iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

So pleased @stuartgreen.bsky.social Here’s to the fascinating 17th century.

040

Reposted by Alice Hunt

Simon Kővesi @kovesi.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Colin Burrow, defining literary criticism, brilliantly, in the LRB: @lrb.co.uk

In the LRB, Colin Burrow writes:

But to return to the point of it all. Literary criticism is primarily about learning to read very complex creations and situations carefully. That requires a willingness to think and rethink, to take a thought and run with it until it either ceases to be viable or (ideally) generates its own internal impetus. It requires accepting that sometimes you get it wrong and that sometimes other people get it wrong. It makes you pull together a whole range of messy human bits and pieces, from autobiography to philology to counting lines and underlining letters and seeing almost invisible patterns, through histories of individuals and of peoples. All of this can go towards understanding the way a poem might cohere or interestingly not cohere. You’ve got to be bold sometimes in pushing a point and sometimes you’ve got to be humble about things you can’t see or haven’t seen. There’s a dash of politics, or more than a dash if you want that, and there could be a dash of religion too, if that’s your thing. But there has to be a great measure of self-awareness, about where you stand or sit or the corners into which you have been pushed by where you come from. Literary criticism is a supremely occasional skill, where you have to be bold enough to operate where there aren’t any clear rules and make up your own, and decide for yourself what you think, and maybe set that beside what other cleverer people have thought. Someone else might come along and see it differently, but if you’ve made them argue with you then you’ve done something worthwhile. If that doesn’t have a point to it, just in itself, then probably living doesn’t have a point to it either, because making ad hoc judgments on the basis of a mosaic of information and misinformation about people and about what you should say on a particular occasion, even a difficult one, is what we all need to do every day. Literary criticism is like the mess of life, an exercise in tact and understanding.

23120

Reposted by Alice Hunt

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 12/07/2026

‘Underneath the rustling silks and behind the sexual confidence was the unavoidable truth that monarchy was no longer assured. Commonwealths and republics were still being dreamed up in London’s coffee houses.’ Alice Hunt on Catherine of Braganza, Charles II’s wife. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

lrb.co.uk

Alice Hunt · Honourable Chains: Catherine of Braganza

Despite not securing the succession, despite being Catholic, Catherine, queen of Great Britain from 1662 until Charles...

0145

Reposted by Alice Hunt

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 04/07/2026

‘Despite not securing the succession, despite being Catholic, Catherine managed to be perceived as an ideal consort. Royal wives were – and are – loved or loathed according to values that remain spectacularly unchanged.’ @alicehunt.bsky.social on Charles II’s wife. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

lrb.co.uk

Alice Hunt · Honourable Chains: Catherine of Braganza

Despite not securing the succession, despite being Catholic, Catherine, queen of Great Britain from 1662 until Charles...

0178

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Yes! So would I! Move over Tudors, it’s time for the 17th century now.

0133

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Oops, Royal.uk have some updating to do (and, yes, still a counsellor of state as still in the line of succession): The current Counsellors of State are The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Princess Royal, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Duke of Sussex, Prince Andrew and Princess Beatrice.

royal.uk

The official website of the Royal Family

030

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Delighted you're enjoying Republic, @davidcamburn.bsky.social, and thank you for posting.

030

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

V pleased to hear my book is in Austria and I hope you enjoy it 🙂

120

Reposted by Alice Hunt

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 29/12/2025

‘Historians have done much to challenge the homophobia and xenophobia that skewed interpretations of James. But the caricature of a weak king drooling over his favourites has proved hard to expunge from the public imagination.’ @alicehunt.bsky.social on James VI and I: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

lrb.co.uk

Alice Hunt · Out of Rehab: Two Kings or One?

The 400th anniversary of James VI and I’s death has been marked by several new approaches to the reign that gave us...

072

Reposted by Alice Hunt

Jon Fitzgibbons @jrrfitzgibbons.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

The ‘puritan’ MP Bulstrode Whitelocke went home on 24 December 1651 to be ‘merry’ with family and friends ‘in this time of Christmas’. It’s not clear if he broke off his celebrations to attend the House of Commons on 25 Dec.

163

Reposted by Alice Hunt

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

"In an era where the authentic written word is under threat....English isn't just about reading the past--it's about understanding the power of words and narratives in the present and future and giving our students the skills to successfully navigate the world". True of all UK English programmes.

04518

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

2025 has been the year of James.

001

Reposted by Alice Hunt

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 17/12/2025

... Jo Applin on Louise Bourgeois’s latex Nick Richardson on alchemy Helen Pfeifer on Suleyman the Great @alicehunt.bsky.social on James VI and I Clare Bucknell on Byron in Ravenna a poem by Anne Carson and a cover by Anne Rothenstein. Read online now at www.lrb.co.uk

lrb.co.uk

London Review of Books

Europe’s leading magazine of ideas, published twice a month. Book reviews and essays (and much more online) renowned for their fearlessness, range and elegance.

052

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Being a fan of punctuation, I loved this short @thespectator1828.bsky.social piece on the hyphen. In particular, the self-consciousness of this: 'When you use a hyphen, you are near-sacred.'

010

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

Thank YOU @mrsamin.bsky.social. Inspirtational and thought-provoking few days meeting this wonderful group of history teachers as part of the @histassoc.bsky.social teacher fellowship with The Visible Crown colleagues @profannawhitelock.bsky.social @gracemc971.bsky.social and Kate Quinn.

