Kamila Shamsie
@kamilashamsie
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My sister was pulled over while driving in
#Karachi
by two policewomen. They shook her hand, congratulated her on wearing a seatbelt and gave her this.
Wear seatbelts, people. You, too, could receive such a keychain. (Also, secondary issue: saves lives)
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I was on the selection committee. I had no idea (and wouldn't have thought it relevant if I had) that anyone involved was a friend of the PM. I just knew 'Cake' was the best movie in the running.
Who says you can't have your 'cake' & eat it too?
Zulfi Bokhari friend of the PM now gets his film selected to be sent in as Pakistan's entry to the Oscar's too.
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So this was very lovely. Thanks for all the tweets, which I’m still scrolling through. Of course writers should learn to write things down - not doing that means you forget to thank crucial people - eg everyone at
@BloomsburyBooks
and
@AMHeathLtd
(Thank you)
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Thinking of Nadeem Aslam’s line: Pakistan produces the most courageous people; but no state should require its citizens to be so brave.
#AsmaJahangir
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As Nadal wins a staggering 12th
#FrenchOpen
title, nice to have a commentator on hand to remind us that the greatest ever winning streak in sport was Jahangir Khan’s 555 consecutive squash victories
#GOAT
#jahangirkhan
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A good day to sit in the park with Ms. Morrison. (Thank you for all the solidarity, especially
@Art4PalestineUK
and
@PalFest
)
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On VE Day, remembering my great-uncle Yaqub Khan who served in the British Indian Army in WWII, was taken prisoner, and spent much of his time as a POW learning Italian, French, German and Russian.
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He was blonde! And then he became a killer! How is it even possible? (Answer: encountered too many non-blonde people)
You’ve got to be kidding with this garbage,
@DailyMailUK
. I don’t expect Western rhetoric about Islam and the constant death and dehumanisation of Muslims to be sophisticated, compassionate or thoughtful but this is disgustingly insensitive and indecent.
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Here’s a thing I wrote last year on the UK and citizenship deprivation. (Spoiler alert: I’m not a fan).
#ShamimaBegum
#unbecomingbritish
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In the last week:
@mohammedhanif
received a sitar-e-imtiaz.
Cricket returned to Karachi
#PSLFinal
@Malala
is home
#Pakistan
, be like this more.
(No, twitter, don’t send me tweets about the terrible things that have happened this last week)
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Some 250+ of the world's most wonderful writers/thinkers signed this letter about the right to boycott, re
#NellySachs
Ondaatje-Coetzee-Shehadeh-Desai-Saunders-Soueif-Warner-Cole-Hage-Eisenberg-Gurnah-Orbach-Slovo-McCann-Matar-Winterson-Sacco-Sahgal-etc
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Memorial stone, Lahore museum, for some of the 1.2 million men of the Indian Army who served in World War One. .
#Armistice100
#ArmisticeDay
#WWIcentenary
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Well done - to the Pakistan government for having the wisdom to honour
@mohammedhanif
, whose pen will remain as sharp as ever regardless of state awards.
.
@mohammedhanif
has won the third highest civilian award in Pakistan- Sitara-e-Imtiaz. He has been writing against injustice, state brutality & enforced disappearances. Proud that Pak govt has shown some maturity by recognising a great voice despite its dissent. Photo:
@nytimes
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#BooksforGaza
are fundraising to help critically injured children in Gaza.
Visit to buy signed books from participating authors. Until Feb 12 only. Books are £35, with the option to donate more
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Headline of the day:
'Antarctic scientist 'stabs colleague who kept telling him endings of books he was reading'
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Lessons in humility
#1
: nothing you do and no one you do it with will ever be as fabulous as Angela Davis and Toni Morrison walking down the street together.
Happy birthday, Ms Morrison.
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This is just the most glorious thing. ‘She’ll never return to Pakistan’ I’ve heard so often. Never say never about
#MalalaYousafzai
. Welcome home,
@Malala
and
@ZiauddinY
EXCLUSIVE: A visibly happy
#MalalaYousafzai
can be seen at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport as she returns to
#Pakistan
.
#Islamabad
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@Malala
@lmhoxford
@UniofOxford
Mubarak! To you and your parents
@ZiauddinY
(Enjoy Netflix, reading and sleep. Maybe get some eating in there too)
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How it started…how it’s going.
Shame on you
@HOME_mcr
for choosing to silence rather than celebrate Palestinian voices.
