[Alex Pepple]

Dear Eratosphereans,

I'm pleased to announce brand new Eratosphere moderators! The first appointment is for a forum which is now catching up in quality and liveliness to other top Eratosphere forums, and as such is reaping just reward with its first fulltime moderator. I'm referring to the Drills & Amusements forum, and the new moderator who is a master of the light, the funnies and sillies is John Whitworth. Our second brand new moderator takes charge of our premier forum, Musing on Mastery which has been quiet for some time due to other commitments that have prevented the current moderator, Paul Lake, from active contribution. Our new moderator for Musing is Gregory Dowling who will bring new enthusiasm and critical skills to enliven it once again. These are two eminently qualified moderators at the top of their craft. They are no strangers to the Sphere and we're indeed lucky to have them as part of the Eratosphere Staff as you can see from the brief bios below:

• Gregory Dowling grew up in Bristol, UK, and studied at Oxford University. Since 1979 he has lived in Italy; he is a professor of American literature at the University of Venice. Apart from his academic interests he has published four thrillers, set in England and Italy, and he has written and regularly updates the sightseeing pages for the Time Out Guide to Venice. His most recent publication is a guidebook to Byron's Venice.

• John Whitworth is one of those fattish, baldish, backward-looking, provincial poets in which England is so rich (perhaps too rich). His ninth collection, Being the Bad Guy, was published by Peterloo in November 2007. Les Murray likes it. Good on him. You might also consider Writing Poetry published by A & C Black, one of those how-to books; it has run to a second edition and is jolly good, though he (the poet) would say that, wouldn’t he?

Please join me in giving a hearty Eratosphere welcome to John and Gregory!

Cheers,

...Alex