Gemini: Take a vacation from your problems. Your assassin isn’t in a rush.

very nice! my first ever shortlist for the Ottawa Book Awards, for On Beauty: stories (University of Alberta Press); ; congrats to Manahil, Nina, Paul and Chuqiao for also shortlisting! / @ualbertapress.bsky.social @manahil.bsky.social ; ottawa.ca/en/city-hall...

‘Prejudice against the disabled was still so widespread that in 1980 a Frankfurt court ordered the reimbursement of the cost of a hotel to a tourist who had been upset by the presence of a group of guests with cerebral palsy.’ Richard J. Evans on German eugenics: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Today in AI Is Not A Good Source For Learning About The World's Most Misunderstood Body Part, meet this ChatGPT gem. Funnily enough, we're actually going to talk about how most of this is kinda sorta right (for small values of right), as a cautionary tale about generative AI.

Trying to imagine completing another/next book & it all feels impossible. Like trying to climb a mountain of melting ice cream.

(Ukraine) 📚 united24media.com/latest-news/...

Outstanding work from @nicktsergas.ca Immunity debt isn’t a thing It’s made up. It’s a get out of jail free card for the folks who encouraged you to get infected with Covid www.bmj.com/content/390/...

#PostpartumPreeclampsia #BlackWomen "In the U.S., 5-8% of pregnancies are impacted by preeclampsia, a complication that leads to life threatening high blood pressure." This disproportionately affects #BlackWomen. www.12onyourside.com/2025/08/13/i...

“wellness” culture feeds directly into eugenics. It perpetuates the idea that disability is a moral failing. That we can “try harder” our way out of it and if we can’t, we didn’t really “want” to get better. It makes it easier to punish the sick & poor. Disability is not a moral failing.

@robmclennan.bsky.social Makes sense.

hey everyone! ive had a couple of dozen folk telling me they're going to this event on thursday, but only 5 tickets have sold, which is prompting the venue to talk about cancelling; if you are planning to go, could you please pre-purchase your ticket? thanks! robmclennan.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-...

In the death registers of early modern Venice, marginalia often marks the cause of death: drawings of daggers for murders, for instance. In 1696, Giovanni Battista Rinaldi was killed by a dog. This is the drawing by his entry.

Good LORD. I'm nervously waiting for Pinhead and their buddies to turn up, listening to that.

Get Ready For Hot Book Summer: A Reading List It’s that glorious time of year again to leave your worries behind and do more of what you really love (ahem, reading). Whether on vacation or a staycation, summer is the perfect time to get lost in a book. bookhugpress.ca/get-ready-fo...

A packed house for our Books Upstairs reading in Dublin today! Éireann Lorsung, Christodoulos Makris, Christine and myself, // @christinemcnair.bsky.social @cmakris.bsky.social @eireannmor.bsky.social @poetryireland.bsky.social

This Sunday 13 July @booksupstairs.bsky.social I’ll be reading w/ @eireannmor.bsky.social @robmclennan.bsky.social & @christinemcnair.bsky.social. A pleasure to put this special reading together, gratefully supported by @poetryireland.bsky.social. Come! yesbutisitpoetry.blogspot.com/2025/07/tran...

Reservoir Dogs was 1992, not 1994. Pulp Fiction was 2 years later, not 11 years later. Jesus Christ, @theguardian.com, whatever wretched AI rubbish you’re using in place of proper journalists, it ain’t working. Switch it off.

In this @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social episode, I speak with the wonderful Ottawa writer, Christine McNair about her 2024 book of lyric essays and prose poetry, Toxemia (Book*hug Press, 2024). Listen here: newbooksnetwork.com/toxemia @bookhugpress.bsky.social

In a new episode of the @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social Literature podcast, @hollay.bsky.social speaks with @christinemcnair.bsky.social about her book of lyrical essays and prose poetry, Toxemia. Listen here: newbooksnetwork.com/toxemia

Poetry Ireland is excited to announce the Transatlantic Poetry Salon! A special event of readings from Éireann Lorsung, Christodoulos Makris, Rob Mclennan & Christine McNair. 📆July 13th @ 14:00 in Books Upstairs, 17 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 www.poetryireland.ie/whats-on/tra...

To help preserve her works, Cindy Sherman is offering to destroy and reprint old photographs "If a print is deemed eligible, the original—accompanied by its title, edition number, date and provenance—will be destroyed and replaced with a mint-condition, artist-signed reprint." 📜

New review of Christine McNair's 2017 collection, Charm. Perhaps you'd like to read alongside her more recent release, Toxemia? reviewsofbooksigotforfreeorcheap.substack.com/p/christine-...

