Damian Barr
@damianbarr.bsky.social
Writer & broadcaster.
🏴 🌈 🖊️📚 🎭 📺 📻 🪴 🐔 🥃
He/Him
📕 The Two Roberts is my new novel. I’ve also curated an exhibition about them for Charleston in Lewes.
📕 Maggie & Me.
📕 You Will Be Safe Here.
📺 Big Scottish Book Club on BBC iPlayer.
PhD, FRSL, FRSE.
🏴 🌈 🖊️📚 🎭 📺 📻 🪴 🐔 🥃
He/Him
📕 The Two Roberts is my new novel. I’ve also curated an exhibition about them for Charleston in Lewes.
📕 Maggie & Me.
📕 You Will Be Safe Here.
📺 Big Scottish Book Club on BBC iPlayer.
PhD, FRSL, FRSE.
Christmas is a lovely time to watch a tv program all about books. In fact, the only tv program all about books. Enjoy!
I present the UK’s one and only TV show about books. We feature readers & writers from across Scotland, around the UK and all over the world. It’s commissioned by BBC Scotland & made by IWC. Public broadcasting is a shared space for sharing stories & building bridges.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Scotland - The Big Scottish Book Club - Available now
Available episodes of The Big Scottish Book Club
www.bbc.co.uk
December 18, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Christmas is a lovely time to watch a tv program all about books. In fact, the only tv program all about books. Enjoy!
Reposted by Damian Barr
You’re buying someone you love a book for Christmas. Or maybe you’re telling yourself you’ll give it to them but really you know it’s for you. I’m not judging. I am telling you that indie bookshops love you and Jeff Bezos doesn’t. Shop @bookshop-org-uk.bsky.social
uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
The Two Roberts
Check out The Two Roberts - <p><b>SHORTLISTED FOR THE NERO BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION 2025</b><br /><b>A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK </b><br /><b>A BEST FICTION BOOK OF 2025 FOR THE <i>GUARDIAN</i>, THE <i...
uk.bookshop.org
December 1, 2025 at 11:44 AM
You’re buying someone you love a book for Christmas. Or maybe you’re telling yourself you’ll give it to them but really you know it’s for you. I’m not judging. I am telling you that indie bookshops love you and Jeff Bezos doesn’t. Shop @bookshop-org-uk.bsky.social
uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
My Christmas gift to you is permission to close every open browser tab.
December 18, 2025 at 5:28 PM
My Christmas gift to you is permission to close every open browser tab.
Reposted by Damian Barr
Photographer Christopher Anderson on the Vanity Fair photoshoot
December 18, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Photographer Christopher Anderson on the Vanity Fair photoshoot
One of my earliest crushes. I added his theme tune to the playlist for writing Maggie & Me because it instantly transported me to 1980s/gay awakening/21st century future times.
December 18, 2025 at 9:23 AM
One of my earliest crushes. I added his theme tune to the playlist for writing Maggie & Me because it instantly transported me to 1980s/gay awakening/21st century future times.
This is one of my favourite poems for this time of year. I hope it brings you joy. Thank you Bluesky lovelies for all the support this, hardest of years. See you on the other side.
www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/trio/
www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/trio/
Trio
Orphean sprig! Melting baby! Warm chihuahua! The vale of tears is powerless before you. Whether Christ is born, or is not born, you put paid to fate, it abdicates under the Christmas lights.
www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk
December 18, 2025 at 9:20 AM
This is one of my favourite poems for this time of year. I hope it brings you joy. Thank you Bluesky lovelies for all the support this, hardest of years. See you on the other side.
www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/trio/
www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/trio/
Reposted by Damian Barr
It is so hard right now to imagine any light ever shining brightly enough again after this year. I have never been more fearful about the future. But every year I sit with this photo for all of Hanukkah as I try and remember all those before who thought the night would never end.
December 17, 2025 at 3:35 PM
It is so hard right now to imagine any light ever shining brightly enough again after this year. I have never been more fearful about the future. But every year I sit with this photo for all of Hanukkah as I try and remember all those before who thought the night would never end.
Reposted by Damian Barr
When 97% is 'no clear consensus', and 52% is 'the will of the people', it's time to face facts that Governments do what Governments want to do regardless of what their people actually want.
December 16, 2025 at 9:30 AM
When 97% is 'no clear consensus', and 52% is 'the will of the people', it's time to face facts that Governments do what Governments want to do regardless of what their people actually want.
