Ailsa Cox
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ailsacox.bsky.social
Ailsa Cox
@ailsacox.bsky.social

Writer and critic, Emerita Professor of Short Fiction at Edge Hill University UK.
Short stories, Precipitation, https://www.confingopublishing.uk/
https://www.routledge.com/Writing-Short-Stories-A-Routledge-Writers-Guide/Cox/p/book/9781032582481. .. more

Art 45%
Communication & Media Studies 23%

Their long blue trains go past my window, chalking up the miles of cash.

Fascinating discussion from Katherine Clements and fellow @wildhuntbooks.bsky.social author Neil McRobert in Todmorden last night. Worth the long spooky walk to get to Fielden Hall.
THE FINAL BOOK IN THE NORTHERN WEIRD PROJECT IS HERE!

Turbine 34 by Katherine Clements🧡 🖤

Camped out alone at Turbine 34, an unnamed scientist soon discovers signs of the devastation and begins to see things that shouldn’t be there...

www.wildhuntbooks.co.uk/books/p/turb...

Reposted by Ailsa Cox

🧵 A remarkable discovery by Portico Library volunteer Rebecca Lamb has revealed that Charles Dickens signed the Library’s Strangers’ Book in May 1844 — confirming that one of the world’s most celebrated novelists once stepped inside Manchester’s oldest subscription library...

Reposted by Ailsa Cox

A happy C.D. Rose, shortly after winning our 2025 Prize last night @foylesforbooks.bsky.social.

Trophy designed and made by Cherrie Tong; pic @davidcollard.bsky.social

Reposted by Ailsa Cox

THE FINAL BOOK IN THE NORTHERN WEIRD PROJECT IS HERE!

Turbine 34 by Katherine Clements🧡 🖤

Camped out alone at Turbine 34, an unnamed scientist soon discovers signs of the devastation and begins to see things that shouldn’t be there...

www.wildhuntbooks.co.uk/books/p/turb...

Reposted by Ailsa Cox

@cdrose.bsky.social is the 2025 Goldsmiths Prize winner!!! So, so well deserved ❤️🏆 Read WE LIVE HERE NOW! @goldsmithsprize.bsky.social

Reposted by Ailsa Cox

Horror Studies 16.2 is out now!

Including ‘Shadow agents: Ecohorror and ambient dread in Vampyr (1932)’ by Benjamin Bigelow.
#horrorstudies Popular Culture Association

Access the issue via Discover 👉 https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/host/16/2

A great shortlist @goldsmithsprize.bsky.social. Some names very familiar @edgehillprize.bsky.social. Every one a winner but good luck @cdrose.bsky.social

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I've added details about the online reading on 29th November launching my Broken Sleep book ELLE to my post about the book and buying the book: robertsheppard.blogspot.com/2025/10/my-n...
My new book Elle: A Verse Novel is published by Broken Sleep Books
My new book Elle: A Verse Novel is published by Broken Sleep Books in November 2025   Details for PRE ORDER:  Robert Sheppard - Elle, a ...
robertsheppard.blogspot.com

Reposted by Edith Hall, Ailsa Cox

We're very proud to announce the winner of this year's prize: Edith Hall's compelling & insightful 'Facing Down the Furies: Suicide, the Ancient Greeks, and Me' (Yale UP). A brilliant, moving book for experts & general readers alike - congratulations @edithmayhall.bsky.social @yalebooks.bsky.social!

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Every Sunday I’ll be contributing a paperback column to the Observer’s New Review. Kicking things off is Driver by Mattia Filice (@nyrb-imprints.bsky.social), who’s poured his experience of 2 decades working on the French rail network into an extraordinary verse novel. observer.co.uk/culture/book...

Think I might have got rid of my Bradbury anthology and now regret that I did that! The Intro is also well worth a read.

One of my favourites!
Great news - one of the best mini-series ever with a dazzling & eccentric screenplay by Troy Kennedy Martin & superb direction by Martin Campbell is back on iplayer.
If you haven’t seen it then you’re in for a real treat.
Come for Bob Peck, stay for Joe Don Baker.
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
Edge of Darkness - Series 1: 1. Compassionate Leave
Thriller set in a world of obsessive state security. Ronald Craven is haunted by the murder of his daughter and begins his own investigation into her death.
www.bbc.co.uk

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'A book with an innovative approach will ... deliver no message.... But, lord, you will have experienced something.'

