Happy #EdmundFitzgerald Eve to all who celebrate 🚢🌊

Just finished listening to The Gales Of November by @johnubacon.bsky.social, which was a very interesting history of the Edmund Fitzgerald and its sinking, with lots of interesting background about Great Lakes shipping. Recommended! #NaEdFiMo libro.fm/audiobooks/9...

Thanks so much to GQ for publishing my liner notes for the new Replacements 'Let It Be' boxset, out on Friday. Extra special thanks to Jessica Hopper, Patterson Hood and Brian Paulson for their extraordinary insights. What an absolute joy this project has been to work on. www.gq.com/story/when-t...

What I’m reading now on vacation in Kauai. Great book and nice distraction from all the craziness!

Kurt’s a modest guy, so he’s burying the lede here: “Mr. Beals’s shimmering version of this novel should become the standard for English readers.” A more emphatic endorsement is hard to imagine! Ordering info here: wwnorton.com/books/978132...

In two months pre-orders of The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald will be sent or picked up in stores, B&N, amazon, etc. The book launches October 7 at UM's Rackham Auditorium (tickets available next week), followed by a 15-state, 30-stop book tour. Hope to sign your copy!

Some news, as they say. (I am especially looking forward to working with Maria Goldverg during this final stretch, who seems like an absolute gem.)

This beautiful new metrical verse translation of the Aeneid, by Scott McGill and Susannah Wright, with introduction by me, will be available in August. You can pre-order now!

I am very excited about my current project: TRANSLATING THE ODYSSEY.

My upcoming book, "The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald," just received a starred review (top 10%, they're only designation) from Kirkus Reviews, an 88-year old institution that's traditionally hard to impress. Comes out October 7. Can pre-order anywhere. (1/4)

We are delighted to announce that ‘Eurotrash’ by Christian Kracht, in the translation by @uni-hamburg.de Fellow 2024-2025 Daniel Bowles @bostoncollege.bsky.social has been longlisted for this year's @thebookerprizes.bsky.social ! bit.ly/3CYrLpo

"Reworking a classic is challenging, but, as Beals writes, the greater ordeal was 'to spend months with these young soldiers, in the trenches and in their heads, to know them intimately enough to give them new voices in a new language, and then to watch them die.'"

Congratulations to Christian Kracht and translator Daniel Bowles, whose novel EUROTRASH has been named to the #InternationalBooker2025 longlist! Learn more about this probing masterpiece-in-miniature of self-reflection and cultural reckoning: wwnorton.com/books/978132...

Constance Grady posts a delightful short review of Mischa Berlinski's MONA ACTS OUT. Grateful for readers who really get what Mischa's done! (Link in replies)

In stores today 🐶 — Named one of Apple Books' Best Books of January 2025, Mischa Berlinski's exuberant, funny new novel MONA ACTS OUT is "A great ride... with an extraordinary sense of the relation between theater and life" (Kirkus Reviews, starred)! Learn more: wwnorton.com/books/978132...

On a Shakespeare-steeped comic novel for theater people, especially fans of “Trust Exercise”: Mischa Berlinski’s “Mona Acts Out.” 🎁 www.nytimes.com/2025/01/21/b...

"Like Susan Choi in “Trust Exercise,” Berlinski has an intricate understanding of the dynamics of predation, the psyches of performers and the culture of theater, particularly the grittier, convention-trampling downtown variety." --Laura Collins-Hughes (@collinshughes.bsky.social)

Kurt’s a modest guy, so he’s burying the lede here: “Mr. Beals’s shimmering version of this novel should become the standard for English readers.” A more emphatic endorsement is hard to imagine! Ordering info here: wwnorton.com/books/978132...

"Rhapsodic and enlightening about Shakespeare, full of fun on every page, Mischa Berlinski’s “Mona Acts Out” is an early literary delight of 2025." --Marion Wink, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Starred reviews from PW and Kirkus. I appreciate the Cleopatra-esque outfit. #collectiondevelopment amzn.to/49vNocv

I started a Substack, so that I can eventually convert some of my comments on translation from twitter to a different platform. I wrote an initial post about the 4 translations of the beginning of the Odyssey that have been circulated recently. open.substack.com/pub/emily613...

Video from the National Book Festival, featuring a beautiful recitation from the Qur'an: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDKW...

Checking the Odyssey drama on Twitter, and it's amazing how these dudebro assholes PRETEND to know the classics, but really don't. The first two acclaimed translations of the Odyssey, Chapman (1616) and Pope (1726) are in iambic pentameter. Dactylic doesn't work in English...

Congratulations to @maxboot.bsky.social, whose “elegant,” “landmark” biography of Ronald Reagan has just been selected as one of “The Ten Best Books of 2024”! nytimes.com/2024/12/03/boo… @liveright.bsky.social

I feel like we all just picked Bluesky and didn’t even give MILF Messenger a chance

John U Bacon on the Edmund Fitzgerald is Dad Heaven

I am overly excited to read this when it’s done. I fucking love Edmund Fitzgerald lore

Oh no, one of of you posted "and you're surprised??" in reply to someone, didn't you? If you do that, Bluesky crashes and no one's allowed to post for an hour. This is a feature, not a bug.

Here are our suggestions for January #LibraryReads! Votes due by 12/1. www.edelweiss.plus#catalogID=50...

What a day.

Thank you for making the capstone Norton Centenary event so special! You three had the audience absolutely *mesmerized*! @neilhimself.neilgaiman.com @mariadahvana.bsky.social @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social

Had the best conversation last night on stage at the Cooper Union with these two wild and brilliant women. Thank you @mariadahvana.bsky.social and @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social.