iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Esther Lay @estherlay.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

I feel the headline would write itself: “Cotswold vicar deported…”

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Esther Lay @estherlay.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Yep. Child benefit recipient here.

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Esther Lay @estherlay.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

Delighted to have two poems in @rustandmoth.bsky.social this autumn - one of my favourite magazines. rustandmoth.com/artists/esth...

rustandmoth.com

Esther Lay – Rust & Moth

A Journal Of Poetry And The Arts

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Esther Lay @estherlay.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

There’s my husband! Somewhere in the bowels of Duncan…

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Navy Lookout @navylookout.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

HMS Duncan sails from Portsmouth this morning for sea trials and shakedown after 6-month maintenance period. Via: PortsmouthProud / Steve Wenham

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Esther Lay @estherlay.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Delighted to have placed joint second with myself (!) with two poems in the Write Out Loud poetry competition, judged by @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social's wonderful editor Neil Astley. Read his remarks (and all the winning poems) here: www.writeoutloud.net/public/bloge...

writeoutloud.net

Di Slaney wins Write Out Loud’s ‘Echoes’ competition with ‘Dolly Parton’s wig’ - in memory of a ‘dear friend and inspiration’ | Write Out Loud

Di Slaney wins Write Out Loud’s ‘Echoes’ competition with ‘Dolly Parton’s wig’ - in memory of a ‘dear friend and inspiration’

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Patrick McGuinness @padrig.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

First taste of the cover and colours of Ghost Stations, out in September from @cbeditions.bsky.social . Essays on trains, stations, places, not-quite-places, centres and perpheries, imaginary poets and real artists, memory and forgetting. Ghost signs and missing letters.

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Dr. Matthew E. Henry (MEH) @mehpoeting.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

Well this was a nice surprise. Turning to see my first born sitting on the shelf next to me while drafting her younger sibling.

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The Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN) @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 25/04/2025

If we hit our £5,000 goal, we’ll launch a poetry competition unlike any other—free to enter, big cash prize, real support. We’ve done it before with chapbooks & Reader’s Choice. Now, we need your help to go bigger. Donate today. #TheBrokenSpinePoetryAward 🔗 shorturl.at/G2mMo

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Esther Lay @estherlay.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

If you haven't discovered @marjorielotfi.bsky.social yet, she is one of the best contemporary poets out there (Forward Prize winner 2024), and also a tremendous teacher. She's running an editing workshop on the 2nd of May - highly recommended. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/editing-po...

eventbrite.co.uk

Editing Poetry

Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned poet, this session will give you practical tips and techniques to refine and edit your work.

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Esther Lay @estherlay.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Thank you so much! It was great fun.

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Cathedral Church of St. Mark @stmarksslc.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, even Barbie knows, that Ash Wednesday's a must. Tomorrow at St. Mark's; 7 a.m, noon, and 7 p.m. ⚓

A picture of Barbie from the Barbie movie with an ash cross on her forehead. The text reads 'do you guys ever think about dying?'

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Barb Milne @barbmilne.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

Looking forward to tuning in at 12:00 today #PrivatePassions @imtiazdharker.bsky.social + Michael Berkeley #illustration #poetry (currently available on BBC Sounds) www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... 🎨🖌️📻

bbc.co.uk

Private Passions - Imtiaz Dharker - BBC Sounds

Michael Berkeley's guest is the poet Imtiaz Dharker.

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Esther Lay @estherlay.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Only five days now until I interview the wonderful poet Imtiaz Dharker @imtiazdharker.bsky.social in Wootton Village Hall, just north of Oxford. 6.30pm, 8th of March. Get your tickets while there are still some left! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-evening...

eventbrite.co.uk

An evening with Imtiaz Dharker

Join distinguished poet, artist, and filmmaker Imtiaz Dharker in conversation with prizewinning poet and Rector of Wootton Esther Lay

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Esther Lay @estherlay.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Floored — totally and utterly — that one of my poems has been submitted for consideration in the @forwardprizes.bsky.social 2025. Hurrah!

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Esther Lay @estherlay.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

There are still tickets left for this incredible opportunity to hear the poet Imtiaz Dharker speak in Wootton by Woodstock. 6.30pm on the 8th of March, curry supper included! Book here: www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening...

eventbrite.com

An evening with Imtiaz Dharker

Join distinguished poet, artist, and filmmaker Imtiaz Dharker in conversation with prizewinning poet and Rector of Wootton Esther Lay

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ImtiazDharker @imtiazdharker.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

See you there!

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Esther Lay @estherlay.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

This event with renowned poet Imtiaz Dharker is going to sell out fast. Get your tickets now — especially as there’s a deadline of 25 Feb (catering requires it; a curry dinner is included!) www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening... @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social @imtiazdharker.bsky.social

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Alex Sobel MP @alexsobel.co.uk · 17/02/2025

I’m delighted to share that £5m of funding has been confirmed for the National Poetry Centre ✒️ When I learned that the funding for the Centre was under review, I began working with Simon Armitage & the Centre to lobby the Gov. to secure the funding. #NationalPoetryCentre

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Esther Lay @estherlay.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

I’m thrilled to have just found out I’ve won the East Riding Festival of Words Poetry Competition 2025 — the poem will be published in ebook form with others, and will also be available to read shortly at estherlay.com

estherlay.com

Esther Lay

Poet

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Esther Lay @estherlay.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

This is going to be a brilliant poetry evening! I’m interviewing the wonderful @imtiazdharker.bsky.social on March 8th in Wootton by Woodstock. Get your tickets (which include dinner) here: www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening... 6.30 talk 7.30 dinner 8.30 open-mic

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

1. Sketch | 2 Feature on the New Yorker website | 3. Closeup of my favourite character in the ink drawing.

A scratchy ink sketch for a New Yorker cover by Tom Gauld

A screenshot of a page of the New Yorker website with some information about the cover 'Winter Sun' by Tom Gauld

An ink drawing of a sad looking dog being walked in heavy rain.

