Dr Sarah J Young
@sarahjyoung.bsky.social
Russophone culture & history, prison/gulag writing, and C19 literature. Also cats. And needlework. Author/translator of Writing Resistance: Revolutionary Memoirs of Shlissel’burg Prison, 1884-1906 https://uclpress.co.uk/products/173021
Pinned
Dr Sarah J Young
@sarahjyoung.bsky.social
· Nov 18
Writing Resistance
In 1884, the first of 68 prisoners convicted of terrorism and revolutionary activity were transferred to a new maximum security prison at Shlissel´burg Fortress near St Petersburg. The regime of indet...
uclpress.co.uk
Greetings to new followers! One of the things I’m going to be using this account for is posting about the revolutionary populists imprisoned in Shlissel’burg Fortress from 1884-1906, the subject of my open access @uclpress.bsky.social book Writing Resistance uclpress.co.uk/book/writing...
Reposted by Dr Sarah J Young
Save Modern Languages at the University of Nottingham www.savemlcatnotts.org.uk
savenottinghamlanguages
www.savemlcatnotts.org.uk
November 19, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Save Modern Languages at the University of Nottingham www.savemlcatnotts.org.uk
This is completely inadequate. Where are double-decker buses?
November 18, 2025 at 11:58 PM
This is completely inadequate. Where are double-decker buses?
Reposted by Dr Sarah J Young
This is an excellent article by @danhancox.bsky.social on the @casadelamemoria.bsky.social and the legacies of francoist terror:
observer.co.uk/style/featur...
#HistoricalMemory #MemoriaHistoria
observer.co.uk/style/featur...
#HistoricalMemory #MemoriaHistoria
November 18, 2025 at 8:14 AM
This is an excellent article by @danhancox.bsky.social on the @casadelamemoria.bsky.social and the legacies of francoist terror:
observer.co.uk/style/featur...
#HistoricalMemory #MemoriaHistoria
observer.co.uk/style/featur...
#HistoricalMemory #MemoriaHistoria
Reposted by Dr Sarah J Young
"Brown people can only be safe if white people don't feel threatened by them" is a HELL of an argument to be selling.
Especially since we know damn well that "Feeling threatened by brown people" is a whole ideology nobody is going to quietly give up.
Especially since we know damn well that "Feeling threatened by brown people" is a whole ideology nobody is going to quietly give up.
It's less maddening to confront the written form of Shabana Mahmood's presentation…
"I know that some of these measures will face opposition. But this is a moral mission for me. I know that a country without secure borders is a less safe country for those who look like me."
… but still…
#R4Today
"I know that some of these measures will face opposition. But this is a moral mission for me. I know that a country without secure borders is a less safe country for those who look like me."
… but still…
#R4Today
This is now a familiar rubric for ideas that are hard to sell on merits.
2019: Boris Johnson’s agenda is the only way to stop Nigel Farage’s.
2024: Nigel Farage’s agenda is the only way to stop Tommy Robinson.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
2019: Boris Johnson’s agenda is the only way to stop Nigel Farage’s.
2024: Nigel Farage’s agenda is the only way to stop Tommy Robinson.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 AM
"Brown people can only be safe if white people don't feel threatened by them" is a HELL of an argument to be selling.
Especially since we know damn well that "Feeling threatened by brown people" is a whole ideology nobody is going to quietly give up.
Especially since we know damn well that "Feeling threatened by brown people" is a whole ideology nobody is going to quietly give up.
Reposted by Dr Sarah J Young
Please join us on Monday to hear more about
@kbruisch.bsky.social's new book 'Burning Swamps: Peat and the Forgotten Margins of Russia’s Fossil Economy'
@universitypress.cambridge.org.
Discussants: @eglerin.bsky.social and @robertsuits.bsky.social
🗓️ 17 November at 6.15pm
➡️ buff.ly/zYgWn4s
@kbruisch.bsky.social's new book 'Burning Swamps: Peat and the Forgotten Margins of Russia’s Fossil Economy'
@universitypress.cambridge.org.
Discussants: @eglerin.bsky.social and @robertsuits.bsky.social
🗓️ 17 November at 6.15pm
➡️ buff.ly/zYgWn4s
November 13, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Please join us on Monday to hear more about
@kbruisch.bsky.social's new book 'Burning Swamps: Peat and the Forgotten Margins of Russia’s Fossil Economy'
@universitypress.cambridge.org.
Discussants: @eglerin.bsky.social and @robertsuits.bsky.social
🗓️ 17 November at 6.15pm
➡️ buff.ly/zYgWn4s
@kbruisch.bsky.social's new book 'Burning Swamps: Peat and the Forgotten Margins of Russia’s Fossil Economy'
@universitypress.cambridge.org.
Discussants: @eglerin.bsky.social and @robertsuits.bsky.social
🗓️ 17 November at 6.15pm
➡️ buff.ly/zYgWn4s
Reposted by Dr Sarah J Young
Someone should ask Starmer and Mahmood whether they think the Kindertransport, for example, should have been a return ticket. Whether Alf Dubs, rather than becoming a Labour MP and now Lord, ought to have been sent back with his family to Czechoslovakia once it was liberated from German rule.
