Common Notions Press

Happy pub day to @justmaybechris.bsky.social and karim brown!

MY CITY NEED SOMETHING is an ode to Black Philadelphia and a recommitment to principled struggle.

Available at bookstores nationwide and buff.ly/c5q37kb

L’enquête ouvrière du numérique - revue Ouvrage Par le Capacitor Collective — Un essor de la résistance au travail, du syndicalisme et de l’auto-organisation est en train de se produire à plusieurs endroits tout au long de la chaîne de valeur du ca...

Our friends at Revue Ouvrage have translated Notes Toward a Digital Workers’ Inquiry into French! Special thanks to Sandrine Bell for her work. www.revue-ouvrage.org/lenquete-ouv... @commonnotions.bsky.social @tamigraph.bsky.social @gleemie.bsky.social

promotion for my city need something event. cohosted by hakim's bookstore and the w.e.b du bois movement school

Philly, join us, @justmaybechris.bsky.social, and karim at the Blackwell Regional Library to celebrate MY CITY NEED SOMETHING: PORTRAITS AND PROSE FOR BLACK EXISTENCE!

Saturday 2/14 12-2pm

We'll be selling copies of the book at a discounted price. See you there

Event details: tinyurl.com/2m9at7dh

Read an extract from Strike While the Needle Is Hot: A Discography of Workers' Revolt - The Wire In an extract from his new book, co-authored with Kennedy Block, Josh MacPhee outlines the role of workers' songs and the making of records in supporting labour movements in the US

"...workers know their workplaces best, and can participate in the study of their own struggles, and learn from similar studies by workers in other struggles."

Read an excerpt of STRIKE WHILE THE NEEDLE IS HOT! on @thewiremagazine.bsky.social: www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/b...

Book cover for Notes Toward a Digital Workers’ Inquiry by The Capacitor Collective (Common Notions): Nonfiction. A theory-driven account of the stakes and knowledge-building practices of the resurgent labor movement from organizers across the gig economy and tech industry. https://www.commonnotions.org/notes-toward-a-digital-workers-inquiry

Book cover for People with No Charisma by Jente Posthuma, trans. by Sarah Timmer Harvey (Scribe Publications): From the International Booker Prize-shortlisted author of What I'd Rather Not Think About comes a darkly humorous novel about multigenerational family dynamics and individuality in Dutch suburbia. https://scribepublications.com/books/people-with-no-charisma

Book cover for Habitat by Case Q. Kerns (Black Lawrence Press): https://ecolitbooks.com/2025/09/02/habitat-by-case-q-kerns/ Reviewed by Joeann Hart ("In this delectably creepy novel-in-stories, set slightly in the future, late-stage capitalism plays itself out in the worst possible ways. Education requires a corporate sponsorship (read: indenture), and those who aren’t sponsored have only their bodies to sell, for sex or parts.") for 100 Notable Small Press Books of 2025 (https://lithub.com/100-notable-small-press-books-of-2025/). https://blacklawrencepress.com/books/habitat/

Book cover for The Barefoot Followers of Sweet Potato Grace by Megan Okonsky (Lanternfish Press): Fiction featured in 100 Notable Small Press Books of 2025 (https://lithub.com/100-notable-small-press-books-of-2025/): "This is gay Bridget Jones meets Chocolat…in Texas. Add a dash of dead-cat-grief and some communal post-pandemic scarring to the mix, and you’ve got a funny, voicey, vulnerable romp that manages to stay light and bubbly, championing queer joy even as it confronts some all too familiar societal conflicts." https://lanternfishpress.com/shop/barefoot-followers-of-sweet-potato-grace

5/11 - #DSPBposts #SmallPress #books from @jenteposthuma.bsky.social @sarahtimmerharvey.bsky.social @commonnotions.bsky.social @blacklawrence.bsky.social @lfpbooks.bsky.social 💙📚 #DSPBposts #BookSky #bookstagram #booktok

Book cover for Coop: A Novelette by Nida Sajid (Hajar Press): Fiction. Lena is a part-time bookseller in a bougie design studio in Oxford Circus. In between minimum-wage work under a politically hostile boss and strained communications with her parents, her days are shaped by a fraught relationship with food, ambiguous experiments in creative writing, and mounting pressure to find a ‘proper’ postgraduate job. https://www.hajarpress.com/books/coop

Book cover for The Weather Report by Andrew Ross (Common Notions): Nonfiction. From acclaimed public scholar Andrew Ross, groundbreaking reporting on climate change and the horizons of a just future from Palestine, UAE, Arizona, and China. https://www.commonnotions.org/buy/the-weather-report

Book cover for Absence by Issa Quincy (Two Dollar Radio): Fiction reviewed (https://necessaryfiction.com/reviews/absence/) by D.W. White ("Much of the book centers on the ways in which the slippery workings of memory might be wrestled down into the linguistic real. It is, probably, impossible—but that shouldn’t stop us.") for 100 Notable Small Press Books of 2025 (https://lithub.com/100-notable-small-press-books-of-2025/). https://twodollarradio.com/products/absence

