Zoë Somerville
@zoesomerville.bsky.social
Author, teacher, editor.
From Norwich, live in Bath (I like a pretty city)
Novels The Marsh House (2022) and The Night of the Flood (2020).
zoesomerville.com
From Norwich, live in Bath (I like a pretty city)
Novels The Marsh House (2022) and The Night of the Flood (2020).
zoesomerville.com
How is that possible?! One of my favourite places ever!
November 3, 2025 at 3:30 PM
How is that possible?! One of my favourite places ever!
I'm about to turn 50 & I'm not feeling 100% jolly about it. Mostly because I am really keen to find a home for my fourth novel. I'm out on sub to a few agents but who knows? In the meantime, does anyone know of any small presses that are open to submissions? It's a dark love story set in the 50s!
November 3, 2025 at 3:30 PM
I'm about to turn 50 & I'm not feeling 100% jolly about it. Mostly because I am really keen to find a home for my fourth novel. I'm out on sub to a few agents but who knows? In the meantime, does anyone know of any small presses that are open to submissions? It's a dark love story set in the 50s!
Always
I've made Simon stop at little tea shops - I thought SOD it, I'll have what I want.
October 27, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Always
Reposted by Zoë Somerville
Ugh
Nigel Newton, CEO of Bloomsbury, telling us why AI is good for publishing with this fun caveat: “We are programmed deep in our DNA to be comforted by the authority and the reliability of big brand names, & that applies more than ever to the names of big writers."
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
AI can help authors beat writer’s block, says Bloomsbury chief
Publisher last week reported jump in revenue in academic and professional arm thanks to AI licensing deal
www.theguardian.com
October 27, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Ugh
Reposted by Zoë Somerville
A politics that claims to speak for "the people" against its "enemies" is always dangerous.
"The people" are a glorious array of different ideas & interests, with democracy a dialogue between them.
Populism is founded on a lie,so its fruits are always authoritarianism, simplism & conspiratorialism
"The people" are a glorious array of different ideas & interests, with democracy a dialogue between them.
Populism is founded on a lie,so its fruits are always authoritarianism, simplism & conspiratorialism
why are people on the left using "populist" in a positive way now, you shouldn't want your politicians to be populists, "populism" isn't good
October 25, 2025 at 1:22 PM
A politics that claims to speak for "the people" against its "enemies" is always dangerous.
"The people" are a glorious array of different ideas & interests, with democracy a dialogue between them.
Populism is founded on a lie,so its fruits are always authoritarianism, simplism & conspiratorialism
"The people" are a glorious array of different ideas & interests, with democracy a dialogue between them.
Populism is founded on a lie,so its fruits are always authoritarianism, simplism & conspiratorialism
Reposted by Zoë Somerville
You have to wonder about all these spam emails being sent to writers, offering ‘book promotion services’. Like, you really think trying to tap *writers* for money will provide a good source of income?
October 23, 2025 at 8:24 AM
You have to wonder about all these spam emails being sent to writers, offering ‘book promotion services’. Like, you really think trying to tap *writers* for money will provide a good source of income?
Reposted by Zoë Somerville
Reminder, now the world has been reduced to ‘content’ being fed into make-believe machines run by billionaires, books are gold dust when compared to all other ‘content’. If only book publishing positioned themselves as that and believed in themselves.
October 16, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Reminder, now the world has been reduced to ‘content’ being fed into make-believe machines run by billionaires, books are gold dust when compared to all other ‘content’. If only book publishing positioned themselves as that and believed in themselves.
Reposted by Zoë Somerville
If you care about the future of books and publishing, I highly recommend you get behind this initiative with your whole hearts - (for what it's worth I think the whole of publishing should do this) www.thebookseller.com/news/uk-star...
Startup launches ‘industry-first’ certification for human-made books
UK start-up Books By People has launched a new certification – the Organic Literature Certification – with a group of independent publishing houses to “counter AI-generated books”.
www.thebookseller.com
October 15, 2025 at 9:50 AM
If you care about the future of books and publishing, I highly recommend you get behind this initiative with your whole hearts - (for what it's worth I think the whole of publishing should do this) www.thebookseller.com/news/uk-star...
So, I've been off Bluesky for a while, no particular reason, and now I've been without a working phone for *counts on fingers* three days and I feel cut off from the world! On the plus side, I read the (nearly) entire of Alan Hollinghurst's Our Evenings on the train back from our holiday!
August 20, 2025 at 5:42 PM
So, I've been off Bluesky for a while, no particular reason, and now I've been without a working phone for *counts on fingers* three days and I feel cut off from the world! On the plus side, I read the (nearly) entire of Alan Hollinghurst's Our Evenings on the train back from our holiday!
Reposted by Zoë Somerville
The National Centre for Writing has launched a call to find writers in the East of England who are seeking to 'develop their craft and find routes into the publishing industry' 👇
Escalator New Writing Fellowships for unpublished fiction writers celebrates 20th year
The National Centre for Writing has launched a call to find writers in the East of England who are seeking to 'develop their craft and find routes into the publishing industry'.
ebx.sh
August 20, 2025 at 4:38 PM
The National Centre for Writing has launched a call to find writers in the East of England who are seeking to 'develop their craft and find routes into the publishing industry' 👇
Really interesting thread on the ramifications of the #SaltPath debacle 👇
The Salt Path has never appealed to me. Redemptive memoirs are really not my thing.
But if Penguin had pitched it as an audacious heist getaway story...
But if Penguin had pitched it as an audacious heist getaway story...
July 7, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Really interesting thread on the ramifications of the #SaltPath debacle 👇
Is anyone listening to the R4 Postwar series? It's brilliant but also so relevant to today: the beginning of the Welfare State, the United Nations, the Cold War...
