iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

It’s a good day when the newest volume of Christopher Reid’s exquisite poetry lands on my desk.

Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

It’s here. My novel, The Translation Engine, is officially out in the world. A story about secrets, silence, and the cost of carrying them. I can’t quite believe I get to say this: The book is live. a.co/d/0cPZMsVp lornasimesuthor.com

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

The Translation Engine launches Thursday. At Bletchley Park, Grace Webster’s gift for finding patterns in language leads her to a discovery that shapes everything that follows. Available on Amazon, and direct from my website: lornasimesauthor.com

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Glasgow School of Art is so much more than an academic institution; it’s a building of significant architectural importance worldwide, and one which Glaswegians are justly proud of. To not restore Mackintosh’s masterpiece is unthinkable. Please sign. you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/fu...

you.38degrees.org.uk

Fully and Faithfully Restore ‘The Mack’

The future international credibility of Glasgow and Scotland in the fields of architecture, education and culture will depend on the delivery of an accurate, faithful and honest restoration of Mackint...

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

As I approach the finish line, a first look at the cover of The Translation Engine. Coming soon.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

July the farce. ‪“The modern patriotism, the true patriotism, the only rational patriotism is loyalty to the Nation all the time, loyalty to the Government when it deserves it.” - Mark Twain. ‬ ‪The North American Review, No. DLXXX (p. 324), March 1905. ‬

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Every story begins somewhere. Mine begins in the quiet corridors of Bletchley Park. The Translation Engine. Coming soon. #HistoricalFiction #BookSky #AmWriting

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Well, this feels rather official… After poetry collections, theatre reviews, radio shows, interviews, manuscripts, ISBN battles, and more cups of tea than can reasonably be justified, I’ve finally launched my author website. Welcome! 📚 lornasimesauthor.com

lornasimesauthor.com

Lorna Simes | Living at the intersection of poetry, music &…

Official site of Lorna Simes, author of Questions After Dark and Weight Not Wind.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

After months of telling Amazon that yes, I do own my ISBN, and yes, the manuscripts are 6” x 9”, I’m happy to say that Weight Not Wind & Questions After Dark are available on Amazon, subject to final review. Will post links when live. Publishing: 10% writing, 90% fighting tech.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

The cruellest moments in Les Liaisons Dangereuses are rarely the loudest. They arrive disguised as jokes, flirtations, and compliments. Marianne Elliott’s superb National Theatre production understands that wit itself can be a weapon. My review here: open.substack.com/pub/whenthel...

open.substack.com

Les Liaisons Dangereuses

The National Theatre - London - May 2026

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Nearly twenty years after its premiere, War Horse returns home to the National Theatre & the miracle remains intact. Exquisite puppetry, devastating humanity & a reminder that the strongest stories are often about loyalty, memory, & hope. My review here: open.substack.com/pub/whenthel...

open.substack.com

War Horse

The National Theatre - London - May 2026

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Peter Shaffer's #BlackComedy remains a marvel of comic engineering, but Caroline Steinbeis's inventive @orangetreetheatre.bsky.social revival reveals something deeper beneath the laughs: a play about performance, artifice, identity & the masks we wear. My review: open.substack.com/pub/whenthel...

open.substack.com

Black Comedy

Orange Tree Theatre - May 2026

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Seventy-five years after The Goon Show first hit the airwaves, An Evening Without Spike Milligan arrives not as tribute, but as reanimation. Jeremy Stockwell’s extraordinary performance keeps Spike startlingly alive. My latest review: #Theatre #SpikeMilligan open.substack.com/pub/whenthel...

open.substack.com

An Evening Without Spike Milligan

Avenue House - May 2026

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

St George’s Day on @NCPR This week’s #GlobalHeartbeat celebrates the music of England—pastoral, punk, poetic and proudly peculiar. Featuring the incomparable Half Man Half Biscuit (of course), alongside voices old and new. Sunday, 9pm ET ncpr.org

ncpr.org

NCPR: North Country Public Radio

Member-supported public radio for the North Country serving communities in the Adirondacks, the St. Lawrence Valley, the Champlain Valley, the Thousand Islands, Jefferson County, Lewis County and the ...

