Breda Spaight

In the garden today: Dogwoods in the wind.

Keeper Hill as seen from the banks of the Shannon.

We acknowledge that no one has the bandwidth for this, but if it helps: -It’s ‘sleight of hand’ -It’s ‘bated breath’ -It’s ‘lo and behold’ -It's 'buck naked' -It’s ‘brass tacks’ -It’s ‘free rein’ -It’s ‘toe the line'

On Dec 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, AL. A veteran NAACP activist, she was arrested and fined. Her defiance sparked the 381-day bus boycott led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., forcing a SCOTUS ruling that ended bus segregation.🧵 #CivilRights

RIP Dónal Lunny.

Mathematician & geodeist Dr. Irene Fischer helped guide NASA to the moon. Joining the US Army Map Service in 1952, she unified centuries of broken data to calculate the Earth’s precise size/shape. Her calculations allowed NASA to safely program Apollo moon landing trajectories. 🧵 #WomenInSTEM

Mist rising from the bog at the back of my home this evening.

For #IrishBookWeek, @libro.fm are offering two free audiobooks with a new membership - check out this Amazon-free alternative to Audible, a fantastic way to support independent Irish bookshops like us: libro.fm/ravenbooks

Chuffed to find myself on the Bridport Poetry Prize shortlist, and in some very good company. bridportprize.org.uk/app/uploads/...

TIME named the #NASA Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope one of the best inventions of 2026. Roman, "Mother of Hubble" & NASA's first Chief of #Astronomy: the foundational architect who transitioned the concept of a large space telescope from "hopeful speculation" to a funded reality. #WomenInSTEM

We wanted to assure you that Sally Rooney's books are still available to buy and to order online!

#OTD in 1847, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre was first published. It was published under the pen name "Currer Bell" and is one of the most remarkable coming-of-age books ever written on the conflict between love and independence. #LitSky #BookSky

We’re thrilled to be presenting 4 HOWL contributors at the Cork International Short Story Festival tomorrow at 2:30pm at Cork City Library. This event is completely free. We’d love to see you there, and at the many wonderful events afterwards! @munsterlitcentre.bsky.social

World-renowned entomologist Dr. Pamela Marrone is a pioneer in biological pest control. In her 40+ year career, she transformed global agriculture by developing nature-based biopesticides as alternatives to synthetic chemical pesticides.🧵 She was born #OTD in 1956. #WomenInSTEM #Entomology #AgTech

Great to see this festival happening - and such a wonderful venue. charliebyrne.ie/charlie-byrn...

No comment!

www.rte.ie/culture/2026...

The budget could grant everyone a live alpaca and the coverage would still be 'Questions remain.' 'The devil's in the detail.' 2 weeks later it turns out you're entitled to one-third of an alpaca under Appendix 14B #budget 26

A truly wonderful launch of HOWL 26 last night. Big thanks to @laurenodonovanw.bsky.social @leggettbohan.bsky.social @mollytwomey.bsky.social and all the editors for making this journal. #poetry

Hope you can join us today for the launch of HOWL New Irish Writing 26, 6:30pm at Waterstones Cork! @waterstones.bsky.social

We're over the moon that Billy Ramsell's Render has been shortlisted for the 2026 T. S. Eliot Prize! Comhghairdeas Billy! 🎉

Every morning I open the wardrobe and ask, What does one wear to the collapse of a stable climate? Apparently, layers.

Maria Ressa was awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize (with Dmitry Muratov) for "their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for #democracy and lasting peace." She is the first Nobel laureate from the Philippines. Happy birthday @mariaressa.bsky.social 🥳

Cú, in red, on her first hike. She did so well; many years of great walkies ahead. And the wonderful Lol leading the way. A hike without a dog is a lonely journey - they let you see where the wild ones have been when they stop to sniff in awe, or is it recognition?

🚨 BREAKTHROUGH: 18-year-old Arya Satheesh from Ireland has developed a plant-based plastic that can biodegrade and release an enzyme that helps break down other plastic waste. A plastic that could actually help clean up plastic waste.

Six more sleeps until the HOWL 26 launch! We'd love to see you there 🐺 Tuesday, 6th October, 6:30pm at @waterstones.bsky.social Cork City

So you arrive at the park with dog and no stick. What to do other than go to the Dog Library. As seen in Carrick-on-Shannon. #dogs

Baroness Orczy was born #OTD in 1865. Her series of novels featuring The Scarlet Pimpernel, the alter ego of Sir Percy Blakeney, is the origin of the #superhero trope--creating the archetype of the "hero with a secret identity," a concept central to modern superhero fiction. #BookSky📚🖋️

When her husband became incapacitated, Emily Warren Roebling stepped in as the de facto chief engineer on the Brooklyn Bridge project. Learning advanced engineering principles, materials science & more, she managed the project's day-to-day operations for >10 yrs. Born #OTD in 1843. #WomenInSTEM

Dedicated arts advocate Jane Fortune died #OTD in 2018. In 2009, she founded the Advancing Women Artists Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to researching, restoring & exhibiting previously overlooked or lost works by historical women artists, with a primary focus on Florence. #art

The audiobook I'm enjoying at the moment is Lolita, read by Jeremy Irons. Irons doesn’t narrate Lolita — he embodies the performance, letting Nabokov’s sentences coil, shimmer, and darken in the air. It’s language turned into theatre.

#OTD in 1973, in “The Battle of the Sexes,” tennis great Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in straight sets during an exhibition match. “I thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn’t win that match,” King said afterward. #SportsHistory #tennis

#OTD in 1893, New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world to grant all adult women the right to vote in national parliamentary elections. The first election held after this milestone was in November 1893--an incredible 82% of registered female voters voted. #WomensSuffrage

It would be great to see you there - pop it in your diary.

Dogs waiting to enter children's hospital rooms for animal therapy...Please don’t scroll without giving them some love! ❤ Original post

Congratulations, all!

HOWL is made possible by page by page by each individual contributor, and thanks to every single person who submits. We are very grateful 🐺 Come and meet some of our pack at the launch of HOWL New Irish Writing 26 on October 6th, Tuesday @ 6:30pm at Waterstone's Cork

So looking forward to the launch on Oct 6, Waterstones, Cork. Would love to see you there.

We are delighted to offer an online craft seminar with Sinéad Morrissey entitled Writing from the Inside: On Immediacy of Poetic Address. The seminar will run on Tuesday 13th October from 7pm to 8.30pm, online via Zoom. Tickets now on sale: stingingfly.org/product/writ...

Fran Lock's,The Department of Queer Complaint, a follow up collection to the T.S. Eliot Prize shortlisted, Hyena, is going to be published by us in early 2027. We are very excited! Can't wait!

My timeline is suddenly one of flowers and more flowers - photos, paintings, flower groups, single flowers, bloom close-ups, blooms with bees, with butterflies. I don't know!

A date for the diary.

www.rte.ie/news/2026/09...

HOWL New Irish Writing 26 launches on Tuesday, October 6th, 6:30 pm at the wonderful Waterstones, Cork. We'd love if you could be with us to help celebrate this beautiful book being released into the wild.

🚨 BREAKTHROUGH: 25-year-old Argentinian biologist Pilar Ferrer has developed an injectable gel that helps repair damaged heart tissue after a heart attack

Cú caught before she understands the concept of 'walkies'. It'll be fun to see her change.