Kristen Martin

What I'm Writing/What I'm Reading On adoption fraud, Indigenous identity, and my writing career and process, plus links

On reading for pleasure v reading for work, new reviews, an interview with me, and links: open.substack.com/pub/american...

Inside Trump’s New Tactic to Separate Immigrant Families

Completely unsurprising that Trump 2.0 is once again using family separation as a punishment tactic for asylum seekers, but seeing the administration claim that it's doing so to ensure the safety of children is still sickening: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/u...

Preorder BEINGS by Ilana Masad to receive a set of three EXCLUSIVE BUTTON PINS! Pin 1 has a flying saucer on it and reads YOU ARE NOT ALONE / WE ARE NOT ALONE Pin 2 reads QUEER THE ARCHIVE Pin 3 reads I'D RATHER BE READING LESBIAN SCI-FI Preorder before September 23, 2025 For details and to enter, visit fpls.in/beingsanovel Offer available only in the U.S. and Canada, while supplies last

So many things are bad but here's a small good thing - @bloomsburybooksus.bsky.social made these incredible, adorable, perfect pins to go with BEINGS, and you can get a pack for free with proof of pre-order:

fpls.in/beingsanovel

It’s my 36th birthday—and my first as a published author! So yes, I am using this as yet another opportunity to say BUY MY BOOK and TELL PEOPLE ABOUT IT plz! bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

Breaking the Narrative Kristen Martin on reviewing books and redefining orphan stories

I loved having this talk about the process of writing my book and freelancing with Erika Hayasaki for her Substack The Reported Essay. Her Substack is a must-follow for journalists and nonfiction writers—she also recently interviewed ADRIAN NICOLE LEBLANC!!! substack.com/home/post/p-...

I explained that PA senate republicans were holding up the funding and he eventually seemed to understand but then started talking about “illegals” in hotels in NYC so

PA needs to pass this budget and fund SEPTA bc I just got into an argument with an old Italian man while waiting forever for the bus bc he claimed “illegals” were to blame for the impending cuts

Breaking the Narrative Kristen Martin on reviewing books and redefining orphan stories

Thank you to Erika Hayasaki for this interview! open.substack.com/pub/therepor...

Local library volunteer listserv has been hit with multiple air duct cleaning scam emails

My book came out shortly after Twitter became a useless swamp, which sucked bc I had built a following there. But I have definitely connected with new and enthusiastic readers here!

It's such a shitty system in so many ways!

yeah came here to say this, the doctors don't/can't know this, insanely! The people who work in billing can probably give you quotes as to what their rates are with your insurance though

I keep writing new things that require me to go back and re-read parts of my book to remind myself of the details of the facts contained therein. Citing myself!

We have entered the bad times (endless Jeopardy tournament reruns)

Freelance Solidarity Project • General Info Session RSVP Are you a freelancer inspired by recent labor activism in media, or troubled by the most recent round of layoffs and closures? Interested in learning more about organizing alongside your fellow…

Want to join a union of digital media workers raising labor standards across our industry? Come to tomorrow's info session to learn more, 7:30-8pm ET on Zoom. RSVP by noon tomorrow! bit.ly/FSP-RSVP-info

Review | Uncovering the truth about international adoption “Daughters of the Bamboo Grove” by Barbara Demick and “A Flower Traveled in My Blood” by Haley Cohen Gilliland shine light on terrible practices in China and Argentina

For @washingtonpost.com, I wrote about two books that trace how state actors punished families by stealing and trafficking their children. DAUGHTERS OF THE BAMBOO GROVE and A FLOWER TRAVELED IN MY BLOOD come amid a reckoning with fraud in international adoption. gift link: wapo.st/44OHpyK

Outrage After Alabama 3-Year-Old Dies in Hot Car While in State’s Care

Our societal assumption is that children are safer in foster care. This week, a three-year-old boy died after being left for hours in a hot car by a state contractor who was transporting him between his supervised family visit and daycare. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/25/u...

Our only fully funded “solutions” to systemic problems are carceral ones.

Review | Uncovering the truth about international adoption “Daughters of the Bamboo Grove” by Barbara Demick and “A Flower Traveled in My Blood” by Haley Cohen Gilliland shine light on terrible practices in China and Argentina

The truth is out there 👇🏽🥚
#adopteesky

www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/0...

One of the things I appreciate most about my Long Island upbringing is my education in unironically loving Billy Joel

This quote is about China, but it could be any country, even the US.

‘By the early 2000s, improved economic conditions and social changes had led to a dwindling number of abandoned babies. But, Demick explains, “there was big money in adoption, and the orphanages had become dependent on it.”’

🥚!

Many thanks to @johnwilliams.bsky.social for letting me go long here and wrangling this into shape.

Review | Uncovering the truth about international adoption “Daughters of the Bamboo Grove” by Barbara Demick and “A Flower Traveled in My Blood” by Haley Cohen Gilliland shine light on terrible practices in China and Argentina

For @washingtonpost.com, I wrote about two books that trace how state actors punished families by stealing and trafficking their children. DAUGHTERS OF THE BAMBOO GROVE and A FLOWER TRAVELED IN MY BLOOD come amid a reckoning with fraud in international adoption. gift link: wapo.st/44OHpyK

Hey friends! With the Philly Bookstore Crawl briskly approaching and sponsorship funds not quite cutting it, I’m sharing my lil’ tip jar link.

Could use a hand to help order our bookmarks and other printed materials, and pay our brilliant illustrator.

☕️ ko-fi.com/ericsmith

In D.C., a toddler died of hunger and thirst. Why didn’t anybody save her? Social workers knew of Ebony Washington’s troubled history as a parent. And for months, relatives feared her daughter Kemy was in peril. Then tragedy struck.

This is a wrenching story, with both mother and child failed by society. Also, I am begging reporters who are not on the child welfare beat to do due diligence research on this field. A blogger who is linked to the AEI should not be the only "expert" source: www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

Why do so many podcast ads assume the audience is full of business owners?

!!! Thank you so much!!

Six Months of THE SUN WON'T COME OUT TOMORROW Some real-talk reflections on the book's life outside of my laptop

A real-talk blog on the publishing process, six months out: americanorphan.substack.com/p/six-months...