Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social

Tutor in English Lit at Univ, Oxford. Medievalist. Poet. She/her. Co-founder @guildmedmak. Church as Sacred Space (2018). Encountering Margery Kempe (2021). Primers Volume Seven: Grendel’s Mother Bites Back (2024). Next books on Du Maurier, and Beowulf.

Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam
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Andrew Male @andrewmale.bsky.social
8h
I see a lot of people on here are currently succumbing to “a weird, long-lasting flu-like cold” so it’s probably worth a reminder that COVID has not been eradicated. If you don’t want to help spread a new strain please mask up when out in public.
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@valarie.bsky.social 👆 Finished!!!
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The Tana French odyssey continues! Now this one was *excellent* AND ALSO gave me a couple of nightmares. But excellent, nonetheless 😆 (It does work best if you’ve read In the Woods though, since it is narrated by a character from that novel).
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Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam
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Dr Tess Machling @tessmachling.bsky.social
15h
Will be sold to highest bidder - collection broken up, histories lost & disappearing into private collections, some overseas...

Issue of legacy collections - where owners or heirs don't want things, will only get more common...

#Archaeology #Treasure #Detecting 🏺

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70drpjqvdgo
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Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam
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Anne Billson @annebillson.bsky.social
15h
ugh yes, my iCloud storage is nearly always nearly full so this is exactly the sort of stupid scam I would fall for.
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Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social
16h
New blogpost on Focus and Process (or, Distraction and Trust) drlauravarnam.wordpress.com/2026/04/11/on-focus-and-process/
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New blogpost on Focus and Process (or, Distraction and Trust) drlauravarnam.wordpress.com/2026/04/11/on-focus-and-process/
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Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam
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Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social
1d
Puck: Titania loves an ASS! ASSSSS! #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slow-shakespeare/2026/04/11/puck-titania-waked-and-straightway-loved-an-ass-ass-assss-3-2-27-34-moonmad-slowshakespeare/
Puck (David Moorst) & Titania (Gwendoline Christie) (this production reversed roles so that it was Oberon who fell for the enchanted Bottom) in Dream @bridgetheatre.bsky.social 2019. Much gleefulness.
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@valarie.bsky.social ‘Beowulf… in the original’ 😂
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Reminder to get those abstracts in this weekend for GMS, folks!!
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We have the best students 🥹 This sticker has genuinely motivated my entire writing week: get the essay done, be more citeable, deserve the 90s word art 😄 Thank you, kind student!!
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Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam
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@sanctorium.bsky.social
2d
Francesca Woodman
Angel Series, Rome 1977
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Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam
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Jeremy Noel-Tod @jntod.bsky.social
2d
We have some fascinating archives @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social: contemporary literature (including poetry), film, visual arts, history, rare books. We also have Visiting Fellowships for writers to use them for research. Deadline to apply is 17th April: please share! www.uea.ac.uk/research/research-with-us/fellowships/archives-and-collections-visiting-fellowships
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Absolutely LOVED Woman of Substance on channel 4! Thoroughly enjoyable 🙌
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Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam
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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social
3d
In London on Wednesday 15 April? Come and join me for this Westminster Abbey lunchtime talk on 'English History Through Poetry'. We'll be in St Margaret's - just yards from Poets' Corner.
Info and tickets:
www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-events/lectures-and-talks/2026/april/lunchtime-talk-english-history-through-poetry

#history #poetry #book #event
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Look at all that DEI sending astronauts around the moon.
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Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam
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Dr Anne E Bailey @anneebailey1.bsky.social
3d
The cross at Heavenfield, Northumberland. Site of the cross erected by St Oswald before the victory at the Battle of Heavenfield in 633/4.
Also the start (or finish) of St Oswald's Way pilgrimage trail! 👣
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Love the pig tho!!
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2/2 Joos van Craesbeeck has painting on his mind. Literally.
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This is wild!
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Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam
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madeline odent @oldenoughtosay.com
3d
all these universities kept axing medieval history departments as if they thought tyrants beefing with the Pope was going to stop being relevant
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Saw this on Instagram and was too tickled not to share 😂
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My second Tana French of the Easter vac! (Keeping my brain occupied during writing breaks- 1.5 days to go before this essay needs to exist in full draft form!). This one was slightly less satisfying than The Secret Place, for me, but she’s a great writer and definitely hooks you in!
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Congratulations Rachel!
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This sounds fascinating! (And I’ve never come across the rubble film before!)
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The inaugural Cambridge Amplify Grant will support early-career scholars in History and Area Studies in publishing their first book, providing financial and editorial support over 12 months.

⏰ The closing date for submissions is 13 April 2026.

Find out more 🔗 cup.org/3NJAd1a
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Fantastic blogpost from the brilliant Clare Mulley!
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Playing around with something over lunch today: a medieval / modern map mashup.

The medieval map here is the 13th C. Psalter map, and the modern map is one I drew. I'm not trying to make them line up geographically...I just like the juxtaposition.
#maps #psalter #mappamundi
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a world without trans people has never existed and never will
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This was brilliant! Huge thanks to @valarie.bsky.social for sending it to me! I’d never read Tana French before but it was immersive & a real page turner, and so good on the psychology of teenage girls & intense friendships. Will definitely keep my eyes peeled for more of her novels! 💚
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