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Aaron Colton

@acolton.bsky.social
142 followers 183 following 41 posts

Assistant Professor of English, Director of College Writing at Pomona College. On writer's block in American fiction: uipress.uiowa.edu/books/writing-thr…

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Reposted by Aaron Colton
Victorian Poetry @victorianpoetry.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
A new issue of VP is live, featuring @emmadavenport.bsky.social prize-winning essay on Toru Dutt! Issue contents previewed in the image & alt-text, + a reminder abt the upcoming submission deadline for the journal’s annual early career essay prize. Please share far and wide! muse.jhu.edu/issue/57126
Issue 63.2 of Victorian Poetry is live! The full issue is open access. Its contents are as follows:

EMMA DAVENPORT, "Crediting Toru Dutt's Poetic Labor: 'Our Casuarina Tree' and Paradise Lost -- winner of VP's inaugural early career essay prize

MONICA DAVID, "'Your Harlot Roofs': Women, Individualism, and the Towers of Idylls of the King"

JAMES QUINNELL, "'The Burden of the Strain': Self and World in the Poetry of Emily Brontë and Gerard Manley Hopkins"

ELIZABETH K. HELSINGER, "Writing Toward and Against Death: Tennyson and the Rossettis"

BENJAMIN O'DELL, "Verse Novel" -- a Poetry's Parts keyword essay

In other news, Victorian Poetry invites submissions for its 2026 Early Career Prize, which recognizes exemplary essays by untenured scholars of all ranks and affiliations (including NTT and graduate student colleagues). Conferred on an annual basis, the prize carries an award of $500 and publication in Victorian Poetry. Strong essays that do not win the award may also be considered for publication as recommended by the prize committee. Submissions are due 3 August 2026. Scholars wishing to be considered should submit anonymized MS Word essays and brief CVs to victorianpoetryjournal [at] gmail [dot] com with "Early Career Essay Prize" in the subject line. Prior to submission, consult our guidelines for authors. Essays conceived and / or written with the assistance of generative AI are ineligible for the prize.

