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Fiona Kelly McGregor

@fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social
156 followers 72 following 174 posts

Novelist, essayist, art writer based on Gadigal country in Sydney, Australia. Out now: The Trap, follow up to Iris. Set Sydney 1942-43, The Trap is about an entrapment scandal that went all the way to the top. No generative AI pls.

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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Also used in Mexico.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
And when Iran has already won the war.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Good luck! Wish I could make it.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Our national broadcasters avoid it because they have been pressured by the government, and the top executives in new and current affairs are increasingly right-wing. The loss of ABC and SBS as trustworthy interrogators is one of the most sinister aspects of the whole imbroglio.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
AI - so useful in so many ways
aje.news
Israel weaponises AI for West Bank demolitions
AI tools push forced evictions of Palestinians, automating demolitions in occupied territories under Israeli control.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Exclusive: AHPRA chief reveals ‘heightened external pressure’ over antisemitism definition
open.substack.com
Exclusive: AHPRA chief reveals ‘heightened external pressure’ over antisemitism definition
A trove of internal documents obtained by Deepcut shows how Australia’s regulator of health workers initially resisted adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism, but later changed course
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
‘I don’t recognise my children’: a Gazan father’s despair
open.substack.com
‘I don’t recognise my children’: a Gazan father’s despair
Three years of genocide have left thousands of Palestinian children psychologically damaged, with no reprieve in sight
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
So not surprised.
abc.net.au
Impact of colonisation on First Nations people far greater than previous estimates, research finds
Australia's Indigenous population was up to seven times larger before colonisation than previously estimated, but was devastated following the arrival of Europeans, new research reveals.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Yeah!
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Coming up at State Library of NSW. HOMEGROWN, a mini festival of literature. All free! I’ll be in a panel about writing queer Sydney moderated by Ben Law, with Madeleine Gray and Zoe Terakes. Friday 9 October, 7.30pm. Link to book is here. www.swf.org.au/program/out-...
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Here’s a podcast from an interview I did in May at WoW festival.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
New essay up -
open.substack.com
Take me to a Gay Bar
A night out in the penal colony, on Gadigal land
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
“In an industry under strain, product tends to be prioritised over process. I’ve been working as a critic and an editor in Australia for over 20 years and the story I hear from people in the industry is that they are being asked to do more with less, and quickly.” @catrionamp.bsky.social on OzLit
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Yes exactly! So many of my Jewish friends say this. Thank (Jewish) Christ we are hearing from them. Because this whole horror show is in itself antisemitic.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
"By letting the West set Jews against its other victims, we suffer alongside them, while only the civilisation that historically abused us truly benefits.” Incredible interview with historian Barnaby Raine.
equator.org
Good Jews, Bad Jews • EQUATOR
What the mainstream gets wrong about antisemitism
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
I’m gonna leave too …
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
New review up - on Mia Khan Boe’s Walking About at Sutton Gallery in Naarm/ Melbourne.
open.substack.com
MIA KHIN BOE – Walking About
Sutton Gallery, Melbourne/Naarm, 7 March – 11 April 2026
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Good news at last. (The elephants were female too.)
theguardian.com
US millionaire big-game hunter dies after being crushed by elephants
Ernie Dosio, a 75-year-old vineyard owner, was hunting an antelope species in Africa when the incident occured
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
The Amoc is a major part of the global climate system and is close to the tipping point of collapse. This is the biggest news of the year if not the decade.
theguardian.com
Critical Atlantic current significantly more likely to collapse than thought
Scientists say finding is ‘very concerning’ as collapse would be catastrophic for Europe, Africa and the Americas
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Bref, 150 writers, including Virginie Despentes, have left Grasset, French publisher, due to policies of its ultra-right owner Vincent Bolloré. Grasset is part of Hachette, big list here in Australia. I’m so inspired by writers acting against autocrats. ✊🏼
estrepublicain.fr
Livres. Despentes, Lévy, Beigbeder : 115 écrivains quittent la maison d'édition Grasset et ciblent Bolloré
Un total de 115 auteurs publiés chez Grasset annoncent quitter cette maison d'édition pour dénoncer le licenciement de son PDG, Olivier Nora.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
REMEMORY - 25th Biennale of Sydney. This review is of Campbelltown Arts Centre.
open.substack.com
REMEMORY - 25th BIENNALE OF SYDNEY - Curated by Hoor al Qasimi
CAMPBELLTOWN ARTS CENTRE, 14 March – 14 June 2026
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
"In short, Watt’s own statement revealed that at the very time he was arguing in public and at UNESCO that industrial emissions were causing no damage to the [50,000 year-old] rock art, his own department was telling him – and he accepted – that the opposite was true."
themonthly.com.au
The very model of a modern Labor general
Murray Watt – tireless fixer and good soldier – is federal environment minister in a Labor government that has approved 35 fossil fuel projects and has done little to quell disquiet about the climate ...
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
Latest essay up on substack@fkmcg
open.substack.com
Mike Parr – Ships in the Night
SYRUP Gallery, Marrickville. 8pm, Thursday 12 March, 2026. (Exhibition 5 – 22 March)
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Reposted by Fiona Kelly McGregor
Market Forces @marketforces.org.au · 26/03/2026
Macquarie has been a little shy 👉👈 … but we know deep down it's just as proud of the billions of tonnes of emissions its financing as it is about doing climate action 🫠 So today we surprised them with an award. 🎖️ #auspol #climate #macquariebank #beetaloo