Whistling was once forbidden on ships, because sailors believed that whistling challenged the wind & caused it to increase, which could create storms. But if a ship was stranded due to low winds, whistling could help coax some wind to move it along. #WyrdWednesday

#BREAKING Marc Garneau dead at 76

June 2, 1983: Canadian folk singer Stan Rogers died in a fire aboard Air Canada Flight 797 in Cincinnati. Born in 1949 in Hamilton, his music blended Canadian history and culture. Today, he is celebrated as one of Canada's greatest musicians. Learn more 👇 canadaehx.com/2023/05/23/s...

Amanda Earl, rob mclennan, Christine McNair Time and Place: June 1 at 2:00 pm. The Lieutenant's Pump, 361 Elgin Web: angelhousepress.com/ reading of poetry and prose sponsored by the Writers Union of Canada and the Canada Council for the Arts

hey! Christine McNair, Amanda Earl + i are reading in Ottawa this Sunday afternoon, 2pm at the Lieutenant's Pump, Elgin Street; might we see you? / @christinemcnair.bsky.social @amandaearl.bsky.social @ucalgarypress.bsky.social @ualbertapress.bsky.social @arpbooks.bsky.social ;

I recently read The Great Influenza by John Barry and was similarly struck by the similarities and amnesias.

Disability is not something to be afraid of. It’ll happen to most of us eventually. The human body is frail. It breaks down. We age. We get sick. We have accidents. It’s part of life. It’s not a moral failing. Engage with us. Learn. We all benefit from disability justice.

Energy schmenergy.

Today is World Preeclampsia Day. Some notes on that along with some interviews things and a couple upcoming readings.

Of the books named on this reading list, Brit Bennet, Isabel Allende, Andy Weir, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Min Jin Lee, Rumaan Alam, Rebecca Makkai, Maggie O'Farrell, Percival Everett, and Delia Owens' titles are all books that DO NOT EXIST!!! See Alt Text for more detail. Image by @tbretc.bsky.social

there’s currently 22 items that are under $30, which can provide Gazans a few days worth of Internet. don’t miss Cynthia Dewi Oka's A Tinderbox in Three Acts or Lea Taranto’s A Drop in the Ocean, which were recently added :) tinyurl.com/authors4esims #ConnectingGaza

Thanks Mom: 10 Books for Mother’s Day! In appreciation of mamas everywhere, we’ve assembled a list of ten books that provide insight into the complex and varied experiences of motherhood!

Also this afternoon— recording of the November drift/line reading in Kingston hosted by Wanda Praamsma — featuring myself, rob, Allison Chisholm & Megan Hamilton! Thanks to Bruce Kauffman for posting as part of the finding a voice program on CFRC: findingavoiceoncfrcfm.wordpress.com?fbclid=IwY2x...

You can listen currently to my chat with Brecken Hancock and Susan Johnston on Friday Special Blend right now at 93.1, chatting on Toxemia and hybrid forms. ❤️# preeclampsiaawarenessmonth

something to think about

Plane home landing soundtrack: No one cared To tell me where the pretty girls are Those demigods With their NINE-INCH nails and little fascist panties Tucked inside the heart of every nice girl (Wheels down on girrrrrrrrrrrl)

Thanks much to Kerry and W&W for including Toxemia on this list!

Reading tonight in Winnipeg with Speaking Crow!

Irregularly spaced letters on Pope Francis’ tombstone have caused a stir among typography nerds. One called them “an abomination unto design.”

“I asked ChatGPT” well I asked the three Fates and the one with the scissors got very agitated when I told her you were using your one precious life thread talking to that cursed thing

Great evening of poetry last night @octopusbooks.ca with stunning & complementary readings of Toxemia by Christine McNair and Python Love by Shannon Arntfield Go! Buy! Both!

Thanks Dawn! :)

Tonight!

A couple of days ago I shared the study of Lévêque et al. 2025 who had revealed through aDNA analysis that the books produced in the Cistercian abbeys in Western Europe were in fact covered with sealskin, previously thought to be skins of local animals (deer, boar etc.)

Free national poetry month event next Tuesday April 15th. Book launch/discussion for Shannon Arntfield’s Python Love with special guest me & hybrid memoir Toxemia. RSVP: [email protected]. With thanks to @canadianpoets.bsky.social & Canada Council for their event support. @octopusbooks.ca: