Are you, like us, waiting impatiently for the April release of Egana Djabbarova's book My Dreadful Body (@newvesselpress.bsky.social )? You are in luck - we have some of her other writings, not yet translated, though! This is an author you need to read.

It's gratifying to read another favorable review of Egana Djabbarova's My Dreadful Body, this time from Publishers Weekly.

"It's like discovering over time from a charming, charismatic friend various shocking and fascinating details from her life."—Russian Life on @lizoksbooks.bsky.social's translation of MY DREADFUL BODY. newvesselpress.com/books/my-dre...

It got chills reading this, thank you, @puncturedlines.bsky.social, Yelena Moskovich & Dzanc Books! Margarita's "Klotsvog" means the world to me in ways I can't articulate. That's partly because I knew her & partly because the book hits so hard emotionally. The "dead tone" is a perfect example.

Thank you so much @bergstrombookstore.bsky.social for your skeet and kind words about My Dreadful Body, wr. Egana Djabbarova, tr. me, pub. @newvesselpress.bsky.social! I feel very fortunate to have translated Egana's book for NVP. It's not long but it brims with life & ideas to contemplate.

MY DREADFUL BODY by Egana Djabbarova (tr. @lizoksbooks.bsky.social , @newvesselpress.bsky.social) is Education Fellow Emma Deshpande’s pick: bookshop.org/p/books/my-d...

While staring out the window at falling snow, thinking of #ToveWinter26, I happened to see a fox running through neighbors' yards. What a perfect day to start Tove Jansson's "A Winter Book"! ❄️📖 Feel free to join me & @petipaw.bsky.social if you have a copy. Or even read TJ's "Summer Book" instead!🌞

Happy Boxing Day! This autumn, @petipaw.bsky.social & I decided to read Tove Jansson's "A Winter Book" in Jan. 2026. Please join us! This will be very low-key: read what & when you like. I'll start Jan 1, read 1 story a day & post a bit. ❄️📖 #ToveWinter26 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Winte...

Sunday plans: Nonchaloire (Repose), John Singer Sargent, 1911.

I deactivated my FB account in late August and wish I'd done so much earlier! I don't miss it one bit: their ludicrous algorithms filled my feed with tons of sponsored junk and clips I had no interest in. Good riddance: It just made me cranky!

Bakhtin! More than ever.

With 🇺🇸 Thanksgiving being 3 weeks away and SNAP being a shit show—but with some retailers and nonprofits offering turkeys for low or no cost—I'd love to get my free cookbook #AfterTheFeast to as many folks as possible. Would you kindly share it here and elsewhere? 🙏 ivacheung.com/2025/09/afte...

I'm excited to see that my translation of Egana Djabbarova's "My Dreadful Body," on the way from New Vessel Press in spring 2026, is on display at the Frankfurt Book Fair! newvesselpress.com/books/my-dre...

Another beautiful Maine blueberry field.

Sauteed, souped, sliced and diced for cole slaw

This brief and moving piece, by Patrick Bringley, about a painting by Bruegel the Elder made my day. (Bringley wrote a whole book that I may just have to read.) www.metmuseum.org/perspectives...

Edward Hopper, Lighthouse at Two Lights - 1929

This brings back memories of one of my very first jobs, circa 1990. I sometimes had to take a little stack of punch cards to a programmer and ask him to run them so my department could receive a report.

This is one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed, the craft here is impeccable.

Increasingly convinced the main damage cell phones have done to creativity isn't decreased attention spans or what not but the elimination of productive boredom. Inspiration comes from the mind filling the void inside. Hard to make art when you're constantly silencing the silence with "content."

Loving this, particularly given @christina500.bsky.social's Shakespeare marathon and the fact that Polonius popped up in other reading last night.

Enjoying this for the art of it, because the tower has always fascinated me, and because there will be celery (chopped, not sculpted) in tonight's hot-weather dinner. Also, @willevans.bsky.social, this makes me think of you!

It looks like I need to reread The Sheltering Sky, particularly given that it was decades ago that I had something of a Bowles binge, reading both Jane and Paul.

Hey Chicago! Come see me read from #pioneersummer tomorrow night at City Lit Books, in conversation with the rad and talented Ali Kinsella!

We're now officially on a fox streak: two days in a row now we've seen a fox (the fox? how many are there?) trotting through our front yard carrying a snack in its mouth.

Exciting Breaking Update: A technician is now replacing our torsion spring and all sorts of stuff that goes with it! I got the feeling he may have heard similar stories involving farm jacks.

If you're looking for a book event in Tulsa on Friday, May 23rd, look no further than this! I know Annie, Derek, and @bdralyuk.bsky.social won't disappoint, plus there will be tea and sweets.

Today's top news story from our house: Suburban Couple Manually Opens Garage Door With Broken Torsion Spring Using Farm Jack, Come-Along Winch, Table Saw, and Scrap Wood Opening the door, driving a vehicle out, and closing the door took roughly 1 hour.

Yard work has been called off for now because a large, fluffy, and very comfortable fox is taking a nap in a pile of wood chips. Apologies for the blurry photo!

My office mate Edwina is shirking her editorial duties again, but she's thoroughly enjoying a blanket and warm sun in my nap room.

Thank you! (I think Day 57 is actually May 15 though I do like the idea of time travel here...)

And so I turn around, glance out the window, and it's snowing again, a thick shroud

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH

Thank you!

OMG, this is so sad authorsguild.org/news/ag-laun... (Via @ginnytkmr.bsky.social)

And so the new week starts... With a tremor and rumbling from a little 4.1 earthquake in southern Maine.

Poetry Foundation not fucking around with today's poem of the day www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/89897/...

“This way Georgia is dragged into Russia’s orbit & there is a feeling of now or never,” a Tbilisi university professor tells me. Our report for BBC News on a fifth night of protests in the Georgian capital. Camera: Anton Chicherov Producer: @bentavener.bsky.social Thanks to @annagvarish.bsky.social

Sounds promising!

So this makes me extra glad that we didn't replace our dryer when it died last spring!

If you're seeing "Invalid Handle" on your profile, this should resolve on its own — thanks for your patience!! 🦋

Book announcement!!! Thurs. 11/21 is the launch of my translation of persecuted Azerbaijani writer Akram Aylisli's "People and Trees." Please join moderator Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, Caucasus expert Thomas de Waal, and me in Bethesda MD to celebrate these marvelous novellas! writer.org/event/people...

Like so many of you, planning to be here more. Here's where my head was at last Wednesday morning, and has largely remained since.

I love this story and the hope these kids (and their lovely bookmarks!) give.

today in useful post-election inventions, my kid’s first grade class made a feelings box you can feed your worries to

Wishing this didn't sum up how I'm feeling now, too

Apparently our cat Ireland also doesn't think the election results bode well

Give not this rotten orange to your friend