This contribution to the volume of human misery is yet another policy from Labour based on a false premise, in this case that refugees are overly attracted to Britain. It will increase bureaucratic limbo, thus making worse the problem of "cohesion" it purports to solve.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
UK set to limit refugees to temporary stays
Shabana Mahmood is expected to say the era of permanent protection for refugees is over, in major changes to the UK's asylum and immigration system.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Someone should ask Starmer and Mahmood whether they think the Kindertransport, for example, should have been a return ticket. Whether Alf Dubs, rather than becoming a Labour MP and now Lord, ought to have been sent back with his family to Czechoslovakia once it was liberated from German rule.
Reposted by Dr Sarah J Young
This contribution to the volume of human misery is yet another policy from Labour based on a false premise, in this case that refugees are overly attracted to Britain. It will increase bureaucratic limbo, thus making worse the problem of "cohesion" it purports to solve.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
UK set to limit refugees to temporary stays
Shabana Mahmood is expected to say the era of permanent protection for refugees is over, in major changes to the UK's asylum and immigration system.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 8:47 AM
This contribution to the volume of human misery is yet another policy from Labour based on a false premise, in this case that refugees are overly attracted to Britain. It will increase bureaucratic limbo, thus making worse the problem of "cohesion" it purports to solve.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Dr Sarah J Young
Nothing makes me stop paying attention quicker than hearing or reading 'I asked ChatGPT...'
November 14, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Nothing makes me stop paying attention quicker than hearing or reading 'I asked ChatGPT...'
Reposted by Dr Sarah J Young
Petition started by students in Modern Languages at the University of Leicester. The department has been told it will close despite its stellar NSS record and brilliant teaching and research - the same devastating short-term thinking as elsewhere. Please sign and share www.change.org/p/save-moder...
Sign the Petition
Save Modern Languages courses at the University of Leicester
www.change.org
November 12, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Petition started by students in Modern Languages at the University of Leicester. The department has been told it will close despite its stellar NSS record and brilliant teaching and research - the same devastating short-term thinking as elsewhere. Please sign and share www.change.org/p/save-moder...
Reposted by Dr Sarah J Young
Centuries before Virginia Woolf dreamed of a “room of one’s own,” Li Qingzhao(1084 – ca. 1155) already claimed hers in the Song Dynasty. While most women were bound to the household, she built a library of 4,000 volumes and wrote with a voice both lyrical and defiant. 1/2
#poem
#poem
November 9, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Centuries before Virginia Woolf dreamed of a “room of one’s own,” Li Qingzhao(1084 – ca. 1155) already claimed hers in the Song Dynasty. While most women were bound to the household, she built a library of 4,000 volumes and wrote with a voice both lyrical and defiant. 1/2
#poem
#poem
Reposted by Dr Sarah J Young
What does it mean mean to write through war? Please join us for an evening with Ukrainian writer and war reporter Myroslav Laiuk, who will reflect on the challenges of representing violence and suffering.
Moderated by @odrekhivska.bsky.social.
🗓️ 14 November at 5pm
📍 UCL SSEES
➡️ buff.ly/WqZKbU6
Moderated by @odrekhivska.bsky.social.
🗓️ 14 November at 5pm
📍 UCL SSEES
➡️ buff.ly/WqZKbU6
November 4, 2025 at 12:00 PM
What does it mean mean to write through war? Please join us for an evening with Ukrainian writer and war reporter Myroslav Laiuk, who will reflect on the challenges of representing violence and suffering.
Moderated by @odrekhivska.bsky.social.
🗓️ 14 November at 5pm
📍 UCL SSEES
➡️ buff.ly/WqZKbU6
Moderated by @odrekhivska.bsky.social.
🗓️ 14 November at 5pm
📍 UCL SSEES
➡️ buff.ly/WqZKbU6
Reposted by Dr Sarah J Young
Excellent article here. Our students are our greatest advocates. Counter proposals will be put forward, and we are supporting colleagues in Music, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies at Nottingham with their campaigns www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
University of Nottingham students fight 'insane' cull of courses
Traitors composer Sam Watts is among those against plans to cut University of Nottingham courses.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 8, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Excellent article here. Our students are our greatest advocates. Counter proposals will be put forward, and we are supporting colleagues in Music, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies at Nottingham with their campaigns www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Dr Sarah J Young
AND HE WAS LIKE, BUT NOT MY FACE, RIGHT? AND I WAS LIKE WELL IT'S A FACE, SO
November 7, 2025 at 12:20 AM
AND HE WAS LIKE, BUT NOT MY FACE, RIGHT? AND I WAS LIKE WELL IT'S A FACE, SO
Reposted by Dr Sarah J Young
Please consider signing against this nonsensical absurdity! c.org/vGgNqmXhNx
Sign the Petition
Stop the removal of Modern Languages courses at the University of Nottingham!
c.org
November 7, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Please consider signing against this nonsensical absurdity! c.org/vGgNqmXhNx
AI absolutely nailed by the brilliant @stephencollins.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Give peas a chance – even AI peas: the Stephen Collins cartoon
AI can transform all areas of our lives – even boiling a bag of frozen veg
www.theguardian.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:31 PM
AI absolutely nailed by the brilliant @stephencollins.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
This really is horrendous news. I did my PhD at Nottingham and the whole school of modern languages was an important and vibrant contributor to arts and humanities. It’s taken a few knocks since then, but this move is beyond shortsighted. Really feel for colleagues there. This has to be fought.
