iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Was great to bump into you! "Bluesky famous" is now a thing, I guess!

Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

In September I'll be climbing Yr Wyddfa (AKA Mount Snowdon) to raise money for a new specialist centre for adults with severe and profound learning disabilities. I'd welcome any donations, in exchange for my hike and documenting my journey in photos and videos! www.justgiving.com/page/gabriel...

justgiving.com

My Snowdon Challenge for Alexandra House of Joy

Help Gabriel Schenk raise money to support Alexandra House of Joy

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The J.R.R. Tolkien Lecture on Fantasy Literature @tolkienlecture.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this year's Tolkien Lecture, 'On Fantasy', delivered by @brandonsanderson.com! If you missed it live, the full recording is now available on YouTube. Don't miss this insightful discussion of the role and significance of fantasy literature.

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Oxford Clarion @oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Oxford Pride may have had a soggy start today, but the weather gods saw fit to bring out the sunshine for the parade. Our photographer, Roger Close, was there to take some gorgeous pictures. oxfordclarion.uk/oxford-pride...

oxfordclarion.uk

Oxford Pride 2026

Pride may have had a soggy start, but the weather gods saw fit to bring out the sunshine for the parade. Our photographer, Roger Close, was there to take some gorgeous pictures. While political parti...

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Oxford Clarion @oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Around 180 residents marched in Oxford in support of trans rights today, following the government’s latest draft code of practice from the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Opponents have called the guidance ‘unworkable’ and say it amounts to an attack on trans and non binary people.

Gathering in Bonn Square for trans rights. you can see many pink and blue placards in attendance.

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The J.R.R. Tolkien Lecture on Fantasy Literature @tolkienlecture.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Just one week to go until the 2026 Tolkien Lecture, delivered by @brandonsanderson.com! We can’t wait to see you there. Here are a few reminders: The lecture begins at 6:00 pm sharp. Oxford Town Hall doors will open at 5:30.

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

New on my Youtube channel: following in the footsteps of Sylvia Plath in Yorkshire youtu.be/4JoPmS4r-DY?...

youtu.be

Sylvia Plath in Yorkshire

YouTube video by Dr Gabriel Schenk

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

P.H. Newby... and I don't know. I doubt he had a big impact, I just think it's cool! I spoke more about the connection in this talk: youtu.be/K6vvW-_QqBs?...

youtu.be

J.R.R. Tolkien at the BBC

YouTube video by Oxford Tolkien Network

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

Hah that's funny... And random fact, but my grandfather was one of the people who advised Tolkien on what to cut from the appendices!

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

Haha I've yet to find that side (not that it's necessarily a bad thing!) And yeah, it's a much harder dilemma for people with large followings but I look at the engagement those accounts are getting now and it's either not that high (e.g. just a few likes per post) or full of abuse / trolling.

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

It's an odd attitude to take for a Lovecraft scholar. I like Joshi but I strongly disagree with some of his reactions and approaches.

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

I looked at a few X accounts today and was shocked how abusive Politics Twitter has become. I mean, it was always... spirited... but it's become *so* angry, mean and shoutey. I looked on an academic's profile and his content and comments weren't much better.

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

Thanks, Joe! Would be great to have you join us if you can make it.

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

I'll be teaching a new month-long course on C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces in February through Signum University (@signumuniversity.bsky.social). More details in the video and on this website, where you can also enroll in the class: blackberry.signumuniversity.org/space/module...

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R S Thomas (poet) @rsthomaspoet.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

‘Patterns’ - #RSThomas (Between Here and Now, Macmillan) #Patrymau #Patterns #Bardd #Barddoniaeth #Cerdd #Poet #Poetry #Poem

Text of poem -

PATTERNS.
The old men ask
for more time, while the young waste it. And the philosopher smiles, knowing there is none
there. But the hero stands sword drawn at the looking-glass of his mind, aiming at that anonymous face over his shoulder.

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Calum Miller @calummillerld.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

I have written to Nigel Farage in response to his visit to my constituency of Bicester and Woodstock today.

Dear Mr Farage

Welcome to Oxfordshire. You came here to talk about “mass deportations” but made no effort to understand the people or challenges of this community.

Your proposals offer no costed plan. Daily flights, new detention centres and vast surveillance systems would cost billions. Empty slogans are not a substitute for serious policy.

It did not go unnoticed that you spoke just minutes from Campsfield House, where a detention centre is being rebuilt despite local opposition and past scandals. Yet you chose not to meet residents living with those consequences.

You often invoke Winston Churchill, born here in Oxfordshire. He spent his career grappling with difficult truths and forging alliances in our national interest. Instead of sowing division, we should build on that legacy.

Our immigration system is broken after years of Government failure. It needs urgent, practical reform: fair, managed migration to meet workforce shortages, a faster asylum system and support for those fleeing war and persecution. That requires cooperation and honesty, not division.

If you return, I would be glad to show you Oxfordshire’s real story: businesses thriving thanks to home and overseas talent, health and care services desperate for staff and residents supporting refugees with compassion. You would see a community interested in solving problems, not fuelling conflict.

