Rona Altrows
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ronaaltrows.bsky.social
Rona Altrows
@ronaaltrows.bsky.social
410 followers 450 following 120 posts
Writer, editor, bubby, animal lover, social democrat.
Human rights for all.
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Reposted by Rona Altrows
ualbertapress.bsky.social
Congratulations once again to Rona Altrows, winner of this year's Prairie Grindstone Prize. Here she is at a wonderful celebration at Shelf Life in Calgary (L: Rona / R: Lisa Murphy-Lamb).
https://bit.ly/3zoWZAk

Photo credit: Carol Gauzer.
@ronaaltrows.bsky.social ‪@shelflifebooks.bsky.social‬
August 26, 2025 at 5:00 PM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
This fine figure of a cat has just turned 3. Thank you for adopting us, Benny. You are the best, in both your MOs, regal & goofball.
#cats #catsofbluesky #Bennythecat #KingBenny
Benny, magnificent black shorthair domestic cat, once a stray kitten & now a homebody adult, lies on purple velveteen bedspread, head and tail up, giving a royal wave with his right front paw.
July 29, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Reposted by Rona Altrows
hannahr.bsky.social
please meet Alex the Great, a therapy bunny who works at the San Fran airport and now Giants games to help people who are overwhelmed

LOOK AT HIS TINY BALLCAP. LOOK AT IT.
A very large roly-poly light brown bunny rabbit wearing a tiny SF Giants ballcap is cuddled by a man wearing a Giants jersey.
July 16, 2025 at 1:49 PM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
Lately I've been asked a lot, what's your main feeling about winning The Prairie Grindstone Prize for 2025? My answer: deep gratitude.
Judges cited my "body of work and commitment to supporting emerging & established writers." Honoured.
#writers #writing #gratitude www.prairiegrindstoneprize.ca
The Prairie Grindstone Prize
The Prairie Grindstone Prize is an annual literary award of $50,000 that alternates between the prairie provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan and is granted to an engaged prairie writer in mid-career.
www.prairiegrindstoneprize.ca
July 10, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Reposted by Rona Altrows
albertaviews.bsky.social
Congratulations to @ronaaltrows.bsky.social for winning the 2025 Prairie Grindstone Prize!
www.prairiegrindstoneprize.ca
The Prairie Grindstone Prize
The Prairie Grindstone Prize is an annual literary award of $50,000 that alternates between the prairie provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan and is granted to an engaged prairie writer in mid-career.
www.prairiegrindstoneprize.ca
June 26, 2025 at 2:44 PM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
Psychiatrist sits in a chair, pencil in left hand and patient chart in right. Facing him & reclining in a divan is a , blob-like amoeba-like dark entity, covered in stars and with a sad look on its face. That is Dark Matter. Caption reads, "They all ask, 'What is Dark Matter.?' But they never ask, HOW is Dark Matter?'"
June 19, 2025 at 7:19 PM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
The only king I bow to is Benny.

#Caturday #blackcats #BennytheCat #NoKing #NoKingbutBenny
Magnificent black cat Benny, who lives in a 3rd-floor walkup apartment in an old building, perches on top of a propane barbecue on his catio and surveys the outdoor part of his vast domain.
June 15, 2025 at 12:35 AM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
June 2, 2025 at 5:11 PM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
A little levity for my Bluesky friends.
A dog and a squirrel are sitting on a tree branch. Holding the squirrel's right paw in both of his paws, the dog says "I'll be honest, I never in a million years thought I'd actually catch one of you guys. But right now I need you to help me get down."
May 18, 2025 at 5:03 AM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
Happy Mother's Day to all Bluesky friends who are mothers, foster mothers, surrogate mothers, mother figures, cis, trans, human, feline, canine, you get the idea. May your day be filled with positives.
#Mother'sDay #mothers
May 11, 2025 at 2:28 PM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
When he was crowned, King Benny opted for a scaled-down coronation ceremony. King Charles did the same.
Charles plans to visit Canada later this month to deliver the Speech from the Throne. Benny has not yet announced his plans.
#cats #blackcats #catsofbluesky #royalty
Benny, the unbelievably handsome black cat, reclines on his perchthrone with his crown, the outer rim of a preserves lid jar, sitting over his right ear, and his royal robes, a partially folded flag, over his shoulders and upper back.
May 7, 2025 at 3:35 AM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
On my third reread of Moby Dick a couple years back, I skipped the cetology chapters as my recollection as I had previously found them boring.
But on this fourth reread, I am finding the cetology chapters to be the most interesting of all. Go figure.
#Melville #writers
May 6, 2025 at 6:29 PM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
April 29, 2025 at 4:17 AM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
From the comfort of his bunthouse, Benny oversees delivery of new catio furniture.

