Jenny Bartoy

📵 COVER ANNOUNCEMENT 📵 We are so excited to share the cover of NO CONTACT: Writers on Estrangement, edited by Jenny Bartoy! Cover design by the fabulous Nicole Caputo ⭐

NO CONTACT will hit bookstores on April 28th and is available to preorder now:
books.catapult.co/books/no-con...

Sisterly Strife in Scarred Cuba: An Interview with Ivonne Lamazares - Chicago Review of Books A conversation with Ivonne Lamazares on her new novel, "The Tilting House"

"I’m endlessly curious about how people reconstruct and anchor their lives after a devastating and radical change."

@jennybartoy.bsky.social's interview with Ivonne Lamazares on her new book “The Tilting House” (@catapultbooks.bsky.social) is out now.
chireviewofbooks.com/2025/07/24/s...

i firmly believe one of the main messages we should be telling our students about this whole thing is that generative ‘AI’ by definition will *never* have an original idea,
and if you use it, neither will *you*

The reason there's no working class representation in publishing is because publishing and writing currently pay so badly only people who are already financially stable can afford to do it.
The problem is always, always money.

Taking a break from mental health to focus on social media. Just really looking to be as unstable as possible with everything going on right now, thx for understanding.

Thank you so much, David. I will look up Drawing Blood!

Literacy is activism.
Reading is a political act.
Books are tools for liberation.

Are you estranged from family? Do you have a story to tell about it?

For the anthology Broken Free (Catapult, April 2026), I am seeking personal essays and flash nonfiction about a few specific topics.

Please visit bit.ly/estrangedanthology for submission guidelines and more info. Deadline 3/9.

Thank you! Just followed.

Thank you, Alexis! I look forward to reading your submission.

Are you estranged from family? Do you have a story to tell about it?

For the anthology Broken Free (Catapult, April 2026), I am seeking personal essays and flash nonfiction about a few specific topics.

Please visit bit.ly/estrangedanthology for submission guidelines and more info. Deadline 3/9.

I adored this book, and my conversation with the author. Climate dystopia, beyond relevant for our times, written with deep humanity and gorgeous prose — highly recommend.

@eirencaffall.bsky.social @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social

I am still looking for a few specific angles actually. I’m curious about your poems. I’ll reach out via your website.

After I Cut Off Contact From My Mother, I Was Shocked By The Brutal Move My Sisters Made “I do not forgive my sisters, but I do not blame them, either. It took me 50 years to see that my mother was manipulating us all.”

Fantastic piece about estrangement.

“When one person steps away, it is easy to cast them as the breaker of the family, when in fact the family was broken already.”

@huffpost.com

Jacquie Pham On Historical Fiction, Colonialism, and “the Many Imbalances that Wealth, Gender, and Power Wield.” A historical mystery set in 1920s French-colonial Vietnam, Those Opulent Days is the debut of Vietnamese-Australian author Jacquie Pham. The novel opens with a death, and the prophecy that foretold…

A historical mystery set in 1920s French-colonial Vietnam, THOSE OPULENT DAYS is the elegant debut of Vietnamese-Australian author Jacquie Pham. My interview with Pham for @crimereads.bsky.social was my last publication of 2024. You can read this deep and compelling conversation at the link below.

Thank you, Cass! ❤️

I can’t wait to bring BROKEN FREE to readers, both the estranged who long to feel represented, and those who are curious to better understand the experience. In sharing these voices, my hope is that we‘ll become better equipped to expect & develop healthy family relationships. 6/

Estrangement might break us, but it can also set us free. In this collection, writers will dig deep into the many nuances and facets of the experience, rebutting the common narrative that “blood is thicker than water” or that one can’t be whole without their family of origin. 5/

Families fall apart for myriad reasons, and millions face this reality, often in silence. It’s time to deepen the conversation around the concept of “no contact.” Estrangement can be grief, alienation, or rejection, but it can also be relief, authenticity, or even joy. /4

*No one* wants to be estranged from their family, and yet sometimes, cutting ties is the healthiest, most peaceful choice — be it temporary or permanent. Sometimes, it’s not our choice, as a family member withdraws from our life. Sometimes, family members are simply incompatible. /3

This is the book I wish I´d read 20 years ago, when I first set some tough boundaries with my parent. Family estrangement is a common phenomenon (affecting at least 27% percent of the American population per the latest research) yet it is often tainted with shame and stigma. 2/

Deal announcement! BROKEN FREE: WRITERS ON #ESTRANGEMENT will be published in 2026. I’m thrilled to work with @catapultbooks.bsky.social on this important book, with an amazing list of contributors. So grateful to my agent @mlwyd.bsky.social and everyone who has supported this project. 1/

Well, hello! Welcome.

@literaryhub.bsky.social @mollsotov.bsky.social

Paula Hawkins Talks Art, Feminism, and the Evolution of Her Thrillers With The Blue Hour, Paula Hawkins delivers a different kind of thrill than the propulsive The Girl on the Train which put her on the map as a bestselling author. This new novel, a dark deep dive in…

I so enjoyed my conversation with Paula Hawkins for CrimeReads. Her new psychological thriller, THE BLUE HOUR, tackles themes both complex and universal, including feminism, art, violence, and obsession. Ingeniously layered like paint strokes across canvas, this novel thrilled me and made me think.

The Path Forward It's going to be okay.

The must-read equivalent of a deep breath. I found this Substack article very helpful.

And I just ordered Sheehan’s What Does the Constitution Actually Say? from @bookshop-org.bsky.social 🤩

@bensheehan.bsky.social

I still grapple with this, many years into family estrangement, but the more I let go, the healthier and more authentic I feel.

Whitney Goodman LMFT (@sitwithwhit on most socials) produces amazing content about #estrangement. I recommend giving her newsletter and podcast a follow.

Louise Erdrich discusses new novel’s inspiration, writing teenagers Erdrich connected with The Seattle Times over email to answer a few questions about her new book, "The Mighty Red," ahead of a Town Hall appearance.

(From October 2024) My interview with the incomparable Louise Erdrich appeared in the Seattle Times. THE MIGHTY RED is her best novel yet and I so enjoyed getting to pick her brilliant brain about it.

This is a fantastic explanation of dysfunctional family dynamics. Gossip-fueled drama (and assorted lies) is exactly why I cut ties with my father and subsequently became #estranged from the siblings who maintain a relationship with him. Gossip makes healthy relationships unsustainable.