Given how many shitty old white politicians there are in Congress, this framing is atrocious.

Actors: Felicity Jones, & Kieran Culkin. Books by: @pagankennedy.bsky.social, and @kesemmel.bsky.social. buff.ly/wtQbOkp Photos: @enews.eonline.com, buff.ly/YnrkZ18 @susanschulman.bsky.social

Make sure to stop by Booths 527 and 529 at #AWP26 to get a signed copy of @kesemmel.bsky.social's novel, THE BOOK OF LOSMAN, and his translation of MILK AND OTHER STORIES by Simon Fruelund! @awpwriter.org

One of my favorite writers. One of WNY’s finest.

I have an essay in the New York Review of Books about the Trump Administration’s cuts to Medicaid, and more broadly about the program’s origins, strengths, & flaws — and why the best way to advance its mission might be to replace it with something better. www.nybooks.com/online/2026/...

Last year I published this article in The Millions on the importance of translation on fiction writing, and I think it's one of the most important essays I've written. Fiction writers aren't the *only* ones whose brains are expanded and improved by reading a foreign language. tinyurl.com/ycxmsdye

The idea of Kid Rock “highlighting” anything in 2026 is hilarious.

The GOP and its media mouthpieces spent more time discussing Hunter Biden’s stupid laptop than they will ever discuss the depraved monsters who committed vile acts against children. The moral depravity within our government is astonishing.

Holy Holy Holy shit I think we can put 2 and 2 together now oh my god

"Feeling 'inferior' has its perks. You can choose to wallow in self-pity, or you can pick yourself up, dust yourself up, and take action to rise above your inferiority complex. You can motivate yourself, in other words, to do better. To be better." #running open.substack.com/pub/kesemmel...

In @kesemmel.bsky.social's article for @aarp.org, he talks about how Tourette Syndrome Affects 5 Older Americans, and more. buff.ly/T70VGEq Get THE BOOK OF LOSMAN right here: buff.ly/tytNndl @susanschulman.bsky.social

In too many families we say, "politics divide us. So let's not discuss politics." We don't discuss *why* politics divide us. We don't discuss *who* is dividing us. By not discussing politics we don't find the common ground that unites us all.

Whenever the reckoning for this administration comes (if it comes), one of the first things that needs to be done is a dismantling of Fox News and the entire media engine that makes state/corporate propaganda possible. Excellent story here in @motherjones.com. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Don't miss out on listening to @kesemmel.bsky.social on the Three Percent Podcast! buff.ly/gArxtly Treat yourself to THE BOOK OF LOSMAN right here: bit.ly/3TYAXzJ @susanschulman.bsky.social

"The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again." - William Faulkner, The Paris Review, 1956

Happy #ThrowbackThursday to @kesemmel.bsky.social's article "I Always Knew I Was Different..." that was published in the @huffpost.com! buff.ly/qJjGRkE Get THE BOOK OF LOSMAN just in time for the holidays right here: buff.ly/QpQiGwP @susanschulman.bsky.social

Today I passed 26,000 words on my WIP, all written since May. I’m going to take a moment to celebrate that.

I don’t believe in writing more words. I believe in writing perfect words.

I wanted to share my experience of masking tics. Something I've always done, and likely always will. #tourette open.substack.com/pub/kesemmel...

WTF are we doing. Day after day after day after day after day...

I’ve read that in “You’re Missing” Bruce Springsteen was writing about a widow after 9/11. But this song could be written for a man or woman whose spouse or child has been disappeared by ICE. A really gorgeous song. youtu.be/xsrz3mPq7pM?si

Just a thought for organizations and businesses. You don't *have* to use every holiday as an excuse to send an email to constituents, particularly if all you do is give the same (or similar) feelgood statement as everyone else.

Not that it matters to anyone but me, but I have been writing some of my best prose (I think?) over the past four or five months. New fiction. The high one gets from creativity is so fucking powerful.

With winter on its way, we're revisiting @electricliterature.com's list of "15 Small Press Books You Should Be Reading This Winter," which feature CITY OF DANCING GARGOYLES by @taracampbell.bsky.social, and THE BOOK OF LOSMAN by @kesemmel.bsky.social! buff.ly/NdF1elz Shop here: buff.ly/Z10hFls

Start the morning off right when you listen to THE BOOK OF LOSMAN by @kesemmel.bsky.social on #Audible! buff.ly/dLGLUYK @susanschulman.bsky.social

Don't miss out on reading @kesemmel.bsky.social's latest installment to his newsletter, "On Reading and Writing in a Dystopian Age." buff.ly/zPASrqH Get THE BOOK OF LOSMAN right here: amzn.to/3uJDi7C @susanschulman.bsky.social

It’s horrifying to me that we’ve offered perhaps our greatest human asset, our language, to machines that commodify it into discrete units of value for the taking and breaking of human minds. open.substack.com/pub/kesemmel...