#Caturday #cats #blackcats #BennytheCat #CatsofBluesky
From the top shelf of a kitchen counter, beautiful black cat Benny is lying lies so that we see only his head, which is facing right, and his front right paw, pointing right.
April 12, 2025 at 3:30 PM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
feeling of lostness after finishing a big project
#writing #writers
April 10, 2025 at 9:29 PM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
Heard Islanders convene to discuss what they guano do about those tariffs.

#Trumptariffs #tariffs #HeardIsland #penguins
4 toy penguins stand on a white tablecloth with bumps on it to represent a windblown snowy landscape. Back row, Percy, a large stuffed white penguin wearing glasses; Penny, red and white stuffed penguin with a watch around her neck; Perry, black and white stuffed penguin. Front row, Peggy, large-eyed penguin with tinsel back and head and white front; Paul, rubber penguin with "the Little Penguin" printed on his front and a blue Santa-style toque.
April 4, 2025 at 4:28 PM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
So glad to see manifestations of continuing friendship between sane Canadians and sane Americans on border-spanning bridges etc.
We can't let ourselves be brought down morally or politically by the actions of a guy behaving like a dictator.
Also,well done, Sen. Brooker!
#IwillnothatemyUSfriends
April 4, 2025 at 1:10 AM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
Benny:
She'll NEVER find me now.

#BennytheCat #cats #blackcats #catsofbluesky
Beautiful black cat Benny, with a mischievous look in his eye, scrunches up in a box way too small for him.
April 2, 2025 at 4:21 AM
Reposted by Rona Altrows
vonhitchofen.bsky.social
Cats are the inscrutable aliens of the pet world.
dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · Mar 31
Cat: “I cannot convey to you just how much I genuinely despise this food.”
Me: “Here, have this instead.”
Cat: “OMG I LOVE IT.”
Me: “It’s exactly the same bowl of food. I just took it away for six seconds then put it back in the same place.”
Cat: “I am fire and the wind. Do not attempt to know me.”
March 31, 2025 at 5:23 PM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
Benny has always nurtured his green housemates.
Here's a memoryshot of him as a kitten administering heartfelt TLC to his spiderplant friend.

#BennytheCat #catsofbluesky #cats #Sundaycats
Beautiful black cat Benny, reclining on second level of his new offwhite climber, extends a friendly right front paw to the spiderplant that is on the floor next to the climber.
March 30, 2025 at 11:23 PM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
Please Don't Interrupt
an anthology
coming this fall
30 diverse writers on the theme of interruption
co-edited by @uumez.bsky.social & me
Preorder now: griotslounge.ca/product/plea...
Book cover. Purple background.Top left, the title "Please Don't Interrupt" Bottom left, "Edited by Rona Altrows & Unchechukwu Peter Umezurike." Right side: an image of multicolourede straight threads, then entangled, then straight again.
March 27, 2025 at 9:06 PM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
Benny:
You call this SERVICE?

#BennytheCat #catsofbluesky #cats
Beautiful black cat sits on table with disgusted look on his face.
March 27, 2025 at 3:48 PM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
March 22 Benny says this is no time for bullshit.
#caturday #cats #BennytheCat
Beautiful black cat Benny sits like a sphinx on his blue and white blanket. His eyes say, "High time for honesty."
March 23, 2025 at 3:01 AM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
As preoccupied as he is with critical matters of state, Benny nonetheless takes the time, sceptre by paw, to wish you, his followers a happy Saint Gertrude's Day.
#cats #cats #catsofbluesky #blackcats #BennytheCat
Incredibly handsome black cat Benny lies on a luxurious (though cheap, shh) royal purple bedspread, looking seriously devoted to his serious fanbase. Beside him is his sceptre, a long pink plastic playing stick attached to a short pink and white cord with a pink and white fabric ball at the end.
March 18, 2025 at 12:30 AM
ronaaltrows.bsky.social
a little levity
#writers #amwriting #writingcommunity #blueskywriters
A man and a woman sit in a café booth over coffee. Possibly this is an internet date. They both wear glasses. Man has a goatee. Woman has an oldfashioned briefcase next to her. She says, "I thought I was a writer, but it turned out to be a chemical imbalance."
March 12, 2025 at 9:40 PM