Penny Kiley
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pennykiley.bsky.social
Penny Kiley
@pennykiley.bsky.social
890 followers 970 following 780 posts
Oxford-based writer and editor, working mostly in digital and mostly for non-profits. Former music journo. Autistic. Memoir 'Atypical Girl' published by Polygon March 2026. https://linktr.ee/pennykiley
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pennykiley.bsky.social
Books I read in October.
Not as many as usual in this photo because I also read a 600-page book about punk (pdf only so didn't make it onto the pic). And a very bad book about autism which I am not even going to include. These four were all good though.
Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell, Tremelo Diaries by Justin Currie, The rules of revelation by Lisa McInerney, Blood Harmoney by Barry Mazor.
November 3, 2025 at 9:00 AM
pennykiley.bsky.social
One for @remembrancewatch.bsky.social. In local @thebhf.bsky.social shop.
A window display of knitted poppies. A purple horse and a cascade of red poppies.
November 1, 2025 at 10:59 AM
pennykiley.bsky.social
So, I wrote a book. It's out in February but there's an offer on this week if you pre-order it from Waterstones. www.waterstones.com/book/atypica...
Waterstones advert saying "25% off on upcoming books. 14-17 October. Online only. Pre-order now with code OCTOBER25"
October 14, 2025 at 8:35 AM
pennykiley.bsky.social
"Cozy"? "Romantasy's"? @waterstones.bsky.social, a lot of people who like books notice grammar.
A notice in a Waterstones bookshop advertising "Romantic reads". These include "cozy" reads (with a Zed) and "romantasy's (with apostrophe S). Grrr.
October 10, 2025 at 3:36 PM
pennykiley.bsky.social
Books I read in September.
A pile of books: Teenage Kicks by Michael Bradley, The Matter of Everything by Suzie Sheehy, A Crooked Tree by Una Mannion, The Octopus by Tess Little, The Autistic Guide to Communicating and Connecting by Niamh Garvey, Bodies: Life and death in music by Ian Winwood, The Genius Myth by Helen Lewis, Maybe I’m Amazed by John Harris. Most of them are from the library.
October 1, 2025 at 2:04 PM
pennykiley.bsky.social
I very much identified with this quote from 'The edge of silence' by Neil Ansell. For him, it's because of hearing loss; for me, it's autism.
A page from a book, with these words: "To me, writing is my first language... I find it more natural to write down a thought than to speak it, and it is where I feel most at home. I feel that I have more fluency in the written word than the spoken word, and, to at least some degree, it is the language in which I think. Conversation is too quick for me; it feels as though I simply cannot process all that sound fast enough to keep up."
September 8, 2025 at 9:42 AM
pennykiley.bsky.social
Books I read in August.
A pile of books: 'We should all be feminists' by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 'Grief is for people' by Sloane Crosley, 'Mr Wilder and me' by Jonathan Coe, 'Why do birds suddenly disappear' by Lev Parikian, 'The edge of silence' by Neil Ansell, 'Conquered' by Eleanor Parker, 'Bring the house down' by Charlotte Runcie, 'Contacts' by Mark Watson, 'The Colonel and the King' by Peter Guralnick.
September 2, 2025 at 7:51 AM
pennykiley.bsky.social
I made these badges for Elvis's 20th anniversary in 1997.
Two home-made badges. One has the cover of the first Elvis Presley album (as copied by The Clash). The second is day-glo pink with the words "Elvis Presley has left the building".
August 16, 2025 at 12:06 PM
pennykiley.bsky.social
Books I read in July. I miss the sea.
A pile of books: Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal by Robin Ince, One Ukrainian Summer by Viv Groskop, The Absence by Budgie, The Truth by Terry Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett, Small Gods by Terry Pratchett. A pile of books: Doggerland by Ben Smith, The Foghorn’s Lament by Jennifer Lucy Allan, Risingtidefallingstar by Philip Hoare.
August 1, 2025 at 11:09 AM
pennykiley.bsky.social
Books I read in June. Thanks, bsky.app/profile/mari...
bsky.app/profile/rona...
bsky.app/profile/wade...
bsky.app/profile/rebe...
bsky.app/profile/garr...
bsky.app/profile/lanr... and others.
A pile of books: Conspiracyland by Marianna Spring; 1984: The Year Pop Went Queer by Ian Wade; Considerate Content by Rebekah Barry; The Boy From the Sea by Garrett Carr; Inner Sense: How the new science of interoception can transform your health, by Caroline Williams. The Complaints by Ian Rankin. A pile of books: Ghost Mountain by Ronan Hession; A Family Matter by Claire Lynch; Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett; We Were There by Lanre Bakare.
June 30, 2025 at 11:17 AM
pennykiley.bsky.social
Pictures on my wardrobe door, Liverpool university halls, 1977 or 78.
Montage of photos cut out of music magazines. Includes Jayne Casey, Poly Styrene and Eddie and the Hot Rods.
June 23, 2025 at 3:12 PM
pennykiley.bsky.social
Just back from seaside holiday. Surfing seagulls. People looking wistfully at estate agent windows. Military aircraft flying out to sea.
A beautiful view of the sea framed by trees and a dry stone wall.