@bbcsounds.bsky.social
@bbcsounds.bsky.social
July 1, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Is anyone listening to the R4 Postwar series? It's brilliant but also so relevant to today: the beginning of the Welfare State, the United Nations, the Cold War...
@bbcsounds.bsky.social
@bbcsounds.bsky.social
Reposted by Zoë Somerville
A man with a scorpion bite.
A woman with cholera.
A diabetic who needed insulin.
A 3-year-old boy.
They all died when the U.S. stopped sending medicine to Sudan.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
A woman with cholera.
A diabetic who needed insulin.
A 3-year-old boy.
They all died when the U.S. stopped sending medicine to Sudan.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
June 29, 2025 at 9:19 PM
A man with a scorpion bite.
A woman with cholera.
A diabetic who needed insulin.
A 3-year-old boy.
They all died when the U.S. stopped sending medicine to Sudan.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
A woman with cholera.
A diabetic who needed insulin.
A 3-year-old boy.
They all died when the U.S. stopped sending medicine to Sudan.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Reposted by Zoë Somerville
REALLY ITS TOO MUCH EFFORT TO LIFT THE BLOODY PEN
July 1, 2025 at 7:46 AM
REALLY ITS TOO MUCH EFFORT TO LIFT THE BLOODY PEN
Reposted by Zoë Somerville
Teachers don't need more tech. They need smaller classes and more (paid) time for prep and instruction. But alas, the tech option means more profit for billionaires, while the latter would cost billionaires more in taxes. And so, in our current kleptocracy, tech is what teachers are going to get...
🧵 addressing the argument: "AI won’t replace teachers, but it will save them time and make them more effective.”
Adding edtech doesn't necessarily save teachers time. A recent study found that LMSs sold to schools over the past decade+ as time-savers aren’t delivering on making teaching easier.
Adding edtech doesn't necessarily save teachers time. A recent study found that LMSs sold to schools over the past decade+ as time-savers aren’t delivering on making teaching easier.
Technology is supposed to decrease teacher burnout – but we found it can sometimes make it worse
Efforts to simplify teachers’ jobs through technology can backfire without a strong focus on teacher well-being.
theconversation.com
June 29, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Teachers don't need more tech. They need smaller classes and more (paid) time for prep and instruction. But alas, the tech option means more profit for billionaires, while the latter would cost billionaires more in taxes. And so, in our current kleptocracy, tech is what teachers are going to get...
Reposted by Zoë Somerville
"Israeli soldiers in Gaza told Haaretz that the army has deliberately fired at Palestinians near aid distribution sites..."
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
IDF soldiers ordered to shoot deliberately at unarmed Gazans waiting for humanitarian aid
***
www.haaretz.com
June 27, 2025 at 11:20 AM
"Israeli soldiers in Gaza told Haaretz that the army has deliberately fired at Palestinians near aid distribution sites..."
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Reposted by Zoë Somerville
These are trying times.
June 27, 2025 at 6:56 AM
These are trying times.
We can't afford it. So the solution is, really, to pay more taxes. But no one wants to admit this.
‘Why has the number of PIP claimants gone up since 2019?’, I keep seeing asked in SW1 like it’s a proper mystery
We have an aging population, we have had a pandemic which disabled people, and the cost of living has exploded in recent years!
If you live in the real world it’s not a mystery, surely!
We have an aging population, we have had a pandemic which disabled people, and the cost of living has exploded in recent years!
If you live in the real world it’s not a mystery, surely!
June 26, 2025 at 1:43 PM
We can't afford it. So the solution is, really, to pay more taxes. But no one wants to admit this.
Reposted by Zoë Somerville
We were looking for Florence but couldn't find it, but we have found a beautiful town called Firenze.
June 26, 2025 at 12:38 PM
We were looking for Florence but couldn't find it, but we have found a beautiful town called Firenze.
Why are new writing competitions cropping up right now when there are so many submissions from proven writers? I guess it's a quickish way to find new debuts. Debuts are, by definition, new, so can be presented as shiny rather than tarnished. I suspect that it's also a good way to make some money.
June 26, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Why are new writing competitions cropping up right now when there are so many submissions from proven writers? I guess it's a quickish way to find new debuts. Debuts are, by definition, new, so can be presented as shiny rather than tarnished. I suspect that it's also a good way to make some money.
Reposted by Zoë Somerville
I’m so tired of the wrong answers. So, so tired. It’s the Yeats poem, except the best don’t lack conviction at all, they just get ignored. On climate, on rights, on peace, on AI.
June 24, 2025 at 3:37 PM
I’m so tired of the wrong answers. So, so tired. It’s the Yeats poem, except the best don’t lack conviction at all, they just get ignored. On climate, on rights, on peace, on AI.
Midsummer round here: tits in the birdbox, first ever cherries and a massive moth...which, it turns out, is called a Cockchafer 😳. AKA a MayBug. It's all kicking off round here.
June 20, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Midsummer round here: tits in the birdbox, first ever cherries and a massive moth...which, it turns out, is called a Cockchafer 😳. AKA a MayBug. It's all kicking off round here.
Reposted by Zoë Somerville
Why, this is very midsummer madness.
June 20, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Why, this is very midsummer madness.
Of course I am making a chocolate birthday cake on the hottest day of the year and the oven is on. 🥵
June 19, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Of course I am making a chocolate birthday cake on the hottest day of the year and the oven is on. 🥵
Reposted by Zoë Somerville
One of the biggest problems with the world is that fools are always so sure and certain about everything and intelligent people are so full of doubts and uncertainties.
June 19, 2025 at 2:15 PM
One of the biggest problems with the world is that fools are always so sure and certain about everything and intelligent people are so full of doubts and uncertainties.