Just Reading

 Jon Fosse says he would have stopped writing 40 years ago if he had listened to critics - a pepe talk from the Nobel Prize winner for writers to keep on writing.

The Norwegian author Jon Fosse, winner of this year’s Nobel prize in literature, has said that his first books were “quite poorly reviewed” and that if he had listened to critics, he would have stopped writing 40 years ago.

Fosse, whose works include the Septology series of novels, Aliss at the Fire, Melancholy and A Shining, was awarded the Nobel prize in October “for his innovative plays and prose, which give voice to the unsayable”.

 "Fight Book Bans" Act Introduced in US Congress 

As the US prepares to enter another year of relentless censorship attacks perpetrated against young people and their access to books in public schools and libraries, a new bill to help counteract the costs of book bans has been introduced into Congress. Developed by Representative Maxwell Frost, a Florida Democrat, the Fight Book Bans Act is not angled toward ending book bans directly. Instead, the bill would help fund the cost school districts incur while moving through the process of reviewing books which have been challenged. The legislation would allow up to $100,000 per district to go through the challenge process via the Department of Education.

History fans find Collyweston royal palace 'against all odds' 

The amateur archaeologists have discovered buried walls and foundations of the palace which fell into disrepair by 1650 when it was bought by the Dutch Tryon family who built another house on the site.

The palace was recorded by Historic England, but the only visible evidence for its existence until the latest dig were related fish ponds, garden terraces and a tithe barn, which has been turned into a house.

 Picts' exotic origins a myth, say researchers 

The research team said the Picts were one of the most mysterious of Britain's ancient peoples, but added it was myth they originated from Thrace north of the Aegean Sea, or Scythia in eastern Europe, as suggested by medieval writers.

Dr Adeline Morez, a visiting lecturer at LJMU said: "Our findings support the idea of regional continuity between the Late Iron Age and early medieval periods and indicate that the Picts were local to the British Isles in their origin, as their gene pool is drawn from the older Iron Age, and not from large-scale migration, from exotic locations far to the east."

Iron Age: How Wales was ruled from hillforts pre-Romans 

Mediterranean traders would have found complex societies, he said, with "sophisticated timber buildings" atop imposing stone hillforts that projected power over defended farms in the valleys below, in effect, "owning the landscape".

"We've got to wake up to how incredible Wales was before the Romans arrived. It was a devastating, brutal campaign.

"The Romans changed everything and very quickly, but through archaeology we can unlock that period of Welsh history."

 Okay, archeology fascinates me.

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