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lizzaaiken.bsky.social
LizzaAiken
@lizzaaiken.bsky.social
960 followers 670 following 410 posts
Sharing all things Aiken...books, thoughts, memories...
https://www.joanaiken.com/
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lizzaaiken.bsky.social
The wonderful world of Joan Aiken...come and explore...
November 19, 2025 at 11:57 PM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
#Halloween week would have been the perfect time to celebrate Joan Aiken's Trickster hero - Mortimer the Raven, but then he only ever does what HE wants...and always gets away with it.
But it's not too late to read all about him here:
joanaiken.wordpress.com/2025/11/07/t...
Quentin Blake illustration of Mortimer and ever loving Arabel on the cover of the first Mortimer story, Arabel's Raven, as read on BBC 's Jackanory
November 7, 2025 at 3:13 PM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
Letters to a favourite author, who loved writing back, is one of these from you...?
November 2, 2025 at 12:23 PM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
Joan Aiken adored ghost stories, and wrote this one aged five: 'Demens were said to come forth (from the haunted couch!) and waill and scream all night...'
Read some of her tips here on how to write a really creepy story:
joanaiken.wordpress.com/2025/10/31/a...
Joan Aiken's picture of a haunted couch and the story she wrote aged five...
October 31, 2025 at 3:11 PM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
Time for spooky stories...?Joan Aiken does the trick...
melissae.bsky.social Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 21d
Joan Aiken's “The Windscreen Weepers,” from The Windscreen Weepers and Other Tales of Horror and Suspense (1969). Artist colony, a demon lover, and a reincarnation of Coleridge. All in one story!
Black and white photo of Joan Aiken. Dust jacket to The Windscreen Weepers.
October 30, 2025 at 10:30 AM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
Worth staying awake for...? Always Joan Aiken...find her chez @gavingrant.bsky.social
kurtbusiek.bsky.social Kurt Busiek @kurtbusiek.bsky.social · 25d
Last night it took a very long time to get to sleep. After a while I gave up and read a little, but since my current read is a Joe Hill horror novel, that wasn’t going to help, so I switched over to THE PEOPLE IN THE CASTLE: SELECTED STRANGE STORIES by Joan Aiken.
Cover to THE PEOPLE IN THE CASTLE: SELECTED STRANGE STORIES by Joan Aiken
October 27, 2025 at 4:38 PM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
Excellent advice...and something for every occasion!
www.joanaiken.com/books/
October 24, 2025 at 1:19 PM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
Oh for the good old days of Nuisance Callers... the world is a much more terrifying place now, but Joan Aiken's Arabel could probably handle it...after all she lived with Mortimer...
joanaiken.wordpress.com/2021/06/10/a...
October 22, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Reposted by LizzaAiken
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
Joan Aiken was famous for haunting stories...and inspired some fantastic book covers...
www.joanaiken.com/books/the-gr...
October 3, 2025 at 2:21 PM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
Autumn leaves and old friends...Joan Aiken & Quentin Blake brought us Arabel & Mortimer stories...still as funny as ever... @puffinbooksuk.bsky.social

www.instagram.com/reel/DOEYz-U...
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September 28, 2025 at 9:24 AM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
I can't believe it's been a year since this came out... @manderleypress.bsky.social glorious Joan Aiken collection now seen in all the best bookshops... funny, scary AND with literary references!!! Tales of london Town
www.joanaiken.com/books/tales-...
September 25, 2025 at 4:03 PM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
Always remembering Joan Aiken...here in her garden at The Hermitage, in Sussex, surrounded by windfalls...
nathanfrancis79.bsky.social Nathan Francis @nathanfrancis79.bsky.social · Sep 4
"Why do we want to have alternate worlds? It's a way of making progress. You have to imagine something before you do it."

✒ Remembering #JoanAiken, English author, who was #BOTD 4 September 1924. #Literature
September 17, 2025 at 2:11 PM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
Joan Aiken spooky stories...great for school reading...
www.joanaiken.com/books/the-sn...
September 15, 2025 at 12:19 PM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
Joan Aiken believed in the healing power of stories, and after an alarming week I can attest to the power of her own...
Comfort reading, inspiration and hope right here...
Collections from Small Beer Press @gavingrant.bsky.social

