Today is Andie MacDowell’s birthday. Hmmm. Interesting. #macdowell
David DeGusta
@davidwrites1.bsky.social
Writer / fiction / Iowa Writers’ Workshop / MacDowell / Yaddo | Ethiopia / literary translation from Amharic | Previously a paleoanthropologist. www.davidwrites.net Translator of the Ethiopian novel Oromay by Baalu Girma. www.davidwrites.net/oromay
The Center for the Art of Translation's new public home will provide translators and the literary community a place to gather, learn, and discover new global voices and perspectives for years to come. 🌟 Help us create a lighthouse for readers: www.catranslation.org/sf-literary-...
Very grateful to have my poem “Our Survey of Western Dirt” be a part of the latest issue of Barrelhouse. Many thanks to Mike Ingram and his students at Temple (see next post for their names) for including it. www.barrelhousemag.com/online-lit/o... @mikeingram.bsky.social @barrelhouse.bsky.social
Our Survey of Western Dirt, by David DeGusta — Barrelhouse
“ Most states have designated an official state bird, flower, and so forth. Similarly, each state has designated a state soil .” -Soil Science Society of America Oregon Jory red soil births Will...
barrelhousemag.com
Barrelhouse@barrelhouse.bsky.social · 8mo agoWe have a new online issue! Selected and edited by students at Temple University, under the guidance of @mikeingram.bsky.social www.barrelhousemag.com/online-lit/t...
If you think time at MacDowell might be beneficial to your art (fwiw I bet it would be) then APPLY. They are incredibly welcoming and supportive, the experience was transformative for me and many others, and no, you don’t have to be a superstar to get accepted. So, apply! @macdowell1907.bsky.social
MacDowell@macdowell1907.bsky.social · 9mo agoApply to MacDowell The application period for Fall 2026 Winter 2027 residencies is now open! For more information and to apply, visit macdowell.org/apply Join Our Admissions Q&A Session! Date: January 21 • Time: 2:00 p.m. ET • To register, visit: bit.ly/4fMgTd1
How many ethical violations is Brooks going to be allowed to get away with? (Question applies equally to Dillon Brooks of the NBA and David Brooks of the NYT)
Same. If I had to point to a moment that made me a writer, it was seeing Arcadia at ACT in SF in 2013. Walked in with no idea of what the play was about, walked out forever changed. Amazing production. Went back and saw it the next night, which was closing else I’d have kept going. rip Tom Stoppard.
Claire Willett@clairewillett.bsky.social · 10mo agomy unequivocal playwright hero. I loved his work so much. all I have ever wanted to do with my life was write something that made other people feel the way “Arcadia” made me feel. what a titan
Chauncey Billups lost a coach's challenge on an out of bounds call four minutes into the first quarter last night. If that dude beat me in poker, I'd be hella suspicious too.
“And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?” Spotted in the SF Bay Area. Feels like an inflection point for me, marking the moment when I can no longer maintain even the illusion that I have some tentative understanding of wtf is going on in the world.
Jane Goodall was a gem. I only met her a few times, but was struck by how she had both a strong sense of purpose and real kindness - a rare combination. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...
Jane Goodall, Eminent Primatologist Who Chronicled the Lives of Chimps, Dies at 91
nytimes.com
Love it when someone digs into a minor local mystery and finds all kind of interesting tidbits behind it … it’s great that @coyotemedia.org and Reo Eveleth are on it.
COYOTE@coyotemedia.org · last yr.For more than 45 years, three huge steel and bronze dandelion puffs reached for the sky outside Children’s Fairyland — only to disappear without a trace. COYOTE went on a quest to find them. www.coyotemedia.org/where-did-th...
Come live and write with us in Sewanee! The Department of English & Creative Writing's is seeking applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Poetry position! Apply by Nov. 3.
Also, support literary magazines, especially if you submit to them. As you are able, amplify them on social media, subscribe, or volunteer as a reader. I learned a ton reading for @themassreview.bsky.social. The lit mag ecosystem needs balance between submissions and readers, else the latter drown.
Maris Kreizman@maris.bsky.social · last yr.My way of coping with all of the madness is focusing on what I can do to make my community a little bit stronger. So excuse me for all of the earnestness, but I wrote about ways we can all pitch in to support a thriving literary culture. lithub.com/how-to-be-a-...
My prediction has been that Al, as implemented in LLMs, will fall far short of the hype. A common reply has been, "but imagine how much better it will be in X years!" To which I say not all digital things improve exponentially (e.g. self-driving cars). Now a new study suggests LLMs have a ceiling.
Prof Mike Yearworth@mikeyearworth.bsky.social · last yr."In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limits." www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
The Institute for Nonprofit News (inn.org) is a great resource for independent news alternatives that meet high standards, including financial transparency. Some 400+ member orgs all across America.