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Apparently I saw a LOT of theatre at Edinburgh Fringe in 2025. In an attempt to better organize my theatre writing, I’ve gathered my reviews here: open.substack.com/pub/aconside...

open.substack.com

Edinburgh Fringe 2025 — A Notebook

The Edinburgh Fringe has a way of collapsing time.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

What happens when the masters of political satire grow old and discover the world has moved on without them? My review of I’m Sorry, Prime Minister at the Apollo Theatre is now up on A Considered Opinion. aconsideredopinion1.substack.com/p/im-sorry-p...

aconsideredopinion1.substack.com

I’m Sorry, Prime Minister

Shaftesbury Avenue was buzzing on Saturday evening — the particular, cheerful chaos that settles over the West End when every theatre seems to be drawing a crowd.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Three weeks from Friday, I’ll take part in the 2026 @WaypointNH SleepOut. One night outside can’t eradicate youth homelessness — but it’s a way of standing in solidarity and saying: we see you, we hear you, you’re not alone. If you can, please consider supporting: p2p.onecause.com/waypointnhsl...

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

In Broken Glass by Arthur Miller at the Young Vic, history doesn’t stay in the headlines. It enters the marriage. It stiffens the spine. 1938 Brooklyn — yet it feels like Feb 2026. The personal is political. The political is personal. The echo is loud.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

The fourth wall fell away and, for an hour, we were all locked inside the Coach & Horses with Soho’s most irascible wit. Robert Bathurst gives a bravura performance in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell. Five years into this residency — now one of my favourite theatre traditions.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Sunday Afternoon Tea at The Savoy. Is it slightly touristy? Yes, perhaps. Is it absolutely sumptuous? Completely. Does it need to be done every time we’re in London? Without a shadow of a doubt.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

@nationaltheatre.org.uk Playboy of the Western World becomes a study in communal appetite. Legends aren’t discovered — they’re manufactured. As Christy grows in stature, the village sustains the lie for its own ends. The laughter turns sharp. Myth empowers — and devastates.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Deep Azure at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse is ritual, resistance, and devastating sorrow. Hip-hop and verse pulse from the human body alone. A “no case to answer” verdict fractures the room. The political becomes painfully personal. No triumph — just truth. #Theatre #DeepAzure

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Who counts as “my own”? All My Sons feels chillingly contemporary — a slow, devastating reckoning about loyalty, profit, and responsibility. Bryan Cranston dissolves before our eyes. I’ve never heard an audience so still. We endured it together.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Woman in Mind shimmers like the edge of an ocular migraine — bright, funny, and quietly fracturing. Sheridan Smith threads absurdity and tragedy with stunning control. The final image lingers.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Barbed. Simmering. Explosive. Dance of Death at the @OrangeTreeThtr turns marital warfare into something inescapable in the round. Keen, Dillon and Streatfield deliver ferociously precise performances. Dread you don’t watch — you inhabit.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Cynthia Erivo is extraordinary in #Dracula at the Noël Coward — navigating cameras and live cinema with jaw-dropping control. The production sustains relentless kinetic tension, but I missed the breath and stillness gothic needs to truly chill the bones.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Honored to be the Performance Judge at the second NH heat of Poetry Out Loud this evening. There’s nothing quite like hearing young people bring poetry to life. 🎤✨ #PoetryOutLoud

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

If I’m honest, this would be fine with me…

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

This is gloriously bonkers in the best possible way. The concept alone made me laugh & knowing it’s in Andy’s hands gives me full confidence it’ll be sharp, surprising & very funny. Thrilled to have backed it, and very much hoping to be in the audience! mirlo.space/leadmojo/rel...

mirlo.space

This Conversation Never Happened, by Andy Hamilton

An album by Lead Mojo | Smelt Released 2026-12-18 A series of very funny short stories, from the comic imagination that created Radio 4’s “ Old Harry’s Game”. Listen in on secret dialogues that may,...

