iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Really liked this. Deliciously offbeat and I loved how Perry brought the scenes together at the end. Quiet, meditative, thoughtful and sensual. 🍏🍗🧀Thanks @wendypratt.bsky.social for recommending it to me, you were right! 😉#BookerPrize2026

Photo of hardback book, May We Feed the King, by Rebecca Perry.

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Impossible to overstate how much I value the existence of small presses like @longbarrowpress.bsky.social and their beautiful books and pamphlets, including these 3 by Matthew Clegg. They put me back in touch with myself and remind me of what I value - quiet time, paying attention, thoughtfulness.

Three poetry pamphlets by Matthew Clegg, each with a watercolour of a heron on the front. The Living; Crystal & Dust; Eyes Front

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

What a sheer pleasure this book is (and thank you @revrachelmann.bsky.social for the nudge last year)! One of those books that is simply a treat. I feel I can't read it to learn from, it's too bloody good!

Photo of paperback novel, OLD FILTH by Jane Gardam

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

I've read lots of great books so far this year and this is one of my favourites. Quiet, thoughtful, gentle, poignant. It doesn't hurry you along or boss you about. You can just be with it (and dear Brian), thinking about life and film and how we spend our days. Thanks @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social

Blue Fitzcarraldo novel - BRIAN by Jeremy Cooper

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

My guided book group for writers, ‘Reading Like a Writer’, will be running again from September 2026. We’ll read 6 books (fiction/essays/memoir) over 6 months, discussing what we can learn from them as writers. Fee: £125. Dates on my website. victoriamackenzie.net/teaching/ Do join us!

Pile of books:
Rebecca Solnit – A Field Guide to Getting Lost (non-fiction)
Nussaibah Younis – Fundamentally (novel)
Ian Maleney – Minor Monuments (essays/memoir)
Geraldine Brooks – Year of Wonders (novel)
M. John Harrison – Wish I Was Here: An Anti- Memoir (memoir/anti-memoir??)
Toni Morrison – Jazz (novel)

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Now for something a little different... A novel about the making and unmaking (and remaking?) of an American Catholic priest. I know what I like.

Photo of novel, WHEAT THAT SPRINGETH GREEN by J.F. Powers

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Strange, the compulsion to read someone as soon as their death is announced. Almost as if they can be kept alive by being read, their words (and pictures) still living. Anyway, this is a masterpiece. RIP #MarjaneSatrapi

Photo of PERSEPOLIS, graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Special offer! My Substack is currently half-price (£2 a month or £20 a year) and you can attend two free online writing workshops with me per year! Offer ends in 5 days. ✒️📚 victoriamackenzie.substack.com/p/finding-th...

Photo of poetry book, LIVES OF THE SAINTS, by Mícheál McCann, with text superimposed on front: Finding the Time to Go In. Things I'm writing, things I'm reading, things I'm teaching... Victoria MacKenzie

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Look what came in the post! A thousand thanks to Mícheál McCann for sending me a copy of his new poetry book! LIVES OF THE SAINTS is publ. by @thegallerypress.bsky.social and explores the lives of saints in modern settings and experiences, inc St Francis and Julian of Norwich! (Yes, I'm excited!) 😇

Photo of book, Lives of the Saints by Mícheál McCann, with wooden cat and fern postcard on either side.

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

My #histfic writing workshop is tomorrow and we'll be discussing extracts from this pile of joy! Still places if anyone wants to join last-minute. We're on Zoom tomorrow (Sat) 10.00-16.00, £150. If the fee is a barrier, please drop me a line! #CreativeWriting #HistoricalFiction #WritingWorkshop

Pile of books of historical fiction: The Book of Days by Francesca Kay; The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber; The Beginning of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald; The Life of Rebecca Jones by Angharad Price; Fifteen Wild Decembers by Karen Powell; The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles; The Daffodil Days by Helen Bain; Helm by Sarah Hall

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

One of my favourite trees. And a close-up. 💚 #StAndrews

A wall built around a sycamore tree, St Andrews

Close up of a wall built around a sycamore tree, St Andrews

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Happy book post today! A proof of Rose Tremain's next novel, THE HOUSEKEEPER: a bold imagining how Daphne Du Maurier came to write REBECCA! Forthcoming from Chatto & Windus in September #DaphneDuMaurier

Front cover of proof of novel. Text reads: DAPHNE DU MAURIER STOLE MY LIFE. Illustration of woman in dark clothing partially concealed by a white curtain.

Back cover of proof. Text in cursive script reads "She lifted me high, high up into another world, and then let me fall." Below that text says: THE HOUSEKEEPER, ROSE TREMAIN, 17 September 2026

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Proof copies of Each Leaf, Each Curve of Stem, my second novel, have arrived! I call it my second novel, but in my heart it's my first - thirteen years in the writing, baby. Yep, feeling quite emotional! 🌱💚✒️

Photo of proof copy of novel, Each Leaf, Each Curve of Stem by Victoria MacKenzie. Ivy green cover with no illustrations.

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

One of the things I love about teaching creative writing is creating a big pile of reading for myself as I start to prepare. I'm teaching a one-day online workshop on Writing Historical Fiction on Sat 16th May. From this pile I've only read THE DAFFODIL DAYS - which was a gem. What next? #HistFic

A pile of historical fiction novels from top to bottom: The Book of Days by Francesca Kay, Desperadoes by Ron Hansen, The Kingdom by Emmanuele Carrere, Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon, Knowledge of Angels by Jill Paton Walsh, The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller, Lux by Elizabeth Cook, Viper Wine by Hermione Eyre, Helm by Sarah Hall, The Daffodil Days by Helen Bain, The Artist by Lucy Steeds.

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

My latest Substack newsletter is now live! open.substack.com/pub/victoria...

Backdrop of book spines with quote from Hisham Matar superimposed on image in white font: "The present is the golden rim of a black cloth"

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Details about my latest free workshop for paid Substack subscribers is now live! open.substack.com/pub/victoria...

Graphic with two books in background, one called Flash Fiction, the other Prose Poetry, with white text superimposed over them that reads: Prose poem or flash fiction? What's the Difference? An online workshop exploring the joy of these very short forms. Victoria MacKenzie

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

The most surreal experience. FOR THY GREAT PAIN was recommended in the women's prison library on Coronation Street tonight! 📚😍

Still from Coronation Street Tuesday 17th Feb 2026 showing two women discussing FOR THY GREAT PAIN HAVE MERCY ON MY LITTLE PAIN.

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Forgot to put this up - my amazing birthday book haul from January. So many treasures here! 📚😍

Pile of books: Transcendence for Beginners by Clare Carlisle, The Pugilist at Rest by Thom Jones, Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self by Claire Tomalin, The Last Englishman: The Life of J.L. Carr by Byron Rogers, The Sight of Death: An Experiment in Art Writing by T.J. Clark, Immortal Thoughts: Late Style in a Time of Plague by Christopher Neve, The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt, Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife by Francesca Wade, The Story of Tudor Art by Christina J. Faraday, Helm by Sarah Hall and finally: Saint Francis of Assisi by Gabriele Finaldi and Joost Joustra (a beautiful book of paintings of St Francis, plus essays, published by the National Gallery to accompany their 2023 exhibition).

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Happy birthday to me (2 weeks ago but I forgot to post my lovely birthday book haul!) Really looking forward to this - and the production is sumptuous 🖼😍

Photo of hardback book, THE STORY OF TUDOR ART by Christina J. Faraday

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Happy 3 year anniversary to this little weirdo 💙 #ForThyGreatPain

Photo of 2 hardback copies of For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain by Victoria MacKenzie

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

Hell yes! The Pugilist at Rest by Thom Jones - I'm going in. 📚😍🥊

Photo of book, The Pugilist at Rest by Thom Jones

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

So lovely! Yours are a little ahead of mine... 🌾

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

Oh my god, this is amazing. So moving, so funny, so utterly brilliant. #FunHome by @alisonbechdel.bsky.social

Photo of graphic memoir, FUN HOME, by Alison Bechdel.

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

My latest Substack post is live! open.substack.com/pub/victoria...

Image of John Ruskin with text superimposed on top: Copyediting John Ruskin; Short Stories for the New Year

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Been looking forward to this one for ages. Eight weeks of short fiction ahead of me while I teach my favourite course 'What Can A Short Story Do?' and hopefully write a few more stories of my own. Kicking off with #Openings by @lucycaldwell.bsky.social pub by @faberbooks.bsky.social. 📚✒️

Photo of short story collection 'Openings' by Lucy Caldwell

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

I enjoyed watching Adam Mars-Jones on University Challenge last night, what an utterly charming man! So it seemed high time I read his novel BOX HILL @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social. So far it's as charming as him... (and very rude for reading on the train 😉)

Photo of novel, BOX HILL by Adam Mars-Jones on a heap of gloves and woolly hat on a train table.

