PUBLICATION DAY! I am delighted to announce that Gothic Precarity: Fear and Anxiety in Twenty-First-Century Fiction is published today! Writing this book has been a journey into the shadows—into the ways fear and uncertainty shape our culture, our literature, and our sense of ourselves in the twenty-first century. The Gothic has always been a literature of unease, but today it feels especially urgent. From climate crisis to political instability, we live in precarious times, and fiction often gives voice to those anxieties when we struggle to name them ourselves. My hope is that this book shows how contemporary writers continue to deploy the Gothic mode to capture the fragility, dread, and resilience of our moment. This project wouldn’t exist without the support of friends, colleagues, and mentors who encouraged me when the task felt overwhelming, and of course without the writers whose work I’ve had the privilege of exploring. So today isn’t just about a book—it’s about conversation, community, and the stories we tell to make sense of our fears. I hope this work is well received and that it adds to a much needed debate. #Gothic #precarity #neoliberalism #fear @UniWalesPress uwp.co.uk/book/gothic-precar… amzn.eu/d/diwAjG1 waterstones.com/book/gothic-…

Excited to share that I will be on @BBCWomansHour this Monday Sept 28 chatting about Serenity Falls and women in horror - just in time for spooky season! 🎃💀👻

Good morning from Dungeness! Join us live @BBCRadio3 8.00 for a special live show from Dungeness Lighthouse, starting a 12 hour odyssey around some of the wildest coastal locations. Caritas Chamber choir currently rehearsing and sounding 👌 🌊 🚤

In an adaptation replete with stand-out performances Beryl Reid’s Connie Sachs is unmatched. Angry, heartbroken, and lost, Connie is insistent and unforgettable.

I once threw a book on the floor and stamped on it. A critic had dismissed GAUDY NIGHT as a 'woman's novel'. Its brilliant author, Dorothy L. Sayers, spent her life being told a clever woman was too much. But she it turns out she was hiding something much bigger than a bad review. Link to read my new piece in the next tweet down👇

SAVE ELLIS MILL - protect our heritage ❤️ Made in 1798 - in our hearts in 2026

Babs on the beach at Budleigh Salterton. If you’re nearby I’m talking about her with @claresclark tomorrow at @BudleighLitFest …

This Saturday, @BBCRadio3 celebrates the lights that have guarded our shores for generations. We'll broadcast from atmospheric lighthouses, welcome guest musicians, and send @PetrocTrelawny to a mystery location via boat. What could possibly go wrong?! bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0031pv…

SMILEY’S PEOPLE (1982) ‘Be like Karla! Remember!’ There is a moment, in Sir Saul Enderby’s office at the Circus, when George Smiley realises that he has crossed a line. Enderby comments that blackmail is much more effective than bribery in espionage, and Smiley realises that he has become Karla. It’s a masterpiece, of course. It has taken me time to accept this, previously considering the adaptation TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY superior, largely because of Geoffrey Burgon’s music, Michael Jayston’s Guillam and Bernard Hepton’s more measured performance as Toby Esterhase. I was of course wrong. Patrick Gower’s pre-Sherlock Holmes score is a funereal triumph and Hepton’s performance as a liberated Esterhase is entirely in keeping with the character’s trajectory (although I still prefer Jayston to Michael Byrne). And Alec Guinness as Smiley in SMILEY’S PEOPLE is heartbreaking, burdened by a victory secured by becoming Karla. The price paid is indescribable. So thanks again to @LauraSRobinson for encouraging me to take another look. @RealJohnleCarre

Catching up on #bookpost since coming home and this blue gem of a book by the amazing @willrdean is a standout 🤩#TheLightAtTheEndOfTheWorld is a spec thriller set in a post apocalyptic London 😱 Can’t wait to dive in! Thanks @ViperBooks 🙏Out April

SARA GRIFFITHS will be joining us for our September Signing Spectacular! Sara played Ray in the #DoctorWho story Delta and the Bannermen, and has recently returned to the role for Big Finish. fantomevents.co.uk

Morning! Start your Monday the best way possible with us @BBCRadio3 9.30. Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony to start, a Ciaccona by Caccini, Kol Nidrei by Bruch and in the Playlister: Tango Spell from Wild Swans 🦢 📻❤️

A reminder that I'll be chatting about my new novel, Serenity Falls, signing books and generally rambling on at Eastbourne Lit Fest this Saturday, Sept 26. Tickets here: eastbournelitfest.onlinetick…

And the intriguing envelope’s contents! My first sighting of this beauty!

It would be simply marvellous to see you there.

Fantastic event run by Station Books in Tunbridge Wells last night and chaired by the lovely @sarahshaffi. Such a fab, friendly audience including the wonderful @lesleykara - so chuffed you came along! Thank you, everyone. You all rock! 😃

This is such a telling clip. The interviewer is rude and patronising. Yates rises above it all, and takes Barbara Cartland with her. It's completely obvious to me why she would have felt a kinship with her.

Best read on the sofa with a box of violet creams.

"Television is probably going to be very different, and it's all going to be based on things that make money... I'm glad I'm at the end of my career." Acclaimed screenwriter Andrew Davies talks about the future of BBC television amid its 'money crisis'.