Breaking news: @susanmd.bsky.social 's BEHIND YOU IS THE SEA is longlisted for the PEN/Faulkner award! Personal gratitude to jurors @deeshaphilyaw.bsky.social @bruceholsinger.bsky.social @urrealism.bsky.social & 🥂 to an incredible longlist...if you haven't yet, read this bighearted book.

Good news. Anne Tyler has a new novel out, Three Days in June. This is a lovely interview. And by the way, she recommends Susan Muaddi Darraj's novel "Behind You Is the Sea." @susanmd.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/02/10/b...

Nice to see @susanmd.bsky.social's BEHIND YOU IS THE SEA on @thenewyorker.bsky.social Best of 2024 "Darraj writes with great emotional resonance about hope and disappointment." www.newyorker.com/best-books-2...

We're so grateful for this chance to gather stories by 15 brilliant writers of color, incl @susanmd.bsky.social & @cholasalvation.bsky.social to celebrate Kweli Journal's 15th anniversary. Read the publisher's note on the book & stay tuned for pre-orders 💫 www.simonandschuster.com/books/Sing-t...

ASK THE NIGHT FOR A DREAM: PALESTINIAN WRITING FROM THE DIASPORA — edited by @susanmd.bsky.social — is available for pre-order; 20% off for a limited time with code: dream. palestinewrites.org/product/ask-...

And all of a sudden it's January, and my monthly Reads for the Rest of Us is live @msmagazine.bsky.social ! Check out my book recs which include new releases by @susanmd.bsky.social @drjengunter.bsky.social @crystalwilki.bsky.social and more! msmagazine.com/2024/01/10/j...

The GOP has introduced a bill to EXPEL Palestinians from the United States. I cannot read such things without remembering what happened to my own family after Pearl Harbor. After we and 120,000 other Japanese Americans were incarcerated in prison camps for years, without charge or trial... /1

My love letter to my fellow Palestinians. ❤️ 🇵🇸 www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/isra...

Proud to be Palestinian ♥️🇵🇸🕊

Do not go gentle into that good night

My cartoon for this week’s Guardian Books.

Do you even know how many pillows I need to sleep bro

Have been baffled abt how to use social media the past few years, but it’s dawning on me what it’s gonna be now for gen x—and all generations, eventually: a place to share our collective grief.

It feels like a fresh, new school year here at BlueSky, and I'm bumping into all the people I want to hang out with at lunch:)

So grateful 🙏 to poet, novelist, and overall extraordinary human being Naomi Shihab Nye for her thoughtful statement about BEHIND YOU IS THE SEA!

I guess I should finally do one of those introductory posts on here. Hello everyone. My name is Hanna Alkaf, and I write critically-acclaimed, sometimes-award-nominated, sometimes-even-award-winning, very Malaysian MG and YA novels.

I have realized that I've been so tired for so long that I can't even remember what it feels like to be rested.

The sky before the Orioles game last night. We were all told to leave the stands and seek shelter. We camped out in the stairwells for over an hour. It was wild to watch the lightning flash across the sky and listen to the rain. What a storm.

Great to see so many writers coming here now. Let's rebuild the writing community. If you’re an author or screenwriter, reply and say hello so we can all find you and follow each other. And if you want to repost this, that would also help.

Finally wrote a blog post. First one this summer! "Where to Submit Your Stuff," in which I provide links to ranked lists and databases for writers looking for places to submit their work. Take a look. #authors

Today I wrote an essay called "A Clicking Time Bomb: Amazon, Social Media, & the Existential Threat to Creatives ." It's about AI and capitalism, and what writers everywhere face right now. I hope you'll read it and share it.

!! COVER REVEAL !! I’m thrilled to reveal the cover of my novel, BEHIND YOU IS THE SEA, coming in January from HarperVia! It's available now for pre-orders (https://www.theivybookshop.com/book/9780063324237) Thank you for reading this long message! I am grateful for all of your support!!!

"workers are trying to save the American film and television industry from the atrocious business decisions and plans of its owners."

ChatGPT is designed to tell you what it thinks you want to hear. It does so using low paid human labor hidden in the background, as well as through stealing from writing it finds on the web, all to create a digital Theranos. Just stop asking it questions. Stop using it.

There’s so much of writing that is work, but hearing that first spark of a story feels like the closest thing we have to magic.

Excited to be able to reveal the cover of my novel soon! BEHIND YOU IS THE SEA will be published by HarperCollins in January!

I love how the devil is an interdisciplinary scholar

Editing the galleys! So excited for my novel, BEHIND YOU IS THE SEA, to be published Jan 16. I started this book 6 years ago ... amazing to hold the printed galley in my hands! Please add it to your Goodreads WANT TO READ list! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/134221617-behind-you-is-the-sea

NYC friends, come to Kweli Lit Fest on Saturday, July 15th! I'm honored to be moderating this panel featuring Chika Unigwe and Yvette Lisa Ndlovu (full schedule at www.kwelijournal.org)

Does rebuilding my follow list on here count as "writing time" or no? It feels productive. 🤣

Indeed 🤣

If you're trying to reconnect with your Barrelpals, a bunch of our editors are here already: @housleydave.bsky.social @livesinpages.bsky.social @taracampbell.bsky.social @tmcallister.bsky.social @samuelashworth.bsky.social @susanmd.bsky.social

For the teachers, librarians, and PTA members here... I'm booking school visits for 2023-2024. Info at https://susanmdbooks.com/school-library-visits/?amp=1

Since I, and many of us, are new here might as well share some of my work! First is my most recent #essay for #ElectricLiterature about the erasure of #Blackwomen in book #publishing. https://electricliterature.com/black-women-are-being-erased-in-book-publishing/

Excited to connect (and reconnect) with friends here! I'm a novelist, writing for adults and kids. I also teach creative writing and aim to be a dependable, enthusiastic, and non-diva literary citizen 😊📚. More about me at www.SusanMDBooks.com