Fiona Kelly McGregor
@fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social
Novelist, essayist, art writer based on Gadigal country in Sydney, Australia. Out now: The Trap, follow up to Iris. Set Sydney 1942-43, The Trap is about an entrapment scandal that went all the way to the top. No generative AI pls.
Exclusive: AHPRA chief reveals ‘heightened external pressure’ over antisemitism definition
Exclusive: AHPRA chief reveals ‘heightened external pressure’ over antisemitism definition
A trove of internal documents obtained by Deepcut shows how Australia’s regulator of health workers initially resisted adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism, but later changed course
open.substack.com
‘I don’t recognise my children’: a Gazan father’s despair
‘I don’t recognise my children’: a Gazan father’s despair
Three years of genocide have left thousands of Palestinian children psychologically damaged, with no reprieve in sight
open.substack.com
Coming up at State Library of NSW. HOMEGROWN, a mini festival of literature. All free! I’ll be in a panel about writing queer Sydney moderated by Ben Law, with Madeleine Gray and Zoe Terakes. Friday 9 October, 7.30pm. Link to book is here. www.swf.org.au/program/out-...
Here’s a podcast from an interview I did in May at WoW festival.
Not Quite Write@notquitewrite.com · 3mo agoWhat do you get when you mix Aussie historical fiction and homosexuality? Let's just say, it's rarely pretty. Join us for our Words on the Waves 2026 chat with author @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social. We discussed Fiona's latest novel, The Trap, as well as power and the abuse thereof.
“In an industry under strain, product tends to be prioritised over process. I’ve been working as a critic and an editor in Australia for over 20 years and the story I hear from people in the industry is that they are being asked to do more with less, and quickly.” @catrionamp.bsky.social on OzLit
Guardian Australia@australia.theguardian.com · 4mo agoAustralia is publishing books too quickly – and everyone is losing out
"By letting the West set Jews against its other victims, we suffer alongside them, while only the civilisation that historically abused us truly benefits.” Incredible interview with historian Barnaby Raine.
Good Jews, Bad Jews • EQUATOR
What the mainstream gets wrong about antisemitism
equator.org
New review up - on Mia Khan Boe’s Walking About at Sutton Gallery in Naarm/ Melbourne.
MIA KHIN BOE – Walking About
Sutton Gallery, Melbourne/Naarm, 7 March – 11 April 2026
open.substack.com
Good news at last. (The elephants were female too.)
US millionaire big-game hunter dies after being crushed by elephants
Ernie Dosio, a 75-year-old vineyard owner, was hunting an antelope species in Africa when the incident occured
theguardian.com
The Amoc is a major part of the global climate system and is close to the tipping point of collapse. This is the biggest news of the year if not the decade.
Critical Atlantic current significantly more likely to collapse than thought
Scientists say finding is ‘very concerning’ as collapse would be catastrophic for Europe, Africa and the Americas
theguardian.com
Bref, 150 writers, including Virginie Despentes, have left Grasset, French publisher, due to policies of its ultra-right owner Vincent Bolloré. Grasset is part of Hachette, big list here in Australia. I’m so inspired by writers acting against autocrats. ✊🏼
Livres. Despentes, Lévy, Beigbeder : 115 écrivains quittent la maison d'édition Grasset et ciblent Bolloré
Un total de 115 auteurs publiés chez Grasset annoncent quitter cette maison d'édition pour dénoncer le licenciement de son PDG, Olivier Nora.
estrepublicain.fr
REMEMORY - 25th Biennale of Sydney. This review is of Campbelltown Arts Centre.
REMEMORY - 25th BIENNALE OF SYDNEY - Curated by Hoor al Qasimi
CAMPBELLTOWN ARTS CENTRE, 14 March – 14 June 2026
open.substack.com
"In short, Watt’s own statement revealed that at the very time he was arguing in public and at UNESCO that industrial emissions were causing no damage to the [50,000 year-old] rock art, his own department was telling him – and he accepted – that the opposite was true."
