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Naomi Kanakia

@naokan.bsky.social

Author of books out or forthcoming from HarperTeen, Feminist Press, and Princeton University Press. Also writes a Substack about the Great Books (with frequent detours to talk trash on contemporary literature)

554 Followers  |  31 Following  |  22 Posts  |  Joined: 23.02.2024  |  1.9004

Latest posts by naokan.bsky.social on Bluesky

The classics are pretty popular. You can go into any bookstore and buy Tolstoy, Milton, Shakespeare, Jane Austen--that wouldn't be true if people weren't buying them.

14.10.2025 23:42 β€” πŸ‘ 17    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

<totters out onto porch>

<settles into rocker>

<thumps cane a few times>

Let's talk about what the process of submitting short fiction used to look like, shall we? And about what it looks like now.

14.10.2025 21:25 β€” πŸ‘ 246    πŸ” 75    πŸ’¬ 11    πŸ“Œ 19

I cried.

11.10.2025 20:08 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Anti-Capitalism vs. the Man of Flowers - Lightspeed Magazine One time at a convention I ran across the Man of Flowers, the Superman of Daffodils, a long-haired guy, indestructible (of course), who slept in his car and drank a lot of cough syrup and didn’t reall...

I loved this short story by @naokan.bsky.social in @lightspeedmagazine.com. Sure, it left me a little depressed, but also maybe a little hopeful?
www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/anti...

19.09.2025 14:40 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Mmmmm the cheerful fatalism and funweird of this! "Anti-Capitalism vs the Man of Flowers" by Naomi Kanakia @naokan.bsky.social www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/anti...

30.08.2025 16:01 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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The Last Planet In August, Sunday Morning Transport authors Naomi Kanakia, Jim Kelly, Meg Elison, and Elizabeth Bear share stories from far and wide.

The Sunday Morning Transport retraces its steps today with a story from Naomi Kanakia (@naokan.bsky.social) that considers what it means for a life to be worth living. Free for everyone to read!

03.08.2025 19:11 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Therapy isn't the (only) answer On mythic, legendary, and Romantic action

(1/5)
πŸŒ€ What if therapy isn’t the only answer?
What if we’re full of insight but still stuck?
Naomi Kanakia’s story exposes the quiet ache beneath modern life.
πŸ”— www.woman-of-letters.com/p/therapy-is...
πŸ“– Let’s talk myth, meaning, and the mess of being human.

@naokan.bsky.social

01.08.2025 17:53 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I highly recommend Nick as a teacher! He is the best writing instructor I've ever had.

16.07.2025 15:58 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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How to review books for the New York Times Between 2021 and 2023, I had an eighteen-month stint as a book reviewer and literary essayist who wrote for periodicals like The Los Angeles Review of Books, Tablet, The Chronicle Review, The Rumpus, ...

I recently talked with @naokan.bsky.social about book reviews, pitching, and how to deal with editorial feedback for her newsletter, Woman of Letters:

www.woman-of-letters.com/p/how-to-rev...

26.06.2025 20:34 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ—£οΈ SF BAY πŸ—£οΈ

This is tomorrow!! πŸ‘‡

See @aaantons.bsky.social and @naokan.bsky.social in a BAR discussing LITERATURE

23.06.2025 18:02 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Billionaires ke paas already sab kuchh hai. Ab, aapka time aageya.

Billionaires already have everything. Now, your time has come.

04.06.2025 20:17 β€” πŸ‘ 3115    πŸ” 581    πŸ’¬ 72    πŸ“Œ 347
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A novella I self-published on my newsletter got a full write up in the New Yorker.

11.05.2025 16:18 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Worthy of the Event: An Essay by Vivian Blaxell β€” A trans literary whirlwind β€” LittlePuss Press A trans essayist with a checkered past takes on the big questions of human existence. Move over Michel de Montaigne, there's a new girl in town!

