Writer and critic for hire. Author of the novel "All My Mother's Lovers" and "Beings," forthcoming from Bloomsbury, 9/23/25. Pre-order links (and hopefully other stuff soon): https://linktr.ee/ilanaslightly
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Pritzker: "When did we become a country where it's ok for the US president to insist on national television that a state should call him to beg for anything? Especially something we don't want. Have we truly lost all sense of sanity in this nation that we treat this as normal?"
Illinois Gov. Pritzker ahead of Trump National Guard deployment: "To Chicagoans... Look out for your communities and your neighbours. Know your rights. Film things that you see happening... Authoritarians thrive on your silence. Be loud for America."
(and by older I really mean "have more books under my belt")
I think that's AMAZING. I just feel like I won't be able to sell something like that until I'm way older lol
I hope I get to be a writer long enough to publish one of those cozy "here's what I love about reading" essay collections
Ahhh thank you so much, Lorraine!!! This means the world <3.
Deeply appreciate this mention from @lorraineberry.bsky.social and especially chuffed by this: "Fragments in an archive come together to produce an (U)nputdownable (F)abulous (O)pus."
She is ASTONISHINGLY good in this show. Her performance is just BEYOND.
Okay, for a few years there, I feel like I kept hearing that Jennifer Lawrence was MAGA but um, apparently she's not? She was raised in a Republican household and then, like, grew up and learned things about the world? So that's a nice inconsequential thing to learn since I admire her acting a lot.
Finished reading two books yesterday and will probably finish a third today and I'm feeling bereft of all the worlds I've been living in
Another day, still extraordinary, how our brains can build entire futures that haven't happened yet!
Worrying about things you can't control is so great, I love it, what a rush, absolutely magnificent, so much heart palpitations, such anxiety, wow
"Start shopping to earn a gift!" is insane framing--like, yes, shopping is earning "gifts" i.e. paying for things with money
The past, the present, the future walk into a bar; it was tense.
I'm such a rebel!!!
CBS mentioned it, thankfully! youtu.be/MDg431NVqbs?...
<3 <3 <3
For @washingtonpost.com, I wrote about Fumio Yamamoto's first book to be translated into English, "The Dilemmas of Working Women," which is delightful and also extremely unfortunately relevant to our end-stage capitalism days (gift link): wapo.st/4n9rOQG
I've been getting these constantly lol
It Happened To Me: Had to Revise My Opinion Because the Full Article Turned Out to Be More Nuanced Than the Viral Screenshot
welcome welcome!
omg let's have a little club
Suppressing spicy takes about Storygraph because I do not want to make enemies
My understanding is that for the place, Hawai'i with the okina is correct, but for the people, Hawaiian is correct - at least that's what one Hawaiian friend told me!
Feels frivolous to talk about my book SHE'S UNDER HERE (out 9/16) when the world is on fire and so many are in danger, but I have to believe that art matters. I gave this memoir all I had, and it was worth the struggle. Last night copies of the hardback arrived. What a thrill.
It Happened To Me: Had to Revise My Opinion Because the Full Article Turned Out to Be More Nuanced Than the Viral Screenshot
I absolutely agree with this but/and/also, I feel like it's really important for mainstream media to absolutely point out and shout out when things are illegal/when laws aren't being enforced in this selective partisan and fascist way
Thank you! Pre-ordering is essentially the best way to support an author. It influences how many copies bookstores stock as well as best seller lists. If you love a writer’s work, pre-order.
I am very delighted to be a part of this event on 9/18, in which I will attempt to read an essay about Kathryn Davis's work in front of Kathryn Davis. Boston friends, come say hi!
I'm in this class right NOW and it's wonderful! Really helping me put my finger on some of my frustrations with and hopes for writing workshops. Take it the next time it runs! @shipmanagency.bsky.social
Evergreen
Some of your opinions are extremely confusing, Bluesky feed.
I agree this ranks high in terms of danger to humanity, but I think there’s one worse, and it’s our willingness to treat people as disposable. From unhoused folks to Palestinians to disabled folks to friends who piss us off, we have “protected our peace” into callous isolationism and disdain
I don't think so :/
Thank you for sharing this! I've submitted my info but it's unsettling to know when or if I'll ever hear from them even though I *know* my book was stolen sigh
When you have a dictator calling autistic people a "horror show" and his Minister of Eugenics says "we're going to solve that", we all know what they mean, right?
