“I had been swallowed.
I was sitting in the acidic juices of my choices, in the belly of the beast I’d worked so hard to claw my way into. I know that I was profoundly lost - but that was also the moment I began to heal.”
Happy Publication Day to @lydia_pang_ ✨
Eat Bitter, a memoir attentive to taste in all its forms. What’s inherited, what’s endured, and what quietly reshapes us over time.
Tender. Unflinching. Full of bite.
@vintagebooks@eat_bitter_
FORGOTTEN FOLK TALES RETOLD 🌟
In 2020, @LivsLittle worked with @ViragoBooks to contribute a retold short story alongside amazing authors, and this September it’s coming out in paperback!
Here are sisters fighting for the love of the same woman, a pregnant archaeologist unearthing impossible bones and lost children following you home. A panther runs through the forests of England and pixies prey upon violent men.
From the islands of Scotland to the coast of Cornwall, the mountains of Galway to the depths of the Fens, these forgotten folktales howl, cackle, and sing their way into the 21st century, wildly reimagined.
Hag is coming in paperback on 29th September!
Congratulations to @laurabates . The New Age of Sexism has been shortlisted for the Indie Book Awards!
An award curated exclusively by independent bookshops, recognising Bates’ work for its impact and urgency. 🏅👏
@booksaremybag@booksellersassociation
She might be a debut author, but @lydia_pang_ is no stranger to artistic graft. As a creative director who sharpened her teeth at some of the biggest brands in the world, it was telling her own story that proved the most challenging brief of all.
On the Threads of Conversation podcast, Lydia discusses @eat_bitter_ ’s journey from a pandemic zine to one of 2026’s most anticipated memoirs.
Watch the full conversation on YouTube, Substack, Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and don’t forget to pre-order your copy of Eat Bitter - out next week!
#creativedirector #newauthor #bookrecs
@abigailbergstrom joins @rachaldo and @theothersambaker at @waterstonestcr Tuesday 9th June 2026 at 19:00. ✨
Rachel Mills and Abigail Bergstrom - top literary agents turned authors, share their advice on writing and combining passions with careers. Join them in convo with acclaimed journalist and broadcaster, Sam Baker, talking about the masks women wear, sisterhood and identity in their highly anticipated new novels The Players Club and Selfish Girls.
THE PLAYERS CLUB, A secret group of women have made it their mission to let one another live their dreams, tell them who you want to be, and they’ll make it happen. An empowering story about the human need for creativity and the seductive possibility of reinvention.
SELFISH GIRLS, The Wyn sisters, Emma, Dylan and Ines, who’s on the brink of a breakdown, are reunited in their small Welsh hometown where they are forced to deal with their dysfunctional family, and all the messiness and quiet rage of being a young woman today.
TWO sensational new writers on the power of sisters and female friendship, and the bonds that hold us in place. 🙌
On writing, identity, and the bonds between women.
Get your ticket from @waterstones today!
Why does writing a book proposal feel so hard?
With no-one to keep you accountable for deadlines, structure, and word count, it’s easy to keep your idea in a folder collecting dust. But the good news is that you don’t have to write alone.
Whether your memoir is burning to come out of you, you’ve just seen a novel published that you could’ve *sworn* you had the idea for first, or you’re fed up of seeing the same books on the shelf, contact us today with a sample of your writing and if we’re the right fit, we’ll share how we can help you complete your book proposal. Check out our link in the bio for more details!
Artwork by @ddregalo
Society’s message is loud and clear: romantic relationships matter more than friendship. But when we have an average of twenty-nine platonic relationships in our lifetime, compared to just seven-to-ten romantic relationships, why is the conversation on love far greater than friendship? Bad Friend was created out of my is determination to fix this.
If the conversation on friendship is quiet, the one on friendship break-ups is non-existent. This is despite research showing that only six friendships stand the test of time, which means that the average person experiences the ending of twenty-three friendships. As someone who has gone through a dozen of them, I began to think I was a Bad Friend.
Have one too many friendship break-ups and people start questioning what’s wrong with you. But what if you aren’t the problem? What if the problem is how we think about friendship break-ups?
Introducing Bad Friend, a ground-breaking masterclass in friendship that makes space for every conversation you have never been allowed to have. Bad Friend will make you question everything you’ve been taught about friendships, and removes the stigma from friendship break-ups. This is for you if you’ve ever been hurt by a friend and, most importantly, reassures you that you’re categorically not a bad friend.
PREORDER NOW! It’s out in 2 weeks!
#BadFriend #FriendshipBreakups #FriendshipBreakUp #FemaleFriendships #ExBestFriend
The million-follower myth is fading.
What’s replacing it?
Proof of voice. Proof of audience. Proof of concept.
The conversation around “platform” is shifting away from follower counts and towards something far more compelling: genuine reader connection.
@substack is opening doors for writers and Abigail Bergstrom is unpacking the nuance behind the hype and why intention is everything in her latest piece for @_thebookseller
