NBCC member Paul Wilner contributed a book roundup on the first months of the new year for Alta:

Art lives in the process, in the struggle to grow and figure out the specific needs of the work, and in the arrival at a better understanding of the artist’s limitations. The product is just the end result of the art.

a pleasure to talk to Annalee Newitz about their cozy science fiction novella, Automatic Noodle; robots; and world building for @altajournal.bsky.social. www.altaonline.com/books/fictio...

I don't know which challenge this is - but I agree with @themountaingoats - one of the cruddiest things that's happened to reading in the past 20 years or so is the algorithms that narrow bookshelf recs into books like those you've already bought, rather than wild books that might blow your mind.

October might be our busiest season, but Litquake presents a variety of literary programs year-round. From hosting Ocean Vuong and Ed Yong to a slate of local, up-and-coming authors, this year was a treat. 💗Interested in supporting Litquake? Consider donating at buff.ly/aNo4QW5

On this week's Selected Shorts episode, Now You See Him, Now You Don’t, actors Jill Eikenberry, Michael Tucker, and Emily Skeggs perform stories about fictional disappearing acts by Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw, Claire Fridkin, and Anita Felicelli. bit.ly/48PohSY

psyched to have a new short story, "Delilah," in the latest print issue of Alta (Issue 34). illustration by Victor Juhasz. www.altaonline.com/culture/fict...

Congratulations to the poets and publishers on our 2025 Poetry Award longlist!

Starting today with our beautiful autobiography longlist!

We got a match! Every donation made to ZYZZYVA will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $5,000. Now through December 31st. If you’ve been thinking about supporting our work, now is a fantastic time. zyzzyva.org/donate

Honored to serve on the fiction committee and pleased to share our longlist for the @bookcritics.bsky.social awards for fiction. Congratulations to all the nominees!

What happens when literature refuses readers entry into the laboratory? New at PB: In a time of suspicion and conspiracy, @snarlsdickens.bsky.social argues that it’s imperative we don’t treat laboratories in fiction as unexplored and unexplorable territory.

On genres, brands, and commercial legibility: "That’s one reason why promoting a book can feel a bit draining — you have to take the raw product of your random synaptic misfires and package it as something that will appeal to people who like a particular kind of thing."

"Ambition is everything. Fiction isn't ballet. It isn't marathoning. You don't have to start small with drills or exercises; there's nothing you need to perfect before moving on... You should attempt everything. Ambition in fiction is merely the willingness to make mistakes. Mistakes are essential."

"Everything that I have ever believed was true and immutable about my work has changed. Only certain obsessions remain. A writing life, I've come to believe, is a yearslong process of casting away everything you once believed for sure." —Elizabeth McCracken, A Long Game

excited to have my short story "A Minor Disturbance" from the collection How We Know Our Time Travelers featured on Symphony Space's Selected Shorts, performed by Jill Eikenberry. www.symphonyspace.org/selected-sho...

NBCC member Noelle McManus wrote about Ada Limón’s "Startlement" for Alta:

Thanks to all who joined me for the launch of IF THE OWL CALLS with @bettybooks.bsky.social! It was such a joy to celebrate this book! A special thanks to the wonderful @anitafelicelli.bsky.social for being my guest in conversation—it meant so much. #IFTHEOWLCALLS #BettyBooks #AuthorEvent

next week! this will be a fun conversation about a lovely, atmospheric novel—join us.

TINY THREADS came out last year by @delreybooks.bsky.social. I'm very proud of the dark thriller about a young woman who takes a fashion job in Vernon, California where she starts seeing disturbing things. To mark my horror debut, here's some fave reviews: www.altaonline.com/books/fictio...

On this week's Selected Shorts episode, It’s About Time, actors Stockard Channing and @vangsness.bsky.social perform stories by Helen Phillips and @anitafelicelli.bsky.social about how time controls our past, present, and future. Take a listen wherever you get your podcasts. bit.ly/4hUNIpi

continuing to update this resource for SNAP recipients in the Bay Area — now with 31 food businesses/restaurants where folks can get free or subsidized hot meals 💖 www.coyotemedia.org/these-bay-ar...

For @altajournal.bsky.social I reviewed Julian NoiseCat's WE SURVIVED THE NIGHT, which is fascinating and moving and intellectually rigorous: www.altaonline.com/books/nonfic...

Thrilled to launch IF THE OWL CALLS with @anitafelicelli.bsky.social on Nov 19 at 5:30 p.m. PT—hosted by @bettybooks.bsky.social on Zoom! We’ll talk writing, memory, and the stories behind the book. Hope you’ll join us! Register here: bit.ly/42aTqwG #IftheOwlCalls #BookLaunch #SharonWhite

Incredibly grateful for this wonderful review of BEINGS by @hspartington.bsky.social at @altajournal.bsky.social. Such a joy and privilege to be read so lovingly <3. www.altaonline.com/books/fictio...

Announcing the virtual book launch of our next title, If the Owl Calls: A Novel by @sharonw.bsky.social! ✨ Join us on November 19th at 5:30 PM PST as Sharon will read from her book and speak with author @anitafelicelli.bsky.social of How We Know Our Time Travelers. Register: bit.ly/42aTqwG

Such a thrill to present Scott Anderson with the 2025 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction last night in New York. You can read about all the winners here. www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-fea...

