Two online August writing classes you should sign up for TODAY! 1) Single-session class with the brilliant Daniel Levine on writing cinematic scenes (on the page)🧵 www.storystudiochicago.org/classes/clas...

CHICAGO — get your tickets for this conversation with @rebeccamakkai.bsky.social — WEDNESDAY AUGUST 19! www.haymarkethouse.org/events/the-v...

The Veiled Prophet: Devin Thomas O'Shea in Conversation with Rebecca Makkai - Haymarket House

Join us as Devin Thomas O’Shea and Rebecca Makkai discuss The Veiled Prophet,  A provocative look at the secret society that has controlled St. Louis for over a century, revealing how shadowy elites [...

haymarkethouse.org

Yes, @storystudiochicago.bsky.social StoryBoard Fest IS this much fun. Yes, The Newberry Library IS this beautiful. But, most importantly yes, you CAN still buy tickets Chicago locals (and out-of-towners), this is the perfect place to learn about craft, make friends, and connect with instructors!

Obsessed with this part of the Time Magazine Wikipedia entry: Timestyle made regular use of inverted sentences, as famously parodied in 1936 by Wolcott Gibbs in The New Yorker: "Backward ran sentences until reeled the mind ... Where it all will end, knows God!" 1/

We are so lucky to have 'Pemi Aguda author of GHOSTROOTS and ONE LEG ON EARTH as our keynote speaker for @storystudiochicago.bsky.social's StoryBoard fest this year. I’ll be in conversation with her at the gorgeous Driehaus Museum in downtown Chicago (Near North Side) 🧵

In 2014, I stayed @ucrossfoundation.bsky.social with an amazing group that included Stephen O'Connnor, whose work I now love... www.manchestervermont.com/event/norths...

Stop 👏🏼 telling 👏🏼 children 👏🏼 they 👏🏼 can’t 👏🏼 make 👏🏼 a 👏🏼 living 👏🏼 in 👏🏼 the 👏🏼 arts 👏🏼

In 2014, I stayed @ucrossfoundation.bsky.social with an amazing group that included Stephen O'Connnor, whose work I now love... www.manchestervermont.com/event/norths...

I’ve been saving you some Zillows to make a giant summer Zillow post. Here they are! open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...

@storystudiochicago.bsky.social's StoryBoard Festival 2026 is quickly coming up (August 14th and 15th in Chicago!) and now’s a great time to get your tickets. Here’s what you can look forward to… 🧵 www.storystudiochicago.org/writers-fest...

Everythings sucks, but the Texas giraffe was found "fat and happy" today after 2 weeks on the lam, and Giraffe Rumspringa is my new favorite genre

A great piece on what REALLY happens in the room where it happens when what is happening is a Major Literary Prize! And very cool to see echoes of what @mellymeldubs.bsky.social and I found in our own research on literary prize juries and the books they pick! www.publicbooks.org/what-35-year...

What 35 Years of Data Can Tell Us about Who Will Win the National Book Award - Public Books

We may never know what goes on in the rooms where literary prizes are decided, but thanks to data, we know exactly who was there.

publicbooks.org

Rebecca Makkai@rebeccamakkai.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Writers and readers and even editors have so many misunderstandings about how book prizes work. I’m not going to give anyone a stroke by revealing secrets of the judging room, BUT I want to tell you a whole lot of stuff that you probably don’t know 🧵 open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...

Cautionary tale: I guess if you resisit TikTok long enough people just pretend to be you? So I made a real one. I promise to post stuff at least twice (maybe thrice!) if you help by following this so that people can find the real account. 🙏🏼 www.tiktok.com/@rebeccamakk...

Our classes are bigger than skyscrapers!

Rebecca Makkai@rebeccamakkai.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Hey look, it’s Hot Class Summer! @storystudiochicago.bsky.social just dropped our summer classes and we’ve got short ones, long ones, online ones, Chicago ones: An intro to creative writing with Sheree Greer that’s pay-what-you-can, Peter Mountford on the Publishable Personal Essay... 1/

Hey look, it’s Hot Class Summer! @storystudiochicago.bsky.social just dropped our summer classes and we’ve got short ones, long ones, online ones, Chicago ones: An intro to creative writing with Sheree Greer that’s pay-what-you-can, Peter Mountford on the Publishable Personal Essay... 1/

Here's your fascinating reading of the day, from @rebeccamakkai.bsky.social:

Book Prizes Don't Work How You Think

all the beans that's fit to spill

open.substack.com

Required reading for any writer who submits to prize competitions.

Rebecca Makkai@rebeccamakkai.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Writers and readers and even editors have so many misunderstandings about how book prizes work. I’m not going to give anyone a stroke by revealing secrets of the judging room, BUT I want to tell you a whole lot of stuff that you probably don’t know 🧵 open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...

Writers and readers and even editors have so many misunderstandings about how book prizes work. I’m not going to give anyone a stroke by revealing secrets of the judging room, BUT I want to tell you a whole lot of stuff that you probably don’t know 🧵 open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...

I recently had a driver whose barrage of very wrong opinions came so fast I couldn't even respond (also wanted to get out of car alive). As we're pulling up to the airport he goes, "And now with the gender, people are going into the bathrooms to-- to-- to announce their preferences!" 1/

Happy Pride month to all of us. Maybe we can all be a little louder than usual this June--and a little kinder to one another.

Anyone who knows me even a little bit hopefully know this is NOT the real me on TikTok inviting you to be "book besties." Please help me block and report...

On the eve of our submission window opening, we felt we should add an AI policy

I got slightly waylaid (for many reasons, some of which I’ll explain here), but I am still reading my way around the world, & am back with 3 African novels, but also 12 (American) novels about unhinged women… Join me on Subst*ck to see the ones recommend! rebeccamakkai.substack.com/p/so-i-got-s...

I got slightly waylaid (for many reasons, some of which I’ll explain here), but I am still reading my way around the world, & am back with 3 African novels, but also 12 (American) novels about unhinged women… Join me on Subst*ck to see the ones recommend! rebeccamakkai.substack.com/p/so-i-got-s...

I'm newly convinced that the recent literary trend toward autofiction is entirely about writers not wanting to do all the math on someone born on a different day in a different year.

I absolutely loved @caroclaireburke.bsky.social's debut novel, YESTERYEAR (on one level, a satire about a trad wife, but really a lot of other things too), and am even more thrilled to be in conversation with her on Monday 🧵 www.eventcombo.com/e/author-eve...

Author Event with Caro Claire Burke/Yesteryear

Join Anderson’s Bookshop for an author event with Caro Claire Burke , to celebrate the release of Yesteryear , on Monday, May 18th at 7:00 pm at Wentz Concert...

eventcombo.com

Mental health PSA: Over on Instagram, my following like on cartoonist and one stand-up comic has led to my being fed, and then following, dozens and dozens of cartoonists and comics. Highly recommend.

Well this is fucking horrifying. Some of the most literally Nazi shit so far.

🌒💀 evelynn 💀🌘@ladyartaud.bsky.social · 3mo ago

i have yet to see a single cis person say something about the fact that the government just designated trans people a terrorist group and threatened to kill all of us.

If you’ve been looking for a sign to apply to a 2027 residency, this is it: Apply to Ragdale. Literally every single person I know who’s been there has fallen in love with the place 🧵 ragdale.submittable.com/submit