Current ownership dynamics of Big 5 publishing: S&S: private equity KKR (sold by Ellison's Skydance) PRH + Macmillan: formerly Nazi affiliated Bertlesmann + Holzbrinck HarperCollins: Murdoch's NewsCorp Hachette: conglomerate Lagardère Group Independent publishing has never been this important. 📚

My favorite email of the year is here: the strange and unnecessary "Season's Greetings" card from the Copyright Office. Thankfully still signed by Shira, the People's Register of Copyrights.

My dear friend Andrew Martin has a story in the New Yorker this week! It’s excerpted from his forthcoming novel Downtime, a very fine read. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

🎬 Enter the 2026 Public Domain Film Remix Contest! Remix & reimagine treasures from 1930—early sound films, cartoons, music, literature & art—and turn them into unique films. 📅 Deadline: Jan 7, 2026 💰 First prize: $1,500 ℹ️ Details: blog.archive.org/2025/12/01/2... #contest #film #publicdomain

A bracing read for anyone connected to the nonprofit world. I love it and the work and writing of @littlewow.online (related: @flaminghydra.com is wholly free of institutional infuence, it is direct from the source, i.e. fellow human beings, and that is why you should subscribe)

I wrote about the brutal ethics of fundraising for nonprofits.

I get to have my first Christmas tree this year because my boyfriend is not Jewish! I want to get him something nice to decorate the tree with (…an ornament? What else goes on a tree?) that’s not tacky and is maybe a bit tongue in cheek about our different backgrounds? Suggestions?

This webinar on how to negotiate contracts to set better terms around AI and data was one of the best we've done. It's relevant to a number of different communities and creators, not just libraries! @libraryfutures.bsky.social archive.org/details/resi...

This new piece from @shannonmattern.bsky.social about the role of libraries in public life is extraordinary. There's so much I want to quote from it, but I'd encourage you to take the time to read it yourself instead... placesjournal.org/article/extr...

Got these framed and ready for my home office— so much 💜💜 to the @libraryfutures.bsky.social community

After spending all day organizing just my work email (personal is next), I am convinced that the way we do email is incompatible with the human brain. The only way to even partially keep it straight is to brutally unsubscribe and then bucket and archive most things so they don’t hit your inbox.

this dude, who thinks that Mayor of New York City is the "second most important job in America," (all the Americas, apparently), should try leaving New York City some time, for more reasons than one.

Hello from your friendly @flaminghydra.com crew @mariabustillos.com @camoot.bsky.social @littlewow.online

I wait all year for spooky season so I can listen to this on repeat www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6V2...

I had the BEST time with the Curiosity Desk team at GBH scouring the North Shore for its greatest roast beef sandwiches. I hope I did the true beefers proud!!! 🫡

🔔 Public records-based reporting belongs to the public. @404media.co and @wired.com are leading the way. Hear why this is a public service and good for business, featuring @josephcox.bsky.social and @katie-drummond.bsky.social. 🗓️ Oct. 29, 2 p.m. EDT RSVP: freedom.press/unpaywalled

A beautiful refreshing respite from the madness out there today: @jawnita.bsky.social and @littlewow.online delight in a shared favorite, 'Party Girl'

No Kings march Durham

In Boston, every day is No Kings Day

Durham, NC has turned OUT! The rally and march just kept getting bigger

The Metro NY Library Council is creating an outdoor library in Westchester County. We now own 26 acres — and this wknd we’re hosting a group of international librarians to help us think about what this place can be! It’ll soon be open to the public + usable by all our 100s of member institutions ☺️

The award-winning general manager of the AMC movie theater in Durham, NC was abducted by ICE while attending a routine immigration hearing. Like so many, Shama is a beloved community member and colleague, a caretaker for his family, and a parent of two. www.gofundme.com/f/help-reuni...

Happy #FairUseFriday everyone! Fair use is an essential principle for libraries of all types, and ALA will always stand behind it.