Say it often, say it loud: "Overall, research has not supported the common-sense presumption that digital approaches to schooling are better than non-digital alternatives. At the broadest level, widespread computer use in education has been found to be associated with lower student achievement."

I was honored to have the opportunity to review McNamara at War, the new biography by Philip and William Taubman, for Alta Journal @altajournal.bsky.social. Thanks go to @anitafelicelli.bsky.social

I spent the summer reporting this essay on why it seems harder than ever to sell a book right now—especially if it isn't a debut and comes with the dreaded "sales track." I'm grateful to the writers, agents, editors, publishers & experts who spoke to me for this piece: thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...

loved the prismatic novel The Wilderness. here's a profile I wrote about author Angela Flournoy in connection with the book. www.altaonline.com/books/fictio...

Greg Grandin on 3 notable things about Spanish American independence: It brought about an already socialized community of nations. Its leaders understood their movement as atonement for conquest. They broke free from one empire to confront a new one.

The only reason to hire a critic, instead of giving a megaphone to the crowd, is that creative work—books most of all—isn’t processed as a collective. People make sense of art as individuals, and their experiences of the work differ individually, too. @nathanheller.bsky.social, @newyorker.com, 2017

Nice evening to drift around North Beach and Chinatown and drop by @citylightsbooks.bsky.social, where copies of Daydreamers are on the shelf.

My book came out 6 years ago -- thank you WTAW Press for taking a chance on this collection. It made my world so much bigger and helped me meet so many wonderful people and find community. Huge hugs to all my readers -- forever grateful.

Excited for tomorrow’s award ceremony for the Northern California Book Awards! My memoir The Translator’s Daughter is a finalist in creative nonfiction. The event is free and open to the public—come celebrate with us at @sfpubliclibrary.bsky.social in the Koret Auditorium at 2pm

Looking forward to being a part of The Future of California, a @litquake.org event in Berkeley this weekend 9/7 with Susanna Kwan, @annaleen.bsky.social, @sherijoseph.bsky.social @mikechenwriter.bsky.social and Zoe Young www.eventbrite.com/e/how-they-d...

🧵 In the wake of numerous reports of interactions with AI chatbots that resulted in deadly consequences, the Center for Democracy & Technology's Dr. Michal Luria says AI firms should stop designing products that pretend to be human.

Why do you appreciate unions? I’ll start: Weekends off Paid vacations Work breaks Sick leave Paid holidays No child labor Safer working conditions Health care and retirement benefits

This superb interview from @lulugn.bsky.social w/Arundhati Roy emphasizes, with clarity & restraint, how the personal is always political. A quarter century after I read “The God of Small Things” as a South Asian teenager, awed by her gifts, Roy remains an inspiration to me. overcast.fm/+ABOPVmwsQ1c

In a sane world this would be the number one political priority www.theguardian.com/environment/...

brilliant essay by Lauren LeBlanc.

💥💥💥💥💥 2025 Kirkus Prize Finalists are Announced! 💥💥💥💥💥 lithub.com/here-are-the...

The only remotely wise thing I can say is to directly support outlets that are still writing thoughtful, eloquent criticism. Shell out a few $ for a subscription to those who offer it, hit the free sites with your traffic, share good pieces here and elsewhere. It's a tiny thing, but it's something.

What does the future hold for California? On 9/7, six incredible Bay Area authors will speculate and dream. Don't miss this amazing @litquake.org event w/ @mikechenwriter.bsky.social, @anitafelicelli.bsky.social, @sherijoseph.bsky.social, Susanna Kwon, & Zoe Young! www.eventbrite.com/e/how-they-d...

“In [these] accounts, the gap between classes—rarely discussed or even thought about by those on its privileged side—is a chasm that those who have crossed must spend the rest of their lives coming to terms with.”

against the tradition of arts & letters, and against expertise in general—which we're of course seeing everywhere, in science and medicine, in economics, in the study of history, and so forth. Basically, everything that keeps us thinking & human. I had to make my Instagram private years ago...

In light of Vanity Fair's recent idiotic decision, WaPo's offering its veteran critic a buyout, the NYT's "reassigning" three arts writers critics, etc., a lot of us are talking about the public's (and thus publications') lack of interest in criticism. It's part of a larger pattern of a war...

I wrote about one of my all time favorites, Adrian Tomine’s “Shortcomings”, for Alta’s California Book Club. Thank you to @anitafelicelli.bsky.social for excellent editing. It’s a spiky, funny, beautifully drawn graphic novel that’s lost none of its sharpness. www.altaonline.com/california-b...

✨AMUSE-BOUCHE PT II: How They Did It — Imagining a Future California Join 5 brilliant writers on Sun 9/7 at Page Street Berkeley for a convo on speculative fiction + the future of CA. 🎟️Tickets: bit.ly/44WLT4Z @mikechenwriter.bsky.social @anitafelicelli.bsky.social @annaleen.bsky.social