Check out @wsj.com's review of @naokan.bsky.social's "compelling" new book, What's So Great About the Great Books?:

‘What’s So Great About the Great Books?’ Review: Lives Between the Covers

Books can turn you inside out. That’s not always a good thing.

wsj.com

"Practical, honest, straightforward, sensible, & amusing."—Henry Oliver, author of Second Act & the literary blog The Common Reader Read a free preview of @naokan.bsky.social's new book, What's So Great About the Great Books?, out now: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco... 21 July UK/EU pub.

I'm a big fan of the work that Brad does with his @neglectedbooks.com (it's a great follow and--I can't resist this--he's a great fellow), and loved this biography of a woman who should have been much better known than she was.

Seattle Channel@seattlechannel.seattle.gov · 5mo ago

What happens to the writers who almost became famous? @nancybooklustpearl.bsky.social talks with Brad Bigelow about Virginia Faulkner, a once-promising American author whose life took unexpected turns. Their conversation explores why some remarkable voices fade from public memory.

Went to @naokan.bsky.social’s SF event celebrating “What’s So Great About the Great Books?” — Naomi had many funny & insightful things to say, but what haunts me is the guy in the signing line who said his favorite Great Book is The Odyssey but was unaware there’s a big movie version coming out

A fascinating conversation about Great Books and love of reading between @biblioracle.bsky.social and @naokan.bsky.social. Lots of insights about reading, writing, thinking about your audience, and coming back to books to try again.

Talking "Great Books" with Naomi Kanakia

On becoming a "radically different person" through reading.

open.substack.com

In What's So Great About the Great Books?, novelist & literary blogger @naokan.bsky.social answers those who claim the classics are too difficult, too problematic, & too white—& explains what we gain by reading them. Out now (21 July UK pub)! Find it here: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Wonderful to see @naokan.bsky.social's What's So Great About the Great Books? (out May 26th) featured in this roundup!

Tobias Carroll@tobiascarroll.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Recommended some May books at @insidehook.bsky.social! www.insidehook.com/books/10-boo...

Kirkus Reviews calls @naokan.bsky.social's new book What’s So Great About the Great Books? a "convincing case for Great Books as the road to self-discovery and moral action." Out this May! Read the full review here:

WHAT'S SO GREAT ABOUT THE GREAT BOOKS? | Kirkus Reviews

Beauty and morality.

kirkusreviews.com

The classics are pretty popular. You can go into any bookstore and buy Tolstoy, Milton, Shakespeare, Jane Austen--that wouldn't be true if people weren't buying them.

buy my book@nmamatas.bsky.social · last yr.

What's your totally ordinary opinion about books that you nonetheless find compelled to share when asked on a social media site such as this one for your most extreme/unhinged/hottest takes? I'll go first: manga is popular among young people because manga often features young people.

<totters out onto porch> <settles into rocker> <thumps cane a few times> Let's talk about what the process of submitting short fiction used to look like, shall we? And about what it looks like now.

I cried.

Zohran Kwame Mamdani@zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · last yr.

UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion. As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.

I loved this short story by @naokan.bsky.social in @lightspeedmagazine.com. Sure, it left me a little depressed, but also maybe a little hopeful? www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/anti...

Anti-Capitalism vs. the Man of Flowers - Lightspeed Magazine

One time at a convention I ran across the Man of Flowers, the Superman of Daffodils, a long-haired guy, indestructible (of course), who slept in his car and drank a lot of cough syrup and didn’t reall...

lightspeedmagazine.com

Mmmmm the cheerful fatalism and funweird of this! "Anti-Capitalism vs the Man of Flowers" by Naomi Kanakia @naokan.bsky.social www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/anti...

The Sunday Morning Transport retraces its steps today with a story from Naomi Kanakia (@naokan.bsky.social) that considers what it means for a life to be worth living. Free for everyone to read!

The Last Planet

In August, Sunday Morning Transport authors Naomi Kanakia, Jim Kelly, Meg Elison, and Elizabeth Bear share stories from far and wide.

sundaymorningtransport.com

(1/5) 🌀 What if therapy isn’t the only answer? What if we’re full of insight but still stuck? Naomi Kanakia’s story exposes the quiet ache beneath modern life. 🔗 www.woman-of-letters.com/p/therapy-is... 📖 Let’s talk myth, meaning, and the mess of being human. @naokan.bsky.social

Therapy isn't the (only) answer

On mythic, legendary, and Romantic action

woman-of-letters.com

I highly recommend Nick as a teacher! He is the best writing instructor I've ever had.

buy my book@nmamatas.bsky.social · last yr.

love workshop alumna @naokan.bsky.social 's wonderful substack, Woman of Letters, especially as it captures the classic blog experience: I leave a comment, and then some shufflefuck moron tells me that I'm wrong.

