iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The Gower coast, Wales, a week ago

Vast beach, cloudy sky, very dry yellow grass in the foreground. Greys, browns & greenish sea.

Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

In Wales this week & we've discovered an insect we've never even heard of: the Bombylius Major (Dark-edged Bee-fly). Alarmingly large with a long proboscis, but that's for drinking nectar not stinging. They say it's'common' but we've never seen one before

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Met Police setting up live facial recognition cameras in my hood. I feel dubious. Does this tech really work? How will it be used in the future? We are already one of the most surveilled cities in the world.

A London street with a red van parked on the pavement. The van has a sign saying 'Met Police Live Facial recognition operation'.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Last night we watched the Colin Currie group perform 'Drumming', a 60-minute percussion piece by American composer Steve Reich. An amazing experience. And what a fantastic space: BoldTendencies, a vast converted car park in Peckham. The silver artwork on the roof is by Richard Wentworth.

A line of smiling people in black stand in a concrete space, taking a bow at the end of the concert. Colin Currie, the group leader, stands at the centre of the line, beaming.

A vast flat rooftop with views over London. Silver lines, painted onto the concrete surface, stretch into the distance, an artwork by Richard Wentworth.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Woke up to this bit of poppy drama this morning. I grew these babies from seed.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Great evening of readings at the Scratch Books event in Soho last night.

Pub interior with warm red walls. People listening to a man read.

Pub interior with warm red walls. People listening to a woman read.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

What's up? Supermarket ginger.

Plant sprouting in a terracotta pot. Image taken from above.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Found this on the pavement this afternoon. Cheered me up no end.

Bird feather !with blue & black stripes on one side.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

My haul from today's Alternative Book Fair at Islington's public library.

A stack of paperback books on a white table

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

I enjoyed immersing myself in the joyful, open-minded world of painter Rose Wylie (at the Royal Academy). She's 91. Impressed by her very messy studio and her incredible creativity.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

I just finished reading this gorgeously produced short story collection last night. SO good. Particularly loved, David Frankel's The Builder, Flo Ward's The End of the World and (I know you shouldn't have favourites but...) Nathaniel Spain's What My Father Left Behind. Get this book!!!

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Pankaj Mishra on 'the silent death of what Tagore hailed as "Indo-Iranian civilisation".' A Bitter Education in Tye New York Review of Books (April 9)

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Great evening at the Owl (Daunts) bookshop in Kentish Town for the launch of Oanna Aristide's second novel Astronaut!

Woman sitting in a chair and reading aloud

Two smiling women in a bookshop, Oanna Aristide & her editor.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Crossing the river. Thinking of Gaza & the occupied West Bank & southern Lebanon.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Looking out from the train just now I spotted a green parrot shredding these blossoms, bunch by bunch. Very methodically. Tried to take a pic but I missed him.

Branches of white blossom with tower block in the distance

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Lovely sunny day and a great atmosphere on today's march in London. For tolerance & multi-culturalism, against the values of Nigel Farage & Reform.

People carrying a large, Colourful banner saying Hackney Town Hall

Family walking in front of big red balloon for the Union UNITE

Unite Union balloon & NEU banner for Bath & N. E. Somerset

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Brockwell Park today. A pair well camouflaged Egyptian geese with their 2 remaining goslings (out of 6 or 7 apparently).

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

This little tree self seeded about 3 years ago. I could see it was some kind of fruit tree so I cosseted it, got it through a couple of bouts of wrangly diseased leaves, and this year it burst into blossom for the first time. No idea what it is apart from a little pink miracle.

Closeup of pink blossoms against a blurry fence

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Another intriguing delivery by Royle mail yesterday. Looking forward to reading these four new stories from @nightjarpress.bsky.social

4 x book covers, 2 with abstract images, 2 with close-up shots of a man's face

A package wrapped in newsprint with Royle Mail written in green marker.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

This all The Economist Style Guide has to say about commas. I think they're right that too many commas get in the way. I'm inconsistent. I'd like to be more of a comma minimalist.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Just finished Livi Michael's Elizabeth and Ruth (Salt, 2026), inspired by correspondence between Dickens and the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell. What an achievement, so full of vivid, living detail. Dickens is a minor character but Mrs Gaskell's world & 19c Manchester spring to life. A real page turner!

Victorian-style book cover: pale gold decoration using plant motifs on a dark blue background. Title at the centre: 'Elizabeth and Ruth'.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Listening to Olivia Laing's The Garden Against Time (2024). What a book! Milton & Paradise Lost; John Clare; wealth from slavery 'greenwashed'; The Diggers; the Chartists; Wm Morris; Derek Jarman. Personally, less interested in the litany of plants but it's a heart-breaking account of utopian dreams

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Reading Big Kiss, Bye-Bye in the twilight zone of an A&E ward (with my Dad). Claire-Louise Bennett is such good company. '...seemed pleased with the word "loop". Though thinking about it probably it was the word "the" that pleased them most. I've noticed this ruse in marketing lately' (etc). Superb!