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Hard to top that!
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Ignorant men. Introspection has existed as long as culture - it’s intrinsic to it.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
Come and help me launch this novel into Sydney harbour. Everyone is welcome! Tuesday March 31. 5.30pm Sean and Dolly’s 220 William St, Woolloomooloo Hosted by Potts Point Bookshop. Launched by 78er Mark Gillespie RSVP to anna@pottspointbookshop.com.au
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
" … more than half the al-Hol camp’s population are children, most under 12 years old. Albanese said Australia won't repatriate its citizens with links to Islamic State. 34 Australian women & children were turned back by Syrian authorities after they left al-Roj detention camp.
cnn.com
Syria reports ‘mass escape’ from detention camp holding ISIS-linked families amid reports thousands fled | CNN
A “mass escape” took place last month from Syria’s al-Hol camp that holds families linked to the Islamic State following the withdrawal of Kurdish forces, according to Syrian TV, amid reports thousand...
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
To make way for the assault by our great ally.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
New essay up at substack. On English poet Alice Oswald giving a lecture in Paris. And other stuff too. #poetry #literature #lecture #review #paris #essay
open.substack.com
Alice Oswald in the City of Light
And a Stranger on the Train
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
‘Need a lord on the board?’ Great article on that pimple Mandelson, one of legion pustules popped out of the Epstein file. As a coda, read this about Mandelson's contribution to the campaign to destroy Australian Labor's proposed mining super profits tax. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
lrb.co.uk
James Butler · ‘Need a lord on the board?’: Mandelson and the Lobbyists
Why​ did a man whose political expertise was acquired in the departed era of broadcast television maintain such...
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
They’re clearly practising for next weekend bless em. But yeah let’s see if a bit of fun during a festival of defiant political subversion, can survive in the contemporary penal colony.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
New essay up at brand new substack. Published five days ago, and just tweaked. Please enjoy! "Melvin Edwards, Echo Delay Reverb, and the Cops Who Just Won’t Stop." Paris, January 2026.
open.substack.com
Melvin Edwards, Echo Delay Reverb, and the Cops Who Just Won’t Stop.
PALAIS DE TOKYO, PARIS 22/10/2025 – 15/2/2026
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
I don’t think it will stop them. Their body cameras haven’t stopped them even when they are switched on.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
NSW is a police state. Has been for some time. international events like the Olympics and the Pope’s visit were used to increase their powers. Sniffer dogs introduced by Carr’s Labor gov over 25 years ago. Scipione got his wage raised above the Premier’s. Drones over Moree. No surprises here alas.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Nobody’s looking at us honey. Nobody cares but us.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
They will be charged, sued and will lose the case. But not their jobs. And us NSW taxpayers will foot the bill, as we do for millions every year in successful cases against police brutality.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Yep. Just a little surprising it was a white guy in a business shirt.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Here’s the footage. Multiple punches on a man with his arms up. Another assault case against #nswpolice, paid for by us? Meanwhile, the man who should be arrested for inciting genocide is dining on canapés with our PM. All this under a democratically elected leftist government.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Why does this article say « police allegedly threw punches » when footage of them actually, graphically doing so has been circulating for hours already?
theguardian.com
Police use pepper spray at Sydney rally against Isaac Herzog visit, with MP alleging officers threw punches
Grace Tame and Lidia Thorpe address crowds in Sydney and Melbourne as NSW Labor backbencher says police reaction ‘totally over-the-top’
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Beautiful story amidst the rolling disasters on our feed
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
What??
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
I know the one. It’s called Destroy Capitalism.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
AND when will we legislate time limits on properties being left empty, and in disrepair? 10s of 1000s in Sydney alone. The focus on supply is neither honest nor efficient. It’s a gift to the building industry first. And developers. There are more homeless in Sydney than in Paris & Rome.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
It also affects businesses. Artisans. Imagine being a ceramicist or a baker, installing those huge machines, lucky to get a two year lease. You can’t focus on improving your craft, making money is top priority cos you’ve no security renting. Capitalism is turbo charged.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Yeah, the problem of rental stress is massive, a big reason for the massive dumps of household rubbish on the streets of Sydney. You could hire a van for a day or two and furnish your entire house, and get decent clothes as well. Because people are kicked out at such short notice.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
What do people think of this? That humans came out of Australia as much as or more than Africa? That they migrated north, not south?
sciencealert.com
World's Oldest Rock Art Discovered in Indonesian Cave
The dark bowels of a limestone cave on Muna Island, off the coast of Sulawesi in Indonesia, just yielded an ancient secret.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Oh Australia … who profits from this???
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
« Greenland is essential for the Golden Dome we are building. » « Talks fail. » Terrifying. But real.
theguardian.com
Trump insists Greenland is crucial for national security after Denmark talks
Talks fail to solve ‘fundamental disagreement’ over Arctic island controlled by Copenhagen
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Terrific piece on the AWW debacle. ‘Over the past 30 years, there has been a strong push towards corporatisation of arts boards. Arts orgs have adopted private-sector style governance models, with organisations seen as “enterprises” rather than cultural institutions.’
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