The very model of a modern Labor general
Murray Watt – tireless fixer and good soldier – is federal environment minister in a Labor government that has approved 35 fossil fuel projects and has done little to quell disquiet about the climate ...
themonthly.com.au
Macquarie has been a little shy 👉👈 … but we know deep down it's just as proud of the billions of tonnes of emissions its financing as it is about doing climate action 🫠 So today we surprised them with an award. 🎖️ #auspol #climate #macquariebank #beetaloo
Come and help me launch this novel into Sydney harbour. Everyone is welcome! Tuesday March 31. 5.30pm Sean and Dolly’s 220 William St, Woolloomooloo Hosted by Potts Point Bookshop. Launched by 78er Mark Gillespie RSVP to anna@pottspointbookshop.com.au
" … more than half the al-Hol camp’s population are children, most under 12 years old. Albanese said Australia won't repatriate its citizens with links to Islamic State. 34 Australian women & children were turned back by Syrian authorities after they left al-Roj detention camp.
Syria reports ‘mass escape’ from detention camp holding ISIS-linked families amid reports thousands fled | CNN
A “mass escape” took place last month from Syria’s al-Hol camp that holds families linked to the Islamic State following the withdrawal of Kurdish forces, according to Syrian TV, amid reports thousand...
cnn.com
New essay up at substack. On English poet Alice Oswald giving a lecture in Paris. And other stuff too. #poetry #literature #lecture #review #paris #essay
Alice Oswald in the City of Light
And a Stranger on the Train
open.substack.com
‘Need a lord on the board?’ Great article on that pimple Mandelson, one of legion pustules popped out of the Epstein file. As a coda, read this about Mandelson's contribution to the campaign to destroy Australian Labor's proposed mining super profits tax. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
James Butler · ‘Need a lord on the board?’: Mandelson and the Lobbyists
Why did a man whose political expertise was acquired in the departed era of broadcast television maintain such...
lrb.co.uk
New essay up at brand new substack. Published five days ago, and just tweaked. Please enjoy! "Melvin Edwards, Echo Delay Reverb, and the Cops Who Just Won’t Stop." Paris, January 2026.
Melvin Edwards, Echo Delay Reverb, and the Cops Who Just Won’t Stop.
PALAIS DE TOKYO, PARIS 22/10/2025 – 15/2/2026
open.substack.com
Here’s the footage. Multiple punches on a man with his arms up. Another assault case against #nswpolice, paid for by us? Meanwhile, the man who should be arrested for inciting genocide is dining on canapés with our PM. All this under a democratically elected leftist government.
Senator David Shoebridge@davidshoebridge.bsky.social · 8mo agoShared with us from Sydney happening now. He had his hands up.
Why does this article say « police allegedly threw punches » when footage of them actually, graphically doing so has been circulating for hours already?
Police use pepper spray at Sydney rally against Isaac Herzog visit, with MP alleging officers threw punches
Grace Tame and Lidia Thorpe address crowds in Sydney and Melbourne as NSW Labor backbencher says police reaction ‘totally over-the-top’
theguardian.com
Beautiful story amidst the rolling disasters on our feed
Guardian Australia@australia.theguardian.com · 8mo agoThe moment I knew: as we sat on the veranda playing Scrabble, it hit me – I was in love
What do people think of this? That humans came out of Australia as much as or more than Africa? That they migrated north, not south?
World's Oldest Rock Art Discovered in Indonesian Cave
The dark bowels of a limestone cave on Muna Island, off the coast of Sulawesi in Indonesia, just yielded an ancient secret.
sciencealert.com
« Greenland is essential for the Golden Dome we are building. » « Talks fail. » Terrifying. But real.
Trump insists Greenland is crucial for national security after Denmark talks
Talks fail to solve ‘fundamental disagreement’ over Arctic island controlled by Copenhagen
theguardian.com
Terrific piece on the AWW debacle. ‘Over the past 30 years, there has been a strong push towards corporatisation of arts boards. Arts orgs have adopted private-sector style governance models, with organisations seen as “enterprises” rather than cultural institutions.’
Jennifer Mills@jennifermills.net.au · 9mo agoI spoke with @theconversation.com for this important piece on the Adelaide Festival disaster and the crisis in arts governance theconversation.com/masterclass-... @asauthors.bsky.social