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A bench of one’s own at Primrose Hill Books. Go along, take a friend, tag
@BloomsburyBooks
and me in a pic, and buy some books — it’s
#IndependentBookshopWeek
. Plus
#bestfriends
is out in paperback.
@PHBookshop
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Here’s a very nice thing to wake up to...
We're over the moon to reveal the 2018
#WomenPrize
shortlist!
Congratulations to this year's brilliant shortlisted authors.
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It’s an absolute joy to be shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award — and alongside such stellar writers.
#BBCNSSA
.
Huge congratulations to Nick Mulgrew, K Patrick, Cherise Saywell,
@kamilashamsie
and
@NaomiWoodBooks
on being shortlisted for the 2023
#BBCNSSA
with
@Cambridge_Uni
🥂
Listen to their brilliant
#ShortStories
on
@BBCRadio4
or
@BBCSounds
next week 📻
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It took about two seconds to decide who I wanted to talk about for
@BBCRadio4
Great Lives.
#AsmaJahangir
, of course. Very glad to have had
@sj244
and
@imam1
in the conversation.
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Two summers ago in london i told
@sabeen
to be careful and she said, 'someone has to fight.' Goodbye, my friend. You were the best of us.
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Please tell her that’s lovely and I hope one day she’ll feel comfortable putting her name to her work - from one Pakistani writer to another.
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This is Italy, but it would be even more delightful if it were Pakistan. Meri Poppins, Teri Poppins, Hamaari Poppins.
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More than 600 writers, publishers, academics, translators have signed this open letter in support of Adania Shibli. Names still being added if you want to jump in…
To everyone who is sending us emails asking to sign in support of Adania Shibli and Minor Detail, we are grateful for every single one of you.
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Chairs in Seville looking remarkably like chairs in Pakistan
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This goat came calling at the beach yesterday to see if there was anything good for tea. May your
#2019
be filled with interesting visitors and good things for tea.
#happynewyear
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I'm among the people who sometimes sighs about certain British people's insistence on mispronouncing my name (nope, not Camilla). But as this poem reveals, the far deeper problem is when 'they' teach you to mispronounce your own name. Also, it's just a gorgeous poem.
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In 2015, when I started to write
#HomeFire
, I thought, a Tory Home Secretary whose parents were Pakistani Muslim migrants....is that credible?
#SajidJavid
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Every so often someone from the youngest generation of readers asks why my books don’t have pictures. Finally, I can point to one that does.
#Duckling
is out in October from
@vintagebooks
Here’s the lovely cover:
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Please judge my books by these covers...
Have you seen these gorgeous new
@kamilashamsie
editions? 😍
Head to our Instagram for a chance to win them all, plus a copy of
#WomensPrize
winner Home Fire!
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It was wonderful - even though all of us seem intent in looking in different directions in
A wonderful event for
#RedBirds
at
@UniofOxford
@mohammedhanif
@Malala
@kamilashamsie
@BloomsburyBooks
#authorposes
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Well thank you on-board Wi-Fi for delivering this news while I’m in the air (and now over the moon)
On
#InternationalWomensDay
we're thrilled to reveal the 2018
#WomensPrize
longlist!
Congratulations to all of our longlisted authors:
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Right. Who’s making a mental reading list for a lockdown/quarantine situation? Cold Comfort Farm is at the top of mine. Followed by Anna Karenina. Obvs, also the new Mantel.
#covid19readinglist
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Please read this and the replies. So many people translating Refaat Alareer’s ‘If I must die’ into different languages. L
Came across Dr. Refaat Alareer's poem "If I must die" just a few days ago, I cried and couldn't help but translated it to Chinese without his permission. Now that he's gone.
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The story of Pakistan women’s cricket is an extraordinary one, full of drama, intrigue, heroics, and passion. Make yourself a cup of tea and settle down to read about it. (And thank you
@mir_sana05
@uroojmumtazkhan
@afiasalam
@Fareshte
for talking to me about it)
Shaiza, Sharmeen, Kiran, Urooj and Sana, a history of Pakistan women’s cricket, as told by
@kamilashamsie
. How are you not going to read this today?
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@likaluca
Sth, I know that woman. She used to live with a flock of birds on Lenox Avenue. Know her husband, too. He fell for an eighteen-year-old girl with one of those deepdown, spooky loves that made him so sad and happy he shot her just to keep the feeling going.
#bestopeninglinesever
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Ready for the
@WomensPrize
shortlist readings?
@girlhermes
May have provided us with the best moment of the evening right here.