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

I drew the cover for this week's @newyorker.com

A cover of the New Yorker magazine for February 10th 2025. The image is of a dark, rainy street scene. One figure shelters under an umbrella and another, wearing a large raincoat, walks a sad looking dog. A large window casts warm light onto the street. Inside a woman (wearing a bright yellow coat) and her dog, look at a summery painting of a figure basking under a hot sun.

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Esther Lay @estherlay.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

I am running a poetry workshop on ekphrastic poetry - writing inspired by visual art - on Tuesday the 11th of February at 11am in Wootton Church (OX20). If anyone from here would like to come along, please drop me a line!

A Dutch Still Life painting from 1627 Pieter Claesz: "Still Life with Peacock Pie". Various half-eaten food and silver vessels sit on top of a rumpled white tablecloth.

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Stone Cold Jane Austen @abbyhiggs.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

I’m done dating humans. I’ve got a better idea—

Book entitled: how to date buildings (an easy reference guide)

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Esther Lay @estherlay.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

Very exciting post just arrived from Canada. I couldn’t be prouder to have been published in Grain Magazine (now available for the first time as a digital issue!). grainmagazine.ca

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Jen Feroze @jenferoze.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

Also, while I’ve got you, my new book ‘A Dress With Deep Pockets’ is available for pre-order now from the @poetrybusiness.bsky.social shop. Which is rather exciting. Grab yourself a copy here, if you like: poetrybusiness.co.uk/product/a-dr...

poetrybusiness.co.uk

A Dress With Deep Pockets - The Poetry Business

Jen Feroze's poetry pamphlet A Dress with Deep Pockets is a Winner of the 2024 International Book & Pamphlet Competition judged by Jane Clarke

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The Poetry Society @poetrysociety.org.uk · 16/01/2025

Next Monday 20 January, it is the Eve of St Agnes. Join us on zoom for a friendly event which combines new poems by Helen Farish and a communal relay reading of Keats’s atmospheric poem. 7pm UK time. Book free tickets at the link below.

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Emma Mitchell @silverpebble2.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

In around 4 weeks’ time the first blossom will appear in the hedgerows. Cherry plum flowers (Prunus cerasifera) are delicate & unassuming but that subtle glimmer of white (sometimes pink) is perhaps the most beautiful as it marks the end of winter & the prospect of warmer days.

My painting of cherry plum blossom (Prunus cerasifera) from my book The Wild Remedy.

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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

The key thing, as poets and readers, is that we remain brave enough to stay true to ourselves, to trust our own instincts, whatever our preference...

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stpaulswesthackney.bsky.social @stpaulswesthackney.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

The chortling at every appearance of Stanley Tucci’s “cassock” in Conclave meant that several Anglo Catholic priests missed chunks of the plot.

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Esther Lay @estherlay.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

I have to develop a convincing 1940 Yorkshire accent by Saturday. What source material do I need to listen to?

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Sketchbook doodling for the cartoon quoted below...

Ink and pencil sketches of Gerorge Smiley reluctantly uncovering a conspiracy as he wanders around the damp, dilapidated London of the seventies.

Scratchy black ink sketchbook doodles for a cartoon about John le Carre's George Smiley.

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

My new year’s resolution generator for @theguardian.com. Let me know what you get!

Title: Still haven't made a new year's resolution? Let us help you generate one!

Image: a diagram which asks you to input “The year of your birth added to the number of pets in your home”, “The number of days in the current month plus your shoe size” and “The sum of the first three digits in your telephone number” which will seemingly make a random resolution but actually always* makes “support your local bookshop”.

*Unless you have size 68 shoes or a negative number of pets or some other nonsense in which case you will get the silly outcome you deserve.

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The Madrid Review @madridlitmag.bsky.social · 11/11/2024

Hi everybody. We're a Madrid, Spain, based literary magazine. We publish in print and online. Right now Issue 2 is free to read and download from www.themadridreview.com Writers, poets, readers, artists: follow us and we'll follow you. Nice to be here! #litmag #literature #writers #poets #poetry

themadridreview.com

The Madrid Review

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Andy Jackson @azjackson.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

#DoubleDactyl of the Week falls mainly on the plain…

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Dr Carrie Etter @carrieetter.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

Still on my list of best decisions….

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Susie Dent @susiedentwords.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Word of the Day is ‘uhtcearu’ [ucht-kay-aru, with the 'ch' as in the Scottish ‘loch']: Old English for ‘the sorrow before dawn', when you lie awake in the darkness and worries crowd your mind.

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