Roy Kesey
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roykesey.bsky.social
Roy Kesey
@roykesey.bsky.social
810 followers 560 following 990 posts
Some things I do: write (Sarabande, Jonathan Cape/Random House, Dzanc), translate (Soho Press, Serpent’s Tail), teach, read, bind, photograph. Ideal job: walking around looking at stuff. Photos mine unless otherwise noted, e.g. profile tintype by Amy Güth.
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roykesey.bsky.social
A student working on a travel writing exercise, near Robin Hood’s Bay.
📷📸✒️📓🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
#travelwriting #robinhoodsbay #dinosaurcoast #northyorkshire #england #photography #clarity
A color photograph with a green meadow in the foreground, a young person seated on the ground in silhouette, and a cloud-filled sky.
November 23, 2025 at 3:42 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
A raven on the castle wall.
📷📸✒️📓🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏰🪶
#birdsky #raven #scarboroughcastle #northyorkshire #england #photography #clarity
A black and white photo of a raven in silhouette on an old stone wall.
November 22, 2025 at 10:28 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
I guess if anywhere is going to change hands between the Parliamentarians and the Royalists seven times in seven years, might as well be
📷📸✒️📓🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏰
#scarboroughcastle #northyorkshire #england #photography #clarity
A black-and-white photograph showing the ruins of a medieval castle, with a field of wildflowers in the foreground, and complex clouds in the background.
November 21, 2025 at 2:44 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
I mean I guess if you’re going to set a vampire story somewhere, might as well be
📷📸✒️📓🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
#whitby #abbey #northyorkshire #england #photography #clarity
A black-and-white photograph of the ruins of an ancient abbey against the setting sun.
November 20, 2025 at 1:51 AM
roykesey.bsky.social
Robin Hood’s Bay.
📷📸✒️📓🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
#robinhoodsbay #northyorkshire #england #photography #clarity
A black-and-white photograph of sunlight reflected on a bay, the headlands beyond, and a cloudy sky.
November 15, 2025 at 3:00 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
The limestone cap of Malham Cove.
📷📸✒️📓🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🌿
#limestone #rocksky #malhamcove #northyorkshire #england #photography #clarity
A color photograph of a thick gray cap of natural limestone fragmented by weather, with ferns growing in between the fragments.
November 13, 2025 at 10:23 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
Back to my fighting weight
#burnishbeercompany #salisbury #maryland
A color photograph of a pint of lager next to a can reading Roy Light, a beer produced by Burnish Beer Co.
October 31, 2025 at 6:32 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
A delight of copper beech

📷📸✒️📓🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🌿
#copperbeech #treesky #kiplinhall #richmond #northyorkshire #england #photography #clarity
A close-up color photograph of two oxblood-colored leaves.
October 17, 2025 at 11:47 AM
roykesey.bsky.social
Find someone who looks at you like

📷📸✒️📓🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
#swan #birdsky #kiplinhall #richmond #northyorkshire #england #photography #clarity
A color photograph of two swans swimming together in sunlit water, with saplings in the background.
October 9, 2025 at 8:35 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
A primrose at Kiplin Hall.
📷📸✒️📓🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
#plantsky #kiplinhall #richmond #northyorkshire #england #photography #clarity
A color photo of a pink primrose in full bloom.
October 6, 2025 at 2:22 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
The Golden Lion Hotel has hosted eminent guests for 300 yrs, inc. future czar Grand Duke Nicholas, Queen Victoria’s 3rd son, & Andrew Carnegie. In the center of the dining room is this portal to the abyss. Good Scotch eggs.
📷📸✒️📓🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
#goldenlion #northallerton #yorkshire #england #photography #clarity
A black-and-white photo looking down through a thin sheet of plexiglass into a medieval well located in the middle of the fucking dining room of a fancy English hotel.
October 5, 2025 at 1:22 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
Forest on a fencepost.
📷📸✒️📓🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
#plantsky #hilltop #sawrey #cumbria #england #photography #clarity
A color photograph of a moss-covered fencepost on a background of green grass and reeds.
October 4, 2025 at 7:34 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
Jackdaw says I beg your pardon?
📷📸✒️📓🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
#birdsky #hilltop #cumbria #england #photography #clarity
A jackdaw, a corvid with black body, gray head, and blue eyes, looks up from green grass.
October 3, 2025 at 3:22 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
I don’t much care what time it is, but I like a good clock all the same.
📷📸✒️📓🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
#beatrixpotter #hilltop #cumbria #england #photography #clarity
A color photo of a beautiful clock, the pendulum blurred in motion, in the sitting room of Beatrix Potter’s home at Hill Top in Sawrey.
October 2, 2025 at 7:10 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
The floor of the Kentmere Boat, an 11th C. Viking dugout. Kendal Museum, Cumbria.
📷📸✒️📓🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
#kentmere #kendal #cumbria #england #photography #clarity
The charred wooden surface of an eleventh century dugout.
October 1, 2025 at 5:01 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
Rydal Cave, from inside out.
📷📸🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿✒️📓
#rydal #westmorland #cumbria #england #photography #clarity
A color photo looking out of the mouth of a cave at rocks, trees, far hills, and blue sky.
September 30, 2025 at 2:40 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
The water-mirror of Rydal Cave, an abandoned slate quarry in the side of Loughrigg Fell.
📷📸🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿✒️📓
#rydal #westmorland #cumbria #england #photography #clarity
A color photograph of slanted slabs of slate reflected in a pond of water inside a cave.
September 29, 2025 at 8:23 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
There are worse places to write.

