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
Absolutely thrilled to be Shortlisted for @rjaward.bsky.social! And in brilliant company. Lovely to have that white horse sticker on #GhostsoftheFarm. My farming women & their workers & families of all those decades ago, would be so proud! (As would younger me.) @chelseagreenbooks.bsky.social
February 6, 2026 at 12:58 PM
Absolutely thrilled to be Shortlisted for @rjaward.bsky.social! And in brilliant company. Lovely to have that white horse sticker on #GhostsoftheFarm. My farming women & their workers & families of all those decades ago, would be so proud! (As would younger me.) @chelseagreenbooks.bsky.social
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
NEW: Mandelson just sent a memo to UK newspapers via the press watchdog demanding they stop publishing his links to Epstein.
He cited clauses in the Editors code, designed to protect grieving families.
The memo was NOT to be published.
The National just said ‘fuck that’ & published it in full 👏
He cited clauses in the Editors code, designed to protect grieving families.
The memo was NOT to be published.
The National just said ‘fuck that’ & published it in full 👏
Peter Mandelson issues secret notice demanding press leave him alone – read in full
LATE on Friday evening, this notice was circulated from representatives of Peter Mandelson, via press regulator IPSO and the Press Association news…
www.thenational.scot
February 6, 2026 at 8:20 PM
NEW: Mandelson just sent a memo to UK newspapers via the press watchdog demanding they stop publishing his links to Epstein.
He cited clauses in the Editors code, designed to protect grieving families.
The memo was NOT to be published.
The National just said ‘fuck that’ & published it in full 👏
He cited clauses in the Editors code, designed to protect grieving families.
The memo was NOT to be published.
The National just said ‘fuck that’ & published it in full 👏
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
Bezos isn't destroying the Washington Post because it isn't profitable. He's destroying the Washington Post because he's calculated that a robust free press threatens the ability of his class to warp society around their interests
February 4, 2026 at 2:24 PM
Bezos isn't destroying the Washington Post because it isn't profitable. He's destroying the Washington Post because he's calculated that a robust free press threatens the ability of his class to warp society around their interests
I'm doing a creative writing workshop at Lancaster Litfest on Sat 21st March on 'Writing Historical Fiction' (4-6pm). Apply by 28th Feb: litfest.org/workshops26/ ✒️😍
February 5, 2026 at 6:24 PM
I'm doing a creative writing workshop at Lancaster Litfest on Sat 21st March on 'Writing Historical Fiction' (4-6pm). Apply by 28th Feb: litfest.org/workshops26/ ✒️😍
Delighted to be reading at Lancaster Litfest on Sunday 22nd March 2-3pm, in conversation with @alexwragge.bsky.social about all things historical fiction!
It's here!
The full programme is now available to browse, and all tickets are available to book!
Explore our workshops, sign up to the Big Read, learn about what's on offer from our Writers in Residence and submit to our Rights of Nature Digital Poetry Map!
geni.us/LFSpring26
The full programme is now available to browse, and all tickets are available to book!
Explore our workshops, sign up to the Big Read, learn about what's on offer from our Writers in Residence and submit to our Rights of Nature Digital Poetry Map!
geni.us/LFSpring26
February 5, 2026 at 5:52 PM
Delighted to be reading at Lancaster Litfest on Sunday 22nd March 2-3pm, in conversation with @alexwragge.bsky.social about all things historical fiction!
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
From the archive for Russell Hoban, #BornOnThisDay in 1925, my thoughts on TURTLE DIARY.
A wry, piercingly perceptive exploration of different facets of loneliness & the fear of stepping outside one’s comfort zone in the maelstrom of middle age. #BookSky 💙📚
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/04/20/t...
A wry, piercingly perceptive exploration of different facets of loneliness & the fear of stepping outside one’s comfort zone in the maelstrom of middle age. #BookSky 💙📚
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/04/20/t...
Turtle Diary by Russell Hoban
What a captivating, wryly humorous novel this is – a life-affirming read with none of the schmaltz or saccharine this description might suggest! It’s my book group’s current read, and I can’t wait …
jacquiwine.wordpress.com
February 4, 2026 at 9:41 AM
From the archive for Russell Hoban, #BornOnThisDay in 1925, my thoughts on TURTLE DIARY.
A wry, piercingly perceptive exploration of different facets of loneliness & the fear of stepping outside one’s comfort zone in the maelstrom of middle age. #BookSky 💙📚
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/04/20/t...
