Keith Houston
@shadycharacters.co.uk
Keith Houston's blog about unusual marks of punctuation. Author of SHADY CHARACTERS, THE BOOK, EMPIRE OF THE SUM and now FACE WITH TEARS OF JOY: A NATURAL HISTORY OF EMOJI (https://shadycharacters.co.uk/books/).
From the Shady Characters archive, journey back to where it all began! Read about the life, death, and afterlife of the pilcrow (¶), or paragraph mark: shadycharacters.co.u....
(Image courtesy of the of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: search.digital-scrip....)
(Image courtesy of the of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: search.digital-scrip....)
October 19, 2025 at 5:24 PM
From the Shady Characters archive, journey back to where it all began! Read about the life, death, and afterlife of the pilcrow (¶), or paragraph mark: shadycharacters.co.u....
(Image courtesy of the of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: search.digital-scrip....)
(Image courtesy of the of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: search.digital-scrip....)
It’s almost here! “Face with Tears of Joy” is having a launch party at Linlithgow’s best bookshop, Far From the Madding Crowd, at 6.30pm on Wednesday October 15th. Join us for drinks, snacks, chat, and a reading from the book.
Get the details at shadycharacters.co.u..., and see you there!
Get the details at shadycharacters.co.u..., and see you there!
October 8, 2025 at 7:36 PM
It’s almost here! “Face with Tears of Joy” is having a launch party at Linlithgow’s best bookshop, Far From the Madding Crowd, at 6.30pm on Wednesday October 15th. Join us for drinks, snacks, chat, and a reading from the book.
Get the details at shadycharacters.co.u..., and see you there!
Get the details at shadycharacters.co.u..., and see you there!
Podcasts! I recently recorded two of them, in fact, courtesy of Mignon Fogarty, also known as Grammar Girl (bsky.app/profile/gra...). Head over to Shady Characters for links: shadycharacters.co.u....
September 15, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Podcasts! I recently recorded two of them, in fact, courtesy of Mignon Fogarty, also known as Grammar Girl (bsky.app/profile/gra...). Head over to Shady Characters for links: shadycharacters.co.u....
A reminder! “Face with Tears of Joy” is having a launch party at Linlithgow’s best bookshop, Far From the Madding Crowd, at 6.30pm on Wednesday October 15th for drinks, snacks, chat, and a reading from the book.
Get the details at shadycharacters.co.u..., and I look forward to seeing you there!
Get the details at shadycharacters.co.u..., and I look forward to seeing you there!
September 5, 2025 at 6:40 PM
A reminder! “Face with Tears of Joy” is having a launch party at Linlithgow’s best bookshop, Far From the Madding Crowd, at 6.30pm on Wednesday October 15th for drinks, snacks, chat, and a reading from the book.
Get the details at shadycharacters.co.u..., and I look forward to seeing you there!
Get the details at shadycharacters.co.u..., and I look forward to seeing you there!
I found Elizabeth Goodspeed's short, sweet history of business card design (themalin.co/journal/...) courtesy of Dan Cederholm's newsletter (https://simplebits.com/).
Here's one of mine, printed back in 2012 (shadycharacters.co.u...) at in Robert Smail's in Innerleithen (www.nts.org.uk/visit...).
Here's one of mine, printed back in 2012 (shadycharacters.co.u...) at in Robert Smail's in Innerleithen (www.nts.org.uk/visit...).
August 29, 2025 at 5:43 PM
I found Elizabeth Goodspeed's short, sweet history of business card design (themalin.co/journal/...) courtesy of Dan Cederholm's newsletter (https://simplebits.com/).
Here's one of mine, printed back in 2012 (shadycharacters.co.u...) at in Robert Smail's in Innerleithen (www.nts.org.uk/visit...).
Here's one of mine, printed back in 2012 (shadycharacters.co.u...) at in Robert Smail's in Innerleithen (www.nts.org.uk/visit...).
“Face with Tears of Joy” is having a launch party! I’ll be at Linlithgow’s best bookshop, Far From the Madding Crowd, at 6.30pm on Wednesday October 15th for drinks, snacks, and maybe even a reading from the book.
Get the details at shadycharacters.co.u..., and I look forward to seeing you there!
Get the details at shadycharacters.co.u..., and I look forward to seeing you there!
August 22, 2025 at 4:15 PM
“Face with Tears of Joy” is having a launch party! I’ll be at Linlithgow’s best bookshop, Far From the Madding Crowd, at 6.30pm on Wednesday October 15th for drinks, snacks, and maybe even a reading from the book.
