Nietzsche welcomed increasing blindness as a liberation from his ‘bookworm behaviour’ of obsessively reading & attending to others. He woke up shyly, full of doubts, & finally *started talking again*.

Unforgettable & encouraging. ‘Bide the storm ye canna hinder’, minding the little ‘flamin’, clustering beacons of the sea buckthorn. 🙏

35 brilliant Birmingham libraries need saving, so 35 writers are protesting - through words. I'm proud to be one of them and look forward to sharing my short story

Sara Jones welcomes a full house to Culture Forward's Culture, Sustainability and the City: Part 2 event this afternoon, kindly hosted by Birmingham Botanical Gardens UK. Lots of local cultural partners and decision-makers here to explore with academics how to further this vital agenda.

Withnail & I The Rep is hilarious & heartbreaking, a wild ride, a wicked script & a rocking musical - & it all ends with, well, as Hamlet. Superbly directed & designed. A privilege to witness it.

In George MacDonald's Lilith (1895), Mr Raven - a man & a bird - tosses a worm into air & a winged spirit bursts forth to guide the pilgrim. A teasing image to my mind of the power of art or spirit to overcome the sorry mix of death, decay & suffering we call history.

Save Birmingham Libraries - Sign the Petition! chng.it/kc2DtXtQKx via Change.org UK

Delighted to reconnect with wonderful former supervisee, Ingrid Haas - now writing about opera for magazines - thanks to the advent of BBC Arts Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius in Mexico 🇲🇽.

📺Still on iPlayer, & also ft Farah Karim-Cooper, who also taught Ingrid:
bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod…

'Every library represents a piece of us. Don't let them take us apart, piece by piece, book by book. In times when we need to get together we need our libraries more and more' - Benjamin Zephaniah

Thank you Andy Street for everything you have done for the West Midlands. And congratulations Richard Parker. Please champion Birmingham’s unique, priceless & currently threatened cultural life & heritage for all.

Writing in Cornwall. The beauty of the world is both a blessing in itself & an image of what might be.

Thanks, Jon Neale. Also for championing this inspirational story of civic vision, energy & achievement at a time when we really need it - in Birmingham & beyond.

Fantastic event by Uni of Birmingham Culture Forward team supported by Ikon, Soul City Arts performance by Ensemble Safaa UK!

Looking forward to what more to come in the Quran In The City Programme.

Fantastic! Thank you, Casey Bailey.

Thank God they didn't. It represents the public-spirited ambition, imagination & resource of local government which we so desperately need again now. As George Dawson said, *everything to everybody*. We must never let go of or mothball that idea.

Great to see our own Prof Ewan Fernie Ewan Fernie featured here!

Happy birthday to the Bard! 🎂🎭

If you're looking for a way to celebrate why not check out Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius, which features our very own Professor Ewan Fernie (Ewan Fernie).

bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod…

Shakespeare Institute College of Arts+Law

Check it out. We call it Culture Forward & we’re thrilled to be working with partners across Birmingham on #QuranInTheCity & other projects.
🙏 Soul City Arts

Shakespeare, Religion & Race in Cheltenham, with the excellent Rev Dr Alycia Timmis (Shakespeare Institute PhD on Buzz Goodbody) & the equally excellent Anthony G. Reddie (1st ever Chair of Black Theology University of Oxford). Thanks to all participants - & our hosts, esp. Andrew Taylor. 🙏