Did you know that if you buy my book on Amazon, Jeff Bezos makes 5 times as much as I do on each copy sold? Sharing some behind-the-scenes book math on why buying directly from presses is best for EVERYONE (except Bezos) in my newsletter today! aubreyhirsch.substack.com/p/book-math

Some exciting news: 404 Media just won a grant via Muckrock to investigate book bans and educational censorship in the U.S. The plan is to file hundreds of public records requests around the country and to report on and archive all the documents for public use: www.404media.co/help-us-inve...

TODAY: @littlewow.online on MAGA gossip blogger Houseinhabit. “In the new tradition of other disgraced figures … who swerved to the right, she’s found open arms (and wallets) when no one else would have her.” flaminghydra.com/clout-chasin...

In February, @404media.co did a piece on the overwhelming amount of AI Slop in public library vendor Hoopla Digital. They promised to clean up their platform, but just this morning I went looking and easily found a self-publishing house pushing shoddy health content by a fake author.

It's banned books week and so I'm legally obligated to bully you, a person who has ever had their name on a book, into joining @authorsabb.bsky.social. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... We fight the source of book bans with calls to action, partnership w everyone in the game, and offer training.

Ah New England, how I missed you!

"Common decency stigmatizes people that do not participate in it—removes them from voluntary association. We indeed have to live with one another, but terms and conditions apply." me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...

For the first of four AI webinars, we're talking with the inimitable @hypervisible.blacksky.app and Christa Albrecht-Crane! Join @libraryfutures.bsky.social for "What we Talk about When We Talk about AI," an intro to AI and ML from ethicists and experts. nyu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

My first Atlantic Beach pie was a hit! Tasted great even though it didn't quite look as neat as I wanted it to. Saltine crust + an entire mountain of whipped cream was better than key lime. #blueskybakers #usuallyibakenodairybutitwasabirthday

In November I wrote about Trump’s obsession with the golden age of late night TV for @flaminghydra.com through the lens of his friendship with Joan Rivers. He hasn’t been invited back since 2016, but was once a regular; he appeared on Letterman more than 30 times. flaminghydra.com/the-trump-er...

shout out to all my basic bitches

If I were editing a college president’s guest essay about the importance of colleges hosting “difficult speakers,” I would ask her to clarify how her argument squares with her history of expelling students for protesting, and why speakers should be treated better than her own students.

Now is the time for Laura Rosenbury to step down as the President of Barnard College. This piece is embarrassing and so full of holes and faulty research that it wouldn't even withstand our required freshman seminar. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/o...

Really excellent article on the state of e-lending by Maria!

#FairUseFriday While we are still one year out from the midterms, campaigns are starting to gather and create content they can use to boost their messaging.

Reminded today of this 2017 piece by psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett about the effects of hateful speech on the nervous system. www.nytimes.com/2017/07/14/o...

This morning’s whitewashing of Kirk’s legacy by civility-obsessed liberals isn’t just offensive to anyone targeted by Kirk (ask anyone on the ‘professor watchlist’) but dangerous. 1/2

Subscribe to defector!

“Every single company that offers AI-generated material should have some sort of transparency standards put in place so that people know what they’re getting." Our ED @littlewow.online on AI slop in libraries and our efforts to fight it. /1 americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2025/09/02/b...

There is cozy fantasy, but what about cozy realism? It exists! I can't stop thinking about this essay by @littlewow.online on the comfort of gardens, the awkwardness of mulch acquisition, and finding family in the dirt. Plus, romance! Read it in Flaming Hydra! flaminghydra.com/issue-393/

I wrote about how an enormous pile of wood chips has helped me get into sync with my new neighborhood, as inspired by the incredible Ruth Stout. “Like Stout, I believe that backyard gardening provides a canvas where we can share in (real) abundance, built up through care, community, and compost.” ❤️

Small potatoes compared to everything else, but I ordered a custom made gift for my best friend’s wedding that was coming from France and it was canceled last week just before shipment because of the fucking tariffs. Now I have no gift for her and her wedding is in 2 weeks. ☹️

Why do I do this to myself every year @flaminghydra.com flaminghydra.com/jammin/

Let's do this and finally get Roadrunner as our state song.

Thank you to @cbcradiocanada.bsky.social for having me on to talk about why AI Slop has no place in our public libraries, and what you can do about it! www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

Our ED talks local news—and how to sustain it.