joanaiken.wordpress.com/2025/09/11/h...
Hope, Joan Aiken’s greatest gift to us?
Joan Aiken brought her own voice to her stories, she believed absolutely in the saving power of reading, and in her short stories she often seems to be speaking directly to us, saying these stories…
joanaiken.wordpress.com
September 11, 2025 at 1:33 PM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
Don't you wish you had one of these?
A Gift from Joan Aiken...
www.joanaiken.com/books/the-gi...
simonguy.bsky.social Simon Spanton @simonguy.bsky.social · Sep 9
"For that matter the dragon himself was made of glass: stretched out in the sun or coiled round the great ilex tree in front of his museum he made a stunning spectacle, each feather and scale flashing like a frozen waterfall, his three heads keeping a sharp lookout for customers in every direction."
A photo of a copy of the 2016 Virago edition of The Gift of Giving by Joan Aiken. The cover art is by Peter Bailey.
September 9, 2025 at 3:44 PM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
Joan Aiken in fantasy land, spent her 101 Birthday yesterday having all sites hacked, so don't believe any strange messages...except this one of course...
@gavingrant.bsky.social 🖤
September 6, 2025 at 11:43 AM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
Happy Joan Aiken Day!
Come and share some of her Happiest birthdays, some alarming ones...and some that would have surprised her a lot...
joanaiken.wordpress.com/2025/09/02/j...
Joan Aiken’s Happiest Birthdays…(and a couple of alarming ones!)
Joan Aiken was born on September 4th 1924 in a haunted house named after a mysterious astrologer, Samuel Jeake (who was supposed to have built a flying machine) in a street named after a mythical m…
joanaiken.wordpress.com
September 4, 2025 at 8:04 AM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
Time to snuggle up with a Joan Aiken...
hugeshark.bsky.social Huge Shark @hugeshark.bsky.social · Feb 26
Can I just read/reread Joan Aiken books for the rest of 2025? She’s so good for what ails you.
Cover of “The People In the Castle” by Joan Aiken, showing an ink drawing of a castle towering over a small village. There’s a cat in the background of this photo.
September 3, 2025 at 12:46 PM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
September brings back memories of Joan Aiken...not just because her Birthday falls on the 4th, but because of the autumn mood that comes with it... of leaf sweeping, and apple jelly and thoughts of home...all found in her books...
joanaiken.wordpress.com/2025/09/01/k...
Keeping up with Joan Aiken, a mother’s day…
“Just because I’m sweeping leaves doesn’t mean I’m not thinking,” she would say – or she might be drawing a picture of mushrooms… before cooking them for s…
joanaiken.wordpress.com
September 2, 2025 at 2:23 PM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
Random read? But unforgettable ..
September 1, 2025 at 12:12 PM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
Joan Aiken...always unexpected...but in good company...
August 29, 2025 at 11:34 AM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
A Golden age of children's writers...Joan Aiken in great company, and a lovely book...♥️📚
charlienutbrown.bsky.social Charlie Nutbrown @charlienutbrown.bsky.social · Aug 18
Bought this wonderful book of interviews with children's writers the other day. Look at the incredible authors it has in it

#kidlit #kidlituk #UKKidlit #booksky #childrensbooks
The front cover of 'The Pied Pipers: Interviews with the influential creators of children's literature'. It features an illustration of a writer smoking a pipe, while the Pied Piper leads a line of children in the background Contents page for The Pied Pipers, listing the children's authors featured, including Maurice Sendak, Joan Aiken and Alan Garner.
August 21, 2025 at 11:03 AM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
Joan Aiken celebrates her debt to a fantastic forerunner, the much loved E.Nesbit... Happy Birthday...🪶🪶
Buy it here and support the Nesbit Society:
www.edithnesbit.co.uk/society-publ...
August 15, 2025 at 1:48 PM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
Huge thanks to QuentinBlakeHQ and Lowry Salford for this lovely tribute to the stories created together with Joan Aiken - which introduced us all via BBC's Jackanory to MORTIMER and of course his best friend Arabel...Nevermore!!!
thelowry.com/quentin-blak...
Exhibition at Lowry Salford, Quentin Blake illustrates Joan Aiken's Mortimer stories
August 14, 2025 at 1:25 PM
lizzaaiken.bsky.social
Cheers to @philipwomack.bsky.social for his @thespectator1828.bsky.social article imploring Writers and Editors to challenge young readers with more exciting language, like Joan Aiken! Babies love Beatrix Potter for odd words that they can remember and repeat...
www.pressreader.com/uk/the-spect...
Page from Potter's Peter Rabbit - sparrows implore Peter to exert himself
August 9, 2025 at 12:38 PM