iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Just sayin'--not a single "industry voice" at *our* AI symposium. marktwainaward.org/ai-symposium

American Voice
Weekend
AMERICAN VOICE IN LITERATURE
MARK TWAIN
10th Anniversary
Saturday November 7
Symposium:
Creative Writing in the Age of AI
Join us In Person at the museum as we honor this
year’s winner, Lydia Millet for her book Atavists.
The award will be presented by David Baldacci.
Conversation will be moderated by Marie Arana.
Creative Writing in the Age of AI Symposium sponsors
The Frank Lord Memorial Fund and CT Humanities
Friday November 6
Mark Twain American Voice in
Literature Award Presentation and
Celebration
Join us In Person or via Live Stream as we
explore the philosophical, ethical, and legal
aspects of generative AI and human
creativity, the experiences of established and
aspiring authors and editors in this critical
moment, and the ways generative AI is
reshaping how we read, engage with, and
teach the literary arts.
Celebrating Literature, Supporting Writers, Sparking Conversation
At The Mark Twain House & Museum

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

This isn’t a view of the house I normally see during my work day so I’m going out of my way to see it more often.

A large 19th century US red brick house with ornate woodwork silhouetted against a blue sky with a few white clouds.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

It’s just going to get prettier from here

A red brick, Gilded Age mansion with coordinate painting and woodwork silhouette against a cloudless blue October sky. There are trees with green leaves and golden leaves and red leaves all around it.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

We have one by the same artist at the museum!

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Missa Gaia in a Franciscan church ending with Cubberly puppets? It’s a Connecticut Transitus!

A gold sparkly sun puppet operated by a man

a puppet styled as a black woman in a colorful dress with plants as hair

Two large puppets operated by people wearing them in the back of a bright Catholic Church.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

In person: $75 general, $50 members, $30 students and educators—includes lots of coffee, light snacks, and lunch. Streaming: $10 general, free for members. Every ticket holder gets access to the recording after, so live streamers/non-EST ppl don’t have to sit at their computers all day.

Join us on Saturday November 7th from 9:30am to 3pm for Creative Writing in the Age of Al at The Mark
Twain House & Museum.
This day-long symposium will explore the philosophical, ethical, and legal aspects of generative Al and human creativity, the experiences of established and aspiring authors and editors in this critical moment, and the ways generative Al is reshaping how we read, engage with, and teach the literary arts. Gathering together scholars, authors, editors, educators, and critics from around the country, we'll explore how generative Al prompts us to think more about creative writing, what we value about it, and how we can best uphold those values going forward.

Symposium Schedule
9:30-10:00 Breakfast reception
10:00-10:30 Introductory remarks from John Warner, who will serve as the day's moderator
10:30-11:15 Frameworks
• Jeff Dixon, Professor of Sociology, College of the Holy Cross
• Bhamati Viswanathan, Visiting Assistant
Professor, Suffolk University Law School
• Damien P. Williams, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Data Science, University of North
Carolina Charlotte
11:15-11:30 Coffee break
11:30-12:15 Authors and editors
• David Baldacci, novelist
• Lydia Millet, writer and winner of the 2026 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award
• Emily Hockaday, poet and editor of Asimovs Science Fiction Magazine

12:15-1:15 Lunch
1:15-2:00 Teaching, learning, and reading
• Ron Charles, book critic
• Jane Rosenzweig, former director of the Harvard
Writing Center
• Matt Seybold, Associate Professor of American Literature & Mark Twain Studies, Elmira College
2:00-2:15 Coffee break
2:15-3:00 What Now? What Next?
• Roundtable with all participants

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

It's a good day when you get new rep.

Two staves of SATB choral music in latin full of groovy accidentals.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Excited to have our 2026 winner! As with last year, it’s a short story collection.

2026 MARK TWAIN AWARD
Lydia Millet
Atavists
"Twain's sardonic humor when it comes to human nature is on full display."
The Mark Twain House & Museum

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

All that’s left to do is sand and add two clear coats

Wooden blocks with pictures and names of foods glued to the sides

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Two fun things upcoming at @marktwainhouse.bsky.social if you're into it. Visit marktwainhouse.org/events/ to get tickets. #NutmegSky

A red square with a skull in the middle. in glowing letters it says Ghost Story Writing Workshop Friday October 16 5:30-7 Mark Twain House

A red square with a hand holding two tarot cards in the middle. in glowing letters it says Tarot Poetry Workshop Friday October 23 5:30-7 Mark Twain House

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

It’s good when a program gets booked so much that the materials wear out and you have to make new stuff. It’s even better when the federal government is still helping you pay for it.

A bunch of 3 inch wooden blocks lined up on some tables with small piles of paper in front of them

A bunch of 3 inch blocks of wood with paper in front of them. Each block has a photograph of a different kind of food glued to it The foods are things like bananas, summer squash, coffee, and rhubarb.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Two days of great sunsets in preparation for several days of not seeing the sun at all.

