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Alejandro

@drovarela.bsky.social
325 followers 50 following 18 posts

Writer, public health enthusiast, National Book Award finalist. Next novel, MIDDLE SPOON (Viking, 2025). Everything you need to know: alejandrovarela.work www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/77…

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McCormack Writing Center @mccormackwc.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
Join the McCormack Writing Center (formerly known as Tin House Workshop) for our 2026 Winter Online Workshop and cozy up to better craft! ⁠ ⁠ Purchase: tinhouse.com/product/2026...
Media description: An ad for an online writing workshop's lecture pass. Text reads: 2026 Winter Online Workshop, Jan 5 - Feb 16, Lecture Pass, McCormack Writing Center, Join Us
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Dr. Jey McCreight 🏳️‍⚧️🧬 @jeymccreight.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
If any journalist wants to talk to a trans man with a PhD in Human Genomics who was trained in labs that studied the evolution of sex, I'm right here Or just keep platforming Republicans who have a 5th grade understanding of biology so they get more trans people killed, sure 🤷🏻‍♂️
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Penina Roth @peninaroth.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
The Franklin Park Reading Series Season Finale was a smash—huge thanks to mesmerizing readers @angelaflournoy.bsky.social, Tim Blake Nelson, @drovarela.bsky.social, @megancummins.bsky.social, @jennifersears.bsky.social & Wah-Ming Chang, and lots of ❤️ to our awesome audience! 🗓️We’ll be back Jan. 12!
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Penina Roth @peninaroth.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
MONDAY, 8PM: Join us for the Franklin Park Reading Series, featuring an all-star lineup: @angelaflournoy.bsky.social, Tim Blake Nelson, @drovarela.bsky.social, @megancummins.bsky.social, @jennifersears.bsky.social, and Wah-Ming Chang! #Free! #crownheights shorturl.at/9gnfC
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Penina Roth @peninaroth.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
ONE WEEK AWAY--MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 8PM: Can't wait for the Franklin Park Reading Series Season Finale with superstars @angelaflournoy.bsky.social, Tim Blake Nelson, @drovarela.bsky.social, @megancummins.bsky.social, @jennifersears.bsky.social, and Wah-Ming Chang! #Free Details: shorturl.at/9gnfC
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Split Lip Magazine @splitlipthemag.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
We hope you've enjoyed ACCOMPLISHMENT SUNDAY as much as we have 🥰 Contributor @drovarela.bsky.social was interviewed by Julián Delgado Lopera about his new epistolary novel MIDDLE SPOON for @electricliterature.com. Check out this convo on anxiety and heartbreak: buff.ly/MLuaVWm
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Penina Roth @peninaroth.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 8PM: Join us for the Franklin Park Reading Series Season Finale, featuring @angelaflournoy.bsky.social, Tim Blake Nelson, @drovarela.bsky.social, @megancummins.bsky.social, @jennifersears.bsky.social, and Wah-Ming Chang! Details: shorturl.at/9gnfC #Free #crownheights
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Electric Literature @electricliterature.com · 11/11/2025
National Book Award finalist and renowned middle child Alejandro Varela tells us about being gay while heartbroken (@drovarela.bsky.social) buff.ly/oW5GR6Q
electricliterature.com
This Epistolary Novel Plumbs the Anxious Depths of a Broken Heart - Electric Literature
Alejandro Varela’s “Middle Spoon” is an obsessive exploration of mental health, polyamory, and the desire for our pain to be witnessed
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Alejandro @drovarela.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Thanks! I hope you enjoy it. If not, give it to someone you dislike.
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Alejandro @drovarela.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Thanks @lithub.com.web.brid.gy for providing space for so many of us to share our work (and ideas).
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Lit Hub @literaryhub.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
“I’d wanted to dissect, intellectualize, and dramatize the pain of loss.” @drovarela.bsky.social on writing a novel that questions everything about love and heartbreak.
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The Case for Polyamory: Alejandro Varela on Writing a Novel That Questions Everything
If you’re barely clinging to the safety of monogamy or the no-strings-attached joys of an open relationship, I don’t advise picking up my latest novel, Middle Spoon, where I write with painstaking …
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Lydia Polgreen @polgreen.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
I spoke with the great Sarah Schulman about her exceptional new book, which is a bracingly practical guide to building solidarity now, based on her decades as an activist for people with AIDS, Palestine and more. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | ‘This Moment Is a Cataclysm,’ but We Can Still Act
The longtime activist and writer Sarah Schulman on why now is the time to stand up to people you oppose.
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talia jane @taliajane.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
BREAKING: Hundreds of Jews and allies have taken over Trump Tower chanting “We want justice, you say how. Bring Mahmoud home now!” and “Fight Nazis, not students.” The civil disobedience is spawned by the ICE arrest of Palestinian student Mahmoud Khalil.
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Alejandro @drovarela.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
MIDDLE SPOON, Sept 2025 @vikingbooks.bsky.social. Not the book I set out to write, but the one I needed to. Couldn't be prouder of it. I hope it induces dialog, empathy, & fits of laughter. Pre-orders welcome. (Link in bio.) Thanks for supporting me/my work. 🙏🏽 Colin Webber for the design.
Book cover. Red lettering on magenta backdrop. Image of three stacked pillows between text (MIDDLE SPOON and Alejandro Varela)
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Edgar Gomez @otroedgargomez.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
🧵Thread: How I Make Money and Survive as a Writer. I grew up with a household income of around 22k a year and recently transitioned out of the service industry to writing full-time. Hope some of this helps!
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Marcos Gonsalez @marcossgonsalez.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
Join me & the incredible @livesinpages.bsky.social in January to discuss Revolting Indolence! An evening of indolent theorizing, good chisme, & so much more. Register here: www.eventbrite.com/e/marcos-gon...
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Megan Greenwell @greenwell.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
This interview with Nikki Giovanni from earlier this year should be required reading. oxfordamerican.org/web-only/nik...
I think the transgender kids are the bravest kids right now that we see; they're as brave as my generation was in breaking down segregation. They're breaking down-I don't have the word for it right now-but it's gender prejudice, and [the idea that] somebody has decided that they can tell you who you are, what your name should be, and how you should look.