June 21, 2025 at 11:13 AM
pennykiley.bsky.social
Happy birthday #Basingstoke station. I was impressed by the facilities
Door on station platform with a notice saying "Waiting room. Calming space "
June 10, 2025 at 4:11 PM
pennykiley.bsky.social
Today's Nice Thing is from my garden. "A good year for the roses."
White mock-orange and orange roses in a vintage art deco jub.
June 5, 2025 at 8:43 AM
pennykiley.bsky.social
Books I read in May. Including two about autism and three that are, well, pretty geeky.
A pile of books. All the Devils Are Here by David Seabrook A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens Frank Derrick’s Holiday of a Lifetime by J. B. Morrison Five Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K Le Guin Wired Our Own Way: An anthology of Irish autistic voices, ed Niamh Garvey Nina Simone’s Gum by Warren Ellis Why Can’t I Just Enjoy Things? by Pierre Novellie Once Upon A Prime by Sarah Hart Exterminate! Regenerate! The story of Doctor Who by John Higgs
June 2, 2025 at 12:49 PM
pennykiley.bsky.social
Books I read in April.
A pile of books: Berserker by Adrian Edmondson, Bibliomaniac by Robin Ince, How we learn to be brave by Mariann Edgar Budde, There are rivers in the sky by Elif Shafak, Green Frog by Gina Chung, Look Who’s Back by Timur Vermes, Attack and Decay by Andrew Cartmel, Conviction by Denise Mina, The grammar of angels by Edward Wilson-Lee.
April 30, 2025 at 9:57 AM
pennykiley.bsky.social
Books I read in March.
A pile of books: Orbital by Samantha Harvey, Ghosted by Jenn Ashworth, Duets (various authors), To Hell with Poverty by Jon King, Babel by R. F. Kuang. A pile of books: A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte, Love Goes to Building on Fire by Will Hermes, Men of a Certain Age by Kate Mossman, Don’t Make Me Laugh by Julia Raeside, The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller.
April 1, 2025 at 8:28 AM
pennykiley.bsky.social
Substack is going well.
(If you're not following me already, I'm at pennykiley.substack.com)
A Substack notification, saying "Penny Kiley is now #50 rising in Music".
March 27, 2025 at 5:28 PM
pennykiley.bsky.social
Books I read in February.
A pile of library books: The Proof of my Innocence by Jonathan Coe, A Freewheelin’ Time by Suze Rotolo, The Autistic Alice by Joanne Limburg, Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett, Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, Rizzio by Denise Mina, All Down Darkness Wide by Sean Hewitt, Negotiating with the Dead by Margaret Atwood.
March 2, 2025 at 3:18 PM
pennykiley.bsky.social
See pic: Sian Berry's contribution to the AI/copyright debate on Monday. Also Google "Green Party copyright 2015". They lost my support then, and they are not getting it back.
Extract from Sian Berry speech: "I wrote something for a national magazine which, ironically, is now behind a paywall, so I cannot see exactly what I wrote, but I remember that I suggested that a copyright term of 10 or 20 years might be reasonable so that the young man who sat down and wrote “Yesterday” yesterday is protected for a reasonable period. Then we could start to build up public domain works and provide useful AI tools to train in ways that do not rip off creators. If we had thought about that earlier, there would probably be a simpler answer to the knotty question with which Ministers are grappling today."
January 31, 2025 at 11:55 AM
pennykiley.bsky.social
Books read (or re-read) in December. Spot the Christmas presents.
A pile of books: Isolarion by James Attlee, Dostadnight, The gentle art of Swedish death cleaning by Margareta Magnusson, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle, Wintering by Katherine May, Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman, Freaks Out by Luke Haines. A pile of books: The Women Behind the Door by Roddy Doyle, Notes from an Island by Tove Jansson and Tuulikki Pietilä, Rebel Girl by Kathleen Hanna and two spin-offs from the TV series Ghosts.
January 1, 2025 at 3:08 PM
pennykiley.bsky.social
Books I read in November. Hurrah for #libraries.
A pile of library books: Baggage by Alan Cumming, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick, Muslims Don’t Matter by Sayeeda Warsi, Autism in Adults by Luke Beardon, Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst, Rare Singles by Benjamin Myers, Making Money by Terry Pratchett. A pile of library books: Dostadning: The gentle art of Swedish death cleaning, Bournville by Jonathan Coe, Ten birds that changed the world by Stephen Moss, When I Died for the First Time by Tim Booth.
December 2, 2024 at 10:56 AM
pennykiley.bsky.social
Here's mine
November 15, 2024 at 11:58 AM
pennykiley.bsky.social
Books I read in October.
A pile of books. A Thousand Threads by Neneh Cherry, Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey, On Gallows Down by Nicola Chester, We're all neurodiverse by Sonny Jane Wise, The Offing by Benjamin Myers, I Brought the War With Me by Lindsey Hilsum, How Women Made Music by NPR Music, Difficult Women by Helen Lewis.
October 31, 2024 at 8:02 AM
pennykiley.bsky.social
Books I read in September, part 2.
A pile of books: Wild Twin by Jeff Young, A Friend of the Earth by T. C. Boyle, The Life Impossible by Matt Haig.
September 30, 2024 at 8:56 AM