Washington Post is shuttering its book section, part of the ongoing war against literacy & knowledge. We at Current Affairs want to pick up the slack by expanding book reviews. Writers: pitch us anytime! And if you subscribe/donate we'll use the funding to commission book coverage.

Excited for this one!

New year, new BAIT at @sausalitolibrary.bsky.social! Our January 30 event features the superlatively talented readers @jonvhickey.bsky.social, @tomasmmoniz.bsky.social, @lpandell.bsky.social, and Sommer Schafer. Free to attend; more information at baitreading.com. #WritingCommunity #BayAreaWriters

Christmas cards designed by Salvador Dalí, 1950s-1970s

HUGE congrats to our former StoryBoard and PJ Seminar instructor Patricia Smith on winning the National Book Award last night for her poetry collection "The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems". buff.ly/9C9wCGu

Tonight!

This Friday! Join us for a free reading event @sausalitolibrary.bsky.social. Full details at baitreading.com.

Sensible zombies start the day with a brain muffin

This piece does so much in so little space.

I laughed out loud when I read this story by @efghannon.bsky.social in the submission pile, because what else can you do when you encounter something this stunning?

Loved the thin line between humor and disaster in these two pieces by Sophie Klar:

This flash by Christian Fuller had me at “bird shit.” Now live @havehashad.com!

I loved the loneliness underlying the scamminess of this fantastic piece by @jamieyouwere.bsky.social. Give it a read!

Yessssss @lpandell.bsky.social!

The BAIT reading series launches November 7 at 6 pm, featuring @sashavasilyuk.bsky.social, Jaime Cortez, Susanna Kwan, Lisa Teasley, and Armen Davoudian @sausalitolibrary.bsky.social. More info/RSVP here: www.baitreading.com #Authors #WritingCommunity #BookSky #reading #BayAreaWriters

And scene. Thank you to everyone who shared their work!

I think I maybe should have added an addendum not to hex me @havehashad.com @jlyocum.com

Lol @havehashad.com

Tonight! 4 pm PST/7 pm EST. Send me your stellar, weird, inexplicable work (just make sure it’s 500 words or less).

This Tuesday! May the odds be ever in your favor:

Obligatory quote repost so I can tag @havehashad.com and @tanyazilinskas.com This is going to be about the most fun anyone might legally have on any given Tuesday!

This is what we call foreshadowing

Please join me at Stories on Stage Davis for a performance of my story "Overview Effect" (originally published in @yourimpossiblevoice.com) on October 12. Full event info here: storiesonstagedavis.com/authors/10-1...

I didn’t even realize there was supposed to be a rapture when I had my generative writing class read @blackquisition.bsky.social’s “Erasure” last night: kenyonreview.org/kr-online-is...

Brilliant

Bay Area friends! I am teaching a *free* generative workshop starting this month at the beautiful Mill Valley Library, Mondays from 5:30 pm until 6:30 pm. Everyone is welcome--let's write together! More information and register here: millvalleylibrary.libcal.com/event/151191...

I must smell this. I also wrote a story a few years back about the weird world of perfume and perfume reviewers: porterhousereview.org/articles/sil...

The thing about having a bob with bangs is there's always one day where you look like Lord Farquaad

Editing obstacle

So ready for this @isleofanalia.bsky.social! 🎉

Today is the official pub date for this little freak of a novella by the legendary Mario Bellatin and translated by me.

I adored this flash by Devan Murphy in @electricliterature.com. Give yourself a break from the unconscionable weirdness of the world and bask in its brilliant weirdness: electricliterature.com/the-beginnin...

Cousin in Iran, she lives in a suburb of Tehran: “They’re bombing us, apartment buildings & homes. Apparently where high ranking officials live but entire buildings of other people. Dogs and cats freaking out. We couldn’t get in the basement.” They’re bombing high rises full of civilians.

both parties are the same, i hear

At first I was excited about all the HAGS in my kids’ yearbooks because I thought the youth were into witches now, but turns out it’s just ‘have a great summer’

Why am I only now learning about Goth dahlias?

I'm looking for some volunteer readers for both @fracturedlit.bsky.social & @unchartedmag.bsky.social I love for readers to have a bit of publishing success and a love for the genre/form! Let me know if you're interested! It's 2–4 hours of reading per week, but I'm flexible!

Come have tea and poetry with me and @jjrancourt.bsky.social in Sonoma County at the Hallberg Butterfly Gardens, June 15th.

The only thing working in this country right now is GLP-1

Chekhov's blender

I think I've finally found the in-road to fixing one of my older stories. The solution was completely obvious: add a swamp creature from Slavic folklore.

AWP was a bit of everything new and old

The best event top-to-bottom was @lpandell.bsky.social's Tales from the Edges of California, starring @josephbienkahn.com, Jamaica Cole, Nick Ebeling (realized we had dinner once?), Richard Edson(!!!), TS Leonard, @sarason.bsky.social and @tanyazilinskas.com-- each one delivered a total banger. #AWP

Tonight! Hope to see some of you there. And if you see me wandering around AWP, please say hi. I have a terrible IRL facial recognition, so I’ll probably be squinting at name tags.

Everyone’s like “this can’t be fascism it’s too dumb” but they don’t understand that fascism is in fact almost always very dumb! Fascist dictators are cruel and stupid men. And it’s popular because many people are cruel and stupid!

!

What a joy to see literary stars and BFFs in action

“The worst thing I can think of is being remembered as doing too little, holding back, and playing it safe as the world burned.”

Btw if you can't get through to your senators via phone, did you know you can fax them for free from your computer or phone?

"If someone legally in the United States can be grabbed from his home for engaging in constitutionally protected political activity, we are in a drastically different country from the one we inhabited before Trump’s inauguration." www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/o...