Nikesh Shukla

How do i get an invite to that WA group? Also owed money.

@gralefrit.bsky.social how does one get invited into this unbound whatsapp group?

Shuks Recommends 23rd May 2025 An occasional list of stuff I'm into. This week's writer's diary is about violence so TW for that.

Right that's way too much posting. Going back to my banal quiet stupid life of worrying privately. Subscribe to my substack: I recommend stuff once a week and post writing tips once a week, and, sigh, there's a writing podcast coming. alas. God I make myself sick: nikesh.substack.com/p/shuks-reco...

‘Men need liberation too’: do we need more male novelists? As a small press launches dedicated to new male fiction, authors including Anne Enright and Nikesh Shukla ask if men are really being pushed out of publishing

I contributed to this on men's fiction. I didn't feel the need to repeat myself, that I don't think there's a crisis in men's fiction. Exciting stuff is getting published and this isn't an overcorrection. I shouted out teachers/librarians/MG&YA writers instead: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

My childhood best friend, a doctor, has set up a project to get kids who need urgent specialist medical care, out of Gaza, to get the help they need. They're crowdfunding here: www.purehope.co.uk

In other, more important news, free Palestine.

I'm incredibly angry and disappointed by the news that Unbound won't be paying its authors the money it owes us. The Good Immigrant contributors are owed royalties from at least two years ago. I have more to say, and I do not speak on behalf of the contributors, but more to follow, soon.

I’m not about to start sharing my inane opinions again after a good three years away from twitter. But if we’re friends, say hi so I can follow you and we can DM each other our spicy opinions.

Richard Flanagan wins Baillie Gifford prize and questions sponsor’s fossil fuel ties Australian author says he will not accept £50,000 prize money until fund manager reduces its fossil fuel investments

Great stuff from Richard Flanagan. People in publishing who do fuck all to change the status quo are always the snidiest about stuff like this. Far too protective of their free books and shit red wine. Question to them: what are you willing to give up for change? www.theguardian.com/books/2024/n...

Spider-Man India issues 1-4 on a wooden floor.

Spider-Man India issue #4 of 5 is out now.

Who are the great indie comics publishers?

Nikesh and Adam stand next to issue 5.

Issue 1!

Issues 2 and 3 of Spidey India

Issue 4 of Spidey India

Met ADAM KUBERT!

The best time to send a script off is immediately after you've saved to pdf. You are untouchable. The script is perfect. NO NOTES.

Press send...

await notes.
start noting yourself...
oh god. It's not perfect. It's the least perfect thing since marmite peanut butter, which should be perfect.

Deadline approaching to be on the Faber Academy Writing A Novel course I teach, alongside Sabrina Broadbent and Shelley Weiner. Get your applications in!

Thursdays, 10.30am-1.30pm Farringdon
Starting 5th October for 6 months

t.co/TxfH1ie5q9

40. That picture of my mum as a teenager, sitting in front of the Taj Mahal.
41. Food.
42. A walk after a meal.
43. Strong, intentional hugs.

37. That moment in 7-a-side football, when you're the comptroller at the back, the last player to get past, and you can see the movement of the entire field in front of you.
38. Watching my daughters be interested in stuff.
39. My wife's feet on my lap.

34. The theme music of Talk Easy podcast, Sam Fragoso's quiet, thoughtful, tentative intro.
35. When the setting sun turns the ocean into foil.
36. Spider-Man. Spider-Man comics. Spider-Man movies. Spider-Man gifs. Spider-Man artwork. Spider-Man merch. Spider-Man games. Spider-Man toys.

29. Paratha. Any time of the time.
30. Standing in my kaki's kitchen as she makes paratha.
31. Kaki's aloo paratha.
32. The beach.
33. Standing waist-high in the ocean, watching waves, waiting for the one to jump on to carry me back to shore.

25. When everyone's asleep, and it's Wednesday and my pull list is begging me to dive in to this week's superhero adventures.
26. When nerm calls and bellows 'ahoooo BASKET' down the phone at me.
27. Mohabbat by Arooj Aftab.
28. The sound of Mulatu Astatke's piano.

21. When Musa calls me 'maestro' in a text.
22. Scrolling through the earlier entries of the Rad Brown Dads tumblr.
23. Teju Cole's prose.
24. The bridge you go under just before you pull into Harrow On The Hill station, Northbound, the childhood home is minutes away.

17. That morning poo, before anyone else is up, there's only me, and the cold toilet seat, and wordle.
18. When Yoga With Adriene tells me to find what feels good.
19. Making marinade for a chilli paneer.
20. Playing the souljazz 100% women reggae compilation at full blast.

15. In 'Dancing Choose' by TV On the Radio, when Tunde sings 'clap your hands, if you think your soul is free,' and the handclaps come in. I always clap in time, no matter where I am, and it brings me joy.
16. Rain on concrete in the middle of the night during a hot summer.
17. My grandfather's hat.

12. The first minute back at home after the school drop-off. Everything is quiet and anything is possible.
13. When Pam says goodbye to Michael in Steve Carrell's final episode of The Office, and the mics are off.
14. When DeNiro says, "Looks like I'm walking" at the end of Midnight Run.

11. A photograph of me and my boys, all sitting around a Steinway piano, backstage at Southbank Centre. I said, pretend we’re in the Rat Pack. We all look like we’re trying not to laugh. We’re far from the Rat Pack.

6. The sound of my kids’ sleeping, breathing, out of time with each other, but syncopated enough to give rhythm and balance to the end of my day.
7. Silence with my grandmother.
8. The sight of strings and strings of orange marigold flowers.
9. The first toke.
10. Room temperature water.

5. The way the beat drops, just for a snatch of a second, around the three minute mark of ‘Summer Friends’, where it feels like a mistake, before coming back in like nothing was wrong.

3.     Sitting on the steps of your home, in the shade, watching the world quietly mind its business on a hot summer’s day in late July.
4.     Jeremiah’s ooohinh and coooing at the start of Chance The Rapper’s song ‘Summer Friends’.

1.     The split second when you burst through a wave on your bodyboard and you realise you hit the curl of the water exactly right.
2.     The smell of fresh passionfruit.

I turned 43 this weekend. It was nice. And peaceful. Here follows 43 things that bring me peace...