For the @latimes.com I covered Helen Oyeyemi's newest novel which is--and I cannot stress this enough--so freaking weird and also incredibly delightful. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Okay I have officially confirmed with the actual author in question that (shocker!) this was not from her. Just in case you were worried that some authors actually were out here using Author as a title with their whole chests
Ah yes, the age-old book-burning-is-good-somehow metaphor
Today’s Executive Order creating a *nationwide* military “quick reaction force” and setting up an online portal to permit random fascist vigilantes to join soldiers is one of the scariest things I’ve seen in U.S. politics in my adult life. Why is it not getting more attention?
Truly!!!! I also would like to stop getting "lifestyle" and diet books when I literally have in my email signature that I don't cover those!!!
Oooh interesting point. Hmm.
Hello, Erin, I'm Author Ilana Masad... And I am here to sell you something you definitely need like a circular saw
Hahaha I get a ton of those too but I think at least half of them are actually real and about real (awful) books lol
It's freaking wild!
Those make at least some kind of sense to me as a scam since obviously we know marketers work for money but what is the point of this??
It's so weird. Like the marketing ones I imagine at least have the potential to yield some money but what is this one even about?!
It's giving three robots in a trench coat isn't it
I'm tempted to respond just to see what the grift ends up being but like someone should tell the scammers that authors are by and large not worthy marks
OK anyone else getting emails from "fellow authors" that seem clearly AI generated and from people who definitely wouldn't reach out to you that way? There's no ask in this one but like...I'm 99% positive it's not from who it says it's from because authors don't use Author as a title before names?!
![Dear Ilana, I’m Author [redacted], reaching out as a fellow writer who admires the breadth and brilliance of your work. All My Mother’s Lovers is such a powerful exploration of love, family, and identity, and I also deeply respect the way your essays and criticism bring clarity and thoughtfulness to contemporary conversations. As an author navigating similar creative terrains, I’d love the chance to connect with you, author-to-author, and share reflections on the writing journey. Warmly, Author [redacted]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:o2i4sqsiiqkcnbcntgkexphn/bafkreib6irub4buprpajxyhhmiguevezvbzuczvsyg6t57gps4a7yc37qm@jpeg "Click to view full size")
(New)sletter drop! On going on tour, but also on living in the tension of writing right now (h/t to @emmaceisenberg.bsky.social and @smathewss.bsky.social) and some things I'm reading (including @ambersparks.bsky.social's amazing novel) buttondown.com/imasadcritic...
(New)sletter drop! On going on tour, but also on living in the tension of writing right now (h/t to @emmaceisenberg.bsky.social and @smathewss.bsky.social) and some things I'm reading (including @ambersparks.bsky.social's amazing novel) buttondown.com/imasadcritic...
This thought brought to you by "I swear this queer woman and I at the baby music class were both trying to place each other but what if she's someone famous and just stares back at anyone who looks at her"
The trouble with LA is that when you see someone you recognize but can't place, you can't assume it's someone you met at a friend's party or some reading, and you can't go up to them and say, "hey, how do we know each other?" because you might know them from TV
I mean same here!!!
Legit had no idea lol it's wild. The brief synopses here are just like :O :O :O en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_%2...
"Cool" cops who somehow get their own records expunged and then become federal cops (i.e. FBI agents) and later...spies?!
TIL that the Fast and Furious franchise is somehow, against all odds, about a bunch of cops?!?
Oh my god Eden thank you!!!!
On a winning reading streak this month: Notes from a Regicide by @isaac-fellman.bsky.social - languid, queer, gloriously strange Rakesfall by @vajra.me - Allow me to be the 1st to say this book rules In the middle of Beings by @ilanaslightly.bsky.social - love it so much I brought it on vacation
Okay wow this is literally news to me about this claim!!!
I'm going to read the article, but I'm curious whether it's about buying books or reading them--because people can read without buying books and buy books without reading them
I know, and they already made it weird, but people who applied this year are getting emails that it's been fully canceled - half my Instagram feed right now is people sharing those emails >.<
Soooo apparently the NEA just completely canceled the Creative Writing Fellowship?!?
