Dana Rail
@danarail.substack.com
Scribbling bibliophile over at #BibliollCollege: https://bibliollcollege.substack.com. 💙📚 Writer of speculative fiction with #DarkAcademia / #Arthurian themes. I love books, music & the city of #Oxford. Blessed with the coolest family on the planet.
Ah, Autumn is in the air! Join us in our September Monthly Miscellany at Biblioll College!
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/biblioll-c...
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/biblioll-c...
Biblioll College’s Monthly Miscellany No. 19
Notes and Highlights from September 2026
bibliollcollege.substack.com
October 2, 2026 at 8:44 PM
Ah, Autumn is in the air! Join us in our September Monthly Miscellany at Biblioll College!
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/biblioll-c...
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/biblioll-c...
My latest (free) Dispatch from Biblioll College is a tour of the writing space/"room-of-my -own", a converted 8 x 10 garden shed I call "the Birdhouse".
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/welcome-to...
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/welcome-to...
Welcome to ‘The Birdhouse’
Dana takes you on a tour of a “room of her own”.
bibliollcollege.substack.com
August 23, 2026 at 6:24 PM
My latest (free) Dispatch from Biblioll College is a tour of the writing space/"room-of-my -own", a converted 8 x 10 garden shed I call "the Birdhouse".
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/welcome-to...
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/welcome-to...
Our latest Dispatch from Biblioll College! I'm especially eager to read the last book on the list.
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/twelve-boo...
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/twelve-boo...
Twelve Books to Read if You Like Greek & Roman Mythology
Exploring the Literary Roots of Western Civilisation
bibliollcollege.substack.com
August 10, 2026 at 8:54 PM
Our latest Dispatch from Biblioll College! I'm especially eager to read the last book on the list.
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/twelve-boo...
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/twelve-boo...
In my latest Dispatch from Biblioll College, I get up close in personal with a masterpiece:
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/the-knight...
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/the-knight...
The Knight, Death, and the Devil, up close and personal
The privilege of experiencing a great work of art at close range.
bibliollcollege.substack.com
July 31, 2026 at 3:17 PM
In my latest Dispatch from Biblioll College, I get up close in personal with a masterpiece:
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/the-knight...
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/the-knight...
Boze's latest (and sobering) Dispatch from Biblioll College:
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/what-we-lo...
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/what-we-lo...
What We Lose When We Lose Literacy
The Road to Civilisational Ruin
bibliollcollege.substack.com
July 16, 2026 at 10:08 PM
Boze's latest (and sobering) Dispatch from Biblioll College:
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/what-we-lo...
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/what-we-lo...
My kids picked up this little gem for me from a local library book sale…for a buck! I've read a lot of Waugh, but didn't know he'd written a book on Rossetti.
Another title to add to my TBR pile for my“Oxford Project” for our Biblioll College substack. 💙📚 #booksky
Another title to add to my TBR pile for my“Oxford Project” for our Biblioll College substack. 💙📚 #booksky
July 12, 2026 at 3:34 PM
My kids picked up this little gem for me from a local library book sale…for a buck! I've read a lot of Waugh, but didn't know he'd written a book on Rossetti.
Another title to add to my TBR pile for my“Oxford Project” for our Biblioll College substack. 💙📚 #booksky
Another title to add to my TBR pile for my“Oxford Project” for our Biblioll College substack. 💙📚 #booksky
I love that Matthew Rhys got nommed thrice for THE BEAST IN ME and WIDOW'S BAY bothe, and that all three leads in the latter, plus the show itself (which we thoroughly enjoyed) were nommed, and in the Comedy series category no less.
www.thewrap.com/industry-new...
www.thewrap.com/industry-new...
Matthew Rhys Is First Lead Actor to Score Double Emmy Nominations Since 1995
Matthew Rhys, star of "Widow's Bay" and "The Beast in Me," is the first male actor to earn this distinction this century
www.thewrap.com
July 12, 2026 at 3:07 PM
I love that Matthew Rhys got nommed thrice for THE BEAST IN ME and WIDOW'S BAY bothe, and that all three leads in the latter, plus the show itself (which we thoroughly enjoyed) were nommed, and in the Comedy series category no less.
www.thewrap.com/industry-new...
www.thewrap.com/industry-new...