021

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Thank you, Owen. V happy to hear this.

020

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Thank you @stuartbj.bsky.social. What a lovely post to see - and on my birthday too! 🙂

021

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

Definitely! And especially if it's al fresco reading.

030

Reposted by Alice Hunt

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 11/07/2025

‘The republic was a great age for English satire. Royalist laughs had been generated by rejecting certain social norms and annoying Puritans with wilful impurity – fart jokes, heavy drinking and a celebration of sex and dancing.’ Jonathan Healey on England’s republic: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

lrb.co.uk

Jonathan Healey · Blood and Confusion: England’s Republic

The English republic isn’t recalled with much fondness by anyone. It is known as a fun-sapping entity that cancelled...

082

Reposted by Alice Hunt

English Civil War @englishcivilwar.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

A fantastic listen – Prof @alicehunt.bsky.social talks about Britain's oft-maligned revolutionary decade and how it actually laid the groundwork for the radical changes in the years following it www.worldturnedupsidedown.co.uk/podcast/brit...

063

Reposted by Alice Hunt

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 07/07/2025

‘As the old order creaked, new ideas flourished, particularly in religion: radical sects emerged not only from the London streets but from country towns and the ranks of the parliamentary army.’ Jonathan Healey on the English Commonwealth: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

lrb.co.uk

Jonathan Healey · Blood and Confusion: England’s Republic

The English republic isn’t recalled with much fondness by anyone. It is known as a fun-sapping entity that cancelled...

0134

Reposted by Alice Hunt

Luke Turner @luketurner.bsky.social · 06/07/2025

A superb piece of journalism in The Observer: it seems like the one of the sacred texts of Nature Writing (TM) is not quite as much of an unflinchingly honest read as claimed observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

observer.co.uk

The real Salt Path: how a blockbuster book and film were ...

Penniless and homeless, the Winns found fame and fortune with the story of their 630-mile walk to salvation. We can reveal that the truth behind it is ve...

39592200

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

'Until recently, trade publishers have avoided England’s republic – as too dowdy, perhaps, and too complex. But now it’s all the rage.' It is, it is! V pleased with @jonathanhealey.bsky.social's review of my book REPUBLIC in the latest @lrb.co.uk @faberbooks.bsky.social

0114

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

And wit music too! Lovely cover reveal.

010

Reposted by Alice Hunt

Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

25 poems written between the eighth century and today = 25 time machines into moments in England's past. My new #history #book A History of England in 25 Poems, out September 2025 with Penguin Allen Lane (available for pre-order now). www.penguin.co.uk/books/461263...

3347

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

Looking forward to being a bookseller tomorrow at the wonderful @pgwells.bsky.social to celebrate #IndieBookshopWeek @jamesmcconnachie.bsky.social and I have recommended some of our favourite non-fiction books -- some of which can be glimpsed here 👇

021

Reposted by Alice Hunt

Faber Books @faberbooks.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

📚 'Magisterial.' Suzannah Lipscomb 📚 'Gripping.' Malcolm Gaskill 📚 'Evocative.' Clare Jackson 📚 'Superb.' Jessie Childs 📚 'Compelling.' David Kynaston 📚 'Thrilling.' Paul Lay Republic: Britain's Revolutionary Decade 1649-1660 by Alice Hunt is out in paperback today! www.faber.co.uk/product/9780...

172

Reposted by Alice Hunt

Faber Books @faberbooks.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

We also have a brilliant article from Alice discussing six poems from Britain's Republican past which you can read here on the Faber Journal. www.faber.co.uk/journal/alic...

012

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

@cathamclarke.bsky.social was so thoughtful on the relationship between literature and history, and fascinating on how writing for non-academic audience can be so unexpectedly emotional -- and in a good way. Can't wait to read #AHistoryofEnglandin25Poems

251

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

Really looking forward to this.

110

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Very pleased @jamesmcconnachie.bsky.social picked up Carys Davies' Clear which had been carefully placed on his bedside table. Love The Writer's Bookshelf by@matthewlyons.bsky.social

041

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Joyous launch last night @dauntbooks.bsky.social for The Sun Rising: James I and the Dawn of a Global Britain - the brilliant new book by @profannawhitelock.bsky.social which gives us James I waking up to the rest of the world.

030

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

Many congratulations to Brian Thornton. It was a privilege to be on the judging panel for this with @uk.theconversation.com .

010

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Ah, thank you @andymack.bsky.social Very pleased to hear this. And narrated so well by @sophierobertsaudio.bsky.social

060

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Very nice to see 'Republic' on display in the finest museum in the country @cromwellmuseum.bsky.social

120

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

'Less terrifying and foreign'. Job done! Thank you @laurenworking.bsky.social

010

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

'Something of the thriller about it.' Thank you, Jonathan! My book, Republic, with @faberbooks.bsky.social

032

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

Thank you, Hugh. I had no idea when I began this book how much those 'overturning, overturning days' would chime with our own.

021

Reposted by Alice Hunt

Unseen Histories @unseenhistories.com · 29/11/2024

From Paris to India, King Richard II to the Commonwealth of England, here are our favourite books of 2024 w/ @josephinequinn.bsky.social @claremulley.bsky.social @josephhone.bsky.social @daisydunn.bsky.social @willdalrymple.bsky.social @alicehunt.bsky.social www.unseenhistories.com/our-favourit...

Graphic shows eight book covers arranged in a rainbow configuration

283