Sharon Duggal

Fantastic news. Congratulations, Wendy.

Wonderful. Congratulations.

The Creatives Grant let's make art less middle class

£500 given out to a working class writer every month.

Details in link.

Please share :)

Thank you

Should We Fall Behind, by Sharon Duggal. Jimmy Noone walks from one side of a sprawling city to the other, looking for Betwa, a friend he found and lost on the bustling city streets. Jimmy becomes the catalyst for lost lives colliding, exposing stories of tenderness, devotion, displacement and tragedy, and the subtle threads of commonality which intersect them all, making the invisible, visible again. Should We Fall Behind is about the passing of time, and the intricate weaves of joy and suffering, love and loss which shape human life along the way. It is about the people who have somehow become invisible, and how their stories make them visible once more.

2020 #77
Staying in the realm of @ofmooseandmen.bsky.social and now it's the second novel by @sharonduggal.bsky.social . The uplifting tale of a young, homeless man who meets and loses track of a friend then sets off across the city in search of her and finds so much more.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🖋️📚
#booksky

Thank you, Dave

The Handsworth Tones, by Sharron Duggal. Mukesh Agarwal sits alone in the Black Eagle pub, unaware that a riot is brewing or that Billy, his youngest son, is still out on his bike ...A mile away in the family home in Church Street, Anila, one of the three Agarwal girls, is reading Smash Hits and listening to Radio One as she sprawls across the bottom bunk, oblivious to the monumental tragedy that is about to hit her family ... It is 1981 and Handsworth is teetering on the brink of collapse. Factories are closing, unemployment is high, the National Front are marching and the neglected inner cities are ablaze as riots breakout across Thatcher's fractured Britain. The Agarwals are facing their own nightmares but family, pop music, protest, unexpected friendships and a community that refuses to disappear all contribute to easing their personal pain and that of Handsworth itself. THE HANDSWORTH TIMES is a story of loss and transition, and pulling together because ultimately, there is such a thing as society.

2020 #63
Amongst the disruption of 2020 I found myself looking at many small publishers for new reading matter and @ofmooseandmen.bsky.social was one of the very best I came across. This excellent novel set in the early 1980s West Midlands was an early find. See alt text for more.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
🖋️📚
#booksky

Fantastic, Wendy. Huge congratulations x

@cdrose.bsky.social massive, massive congratulations on the @goldsmithsprize.bsky.social win. Bravo!

Thanks Joanna - hope your writing is going well x

Thank you, Orla x

In 1999, the LA Times asked 36 writers, from Susan Sontag to Elmore Leonard, to share their neglected classics of the century, books they loved but which failed to find the readers they deserved. You can read their responses here:

neglectedbooks.com/?...

@zackpolanski.bsky.social @ZackPolanski your message of hope is the way to go. Would be amazing if you could now visit #Handsworth
to counter Jenerick's misrepresentation of our global society here in #Birmingham

Chris, @cdrose.bsky.social massive congrats on this - fantastic news x

Next up:

Should We Fall Behind by @sharonduggal.bsky.social from the fantastic @ofmooseandmen.bsky.social

Looking forward to it.
#booksky
#books
#literature

Thank you

Hope you like it!

Many thanks to Lancashire Libraries.

Without the support of libraries we simply wouldn't be around to celebrate our 20th year of publishing in 2026.

@cilip.bsky.social
@thebookseller.com
@ronanhession.bsky.social
@sharonduggal.bsky.social
@bbcworldbookclub.bsky.social

Happy publication day, Lulu and Bluemoose x

On my list, as is Beast!

Looking forward to this x

Israel kills innocent Palestinians. Activists spray-paint a plane. Guess which the UK government calls terrorism | Sally Rooney If Palestine Action becomes a proscribed group, writing these words of support could become a serious offence. It’s vital we fight this alarming attack on free speech, says writer Sally Rooney

Israel kills innocent Palestinians. Activists spray-paint a plane. Guess which the UK government calls terrorism | Sally Rooney

We don’t want to get dragged into Trump’s plans for more violence. We have a voice: let’s make sure Keir Starmer hears us loud and clear.

We have a voice: let’s make sure Keir Starmer hears us loud and clear. act.38degrees.org.uk/act/dont-get...

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o – A Tribute through the Wasafiri Archive In tribute to Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1938-2025), Wasafiri has lifted the paywall on a range of articles, stories, and interviews from our 41-year-old archive.

In tribute to Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1938-2025), Wasafiri has lifted the paywall on a range of his articles, stories, and interviews from our 41-year-old archive, each introduced by @flostadt.bsky.social‬, Deputy Chair and Trustee of Wasafiri.

Read & access here:

Always money for war, never for the poor.

English PEN calls on UK to end complicity in genocide in Gaza by immediately enacting an arms embargo - News & Events - English PEN

There is a genocide taking place in Gaza. The UK government must end its complicity by immediately enacting an arms embargo.

Read our statement:
www.englishpen.org/posts/campai...

Photo of five people, black and white, young and older, looking happy

Call out for writers with lived experience of homelessness or poverty to submit monologues for a new anthology to highlight the complexity of the experiences of homelessness and poverty – struggles, resilience, hope, humour.

Please share :)

mtos.cardboardcitizens.org.uk/anthology/

Zadie Smith and Ian McEwan among 380 writers and groups to call Gaza war ‘genocide’ Letter also signed by Hanif Kureishi and Russell T Davies urges ceasefire and unrestricted distribution of aid

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

#C4News find the girl escaping the fire in the burning classroom after an Israeli strike

"I walked through the fire all by myself"

"The rubble fell on them (her siblings)"

"I want to see my sisters, to be with them, but they're dead"

"I want to be with them"

“The Unbearable Lightness of Being” Fiction by Milan Kundera, from 1984: “He remained annoyed with himself until he realized that not knowing what he wanted was actually quite natural.”

“He remained annoyed with himself until he realized that not knowing what he wanted was actually quite natural.” Fiction by Milan Kundera, from 1984.