"When looking at the manuscript as a whole, I could see how I had diminished my truths, even years later...In the essay form, I could not hide behind fictional characters or situations." @mardery.bsky.social interviews @mfraterrigo.bsky.social on The Perils of Girlhood, @univnebpress.bsky.social:

"The function of art is to do more than tell it like it is—it’s to imagine what is possible." ~ bell hooks

In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.

📚 Save the date! Our October Literary Lights 2025 event, co-sponsored by @literarymama.bsky.social, features @nicoleharoutunian.bsky.social, author of Choose This Now, in conversation with writer, journalist & IALA founder @okatrandjian.bsky.social. ✨ Oct 19 | 12 PM ET 🔗 Register: bit.ly/3KAQyDa

I can't wait to speak with Nicole Haroutunian about her fantastic novel-in-stories, Choose This Now. Join us Sunday!

"Collective Nouns," a poem by @emcwritesthings.bsky.social, in our Sept/Oct issue:

"There have been times when just one 'no' was enough to derail my ambitions...I know the same kinds of thoughts are circulating in Wyatt's head. That's more painful to me than any of my own losses." @oliviabrochuwrites.bsky.social on tracking loss and rejection with her sons, in our Sept/Oct issue:

"It’s possible, if we are being generous, that Kennedy misspoke. Then again, he would hardly be the first US politician to make it clear he knows nothing about the female bodies he is so keen to legislate, would he?"

Congrats to Mai Serhan on the release of her new memoir, I Can Imagine It For Us! ✨👏 Published by @aucpress.bsky.social, the book details Serhan's search for a connection with her estranged father and the Palestinian homeland she can never visit. Learn more: bit.ly/47ci3dX

🚨 This Sunday! 🚨 Join us on Oct. 19th for our next Literary Lights 2025 event cosponsored by @literarymama.bsky.social and featuring @nicoleharoutunian.bsky.social, author of Choose This Now, in conversation with IALA founder @okatrandjian.bsky.social! Register here: bit.ly/3KAQyDa

This Sunday! See the link below to register (free) for a conversation with Nicole Haroutunian & Olivia Katrandjian, co-sponsored by the International Armenian Literary Alliance & Literary Mama! @okatrandjian.bsky.social @nicoleharoutunian.bsky.social @armenianliterary.org

It broke my heart to write this poem, and I would give it back if I could reverse my brother's death or my mom's diagnosis. But it doesn't work like that. So I'm trying to open my hands to the joy of having a poem in @thenation.com. Thank you, Kaveh Akbar, et al. www.thenation.com/article/cult...

Such a fun episode with shoutouts to so many of our amazing guests!

After publishing our 50th episode, Amanda Fields, @hollyrizzutopal.bsky.social, @evalangston.bsky.social, & Brianna Avenia-Tapper reflect on the evolution of This Mama Is Lit!

For your Tuesday We Lived Happily During the War ~ ILYA KAMINSKY —And when they bombed other people's houses, we protested but not enough, we opposed them but not enough.

A haunted house but it's just a nation without public education.

"I’m on my feet before I can stop myself, the sorrow shifting instantly to rage. I overturn my chair and face the shouting parent. I yell, 'Hey!' Just a single bark, but the volume is surprising." from Kristen Moraine's story, "Left Field," in our Sept/Oct issue:

"My daughters sketch monarchs, create stories. They drape their old baby blankets around their shoulders as wings. As they zoom past Mom, she can only reach out for them, her smile weak, her grasp left empty." from @linalau.bsky.social's essay, "The Chrysalis," in our Sept/Oct issue:

LOVE this episode!!

“Why do people bring all their kids with them to the grocery store?? 😤” Among all the other reasons, consider that if I am only going to get the tiniest little bit of time to myself all day—my one wild and precious break—I might not prefer to spend it buying paper towels and sunbutter

Yes! This!

"imagine if we allowed people to engage w poetry the way we expect people to engage w music. Nobody plays you a song they love or sends you a playlist & then says, get back to me w meanings of all of these songs." @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social on our 50th episode of This Mama Is Lit!

