Italo Calvino was born 102 years ago today. He was a writer of delights, a fighter of fascism, and possessor of a mind always curious and subtle. Although he died in 1985, he was so far ahead of his times that his work feels like a map of our Invisible Cities and a guide to our Crossed Destinies.

Happy pub days live here--can't wait to read Amber Sparks's new novel!

THE POEMS: a novella >> available from Barnes&Noble www.erratumpress.com/the-poems @questionstruck.bsky.social

THE POEMS: A NOVELLA by William Walsh | *out now*

I'm looking forward to participating in "Open Books, Open Minds" this Thursday, sponsored by @slj.com, @libraryjournal.bsky.social, and @thehornbook.bsky.social! You can find out more about this free virtual event here: www.libraryjournal.com/event/Open-B...

The ASU Worldbuilding Initiative returns this Wednesday with "Cones and Caution: The Precarity of Signaling the Future"! How might the meaning of language or symbols change over time? Is it possible to exactly express ourselves across great spans of time? (Free and open to the public! Livestreamed!)

Oh my oh my! Get your hands on one! www.outlooksprings.com/issues/issue...

Boston-area folks, I am so excited to host a conversation with my dear friend @ambersparks.bsky.social about her new novel HAPPY PEOPLE DON'T LIVE HERE at @harvardbookstore.bsky.social on October 16. I hope you'll join us! www.harvard.com/event/amber-...

Today’s sickening parade and the cuts to the NEA may not seem related, but they’re both about silencing dissent. If you’re feeling helpless, please join me on Subst*ck; I wrote about the literary organizations that lost their funding, ones we can support right now. open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...

The eponymous Space invaders--were they invaders from space or invaders of space?

We now live in a Jerry Springerocracy.

Thursday, 5/29 at 7 PM, I'll be at Water Street Bookstore in Exeter, NH with THE @timhorvath.bsky.social! waterstreetbooks.com/event/2025-0...

Can't wait to talk about Twilight of the Gods with Kurt!

Hey all, if you’re looking for something fun to do next Saturday, I’m teaching one of my favorite workshops, where we look at art and learn how to get better at using art as a prompt - and the myriad possibilities of ekphrasis beyond describing the painting writingworkshops.com/products/the...?

Updated schedule for TWILIGHT OF THE GODS tour. Note the inclusion of events in Santa Fe at Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeehouse with @jamesreich.bsky.social and @rankoutsider.bsky.social, The New School with Joseph Salvatore, and Water Street Bookstore with @timhorvath.bsky.social. Also, AWP.

Call for Submissions! We have room in Issue 9 for more creative nonfiction! If you've got an essay burning a hole in your pocket, we have asbestos pockets! This extension is only open for two weeks (ending on April Fools is timing, not a cheap joke!) outlooksprings.submittable.com/submit/32359...

So it turns out that people do like reading the classics. So long as they are chopped up, regurgitated, and repackaged as AI.

His understanding of terroir is no better than his understanding of tariffs, huh?

Just announced: 6000% tariffs on Mars.

So, like, there's a plot twist in the Bayeux Tapestry we don't know about? www.artnews.com/art-news/new...

Fave genres: 5. Reality show where planet has to choose between its eighteen moons. 4. Antique shop clown trivet comes alive at night and appraises wares. 3. "What Chunnel am I thinking of?" 2. Child has the ability to reunite estranged bands, real and imaginary. 1. Oulipean spy thriller

Weird how mixed nuts are not trail mix but throw in a handful of raisins and suddenly the hiking boots are lacing themselves up.

TONIGHT KGB BAR NYC 7 PM: me, @erikaswyler.bsky.social, @rankoutsider.bsky.social, @johnmadera.bsky.social, Melinda Wilson, and Bill Lessard! Whee!

can't believe it's 2025 and i'm stressed about tariffs and measles, like am i a character in an american girl book

Section breaks can be most cool/effective in prose, and I welcome a subtle but pleasing symbol to do the lifting, but...is "dinkus" really the term we're going to go with for this?

Award-winning writers Kelly Link and Jedediah Berry ’99 will give a reading on Monday, March 3, at 4:00 pm in the Bertelsmann Campus Center at Bard College. The event, which is cosponsored by Conjunctions, will include a Q&A with the authors and is free and open to the public.

Gregg is a former Marine and Forest Service ranger. He's saved the lives of hikers dangling off a cliff or going through cardiac arrest, and he's bravely fought forest fires to save small rural towns. 100% of his salary is paid by WA state. Elon fired him. Share his story.

Still feels somewhat scandalous to drink over half a bottle of dealcoholized wine in a single evening.

If you fire everyone in an entire agency and then rehire half of those people back the next day, does that count as one work accomplishment or two?

Tickets are now on sale for the NYC book launch at Books are Magic! Featuring @jaquiradiaz.bsky.social, Isle McElroy, and Jiordan Castle. Moderated by @thedennemichele.bsky.social! myfatherandi.eventbrite.com

“A well-thought-out story doesn’t need to resemble real life. Life itself tries with all its might to resemble a well-crafted story.” — Isaac Babel

Keep getting Grant Hart's "2541" stuck in my head, and so far that is the only good thing about 2025.

It's so cute how little kids overhear adults and pronounce it "apoxalips."

Not going to AWP this year (Excited for Baltimore next year!) but just got word that my workshop with @timhorvath.bsky.social got accepted at the Centre for Sensory Studies "Uncommon Senses V" conference in May. See you in Montreal??

There are only two types of news days now: the first half of "Melancholia" and the second half of "Melancholia."

What's next, back to Ptolemy?

Thanks to Brooklyn Rail and John Domini for this incredibly insightful review of Omar Khalifah's SAND- CATCHER (translated by Barbara Romaine). brooklynrail.org/2025/02/book...

Ran into Primo Levi in the stacks today.

Turnitin with a big missed opportunity to call their AI-detection feature Ittakesonetoknowone.

That time Calvino invented social media in the 1950s.

Happy to introduce myself here! I’ve been an independent literary publicist full-time since 2004, all in New York except for a year-long sabbatical to attend jewelry school in Italy, and a move to Baltimore in the summer of 2022. Photo credit: Joanna Tillman. More about my projects: laurencerand.com

Anyone ever watch "Run Lola Run" while on the treadmill?

If it's true what they say about even the best-laid plans of mice and men, what about the plans laid shittily and haphazardly and meanly?

If you're in the Providence, RI, area I'm hoping we can find a little community tomorrow night. I, for one, could really use some time with good and kind people.

Good thing they caught this quickly.

It's amazing how many extra pages you can get out of an ink cartridge simply by shaking it. If only this worked for other things!

Just now learning that the phrase "internal monologue" is being widely replaced by "inner podcast of one."

Wild to think that Limerick is an actual place. Imagine being from Sonnet. Or Sestina. Or Prose Poem.