Winning articles will be selected according to three criteria: (1) significance of contribution; (2) excellence of research, interpretation, and method; and (3) efficacy of presentation. The journal continues to expand its purview to a wider compass of archives and approaches. We welcome work that capaciously (re)interprets the field's originary contexts and reconsiders Victorian poetry (broadly construed) in new, innovative, cross-disciplinary, theoretical, and / or experimental ways.
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Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
I think alongside assigning books for students to read, we should also show them how great it is to be a reader.
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lindsey adler @lindseyadler.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
This is the longest story I have ever written. It is also the most meaningful. It will go out in The Small Bow's newsletter tomorrow. You can read it here now: www.thesmallbow.com/p/consider-t...
thesmallbow.com
Consider the Sister
Amy Wallace has spent two decades guarding the human her brother was—against a world that prefers David Foster Wallace as a puzzle.
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Brandon Walsh @walshbr.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Now that I've signed the contract, excited to share my first book "Embedded Pedagogies: Digital Humanities Teaching and the Infrastructure of Change" is forthcoming with @openbookpublish.bsky.social! Much more info about it on the publisher site here. www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.116...
openbookpublishers.com
Embedded Pedagogies Digital Humanities Teaching and the Infrastructure of Change
This volume offers a timely and incisive exploration of teaching in an era of institutional instability and political pressure.
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Sam Cohen @samcohen.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
New from New American Canon www.instagram.com/p/DXrmrK3jfI...
instagram.com
University of Iowa Press on Instagram: "🎸 Happy pub day to Tim Gray’s EASY: A HARD LOOK AT SOFT ROCK 🎸 “‘Soft Rock,’ they call it; low-key stuff with wide appeal.” So stated a 1971 Chicago Tribune ar...
uiowapress on April 28, 2026: "🎸 Happy pub day to Tim Gray’s EASY: A HARD LOOK AT SOFT ROCK 🎸 “‘Soft Rock,’ they call it; low-key stuff with wide appeal.” So stated a 1971 Chicago Tribune article on ...
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The New York Review of Books @nybooks.com · 28/04/2026
The gospel singer Mavis Staples‘s recent albums affirm “the importance, even necessity, of putting trust in the people around you,” writes Sophie Abramowitz. “No ‘I’ gets by alone.”
nybooks.com
She Knows a Place | Sophie Abramowitz
There’s a recording I hold close, Joan Armatrading’s “Woncha Come on Home.” When the song was released in 1977, it was common for music producers to
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Helen Rosner @hels.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Listen I read a lot, and a lot of it is dull as hell, and I’ll tell you one thing I’ve learned: tedious writing is almost always a product of the writer conveying, rather than discovering. When a writer is discovering, or sharing discovery, no editor on earth can scrub out the vividity & joy.
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Aaron Colton @acolton.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Sharing some professional news: In a few months, I’ll be joining @pomonacollege.bsky.social as an Assistant Prof of English and the Director of College Writing. My plan is to continue blinking in disbelief for the foreseeable future
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Nick Sturm @nicksturm.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Abstracts are due today for POETRY'S PROGRAM ERA INSTITUTIONS--a seminar at ASAP/17 in Madison this October. A heavy line-up is shaping up--join us! @asapartsnow.bsky.social
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Sam Cohen @samcohen.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Last chance, friends interested in academic novels & administration (and even have worked in it, as directors of study or associate chairs or program heads or whatever you people call yourselves) & might want to be on a roundtable. Got some submissions, looking to round things out, let me know.
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James @jamesdraney.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
New essay about some creeps, contemporary and canonical, in the history of the novel. I'm thinking about the nexus of the romance plot, commercial surveillance, and "the desire of the other." DM me for a PDF!
cambridge.org
The Creep’s Dilemma: The Novel in the Age of Surveillance Capitalism | PMLA | Cambridge Core
The Creep’s Dilemma: The Novel in the Age of Surveillance Capitalism - Volume 140 Issue 5
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Aaron Colton @acolton.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
It was a treat to talk with @andeamarzocchi.bsky.social about writer's block in literary fiction on @smallgoodpodcast.bsky.social Listen here: www.spreaker.com/episode/writ...
spreaker.com
Writing Through Writer's Block (With Aaron Colton) - A Small, Good Thing
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A Small, Good Thing @smallgoodpodcast.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
New episode out today (you really don’t want to miss this one)! What can fictional representations of blocked short story writers teach us about writer’s block and what causes it? Listen to this episode with @acolton.bsky.social to find out! Listen here: www.spreaker.com/episode/writ...
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Joel D. Anderson @joelanderson.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
Seasons are such a scam. Hoodie weather for 345 days a year is what I want
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Aaron Colton @acolton.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Was lucky to have @manshel.bsky.social's article on high-school English on hand in today's seminar on Percival Everett. The mock novel in Erasure is described as "the kind of book they will be reading in high schools thirty years from now"—the students spent a whole class unpacking that line!
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Sam Cohen @samcohen.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
@modernlanguage.bsky.social CFP: session sponsored by Association of Departments of English on academic novels and administration call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/02/... #MLA2027 #CFP #AcademicNovel #CampusNovel #Administration #DepartmentChair #Leadership #CriticalUniversityStudies
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Aaron Colton @acolton.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Three weeks left to apply!
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Ben Wurgaft @benwurgaft.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Much as GoFundMe is no replacement for national health care, ten thousand individual newsletters by really excellent writers is no replacement for their institutional employment.
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Emily Strasser @emilystrasser.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
I LOVE @thesundaylongread.bsky.social and frequently peruse for new stories to teach. Such a fun surprise to see my Doomsday Clock piece in this week’s edition!
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Blistering piece on ed tech in @economist.com. ‘Although ed-tech companies tout huge learning gains, independent research has made clear that technology rarely boosts learning in schools—and often impairs it.’ economist.com/united-state...
economist.com
Ed tech is profitable. It is also mostly useless
Independent research identifies few learning gains
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Aaron Colton @acolton.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Coming soon to a faculty workshop near you!
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Aaron Colton @acolton.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
How rad it was to be on KSQD (K-Squid!) talking with @pkreports.bsky.social about writer's block in fiction and practice. Podcast below!
podcasts.apple.com
Writing Through Writer’s Block with author, educator Aaron Colton
Podcast Episode · Talk of the Bay from KSQD · 01/10/2026 · 53m
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Aaron Colton @acolton.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
The Emory Writing Program Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowship application is now open! 3/3 teaching in first-year writing with opportunities to design/instruct upper-level classes in rhet/comp. Renewable up to three years. All PhDs with experience/interest in writing are welcome to apply—share widely!