Boze's latest Dispatch from Biblioll College!
open.substack.com/pub/biblioll...
open.substack.com/pub/biblioll...
The Eleven Best Translations of The Divine Comedy in English (and One to Avoid)
A Celebration of Literature's Greatest Poem
open.substack.com
July 8, 2026 at 4:09 PM
Boze's latest Dispatch from Biblioll College!
open.substack.com/pub/biblioll...
open.substack.com/pub/biblioll...
Reposted by Dana Rail
The library delivers,
I’m spoilt for books,
Stacked on the table,
Piled upon nooks,
Crafting and cooking,
Travel and tales,
I even have books,
That I brought in the sales,
I can’t get enough,
Please do not condemn,
I’m sure maybe someday,
I’ll read all of them.
#thingstowriteabout books
I’m spoilt for books,
Stacked on the table,
Piled upon nooks,
Crafting and cooking,
Travel and tales,
I even have books,
That I brought in the sales,
I can’t get enough,
Please do not condemn,
I’m sure maybe someday,
I’ll read all of them.
#thingstowriteabout books
July 7, 2026 at 6:22 PM
The library delivers,
I’m spoilt for books,
Stacked on the table,
Piled upon nooks,
Crafting and cooking,
Travel and tales,
I even have books,
That I brought in the sales,
I can’t get enough,
Please do not condemn,
I’m sure maybe someday,
I’ll read all of them.
#thingstowriteabout books
I’m spoilt for books,
Stacked on the table,
Piled upon nooks,
Crafting and cooking,
Travel and tales,
I even have books,
That I brought in the sales,
I can’t get enough,
Please do not condemn,
I’m sure maybe someday,
I’ll read all of them.
#thingstowriteabout books
Rach's latest Dispatch from Biblioll College brings back fond memories of a damp basement, long hours at self-employed work, and hours and hours and hours of fantastic audiobook listening.
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/my-fifteen...
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/my-fifteen...
My Fifteen Favorite Audiobook Narrators
A Celebration of Audiobooks
bibliollcollege.substack.com
June 28, 2026 at 7:51 PM
Rach's latest Dispatch from Biblioll College brings back fond memories of a damp basement, long hours at self-employed work, and hours and hours and hours of fantastic audiobook listening.
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/my-fifteen...
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/my-fifteen...
Boze's Lastest Dispatch from Biblioll College:
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/the-anglo-...
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/the-anglo-...
The Anglo-Saxon Saint Who Fled to the Fens to Preserve Her Chastity
Remembering St Etheldreda on Her Feast Day
bibliollcollege.substack.com
June 27, 2026 at 8:51 PM
Boze's Lastest Dispatch from Biblioll College:
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/the-anglo-...
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/the-anglo-...
Boze's latest Dispatch from Biblioll College, on the Fitzgerald translation of the Rubaiyat:
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/the-iconic...
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/the-iconic...
The Iconic Victorian Poem That Haunted Me as a Child
"We are no other than a moving-row / Of magic shadow-shapes that come and go"
bibliollcollege.substack.com
June 22, 2026 at 1:42 PM
Boze's latest Dispatch from Biblioll College, on the Fitzgerald translation of the Rubaiyat:
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/the-iconic...
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/the-iconic...
Reposted by Dana Rail
I wish I were in Dublin today
#Bloomsday
#Bloomsday
June 16, 2025 at 7:10 AM
I wish I were in Dublin today
#Bloomsday
#Bloomsday
My latest Dispatch from Biblioll College, about my "Oxford Project". #Tolkien #Oxford
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/a-syllabus...
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/a-syllabus...
A Syllabus for my 2026 Oxford Project
Pulling on the threads that connect such Oxford luminaries as Newman, Ruskin, Morris, and Tolkien.
bibliollcollege.substack.com
June 16, 2026 at 4:51 PM
My latest Dispatch from Biblioll College, about my "Oxford Project". #Tolkien #Oxford
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/a-syllabus...