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For those of us who've been waiting to hear from Toni Morrison, here she is:
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How many people here knew that
#rudyardkipling
wrote
#thejunglebook
at the home he built in Vermont, and further that he named that home
#naulakha
after the pavilion in
#LahoreFort
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Heartbreaking news about the death of Fahmida Riaz. What a transformative force she was, in her poetry and her life. One of the brightest of lights in the dark days of Zia-ul-Haq, and beyond.
#fahmidariaz
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If you aren’t following the Pakistan Women’s Cricket team yet you’re seriously missing out.
@mir_sana05
@CoolNidadar
@maroof_bismah
@ImJaveria
and their teammates are amazing players, and they’re getting in the habit of winning against supposedly ‘better’ sides.
#girlsingreen
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The West Indies cricket team is coming to Southend Club in Karachi tomorrow (and Friday and Sunday, 11am). Karachi, make sure you’re there to welcome cricket home.
#WIWvPKW
#T20
#cricketcomeshome
#womenscricket
"I'm pleased we can bring back cricket to Pakistan. Because, if we find ourselves in this position, I believe one of the teams will step up and help us" –
@mraguilleira
@windieswomen
are set for a very special T20I series in Pakistan.
➡️
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Delighted to be a part of the first ever
#WomensPrize
for Non-Fiction judging panel, along with
@sixteenthcgirl
,
@profnicolarollock
,
@venetialamanna
and
@annesebba
. (So long for now, novels and short stories — I’ll be hanging out with the other crew for a while )
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Paperback publication day for
#HomeFire
. Classy publishers send along a bouquet that goes beautifully with the new cover.
@BloomsburyBooks
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There is much about Pakistan that can be learnt from the fact that far more people were interested in my tweet about a bus in London than the ones about a women's cricket series in Karachi.
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'A nightmare returns.
Your parents, sisters, their kids are under a curfew, a military siege, with all contact to the outside world banned'
@MirzaWaheed
on Kashmir.
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This may be the essay of the year.
@Nazish_Brohi
for
@GuernicaMag
on women in the Pakistani police force - with none of the vacuous note of ‘Girl Power’ that too often accompanies stories of women being drafted into men’s wars.
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Loved talking to Akram Khan
@AkramKhanLive
about myth, mothers, artistic process etc. We’re on
#onlyartists
on
@BBCRadio4
at 9 am - or listen later here:
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Surely all shortlisted writers should receive a box of biscuits. Surely.
The 2018
#WomensPrize
shortlist has been announced today!
Check it out in beautiful biscuit form, courtesy of
@BiscuiteersLtd
.
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Really delighted that
@HOME_mcr
has decided to reinstate the Palestine ‘voices of resilience’ event, and look forward to being part of it. Well done to
@commapress
and everyone who protested the original cancellation.
Comma Press welcomes
@HOME_mcr
’s decision to reinstate ‘Voices of Resilience.’
A full statement will be available on our blog in due time.
Thank you to all who have spoken out in support over the past week, your voices have not gone unnoticed ❤️
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*Periodic gratuitous reminder that my uncle Waris Hussein directed the first ever ep of
#DoctorWho
*
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‘Come and talk to us about individual freedom and autonomy, about preventing harm and violence, about education and emancipation. Do not come with your wardrobe notes.’ Such a fine zinger from
@Malala
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Horrible to have had occasion to do this -- my obituary of the brilliant Tobias Hill:
@AMHeathLtd
@BloomsburyBooks
@FaberBooks
@saltpublishing
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This is lovely if you’re a
#DoctorWho
fan and even lovelier if, in addition, the First Director is your uncle.
Doctor Who from 1963 - 2022!
Director Jamie Magnus Stone, who has directed the forthcoming Centenary Special, with Waris Hussein, who directed the very first episode! At our Chiswick Doctor Who event last Saturday.
📸
@misterphipps
#DoctorWho
#DrWho
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Good morning, London! Have some victory for breakfast.
Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for “peanuts,” only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!
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There’s a particular, sickening ‘oh god here we go’ feeling that many of us know too well from Pakistan. Didn’t expect to feel it so strongly in Britain.
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Thanks to
@pkBritish
for the
#HomeFire
Pakistan launch and to
@SadiqKhan
(brave to claim me as a Londoner while in Karachi)
#MultipleIdentities
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This kind of thing isn’t prescience, much as I like the name Nostrashamsie. It was always the next step along the path on which Theresa May put the country (Sajid Javid is enthusiastically gambolling along in her footsteps).