apply.interfolio.com
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
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John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
I don’t know, books do this pretty well without having to fine tune them for outputs.
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James @jamesdraney.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
inspired by @acolton.bsky.social's Writing Through Writer's Block today: "...for writers struggling with perfectionism, procrastination, fear of failure, evaluation anxiety, or... predetermination that one is, inherently, a 'bad writer,' the fiction of writer’s block offers an invaluable resource."
uipress.uiowa.edu
Writing Through Writer’s Block
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John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
This piece gets at one of the underlying reasons students turn to LLMs - because they think it makes them sound like they belong in a university setting. It's the same motive that had students overusing the thesaurus pre-ChatGPT. theimportantwork.substack.com/p/chatgpt-an...
theimportantwork.substack.com
ChatGPT and "Inventing the University"
What we can learn from the em dash debate
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Douglas Dowland @profdgd.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
"The book review is central to what we do—and who we are. It is a relish worthy of savor, a form of communion that is as learned as it is precious." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/care...
insidehighered.com
Why Review? (opinion)
We review because it’s what we do, and it’s who we are.
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JP @jpbrammer.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
I think it would be fun if writers who love language started intentionally writing more strangely as AI flattens written "content" into a mono-voice. it would cool I think if writers responded by focusing their individual efforts on cultivating a really unique voice that's hard to copy
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Aaron Colton @acolton.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
Love (x1,000) this promo photo of the book from U of Iowa Press!
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Aaron Colton @acolton.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
It's pub day (birthday 0?) for Writing Through Writer's Block: Lessons from Modern American Fiction! This is a study of how authors have used the archetype of the blocked writer to identify, analyze, and ultimately work through both internal and external constraints on their creative abilities.
uipress.uiowa.edu
Writing Through Writer’s Block
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Aaron Colton @acolton.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
What actually beats writer's block: understanding writing as ordinary labor; analyzing standards set by genre, audience, institution, or market; taking charge of one's relationship with those standards; and seeing half-formed ideas through before evaluating their potential. No AI needed
theguardian.com
AI can help authors beat writer’s block, says Bloomsbury chief
Publisher last week reported jump in revenue in academic and professional arm thanks to AI licensing deal
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Nick Sturm @nicksturm.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
No grift here. Preorder Aaron's book!
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Aaron Colton @acolton.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
My book (made possible by @samcohen.bsky.social) on why fiction writers are always, always writing about writer's block is out next week (yikes!). It centers critiques of literary institutions/markets and compositional lessons for real writers. Consider pre-ordering! BLOCK40 will discount by 40%
uipress.uiowa.edu
Writing Through Writer’s Block
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Anna Ioanes @annaioanes.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
It’s the official publication day for Painful Forms! I’m so pleased to see the book out in the world and grateful forever to @uncpress.bsky.social for making that happen. uncpress.org/978146968894...
uncpress.org
Painful Forms
In the wake of World War II, Americans struggled to grasp the shifting scale of violence brought on by the nuclear era. To grapple with the overwhelming suff...
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Jesse Grabman @jgrabman.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Another plug that my lab @nmsu.edu will be admitting up to 2 PhD students this year (application deadline: January 15th). We study (eyewitness) memory, metacognition, and individual differences. More information here: www.grab-lab.com
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Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
I don’t think a long book is even primarily about plot, or character, or any of the patterned information on its pages. A long book is practicing over time a way of being in the world. Reading even a very good summary is not the same as giving over some portion of your own life to that practice.
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Sam Cohen @samcohen.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
Mail call! New from New American Canon, @acolton.bsky.social's Writing Through Writer's Block uipress.uiowa.edu/books/writin...
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Douglas Dowland @profdgd.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
In my mailbox today, a book well worth reading.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
I think we’re really going to have to do a lot more of this. A massive deprogramming so that people can read more than ten words at a time without anxiety. www.thetimes.com/uk/education...?
thetimes.com
Universities teaching literature students how to cope with long novels
Critics blame GCSE English for deterring teenagers from the subject, describing the literature syllabus as boring and repetitive
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Aaron Colton @acolton.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
I'm interviewed in @forbes.com this week about how students can't develop as writers if they don't also develop as readers, how AI tools diminish students' original thinking, and—so long as it remains a genre—how to write a meaningful college admissions essay. www.forbes.com/sites/lizdoe...
forbes.com
What Teens Lose When AI Writes The College Essay
More students are using ChatGPT to draft college essays, but at what cost? Experts warn it hinders critical thinking and leaves them unprepared for college writing.
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Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
Increasingly, what makes sense to me is framing a class as a *dialogic community* and assessing students on their contributions as members of that community. Such contributions can be and should be as spontaneous as they are regulated. +
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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
teachers! excited to share a new website at this late date of Aug 15 to try to help us collectively prepare for back to school in the interpretative humanities classroom assaulted by the AI grift, so we don't have to go it alone. take a look, share, + most importantly: CONTRIBUTE against-a-i.com
against-a-i.com
AGAINST AI
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Anne Balke Staver @anneavelo.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
Really appreciated this discussion with @tressiemcphd.bsky.social on AI in higher ed and what we and students are losing in terms of opportunities to go from struggling to mastering something, and learning as a relational/social process. www.nytimes.com/audio/app/20...
I can’t copy text but it’s a section from late in the interview quoting Tressie MC about emotions and learning
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Aaron Colton @acolton.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
The book, it has a cover!
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Liz Ott @elizott.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
Review deadline extended: July 9! There is still time to apply to the Curator of Literary & Poetry Collections position at Emory! apply.interfolio.com/167978 I’m very happy to speak to folks about this role! This is a phenom. opportunity to work with a stellar staff and unparalleled collections!
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David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
Hello! I would be happy to help. You can email me lollardfish at gmail with a draft of a piece and a pitch and I will help you refine it to improve your chances of being published. I mean this. I've helped a few dozen people these last six months.
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