Recent Links Recap: 31st January - 6th February

Recent links feature continues, with some brilliant posts around the internet!

I loved Debbie's January in review, and Caitlin's, and this bookish one from Maximum Pop!

Caitlin's blog is still a must-read, by the way - this post on not feeling guilty for not reading (or for anything else you're not doing) is especially great.

Superb post here by Samantha Asamadu about Bare Lit Festival, happening in a few weeks time! Sadly I'm away for that weekend so won't be able to make it, but if you're around I'd strongly suggest going - it looks brilliant!

Brilliant interview with mother/daughter writing duo Perdita and Honor Cargill on the Waterstones blog!

Monday marked the start of Faye's Finish It Feb, which I should probably have signed up for if I could remember WHICH books I'm halfway through at the moment...

There's been a fair bit about Trinity College's consent classes - I thought this piece written by Carl Kinsella, talking to Hannah Beresford, one of the students putting the classes together, was excellent.

One of my favourite things to read was a fascinating Racked post on Kendra Scott, 'The Jewelry Queen of Texas'.

Fabulous Gillian Berry post telling people to stop what they're doing and watch Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries - I couldn't agree more!

I'm still newish to Instagram but really enjoying it - and I'm loving Dahlia Adler's #AuthorLifeMonth!

Brilliant post by Sarah on reading A Month In The Country for the Classics Challenge! (Remember to sign up on Pretty Books if you want to do the Classics Challenge yourself, by the way!)

MG Strikes Back launched #CoverKidsBooks! Great responses from various people, with Charlotte Eyre's awesome article here and the campaign immediately bearing fruit as the TES announced new plans to have kids and teachers reviewing books.
 
Yet another brilliant Mugglenet author takeover, this one by Alwyn Hamilton, author of the just-published - and completely wonderful - Rebel of the Sands!

The HUGE book news for me is that Fox (previously known as Sarah) Benwell has just announced that Kaleidoscope Song will be published in the US by Simon Teen! And also amazing TV news as VE Schwab's A Darker Shade of Magic is being adapted for screen, with the author writing the pilot episode herself.

Lauren Laverne with a great piece for the Pool, probably my favourite non-bookish website at the moment, on how some amazing women thrive on Twitter.  

Also a really fantastic piece on the difference between anxiety and panic attacks by Louise Jones.

I love Rosalind Jana's writing and can't wait for her book later this year! Brilliant post here on tearing up the fashion rulebook.

And a must-read post from John Underwood on cancer for the BBC.

Louise O'Neill, superb as always, about the revenge porn at UCD. (DON'T READ THE COMMENTS, though.)

Lots of awesome novels on the Branford Boase longlist! I would LOVE to see The Art Of Being Normal get the win, but there are a lot of others I love here as well. Special congratulations to Annalie (AJ) Grainger for being one of the very few people (but not the only one, as Nick Lake pointed out!) to make the longlist in the same year as author AND editor, for writing Captive and for editing Lauren James's The Next Together.

Great to see Perdita and Honor Cargill's Maximum Pop Twitter takeover went so well - highlights here in a brilliant piece by Grace.

And a fabulous post from Grace on her own blog on meeting and greeting the greats.

One of my favourite sci-fi novels for a long time was Emily Skrutskie's debut The Abyss Surrounds Us, out next week! I love this interview with her on Lloyd Reads.

An awesome opportunity for 7 - 13 year olds to write with the fabulous Abi Elphinstone at half-term here! An another really cool opportunity for readers aged 10 - 14 to join the Best of the Best Children’s Book Award judging panel here!

And also on Caboodle, brilliant giveaway for signed copies of Katherine Woodfine's brilliant The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow, and sequel The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth, which I can't wait to read, along with a Fortnum & Mason hamper!

Fans of colour, please don't miss the chance to get a free NineWorlds membership via Con or Bust. 

The first BatNon and Robin event, last year, was awesome. I'm sure the second, focusing on events, on Monday 14th March will also be awesome - don't miss the chance to sign up!

And another excellent opportunity for authors that week, with Scott Pack doing a Guardian masterclass on how to pitch your novel to publishers. 

Lots of authors I really love are using Ko-fi, which allows people to buy them a coffee to show their appreciation for them. This is a really cool way to help people out - especially those I admire and whose blog posts and tweets I'm hugely grateful for, but who don't have books published yet so I can't buy them. (Or whose books I already own all of!) Here's a handful of people to consider supporting - and who you should definitely be following on Twitter! Katherine Locke (and her cats!), (@Bibliogato), Nita Tyndall (@NitaTyndall),  Justina Ireland (@JustinaIreland), Tristina Wright (@TristinaWright), Hannah Moskowitz (@hannahmosk), Camryn Garrett (@dancingofpens), Kayla Whaley (@punkinonwheels) and Sarah Hollowell (@sarahhollowell).

Speaking of Justina, by the way, I've learnt a LOT about diversity from following her. This recent post on 'Diversity 101: An Introduction to the Diversity Discussion' is superb.

It was National Libraries Day yesterday and there've been some outstanding pieces about it - this Guardian post from an anonymous librarian is excellent as is Cathy Cassidy's.

On my blogs - my bargain hunter's guide to London theatre tickets and my January stage, screen and bookish events recap.

On MG Strikes Back, our biggest ever happy book birthday feature!

And on Teens on Moon Lane, Perdita and Honor Cargill with our first ever joint 5-4-3-2-1, an awesome one from Sara Barnard and the launch of #6degrees! A huge thanks to everyone who's taken part in the meme so far - check out posts from Viv, Darren, Katrina, Sophie, Chelley and Mikayla. It's running all month, so plenty of time for you to join in on your blog/Tumblr/Instagram or in our comments section!