Well this is awful news: tinyurl.com/yr65mjkx
'All modern language and music courses are being suspended for new students at the University of Nottingham.'
Nottingham friends: please be assured that we will join you in protesting against this decision in the strongest possible terms. Solidarity.
'All modern language and music courses are being suspended for new students at the University of Nottingham.'
Nottingham friends: please be assured that we will join you in protesting against this decision in the strongest possible terms. Solidarity.
Music and modern languages courses suspended at University of Nottingham
In a statement the institution also says it is
www.bbc.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 12:44 PM
This really is horrendous news. I did my PhD at Nottingham and the whole school of modern languages was an important and vibrant contributor to arts and humanities. It’s taken a few knocks since then, but this move is beyond shortsighted. Really feel for colleagues there. This has to be fought.
Late reposting for #Caturday
Victor and Serge doing their cover of “Knowing me, knowing you” #CatsOfBluesky
November 1, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Late reposting for #Caturday
Reposted by Dr Sarah J Young
So pleased to get my book "Travels through the Spanish Civil War". @HurstPublishers publishers have done a wonderful job in producing it.
Advanced copies available thru
www.hurstpublishers.com/book/travels... with 25% off with code TRAVELS25. Otherwise 20 November in UK/Europe and 5 Jan for US, etc
Advanced copies available thru
www.hurstpublishers.com/book/travels... with 25% off with code TRAVELS25. Otherwise 20 November in UK/Europe and 5 Jan for US, etc
November 1, 2025 at 10:43 AM
So pleased to get my book "Travels through the Spanish Civil War". @HurstPublishers publishers have done a wonderful job in producing it.
Advanced copies available thru
www.hurstpublishers.com/book/travels... with 25% off with code TRAVELS25. Otherwise 20 November in UK/Europe and 5 Jan for US, etc
Advanced copies available thru
www.hurstpublishers.com/book/travels... with 25% off with code TRAVELS25. Otherwise 20 November in UK/Europe and 5 Jan for US, etc
Reposted by Dr Sarah J Young
This piece has been simmering inside me for a while. I’d like it to be the final text I write about my cancer journey, but, of course, the end is never truly the end. Thanks for reading. If you know someone undergoing treatment, please consider sharing it with them. open.substack.com/pub/olesyakh...
November 1, 2025 at 10:26 AM
This piece has been simmering inside me for a while. I’d like it to be the final text I write about my cancer journey, but, of course, the end is never truly the end. Thanks for reading. If you know someone undergoing treatment, please consider sharing it with them. open.substack.com/pub/olesyakh...
Reposted by Dr Sarah J Young
Reposted by Dr Sarah J Young
Would that be Stalin’s forced displacement of thousands of citizens to make way for Moscow’s skyscrapers or the forced labour?
October 29, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Would that be Stalin’s forced displacement of thousands of citizens to make way for Moscow’s skyscrapers or the forced labour?
Reposted by Dr Sarah J Young
Today, @sarahhudspith.bsky.social reflects on Dostoevsky Now and the preservation of its content on Bloggers Karamazov: “The full joining of Dostoevsky Now to its big brother Bloggers Karamazov feels to me like the most natural, organic solution.”
bloggerskaramazov.com/2025/10/27/a...
bloggerskaramazov.com/2025/10/27/a...
A Retrospective on the Website Dostoevsky Now
The North American Dostoevsky Society stands with all the people of Ukraine, Russia, and the rest of the world who condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. See our statement here. by Sarah Hud…
bloggerskaramazov.com
October 27, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Today, @sarahhudspith.bsky.social reflects on Dostoevsky Now and the preservation of its content on Bloggers Karamazov: “The full joining of Dostoevsky Now to its big brother Bloggers Karamazov feels to me like the most natural, organic solution.”
bloggerskaramazov.com/2025/10/27/a...
bloggerskaramazov.com/2025/10/27/a...
The response of a significant proportion of the left to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, ranging from studied indifference to actively opposing support for Ukraine, has been deeply troubling, and exposes their moral and intellectual bankruptcy.
We take no joy criticising a young left-wing UK political figure who has often spoken up for workers' rights and progressive causes. But these barely coherent comments from Zarah Sultana on Ukraine sum up much of what is wrong with her wing of the left www.instagram.com/reel/DQT62ys...
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www.instagram.com
October 27, 2025 at 5:19 PM
The response of a significant proportion of the left to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, ranging from studied indifference to actively opposing support for Ukraine, has been deeply troubling, and exposes their moral and intellectual bankruptcy.
Reposted by Dr Sarah J Young
Victor and Serge doing their cover of “Knowing me, knowing you” #CatsOfBluesky
October 26, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Victor and Serge doing their cover of “Knowing me, knowing you” #CatsOfBluesky