Book cover for Forget the Camel: The Madcap World of Animal Festivals and What They Say about Being Human by Elizabeth MeLampy (Apollo Publishers): Creative nonfiction featured in 100 Notable Small Press Books of 2025 (https://lithub.com/100-notable-small-press-books-of-2025/): "'Have humans no shame?' asks lawyer and animal advocate MeLampy… In lucid and haunted prose, she sharply questions our animal narratives, making us feel what we’re too embarrassed to admit." https://apollopublishers.com/index.php/forget-the-camel/

8/11 - #DSPBposts #SmallPress #books from @commonnotions.bsky.social @twodollarradio.bsky.social @apollopublishers.bsky.social @hajarpress.bsky.social 💙📚 #DSPBposts #BookSky #bookstagram #booktok

Read an extract from Strike While the Needle Is Hot: A Discography of Workers' Revolt - The Wire In an extract from his new book, co-authored with Kennedy Block, Josh MacPhee outlines the role of workers' songs and the making of records in supporting labour movements in the US

"...workers know their workplaces best, and can participate in the study of their own struggles, and learn from similar studies by workers in other struggles."

Read an excerpt of STRIKE WHILE THE NEEDLE IS HOT! on @thewiremagazine.bsky.social: www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/b...

We built a guide to patches worn by ICE and CBP to help the public determine which federal agents are in their communities. interc.pt/3NJ3GI6

@enda-b.bsky.social @julieychen.bsky.social @gleemie.bsky.social @tamigraph.bsky.social

Join Capacitor Collective as they celebrate the release of NOTES TOWARD A DIGITAL WORKERS' INQUIRY, "an exemplary demonstration of how inquiry can function simultaneously as a mode of collective action and a form of critical theory."

2/12/26 in Toronto and 2/13/26 Montreal. Save the dates!

Fun fact: Your local bookstore is doing more to protect you and your neighbors than Amazon is.

What Goes Around Comes Around: On Reading the World and Hearing the Word by @justmaybechris.bsky.social

agatheringtogether.squarespace.com/blog/what-go...

Surveillance and ICE Are Driving Patients Away From Medical Care, Report Warns A new EPIC report says data brokers, ad-tech surveillance, and ICE enforcement are among the factors leading to a “health privacy crisis” that is eroding trust and deterring people from seeking care.

“Unregulated digital technologies, mass surveillance, and weak privacy laws have created a health privacy crisis.” A new report from @epic.org finds that health data is routinely repurposed for surveillance and enforcement, deterring patients from seeking care. www.wired.com/story/survei...

Book cover for The Weather Report by Andrew Ross (Common Notions): Nonfiction. From acclaimed public scholar Andrew Ross, groundbreaking reporting on climate change and the horizons of a just future from Palestine, UAE, Arizona, and China. https://www.commonnotions.org/buy/the-weather-report

Book cover for Absence by Issa Quincy (Two Dollar Radio): Fiction reviewed (https://necessaryfiction.com/reviews/absence/) by D.W. White ("Much of the book centers on the ways in which the slippery workings of memory might be wrestled down into the linguistic real. It is, probably, impossible—but that shouldn’t stop us.") for 100 Notable Small Press Books of 2025 (https://lithub.com/100-notable-small-press-books-of-2025/). https://twodollarradio.com/products/absence

Daily(ish) #SmallPress #books: Absence by Issa Quincy (@twodollarradio.bsky.social) & The Weather Report by Andrew Ross (@commonnotions.bsky.social). See alt-text.

#DSPBposts 💙📚 #BookSky #BooksWorthReading #bookish #readingchallenge #readingcommunity #booktok #booklovers

photo from christpher r. rogers and karim brown's book my city need something. it's a black and white picture of three people sitting on the steps of a philadelphia home.

“A historiography of a Black Existence that blooms with the care & criticism of its poetry and photography.” —@ill-iterate.com

MY CITY NEED SOMETHING: PORTRAITS & PROSE FOR BLACK EXISTENCE by @justmaybechris.bsky.social & Karim Brown hits the shelves next month!

Preorder now: buff.ly/l8tXv0M

Book cover for Notes Toward a Digital Workers’ Inquiry by The Capacitor Collective (Common Notions): Nonfiction. A theory-driven account of the stakes and knowledge-building practices of the resurgent labor movement from organizers across the gig economy and tech industry. https://www.commonnotions.org/notes-toward-a-digital-workers-inquiry

Book cover for People with No Charisma by Jente Posthuma, trans. by Sarah Timmer Harvey (Scribe Publications): From the International Booker Prize-shortlisted author of What I'd Rather Not Think About comes a darkly humorous novel about multigenerational family dynamics and individuality in Dutch suburbia. https://scribepublications.com/books/people-with-no-charisma

Daily(ish) #SmallPress #books: Notes Toward a Digital Workers’ Inquiry by Capacitor Collective (@commonnotions.bsky.social) & People with No Charisma by @jenteposthuma.bsky.social (trans @sarahtimmerharvey.bsky.social, Scribe). See alt-text.

#DSPBposts 💙📚 #BookSky #bookish #readingcommunity

photo of bordertown clashes, resource wars, contested territories: the four corners in the turbulent 1970s by John Redhouse on a shelf at Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, NY. The book is next to Zinn's a people's history of the united states.

👀 😍 Spotted at @greenlightbklyn.bsky.social: BORDERTOWN CLASHES, RESOURCE WARS, CONTESTED TERRITORIES by John Redhouse!

A one-of-a-kind lyrical and fast-paced memoir of the frontlines and trenches of Native liberation in the Four Corners and Southwest in the 1970s.

buff.ly/2feKGAl

The Trans Muslim Liberation Podcast Islam Podcast · Updated Weekly · A podcast about using Islam as a methodology for building a liberated world. This podcast works hand in hand with a more in depth training program starting Jan 9th 2...

Yes, I have a second podcast.
Yes, you should follow and listen to both.
Yes, you should join both training programs.
Yes, I am tired.
You’re welcome.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Read an extract from Strike While the Needle Is Hot: A Discography of Workers' Revolt - The Wire In an extract from his new book, co-authored with Kennedy Block, Josh MacPhee outlines the role of workers' songs and the making of records in supporting labour movements in the US

"If producing a record is a tactic, and winning a strike is the goal, then what is the strategy?"

Read an extract from Strike While the Needle Is Hot: A Discography of Workers' Revolt

www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/b...

Stay tuned for another year of good books for a free society!

www.commonnotions.org

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY on Letters from a living utopia: reclaiming liberation from palestine to the world by Yaffa AS

"A galvanizing and hopeful vision of a world in which liberation is within everyone’s reach."

@publisherswkly.bsky.social on LETTERS FROM A LIVING UTOPIA by @yaffasutopia.bsky.social

Chicago reader on strike while the needle is hot: a discography of workers' revolt

"Shows workers taking full control of their messaging—spreading info and raising funds for strikes and documenting their own actions. . . .deserves to be heard as well as read."

@chicagoreader.com on STRIKE WHILE THE NEEDLE IS HOT by Josh MacPhee and Kennedy Block

NACLA report on ECHOES OF THE WATER WAR: legacies of cochabamba bolivia by oscar olivera

"A a gift to a new generation of English-reading activists, students, and concerned people around the world. May we learn from the lessons Olivera and the other authors take from the Water War and its aftermath."

@nacla-report.bsky.social on ECHOES OF THE WATER WAR by Oscar Olivera

critical inquiry on why we fear ai: on the interpretations of nightmares by hagen blix and ingeborg glimmer

"An original and important contribution to the emerging critical AI literature."

@criticalinquiry.bsky.social on WHY WE FEAR AI by @hagenblix.bsky.social and Ingeborg Glimmer

spring magazine on metastasis: the rise of the cancer industrial complex and the horizons of care

"Offers a blueprint . . . to untangle and resist the cancer-industrial complex."

@springmagca.bsky.social on METASTASIS by @cannafis.bsky.social

counterpunch on revolution in these times: black power party veteran dhoruba bin-wahad on antifascism black liberation and cultures of resistance

"Dhoruba bin Wahad is legit. REVOLUTION IN THESE TIMES is a book about history and power. ...It’s about rejecting the identity of victim and learning to be a revolutionary."

@counterpunchmedia.bsky.social on REVOLUTION IN THESE TIMES edited by @kalonjichanga.bsky.social

hyperallergic on armed by design. interference archive

"The influential Cuban OSPAAAL political movement may have shuttered in 2019 . . . but their legacy in graphic design can't be underestimated; they molded a language of anti-imperialism that continues to inspire and impress."

@hyperallergic.com ON ARMED BY DESIGN

2025 press highlights

As we look forward to what's in store for 2026, we want to celebrate & uplift some of the love that our books and authors received in 2025.

Thank you to everyone who bought, reviewed, or recommended a Common Notions book; also to those who hosted our authors or joined them in conversation 🖤

. . .

Photograph of a Book with a blue, black, white, and red cover sitting on a wooden table. The title of the book is "everything for everyone: an oral history of the New York commune 2052 to 2072." By ME O'Brien & Eman Abdelhadi.

Hello, world! 7 thought-provoking books I read in 2025 that I highly recommend: "Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune 2052-2072." A bracing futuristic look that somehow ripples w/ hope. By @genderhorizon.com & @emanabdelhadi.bsky.social via @commonnotions.bsky.social 1/1

So pleased to see that @thewiremagazine.bsky.social has reprinted an excerpt from Kennedy Block and Josh MacPhee's increadible @commonnotions.bsky.social book Strike When the Needle is Hot. Take a read!