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Alexander Wells

@ajbwells.bsky.social

Freelance critic/essayist from Aus with bylines at Guardian, Drift, Baffler, European Review of Books, Meanjin, etc. Ex-Berliner Books editor https://sites.google.com/view/ajbwells

2,635 Followers  |  1,635 Following  |  128 Posts  |  Joined: 03.10.2023
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Posts by Alexander Wells (@ajbwells.bsky.social)

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know, I know, times are tough and money is short but as we find ourselves increasingly in a world where stories are censored and the corporates buy up shelf space with their discounts.

If you are able please do support Independent publishers.

@northernfiction.bsky.social

08.01.2026 13:50 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 58    ๐Ÿ” 18    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

Das ist der Nรคhrboden, auf dem das Netzwerk von Jeffrey Epstein gedeihen konnten: Die kalauernde Normalisierung der Sexualisierung von Kinderm.
Wer so redet, sollte 2026 kein Ministerprรคsident werden.

24.02.2026 14:53 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 993    ๐Ÿ” 291    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 46    ๐Ÿ“Œ 13
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Oi quick question! What's a great opening? For an extra scoop of Auflauf, we asked some mates how best to begin.

We asked some friends, too:

24.02.2026 16:39 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 2    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

imo it doesn't get much better than:

Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend

24.02.2026 17:20 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 6    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Nell Zink, The Wallcreeper:

โ€œI was looking at the map when Stephen swerved, hit the rock, and occasioned the miscarriage.โ€

(Didnโ€™t even have to look it up. It lives in my head.)

24.02.2026 16:51 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 9    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

๐Ÿซก

24.02.2026 11:04 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Oi quick question! What's a great opening? For an extra scoop of Auflauf, we asked some mates how best to begin.

Not often you seen "Oi!" in European cultural discourse: it can only be @ajbwells.bsky.social, here with his "extra scoop of Auflauf": namely on great book openings... theauflauf.substack.com/p/oi-quick-q...

24.02.2026 09:10 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 7    ๐Ÿ” 3    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

oh, Hoffnung genug, unendlich viel Hoffnung, nur nicht fรผr uns

22.02.2026 15:00 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

BRILLIANT short story ๐Ÿ‘€

22.02.2026 14:36 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

thanks for taking part mate!!

22.02.2026 14:33 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Marcel Krรผger reads a text on stage

Marcel Krรผger reads a text on stage

Julia Bosson introduced the evening and lineup

Julia Bosson introduced the evening and lineup

Julia Bosson, Paul Scraton, Katy Derbyshire and Alex Wells on stage

Julia Bosson, Paul Scraton, Katy Derbyshire and Alex Wells on stage

A group picture of all participants of the evening

A group picture of all participants of the evening

A fantastic evening yesterday, (critically) celebrating Christa Wolf at Lettrรฉtage with @juliabosson.bsky.social @paulscraton.bsky.social @ajbwells.bsky.social @katyderbyshire.bsky.social Sanders Bernstein, Agnieszka Gasparska, Sylvia Krupicka & Roxie Perkins.

22.02.2026 14:25 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 9    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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This is me, @katyderbyshire.bsky.social and @ajbwells.bsky.social about to start our chat about the life and work of Christa Wolf. Luckily we only found out Wolfโ€™s daughter was in the audience after weโ€™d finished!

22.02.2026 06:57 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 5    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

๐Ÿ˜œ

21.02.2026 11:41 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Christa Wolf in our day - Lettrรฉtage Discussion and reading โ€œIs life identical with time in its unavoidable but mysterious passage?โ€ asked Christa Wolf in the introduction to her book One Day a Year. โ€œWhile I write this sentence, time pa...

Come along to our Christa Wolf event in Berlin tomorrow to hear @katyderbyshire.bsky.social read from her translationsโ€”and moreโ€”while we explore Wolf's post-Wall legacy in discussion & texts submitted from all across town >> psst also it's free >>

www.lettretage.de/Termine/chri...

20.02.2026 17:08 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 11    ๐Ÿ” 5    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Tobias Ryan: โ€˜I dealt with it for ten yearsโ€”now someone else can have it.โ€™ The minor literature[s] Editor-in-Chief on his new novel GLANTZ

In the Auflauf's first monthly author interview, @mathildegm.bsky.social dials up @tobiasvryan.bsky.social in his Parisian garret to talk about unrelatable fiction, @minorliteratures.bsky.social, and the Unreal (European) City of his soul .......

theauflauf.substack.com/p/tobias-rya...