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Radio drama has been described as the “theatre of the mind,” and we listeners have the opportunity to vote for our favorites in the @radiotimes.bsky.social Readers’ Drama Award. Delighted to see ‘When Maggie Met Larry’ by @thattimwalker.bsky.social in contention!

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Heartbroken to hear this news about Martin Carthy, but also immensely grateful for decades of songs, scholarship, and inspiration. Thank you, Martin, for carrying the tradition forward and sharing your gifts so generously. I wish you peace for your next chapter.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

I’m sleeping out in March for the @WaypointNH SleepOut — a night to raise awareness of youth homeless. 15,000 young people in NH affected each year. One night outside to say: you are heard. I would very much welcome your support. No amount too small. p2p.onecause.com/waypointnhsl...

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

A favorite part of the new year: the chance to start anew with these old friends.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

This is the first song I listen to every new year’s morning. “Let the darkest side of the past stay dark, and only good recall. For I must believe the world to be a good world after all.” Happy New Year. garnetrogersmusic.bandcamp.com/track/after-...

garnetrogersmusic.bandcamp.com

After All, by Garnet Rogers

from the album Speaking Softly In The dark

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

“For last year's words belong to last year's language And next year's words await another voice.” T. S. Eliot - Little Gidding - The Four Quartets. All the best when it comes, folks.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Wherever you are, however you’re celebrating, stay safe and well. I wish you all the very best for 2026. Auld Lang Syne youtu.be/CfjHEFQXovw?...

youtu.be

Auld Lang Syne

YouTube video by The Cast - Topic

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

An evening @nationaltheatre that began with Judi Dench and Send in the Clowns — not note-perfect, but soul-perfect — unfolding as companionable conversation. McKellen, Dench & Carter trusted the room, levelled the house, and reminded us why live theatre invites us home.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

The final Alex cartoon annual has landed. Charles Peattie & Russell Taylor created a world — and characters — that felt utterly real. Sharp, perceptive, politically on point without ever being political, and unfailingly hilarious. I’ll miss this voice more than I can say.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

Tonight on Global Heartbeat, we honour the voice and legacy of Raúl Malo — the Cuban Caruso — and celebrate music that carries warmth, beauty, and connection. Listen tonight at 9pm ET on @ncpr ncpr.org

ncpr.org

NCPR: North Country Public Radio

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

Tonight on Global Heartbeat we’re travelling in pairs — songs in conversation with each other, echoing moods, stories and rhythms across continents. Join me at 9pm ET on @NCPR. Listen live: www.ncpr.org

ncpr.org

NCPR: North Country Public Radio

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

My Victoria Threlfall print ‘Benediction’ is home. Her work sits at the intersection of art & engineering — precise line work, thoughtful structure, & a beating heart. I love how she plays with colour, perspective, texture & light. If only a photo could do it justice.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

Happy Saint Andrew’s Day. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Join me for an hour of music from Scotland on Global Heartbeat, 9pm ET, on @ncpr and online from anywhere at www.ncpr.org.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

IBlueprints by Marcus du Sautoy handed me a mirror — to the way I write, think, make & intuit. It’s about creativity, through the lens of maths: invisible structures that shape how artists, writers, & musicians create. I finally realized: “this is how I work”. Poet brain + engineer brain = me.

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Lorna Simes @lornasimes.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

Axing the Iain Anderson show isn’t “schedule refresh.” It’s a loss to Scottish culture. Iain’s programme has been a place of warmth, discovery and musical storytelling for decades. Please consider signing the petition to save the show. c.org/FwnRN2ytYw

c.org

Sign the Petition

Save The Iain Anderson Show – Reverse the BBC Radio Scotland decision

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