí and Paulo Freire.

Titilayo invites us to dream and use our radical imagination to seek more just realities. Titilayo co-directs the Scottish BPOC Writers Network and is a winner of the 2022 Edwin Morgan Poetry Award. Their poetry pamphlet In Wolf’s Skin is available with Stewed Rhubarb Press and Titilayo’s non-fiction book But We Did: Dismantling colonialist myths towards collective liberation is forthcoming.

Welcome to the incredible Titilayo Farukuoye!

We are so excited to hear them and their wonderful words this Sunday 💖

Get your tickets before they go!

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/quill-pres...

Jude Firesong #tdor readings evening

Jude FireSong – aka Fabulous Phoenix Boy – is a Scottish-by-inclination, non-binary trans, polyamorous queer man and a neurodivergent, mad, disabled survivor. His work explores intersections of identity; love, loss; social alienation, community, found family; storytelling as identity, vocation, and catharsis. Jude’s work has appeared in issue 3 of new words and the Level Centre’s Public Open Exhibition 2024; more is forthcoming in rainy weather days, Hush LGBTQ+ Magazine, and Untold Stories (Bedlam Theatre, April ’25). His hybrid collection Made of Magic – poetry of rage & (be)longing was long-listed in nw{p}’s Chapbook Competition ’24; Jude later brought it to the Edinburgh Fringe as a solo poetry show/art exhibition.

Billed performance history includes: Shrub Coop’s Queer Cabaret (Fringe ’23), LGBT Health & Wellbeing’s Pride Breakfast and Winter Celebration ’24, Push the Boat Out ’24, Loud Poets x Stanza Festival Slam Poetry Heat ’25.

Welcoming back the fantastic to our line up of readers on Sunday!

Join us @argonautbooks.bsky.social on Sunday evening for our commemoration of #tdor

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/quill-pres...

AW Earl - #TDOR Readings Evening

A W Earl is a non-binary writer and storyteller whose work is concerned with gender, deviant bodies, and folklore. They studied English Literature and Creative writing at the University of East Anglia, and have performed their own work and traditional folktales across the UK. Their poetry has been published in various venues, and was recently shortlisted in Renard Press’ Interwoven competition, while their non-fiction has appeared in Lighthouse Journal and a collection by Watkins Press. Their debut novel was published in 2018.

AW Earl joins us for their QUILL debut this Sunday.

Join us tomorrow - www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/quill-pres...

Sarah Heitler - #TDOR Readings Evening

Sarah Heitler is a Glasgow based performance poet and award winning flashfiction writer. Her work is slowly gaining recognition in the Scottish queer poetry scene and her poem "Lazarus" was recently accepted for publication in the upcoming Trans Poetica anthology. Sarah's poetry is unashamedly vulnerable, queer and open, and she deeply loves performing her work.

Our final reader introduction! Sarah Heitler joins us tomorrow for #tdor.

Join us to commemorate - www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/quill-pres...

Amy Jo Philip #tdor Readings Evening

Amy Jo Philip is the first out transgender priest in the Scottish Episcopal Church. Prior to transitioning, she published two pamphlets with HappenStance press and two full collections with Salt Publishing under her deadname. She is working on a third collection, to be published by Blue Diode Press in 2026. Her work was featured in ‘Side A/Side B’, February 2025’s issue of @badlilies, a digital journal of poetry. You can read ‘Knackered Babes’ at www.badlilies.uk.

Amy Jo’s work has appeared in a number of magazines including Irish Pages, Gutter, Magma, Eemis Stane, and the final edition of Dreich. It has also been included in a number of anthologies, most recently ‘Scottish Religious Poetry: From the Sixth Century to the Present’ (St Andrew’s Press, 2024) and ‘10 Poets Defend their Cities Against Giant, Strange Beasts’ (Sidekick Books, 2024).

Welcoming back @ambulancebox.bsky.social for our #tdor readings evening @argonautbooks.bsky.social this Sunday!

(RNS) - Last Friday (Oct. 17), the Rev. Hannah Kardon, a United Methodist minister in the Chicago area, stood alongside other protesters demonstrating outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Broadview, Illinois. As a line of Illinois State Police began marching toward her and other demonstrators, gripping wooden batons, footage shows the pastor with her hands raised in prayer. Officers then pushed into the protesters, forcing them back. One officer shifted his stance, reared back and began shoving his baton like a battering ram - jamming it repeatedly, Kardon says, into her leg. A few seconds later, the pastor was pulled from the crowd and thrown to the ground. All the while, Kardon says, she never stopped praying. When officers began to arrest her, they tied her arms behind her back and placed her along the curb. "I said, 'God, please help these people to know that what they're doing is wrong, and help them to turn around," Kardon, who leads United Church of Rogers Park in Chicago, said in an interview. Her leg, she said, has developed visible bruises.

NEW: 200+ Chicago-area clergy — Protestants, Catholics, and evangelicals — have signed a letter decrying ICE's efforts and voicing a willingness to put their "bodies on the line" for migrants.

"What Kristi Noem and her ICE agents are doing is immoral," they write. religionnews.com/2025/10/21/a...

Why our organs cannot simply be classified as male or female Biological sex is usually described in simple binary terms: male or female. This works well for germ cells (sperm versus eggs), but for other body organs it is of little help.

I'm just posting this again, because we all need to be completely clear that despite sex differentiation starting at 10 wks gestation, every cell in anyones body is very unlikely to be 100% "male" or 100% "female".

Maleeessss and feeemaaalles ❌
We're all a vibrant mix ✔️

phys.org/news/2025-09...

Almighty and everlasting God, the only worker of great marvels, send down upon your servant Sarah, called to be Archbishop of Canterbury, and all who are committed to her care, the spirit of your saving grace, and that they may truly please you, pour upon them the continual dew of your blessing. Grant this, O Lord, for the honour of our advocate and mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen.

A prayer for the next Archbishop of Canterbury. 🙏

Of course, I have already celebrated this morning but it doesn't count because I wasn't aware it was international coffee day.

I have a notification from the Costa app telling me it's international coffee day. That's a day I can get behind. I'm off to celebrate it before saying morning prayer ...