Lecturer in the Heritage of the Middle East @UniofLeicester. Researching ancient Mesopotamia. Playwright, poet, and Babylonian liver diviner.
Oxford, England
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I'm pleased to announce the launch of my new website! If you'd like to see what events I have lined up for the next few months or easily access my past projects and media appearances, please visit: selenawisnom.com
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Thrilled to be shortlisted for the Wolfson history prize! Writing accessibly about history has always mattered to me, and it's an honour for Mesopotamia to be recognised in this way. I hope it gets more people into the subject. Congrats to all the other authors too!
We're thrilled to announce the 2026 #WolfsonHistoryPrize shortlist, showcasing six exceptional books that explore how societies navigate periods of seismic change.
📕'The Boundless Deep: Young Tennyson, Science and the Crisis of Belief' by Richard Holmes (@wmcollinsbooks)
📕 'Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction' by Sadiah Qureshi (@AllenLaneBooks)
📕 'Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants’ War' by Lyndal Roper (@BasicBooksUK)
📕'Liverpool: A Story of Britain' by @samwetherell (@HoZ_Books)
📕'The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History' by @lswisnom (@AllenLaneBooks)
📕'Silence of the Gods: The Untold History of Europe's Last Pagan Peoples' by @drfrancisyoung (@cambridgeup)
Congratulations to all the authors! 👏📚
wolfsonhistoryprize.org.uk/p…
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I’ve been filming with Woodcut media contributing to an exciting project for the autumn - stay tuned for details!
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My take on the Amarna letters featured in National Geographic - thank you for the mention and the headline @candidamoss! To find out more:
nationalgeographic.com/newsl…
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Selena Wisnom retweeted
My latest for @NatGeo Stones and Bones newsletter is on the Amarna letters nationalgeographic.com/histo… @news_ub
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My poem ‘Cartonnage’ has been published in the June issue of Bad Lilies magazine: badlilies.uk/selena-wisnom
Do check out the issue - there is so much beautiful work here!
badlilies.uk/issue-twenty-fo…
Thanks to @BadLilies !
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So the livers were right again. Just saying
theguardian.com/politics/202…
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Selena Wisnom retweeted
My review of Selena Wisnom’s The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia & the Making of the Modern World.
If you have time to read just one history book this summer, then make it this one, because, with all the firsts achieved by ancient Mesopotamia, there really isn’t much point in picking up the story from a later point.
The OG of Civs:
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This was one of my favourite podcasts to be on - check out Classical Wisdom Speaks, where I talk about the lessons Mesopotamia has for the modern world
This month’s Podcast with Professors is with Assyriologist @LSWisnom of @uniofleicester & author of The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of the Modern World to explore the remarkable history of ancient Mesopotamia...
Full podcast on our site!
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To learn cuneiform is to be initiated into the secrets of the universe - thanks to the Hay-goers who came to my workshop and took their first scribal steps!
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A thousand people came to my talk at Hay Festival yesterday and I was signing books for 40 minutes afterwards the queue was so long 😮
Thanks to everyone who came and I look forward to teaching more people cuneiform this afternoon!
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Finally got round to reading my friend @OskarCoxJensen’s debut novel and it did not disappoint. A rollicking murder mystery with a delightful charm - funny, entertaining, and highly recommended!
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Thrilled to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and looking forward to getting involved! @RoyalHistSoc
royalhistsoc.org/society-ele…
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Marduk visits his ziggurat in Oxford (or: Jupiter visible over the Said Business School) @OxfordSBS @UniofOxford
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I'm thrilled to let you know that I will participate in the Hay Festival this year - twice. On 27th May, I will discuss the literary culture of Mesopotamia and perform liver divination with my audience. The next day, I will teach you how to write in cuneiform!
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Tickets:
The talk (event 224): The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History
Wednesday 27 May 2026, 5.30pm hayfestival.com/p-25379-sele…
Learn to Write in Cuneiform, the World’s First Writing System (event 265)
Thursday 28 May 2026, 4pm
hayfestival.com/p-25337-sele…
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You can also read the review online: dailymail.co.uk/home/books/a…
A review of 'The Library of Ancient Wisdom' is featured in today's @DailyMail Book of the Week - and what a fun title! Thank you, Kathryn Hughes, for reviewing my book!
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