Max Shirley
@maxrshirley.bsky.social
AHRC-funded PhD on Kathy Acker & the contemporary avant-garde | writes occasionally
Pinned
Network(ed) confession: disidentification, digitality, and the politics of self-representation in the work of Kathy Acker and Joanna Walsh
This essay examines the intersection of life-writing, network systems, and literary experimentation. Confessional forms of literature have inevitably transformed with the proliferation of mass comm...
www.tandfonline.com
Overjoyed to have my first article published in Textual Practice today on life-writing, network infrastructures, and formal experimentation in work by Kathy Acker and Joanna Walsh.
It’s open access too! Read here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
It’s open access too! Read here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Max Shirley
I don’t expect it to happen, but having unlawfully arrested and branded hundreds of your citizens ‘terrorists’ should really be a resigning matter for the Prime Minister in any free society.
February 13, 2026 at 12:53 PM
I don’t expect it to happen, but having unlawfully arrested and branded hundreds of your citizens ‘terrorists’ should really be a resigning matter for the Prime Minister in any free society.
Reposted by Max Shirley
"Only two English words rhyme with culture, and these, as it happens, are sepulture and vulture. We don’t yet call museums or galleries or even universities culture-sepultures, but I hear a lot, lately, about culture-vultures (man must rhyme)."
Raymond Williams
Raymond Williams
February 11, 2026 at 1:16 PM
"Only two English words rhyme with culture, and these, as it happens, are sepulture and vulture. We don’t yet call museums or galleries or even universities culture-sepultures, but I hear a lot, lately, about culture-vultures (man must rhyme)."
Raymond Williams
Raymond Williams
Reposted by Max Shirley
CALL FOR PITCHES
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
February 9, 2026 at 1:56 PM
CALL FOR PITCHES
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
Reposted by Max Shirley
Overjoyed to have my first article published in Textual Practice today on life-writing, network infrastructures, and formal experimentation in work by Kathy Acker and Joanna Walsh.
It’s open access too! Read here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
It’s open access too! Read here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Network(ed) confession: disidentification, digitality, and the politics of self-representation in the work of Kathy Acker and Joanna Walsh
This essay examines the intersection of life-writing, network systems, and literary experimentation. Confessional forms of literature have inevitably transformed with the proliferation of mass comm...
www.tandfonline.com
January 16, 2026 at 2:44 PM
Overjoyed to have my first article published in Textual Practice today on life-writing, network infrastructures, and formal experimentation in work by Kathy Acker and Joanna Walsh.
It’s open access too! Read here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
It’s open access too! Read here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Max Shirley
'A consultation run by the City of London Corporation and published on Thursday found that nearly 90% of respondents backed trans-inclusive access to the ponds' 💪🏳️⚧️❤️
Hampstead ponds trans access challenge dismissed
Hampstead ponds trans access challenge dismissed by High Court
The current policy is that trans men and trans women are entitled to use the pond of their choice.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 29, 2026 at 12:26 PM
'A consultation run by the City of London Corporation and published on Thursday found that nearly 90% of respondents backed trans-inclusive access to the ponds' 💪🏳️⚧️❤️
Reposted by Max Shirley
I hate to tap the sign but again: this is all made to make in-person education and access to knowledge transfer a preserve of the elite. Human education for the few, bots for the many.
We want to make sure tutoring isn't the preserve of a lucky few, but accessible to every child who needs it.
AI can help us do that.
Safe, personalised, one-to-one learning support to help every child achieve and thrive.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01...
AI can help us do that.
Safe, personalised, one-to-one learning support to help every child achieve and thrive.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01...
Poorest pupils to be given AI tutors
Bridget Phillipson says tuition would no longer be the preserve of ‘the lucky few’
www.telegraph.co.uk
January 29, 2026 at 10:34 AM
I hate to tap the sign but again: this is all made to make in-person education and access to knowledge transfer a preserve of the elite. Human education for the few, bots for the many.
Reposted by Max Shirley
Another turn on the Genre Turn (and a review of Jeremy Rosen’s excellent Genre Bending). www.chronicle.com/article/is-l...
