iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Well this is quite exciting!

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Sure is. I had never checked before, naively hoping it had been founded by a homesick Kilkenny native, or especially that Kilkenny was a Norman or Saxon name that just happened to sound and be spelt the same. Wonder how many other towns in England were named for similar reasons?

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‘The name "Kilkenny" in Gloucestershire is thought to have been derived from a nearby farm, originally named Kilkenny after the capture of Kilkenny town in Ireland by Cromwell in 1650.’ 😬

Words Without Borders & WWB Campus @wwborders.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

This always gets me but not as much as the tiny hamlet near where my wife is from in Gloucestershire called ‘Kilkenny’

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Reposted by Rahul Bery

Next up in our 2026 series of National Book Awards interviews, @vicenteluismora.bsky.social and @rahulbery.bsky.social on CENTROEUROPA, a “brilliant and unsettling” story set in 1820s rural Prussia. Read their interview on the longlisted novel here: wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...

At the top, “Words Without Borders” in white text and “77th National Book Awards” in red text over black textured background. On the right side, images of the book cover of CENTROEUROPA, author Vicente Luis Mora and translator Rahul Bery. Blue and white text on the left reads: “National Book Awards Interview: Vicente Luis Mora and Rahul Bery on CENTROEUROPA.” White text on the bottom left reads: “Other visions followed over the next few weeks, and then I met Redo, the main character, in a luminous corner of my mind. And I said to Redo, ‘Do you want to write a novel?’ Redo accepted, and then it all started.”

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Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I love the vague but undeniable anti-American tone of the joke, among other things About it!

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Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The recent introduction of the word soda into uk contexts to mean ‘pop’ as opposed to ‘fizzy water‘ really boils my piss

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Reposted by Rahul Bery

Jen Calleja @jencalleja.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Literary translators! Please fill out this pay survey for the Translators' Association (Society of Authors)! forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/Respon...

forms.cloud.microsoft

Microsoft Forms

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Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Jesus, imagine accepting the role of NI secretary. Wouldn’t be surprised if Bryant harboured some secret viceroy fantasies.

Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Right? How did that get past The FT copyeditors? I know it’s a one syllable word but surely ’most chic’ would still have been preferable

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Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I can’t read anything in it at the moment. like Adam Mars-Jones’s book reviews I wish he’d just make it easy for us and give a score out of ten. Or james meek‘s long piece about social housing that I’m sure is very important but I just can’t be fucked to put aside time for.

Galaxia Gutenberg @galaxiagutenberg.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Reposted by Rahul Bery

Vicente Luis Mora entra en la 'longlist' del 77th National Book Award en la categoría de Translated Literature con «Centroeuropa»

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Reposted by Rahul Bery

Cody R Brown @codyrbrown.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

read Centroeuropa

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Reposted by Rahul Bery

Diario SUR Málaga @diariosur.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Vicente Luis Mora ya no puede pasar desapercibido: 'Centroeuropa' entra en la carrera por el National Book Award

diariosur.es

Vicente Luis Mora ya no puede pasar desapercibido: 'Centroeuropa' entra en la carrera por el National Book Award

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Reposted by Rahul Bery

Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Two works of #SFinTranslation are on the longlist for the National Book Award for Translated Literature: Vicente Luis Mora's Centroeuropa, translated from the Spanish by Rahul Bery Intan Paramaditha's Night of a Thousand Hells, translated from the Indonesian by Stephen Epstein and Tiffany Tsao

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Reposted by Rahul Bery

Jonathan Gibbs @jonathangibbs.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Today programme about to platform someone advocating for ‘AI rights’. Off it goes. If AIs have rights then they should also be subject to the rule of law. If so, they are by their creators’ own admissions guilty of massive levels of theft, and so can go straight to jail and enjoy their rights there.