A brilliant red and orange sunset over a formerly industrial Connecticut suburban skyline

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Our finalists for the 10th MT American Voice in Literature Award! The winner will be announced next month and will also join us as a panelists for our symposium "Creative Writing in the Age of AI"

A graphic showing the finalists for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award, with headshots and covers: Lydia Millet/Atavists, Susan Choi/Flashlight, Joyce Carol Oates/Fox, Kiran Desai/The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny

Winner announced in October
Award Weekend November 6-7 Hartford CT
marktwainaward.org
The Mark Twain House & Museum

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I asked and she said the person who donated them had no idea which is classic. But they look like this which doesn’t help much.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

One goal for 2029? Let’s see if we can get the Oval Office back to

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

thought it was just a troll but now i have other ideas

Training_Ball_3345
OP •
6h ago

I just don't get the point as I can do what you describe without taking a sabbatical. Service: I am in the faculty senate. It's an elected position. I can just resign. And I can just decline invitations to sit in PhD committees, scientific boards, etc. I'm glad there is no mandatory service at my faculty. Teaching: I can just suspend my courses for one year. Noone is gonna force me to teach them. And I can reassign my students to other supervisors.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

No zucchini bread luck in the last book but this could also be a valuable source

A spiral bound community cookbook

BOOK OF
FAVORITE
Recipes
Compiled by
"SHARON HERITAGE 76"
The Bicentennial
Observance
Committee
of
Sharon, Connecticut
Copyright 1968 by CIRCULATION SERVICE, P.O. Box 7147, Kansas City 13. Mo.
FUND RAISING PROGRAMS AND PROGRAMS OF SERVICE FOR CHURCH, SCHOOL AND CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS
Printed in the United States of America
ss

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Now I know where my grandmother was getting support for her commitment to drinking broccoli water.

A chart of maladies and positive attributes with the corresponding foods and nutritional elements/vitamins. For instance, to guard against rickets, and to ensure strong teeth and bones, get vitamin d from fat, eggs, sun, sardines, fish liver oil, salmon, cheese, and milk

about vitamins ...
I-Men can live in excellent health for their entire lives upon very simple diets.—
2-—Natural foods that are available in abundance in America can be fitted into combinations that are entirely adequate for good health.-3—Thousands of Americans have gone to premature graves from overeating and keeping their bodies too fat. 4Natural foods with good cooking can be made to provide more complete diets than can processed foods supplemented with vitamin con-centrates.—The above statements by Clive M. McCay, Professor of Nutrition, Cornell University, appeared in the New York Times Magazine.
The problem of the American housewife is how to convert the daily requirement of 3000 calories, 70 grams of protein, 2.7 grams of riboflavin (vitamin B 2) as well as many others too numerous to list, into a daily menu or food plan. The chart on the preceding pages has been prepared to show which groups the various foods are in and from this chart something from each group can be chosen daily, to insure adequate and balanced meals. Thus without a technical knowledge of vitamins you may provide your family with proper food for a happy and healthful life.

There are a few simple rules which should be kept in mind in the preparation of food so as to conserve and utilize the natural vitamins and healthtul elements.
I-Fresh vegetables should be cooked in a mimimum of time and in as little water as possible to conserve the nutrients since some vitamins are destroyed by heat and extracted by water.
2—The water from this cooking should be saved for soups, etc. 3—Potatoes should be pared very thinly or served with the jackets, as the most nutritious part is directly beneath the skin.
4 Foods should not be left in water either before or after cooking. 5—Raw vegetables such as carrots, celery, kohl-rabi, tomatoes, let-tuce, parsley, cabbage, etc. should be used in salads as frequently as possible since there is no loss of valuable vitamins in cooking.
6—All roast meats should be cooked in a slow oven to prevent shrinkage and loss of the valuable juices.
7Bones from cooked or uncooked meat with the addition of previously saved vegetable water) are the basis for good soup.
8—Citrus truit parings should not be thrown away since they may be as much as five times as rich in vitamin Cas the juices. Parings from grapefruit, oranges, lemons, citron, and watermelon may be served in jellies, marmalades, candies or other forms.
The art of cooking and serving nutritious and appealing meals can be a most interesting part of your daily work as you gain more and more knowledge of its value and effects. It is suggested that you supplement this material with the worthwhile booklets provided on the subjects by the United States Department of Agriculture.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The book itself is a Kraft thing but it is filled with all of the best treasures.

An open cookbook with a pile of recipes clipped out of newspapers

A divider in a recipe book talking about preserves. Someone (my grandmother) wrote a recipe for “pumkin dessert ring” around the printed writing on the cardstock.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Apparently this was recovered and I didn’t know till I saw it on my mother’s kitchen shelf just now. We shall see.

A green cloth covered book that says recipes on the front in embossed gold letters

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I feel like I entered grad school at the end of this period of expensive bookstore-bound student readers. But the basic problem here has only grown worse.

Today royalties and their protection by copyright cannot be regarded as a significant spur to the protection of historical research. Instead of the early national situation of isolated amateurs, the United States teems with an army of historians who are salaried employees of our schools, colleges, museums, and public institutions. Many are encouraged to write and to publish in pursuit of lifetime job tenure. The minuscule royalties that most scholarly books garner, and the absence of payment for articles, are thus not of a major concern to such historians. It might be a nice calculation to estimate whether the bookkeeping costs of keeping track of these small payments to authors justify the custom.

By another logic we might think of such payments as double dipping, since the historian’s secure, if small, salary with its injunction to do research is the underlying social contract. And should not projects supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and private eleemosynary institutions become public, not private, property? Doesn’t the securing of private copyrights for such publications imitate the patents drug companies secure on new medicines whose research has been funded by federal grants?

A few histories are immensely profitable. Occasionally a team of historians gang together to write a cash-cow text. In so doing, they harvest the resources of contemporary scholarship. