Vicky MacKenzie
@vickymackenzie.bsky.social
Writer, cat lady, John Ruskin obsessive, wrote a novel about medieval mystics. Aspiring anchoress. https://victoriamackenzie.net/
Substack: https://victoriamackenzie.substack.com/
Substack: https://victoriamackenzie.substack.com/
Pinned
For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain by Victoria MacKenzie review – a pocket epic
This electrifying debut compares the spiritual adventures of Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich
www.theguardian.com
And as always a thousand thank yous to @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social who wrote this astounding and thoughtful review of my book when it first came out, and sent it out into the world with a bang! 😍
www.theguardian.com/books/2023/j...
www.theguardian.com/books/2023/j...
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
X is hiring a creative writing specialist at $40 an hour to make Grok better at writing and a true LOL at the qualifications
January 30, 2026 at 8:14 PM
X is hiring a creative writing specialist at $40 an hour to make Grok better at writing and a true LOL at the qualifications
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
Oh. My heart. Catherine O’Hara, the icon, has passed.
January 30, 2026 at 8:14 PM
Oh. My heart. Catherine O’Hara, the icon, has passed.
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
less said the better,
John Ashbery
John Ashbery
January 30, 2026 at 4:27 PM
less said the better,
John Ashbery
John Ashbery
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
Please join us and help make history at the Gorton and Denton by-election! 💚. We have a brilliant candidate, Hannah Spencer, we have momentum and we have a vital message - that the politics of hope *can* win over the politics of hate.
We can win this! @mcrgreenparty.bsky.social @greenparty.org.uk
We can win this! @mcrgreenparty.bsky.social @greenparty.org.uk
January 30, 2026 at 5:17 PM
Please join us and help make history at the Gorton and Denton by-election! 💚. We have a brilliant candidate, Hannah Spencer, we have momentum and we have a vital message - that the politics of hope *can* win over the politics of hate.
We can win this! @mcrgreenparty.bsky.social @greenparty.org.uk
We can win this! @mcrgreenparty.bsky.social @greenparty.org.uk
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
Absolutely delighted with this review of my memoir, The Ghost Lake, in @yorkshirebylines.co.uk . Thanks to John Barron for taking the time with it.
Book review: - The Ghost Lake by Wendy Pratt | A story of belonging and connection through time that should speak to anyone who calls Yorkshire ‘home’ | John Barron
Book review: – The Ghost Lake by Wendy Pratt
A story of belonging and connection through time that should speak to anyone who calls Yorkshire ‘home’
yorkshirebylines.co.uk
January 30, 2026 at 12:47 PM
Absolutely delighted with this review of my memoir, The Ghost Lake, in @yorkshirebylines.co.uk . Thanks to John Barron for taking the time with it.
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
What we are seeing in their case, as Kidron says, is a “massive transfer of wealth from creators to corporations and from the UK to the US”.
www.thetimes.com/article/3c0c...
www.thetimes.com/article/3c0c...
All 2.4m of Britain’s creative workers are at risk — and we know why
A new report into the impact of AI on the creative sector makes for apocalyptic reading. The government must act now
www.thetimes.com
January 30, 2026 at 11:42 AM
What we are seeing in their case, as Kidron says, is a “massive transfer of wealth from creators to corporations and from the UK to the US”.
www.thetimes.com/article/3c0c...
www.thetimes.com/article/3c0c...
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
Lightning book recommendation round! What was the last really good book you read? What was the vibe of it? Mine was Barbara Pym, An Unsuitable Attachment. Clergymen, spinsters, libraries, repressed sexuality, and a very sharp eye observing it all.
January 29, 2026 at 8:53 PM
Lightning book recommendation round! What was the last really good book you read? What was the vibe of it? Mine was Barbara Pym, An Unsuitable Attachment. Clergymen, spinsters, libraries, repressed sexuality, and a very sharp eye observing it all.
Good grief. Do people who don't go to uni not benefit from doctors, librarians, researchers, lawyers, architects, artists, writers, archivists, historians, designers, programmers, etc etc etc...? What is this weird unjoined up world she imagines?
Rachel Reeves: "It is not right that people who don't go to university bear the cost for others to." I don't use local leisure centres and I don't drive, so will I be made exempt for taxation that pays for all that stuff? Or is it only education we'll be going after
January 29, 2026 at 7:52 PM
Good grief. Do people who don't go to uni not benefit from doctors, librarians, researchers, lawyers, architects, artists, writers, archivists, historians, designers, programmers, etc etc etc...? What is this weird unjoined up world she imagines?
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
Don't 'miss 'Storm-Cloud – The Look of the Sky' exhibition @ Millennium Gallery Sheffield; on until 29.11. 2026.
Inspired by Ruskin’s early thinking on climate & industrial pollution. Brings together historic artworks, young curators, contemporary film & climate research. #JohnRuskin #ClimateChange
Inspired by Ruskin’s early thinking on climate & industrial pollution. Brings together historic artworks, young curators, contemporary film & climate research. #JohnRuskin #ClimateChange
January 29, 2026 at 7:32 PM
Don't 'miss 'Storm-Cloud – The Look of the Sky' exhibition @ Millennium Gallery Sheffield; on until 29.11. 2026.
Inspired by Ruskin’s early thinking on climate & industrial pollution. Brings together historic artworks, young curators, contemporary film & climate research. #JohnRuskin #ClimateChange
Inspired by Ruskin’s early thinking on climate & industrial pollution. Brings together historic artworks, young curators, contemporary film & climate research. #JohnRuskin #ClimateChange
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
We urgently need a parliamentary debate on Palantir. Please sign this & share with your network. Via @the-citizens.bsky.social & @change.org.
www.change.org/p/hold-a-par...
www.change.org/p/hold-a-par...
January 29, 2026 at 3:42 PM
We urgently need a parliamentary debate on Palantir. Please sign this & share with your network. Via @the-citizens.bsky.social & @change.org.
www.change.org/p/hold-a-par...
www.change.org/p/hold-a-par...
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
New on the blog today, my thoughts on IN FARTHEST SEAS by Lalla Romano (tr. Brian Robert Moore).
I loved this profound, intimate and deeply moving elegy to Cenzo Monti, Romano’s husband of fifty years. Fans of Annie Ernaux might appreciate this. #BookSky 💙📚
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2026/01/29/i...
I loved this profound, intimate and deeply moving elegy to Cenzo Monti, Romano’s husband of fifty years. Fans of Annie Ernaux might appreciate this. #BookSky 💙📚
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2026/01/29/i...
In Farthest Seas by Lalla Romano (tr. Brian Robert Moore)
A couple of years ago, I read and thoroughly enjoyed A Silence Shared, a beautiful, enigmatic novel by the Italian writer, translator and artist Lalla Romano. First published in Italy in 1957, Tett…
jacquiwine.wordpress.com
January 29, 2026 at 7:19 AM
New on the blog today, my thoughts on IN FARTHEST SEAS by Lalla Romano (tr. Brian Robert Moore).
I loved this profound, intimate and deeply moving elegy to Cenzo Monti, Romano’s husband of fifty years. Fans of Annie Ernaux might appreciate this. #BookSky 💙📚
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2026/01/29/i...
I loved this profound, intimate and deeply moving elegy to Cenzo Monti, Romano’s husband of fifty years. Fans of Annie Ernaux might appreciate this. #BookSky 💙📚
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2026/01/29/i...
I'm in the wrong job. It's not entirely clear to my friends and family what I do either, but I definitely don't earn this much 😭
Chris Rokos has just paid himself £477m for one year’s work. Mr Rokos has not solved any of the world’s great problems. Indeed, it’s not entirely clear what he does do, writes Alan Rusbridger
One man paid himself £500m last year—in what world is that morally okay?
The obscene riches being accrued by hedge fund execs show a financial system in crisis
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
January 29, 2026 at 11:29 AM
I'm in the wrong job. It's not entirely clear to my friends and family what I do either, but I definitely don't earn this much 😭
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
'Mountains, Connemara,' shows Paul Henry at the height of his powers in the early-mid 1930s, a time when his domestic circumstances, which always reflected directly on his work, had become settled after the breakdown of his marriage; as his mood brightened, so did his work.
January 29, 2026 at 11:21 AM
'Mountains, Connemara,' shows Paul Henry at the height of his powers in the early-mid 1930s, a time when his domestic circumstances, which always reflected directly on his work, had become settled after the breakdown of his marriage; as his mood brightened, so did his work.
Christ almighty, that last line.
January 29, 2026 at 10:09 AM
Christ almighty, that last line.
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
🎉📘📣Out today: NIGHTFARING: IN SEARCH OF THE DISAPPEARING DARKNESS. Travel memoir, science & history, this book is my years-long deep dive into the night & darkness, journeying around the world, from England to Japan & the Himalaya.
📷: Bettymaya Foott www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Nightf...
📷: Bettymaya Foott www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Nightf...
January 29, 2026 at 9:49 AM
🎉📘📣Out today: NIGHTFARING: IN SEARCH OF THE DISAPPEARING DARKNESS. Travel memoir, science & history, this book is my years-long deep dive into the night & darkness, journeying around the world, from England to Japan & the Himalaya.
📷: Bettymaya Foott www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Nightf...
📷: Bettymaya Foott www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Nightf...
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
This painting by the artist Adriaen Coorte, made in 1699, shows a simple bunch of dramatically lit asparagus, on a stone shelf.
Still life paintings of food, often called Vanitas, were a common theme in Dutch art in the 17th century and alluded to moral themes such as the brevity of life.
Still life paintings of food, often called Vanitas, were a common theme in Dutch art in the 17th century and alluded to moral themes such as the brevity of life.
January 29, 2026 at 8:00 AM
This painting by the artist Adriaen Coorte, made in 1699, shows a simple bunch of dramatically lit asparagus, on a stone shelf.
Still life paintings of food, often called Vanitas, were a common theme in Dutch art in the 17th century and alluded to moral themes such as the brevity of life.
Still life paintings of food, often called Vanitas, were a common theme in Dutch art in the 17th century and alluded to moral themes such as the brevity of life.
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
The best name I’ve ever come across for the triangular checkout divider at supermarkets is the colloquial Swiss word Kassentoblerone, or “cash register Toblerone.”
January 28, 2026 at 5:55 PM
The best name I’ve ever come across for the triangular checkout divider at supermarkets is the colloquial Swiss word Kassentoblerone, or “cash register Toblerone.”
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
Shame on ‘Labour’. Teaching workers how to make themselves dispensable. Lining the pockets of oligarchs. And that’s not even mentioning the environmental cost or plagiarism. Reprehensible on every level
BREAKING: Free AI training will be offered to every adult in the UK, with short courses to teach people how to use simple AI tools effectively in the workplace.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall tells #BBCBreakfast about the scheme
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall tells #BBCBreakfast about the scheme
January 28, 2026 at 8:22 AM
Shame on ‘Labour’. Teaching workers how to make themselves dispensable. Lining the pockets of oligarchs. And that’s not even mentioning the environmental cost or plagiarism. Reprehensible on every level
I've never looked at Chat GPT. I love my life.
January 28, 2026 at 7:01 PM
I've never looked at Chat GPT. I love my life.
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
Calling all young writers – Write on Art is now open for entries 📣
Take part in the national writing programme by Art UK and @paulmelloncentr.bsky.social for young people (13–19 years old)
Find out more and apply 👉 artuk.org/learn/write-...
Take part in the national writing programme by Art UK and @paulmelloncentr.bsky.social for young people (13–19 years old)
Find out more and apply 👉 artuk.org/learn/write-...
January 28, 2026 at 11:41 AM
Calling all young writers – Write on Art is now open for entries 📣
Take part in the national writing programme by Art UK and @paulmelloncentr.bsky.social for young people (13–19 years old)
Find out more and apply 👉 artuk.org/learn/write-...
Take part in the national writing programme by Art UK and @paulmelloncentr.bsky.social for young people (13–19 years old)
Find out more and apply 👉 artuk.org/learn/write-...
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
The Observer Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism is looking for the best new voices in cultural criticism.
Entries close on 28 February 2026, so get scribbling!
First prize is £3000 and publication in @theobserveruk.bsky.social
Find out how to enter: www.anthonyburgess.org/observeranth...
Entries close on 28 February 2026, so get scribbling!
First prize is £3000 and publication in @theobserveruk.bsky.social
Find out how to enter: www.anthonyburgess.org/observeranth...
January 28, 2026 at 1:54 PM
The Observer Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism is looking for the best new voices in cultural criticism.
Entries close on 28 February 2026, so get scribbling!
First prize is £3000 and publication in @theobserveruk.bsky.social
Find out how to enter: www.anthonyburgess.org/observeranth...
Entries close on 28 February 2026, so get scribbling!
First prize is £3000 and publication in @theobserveruk.bsky.social
Find out how to enter: www.anthonyburgess.org/observeranth...
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
Wudja look at this!!
Very proud to be published by The Lilliput Press, and am in love with my book's beautiful cover ❤️🔥
Very proud to be published by The Lilliput Press, and am in love with my book's beautiful cover ❤️🔥
FOUR NIGHT SEAS by Niamh Mac Cabe 🌊 🌊 🌊 🌊
We are so excited to be publishing the debut collection from writer and artist @niamhmaccabe.bsky.social!
Mac Cabe's stories take the ordinary - people, animals, trees - and casts them in a way that is beguiling fresh.
We are so excited to be publishing the debut collection from writer and artist @niamhmaccabe.bsky.social!
Mac Cabe's stories take the ordinary - people, animals, trees - and casts them in a way that is beguiling fresh.
January 28, 2026 at 2:55 PM
Wudja look at this!!
Very proud to be published by The Lilliput Press, and am in love with my book's beautiful cover ❤️🔥
Very proud to be published by The Lilliput Press, and am in love with my book's beautiful cover ❤️🔥
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
So excited for the @backlisted.bsky.social episode on Iris Murdoch! I was OBSESSED with her when I was a grad student, and for years I refused to read the one last novel of hers on my list because I didn’t want to live in a world where there was no more Iris for me to read!! 🥹
January 28, 2026 at 9:54 AM
So excited for the @backlisted.bsky.social episode on Iris Murdoch! I was OBSESSED with her when I was a grad student, and for years I refused to read the one last novel of hers on my list because I didn’t want to live in a world where there was no more Iris for me to read!! 🥹
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
Hello, I have a new book out in the spring with Picador and I would love it if you could help me spread the word.
IF WE TOLERATE THIS draws on years of work, to help readers understand why British politics is hurtling rightwards and what to do about it.
Pre-orders: uk.bookshop.org/p/books/if-w...
IF WE TOLERATE THIS draws on years of work, to help readers understand why British politics is hurtling rightwards and what to do about it.
Pre-orders: uk.bookshop.org/p/books/if-w...
January 26, 2026 at 2:44 PM
Hello, I have a new book out in the spring with Picador and I would love it if you could help me spread the word.
IF WE TOLERATE THIS draws on years of work, to help readers understand why British politics is hurtling rightwards and what to do about it.
Pre-orders: uk.bookshop.org/p/books/if-w...
IF WE TOLERATE THIS draws on years of work, to help readers understand why British politics is hurtling rightwards and what to do about it.
Pre-orders: uk.bookshop.org/p/books/if-w...