I recently talked with @naokan.bsky.social about book reviews, pitching, and how to deal with editorial feedback for her newsletter, Woman of Letters: www.woman-of-letters.com/p/how-to-rev...

How to review books for the New York Times

Between 2021 and 2023, I had an eighteen-month stint as a book reviewer and literary essayist who wrote for periodicals like The Los Angeles Review of Books, Tablet, The Chronicle Review, The Rumpus, ...

woman-of-letters.com

🗣️ SF BAY 🗣️ This is tomorrow!! 👇 See @aaantons.bsky.social and @naokan.bsky.social in a BAR discussing LITERATURE

LittlePuss Press@littlepuss.net · last yr.

📣 OAKLAND EVENT ALERT 📣 The inimitable stylish NAOMI KANAKIA (@naokan.bsky.social) will be interviewing man of the hour ANTON SOLOMONIK (@aaantons.bsky.social) next Tuesday about his utterly hilarious and wildly desperate and strangely heartbreaking story collection 📕 REALISTIC FICTION! 📕 Deets👇

Billionaires ke paas already sab kuchh hai. Ab, aapka time aageya. Billionaires already have everything. Now, your time has come.

A novella I self-published on my newsletter got a full write up in the New Yorker.

Has anyone read this Vivian Blaxell book? I am finding it tough going. Wondering whether to keep with it. www.littlepuss.net/shop/p/wote

Worthy of the Event: An Essay by Vivian Blaxell — A trans literary whirlwind — LittlePuss Press

A trans essayist with a checkered past takes on the big questions of human existence. Move over Michel de Montaigne, there's a new girl in town!

littlepuss.net

Finally reading the Vivian Blaxsell book. Okay girls, are we gonna talk about her hate-on for Mackenzie Wark? This is wild, but it's sort of the perfect content, given the audience for this book is exclusively composed of people who have heard of Mackenzie Wark

Okay...WOODWORKING is shockingly good, no?

Am having trouble w STAG DANCE. The story seems quite sad, pathetic, painful. Have been stuck for weeks, forcing myself to read it.

Non-Business Newspapers: "The Unconventional Legal Strategy Trump is Using Against Harvard" Business Newspapers: "They're ASSAULTING lady liberty. They're SHOOTING the bald eagles. How much longer do we have to deal with these fucking MORONS"

METS is a fantastic resource--one that I actually use. I own several of their books and have consulted others. Truly unique in their democratic ethos and business model. I just donated $200.

Mary Flannery@15thcgossipgirl.bsky.social · last yr.

The recent cancellation of NEH funds has hit the wonderful resource that is the Medieval English Text Series (METS) @urochester.bsky.social, a free online resource that 1000s use for teaching & research. Please consider making a donation if you can, and please share! metseditions.org/donate

Interesting read by @naokan.bsky.social, with a mention of our own John Pistelli --> www.woman-of-letters.com/p/a-writers-...

A writer's career can be rooted in real power or in fake power. Real power is better.

A few weeks ago, Compact published an article—“The Vanishing White Male Writer”—about how there’s no white men writing literary fiction anymore.

woman-of-letters.com

Might I remind!!! This is the first time I am actually getting to go on book tour EVER beyond topside tour 2014 and I am very excited to see you friends!

Jeanne Thornton@jeannethornton.bsky.social · 2y ago

here is also the rest of the formal A/S/L tour put together by @sohopress.bsky.social! also reading in Boston in June, plus at Pete's Reading Series (April), Ditmas Lit (June), and you'd better believe WORLD TRANSSEXUAL FORUM in April, where @aaantons.bsky.social and I will be co featured readers

I believe the firings and the AI have the same purpose: to get humans out of the loop of evaluating contracts. To automate the process of spending government money. To rig up a computer that sends taxpayer dollars directly to the broligarchy.

I am followed by hundreds of trans women, most of whom are writers. It is fascinating that nobody is reading this book. Something we should think about, given those most writers I know aspire to be this author and get this kind of book deal.

Naomi Kanakia@naokan.bsky.social · 2y ago

Is anyone out there reading STAG DANCE? I'm really liking it!