Rachel Weaver woke up dizzy in her early thirties—and it never fully went away. Dizzy: A Memoir, part of WVU Press’s Connective Tissue series, explores chronic illness, misdiagnoses, and care that doesn’t listen. Out now. #literarymemoir #chronicillness #patientadvocacy @reneeknicholson.bsky.social

When I first started Connective Tissue on @wvupress.bsky.social as Series Editor, I knew that it was an important series that needed to be in existence. Our 1st book, Dizzy by Rachel Weaver, out 2/10, reviewed by Maureen Corrigan from NPR: www.npr.org/2026/02/09/n...

'Dizzy' author recounts a decade of being marooned by chronic illness

Rachel Weaver worked for the Forest Service in Alaska where she scaled towering trees to study nature. But in 2006, she woke up and felt like she was being spun in a hurricane. Her memoir is Dizzy.

npr.org

It's kind of a surreal experience to read about yourself in an essay. But with gratitude I'm sharing this lovely piece Ryan McCarthy, MD wrote about a poem I wrote about him: kevinmd.com/2026/01/poet...

The poet who changed my DNA

Poetry in medicine can heal the healer. A physician reflects on how poems by Robert Frost and Renée K. Nicholson restored his humanity.

kevinmd.com

Friends, I really wanted to post something awesome today. But I'm heading to a reading tomorrow (I might be trying to outrun snow that's coming), and I'm all sorts of behind. Remember books to sell, square to take credit cards, toothbrush...

Haven't been on Bluesky in ages, but this was such a fun event and just wanted to remind everyone that Austin's book is in the world and ready for you to read!

Austin McCoy@austinmccoy.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Second event with Renee Nicholson at Monkey Wrench Books in Morgantown!

Come out to @barrelhouse.bsky.social C&C and write some poems with me!

Dave Housley@housleydave.bsky.social · 8mo ago

We're starting to fill the @barrelhouse.bsky.social DC conference program for 4/18! Thrilled to be bringing back crowd faves @wendywimmer.bsky.social and @reneeknicholson.bsky.social, and @dustinbrookshire.bsky.social is bringing Dolly Parton poetry! More soon. www.barrelhousemag.com/conference

For those who love thoughtful commentary on product and process, check out this review by my friend, the multitalented @rebeccamoonruark.bsky.social: open.substack.com/pub/moonruar... #bookreview #essay #TomLake #storytelling

An essay review of Ann Patchett's Tom Lake

On storytelling's additions and omissions and what we can learn of craft from one of our best contemporary novelists

open.substack.com

FEVERDREAM, my poetry collection, comes out in 2026. These poems came when I finally gave myself time and space to write freely. The result wasn't just art—it was restoration. Restorative writing: creating space to be whole in a fractured world. #FEVERDREAM #PoetryCollection #NarrativeMedicine

Today is birthday 53...celebrate with me by reading one of my favorite winter poems. Perhaps us winter-born have a special affinity to the austere winter images? But who can resist a "liquid moon?" #birthday www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45504/...

My last Substack of 2025, but no "best of" lists, I promise! A bit of Jane Austen, Claire Keegan, what's coming ahead in 2026, links to recent narrative medicine work, and a wish for the holidays. open.substack.com/pub/reneekni...

I'd like to comment... on what makes a book steadfast enough to read again and again

I don’t really do end of year reviews.

open.substack.com

New in The Writer's Chronicle: my exploration of how creative writing programs can meaningfully integrate with healthcare through narrative medicine. #narrativemedicine #healthcarestories #creativewriting writerschronicle.awpwriter.org/TWC/2025-dec...

Narrative Medicine

Renée K. Nicholson explores new and evolving methods by writing programs, medical schools, and hospitals to link healing and storytelling.

writerschronicle.awpwriter.org

With FEVERDREAM waiting in the wings, if you wanted to get a copy of my previous collection, POSTSCRIPTS, you can get it for just over $6 on Amazon or an ePub version on Bookshop for $3.99. a.co/d/dTYy7OY bookshop.org/p/books/post... #poetry #christmaspresent #readpoetry

Check out this lovely flash essay by my friend Caroline Wampole, in Pangyrus! #flashnonfiction #CNF #writingfriends www.pangyrus.com/essay-memoir...

First look at the cover to FEVERDREAM, featuring art by my friend and ongoing collaborator @sallery_art! #coverreveal #poetrycollection #narrativemedicine

My latest Substack takes a look at a debut novel by @pennyzang.bsky.social , and includes updates on what’s on my TBR pile, announcements about FEVERDREAM, and more. #bookreview #writinglife open.substack.com/pub/reneekni...

I'd like to comment… on DOLL PARTS by Penny Zang

As Charlie Brown might say, another holiday over, another fast approaching.

open.substack.com

Ten years of narrative medicine practice meets poetry exploring home, illness, grief, & what medical charts can't capture. FEVERDREAM (Redhawk, 2026) explores illness, grief, and healing. Contact me for e-ARCs or to discuss readings/lectures. Pub date & other details to follow soon! #book

Calling all Health Humanities & Narrative Medicine scholars and book reviewers! I'm excited to announce that advance e-ARCs of DIZZY, a memoir by Rachel Weaver, are now available for pre-publication review. If you're interested in receiving an advance copy for review, please reach out. #bookreview

8-hour drive home from a writing retreat = 8 more hours of creative work. The mountains, the silence, the movement—sometimes the best writing happens when you're not actually writing. Find those in-between moments. They matter. #WritingLife #CreativeProcess

Navy blue ink is changing my life for the better.

Wanted to share this essay by Chris Campanioni , which is so much about writing--as vocation, as process, as way of being in the world: theoffingmag.com/essay/the-sp... #writingcommunity #essay #writinglife

The Spell of Exile - The Offing

Essay - The Offing Magazine

theoffingmag.com

Am I taking a course through the comité champagne as research for a new novel? 😉 #writinglife #writingresearch #champagne #novel #WIP

This is such a cute and clever way to promote a book!

Vintage lion pin for a little something extra today. #vintagefinds #vintagefall #vintage2025

I like to think Robert Redford and Paul Newman make new movies together in the great beyond.

New on substack! #poetry open.substack.com/pub/reneekni...

I'd like to Comment... on MOONFLOWER by Phillip Shabazz

“Language is a saint suffering thorns

open.substack.com

Welcome to #vintagefall Out last night & got to dress up, with a little nod to the 80s (cue teenage me). The shoes I bought second hand with the tags still on, & the bracelet, that sparkly magenta pink, I picked up somewhere... #vintage #wintagefashion #vintagefall #vintagestyle #fall2025

A fabulous French dinner at Modern Homestead with a wonderful bottle of bubbles.

I'm pretty sure this is going to be a vintage vibe kind of autumn.

I'm rereading A PRIMER FOR POETS AND READERS OF POETRY and it's amazing how much of this feels new again to me, even as it isn't new (beginners mind plus our human frailty of forgetting). Maybe the pleasure of poetry is that you can learn and even excel at it without full mastery. #poetry

My friend, the artist Sally Jane Brown posted this article to LinkedIn, and the idea of enslurrification of culture felt important enough to also post here: news.artnet.com/art-world/sl... #art #culture #writing #criticism

The Great Enslurrification of Culture | Artnet News

Everything is being forced into multimedia form, and that's resulting in a new kind of bad online content. Let's call it slurry.

news.artnet.com