I know that there are much bigger worries in the world, but I was outraged today to learn that Mr. Peabody is purportedly a beagle.

Hello! To an literary agents there, is that the common wisdom that you shouldn't query in the summer still true? (Asking for an actual friend.)

I fell asleep while watching an old episode of Bake Off and dreamt I was team teaching at Bennington with Sandi Toksvig.

I am in the Austin airport, drinking my last Austin Manhattan.

I went to see a local production of Rent last week & enjoyed it but what I didn't know beforehand is that Rent is an absolutely terrible show. I haven't been this outraged since I saw Love, Actually, back in the days when people still talked about how good it was.

Reupping this offer, and adding that you can send me an email through my website.

Hello, friends. I am cleaning out my office and I own an embarrassing number of my own books. Would you like a signed copy? I will mail you one in return for a contribution to the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown or World Central Kitchen. Send me a DM!

Everything old is new again. (I am cleaning out my campus office after 16 1/2 years.)

When a sperm whale was asked to confirm this, he first lied, then when pressed, blamed it on someone else.

no one is doing it like jd vance, a loser across three continents in a single weekend

Free advice to the opposition: It's very important that the GOP send the warm, likable, super-relatable JD Vance out on a national tour to campaign for MAGA in the midterms. He's got the touch!

That’s Smee in the corner

For a guy who never says anything presidential ever, who has mocked & bragged & insulted & much worse, "I don't want that to happen, but it probably will" is the least presidential thing he's ever said.

Brendan Vaughan, EIC of Fast Company, with an overview of some of the amazing things @harrymccracken.com (FC's Global Technology editor; also my big brother) has written lately: www.instagram.com/reels/DWj3q2...

In case you need proof that the Moon is haunted: This record came out in 1972!

In 2000, I encountered the work of Frederick Wiseman for the first time while working on an unusual project (at least for a college freshman). Years later, I encountered Wiseman again, this time in real life. I wrote about it and him for @parisreview.bsky.social 🥊

The memories in this story are so precious, and I’m very grateful to the 23 people who shared them. Some were teenagers when Apple was born, but most were in there 20s, 30s, or even 40s back them.

Saw your boyfriend in Hobbycraft

I will respond more individually soon, but thank you everyone for this amazing list. It's very helpful. No surprise, the writer with the most votes is Toni Morrison (for several books, with Sula in front). Many people cited Charlotte Brontë's Villette, which I am ashamed to say I've never read.

Hello, Literary Bluesky! I would love to know your favorite novel endings.

a fundamental thing about trump is that other people literally do not exist to him. he does not perceive them to be real.

Not since American Beauty won Best Picture have I been so confused by the taste of the times. (OK, that's not true. But I am scratching my head in a similar way.)

I loved Sinners. I almost never see a movie twice in a year but I have seen Sinners three times. (My younger kid, my main cinema companion, was also a big Sinners enthusiast.)

My only comment on the Best Actor race is that Michael B. Jordan is not twins and Ethan Hawke is not short and though I enjoyed both performances very much I never forgot either fact.

“Overall, the study participants who saw the biased AI text shifted their positions toward those espoused by the AI.”

Thursday! March 5th at 8 p.m. Elizabeth McCracken will read from her work in the Frank Conroy Reading Room at Glenn Schaeffer Library/Dey House. McCracken is the author of nine books, including, 'A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction', published in 2025. events.uiowa.edu/event/36568

The wonderful Edward Carey is teaching a class on fairy tales as inspiration. Inspired by the one he used to teach at UT Austin's MFA. Perfect if you're not going to AWP or if you'll be home in time that Sunday March 8th. www.theshipmanagency.com/classes/mast...

The University of Texas System has passed a set of rules regulating the teaching of "controversy." The administration of each university in the system gets to decide what constitutes controversy. I've published an op-ed in the Austin Statesman respoonding.

Please repost!

Ahoy, Bluesky! Edward Carey is teaching an online course on Fairytales as Inspiration. He's taught fairytales to writers for two decades, at both the Iowa Writers Workshop & UT Austin, & knows everything about their joys & shadows. www.theshipmanagency.com/classes/mast...

Here we go. Free, no-reg versions of favorite stories from my four years at the Washington Post. First, three pieces from our Pulitzer-finalist series on how India's ruling party coerced U.S. tech giants into violating their own policies. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/0...

Today would have been my mother's 91st birthday (some people in these parts might know her better as the self-proclaimed inventor of the mojito).

As a faculty member of UT's distinguished African and African Diaspora Studies Department, I am angry at the disingenuous way UT is characterzing us and our scholarship. But as an alum of UT (MA, JD, PhD) I am sad to see my alma mater debase itself to curry favor with the ignorance of the right.

The University of Texas Board of Regents have no idea what education means.

This is why "Let's give in on some of the trans stuff because it'd be a popular compromise and you have to meet people where they are" is not only immoral but politically stupid. Republicans were never going to stop there. They stop when you stop them. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/u...

Equal time suddenly being in the news made me think of this fine book.

When I came to Texas to teach, I was struck with how justifiably Texans were of their universities. A world-class university is a galaxy of experts & of people seeking expertise. I speak as a private citizen: what's happening is a tragedy. www.statesman.com/news/educati...

I am so sad about Bud Cort. I saw Brewster McCloud at the Austin Film Society on March 11, 2020, before the world shut down. I loved him in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. & there's probably no work of art that has had more of an influence on my work that Harold & Maude.

The question is not who is the sexiest Muppet (Rowlf) but how is it that so many of the Muppets are sexy.

Protect your heart from breaking by padding it with soft cheese.

There are worse problems in the world but Apple's Center Stage software on Zoom turned my meeting today into a horror movie.

And here is my story: ‘Absolute hell’: Irishman with valid US work permit held by Ice since September www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...

In 1979, the “New York Times” asked Isaac Bashevis Singer if he planned to watch the Super Bowl.

I cannot say this enough: there is NO middle ground when it comes to writing and AI. Anyone who uses AI to write and admits it should be loudly shamed, hideously embarrassed, paraded through the streets of shun until they flee writing forever

I just subscribed to @roncharles.bsky.social Substack because he's the greatest and Jeff Bezos is the worst: roncharles.substack.com?r=bk77n&utm_...

Read an excerpt from EVERY HAPPINESS by Reena Shah over on Debutiful! @elizmccrack.bsky.social calls it "astonishingly alive, lovable, aggravating, real" debutiful.net/2026/02/03/r... @bloomsburybooksus.bsky.social