"Shine entices, which is fine/ but don't rush tumbling into that burn" - from Laura Bernstein-Machlay's poem, "Bonfire and Big Waters," in our September/October issue:

Over 100 Brown U students & 20 faculty members gathered outside the campus today to demand that the university reject Trump’s loyalty oath compact. Professors & students taped their mouths shut to symbolize the compact’s threat to free speech, #academicfreedom & diversity of thought. #DefendHigherEd

A great thing about little kids is how you can spend half an hour setting up an activity that will keep them occupied for 5 minutes and creates a mess that will take another half hour to clean up and the whole time you’ll both be on the verge of tears.

"The clouds shrouded our moment" from Marion Wyce's poem, "Eclipse," in our Sept/Oct issue:

"this is one way to learn/the poverty of acceptance around us" from Francine Diodati's poem, "Fragile X Syndrome," in our Sept/Oct issue:

The amazing Maggie Smith is on the fiftieth episode of This Mama Is Lit! 😍 Check it out!

We're celebrating our 50th episode of This Mama Is Lit! @hollyrizzutopal.bsky.social & Amanda get a pep talk from the inimitable @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social! "I have one wish for humans: it's for humans to be less afraid because being afraid makes you live small":

I think of this essay this time every year, a very specific kind of haunting. "I never thought, when I started doing IVF treatments, that a byproduct of those treatments would be that I would actively start to hate Halloween." longreads.com/2018/10/31/d...

Congratulations to @anniemarhefka.bsky.social!

We're celebrating our 50th episode of This Mama Is Lit! @hollyrizzutopal.bsky.social & Amanda get a pep talk from the inimitable @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social! "I have one wish for humans: it's for humans to be less afraid because being afraid makes you live small":

Let’s talk about AI art. theoatmeal.com/comics/ai_art

There’s a lot going on, so here is a map of the world’s forests, divided by categories of wood.

We're getting ready to drop our 50th episode of This Mama Is Lit! tomorrow. Stay tuned for an incredible guest and check out our episodes here: literarymama.substack.com/s/this-mama-...

It's banned books week and so I'm legally obligated to bully you, a person who has ever had their name on a book, into joining @authorsabb.bsky.social. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... We fight the source of book bans with calls to action, partnership w everyone in the game, and offer training.

The Smart Search List of the Day is: Essays feat. @literarymama.bsky.social @orionmagazine.bsky.social @xraylitmag.bsky.social @y2kq.com et al. https://duotrope.com...

"her whole trailer a trousseau of embroidered belief" from Ingrid Andersson's midwifery poem, "Prenatal Visits," in our Sept/Oct issue:

your periodic reminder that you can type -ai in your internet search, and it works most of the time

It's that time of year again... is there anything spookier than impediments to free and open access to information? We think not!! Make sure you follow along with us this Banned Books Week—we'll be sharing all the resources, updates and cool events they don't want you to know about.

Read banned books!

"She considers all the dust his." Read this beauty of a poem by @tsvoboda.bsky.social in our Sept/Oct issue:

"It was so gradual when caring turned into control that Joanna didn’t notice. She thought she was the one who decided her new haircut was more flattering, her friends didn’t support her the way she thought they did, the books she read didn’t challenge her." @judithhannan.bsky.social, Sept/Oct issue:

Thank you for sharing my poem, @literarymama.bsky.social !

I worry that in schools they’re getting too much “active reading” training too early. Actively pulling information from a passage is a very useful skill, but is certainly not how you should engage with Gandalf inviting dwarves to your peaceful home for a raucous party.

It is also an important time to be reading and writing. Fortifying yourself with truth & good argument. Rest and take a break. Repeat as needed.

"This is the story I don’t want to tell, the one I think you remember." @raica-klotz.bsky.social's essay, "Push," vividly narrates a reactionary motherhood moment:

Everything Falling Apart, Reports Institute For Somehow Managing To Hold It All Together https://theonion.com/everything-falling-apart-reports-institute-for-somehow-1819569822/