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

Open mic night at Backstory Bookshop in Balham. I didn't read but was there to support my short story team! Great atmosphere.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

City Lit's 26-27 Malorie Blackman Scholarship for Unheard Voices is open for applications until 8 February 2026. More info at: www.citylit.ac.uk/malorie-blac...

Photo of author Malorie Blackman smiling and holding a copy of one of her books.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Thanks to @laurabesley.bsky.social for recommending this lively and practical book of essays from @flyonthewallpress.bsky.social

Purple book cover with white text: the subtle art of short fiction

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

Scratch Books evenings are always such uplifting occasions. Readings & literary chat with strangers.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

Another great evening of new writing hosted by Tom Conaghan of @scratchbooks.bsky.social All six readers were brilliant.

People socialising in a room with red walls.

People applauding in a room with red walls

A man reading aloud to an audience in a warmly lit room

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Still coughing like a smoker, but 3 fantastic #shortstory books have arrived to entertain me. Myriam Frey's The Building Inspector, from @nightjarpress.bsky.social; Nicholas Royle's Paris Fantastique from @confingopublishing.bsky.social; and Best British Short Stories, @saltpublishing.com.

Three books, two with typographical covers, one with a picture of a field planted with tall white poles and a forest in
The background.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Just finished Audition by Katie Kitamura. A sinuous, intensely intimate novel where truth is always shifting & unstable. Gripping.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Just finished Maya Sharp's wonderfully pacy novel The Garden (seen here in the wild on Tuesday). It's a contemporary folk horror, a love letter to the Yorkshire moors, a fable about loyalty, friendship and the power of nature. Highly enjoyable! Published by @confingopublishing.bsky.social

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

She read us this quotation from a Flannery O'Connor short story

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Just spent the past hour listening to the fantastic Mariana Enriques talking about her new book of essays Somebody is Walking on your Grave: cemeteries, sex, death, and the enduring violence of the Latin American dictators of the 1970s. @foylesforbooks.bsky.social

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

This intense, firecracker of a book by Ngozi Oprah arrived the other day from Asterism Books, Seattle, Washington.

The book cover. Red background. Empty centre framed by strong black lettering.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

A lovely day at the Dahlia Books / Leicester Writes event for Short Story September. Great to meet publisher, writer and short story powerhouse Farhana Shaikh, and to catch up with writer Laura Besley.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

Wishing you strength! Really enjoying your book Postcards, by the way.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

Great review of John Cassidy's book on the history of capitalism by Martin Wolf in the FTWeekend. The conclusions about the present are chilling: the rise of autocracy, the collapse of the liberal order, the crisis of the environment & the fact that tech companies only need a handful of employees.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

An intriguing and insanely well-wrapped package has arrived. It says: DO NOT BEND. (I wouldn't dream of it, not now, nor in the future.) Thank you, wrapper & publisher extraordinaire @nicholasroyle.bsky.social for these four new offerings from @nightjarpress.bsky.social

Book-shaped package wrapped in newsprint. Under the address is the text: PLEASE DO NOT BEND

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

An extract from Helen Garner’s diaries, this from 1991. V is her newish partner, also a writer.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

I’m gripped by Helen Garner’s collected diaries (How to End a Story, W&N). Love this bit:

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

The Edge Hill Prize ceremony last night, 6 books: David Frankel, Forgetting is How We Survive; Tessa Hadley, After the Funeral; Charlie Hill, Encounters with Everyday Madness; Abi Haynes, Monstrous Longings; Malachi McIntosh, Parables, Fables, Nightmares; CD Rose, Walter Benjamin Stares at the Sea.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

Watched Visconti’s The Leopard on the big screen at the BFI. What a film. ‘Everything must change so that everything can remain the same,’ says Tancredi, skipping off to join Garbaldi’s revolutionaries. m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5...

A wide shot from the film: dry landscape with mountains in the background. People in 19th century clothing walking down a slope towards picnic baskets in the foreground. It’s Sicily but it could be an American Western.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

Lunch with the FT: economist Abhijit Banerjee. ‘Trump is a very good storyteller, and that’s power.’ At some level people are responding rationally to their circumstances. Where workers used to be paid 1/60th of the boss’s salary in the 1970s, now they are paid 1/60,000th.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Van Gogh exhibition at the National Gallery today. I liked all the tree paintings.

Landscape. Trees in foreground, water, then fields.

Painting of grass. Almost an abstract pattern.

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Currently reading this. Linked short stories by Jem Calder. Good!

Brightly coloured book cover. Two hands reaching to touch. Book title: Reward System. Author: Jem Calder

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Vicky Grut @vickygrut.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

Another inspirational evening of short story readings last night courtesy of story conjurer & publisher Ton Conaghan of @scratchbooks.bsky.social

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