Haven't been on Bluesky in ages, but this was such a fun event and just wanted to remind everyone that Austin's book is in the world and ready for you to read!

Come out to @barrelhouse.bsky.social C&C and write some poems with me!

For those who love thoughtful commentary on product and process, check out this review by my friend, the multitalented @rebeccamoonruark.bsky.social: open.substack.com/pub/moonruar... #bookreview #essay #TomLake #storytelling

FEVERDREAM, my poetry collection, comes out in 2026. These poems came when I finally gave myself time and space to write freely. The result wasn't just art—it was restoration. Restorative writing: creating space to be whole in a fractured world. #FEVERDREAM #PoetryCollection #NarrativeMedicine

Today is birthday 53...celebrate with me by reading one of my favorite winter poems. Perhaps us winter-born have a special affinity to the austere winter images? But who can resist a "liquid moon?" #birthday www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45504/...

My last Substack of 2025, but no "best of" lists, I promise! A bit of Jane Austen, Claire Keegan, what's coming ahead in 2026, links to recent narrative medicine work, and a wish for the holidays. open.substack.com/pub/reneekni...

New in The Writer's Chronicle: my exploration of how creative writing programs can meaningfully integrate with healthcare through narrative medicine. #narrativemedicine #healthcarestories #creativewriting writerschronicle.awpwriter.org/TWC/2025-dec...

With FEVERDREAM waiting in the wings, if you wanted to get a copy of my previous collection, POSTSCRIPTS, you can get it for just over $6 on Amazon or an ePub version on Bookshop for $3.99. a.co/d/dTYy7OY bookshop.org/p/books/post... #poetry #christmaspresent #readpoetry

Check out this lovely flash essay by my friend Caroline Wampole, in Pangyrus! #flashnonfiction #CNF #writingfriends www.pangyrus.com/essay-memoir...

First look at the cover to FEVERDREAM, featuring art by my friend and ongoing collaborator @sallery_art! #coverreveal #poetrycollection #narrativemedicine

My latest Substack takes a look at a debut novel by @pennyzang.bsky.social , and includes updates on what’s on my TBR pile, announcements about FEVERDREAM, and more. #bookreview #writinglife open.substack.com/pub/reneekni...

Ten years of narrative medicine practice meets poetry exploring home, illness, grief, & what medical charts can't capture. FEVERDREAM (Redhawk, 2026) explores illness, grief, and healing. Contact me for e-ARCs or to discuss readings/lectures. Pub date & other details to follow soon! #book

Calling all Health Humanities & Narrative Medicine scholars and book reviewers! I'm excited to announce that advance e-ARCs of DIZZY, a memoir by Rachel Weaver, are now available for pre-publication review. If you're interested in receiving an advance copy for review, please reach out. #bookreview

8-hour drive home from a writing retreat = 8 more hours of creative work. The mountains, the silence, the movement—sometimes the best writing happens when you're not actually writing. Find those in-between moments. They matter. #WritingLife #CreativeProcess

Navy blue ink is changing my life for the better.

Wanted to share this essay by Chris Campanioni , which is so much about writing--as vocation, as process, as way of being in the world: theoffingmag.com/essay/the-sp... #writingcommunity #essay #writinglife

Am I taking a course through the comité champagne as research for a new novel? 😉 #writinglife #writingresearch #champagne #novel #WIP

This is such a cute and clever way to promote a book!

Vintage lion pin for a little something extra today. #vintagefinds #vintagefall #vintage2025

I like to think Robert Redford and Paul Newman make new movies together in the great beyond.

New on substack! #poetry open.substack.com/pub/reneekni...

Welcome to #vintagefall Out last night & got to dress up, with a little nod to the 80s (cue teenage me). The shoes I bought second hand with the tags still on, & the bracelet, that sparkly magenta pink, I picked up somewhere... #vintage #wintagefashion #vintagefall #vintagestyle #fall2025

A fabulous French dinner at Modern Homestead with a wonderful bottle of bubbles.

I'm pretty sure this is going to be a vintage vibe kind of autumn.

I'm rereading A PRIMER FOR POETS AND READERS OF POETRY and it's amazing how much of this feels new again to me, even as it isn't new (beginners mind plus our human frailty of forgetting). Maybe the pleasure of poetry is that you can learn and even excel at it without full mastery. #poetry

My friend, the artist Sally Jane Brown posted this article to LinkedIn, and the idea of enslurrification of culture felt important enough to also post here: news.artnet.com/art-world/sl... #art #culture #writing #criticism

Butterfly take me away.

You choose the song.

Quaint. And yes I miss the landline.

Latest substack is about book criticism and literary culture, in the wake of the AP suspending book review coverage. open.substack.com/pub/reneekni... #bookcriticism #bookreviews #authorlife #literarycommunity

It's Labor Day and the pub day for THE BOOK OF JOBS, an anthology of poetry edited by Erin Murphy: www.psu.edu/news/altoona... And check out my poem, "Curtain Call" in it at oneartpoetry.com/the-book-of-... #poetry #jobs #laborday

Light & shadow, evening, August

Passing along this opportunity. #writingcommunity

Weekend trips are awesome! Monday after weekend trips are full of coffee...

New substack about my very lit weekend... open.substack.com/pub/reneekni...

Hosting a celebration dinner for my friend's child, whose last day of preschool was today. Yes, there will be cake! #cake

The heat and humidity. Ugh.

Some people talk about the two martini lunch, but today I had the two Italian Ice lunch, and you know what? It was pretty marvelous. And, I'm not even tipsy! #lifehack

Today I wrapped an early birthday present for a friend and it looks so pretty. And that's what I've accomplished today! #accomplishment

Office hours with @writesloud.bsky.social #amreading #officehours

I wonder why people read what they read. I sometimes wonder why I read what I read--what draws me to poetry and literary fiction and nonfiction. #amreading

The great sweater purge of 2025. No wonder I write so much about the woman who popularized cardigans!

Lunch treat today was caprese pizza and great conversation. Make sure you have lunch with a friend soon. #fabulousfriday

Check out this review of Mo Daviau's EPIC & LOVELY, out soon from WVU Press.

Ooh. Anyone else intrigued?

Oh, I've been there! 😂

Plot twist: Writing a Chanel novel on a decidedly non-Chanel budget 😅 Just finished a major revision - time to celebrate! Challenge: find vintage Chanel pieces to mark the milestone. Fellow thrifters: tag finds with #CocoFindsForRenee! ✨

Office hours with Denton Loving! #amreading #amreadingpoetry

So, when you're offered a contract on a book, it seems like you should feel confident, right? So why is it I will spend hours on a novel in progress over asking for blurbs on the new book of poems? I keep telling myself it's a normal feeling... #writeranxiety #writingcommunity

Unexpected. Héctor, shall I send you my books?