Reposted by Damian Barr
this is not behavior becoming of a FIFA Peace Prize recipient.
December 15, 2025 at 8:18 PM
this is not behavior becoming of a FIFA Peace Prize recipient.
Reposted by Damian Barr
While Amazon is investing billions of dollars to expand AI, independent bookstores are hosting community events, personally recommending books to readers, and providing a space that is safe and welcoming during a time when we need them most.
Never underestimate the power of a local bookstore.
Never underestimate the power of a local bookstore.
December 15, 2025 at 4:11 PM
While Amazon is investing billions of dollars to expand AI, independent bookstores are hosting community events, personally recommending books to readers, and providing a space that is safe and welcoming during a time when we need them most.
Never underestimate the power of a local bookstore.
Never underestimate the power of a local bookstore.
Reposted by Damian Barr
If you read one U.S. president's remembrance of Rob Reiner today...
December 15, 2025 at 3:26 PM
If you read one U.S. president's remembrance of Rob Reiner today...
Reposted by Damian Barr
"He draws his power not from the sheer force of his arguments and personality, but increasingly just how recklessly the immigration issue has been handled by the political establishment." Nesrine Malik would have been my columnist of the year. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Welcome to the twilight zone where Nigel Farage can be accused of racism yet still lead the polls | Nesrine Malik
After weeks of allegations of schoolboy racism, the Reform leader is doubling down. And our political establishment is allowing it, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik
www.theguardian.com
December 15, 2025 at 11:24 AM
"He draws his power not from the sheer force of his arguments and personality, but increasingly just how recklessly the immigration issue has been handled by the political establishment." Nesrine Malik would have been my columnist of the year. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
@hugorifkind.bsky.social Christmas can now begin, with my annual reshare of this Christmas classic, captured en route to festive drinks @sathnam.bsky.social
December 15, 2025 at 3:21 PM
@hugorifkind.bsky.social Christmas can now begin, with my annual reshare of this Christmas classic, captured en route to festive drinks @sathnam.bsky.social
I have amassed a drawer full of specs over the years: prescription changes, ill-advised flirtation with frameless, all that. They feel more personal than clothes, harder to part with. Is that just me? I’ve finally decided to give them all to charity.
December 12, 2025 at 2:53 PM
I have amassed a drawer full of specs over the years: prescription changes, ill-advised flirtation with frameless, all that. They feel more personal than clothes, harder to part with. Is that just me? I’ve finally decided to give them all to charity.
I love the barn at Charleston and remember when cows would interrupt your event. I'm delighted to be returning there next year and hope the cows and you can join me. Tickets on sale today!
www.charleston.org.uk/event/an-eve...
www.charleston.org.uk/event/an-eve...
Charleston — An Evening with Damian Barr: The Two Roberts
Join us at Charleston for an unforgettable evening with acclaimed author, Damian Barr, in conversation about his novel 'The Two Roberts' and curation of 'Robert MacBryde & Robert Colquhoun: Artists, L...
www.charleston.org.uk
December 12, 2025 at 12:36 PM
I love the barn at Charleston and remember when cows would interrupt your event. I'm delighted to be returning there next year and hope the cows and you can join me. Tickets on sale today!
www.charleston.org.uk/event/an-eve...
www.charleston.org.uk/event/an-eve...
Reposted by Damian Barr
If handing someone their arse, was a video clip
December 12, 2025 at 8:12 AM
If handing someone their arse, was a video clip
Au revoir Stanley Baxter. One of the cleverest and funniest comedians of my childhood. He was a better queen than the Queen and came out at 94. www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_Lk...
Stanley Baxter - Parliamo Glasgow - Mia Farra's farra, the marra & the barra
YouTube video by Cheeseford
www.youtube.com
December 12, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Au revoir Stanley Baxter. One of the cleverest and funniest comedians of my childhood. He was a better queen than the Queen and came out at 94. www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_Lk...
Was in my local library earlier. Newspaper crumpled by a day of telling everyone what’s going on. Kids lost in picture books. The cafe full. A table with a jigsaw that anybody can add a piece too. A display of titles for World AIDS Day. A whole shelf of NEW BOOKS JUST IN.
Perfect, just perfect.
Perfect, just perfect.