A wry, piercingly perceptive exploration of different facets of loneliness & the fear of stepping outside one’s comfort zone in the maelstrom of middle age. #BookSky 💙📚
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/04/20/t...
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
This whole thing where billionaires snap up media properties so they can run them into the ground to make it harder for people to call them and their cronies to account is extremely obvious and very tiresome. It also limits our access to largr information about culture and the world, also by design.
February 4, 2026 at 3:44 PM
This whole thing where billionaires snap up media properties so they can run them into the ground to make it harder for people to call them and their cronies to account is extremely obvious and very tiresome. It also limits our access to largr information about culture and the world, also by design.
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
A publisher who lays off a reporter whose pen is freezing because she's covering a frigid war zone while dodging missiles is not an editor you want to work for, in a more perfect world
February 4, 2026 at 5:07 PM
A publisher who lays off a reporter whose pen is freezing because she's covering a frigid war zone while dodging missiles is not an editor you want to work for, in a more perfect world
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
This is a tremendous story:
My monthly Substack newsletter is now live, with a nod to @davidallengreen.bsky.social as it's Candlemas today, and together with with @tambourine.bsky.social we share a rather special Candlemas story!
open.substack.com/pub/victoria...
open.substack.com/pub/victoria...
Candlemas, Being a Writing Beast and a Birthday Haul
Things I'm writing, things I'm reading, things I'm teaching...
open.substack.com
February 4, 2026 at 11:08 AM
This is a tremendous story:
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
"Riddley Walkers ben to show
Riddley Walkers on the go
Dont go Riddley Walkers track
Drop Johns ryding on his back
Stil I wunt have no other track."
Happy birthday Russell Hoban.
Riddley Walkers on the go
Dont go Riddley Walkers track
Drop Johns ryding on his back
Stil I wunt have no other track."
Happy birthday Russell Hoban.
February 4, 2026 at 12:00 PM
"Riddley Walkers ben to show
Riddley Walkers on the go
Dont go Riddley Walkers track
Drop Johns ryding on his back
Stil I wunt have no other track."
Happy birthday Russell Hoban.
Riddley Walkers on the go
Dont go Riddley Walkers track
Drop Johns ryding on his back
Stil I wunt have no other track."
Happy birthday Russell Hoban.
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
Spent a few hours with @ravoon.bsky.social's fab 'Dirt Rich' last night. He lightly and lovingly provides an anatomy of what we might pretentiously call England Profound. It put me in mind of JL Carr's 'A Month in the Country', a very good thing. Oh and funny too, like so:
February 4, 2026 at 10:32 AM
Spent a few hours with @ravoon.bsky.social's fab 'Dirt Rich' last night. He lightly and lovingly provides an anatomy of what we might pretentiously call England Profound. It put me in mind of JL Carr's 'A Month in the Country', a very good thing. Oh and funny too, like so:
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
We are delighted to host a second course led by @susannacrossman.bsky.social
Through generative exercises, exploring texts from authors like Rebecca Solnit, Joan Didion, Noreen Massud, and Georges Perec we’ll be writing place and time, deciding where we’re standing and making this world alive.
Through generative exercises, exploring texts from authors like Rebecca Solnit, Joan Didion, Noreen Massud, and Georges Perec we’ll be writing place and time, deciding where we’re standing and making this world alive.
February 4, 2026 at 10:19 AM
We are delighted to host a second course led by @susannacrossman.bsky.social
Through generative exercises, exploring texts from authors like Rebecca Solnit, Joan Didion, Noreen Massud, and Georges Perec we’ll be writing place and time, deciding where we’re standing and making this world alive.
Through generative exercises, exploring texts from authors like Rebecca Solnit, Joan Didion, Noreen Massud, and Georges Perec we’ll be writing place and time, deciding where we’re standing and making this world alive.
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
Custard
Gertrude Stein, from ‘Tender Buttons’
Gertrude Stein, from ‘Tender Buttons’
February 3, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Custard
Gertrude Stein, from ‘Tender Buttons’
Gertrude Stein, from ‘Tender Buttons’
Forgot to put this up - my amazing birthday book haul from January. So many treasures here! 📚😍
February 3, 2026 at 4:41 PM
Forgot to put this up - my amazing birthday book haul from January. So many treasures here! 📚😍
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
"Thoughtful, empathetic and languorous, and always beautiful to look at" ★★★★ for THE SHEPHERD AND THE BEAR in Time Out
www.timeout.com/movies/the-s...
www.timeout.com/movies/the-s...