Get the details at shadycharacters.co.u..., and I look forward to seeing you there!
Get the details at shadycharacters.co.u..., and I look forward to seeing you there!
Audiobooks galore today! First, you can win one of four copies of the “Face with Tears of Joy” audiobook at shadycharacters.co.u.... (There’s nothing complicated to do - just leave a comment!)
August 8, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Audiobooks galore today! First, you can win one of four copies of the “Face with Tears of Joy” audiobook at shadycharacters.co.u.... (There’s nothing complicated to do - just leave a comment!)
It's competition time again! Go to shadycharacters.co.u... to win one of four copies of the audio version of “Face with Tears of Joy” - just leave a comment on that post and you're in with a chance to win.
August 1, 2025 at 1:15 PM
It's competition time again! Go to shadycharacters.co.u... to win one of four copies of the audio version of “Face with Tears of Joy” - just leave a comment on that post and you're in with a chance to win.
With “Face with Tears of Joy” (shadycharacters.co.u...) now available to buy around the world, I took some time to revisit an older topic at shadycharacters.co.uk – through an emoji lens 🔍, of course! The question at hand: do emoji obey Zipf’s law? Read more here: shadycharacters.co.u....
July 21, 2025 at 4:58 PM
With “Face with Tears of Joy” (shadycharacters.co.u...) now available to buy around the world, I took some time to revisit an older topic at shadycharacters.co.uk – through an emoji lens 🔍, of course! The question at hand: do emoji obey Zipf’s law? Read more here: shadycharacters.co.u....
Two Keiths talking about emoji: what more could you want? How about a copy of my book? Well, you're in luck - Emojipedia are giving away three copies! Visit the same link (blog.emojipedia.org/...) to enter the competition.
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July 18, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Two Keiths talking about emoji: what more could you want? How about a copy of my book? Well, you're in luck - Emojipedia are giving away three copies! Visit the same link (blog.emojipedia.org/...) to enter the competition.
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To mark World Emoji Day 🎉 (and, uh, the publication of my book 📖), I put together a little emoji quiz for my publisher, W. W. Norton. Have a crack at it here! wwnorton326.outgrow....
(And buy my book here! shadycharacters.co.u...)
(And buy my book here! shadycharacters.co.u...)
July 17, 2025 at 7:05 PM
To mark World Emoji Day 🎉 (and, uh, the publication of my book 📖), I put together a little emoji quiz for my publisher, W. W. Norton. Have a crack at it here! wwnorton326.outgrow....
(And buy my book here! shadycharacters.co.u...)
(And buy my book here! shadycharacters.co.u...)
It’s publication day (again!) for “Face with Tears of Joy”!
The book has been out in North America for a couple of weeks, and now that World Emoji Day (worldemojiday.com/) has rolled around, it's time to launch it everywhere else.
Get it wherever you buy your books! shadycharacters.co.u...
The book has been out in North America for a couple of weeks, and now that World Emoji Day (worldemojiday.com/) has rolled around, it's time to launch it everywhere else.
Get it wherever you buy your books! shadycharacters.co.u...
July 17, 2025 at 12:56 PM
It’s publication day (again!) for “Face with Tears of Joy”!
The book has been out in North America for a couple of weeks, and now that World Emoji Day (worldemojiday.com/) has rolled around, it's time to launch it everywhere else.
Get it wherever you buy your books! shadycharacters.co.u...
The book has been out in North America for a couple of weeks, and now that World Emoji Day (worldemojiday.com/) has rolled around, it's time to launch it everywhere else.
Get it wherever you buy your books! shadycharacters.co.u...
Similar scenes here at Shady Characters HQ 🚅
July 17, 2025 at 6:32 AM
Similar scenes here at Shady Characters HQ 🚅
“Face with Tears of Joy” is one of Kobo's best new non-fiction books for July! www.kobo.com/us/en/l....
July 12, 2025 at 2:44 PM
“Face with Tears of Joy” is one of Kobo's best new non-fiction books for July! www.kobo.com/us/en/l....
Another podcast! You are WELCOME. This time round I spoke to Mike Carruthers, whose “Something You Should Know” programme is more than 20 years old and still going strong. Mike and I had plenty of time to really dig into the history of emoji.
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July 11, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Another podcast! You are WELCOME. This time round I spoke to Mike Carruthers, whose “Something You Should Know” programme is more than 20 years old and still going strong. Mike and I had plenty of time to really dig into the history of emoji.
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I had fun yesterday doing a couple of interviews for BBC radio: first on Radio 4's Today programme, together with Susie Dent, which listeners in the UK can listen to here (www.bbc.co.uk/sounds...) at around 2:55.