Yours sincerely

Calum Miller MP

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Sørina Higgins @sorinahiggins.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Remember that poll I posted asking which Pevensie kid you'd like to be? Lucy won (surprise, surprise). Well, I have an invitation for you: Come with Lucy through the Wardrobe! youtu.be/Pvx1dElzeRU #Narnia #books #reading #fantasy #CSLewis #literature

youtu.be

Myth & Meaning Through the Wardrobe

YouTube video by Dr. Sørina Higgins

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Lots of important research is being done by people with PhDs in fantasy literature!

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Sørina Higgins @sorinahiggins.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

“My Dear Lucy,” wrote C.S. Lewis: “some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.” Are YOU old enough to read fairy tales again? Yes? Then let's read one together! youtu.be/Pvx1dElzeRU?... #Narnia #CSLewis #Inklings #books #reading #classes #literature

youtu.be

Myth & Meaning Through the Wardrobe

YouTube video by Dr. Sørina Higgins

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

My tour of Oxford locations in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust is now up on Youtube. Share and enjoy! #PhilipPullman #BookofDust #HisDarkMaterials #Fantasy youtu.be/oVuZ2TvsQaY?...

youtu.be

Philip Pullman in Oxford

YouTube video by Dr Gabriel Schenk

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

From December 1 – 24 I exclusively listen to Christmas music and I have so much choice I never need to repeat a song, but in August the only song I can listen to is "August" by Taylor Swift. We need more "August" songs!

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

It's pretty good quality, I think. Definitely don't judge it by the recording of my talk as Tolkien was played through a speaker in the room which was then picked up on the laptop microphone and compressed massively!

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Yes, I've heard those recordings before but I didn't have time to talk about them in my paper. But it is really useful to have a recording of a young Tolkien to compare to the older Tolkien. His delivery does sound better in the 20s than it does in the 50s.

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

My talk, about J.R.R. Tolkien at the BBC, is now on Youtube: youtu.be/K6vvW-_QqBs?...

youtu.be

J.R.R. Tolkien at the BBC

YouTube video by Oxford Tolkien Network

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

I think Max Wilkinson did well to get Matthew Pennycook to agree to working with him to achieve the goals of the bill... but yes, it does feel a bit like they just stole the idea so they could take credit! Politics.

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Richard Ovenden @richove.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Mayday, mayday … there’s nothing quite like May Day in Oxford!

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

Fun fact: Sylvia Plath was a Tolkien fan and celebrated her birthday in 1960 by reading The Lord of the Rings with her husband Ted Hughes.

Sylvia awoke on her twenty-eighth birthday to German coffee cake, complete with flaming candle, and gifts wrapped in brown paper. They celebrated at home with a Fortnum & Mason chicken pie, German chocolate, Brie, Stilton and cheddar, pink champagne, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Sylvia declared it her best birthday yet and told Aurelia with her usual hyperbole that she was “happier living in London than anywhere else in the world.”

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

It was my first time, which isn't too bad for about 20 years of having this email account!

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Deleting 1,500 unread emails felt good (I'm 99% sure they were all things that weren't important and therefore I hadn't opened)

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

I have 1,500 unread emails in my inbox. Might just delete them all... (Also, 28,476 read emails in my inbox but they can just sit there).

Screenshot showing 1,500 unread emails in my inbox

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Laura Gordon @lauragordon.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

No campaigning today as I've got the kids but it was nice to take them down to explore the market with our wonderful Kidlington East candidate, Gabriel

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The J.R.R. Tolkien Lecture on Fantasy Literature @tolkienlecture.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

✨ Tickets are out now for the 2025 Tolkien Lecture, delivered by Zen Cho (@zenaldehyde.bsky.social)! 🎟️ Visit Eventbrite to reserve your seat: tinyurl.com/2025TolkienL.... 🐈‍⬛ The lecture will be held on Monday 19 May at 6:00 pm, in the Pichette Auditorium, Pembroke College, Oxford.

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

It was stunning... Same clouds from Oxford Parkway!

Car park with dramatic red and grey clouds

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Ed Davey @eddavey.libdems.org.uk · 28/02/2025

This is thuggery from Trump and Vance, plain and simple. They are bullying the brave true patriot Zelensky into accepting a deal which effectively hands victory to Russia. Unless the UK and Europe step up, we are facing a betrayal of Ukraine.

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Garry Kasparov @garrykasparov.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Zelensky is a wartime leader watching his people suffer and die under Russian attacks every day. To be lectured and lied to by Trump and Vance, as they defend the war criminal dictator committing these atrocities, is unimaginable agony. An everlasting shame for America.

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UofG Fantasy @uofgfantasy.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

SUBMISSIONS - University of Glasgow’s first fantasy fiction publication Elsewhere, is calling for submissions! ‘We are interested in all forms of fantasy, but especially those with voices and stories historically under-represented in the genre. 1/3

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

I know people like to have updates about the Eagle and Child (#inklings pub in Oxford) so here's the latest... they've put scaffolding on the outside decorated with an image of the pub (with a really large, not to scale, person for some reason). Presumably part of the renovations EIT said they'd do.

Printed canvas over scaffolding, showing a three-story old building with lead-lined windows and a wooden door. "The Eagle and Child" in lettering across the front. Photo taken at night.

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Gabriel Schenk @gabrielschenk.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Good to connect with you again, Trev! Hope you're well, too... And happy new year!

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