And those youngsters are saying, "No, I can decide who I am, what my name should be." Everybody's mad at me like, You should be a girl because we've decided you're a girl. And they say, "Well, who the hell are you?" I can decide that I'm a boy. And if it makes me happy, what does it mean to you? And I can decide that my name is John. And if you don't like that my name is Geraldine, why can't you name yourself? And if the people who know you and love you-or have to talk to you, maybe they don't even love you but they have to talk to you -you can tell them, “This is my name, and I would like to be referred to in that way."
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Alejandro @drovarela.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
This guy is the personification of a Bernie policy. Structural target. Mass appeal. Well planned.
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Alexander Chee @alexanderchee.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
A press release from the American Association of Anaesthesiologists condemns this new policy change and asks the public to reach out and complain to legislators.
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Jehad Abusalim @jehadabusalim.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
Israel killed 100 people in Gaza today. I listened to NPR this evening, and this wasn’t even reported in passing. There was even a report about an initiative to save endangered wolves somewhere, but no mention of the 100 people who were killed in less than 24 hours.
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Deesha Philyaw @deeshaphilyaw.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
I finally made a Substack newsletter. In this first issue: Writing advice no one wants, an early year-end reflection, the last writer I had dinner with, and more deeshaphilyaw.substack.com/p/welcome-to...
deeshaphilyaw.substack.com
Welcome to Writing, Wandering, Wondering!
Writing advice no one wants, an early year-end reflection, the last writer I had dinner with, and more
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Alejandro @drovarela.bsky.social · 14/04/2024
I withdrew my work from consideration for the Jean Stein Award. I can't align myself with a human rights org that waits 5 months to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, while platforming zionists & pretending there's nuance to genocide. ✊🏽🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸 ✊🏽WAWOG
Letter to PEN America. (Too long to include text. Will share upon request.)
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Alejandro @drovarela.bsky.social · 12/10/2023
Inspired. Will attempt 3rd person.
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Alejandro @drovarela.bsky.social · 18/05/2023
Had a dentist appt a couple months ago, during which I told her about my first book. She was effusive, but I assumed she was being polite. Had a follow-up yesterday & my novel was in the waiting area. She was already the best dentist I've ever had. Will wait till cleaning to tell her about 2nd book.
Office waiting area with table, chair, box of tissues, and a pink book on tableClose up of pink book: The Town of Babylon by alejandro Varela. Cover illustration: aerial view of a person in white shirt and blue pants flying over a grid of housesReflective plaque with name and address of dentist: Dr. Emily Ro
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