December 11, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Was in my local library earlier. Newspaper crumpled by a day of telling everyone what’s going on. Kids lost in picture books. The cafe full. A table with a jigsaw that anybody can add a piece too. A display of titles for World AIDS Day. A whole shelf of NEW BOOKS JUST IN.
Perfect, just perfect.
Perfect, just perfect.
A lovely thing! If I win I get a nice globe which I plan to try and convert into a drinks cabinet.
Congratulations to @damianbarr.bsky.social! THE TWO ROBERTS has been shortlisted for the @stanfordstravel.bsky.social prize for Fiction with a Sense of Place
‘Crackles with creative rebellion’ Douglas Stuart
‘A vivid and moving portrait of two fine artists’ The Times
‘Crackles with creative rebellion’ Douglas Stuart
‘A vivid and moving portrait of two fine artists’ The Times
December 11, 2025 at 6:13 PM
A lovely thing! If I win I get a nice globe which I plan to try and convert into a drinks cabinet.
We’ve had a tiny zhush of my exhibition at Charleston in Lewes with the addition of this still life by Bobby MacBryde from the Fry Gallery. Artists, Lovers, Outsiders runs until April 2026
December 10, 2025 at 4:10 PM
We’ve had a tiny zhush of my exhibition at Charleston in Lewes with the addition of this still life by Bobby MacBryde from the Fry Gallery. Artists, Lovers, Outsiders runs until April 2026
A reminder: books are very easy to wrap (and you can, controversially, sneak a wee taste as you wrap and nobody will know - unlike taking a bit of their cheese).
What a brilliant book about two artists I knew nothing about. These two men felt so real to me and I’m so pleased that Damian Barr brought them to life again and told their story.
Day 9 of Bertvent done!
Day 9 of Bertvent done!
December 10, 2025 at 10:17 AM
A reminder: books are very easy to wrap (and you can, controversially, sneak a wee taste as you wrap and nobody will know - unlike taking a bit of their cheese).
Reposted by Damian Barr
‘Ranting in a shoebox on the internet, like the first person to die in a disaster film. It’d be tragic if it wasn’t so deeply stupid.’
The Liz Truss Show review – hapless ravings from a cupboard
Britain’s briefest PM kept her fans waiting before launching her latest plea for Maga attention in the form of a ham-fisted YouTube talk show
www.theguardian.com
December 6, 2025 at 12:13 PM
‘Ranting in a shoebox on the internet, like the first person to die in a disaster film. It’d be tragic if it wasn’t so deeply stupid.’
‘Tablet puts all thoughts to rest’
“Tablet is a sort of crystalline fudge made from sugar, condensed milk, more milk, butter, more sugar and – that might be all, actually. It is an alchemical procedure, not a recipe.”
—Don Paterson on tablet, in his memoir TOY FIGHTS (Faber, 2023)
#memoir #tablet
💙📚
www.faber.co.uk/product/9780...
—Don Paterson on tablet, in his memoir TOY FIGHTS (Faber, 2023)
#memoir #tablet
💙📚
www.faber.co.uk/product/9780...
December 6, 2025 at 11:56 AM
‘Tablet puts all thoughts to rest’
Reposted by Damian Barr
A wee bit I wrote about the hammerblow of watching people from the country that gave us the Glasgow girls and Kenmure Street turn to the right. And about the opportunism of Farage as he heads north. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Nigel Farage was once run out of Edinburgh. Now Scottish voters are embracing his rabble-rousing | Dani Garavelli
The Reform leader is exploiting growing resentment towards migrants and hosting a sold-out event - something unimaginable just a few years ago, says freelance columnist Dani Garavelli
www.theguardian.com
December 6, 2025 at 8:12 AM
A wee bit I wrote about the hammerblow of watching people from the country that gave us the Glasgow girls and Kenmure Street turn to the right. And about the opportunism of Farage as he heads north. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Fuel Poverty is a euphemism. I grew up in a cold house - gas still costs more on a meter. It is exhausting and dispiriting - cold floors and walls. Getting into a bed that feels damp then being unable to sleep. Clothes that don’t dry after rain or snow. Seeing your breath indoors. It is shaming.
December 6, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Fuel Poverty is a euphemism. I grew up in a cold house - gas still costs more on a meter. It is exhausting and dispiriting - cold floors and walls. Getting into a bed that feels damp then being unable to sleep. Clothes that don’t dry after rain or snow. Seeing your breath indoors. It is shaming.