Every summer we take a small group of undergrads through northern England. I run the travel writing. This shot is from the first hike, up Greenhead Ghyll, around & back down to Grasmere.
📷📸🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿✒️📓
#writing #grasmere #westmorland #cumbria #england #photography #clarity
A color photograph of a young woman writing in a notebook beneath a small tree overlooking a green valley.
September 28, 2025 at 12:29 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
A shot of of W. Wordsworth’s "The Recluse” in ms.

"(…may) the hand
Be ready and unwearied without plea,
From tasks too frequent or beyond its power,
For languor or indifference or despair."

Thank you, Billy.

📷📸🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
#jerwoodcentre #wordsworthtrust #grasmere #england #photography #clarity
A portion of a 19th century manuscript, the oak gall ink slightly faded to rich brown on the yellowed paper.
September 26, 2025 at 12:54 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
Some chimneys are chimnier than others.
📷📸🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
#dovecottage #grasmere #westmorland #cumbria #england #photography #clarity
A black and white photograph of the three-tiered chimney on the slate roof of Dove Cottage.
September 22, 2025 at 6:08 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
An everlasting pea at Dove Cottage
📷📸🌊🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
#dovecottage #flowers #grasmere #westmorland #cumbria #england #photography #clarity
A bright round fuchsia-colored flower with a delicate opening at the base of the blossom
September 18, 2025 at 6:50 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
Adding my voice to the chorus of those mourning the passing of Dan Wickett. Dzanc was my first publisher and Dan was its heart and soul: tireless on behalf of writers and their work, generous with his time and emotional energy, kind and encouraging to everyone he met. Rest well, old friend.
The logo of Dzanc Books, which Dan Wickett co-founded, on the back cover of their first book, All Over by Roy Kesey.
September 16, 2025 at 6:19 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
A little good strangeness from Renata Adler’s landmark Pitch Dark, ‪@nyrb-imprints.bsky.social 1983, reprinted 2013 📚🖋️

"The forbidden, the solipsistic tense is this: that things will have been other than they were."
The cover of Renata Adler’s novel, Pitch Dark. There is a black rectangle bearing the the title, author’s name, and “Afterword by Muriel Spark.” the background is a colorful abstract painting.
July 25, 2025 at 9:58 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
The entrance to Beaumaris Castle. Did I arrive late in the day? Yes. Was the light perfect? Yes. Did I lose track of time? Yes. Did the gatekeeper accidentally lock me in, & did Beaumaris then technically become *my* castle? Obvs.
📷📸🏰🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
#beaumaris #castle #anglesey #wales #b&w #photography #clarity
A silver-toned black and white photograph of the entrance to the outer ward of a stone castle. Overhead, the gaps between stone arches serve as murder holes.
July 25, 2025 at 8:32 PM
roykesey.bsky.social
A submerged, eroded causeway leading to Trwyn Du Lighthouse, Penmon.
📷📸🌊🧭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
#TrwynDu #lighthouse #penmon #anglesey #wales #photography #clarity
A color photograph in nostalgic tones showing a submerged white causeway threading through coastal stone out to a lighthouse in a calm sea under a mostly clear sky. The lighthouse is stepped, with crenellations rather than an iron railing around the top. It is painted in five horizontal bands—3 black interspersed with 2 white.
July 24, 2025 at 10:45 PM