The paper wrappings on chopsticks in Japanese restaurants are my favourite bookmarks

This is your regular reminder that the dividers in Twinings tea boxes make excellent scented bookmarks.

We have always been at war with Tylenol

Every time this pops up on my feed I am afraid this is what flashes into my head (but also, read it)

People are making Rapture jokes like there's no tomorrow

lmao my daughter made French toast with caramelised banana, vanilla ice cream, and pistachios and had to do *nothing* but eat it

it's like nobody remembers the French revolution any more and it's like they really should.

I agree with this – it has shock value, but isn’t that relevant to people in the UK. I understand why it’s the biggest story on Bluesky: this place pretty much selects for neurodivergence (complimentary)

Stop treating them like they are stupid; start treating them like they are vindictive. THE CRUELTY IS THE POINT

lmao at @tkingfisher.com liking this after writing What Moves the Dead

"yes, but what atomic weight were you assigned at birth"

“Imagine” is doing an extraordinary amount of work here.

Looking forward to chatting with Konrad Muller about his exceptional debut novel. www.readings.com.au/events/konra...

Me, to my publishers all over the world: Sorry, all those book rights really belong to my landlords. *They* deserve my royalties, thanks.

An update on that insane lease term where the landlord owns everything you create during the tenancy:

Kamala Harris on MSNBC now saying she “always believed titans of industry” would be guardrails for democracy but now—shocker—she reports that turns out they’re not. Only, she still’s waiting! “At some point they’ve got to stand up.” This kind of willful naïveté & denial doesn’t need airtime.

I have a gazillion photos of the yellow-footed rock-wallabies at Boolcoomatta. Here's one to start with. It was amazing to spend time with them. I love their stripey tails.

A Guardian analysis of age assurance technology trial data, which will underpin the government’s teen social media ban, shows the impact of introducing age checks will fall hardest on already-marginalised groups www.theguardian.com/news/2025/se...

Maybe the best meme I have ever made:

November is going to be Sharpy barbarian central! 😎

I am a stuck and broken record but every time it's true: scratch a terf, sniff a racist.

Oh ffs

Omg, prolific and engaging - that’s an impressive body of work I own several of those. My favourite, Philosophy In The Garden.

I’m about to do a storytime at Parkdale Library in Melbourne, reading MY POP IS A PIRATE for Talk Like a Pirate Day. 🏴‍☠️ Aaaaargh ye scurvy dogs!

Last night I had a fantastic chat with novelist Toni Jordan at Cheltenham Library, Melbourne. We talked chiefly about my new philosophy book IMMORTAL GESTURES, but also about my children’s books, and my love of language. I’m flying back to Hobart now, to enjoy some well-earned cold & rain.

Since we moved here two years ago, hundreds of my books have been in storage. And by “in storage”, I mean in the shed or under the stairs. This morning I managed to get some of my books from the cupboard and make a “Books By Damon Young” pile. Please say something nice while I grab an ibuprofen.

A book is an inanimate object till it finds a reader. But that's when it comes alive...!

Somehow not the most insane term I’ve seen in a residential lease.

Albums I loved in the sixth form - JAMC, Pogues - being reissued in 40th anniversary editions.

im sorry but my wife loves me the most

Toni Morrison wrote that “all water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was”. Morrison was talking about writing and the Mississippi, but she could easily have been talking about the creeks that flow through 'Honeyeater'. satpa.pe/3NfT7Xl

All of this, but particularly the lack of curiosity about material relations of power, and authority as moral superiority - understandable you enjoy such a status quo when you've come through the Wesley>Melb Uni > corporate law > media + academia pipeline

No shade to Mehdi here but we are told violence isn't the answer yet the only alternative activity seems to be 'hey look fascists are being a little hypocritical' and I guess it would be nice to know what the secret third thing is

If I were feeling glib, I’d say that this is less a “fit-for-purpose system” and more a “fit-for-system purpose”.

I don’t know Waleed, so take this with a pinch of salt. But what his latest piece *looks like* is celebrity logic refined (but not altered) by a PhD. Celebrity logic loves broadcast media: a one way flow of information from them to hoi polloi. The information flows down, and from a great distance.

Terrific to see former editor of Meanjin @anatolitis.bsky.social in good spirits at an event celebrating the now-defunct journal last night

I’m interstate again for book events, but this time I remembered my pen. HUZZAH. (But I forgot my noise cancelling headphones. The world is very loud.)

Last night I had a fantastic chat with novelist Toni Jordan at Cheltenham Library, Melbourne. We talked chiefly about my new philosophy book IMMORTAL GESTURES, but also about my children’s books, and my love of language. I’m flying back to Hobart now, to enjoy some well-earned cold & rain.

Peer reviewing manuscripts and now seeing that there is a box to check that the reviewer has not fed the manuscript into AI. This is a good step, but a sign that some reviewers are behaving very poorly.

And we now know where Generative AI learned to play chess: Boy 2.

I bought a machine that comes with this button and now I cannot stop pressing this button. This is the most satisfying thing ever.

Gimli at the Doors of Durin: BRRRRRRR ZABZAB BOOM!

Sounds like the funnest chess game ever! Zab zab!

Two young boys playing chess at the library here: Boy 1: your turn Boy 2: my piece jumps all yours & gets your big one Boy 1: you can’t do that Boy 2: no but my piece goes brrrrr & then goes zabzab & gets yours Boy 1: you can’t— Boy 2: BRRRRRRR ZABZAB BOOM Boy 1: Boy 1: you’re unbelievable

Me, a philosopher genius: [nodding down to you from my mountain peak] from here everything looks the same

It felt like Australian publishing was shrinking with mergers and the shock closure of Meanjin - waiting to see the full story behind that! But there's a few new players bring fresh energy and new books in recent months. With thanks to @jocaseau.bsky.social for excellent editing.

'Everyone Except Me Is Always Wrong About Everything' By Waleed Ali

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