@cdrose.bsky.social talks to the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social's Emily Lawford about the wonderful #GP2025 shortlisted novel, We Live Here Now

www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...
CD Rose Q&A: “Novels are like massive clouds which lower overhead”
The 2025 Goldsmiths Prize-shortlisted author on the art world, how we measure value and the role of criticism today
www.newstatesman.com

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Reposted by Ailsa Cox

I've just updated the apersonalanthology.com website with Becky Tipper’s selection of a dozen favourite short stories.

Check them out here, along with over 3,400 other personal short story recommendations!
A Personal Anthology
Writers, critics and others dream-edit a personal anthology of their favourite short stories
apersonalanthology.com

A wonderful article from Julian Barnes, and a reminder that writers are not alway likeable or virtuous, and that publishers are not all bad.
‘Today’s publishers must be relieved they do not have to deal with Flaubert, or some mutant facsimile of him; at worst, they have to put up with writers who are crazy, or criminal, or incorrigible hermits.’

Julian Barnes on Flaubert’s relationship with his publisher.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Julian Barnes · Ouvriers de luxe: Author v. Publisher
Gustave Flaubert’s first three novels, Madame Bovary, Salammbô and L’Éducation sentimentale, were all published by...
www.lrb.co.uk

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There's still time to sign up for today's Personal Anthology, in which Tim MacGabhann picks and introduces a dozen favourite stories. Some doozies in there, some surprises and old favourites and even a sneak preview!

Hitting inboxes at 2pm, sign up and share!

apersonalanthology.substack.com/about
About - A Personal Anthology
A weekly guest-editor picks and introduces a personal anthology of twelve favourite short stories. Click to read A Personal Anthology, by Jonathan Gibbs, a Substack publication with thousands of subsc...
apersonalanthology.substack.com

Reposted by Ailsa Cox

Reposted by Ailsa Cox

‘Today’s publishers must be relieved they do not have to deal with Flaubert, or some mutant facsimile of him; at worst, they have to put up with writers who are crazy, or criminal, or incorrigible hermits.’

Julian Barnes on Flaubert’s relationship with his publisher.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Julian Barnes · Ouvriers de luxe: Author v. Publisher
Gustave Flaubert’s first three novels, Madame Bovary, Salammbô and L’Éducation sentimentale, were all published by...
www.lrb.co.uk

Reposted by Ailsa Cox

New Episode!
William Saroyan was an Armenian-American writer and a true short story genius. In this episode, I get to chat about his life and works with Scott Setrakian, President of the William Saroyan Foundation.

Listen here: www.spreaker.com/episode/will...

That's just me!

Oh the lost trails, the might have beens, the faded typescripts, literally in the bottom drawer, the necessity of boredom....

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Exactly me, today. To face this: robertsheppard.blogspot.com/2025/10/my-d...

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Giveaway! 🎉

We're offering four copies of our new book, Women Who Dared, which spotlights powerful and defiant women who made their mark.

Want to win a copy?

Here's how to enter: 

1. Like this post ❤️
2. Repost 🔄

🕔 Entries close 5pm GMT on 31 Oct
🔗 Browse Women Who Dared:
Women Who Dared
Women Who Dared
edin.ac

Great news! @lucycaldwell.bsky.social has been shortlisted twice for @edgehillprize.bsky.social. That's how good she is.
I’m thrilled to be able to share this with you! My fourth collection, Devotions, will be published next April 23rd. If you would like a proof copy please contact @faberbooks.bsky.social

Reposted by Ailsa Cox

I’m thrilled to be able to share this with you! My fourth collection, Devotions, will be published next April 23rd. If you would like a proof copy please contact @faberbooks.bsky.social

Angela Keaton, always inventive and mischievous.
I have heard some sad news. The poet Angela Keaton, a stalwart of the Edge Hill University Poetry and Poetics Research Group has died. She appears a lot on my blog; but here's one memorable post: robertsheppard.blogspot.com/2009/10/ange...
Angela Keaton performing and constructing
Angela Keaton (top left) performing at the Walker Gallery as part of the Neon Highway reading, Angela reading at the Rose Theatre (Ormskirk)...
robertsheppard.blogspot.com

Reposted by Ailsa Cox

I have heard some sad news. The poet Angela Keaton, a stalwart of the Edge Hill University Poetry and Poetics Research Group has died. She appears a lot on my blog; but here's one memorable post: robertsheppard.blogspot.com/2009/10/ange...
Angela Keaton performing and constructing
Angela Keaton (top left) performing at the Walker Gallery as part of the Neon Highway reading, Angela reading at the Rose Theatre (Ormskirk)...
robertsheppard.blogspot.com