Elise Blackwell

In a certain sense the past is far more real, or at any rate more stable, more resilient than the present. The present slips and vanishes like sand between the fingers, acquiring material weight, only in its recollection.

Andrei Tarkovsky

An intriguing list.

What if there was a mindful way to steal people’s art, pollute Black neighborhoods, and raise everyone’s electric bill?

No Baltimore for me, but have fun, all you AWP kids!

“…goes to language, wounded by reality, seeking reality.”

(“…zur Sprache geht, wirklichkeitswund und wirklichkeitssuchend.”)

— Paul Celan, “Bremen Speech”

Ursula K. Le Guin — Nominate a Book for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction

It's time! Nominations are now open for the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction, which will be given to a work of imaginative fiction, published in 2025, that reflects the concepts and ideas that were central to Ursula’s own work.

Thank you! I will! And wishing you all the best with your situation. Even though I knew what I was in for, I had no idea.

I’ve met a Steve, a Timothy, and a Joseph, all dogs at my dog park.

Thank you, Kate. I’ve been looking forward to your book for a long time. JQ told me about it way back, and I’m so happy it’s on the cusp of publication.

I meant “complications” but I suppose “symptoms” works.

My father entered the hospital for urgent but supposedly simple surgery. Two weeks of cascading symptoms later, we’re still here. I’m in a whole new world as we figure out what’s next. Elder care advice and resources most welcome. (I’m an only child with a job.)

A couple of them have really held up for me.

Off the top of my head: Michael Ondaatje, W.G. Sebald, Howard Norman, Eudora Welty.

Báyò Akómoláfé : Selah | Milkweed Editions If we were to take seriously that we, as humans, aren’t the sole authors of our world, that there are other intelligences at play, that we are only one of many agents of change and transformation, and...

Don't miss today's episode with Báyò Akómoláfé, and our deep dive into philosophy and language, words and worlds, both.
Audio📻🔥: milkweed.org/between-the-...
@ayinpress.bsky.social

Ugh.

Never Too Late 60+ award - Bridport Prize This £500 award is for the highest placed writer aged 60+ across poetry, short story, novel or flash fiction.

Don’t forget the Never Too Late Award from the Bridport Prize which recognises entries from writers over 60 across all categories of prizes.

Link below

Please share :)

What, you may ask, does a forgotten poem by a foreign-born Hollywood extra have to tell us now? All I can say is that Alexander Voloshin’s SIDETRACKED has been a source of comfort for me over the past few years—a sympathetic voice reaching across decades. “Been there,” he nods…

I've been at a hospital bedside off and on since last Friday and have developed this strong opinion: nurses' pay should be doubled or tripled, and nurses should also be tipped by surgeons at the end of every shift.

A screenshot of a page from Fish Publishing. The text says: " Flash Fiction Prize Tania Hershman Tania Hershman, judge for 2026. Summary: Open Judge: Tania Hershman Word Limit: 300 Closes: 28 Feb '26 Results: 18 April '26 Anthology Published: July '26 Entry Fees: €16 / €11 subsequent entries. (Optional Critique €45) Prizes: Top ten stories will be published in the FISH ANTHOLOGY 2026. 1st: €1,000 2nd: Online Writing Course + €300 3rd: €300" And there is a black and white headshot of Tania Hershman.

Not long left to submit your 300-word gems to Fish Flash Fiction Prize. I'm judging and I'm reading ALL the entries, so you know I'll see your story. Deadline Feb 28, send your word-shapes even if you think they might be "too weird" or "not flash enough"! fishpublishing.com/competition/...

Yeah, I didn't need to see that.

Good news alert: Just want to shout out Elana Meyers Taylor, the most decorated Black woman in the Winter Olympics, who won her sixth medal and first gold tonight, AND is also one of the only 8% of hearing parents who learn to sign for her deaf kid. Badass through and through.🥇

Barrelhouse - Online Issue: The Aftermath The Aftermath Stories often focus on the climactic events in one’s life, but after these points of intensity, the world goes on. What happens when the adventure is over? How do you live your daily lif...

New call for submissions from @barrelhouse.bsky.social: The Aftermath. We're looking for fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and art about what happens AFTER the big story is over and life goes back to "normal" (or whatever counts as "normal"). More details here:

Nothing like receiving a lovely certificate recognizing your teaching with a tacked-on sentence inviting you to workshop on how to integrate GenAI into your teaching, which was likely appreciated in the first place because you would never do that.

Spending the day with someone in the ER, and the doctors and nurses really are quite amazing. Going to sign on for season two of The Pitt. (While hoping to go home soon.)

Yep. That just about sums it up!

Still working on the novel today and let me say this again: my worst day as a writer is a thousand times better than my best day at any other job.

And students want this.

The world is what it is but books continue! Agents + writers: looking for deeply researched and imaginative nonfiction manuscripts about the South, for publication in 2027/28. Literary nonfiction, personal/reportage & cultural criticism are highly welcomed. DMs open for pitches or meg@hubcity.org.

Quotidian struggles here as well.

Computational Cultural Studies replaces Literature and Cultural Studies sounds like a David Lodge novel without the humor.