#homefire
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Journos: Mohsin and I are both Pak/UK dual nationals as the
#ManBooker2017
press release says. No need to change it to ‘Pak born/Pak origin’
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For everyone so taken by the keychain, you should know they put this sticker on my sister’s windscreen too
#karachi
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An independent judiciary, committed to upholding laws that strengthen democracy, is a great and glorious thing.
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‘Our communities have been deeply enhanced by immigration… [We] have far more in common with each other than things that divide us’ - Jo Cox
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Bleeding, but bleeding green. Thank you for the amazing tournament, gentlemen.
#WorldCupT20
#TeamGREEN
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That thrilling moment when you slip the jacket off
#HomeFire
from
@riverheadbooks
and see what lies beneath.
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Quite aside from what’s been going on at Frankfurt, Minor Detail is a extraordinary novel so you’d do well to take advantage of this free download.
For the entirety of Frankfurt
@Book_Fair
, we've made the eBook of Adania Shibli's MINOR DETAIL, tr. Elisabeth Jaquette, free to download:
Amazon:
Apple:
Kobo:
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New novel, HOME FIRE, out next September from
@BloomsburyBooks
. Thanks,
@GregHeini
for this wonderful cover.
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Let the record show it took a hat trick in the final over for India to defeat Afghanistan. What a brilliant brilliant game.
#AFGvIND
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This is where I admit that I was on a flight when last year's longlist was announced, and broke my 'no wifi on flights' rule to see if 'Home Fire' was on.
We'll be announcing the 2019
#WomensPrize
longlist tonight at midnight! Who's excited? 🙌
While you wait, why not check out these brilliant YouTuber predictions?
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Very thrilled about this, not least for the company...
🥳Today we announce nine new Vice-Presidents of the RSL: Simon Armitage,
@wmarybeard
,
@BernardineEvari
, Grace Nichols,
@JackieKayPoet
, Blake Morrison,
@Elif_Safak
,
@kamilashamsie
and Colm Tóibín. All have lifetime voting rights in electing new Fellows.
#RSL200
#RSLVP
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The next
@palfest
London event is on Dec 13. Tkts available here (ticket prices range from £12 to £22) :
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‘The details coming out of Gaza are so graphic, so relentless, that now may be the time to think about what progressive values, feminist or otherwise, really mean if they stop at the threshold of what is familiar’ -
@NesrineMalik
says it like it is
In Gaza, babies are born on the ground in the wilderness, umbilical cords cut with whatever sharp object there is to hand, and tins filled with hot water keep the newborn warm.
This week’s column
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Sitting in Salt Lake City airport, trying to follow
#PakistanElections2018
online, and remembering how it felt to be 15 years old in Karachi in 1988, staying up late to watch election results come in. Nothing will ever match that, will it?
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These are truly wonderful books. I’m so proud to have been part of the process of selecting this longlist along with my fellow judges
@sixteenthCgirl
@venetialamanna
@NicolaRollock
and
@annesebba
. Congratulations, and thank you, to all sixteen writers.
Here they are in all their glory... the inaugural Women's Prize for Non-Fiction longlist!
A big thank you to our judges
@sixteenthcgirl
,
@profnicolarollock
,
@venetialamanna
,
@annesebba
and
@kamilashamsie
plus our sponsor
@findmypast
#WomensPrize
:
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Hope the Pakistan govt
@pid_gov
objects to becoming the dumping ground for Britain's rapists. In Pak they'll have no criminal convictions, nothing to stop them walking into schools and playgrounds to find more girls to groom.Thought of that,
@sajidjavid
?:
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So many Indian fans have left that those of us who remain are keeping busy moving from one set of seats to another for optimal view
#ct17
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More power to all the writers here who’ve set aside the chance to win prizes both prestigious and lucrative from
@PENamerica
in the name of solidarity with Palestine.
"We cannot, in good faith, align with an organization that has shown such blatant disregard of our collective values." 29 writers and translators have withdrawn themselves from consideration for The PEN America Literary Awards.
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Seem to be a few more then usual twitter notifications this morning. Thank you everyone.
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View from the guest editor’s chair,
@BBCr4today
. Coming up: cricket and climate change,
@RefugeeTales
, women in publishing with
@LouisaJoyner
, and my interview with
@sajidjavid
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Rather miraculously, the
#YearOfPublishingWomen
is really happening, thanks to the good people of
@andothertweets
.
#YPW2018
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