Nick Hilden

Anti-Food Stamp Crusaders Reveal the American Lack-of-Imagination Crisis One of the biggest problems facing the United States is that too many of its people reside in imagination deserts.

open.substack.com/pub/seriousm...

Bernie Sanders on Trump’s AI Slop Storm and Why You Should Run for Office “This is a guy who puts up an AI image of him in an airplane defecating on American cities—not quite the image of the president of the United States that I was educated to respect,” the senator and au...

I had an inspiring talk with @sanders.senate.gov for @vanityfair.com about oligarchy, authoritarianism, and the need for everyday people to run for office.

www.vanityfair.com/news/story/b...

David Cross Doesn’t Care If He Offends You The candid comic still thinks those who performed at the Riyadh Comedy Festival participated in “a very dangerous, upsetting thing,” he tells ‘VF’—but he also thinks rape kit jokes and the r-word can ...

New for @vanityfair.com - David Cross doesn't hold back.

www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/st...

To Understand the Present, Read These 10 Political Novels from the Past These powerful political novels from the past century—spanning countries and contexts—offer fresh insights into the urgent issues shaping our world today.

New for @theobserveruk.bsky.social

Can Embracing the Unknown Save Us From Dystopia? Can Embracing the Unknown Save Us From Dystopia? An interview with Daniel Wilson, author of shamanic techno-thriller Hole in the Sky.

New for @nautil.us - I chat with techno-thriller author Daniel H Wilson about his new novel and humanity's venture into the unknown.

Time for an antifa-Thin White Duke phase: no to nazis, yes to weird art excess.

Stumbled across a shot from the first day I moved abroad back in 2012. Granada, Ulysses, olives and cold beer. Without a doubt one of the happiest moments of my life.

A Bad NYT Trump Edit. The Media Sucks. And Why You Should Subscribe to My Substack (Besides My Eternal Gratitude). The current media landscape doesn't support quality journalism, so I want to bring my stories directly to you.

The New York Times piece cited here is a great example of why more and more people are turning to independent journalism, and why I'm ramping up my Substack.

seriousmoonlightxyz.substack.com/p/a-bad-nyt-...

Writers Talking Writers: Ada Limón on Emily Dickinson and Rickey Laurentiis on Wallace Stevens The former poet laureate and the Whiting Award winner discuss the enriching and complex legacy of two landmark American poets.

The latest for Writers Talking #Writers at @publisherswkly.bsky.social!

Ada Limón on Emily Dickinson
Rickey Laurentiis on Wallace Stevens

www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

Ai Weiwei and the lost backpack: A Chinese exile’s brush with bureaucracy Artist’s encounter with a railway ‘lost and found’ highlights the difficulties of those forced to leave their countries.

I’m very happy to publish for the first time with @aljazeera.com on such an important story:

@aiww.bsky.social and the lost backpack — a tale of exile, memory, and bureaucracy. Introduction by @nickhilden.bsky.social

Read more ⬇️

Ai Weiwei and the lost backpack: A Chinese exile’s brush with bureaucracy Artist’s encounter with a railway ‘lost and found’ highlights the difficulties of those forced to leave their countries.

Paperwork is serious when you're living in exile. New in @aljazeera.com - Ai Weiwei tells a story highlighting the importance of documentation for refugees, @channeldraw.bsky.social illustrates, and I provide the intro.

www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2025...

The Philosophy of Tyranny What a formative period in Plato's life tells us about US politics today

In my latest for @nautil.us I discuss Plato and tyranny with classicist James Romm.
nautil.us/the-philosop...

Writers Talking Writers: Jess Walter on Charles Portis and Jonathan Lethem on James Salter The National Book Award finalist talks about Portis's appeal as the “patron saint of journalists who become novelists” and the National Book Critics Circle Award winner discusses Salter's “breathtakin...

The latest in my Writers Talking Writers series at @publisherswkly.bsky.social!

Jess Walter on Charles Portis
Jonathan Lethem on James Salter

www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

Writers Talking Writers: Madeleine Thien on Y-Dang Troeung The Giller Prize–⁠winning novelist reflects on the late memoirist and scholar's ambitious work about the history of violence in Cambodia and its resonance with current events.

New in my Writers Talking Writers series at @publisherswkly.bsky.social

Madeleine Thien discusses the "stone on stone" writing of her friend Y-Dang Troeung and the act of writing as an "afterlife."
www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

In 1975, thousands of babies were daringly airlifted from the Vietnam war Some of those involved in ‘Operation Babylift’ recall the events – and what happened to the children after.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War I spoke with some of those impacted by Operation Babylift for @aljazeera.com.

www.aljazeera.com/features/202...

Writers Talking Writers: Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai on Thích Nhất Hạnh and Karl Marlantes on Leo Tolstoy On the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, two acclaimed authors who have written about the conflict and its consequences discuss the writers who shaped them.

My latest Writers Talking Writers installment at @publisherswkly.bsky.social is a special edition for the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War:

Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai on Thích Nhất Hạnh
Karl Marlantes on Leo Tolstoy

www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

Inside a Book Tour Turned Road Trip With Best Friends and Best-Selling Authors Tommy Orange and Kaveh Akbar The authors of the celebrated novels ‘Wandering Stars’ and ‘Martyr!’ are each other’s valued early readers. “We both wrote when no one gave a shit that we were writing it,” Akbar tells VF. “It’s fun t...

A Friday treat: eavesdrop on Tommy Orange and Kaveh Akbar's Bay Area roadtrip courtesy of @nickhilden.bsky.social. “Kaveh is team poetry and I’m team novel, and we were both trying to recruit each other for each other’s teams, then realized we could play for both.” www.vanityfair.com/style/story/...

Inside a Book Tour Turned Road Trip With Best Friends and Best-Selling Authors Tommy Orange and Kaveh Akbar The authors of the celebrated novels ‘Wandering Stars’ and ‘Martyr!’ are each other’s valued early readers. “We both wrote when no one gave a shit that we were writing it,” Akbar tells VF. “It’s fun t...

New for @vanityfair.com - On the road with Tommy Orange and Kaveh Akbar!

www.vanityfair.com/style/story/...

Writers Talking Writers: Colum McCann on John Berger and Torrey Peters on Halldor Laxness The National Book Award winner remembers drinking with John Berger and the PEN/Hemingway Award winner recounts the joys of reading Halldor Laxness.

New for Writers Talking Writers @publisherswkly.bsky.social

Colum McCann on John Berger
Torrey Peters (@torreypeters.bsky.social) on Halldor Laxness

www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

The Importance of Muscle In his new book, Michael Joseph Gross explores how the notion of strength has changed since Homer

New for @nautil.us - a chat with Michael Joseph Gross about his fascinating new book Stronger, about our changing understanding of muscle and strength.

nautil.us/the-importan...

California water wars: A century of wrangling over Los Angeles’s water The battle for California’s water pitted ranchers against water barons and still echoes today.

My latest for @aljazeera.com explores California's legacy of conflict over war.

www.aljazeera.com/features/202...

Writers Talking Writers: Charlotte Wood on William Maxwell and Laila Lalami on Franz Kafka The Booker-shortlisted novelist praises compassion in the work of William Maxwell and the Pulitzer finalist discusses the peerless artistic commitment of Franz Kafka.

New for my Writers Talking Writers series at @publisherswkly.bsky.social

Charlotte Wood (@charlottewood.bsky.social) on William Maxwell
Laila Lalami on Franz Kafka

www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

Does the GOP just shrug when they're in the minority? No, they're very effective at slowing or even stopping the process. The dems need to do the same.

I suspect that everyone is frozen in shock at the moment. Hopefully a reaction will grow as that wears off.

Journalist with Al Jazeera here, working on this very question. Would you be interested in having a quick chat on the topic sometime this week?

Lives on the line: Low pay has US wildland firefighters quitting As wildfires get worse, firefighters are struggling to combat blazes and remain in a job with poor labour conditions.

New for @aljazeera.com

“I hope that people maybe just aren’t aware of how poorly paid and poorly treated their federal firefighters are."

www.aljazeera.com/features/202...

Life in an Atmospheric Zoo Journalist Carl Zimmer tells the story of the science of aerobiology

My latest for @nautil.us:

Journalist Carl Zimmer on the earliest studies of the aerobiome, historical approaches to pandemic readiness, and how learning about the creatures who live in the air around us has changed the way he moves through the world.

nautil.us/life-in-an-a...

Cancer research was Biden's pet project. Trump is so anti-Biden that he's become pro-cancer.

One of the biggest problems of our day is chronic lack of foresight.

OK, you fire hundreds of thousands of people and superheat the job market: what is the logical outcome of that?

Watch wages plummet as highly qualified people compete over jobs