The Shepherd and the Bear review: It’s farmers vs ecologists in this striking, sensitive rewilding doc
The Pyrenees are an unlikely battleground in Max Keegan’s gorgeous-looking documentary
www.timeout.com
February 3, 2026 at 10:38 AM
"Thoughtful, empathetic and languorous, and always beautiful to look at" ★★★★ for THE SHEPHERD AND THE BEAR in Time Out
www.timeout.com/movies/the-s...
www.timeout.com/movies/the-s...
My monthly Substack newsletter is now live, with a nod to @davidallengreen.bsky.social as it's Candlemas today, and together with with @tambourine.bsky.social we share a rather special Candlemas story!
open.substack.com/pub/victoria...
open.substack.com/pub/victoria...
Candlemas, Being a Writing Beast and a Birthday Haul
Things I'm writing, things I'm reading, things I'm teaching...
open.substack.com
February 2, 2026 at 4:04 PM
My monthly Substack newsletter is now live, with a nod to @davidallengreen.bsky.social as it's Candlemas today, and together with with @tambourine.bsky.social we share a rather special Candlemas story!
open.substack.com/pub/victoria...
open.substack.com/pub/victoria...
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
Find out here! www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... (it is very interesting)
This Cultural Life - Jonathan Pryce - BBC Sounds
Actor Jonathan Pryce talks to John Wilson about his cultural influences and career.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 1, 2026 at 5:40 PM
Find out here! www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... (it is very interesting)
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
Today is Candlemas
If you have not cleared all your Christmas decorations by today, a demon hiding behind them will cause dire mischief in your house for the rest of the year.
See my popular post on this: emptycity.substack.com/p/twelfth-ni...
If you have not cleared all your Christmas decorations by today, a demon hiding behind them will cause dire mischief in your house for the rest of the year.
See my popular post on this: emptycity.substack.com/p/twelfth-ni...
"Twelfth Night Till Candlemas"
The story of a forty-year book-quest and of its remarkable ending
emptycity.substack.com
February 2, 2026 at 7:41 AM
Today is Candlemas
If you have not cleared all your Christmas decorations by today, a demon hiding behind them will cause dire mischief in your house for the rest of the year.
See my popular post on this: emptycity.substack.com/p/twelfth-ni...
If you have not cleared all your Christmas decorations by today, a demon hiding behind them will cause dire mischief in your house for the rest of the year.
See my popular post on this: emptycity.substack.com/p/twelfth-ni...
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
This kept me sane today, inbetween the full eight hours of work I did. A humane, touching reminder that to live is to ultimately fail, so why not go a bit easier on yourself eh?
February 1, 2026 at 9:50 PM
This kept me sane today, inbetween the full eight hours of work I did. A humane, touching reminder that to live is to ultimately fail, so why not go a bit easier on yourself eh?
Reposted by Vicky MacKenzie
The CFP for the Gender & Medieval Studies conference 2026 is now LIVE! The theme is Gender & Creativity. The conf will be held in Oxford, 8-10 Sept, abstracts due to me by 13 April. Full details on the GMS website (artwork by @hellomizk.bsky.social) medievalgender.co.uk/2026-oxford/
January 25, 2026 at 10:22 AM
The CFP for the Gender & Medieval Studies conference 2026 is now LIVE! The theme is Gender & Creativity. The conf will be held in Oxford, 8-10 Sept, abstracts due to me by 13 April. Full details on the GMS website (artwork by @hellomizk.bsky.social) medievalgender.co.uk/2026-oxford/
Looking back on this and remembering my classes, my brilliant tutors, the sheer amount of time dedicated to reading and thinking and discussing, I think education is the greatest thing ever. Future generations will look back in horror at how we monetised, managerialised and AI-fucked the HE sector.