17.02.2026 17:09 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 11    ๐Ÿ” 6    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Tobias Ryan: โ€˜I dealt with it for ten yearsโ€”now someone else can have it.โ€™ The minor literature[s] Editor-in-Chief on his new novel GLANTZ

@tobiasvryan.bsky.social has written a gross, beautiful, challenging book about a horrible man who won't leave you alone โ€“ and I got to talk to him about it for The Auflauf:

17.02.2026 10:22 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 8    ๐Ÿ” 2    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1
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Mรผnchner Sicherheitskonferenz - Reden von Rubio, Wan Yi und von der Leyen

โ€žIn der Substanz ist das das Gleiche wie bei Vanceโ€œ โ€“ dafรผr gab es โ€žstehende Ovationenโ€œ. Stephan Detjen ist die Irritation deutlich anzuhรถren. Selten gab es eine so klare Einschรคtzung zu dem Sachverhalt wie heute im DLF.

14.02.2026 12:19 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 491    ๐Ÿ” 146    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 12    ๐Ÿ“Œ 15

danke ๐Ÿ™

13.02.2026 14:29 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

wohnungssuche essen seele auf

13.02.2026 14:19 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 5    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Senat kรผrzt 740.000 Euro: Hilfsprojekte an Drogen-Hotspots vor dem Aus Mitte und Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg verlieren zusammen mehrere Hunderttausend Euro. Betroffen sind Projekte am Leopoldplatz und am Kottbusser Tor.

Ihr mรผsst das verstehen, wo soll denn das Geld fรผr die Olympia-Bewerbung und die Magnetschwebebahn sonst herkommen
www.tagesspiegel.de/koalition-ku...

12.02.2026 09:17 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 831    ๐Ÿ” 262    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 16

Nooteboom passed away.
๐Ÿ’”๐Ÿ’”๐Ÿ’”

12.02.2026 11:09 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 4    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

deadline closes FEB 10TH send us your BEST

06.02.2026 22:04 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 6    ๐Ÿ” 7    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Cool new project alert!!! Subscribe for more soon!

I was honoured to fact-check the gossip section for this issue; will also be doing reviews, interviews, &c. in future instalments

03.02.2026 10:11 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 5    ๐Ÿ” 2    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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IDF accepts Gaza Health Ministry death toll of over 71,000 Palestinians killed in the war Although Many International Experts Have Accepted the Health Ministry's Data as Reliable, and Even Conservative Relative to the True Death Toll, Israel Had Refused to Accept the Health Ministry's Coun...

I cannot tell you how much doubt was consistently directed at the Gaza Health Ministryโ€™s casualty numbers and how much pressure was put on news organizations to couch those numbers as unreliable.

Biden himself said they were fabricated!

www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

29.01.2026 15:29 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 6269    ๐Ÿ” 2192    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 168    ๐Ÿ“Œ 208
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War Hitler links? Nein, das war er nicht. Es ist eine rechte Rechts-Links-Umkehr. Schade, dass FAZ diesen bespielt, schon durch den Titel. Als sei das eine ernst zu nehmende Frage! Und schade, dass Gรถtz Aly hier mitspielt. Interessant das FAZ mit einer polit. Stiftung kooperiert.

29.01.2026 20:02 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 129    ๐Ÿ” 24    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 9    ๐Ÿ“Œ 3

also it's very, very, very, very clear that only a small set of global fans would feel safe to "show up and lodge [their] protest in person" -- what assumptions about global (even european) fandom are we making here

29.01.2026 19:47 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

european teams have huge leverage over the spectacle's present & future viability. why not make a statementโ€”in this already unjust enough world gameโ€”that we won't go to a party that our mates from senegal (&c.) can't go to? also odd not to mention the apartheid sports boycotts, which did have impact

29.01.2026 19:40 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 6    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Vorbild Trump: AfD fordert ICE auch fรผr Deutschland Die AfD Bayern will eine Sonderpolizei fรผr Abschiebungen nach dem Vorbild von ICE. Der Verein Better Police sieht eine โ€žGefahr fรผr Menschenrechteโ€œ.

Remigration bedeutet ein deutsches #ICE und damit enorme Gewalt gegen Millionen von Menschen, die in den Augen der AfD keine Deutschen sind. Daraus macht die AfD keinen Hehl mehr. Hat sie nie, denn wie will man die anberaumten 25 Millionen Menschen, anders loswerden, als mit staatlicher Gewalt?

27.01.2026 09:14 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 107    ๐Ÿ” 41    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 5    ๐Ÿ“Œ 3
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WE WANT YOUR PROSEโ€”submit now to read at our Feb 21 Lettrรฉtage event about Christa Wolf (and her post-Wall writing e.g. One Day A Year). Send us some short prose in any language about the day, the daily, the recurring date, everyday politics. We will print a zine!

sites.google.com/view/mayroec...

22.01.2026 14:20 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 18    ๐Ÿ” 9    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 2

www.lettretage.de/Termine/chri... event details here >>

22.01.2026 14:22 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0