Opinion | Is ‘Literary Fiction’ Just Another Genre Now?
There is no real middlebrow any more.
www.chronicle.com
January 28, 2026 at 6:08 PM
Another turn on the Genre Turn (and a review of Jeremy Rosen’s excellent Genre Bending). www.chronicle.com/article/is-l...
Reposted by Max Shirley
“In my writing, I want to display a self that disintegrates. I can prop that up with theory, but something must compel me in the first place.” —Robert Glück buff.ly/hw5gXxh
January 20, 2026 at 8:02 PM
“In my writing, I want to display a self that disintegrates. I can prop that up with theory, but something must compel me in the first place.” —Robert Glück buff.ly/hw5gXxh
Reposted by Max Shirley
wow - honoured to be here
Overjoyed to have my first article published in Textual Practice today on life-writing, network infrastructures, and formal experimentation in work by Kathy Acker and Joanna Walsh.
It’s open access too! Read here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
It’s open access too! Read here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Network(ed) confession: disidentification, digitality, and the politics of self-representation in the work of Kathy Acker and Joanna Walsh
This essay examines the intersection of life-writing, network systems, and literary experimentation. Confessional forms of literature have inevitably transformed with the proliferation of mass comm...
www.tandfonline.com
January 17, 2026 at 3:01 PM
wow - honoured to be here
Overjoyed to have my first article published in Textual Practice today on life-writing, network infrastructures, and formal experimentation in work by Kathy Acker and Joanna Walsh.
It’s open access too! Read here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
It’s open access too! Read here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Network(ed) confession: disidentification, digitality, and the politics of self-representation in the work of Kathy Acker and Joanna Walsh
This essay examines the intersection of life-writing, network systems, and literary experimentation. Confessional forms of literature have inevitably transformed with the proliferation of mass comm...
www.tandfonline.com
January 16, 2026 at 2:44 PM
Overjoyed to have my first article published in Textual Practice today on life-writing, network infrastructures, and formal experimentation in work by Kathy Acker and Joanna Walsh.
It’s open access too! Read here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
It’s open access too! Read here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Max Shirley
what a shocking turn of events
who could’ve seen this coming
who could’ve seen this coming
OpenAI Reportedly Planning to Make ChatGPT "Prioritize" Advertisers in Conversation
OpenAI employees working on ChatGPT report plans to unleash sponsored advertisements above organic results.
futurism.com
December 31, 2025 at 1:07 AM
what a shocking turn of events
who could’ve seen this coming
who could’ve seen this coming
Reposted by Max Shirley
Still plenty of time to submit an abstract for the BACLS New Work in Contemporary Literary Studies graduate conference at The University of Leeds on May 20th for PGRs and ECRs! Please share widely call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/11/...
@bacls.bsky.social
@maxrshirley.bsky.social
@bacls.bsky.social
@maxrshirley.bsky.social
December 18, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Still plenty of time to submit an abstract for the BACLS New Work in Contemporary Literary Studies graduate conference at The University of Leeds on May 20th for PGRs and ECRs! Please share widely call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/11/...
@bacls.bsky.social
@maxrshirley.bsky.social
@bacls.bsky.social
@maxrshirley.bsky.social
Reposted by Max Shirley
‘“I can’t pay my rent with prestige,” one sign said. Another was a mock-up of the cover of Great Expectations, with “Great” crossed out and replaced by “Reasonable”.’
Anna Aslanyan on the strike at the British Library, new on the blog:
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Anna Aslanyan on the strike at the British Library, new on the blog:
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Anna Aslanyan | On the Picket Line
On Monday morning, more than a hundred people formed a picket line outside one of the entrances to the British Library...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 9, 2025 at 7:19 PM
‘“I can’t pay my rent with prestige,” one sign said. Another was a mock-up of the cover of Great Expectations, with “Great” crossed out and replaced by “Reasonable”.’