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July 10, 2025 at 7:59 PM
I had fun yesterday doing a couple of interviews for BBC radio: first on Radio 4's Today programme, together with Susie Dent, which listeners in the UK can listen to here (www.bbc.co.uk/sounds...) at around 2:55.
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Only two more days to enter the giveaway for one of two free copies of “Face with Tears of Joy”! Non-US readers can enter here: shadycharacters.co.u....
July 4, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Only two more days to enter the giveaway for one of two free copies of “Face with Tears of Joy”! Non-US readers can enter here: shadycharacters.co.u....
A quick reminder that “Face with Tears of Joy” will be published soon (July 1st in the USA; July 17th, or World Emoji Day, in the UK), and that I'm giving away two free copies to non-US readers! Visit shadycharacters.co.u... to enter.
June 27, 2025 at 7:14 PM
A quick reminder that “Face with Tears of Joy” will be published soon (July 1st in the USA; July 17th, or World Emoji Day, in the UK), and that I'm giving away two free copies to non-US readers! Visit shadycharacters.co.u... to enter.
“Face with Tears of Joy” is one of Kirkus’s 20 best books to read in July! www.kirkusreviews.co...
June 26, 2025 at 7:34 PM
“Face with Tears of Joy” is one of Kirkus’s 20 best books to read in July! www.kirkusreviews.co...
“Face with Tears of Joy” will be published soon (July 1st in the USA; July 17th, or World Emoji Day, in the UK), and to celebrate I'm giving away two free copies to non-US readers! Visit shadycharacters.co.u... to enter.
June 20, 2025 at 3:37 PM
“Face with Tears of Joy” will be published soon (July 1st in the USA; July 17th, or World Emoji Day, in the UK), and to celebrate I'm giving away two free copies to non-US readers! Visit shadycharacters.co.u... to enter.
“😂” is one of “the best summer books of 2025, according to St. Louis librarians” (www.stlpr.org/show/s...):
“From faces constructed from seldom used punctuation, to emoji taking on meanings much more complex than the simple shapes they are [...] it’s a great nonfiction beach read.”
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“From faces constructed from seldom used punctuation, to emoji taking on meanings much more complex than the simple shapes they are [...] it’s a great nonfiction beach read.”
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June 17, 2025 at 2:27 PM
“😂” is one of “the best summer books of 2025, according to St. Louis librarians” (www.stlpr.org/show/s...):
“From faces constructed from seldom used punctuation, to emoji taking on meanings much more complex than the simple shapes they are [...] it’s a great nonfiction beach read.”
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“From faces constructed from seldom used punctuation, to emoji taking on meanings much more complex than the simple shapes they are [...] it’s a great nonfiction beach read.”
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What are emoji all about, really? There’s enough to write a book on them (cf shadycharacters.co.u...), but for now, this essay from the Shady Characters archive packs the essentials into a few hundred words: shadycharacters.co.u....
June 15, 2025 at 10:55 AM
What are emoji all about, really? There’s enough to write a book on them (cf shadycharacters.co.u...), but for now, this essay from the Shady Characters archive packs the essentials into a few hundred words: shadycharacters.co.u....
If you want to learn even more about emoji, you can pre-order my book, “Face with Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji” (shadycharacters.co.u...), which will be published next month. Not long now at all!
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June 6, 2025 at 3:05 PM
If you want to learn even more about emoji, you can pre-order my book, “Face with Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji” (shadycharacters.co.u...), which will be published next month. Not long now at all!
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I have made a thing! Visit emoji.shadycharacter... to see the Shady Characters Periodic Table of Emoji and read about how it came together. There’s a lot of detail in there, although you can read shadycharacters.co.u... to get a shorter intro.
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June 6, 2025 at 3:05 PM
I have made a thing! Visit emoji.shadycharacter... to see the Shady Characters Periodic Table of Emoji and read about how it came together. There’s a lot of detail in there, although you can read shadycharacters.co.u... to get a shorter intro.
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The paperback edition of “The Book” is one of Barnes & Noble’s “Best History Books of 2025 (So Far)”: www.barnesandnoble.c...! (Which gives me an excuse, of course, to repost Sarah Bibel’s fantastic cover design.)
June 3, 2025 at 11:56 AM
The paperback edition of “The Book” is one of Barnes & Noble’s “Best History Books of 2025 (So Far)”: www.barnesandnoble.c...! (Which gives me an excuse, of course, to repost Sarah Bibel’s fantastic cover design.)