Home
The INN Network FindYourNews.org From local news to in-depth reporting on pressing global issues, INN’s 500 members tell stories that otherwise would go
inn.org
David DeGusta@davidwrites1.bsky.social · last yr.Now seems like an excellent time to support independent media, like the new Bay Area journalism collective @coyotemedia.org. Smart coverage including arts and sports. Looks to be both hard-hitting and fun, a great combo. I just subscribed, highly recommend. www.coyotemedia.org/hello-from-c...
Now seems like an excellent time to support independent media, like the new Bay Area journalism collective @coyotemedia.org. Smart coverage including arts and sports. Looks to be both hard-hitting and fun, a great combo. I just subscribed, highly recommend. www.coyotemedia.org/hello-from-c...
Hello from COYOTE Media Collective!
Billionaires shouldn't own the news. Support independent local media.
coyotemedia.org
If you want to get our stuff in your inbox, there is a way to do that! www.oaklandreviewofbooks.org#/portal/signup
ORB ⧹O⧸
The Oakland Review of Books is coming!
oaklandreviewofbooks.org
Wrote for The Metropolitan Review about the pros & cons of working w/ small indie presses vs. big presses, the journey from almost being a big fancy author to being a medium unfancy author, and mid-career re-evaluation of what I want out of the writing life www.metropolitanreview.org/p/to-go-big-...
To Go Big or Come Home?
On the Writing Life With Major and Indie Publishers
metropolitanreview.org
A thoughtful and extremely well-researched deep dive on how Silicon Valley corporations are injecting AI into schools by the multi-talented @vauhinivara.bsky.social (cc @lbyock.bsky.social).
Vauhini Vara@vauhinivara.bsky.social · last yr.I've been working for many months on this article on Silicon Valley's under-the-radar role in bringing AI into schools across the US. I really hope you'll read it — here's a gift link — but I'll tell you some of the highlights in this thread. (1/x)
Did I post 'announce' this already today? I don't remember. Anyway. I opened up submissions for Short Story, Long today. Open all September. SSL publishes one "longer" story (2k-8k), every other week. $100 + paired w/ original art commissioned for your story. Publish all and only bangers.
Short Story, Long | Aaron Burch | Substack
Longer short stories, published biweekly. Click to read Short Story, Long, by Aaron Burch, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.
ashortstorylong.substack.com
The indispensable @janefriedman.com looks at four key ways publishing has changed in the past 10 years janefriedman.com/how-publishi...
How Publishing Has Changed Since 2015 | Jane Friedman
To mark the 10-year anniversary of this newsletter’s launch, here’s a look at some of the biggest industry changes in the past decade.
janefriedman.com
Iowa City people: don’t miss this tonight! Definitely worth it. Am currently halfway through Dogs and more on that soon but you should definitely check this out if you are anywhere in the vicinity. @iowawriterswksp.bsky.social @prairielights.com
Iowa Writers’ Workshop@iowawriterswksp.bsky.social · last yr.Tonight! Wednesday 8/27 at 7 p.m. in Prairie Lights bookstore, Workshop alum C. Mallon will read from her debut novel, 'Dogs', and will be joined in conversation by visiting Iowa Writers' Workshop instructor, Kevin Brockmeier events.uiowa.edu/event/33251
Recently I’ve been getting these spam calls where they leave a one second voicemail that my phone transcribes as “No.” As a writer, this feels very normal and standard to me. Almost comforting.
A sighting in the wild never gets old, or I sure hope it doesn’t. Spotted Oromay at @greenapplebooks.bsky.social at SF airport, in proximity to fellow Iowa grad Xochitl Gonzalez’s novel. A good start to my Bread Loaf journey.
I took Apple’s feedback survey for Apple Music and was surprised to see that for the question “How do you listen to Apple Music?“ the possible answers did not include “on my computer.” Which maybe goes some way towards explaining why the Mac Music app is so bad. @siracusa.social
Well, friends, after 13 years (!!) the Book Fight podcast has finally ridden off into the sunset. One last episode, posted today, in which Tom and I do some reminiscing, and a bit of an exit interview (plus we write blurbs for each other)
Endings: The Final Episode — Book Fight Podcast
Well, friends, here it is. After 13 years, the Book Fight podcast is finally riding off into the sunset. Join us for one final episode, as we look back at what we've learned, read some listener tribut...
bookfightpod.com
If you were desperate to end your long-running podcast, murdering your co-host and claiming that they are “on vacation in Canada” would be one way to go. Like, hypothetically. Many thanks to @mikeingram.bsky.social & @tmcallister.bsky.social (rip??) for 13 years (!!) of Bookfight.
