A rather recursive bit of #sketchbookjournal — a notebook page about my new notebooks. Unlike previous notebooks these ones are definitely going to fix my life.
Erin Bow
@erinbowbooks.bsky.social
Author, author! I write novels and poetry, and teach scientists to tell stories. Newbery Honor winner, baby! Latest: WITCHWARD BOUND, clearly this year's best take on the Odyssey in which Odysseus is a cat. 9/1/2026
Sketchbook journal marking the anniversary of my mom’s death, today, September 22. A couple of days ago, facebook served me pictures of the day in 2022 that I visited the Chihuly glass footbridge in Tacoma, Washington, during the Pacific Northwest bookseller’s conference.
Sketchbook diary page with no words on it. Monarchs are gathering here - milkweed, goldenrod, and the first asters in bloom. The neighbourhoid kids went back to school this week. The season starting to turn.
A blurb from an author whose work I love? IT IS TO SWOON! Hey, @, how about a Beowulfian wolf pack next?
#sketchbookdiary recap of WITCHWARD BOUND launch day on September 1st. Not half a patch on the wonderful illos by Kelly Murphy — Butter looks like one of those weird medieval manuscript cats. But I do like the grape juice sea and the pea green boat.
Just in time for the 2026-2027 vaccines, a new review shows that COVID19 vaccination significantly reduces the risk of severe illness and hospitalization across all age groups, including kids. Pregnant women were also protected, as were their babies. Don’t forget to schedule your vaccination!
COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness and Safety for the 2026-2027 Respiratory Season
This Special Communication aims to identify and summarize the most recently published evidence evaluating the effectiveness and safety of US-licensed COVID-19 vaccines and report on the epidemiology o...
jamanetwork.com
Sobering, insightful essay on how chatbots mangle historical primary sources. 🗃 www.hnn.us/article/ai-i...
AI Is an Anti-Primary Source Machine
Real voices from the past are threatened by chatbots designed to amplify — and ultimately become — the loudest voices in the room.
hnn.us
I love the string & washer envelope closure. So satisfying to unlock and (especially) to wind it shut. Been around in this specific embodiment for at least 100 years. Long may it last. 
I am thinking of having this line from Kirkus printed on a shirt and wearing it everywhere.
I am having a particularly frustrating week, so here’s one of the best things I’ve ever done. The eruption of Sarychev Peak in the Aleutian Islands, seen by the crew of the space station. www.nasa.gov/image-articl...
Why I am not in Newfoundland. I got invited to a home-brew writing retreat in Newfoundland. I gathered over the cost and the timing but said yes. THE PLAN: Step one: spend the week, tying up loose ends, and setting up for a big writing push. the packing alone will consume a day.
I love discovering new words that I can reasonably use in casual conversation, like SPRUE. 😁 #OneThingIveLearned #BoardGames
A "sprue" is the cardboard sheet from which you punch out game pieces - One Thing I've Learned
Also known as a punchboard
onething.pckt.blog
So I had the coffee all packed and was at the airport in the security line when I got a text from @porterairlines.bsky.social that I'd been bumped to tomorrow's flight.
Erin Bow@erinbowbooks.bsky.social · last mo.What portion of your suitcase is it reasonable to devote to coffee if going somewhere without coffee? I was thinking maybe …. Half?
What portion of your suitcase is it reasonable to devote to coffee if going somewhere without coffee? I was thinking maybe …. Half?
Bought the filmed play of HADESTOWN and am sure it will turn out this time. Completely unworried about any emotional devastation.
Bought the filmed play of HADESTOWN and am sure it will turn out this time. Completely unworried about any emotional devastation.
I love my garden, even if my cancer treatments + travel + construction led to it being entirely neglected for four solid months. Most of it now needs to be hacked back with a machete. But the water lilies are as always too perfectly beautiful to take seriously.
Last year the stars aligned and I was able to join E.K. Johnston EK Johnston’s home-brew writing retreat on Lake Muskoka. This year, I got to go back. Big things happen at these retreats.
Another #sketchbookdiary page. Our Muskoka retreat included two American writers (and me, but after 25 years of dual citizenship I assimilated-ish) and it’s always fun to make someone try ketchup potato chips for the first time.
Nerd Daily, bless 'em, asked me to pick an excerpt of Witchward Bound. I gave them this:
Read An Excerpt From 'Witchward Bound' by Erin Bow | The Nerd Daily
From Newbery Honor–winning author Erin Bow, a timeless tale of friendship and magic, delivered in a stunning, collectible package—first in a new series. Homeward Bound meets The Odyssey with the charm of Studio Ghibli in this instant classic for 8-to-12-year-olds about magical animals on a quest to find their lost witch.
tinyurl.com
I pitched "The Odd Sea" as a title for this book, and was convinced that Homeric puns don't really resonate with the target audience. Which is probably true. But now I use the phrase "the year's best adaptation of the Odyssey in which Odysseus is a tom cat" every chance I get.
This was indeed the hardest part of writing an animal fantasy: making animal narrators who are cat enough or raven enough to be really animals -- while also telling a deeply human story that's relatable to very young readers.
"Energetic escapade" is a great phrase -- and this is lovely praise for the excellent illustrations by Kelly Murphy. They are indeed a fresh take on that perfect classic kidlit vibe.
Like Tom Holland doing Umbrella, the code of good internet says one must always reblog Rita Moreno and Animal.
Mr. Blabalino 🇳🇴🇺🇸💙@blabalino.com · last mo.Found this recording of Rita Moreno performing “Fever” on The Muppet Show from 1976. 14/10
#sketchbookjournal page. The text reads: I dream of sinking easily and joyfully back into my words — my creativity: sketching and cooking and gardening. For so long I have been resisting that. I feel numbness and tight anxiety when I sit down to write.
@erinbowbooks.bsky.social is almost at the end of Demon In The Sand and I am starting to get nervous. 🤣
Another bit of #sketchbookjournal. My first night in Muskoka I couldn’t sleep. I was awake long enough to watch the the Big Dipper slowly tip over. Insomnia is miserable — But I also saw the northern lights.
I am SUCH a Wendy Mass fan — LOST LIBRARY is best middle grade I read this year — and I am so honoured by this blurb!
