Gabriel Schenk
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gabrielschenk.bsky.social
Gabriel Schenk
@gabrielschenk.bsky.social
310 followers 130 following 36 posts
Teaches fantasy | DPhil in Arthurian Literature | Tolkien Lecture on Fantasy Literature Committee | 🏳️‍🌈 He/him
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Gabriel Schenk
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘Patterns’ - #RSThomas
(Between Here and Now, Macmillan)
#Patrymau #Patterns
#Bardd #Barddoniaeth #Cerdd
#Poet #Poetry #Poem
Text of poem - PATTERNS. The old men ask for more time, while the young waste it. And the philosopher smiles, knowing there is none there. But the hero stands sword drawn at the looking-glass of his mind, aiming at that anonymous face over his shoulder.
September 3, 2025 at 7:11 AM
Reposted by Gabriel Schenk
calummillerld.bsky.social
I have written to Nigel Farage in response to his visit to my constituency of Bicester and Woodstock today.
Dear Mr Farage Welcome to Oxfordshire. You came here to talk about “mass deportations” but made no effort to understand the people or challenges of this community. Your proposals offer no costed plan. Daily flights, new detention centres and vast surveillance systems would cost billions. Empty slogans are not a substitute for serious policy. It did not go unnoticed that you spoke just minutes from Campsfield House, where a detention centre is being rebuilt despite local opposition and past scandals. Yet you chose not to meet residents living with those consequences. You often invoke Winston Churchill, born here in Oxfordshire. He spent his career grappling with difficult truths and forging alliances in our national interest. Instead of sowing division, we should build on that legacy. Our immigration system is broken after years of Government failure. It needs urgent, practical reform: fair, managed migration to meet workforce shortages, a faster asylum system and support for those fleeing war and persecution. That requires cooperation and honesty, not division. If you return, I would be glad to show you Oxfordshire’s real story: businesses thriving thanks to home and overseas talent, health and care services desperate for staff and residents supporting refugees with compassion. You would see a community interested in solving problems, not fuelling conflict. Yours sincerely Calum Miller MP
August 26, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Schenk
sorinahiggins.bsky.social
Remember that poll I posted asking which Pevensie kid you'd like to be? Lucy won (surprise, surprise). Well, I have an invitation for you: Come with Lucy through the Wardrobe! youtu.be/Pvx1dElzeRU
#Narnia #books #reading #fantasy #CSLewis #literature
Myth & Meaning Through the Wardrobe
YouTube video by Dr. Sørina Higgins
youtu.be
August 25, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Schenk
sorinahiggins.bsky.social
“My Dear Lucy,” wrote C.S. Lewis: “some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.” Are YOU old enough to read fairy tales again? Yes? Then let's read one together!
youtu.be/Pvx1dElzeRU?...
#Narnia #CSLewis #Inklings #books #reading #classes #literature
Myth & Meaning Through the Wardrobe
YouTube video by Dr. Sørina Higgins
youtu.be
August 20, 2025 at 3:58 PM
gabrielschenk.bsky.social
My tour of Oxford locations in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust is now up on Youtube. Share and enjoy!

#PhilipPullman #BookofDust #HisDarkMaterials #Fantasy

youtu.be/oVuZ2TvsQaY?...
Philip Pullman in Oxford
YouTube video by Dr Gabriel Schenk
youtu.be
August 5, 2025 at 10:34 AM
gabrielschenk.bsky.social
From December 1 – 24 I exclusively listen to Christmas music and I have so much choice I never need to repeat a song, but in August the only song I can listen to is "August" by Taylor Swift. We need more "August" songs!
August 4, 2025 at 8:02 PM
gabrielschenk.bsky.social
My talk, about J.R.R. Tolkien at the BBC, is now on Youtube: youtu.be/K6vvW-_QqBs?...
J.R.R. Tolkien at the BBC
YouTube video by Oxford Tolkien Network
youtu.be
June 27, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Reposted by Gabriel Schenk
goodlawproject.org
It doesn't end with trans people; it never did. www.attitude.co.uk/news/reform-...
Reform UK moving 'at speed' to ban rainbow flags in council buildings
However, Union Jack and St George's flags will be allowed to fly atop council buildings, as per the new rules
www.attitude.co.uk
May 7, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Schenk
richove.bsky.social
Mayday, mayday … there’s nothing quite like May Day in Oxford!
May 1, 2025 at 6:43 AM
gabrielschenk.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
Philip Pullman announces The Rose Field, the final part of Lyra’s story
The acclaimed writer of His Dark Materials says the third volume in The Book of Dust series will portray a ‘dangerous, breathtaking quest’
www.theguardian.com
April 29, 2025 at 2:48 PM
gabrielschenk.bsky.social
Fun fact: Sylvia Plath was a Tolkien fan and celebrated her birthday in 1960 by reading The Lord of the Rings with her husband Ted Hughes.
Sylvia awoke on her twenty-eighth birthday to German coffee cake, complete with flaming candle, and gifts wrapped in brown paper. They celebrated at home with a Fortnum & Mason chicken pie, German chocolate, Brie, Stilton and cheddar, pink champagne, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Sylvia declared it her best birthday yet and told Aurelia with her usual hyperbole that she was “happier living in London than anywhere else in the world.”
April 18, 2025 at 1:55 PM
gabrielschenk.bsky.social
I have 1,500 unread emails in my inbox. Might just delete them all... (Also, 28,476 read emails in my inbox but they can just sit there).
Screenshot showing 1,500 unread emails in my inbox
April 1, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Reposted by Gabriel Schenk
lauragordon.bsky.social
No campaigning today as I've got the kids but it was nice to take them down to explore the market with our wonderful Kidlington East candidate, Gabriel
March 29, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Schenk
tolkienlecture.bsky.social
✨ Tickets are out now for the 2025 Tolkien Lecture, delivered by Zen Cho (@zenaldehyde.bsky.social)!

