VictoriaMAdams - Network

When all you want is a pen, and something to write on... The amazing story of Mahvash Sabet, a poet in Iran. Please read and share. She is...

When all you want is a pen, and something to write on... The amazing story of Mahvash Sabet, a poet in Iran. Please read and share. She is still in prison.

#WomenLifeFreedom #writing #writingcommunity #justice

https://pentransmissions.com/2023/09/20/prison-poems/

Hey all. I've rather unwillingly stepped through the looking glass into #Bluesky (all of #kidlit appears to have decamped there.) So if...

Hey all. I've rather unwillingly stepped through the looking glass into #Bluesky (all of #kidlit appears to have decamped there.) So if you happen to be on that platform too, please do look me up:

https://bsky.app/profile/victoriamadams.bsky.social

I'll still be popping by #Mastodon from time to time to talk all things #books and #fantasy related.

#bookstodon #publishing #writing #writingcommunity

Late to the party, I know, but thoroughly enjoyed this book. #bookstodon #books #amreading #scifi

Late to the party, I know, but thoroughly enjoyed this book.

#bookstodon #books #amreading #scifi

'Ghostland' by Edward Parnell unexpectedly moved me to tears. Lovely book.#publishing #reading #books #bookstodon

'Ghostland' by Edward Parnell unexpectedly moved me to tears. Lovely book.

#publishing #reading #books #bookstodon

#kidlit #writers Undiscovered Voices is open!A competition for unpublished and unagented children’s fiction writers living in the UK and...

#kidlit #writers Undiscovered Voices is open!

A competition for unpublished and unagented children’s fiction writers living in the UK and EU
Submissions for Undiscovered Voices 2024 are open 15th June – 20th July 2023

#publishing #amwriting #writer #author #childrensbooks

http://www.undiscoveredvoices.com/

UNAGENTED MG WRITERS!"Between 12th and 16th of June 2023, we ask all unpublished and unagented middle-grade writers to submit their...

UNAGENTED MG WRITERS!

"Between 12th and 16th of June 2023, we ask all unpublished and unagented middle-grade writers to submit their novels for consideration in the competition... Please email your submission to submissions@guppybooks.co.uk between 9am GMT on Monday 12th June and 6pm GMT on Friday 16th June 2023."

https://guppybooks.co.uk/news-and-events/

#publishing #writing #writingcommunity #amwriting #kidlit

Marvelous Mrs Maisel is over! Season 5 was a return to form and I really enjoyed it. I'd be here for a spinoff following the adventures...

Marvelous Mrs Maisel is over! Season 5 was a return to form and I really enjoyed it. I'd be here for a spinoff following the adventures of the neurotic over-achieving daughter, who sets off on a road trip in 80s America during which she plays in a post-punk band, invents the internet and averts nuclear war a few times. Later she trains a large language model on recordings of her mother's comedy act. The resulting AI starts WW3.

#tv #television #streaming #amazonprime #mrsmaisel

To Gen Z suddenly discovering the joys of late 80s / 90s post-punk indie sounds: "One day, lad, all this will be...

To Gen Z suddenly discovering the joys of late 80s / 90s post-punk indie sounds:

"One day, lad, all this will be yours..."

"What, the curtains?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lCIh2aCH_o

#music #postpunk #80s #90s #montypython #genx

CALLING ALL ILLUSTRATORShttp://lbartistaward.com/#writing #publishing #education #teaching #reading #kidlit #writers #books #bookstodon

CALLING ALL ILLUSTRATORS

http://lbartistaward.com/

#writing #publishing #education #teaching #reading #kidlit #writers #books #bookstodon

Useful resource for writers, educators and anyone interested in a list of children's publishers in the UK....

Useful resource for writers, educators and anyone interested in a list of children's publishers in the UK.

https://schoolreadinglist.co.uk/resources/childrens-book-publishers-in-uk/

#writing #publishing #education #teaching #reading #kidlit #writers #books #bookstodon

Enjoyed this, though admittedly not as much as 'Sea of Tranquility'. (That would be difficult.) Still, superbly written, like every...

Enjoyed this, though admittedly not as much as 'Sea of Tranquility'. (That would be difficult.) Still, superbly written, like every other Mandel. I'm so glad I have many more of her titles to discover!

#books #bookstodon #reading #publishing

(PS. Is it Mandel or St John Mandel?)

KIDLIT KLAXON!Well worth checking out. @MissDePlume has a sequel out soon to her wonderful 'Small'. She talks about it here:...

KIDLIT KLAXON!