Check out @kesemmel.bsky.social's latest interview with Tourette syndrome and disability advocate Jhónelle Bean for his newsletter, Bright Boy! buff.ly/asOz8i2 Afterwards, you listen to his novel THE BOOK OF LOSMAN on #Audible! buff.ly/4w7v9QT

It’s a sad fact that Bob Dylan’s lines “we’re living in times where men commit crimes/and crime don’t have a face” from his song “political world” will always be true.

This article in the @TheAtlantic by translator Benjamin Ross is excellent—a warning about what we lose when we rely on AI to translate language. As a literary translator, i can certainly relate. Disappointing to find the audio version narrated by AI. www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...

I recently interviewed #tourettesyndrome and disability advocate Jhonelle Bean for my substack, Bright Boy. Hear what she has to say about how her advocacy has helped her mental health. Hint: talking about it is good. youtube.com/shorts/URW1X...

Mamdani: My message to I.C.E. Agents and to everyone across this city is that everyone will be held to the same standard of the law. If you violate the law, you must be held accountable.

The thing i’ve learned about writing in the 30 years I’ve worked at my writing is that it can be both excitingly challenging work and, at the same time, incredibly *fun* work—the very best kind of labor there is. Why would anyone use AI to do this?

I was wondering why my friend Kyle (@kesemmel.bsky.social) named his Substack "Bright Boy." He wrote a wonderful essay in response and I learned more about him, which is maybe what we want in any writing. So many Substacks, some of them not very interestingly named. But "Bright Boy"? I love it.

On 9/11, terrorists flew planes into the Twin Towers and attempted to fly another into the White House or the U.S. Capitol. Now this administration is completing the job for them. The destruction of the WH during a gov't shutdown, while the country decays, is a perfect symbol for today's GOP.

We're thrilled to share @kesemmel.bsky.social's article "‘You Learn How to Cope’: How Tourette Syndrome Affects 5 Older Americans," that was recently published in @aarp.org! buff.ly/tpsTGCr Treat yourself to THE BOOK OF LOSMAN right here: buff.ly/0LgcVQA @susanschulman.bsky.social

My friend @sejalshah.bsky.social asked me why I named my Substack "Bright Boy." Here's why. open.substack.com/pub/kesemmel...

Chaos is too gentle a word for fascism, for the meanness and cruelty we’re witnessing every single day, but it's exactly what this administration wants to provoke. #NoKings

ICE has been deployed to *provoke* civilians, not to protect them. They want to throw tear gas canisters and get people on the streets riled up, all to create footage for Fox News and Newsmax, et al., that will be used as a pretext for imposing martial law to lower voting rates in Democratic cities.

I recently interviewed #tourettesyndrome advocate and all-around amazing person Vernell Jones for my substack. Watch here: youtu.be/thbBgG7kOoU?...

This is a) utterly terrifying and b) vital. Don’t turn away. The crisis is fixable because it is, ultimately, political. We know the chemistry. We decline the action necessary.

I was thrilled to write a story on adults with #tourettesyndrome for AARP. It features some fantastic humans who've dealt with TS all their lives. Few studies have explored the impact TS has had on us adults with TS, I write, but that’s beginning to change. www.aarp.org/health/condi...

I'm looking forward to this event with @sejalshah.bsky.social at Brighton Memorial Library next week. bml.libcal.com/event/14829483

Prepare for the upcoming weekend when you treat yourself to THE BOOK OF LOSMAN by @kesemmel.bsky.social on #Audible! buff.ly/fI1eG0H @susanschulman.bsky.social

Now that Trump has taken over the national guard and plans to deploy them to DC, a reminder: he’s in the Epstein files. The President of the U.S. is a rapist.

I wrote about 'normalizing' #tourettesyndrome this week in fiction and in culture. kesemmel.substack.com/p/normalizin...

Honestly can't think of a more straightforward example of how men profit from the sexual degradation of women

The less I'm on social media the happier I am, and the better my relationships with other people, *real* people. Of course, that means I have almost zero engagement on this platform.

For my substack this week I wrote about 11 Bob Dylan songs that have deep artistic meaning for me. Call me a luddite if you will, but in the age of generative AI, I'm going to embrace great human-made art and cling to it. Click on the link to see the list. kesemmel.substack.com/p/11-great-b...