🎟️ Visit Eventbrite to reserve your seat: tinyurl.com/2025TolkienL....

🐈‍⬛ The lecture will be held on Monday 19 May at 6:00 pm, in the Pichette Auditorium, Pembroke College, Oxford.
March 19, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Schenk
eddavey.libdems.org.uk
This is thuggery from Trump and Vance, plain and simple.

They are bullying the brave true patriot Zelensky into accepting a deal which effectively hands victory to Russia. Unless the UK and Europe step up, we are facing a betrayal of Ukraine.
February 28, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Schenk
garrykasparov.bsky.social
Zelensky is a wartime leader watching his people suffer and die under Russian attacks every day. To be lectured and lied to by Trump and Vance, as they defend the war criminal dictator committing these atrocities, is unimaginable agony. An everlasting shame for America.
jimsciutto.bsky.social Jim Sciutto @jimsciutto.bsky.social · Feb 28
Trump has not uttered a critical word about Putin but he and his VP publicly belittled the leader of the nation Putin invaded.
February 28, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Schenk
cherylmorgan.bsky.social
I wrote a thing, which is very much about T visibility: seattlein2025.org/2025/02/14/f...
Fantastic Fiction: Trans Writers in the 20th Century?
Ask anyone who was the first trans person to win a Hugo Award and they will probably say "Charlie Jane Anders", back in 2012. I think my 2009 win is probably the first by an out trans person, but I wa...
seattlein2025.org
February 14, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Schenk
uofgfantasy.bsky.social
SUBMISSIONS - University of Glasgow’s first fantasy fiction publication Elsewhere, is calling for submissions! 

‘We are interested in all forms of fantasy, but especially those with voices and stories historically under-represented in the genre. 1/3
February 14, 2025 at 6:15 PM
gabrielschenk.bsky.social
I know people like to have updates about the Eagle and Child (#inklings pub in Oxford) so here's the latest... they've put scaffolding on the outside decorated with an image of the pub (with a really large, not to scale, person for some reason). Presumably part of the renovations EIT said they'd do.
Printed canvas over scaffolding, showing a three-story old building with lead-lined windows and a wooden door. "The Eagle and Child" in lettering across the front. Photo taken at night.
February 14, 2025 at 10:12 AM
gabrielschenk.bsky.social
Looking forward to this!
profcarolyne.bsky.social Carolyne Larrington @profcarolyne.bsky.social · Feb 14
Exciting news! A free-to-attend summer school in September in Oxford on fantasy with publishers, authors and experts, generously sponsored by Bloomsbury. All the details here:
fantasyliteratureschool.web.ox.ac.uk/home
Oxford–Bloomsbury Fantasy Summer School 2025
fantasyliteratureschool.web.ox.ac.uk
February 14, 2025 at 10:03 AM
gabrielschenk.bsky.social
A brief teaser for some of the upcoming videos on my Youtube channel: youtu.be/gizEMQ6pim8?...
Future Literary Pilgrimages
YouTube video by Dr Gabriel Schenk
youtu.be
January 2, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Schenk
rozkaveney.bsky.social

I'm always very nervous about listening to my own voice...So, a bit belatedly, here is a podcast I did with Jerry Britton on which I talk about Tolkien and being trans and why I fight for what is right in the face of despair.

open.spotify.com/episode/0M8w...
4: Tolkien's Pipe: Maps and Fantasy with Roz Kaveney
What's Your Map? · Episode
open.spotify.com
December 23, 2024 at 12:03 AM
Reposted by Gabriel Schenk
owenbarfield.bsky.social
Introduction 🧵Owen Barfield (1898–1997) was one of the twentieth century’s most insightful writers and philosophers. His ideas informed the thinking and writing of influential authors such as C. S. #Lewis and J. R. R. #Tolkien who were fellow members of the #Inklings, an Oxford group of thinkers. /1
Owen Barfield, April 1972 in Wheaton, IL, USA. A man with a pipe in his mouth, smart dark suit, grey hair slicked back, wrinkled face, and small round glasses. He is is pointing at something to the right of frame. In the background is a white wooden building.
December 5, 2024 at 11:13 AM
gabrielschenk.bsky.social
The #OwenBarfield Literary Estate is on Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/owen...

Give them a follow... the only official Inkling presence on the platform (so far!) #Inklings #Tolkien #CSLewis
bsky.app
December 4, 2024 at 10:11 PM