Has anyone read this Vivian Blaxell book? I am finding it tough going. Wondering whether to keep with it. www.littlepuss.net/shop/p/wote

04.05.2025 03:04 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Finally reading the Vivian Blaxsell book. Okay girls, are we gonna talk about her hate-on for Mackenzie Wark?

This is wild, but it's sort of the perfect content, given the audience for this book is exclusively composed of people who have heard of Mackenzie Wark

04.05.2025 00:06 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Okay...WOODWORKING is shockingly good, no?

03.05.2025 05:37 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Am having trouble w STAG DANCE. The story seems quite sad, pathetic, painful. Have been stuck for weeks, forcing myself to read it.

27.04.2025 00:20 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Non-Business Newspapers: "The Unconventional Legal Strategy Trump is Using Against Harvard"

Business Newspapers: "They're ASSAULTING lady liberty. They're SHOOTING the bald eagles. How much longer do we have to deal with these fucking MORONS"

24.04.2025 17:40 β€” πŸ‘ 2290    πŸ” 429    πŸ’¬ 21    πŸ“Œ 20

METS is a fantastic resource--one that I actually use. I own several of their books and have consulted others. Truly unique in their democratic ethos and business model. I just donated $200.

15.04.2025 16:30 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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A writer's career can be rooted in real power or in fake power. Real power is better. A few weeks ago, Compact published an articleβ€”β€œThe Vanishing White Male Writer”—about how there’s no white men writing literary fiction anymore.

Interesting read by @naokan.bsky.social, with a mention of our own John Pistelli --> www.woman-of-letters.com/p/a-writers-...

09.04.2025 14:23 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Might I remind!!! This is the first time I am actually getting to go on book tour EVER beyond topside tour 2014 and I am very excited to see you friends!

25.03.2025 21:06 β€” πŸ‘ 13    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I believe the firings and the AI have the same purpose: to get humans out of the loop of evaluating contracts. To automate the process of spending government money. To rig up a computer that sends taxpayer dollars directly to the broligarchy.

21.03.2025 22:58 β€” πŸ‘ 4696    πŸ” 1147    πŸ’¬ 56    πŸ“Œ 107

I am followed by hundreds of trans women, most of whom are writers. It is fascinating that nobody is reading this book. Something we should think about, given those most writers I know aspire to be this author and get this kind of book deal.

21.03.2025 15:12 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

The solution has to be a movement against cartelization and against Big Tech, which is seeking to plunder the noosphere--Meta's lawyers believe that if they license even a single book for AI, they cannot make fair use claims for any book. It's all or nothing to them. 10/

21.03.2025 05:49 β€” πŸ‘ 21    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Is anyone out there reading STAG DANCE? I'm really liking it!

21.03.2025 05:57 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

Never liked Newsom but always at least thought he was smart. How could he have possibly thought this was the right move?

17.03.2025 04:33 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I fear we're rapidly reaching the point where "fight" means little more than "survive." The speed with which this regime is literally erasing knowledge, and shutting down the means of pursuing it, both in the humanities and sciences, suggests a new Dark Age is the goal.

16.03.2025 20:38 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

All these centrists sitting around six weeks into a dictatorship blaming the woke left for Trump's victory are unbelievably tedious. Who is this for? Who's the audience for these reams of verbiage on how trans rights are somehow the reason we have a dictatorship now?

13.03.2025 04:07 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Many Democrats have shown a lot of character by refusing to throw trans people under the bus. I hope they get rewarded for that.

Was very impressed by that video of Bill Keating and by the Senate's refusal to pass the trans sports bill

13.03.2025 03:48 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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I'm also really grateful for my friend and colleague, Representative Sherry Essman (R - Billings), who stood up and said it's time to "stop these crazy bills."

May her courage be contagious, and may it lead to more Republicans standing up against these bills.

07.03.2025 05:43 β€” πŸ‘ 792    πŸ” 93    πŸ’¬ 14    πŸ“Œ 6

The world's richest man is cutting social security.

How are democrats unable to capitalize on that?

07.03.2025 00:08 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

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