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/a-syllabus...
Good heavens, what a busy busy month at Biblioll College, trying to keep Aloysius in good humour!
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/biblioll-c...
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/biblioll-c...
Biblioll College's Monthly Miscellany No. 15
Notes and highlights from May 2026
bibliollcollege.substack.com
June 5, 2026 at 9:59 PM
Good heavens, what a busy busy month at Biblioll College, trying to keep Aloysius in good humour!
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/biblioll-c...
bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/biblioll-c...
Son-in-law Boze Herrington has written a lovely review for @plough.bsky.social of a gorgeous and important book by @malcolmguite.bsky.social. A fragrant and healing balm for our Wasteland.
www.plough.com/en/topics/cu...
www.plough.com/en/topics/cu...
Galahad and the Grail
Poet Malcolm Guite retells the Authurian legend in verse. Do stories like this have the power to revive a dying world?
www.plough.com
June 2, 2026 at 11:16 PM
Son-in-law Boze Herrington has written a lovely review for @plough.bsky.social of a gorgeous and important book by @malcolmguite.bsky.social. A fragrant and healing balm for our Wasteland.
www.plough.com/en/topics/cu...
www.plough.com/en/topics/cu...
Reposted by Dana Rail
May 23, 2026 at 10:18 AM
Reposted by Dana Rail
#OnThisDay - 26 May - in AD 735 the Venerable Bede died at Jarrow, Northumbria. Theologian, grammarian, historian - perhaps his most-admired work is his 'Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation'. #Bede
Image: Cotton MS Tiberius C II, f. 5v. Link - blogs.bl.uk/digitisedman...
Image: Cotton MS Tiberius C II, f. 5v. Link - blogs.bl.uk/digitisedman...
May 26, 2026 at 1:50 PM
#OnThisDay - 26 May - in AD 735 the Venerable Bede died at Jarrow, Northumbria. Theologian, grammarian, historian - perhaps his most-admired work is his 'Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation'. #Bede
Image: Cotton MS Tiberius C II, f. 5v. Link - blogs.bl.uk/digitisedman...
Image: Cotton MS Tiberius C II, f. 5v. Link - blogs.bl.uk/digitisedman...
He will always be "Gandalf" to me, but I was also fortunate to see him live on stage as an unforgettably pitable and funny and roguish Falstaff in PLAYER KINGS back in 2024.
Happy 87th, Sir Ian McKellen! May you still be around for an eleventy-first! (If anyone could, I think it would be you!)
Happy 87th, Sir Ian McKellen! May you still be around for an eleventy-first! (If anyone could, I think it would be you!)
May 25, 2026 at 8:06 PM
He will always be "Gandalf" to me, but I was also fortunate to see him live on stage as an unforgettably pitable and funny and roguish Falstaff in PLAYER KINGS back in 2024.
Happy 87th, Sir Ian McKellen! May you still be around for an eleventy-first! (If anyone could, I think it would be you!)
Happy 87th, Sir Ian McKellen! May you still be around for an eleventy-first! (If anyone could, I think it would be you!)
Picked up a volume of John Masefield's Poems recently. Having never read him before, I turned randomly to this page, read the poem "Lollingdon Downs", and instantly thought, "Mr. Masefield, where have you been all my life?" Just wonderful. #Poetry
May 25, 2026 at 7:47 PM
Picked up a volume of John Masefield's Poems recently. Having never read him before, I turned randomly to this page, read the poem "Lollingdon Downs", and instantly thought, "Mr. Masefield, where have you been all my life?" Just wonderful. #Poetry
I love this! #Tolkien. You can download the entire English version of the encyclical here:
www.vatican.va/content/leo-...
www.vatican.va/content/leo-...
May 25, 2026 at 7:24 PM
I love this! #Tolkien. You can download the entire English version of the encyclical here:
www.vatican.va/content/leo-...
www.vatican.va/content/leo-...
The view outside my study window. Ah, Spring!
May 24, 2026 at 9:05 PM
The view outside my study window. Ah, Spring!