"At home and abroad, the U.S. government is participating in starving people, particularly children, and calling it policy. It’s more than policy, though. It’s woven into the fabric of this country since its inception." Read our latest op-ed from @thetattooedjew.com ⤵️
#booksky
I would absolutely love to! It's not entirely up to me, unfortunately, but if I can make an event there happen I totally will!
Absolutely, it makes me so cranky too!!!
thrilled to have a group chat in which to share it <3
Absolutely - it's a different genre with a different approach and goal!
"At their best, book reviews make readers think in the same way that books make readers think. They illuminate new ways of understanding the world and open up conversations. They deepen readers’ knowledge and help them develop their own ideas and opinions about the books they read..."
THIS!!! When Kristen reviews a book, she writes, she aims "to engage in an intellectual conversation about the issues and ideas the book takes up, to assess how the book contributes to a body of knowledge [...] and to contextualize how it fits into the wider landscape..."
"Book reviews are not advertisements, and books are not merely products. They are not commodities, and they are not consumables that get used up and thrown away, like face cream or paper towels. We should not judge the worth of book criticism by whether or not it moves book sales."
Please read Kristen Martin on book criticism (and on everything else she writes about, honestly)
Very (very) different things, @ilanaslightly.bsky.social. Thanks for calling that out for us. 💙
*chef's kiss*
If your "Free Press" has "The" That's fascism, huh If sans-article be That Press is quite Free
We need a fun little rhyme like we have with the Naomis for this confusing
I just want it known that my partner and I were looking at a job listing from @freepress.bsky.social and we were so freaking confused because the whole time we were reading it (and it's very lovely EEO statement and values) we thought it was Bari Weiss's FP. It's not! They are different things!
I'm going on book tour 👽 9/24 Skylight Books, LA (CA) 9/28 Head House Books, Philly 9/30 Loyalty Bookstore, DC 10/1 The Strand, NYC 10/2 Riffraff Bookstore, Providence 10/3 Porter Square Books, Boston 10/9 Sarah Lawrence College 10/11 Sunny's Bookshop, LA (CA) 11/12 Francie & Finch, Lincoln, NE
Yes to ALL that. Sigh. I hate it here. I have a full ass child I birthed from my body and yet I still find myself incredibly baffled by adult etiquette for some shit
Aw, thank you, but I honestly think that if I want to have any chance of making it more readable/enjoyable/interesting, I have to watch out for my LJ tendencies lol
I've gotten lazier versions of this recently, where they address me by my full name (which is weird) and then don't mention the title of my books even lol
My newsletter should not feel like a LiveJournal of writerly anxieties my newsletter should not feel like a LiveJournal of writerly anxieties my newsletter should not feel like a LiveJournal of writerly anxieties my newsletter should not feel like a LiveJournal of writerly anxieties my newsletter sh
That sounds amazing
Anyone know how to make your brain work while running on two years of interrupted and insufficient sleep amid the continuing horrors?
MSNBC rebranding to MSNOW is extremely MS Paint coded
Man, I would LOVE to come there <3
Ooooh yes, very good point! Definitely will use it for newsletter ^__^
Yes, of course, but that's the thing, you can only be in convo with one person! And oooh come up where?? Yes please!
I wrote about literature as an unending conversation, genres as dialogues, and writing as adding your voice to the chat countercraft.substack.com/p/the-grand-...
Thinking of doing this thing for book tour where I recommend five writers whose books I love for every city I'm in (not that it's that many but yeah) because I want people to know who their local authors are
The pre-pub gremlins have begun their siege
AND you can pre-order with 10% off & the maps will come directly to you (dragon delivery not guaranteed).
Me to me: Scheduling social media posts like a pro... ...does not count as writing, alas.
Logging on
Fyi #booksky #amreading
My memoir is out 1 month from today! From Luis Urrea: "She’s Under Here is a hurricane, elegant and visceral at once." Lacy Crawford: "Like a tandem skydive, just as terrifying and just as exhilarating." Erika Krouse: "A genuine tour de force, blistering with intelligence and dark wit." 1/