Anna Aslanyan on the strike at the British Library, new on the blog:
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Anna Aslanyan on the strike at the British Library, new on the blog:
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Reposted by Max Shirley
Anagrams by Kevin Killian
December 7, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Anagrams by Kevin Killian
Reposted by Max Shirley
differences 36.2–3 is out now — edited by Sarah Dowling and Claire Grandy, "Lyric beyond Containment" features essays from Jacques Khalip, David Marriott, Andrea Brady, Amy De'Ath, Whitney DeVos, Jan Mieszkowski, Ren Ellis Neyra, Susan Briante, more: read.dukeupress.edu/differences/...
December 6, 2025 at 3:11 PM
differences 36.2–3 is out now — edited by Sarah Dowling and Claire Grandy, "Lyric beyond Containment" features essays from Jacques Khalip, David Marriott, Andrea Brady, Amy De'Ath, Whitney DeVos, Jan Mieszkowski, Ren Ellis Neyra, Susan Briante, more: read.dukeupress.edu/differences/...
Reposted by Max Shirley
This headline is the end of civilization.
December 6, 2025 at 12:22 PM
This headline is the end of civilization.
Reposted by Max Shirley
kind of obsessed with this custom binding for Moby dick by Susan and Chaim Ebanks at Exeter Bookbinders
December 4, 2025 at 2:05 PM
kind of obsessed with this custom binding for Moby dick by Susan and Chaim Ebanks at Exeter Bookbinders
Reposted by Max Shirley
It's official: 400 redundancies and a campus closure. At-risk staff will get a letter next week. Absolutely no serious consideration of any of the union's counterproposals.
Please share widely.
Please share widely.
December 2, 2025 at 4:52 PM
It's official: 400 redundancies and a campus closure. At-risk staff will get a letter next week. Absolutely no serious consideration of any of the union's counterproposals.
Please share widely.
Please share widely.
Reposted by Max Shirley
TODAY on the Small Press Takeover podcast, listen to Cole Swensen read at a special edition of the series, in collaboration with the Material Poetics Symposium🧡 open.spotify.com/episode/466i...
Material Poetics: Cole Swensen
open.spotify.com
December 2, 2025 at 9:28 AM
TODAY on the Small Press Takeover podcast, listen to Cole Swensen read at a special edition of the series, in collaboration with the Material Poetics Symposium🧡 open.spotify.com/episode/466i...
Reposted by Max Shirley
wrote an article for @thebookseller.com outlining to the industry why small presses are the lifeforce & future of book production. Pls share esp w people who may not know what small press publishers do!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Don’t invest in AI, invest in the future of the book
Why the publishing industry must back small presses, rather than LLMs.
www.thebookseller.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:48 AM
wrote an article for @thebookseller.com outlining to the industry why small presses are the lifeforce & future of book production. Pls share esp w people who may not know what small press publishers do!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Reposted by Max Shirley
To ensure the future of our paywall-free writing, educational workshops, and staff and operations, we’re challenging ourselves to raise $100,000. All gifts are matched through Dec. 31; donate at: https://lareviewofbooks.org/donate/?utm_source=bsky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mgfd25&utm_id=mgfd25
November 14, 2025 at 6:03 PM
To ensure the future of our paywall-free writing, educational workshops, and staff and operations, we’re challenging ourselves to raise $100,000. All gifts are matched through Dec. 31; donate at: https://lareviewofbooks.org/donate/?utm_source=bsky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mgfd25&utm_id=mgfd25
Reposted by Max Shirley
‘Just one of either depopulation in the North or climate change in the South could be enough to drive mass migration.
Anyone who thinks the 21st century will not see the biggest global movement of peoples in history has not been paying attention.’
David Runciman:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Anyone who thinks the 21st century will not see the biggest global movement of peoples in history has not been paying attention.’
David Runciman:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
David Runciman · Are we doomed? The End of the Species
Are we doomed to die out? We find ourselves at the only point in the history of the species when the rate of population...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 12:03 PM
‘Just one of either depopulation in the North or climate change in the South could be enough to drive mass migration.
Anyone who thinks the 21st century will not see the biggest global movement of peoples in history has not been paying attention.’
David Runciman:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Anyone who thinks the 21st century will not see the biggest global movement of peoples in history has not been paying attention.’
David Runciman:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Max Shirley
Paolo Virno 1952-2025
November 8, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Paolo Virno 1952-2025