Well worth checking out. @MissDePlume has a sequel out soon to her wonderful 'Small'. She talks about it here:

https://scopeforimagination.co.uk/2023/05/07/small-bites-back-by-hannah-moffatt-blog-tour/

#kidlit #bookstodon #books #publishing #Mastodon

Really enjoyed this one. 'Sea of Tranquility' by Emily St John Mandel hinges on a simple plot device: why do several people...

Really enjoyed this one. 'Sea of Tranquility' by Emily St John Mandel hinges on a simple plot device: why do several people scattered across time see the same momentary vision of a single time and place?

I inhaled this book in two evenings - it's written in a way that gently removes all barriers and draws you in. Un-fussy, human, and still a novel of ideas. I'll be going back to discover more by this author.

#books #bookstodon #scifi #sciencefiction

Enjoying 'The Power'. Sure, the style is slow-moving but that's its charm. Four episodes in I confess to preferring the stories...

Enjoying 'The Power'. Sure, the style is slow-moving but that's its charm. Four episodes in I confess to preferring the stories set in London, Lagos and Riyadh to the one in Seattle. But that's a personal quirk. It beats the usual stand-in scenes of pyramids, Taj Mahal and Eiffel tower to indicate 'the rest of the world'.

BUT. I think there should also be a series in which wizened, grumpy old women get the power to wither you with their gaze. A mainstream success, obvs.

#ThePower #tv #scifi

I've been reading and enjoying 'Magic In Islam' by Michael Muhammad Knight. A clear-eyed survey of the folk practices that...

I've been reading and enjoying 'Magic In Islam' by Michael Muhammad Knight. A clear-eyed survey of the folk practices that survive adjacent to and sometimes in spite of organised religion.

If you, like me, have ever wondered why your older family members used holy writ like a talisman, this book is for you. If you are curious, if you like well-researched non-fiction written in an accessible style, this book is for you. No nonsense. Thank you, Mr Knight.

#magic #religion #books #bookstodon

Sunlit uplands, they said. World-beating, they said. Something-or-other on the side of a bus.Only in Britain could we manage to have a ...

Sunlit uplands, they said. World-beating, they said. Something-or-other on the side of a bus.

Only in Britain could we manage to have a #saladcrisis

#inflation #economy #uk #brexit #salad

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/mar/22/uk-inflation-rate-rises-price-rises-interest-rates

Thank you to whoever it was here who recommended Auchincloss! I enjoyed 'The Friend of Women'. Auchincloss' prose style is spare...

Thank you to whoever it was here who recommended Auchincloss! I enjoyed 'The Friend of Women'. Auchincloss' prose style is spare and dry, and sometimes very funny. I find I need that at the moment. The only one I didn't appreciate was the play - he lost his efficiency and became congested. The rest was fabulous and I felt like I was reading Truman Capote without the nasty streak. Wry, biting, your genteel Hamptons uncle telling tall tales in the tea room.

#books #bookstodon #literature #reading

I suppose this is where I weigh in on the 'bowdlerized' debate, God help me. For those unaware, the oeuvre of Roald Dahl - never one...

I suppose this is where I weigh in on the 'bowdlerized' debate, God help me. For those unaware, the oeuvre of Roald Dahl - never one to espouse liberal values, even in his own generation - has been rewritten to make the language more inclusive:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/20/roald-dahl-books-rewrites-criticism-language-altered

Here's an idea. Instead of dragging older books kicking and screaming into the modern age, how about giving NEW WRITERS the same brand spotlight?

You might find a new Dahl. A better Dahl?

#publishing #kidlit #books #bookstodon

Heads up, #kidlit , #writing and #publishing folks! Hachette UK’s The Future Bookshelf is running the Mo Siewcharran Prize for its fourth...

Heads up, #kidlit , #writing and #publishing folks!

Hachette UK’s The Future Bookshelf is running the Mo Siewcharran Prize for its fourth year to help discover unpublished fiction writers from Black, Asian, mixed heritage and minority ethnic backgrounds.

#books #bookstodon #amwriting #writingcommunity

https://www.thefuturebookshelf.co.uk/landing-page/the-mo-siewcharran-prize-2023/

Just finished and very much enjoyed 'Cold Fish Soup' by @adamjfarrer @sarabandbooks A personal and loving portrait of the Holderness...

Just finished and very much enjoyed 'Cold Fish Soup' by @adamjfarrer @sarabandbooks

A personal and loving portrait of the Holderness coast, featuring that Eldorado of the East, Withernsea. 😉

'Before Adam Farrer’s family relocated to Withernsea in 1992, he’d never heard of the Holderness coast. The move represented one thing to Adam: a chance to leave the insecurities of early adolescence behind.'

TW: mental health, suicide references

#bookstodon #reading

https://saraband.net/sb-title/cold-fish-soup/