5 classes you took in uni:
1. Art & Letters 1900-1930 (best course EVER, changed my life)
2. Nineteenth century sexualities (Eng Lit, yes - obviously I went to Sussex 😂)
3. Ethics (Philosophy)
4. Kant (a whole semester on Kant! I used to be smarter 🤓)
5. Representations of the Body in Art
1. Art & Letters 1900-1930 (best course EVER, changed my life)
2. Nineteenth century sexualities (Eng Lit, yes - obviously I went to Sussex 😂)
3. Ethics (Philosophy)
4. Kant (a whole semester on Kant! I used to be smarter 🤓)
5. Representations of the Body in Art
5 classes you took in university:
1. Imperial Leather : GB Empire
2. Foundations of Mdn Historical Thought
3. 20th Cen Fascism
4. Special Subject: France 1848-1852
5. Dissertation on a comparative study between Walter Greenwood’s ‘Love on the Dole’ and Salford/Manchester/UK during the Depression
1. Imperial Leather : GB Empire
2. Foundations of Mdn Historical Thought
3. 20th Cen Fascism
4. Special Subject: France 1848-1852
5. Dissertation on a comparative study between Walter Greenwood’s ‘Love on the Dole’ and Salford/Manchester/UK during the Depression
February 1, 2026 at 9:24 AM
Looking back on this and remembering my classes, my brilliant tutors, the sheer amount of time dedicated to reading and thinking and discussing, I think education is the greatest thing ever. Future generations will look back in horror at how we monetised, managerialised and AI-fucked the HE sector.
5 classes you took in uni:
1. Art & Letters 1900-1930 (best course EVER, changed my life)
2. Nineteenth century sexualities (Eng Lit, yes - obviously I went to Sussex 😂)
3. Ethics (Philosophy)
4. Kant (a whole semester on Kant! I used to be smarter 🤓)
5. Representations of the Body in Art
1. Art & Letters 1900-1930 (best course EVER, changed my life)
2. Nineteenth century sexualities (Eng Lit, yes - obviously I went to Sussex 😂)
3. Ethics (Philosophy)
4. Kant (a whole semester on Kant! I used to be smarter 🤓)
5. Representations of the Body in Art
5 classes you took in university:
1. Imperial Leather : GB Empire
2. Foundations of Mdn Historical Thought
3. 20th Cen Fascism
4. Special Subject: France 1848-1852
5. Dissertation on a comparative study between Walter Greenwood’s ‘Love on the Dole’ and Salford/Manchester/UK during the Depression
1. Imperial Leather : GB Empire
2. Foundations of Mdn Historical Thought
3. 20th Cen Fascism
4. Special Subject: France 1848-1852
5. Dissertation on a comparative study between Walter Greenwood’s ‘Love on the Dole’ and Salford/Manchester/UK during the Depression
1. From Plato to Kant: intro to political philosophy
2. 19th century novels
3. Black women’s writing
4. Novels of the Holocaust
5. Nazi Germany
2. 19th century novels
3. Black women’s writing
4. Novels of the Holocaust
5. Nazi Germany
February 1, 2026 at 9:15 AM
5 classes you took in uni:
1. Art & Letters 1900-1930 (best course EVER, changed my life)
2. Nineteenth century sexualities (Eng Lit, yes - obviously I went to Sussex 😂)
3. Ethics (Philosophy)
4. Kant (a whole semester on Kant! I used to be smarter 🤓)
5. Representations of the Body in Art
1. Art & Letters 1900-1930 (best course EVER, changed my life)
2. Nineteenth century sexualities (Eng Lit, yes - obviously I went to Sussex 😂)
3. Ethics (Philosophy)
4. Kant (a whole semester on Kant! I used to be smarter 🤓)
5. Representations of the Body in Art
5 female fronted bands you've seen live...
The Delgados
Jane Weaver
I Break Horses
Molly Nilsson
Elastica
( I am surprised /appalled how hard I found this. And will regret not getting tix for Bikini Kill in Brighton in early 2000s until the day I die)
The Delgados
Jane Weaver
I Break Horses
Molly Nilsson
Elastica
( I am surprised /appalled how hard I found this. And will regret not getting tix for Bikini Kill in Brighton in early 2000s until the day I die)
This thread I like. Straight off the top of my head…
Lydia Lunch
Babes in Toyland
Venus Tropicaux
Žen
Maarja Nuut
Lydia Lunch
Babes in Toyland
Venus Tropicaux
Žen
Maarja Nuut
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you’ve seen with WOMEN lead singers:
Throwing Muses
P.J.Harvey
Le Tigre
Stereolab
Heartworms
Throwing Muses
P.J.Harvey
Le Tigre
Stereolab
Heartworms
February 1, 2026 at 9:02 AM
5 female fronted bands you've seen live...
The Delgados
Jane Weaver
I Break Horses
Molly Nilsson
Elastica
( I am surprised /appalled how hard I found this. And will regret not getting tix for Bikini Kill in Brighton in early 2000s until the day I die)
The Delgados
Jane Weaver
I Break Horses
Molly Nilsson
Elastica
( I am surprised /appalled how hard I found this. And will regret not getting tix for Bikini Kill in Brighton in early 2000s until the day I die)
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.