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

My Christmas haul. 📚🥰 More modest than past years as I asked for other stuff too. Seem to be leaning in to a certain kind of comfort read. The times call for it, I suppose.

Books: A Year With Gilbert White by Jenny Uglow. Greengates by RC Sheriff. The River by Rumer Godden. Mapp and Lucia by EF Benson. Helen Garner's Diaries. How Steeple Sinder Wanderers won the FA Cup by JL Carr.

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

My Book of the Year 🙃 I'm freakin obsessed. #BaxterDury

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

Life on Internet vs reality (0% chance of rain vs rain currently streaming down the window)

BBC weather page showing sunny spells and 0% chance of rain today

View of garden through window, it's chucking it down...

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

Hurray! A very good post day - latest copies of @stingingfly.bsky.social @tolkajournal.bsky.social and @extrateethmag.bsky.social all arrived today! 📚✒️😍

Photo of stack of magazines- Extra Teeth, The Stinging Fly and Tolka

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

This is awkward - no one has bid for a signed copy of my novel, FOR THY GREAT PAIN... yet. 😬 Go on, you can get a personalised present for someone AND help raise money for such an important cause! 🙏 app.galabid.com/creatives4su...

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

This auction is now LIVE! Funds go to Emergency Response Rooms in Sudan. I've donated a signed pb copy of my novel, FOR THY GREAT PAIN... and I'm happy to dedicate it if you're buying it as a present! app.galabid.com/creatives4su... #keepeyesonsudan

Poster advertising Creatives4Sudan auction. galabid.com/creatives4sudan

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Thank you @ruthiesthomas.bsky.social for recommending THE HERO OF THIS BOOK by the inimitable Elizabeth McCracken - what a deep and wise joy it is! A memoir written on the aftermath of her mother's death, it is so gloriously perceptive and witty and tender. #BookSky

Photo of book, THE HERO OF THIS BOOK by Elizabeth McCracken

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

"Stella lounged against a cocktail cabinet whose glass frontage was engraved with the outline of a naked woman. I'm not going to be cowed, she thought. Not by nipples." Bliss to be indoors on a rainy day reading my new favourite author. Thank you @dauntbookspub.bsky.social for this wonderful proof!

Photo of An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

My reading companion 😍 I don't post enough cat pics. #MyCatGeoffrey

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

We're discussing Richard Flanagan's memoir QUESTION 7 in my 'Reading Like A Writer' book group on Thursday. Wow, it's quite a book! Can anyone think of anything remotely comparable in terms of his approach to memoir? Wildcards welcome! 📚

Photo of book, QUESTION 7 by Richard Flanagan

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Oh my god stop the bus! Look what just came through the door! A thousand thank yous to the magnificent @dauntbookspub.bsky.social and esp @marigoldatkey.bsky.social!

Photo of new edition of Beryl Bainbridge's novel AN AWFULLY BIG ADVENTURE

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

I am tickled by your enthusiasm - and always pleased to get recommendations! In fact, I've checked the shelves and found this, so might well start here! (Better not start it today, I have at least 6 books on the go just now... 😂)

Photo of book, An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Don't know why this post is getting so much attention (all relative - it feels like lots of attention compared to my usual posts...). Should have added: Buy my novel! 💙📚 #ForThyGreatPain

Photo of 2 copies of my novel in hardback, For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Went to a bookshop on my day off📚📚📚😍

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

How to follow Turtle Diary? With something completely different...

Photo of book, Blood Meridian by Cormac Mccarthy

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

This is turning out to be my perfect book. Thank you @jacquiwine.bsky.social and others who drew my attention to it! #TurtleDiary #RussellHoban

Photo of book, Turtle Diary, by Russell Hoban

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

A misty Sunday morning in October, might as well read this... Surprised the translator, Barbara J. Haveland, isn't mentioned on either the front or back cover - I thought we were over erasing translators these days? Seems not.

Photo of book, On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle, translated by Barbara J. Haveland

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

One of the best books I've read this year - @willhodgkinson.bsky.social's biography of Lawrence (Felt/Denim/Go-Kart Mozart), STREET-LEVEL SUPERSTAR, is an exploration of a singular man, a true artist and visionary in an age of brands and commercial pap. I 💙 u Lawrence. (He's also a nightmare 😂)

Photo of book, Street-Level Superstar: a year with Lawrence, by Will Hodgkinson. Photo of Lawrence on front in trademark blue and white baseball cap with plastic visor.

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