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Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Saw them play in Cardiff a few years ago and they were suggesting a Celtic socialist republic comprising united Ireland, wales, Scotland and Cornwall. Not sure how many counties that is…

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Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I'm ok with it if it's like, I'm going to the gym *so* I can keep drinking pints into my 80s

Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

buying a button accordion even though I've only been playing tenor banjo for 3 years and even if I just played that for the rest of my life it wouldn't be enough. also deeply coveting an 80s/90s boxy volvo or mercedes (but holding back as I think having two cars is deeply crass and wrong)

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Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I am lifting weights at home I will admit, for fear of corporal atrophy, but Im also extremely anti-gym and think the rise of gym-going is a signs of a decaying society. symptom or cause, idk, but I do know that if someone is really, visibly ripped, they're probably not worth talking to.

Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

you mean the guy that Mr Beast wrote a novel with?

Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

as in, it's all mums? Mad, that sounds like 2015, I assumed things had changed...

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Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Thanks for sharing this, John. Means a lot that the book I’ve played the biggest part in bringing into English, from start to finish, and which found almost 0 readers until its 3rd year in existence, could have such an impact!

John Chrostek @johnchrostek.com · 29/08/2026

Reposted by Rahul Bery

Resharing this long thread of recommendations for the weekend crowd. A lot of books, short story links, and authors to dig into 🤘🍻📚

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It’s now the main industry out there

After the revolution brings high speed rail to w cork, you’ll move there and on your first day in your new home you’ll pop out for smoked fish with fermented buttermilk and samphire, served by an effete English guy in baggy cords and clogs, who will be me

Hmm, if only Ireland had a massively high GDP and lots of foreign companies that could be effectively taxed to create fast and modern public transport…

Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Fuck me, the Beara peninsula is breathtaking. I know it would be deeply cringe of me to move here but I may not be able to resist for another 40 years. do u ever see yourself relocating to west cork and commuting into the city?

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Is it more than just the exchange rate (with books by UK publishers)? I’m afraid I am duty bound to buy at least one item from the Bantry bookshop… had a beamish at MM today, lovely spot, tho sad to see so many shut pubs here and on the sheep’s head peninsula…

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Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Des, I am a massive hibernophile and a self-loathing Englishman who has lived in wales for thirteen years and proudly boasts no English heritage. But In Bantry centra just now, a small size dairy milk bar was €2.45. So I have complicated feelings about this…

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Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Who are the main cry singers?

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Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Got some pretty sick photos of the eclipse

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Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

When I was there last (14 years ago) almost everyone seemed to be English!

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Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

ah thanks for the follow, unfortunately i still can't because i stubbornly refuse to upload my ID. maybe catch you on insta!

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Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Ooh this sounds great, only know him for music vids and his horror film, what range! (PS read Prestige Drama recently and thoroughly enjoyed - the chapter by the IRA guy sent shivers down my spine. Was going to send u a private message but just realised I can't on bluesky...)

Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

just discovered that someone (with lots of followers) who used to gleefully sub-tweet me rather than engage doesn't allow replies or quote posts to their posts on this platform🤔 luckily i remembered to (re)block them so i don't have to read their 100% and un-critique-able opinions any longer

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Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

another opportunity to share my criminally underappreciated, best and only meme (actually i have one about casement and the germans too!)

Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

they fucked it in 1798, I'm sure they'll let you down again

Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

a pretty strange thing is happening - i did some work for a university, and they're paying me within less than two weeks! Not months, not years, weeks! 😱😱🫨

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Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Awesome, thanks for reading!

Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

What did u think of this in the end? I kind of liked the point he made that, for all his violence and ugliness, the Citizen makes a good points and that Bloom's celebrated speech is a fairly nondescript liberalism. Also, good to see an English academic make the case for civic nationalism.

Tim Groenland @groenbot.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Reposted by Rahul Bery

Gombrowicz and the Buenos Aires "FERDYDURKE translation committee"

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Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Read one Bellow which I liked but I believe he has never been forgiven for his comments about 'The Tolstoy of the Zulus'. Updike I can't stand, I read the Mailer about Muhammad ali but really struggled through it and was left with no appetite for more. Stick to Roth, he's always worthwhile...

Rahul Bery @rahulbery.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

some of roth's stuff is so contemporary in terms of both genre and subject matter it's hard to believe. For example the counterlife; reality-bending auto-fiction that is terrifyingly prescient about Israel and (American) Jewish identity. Also, Patrimony is the best memoir I've ever read.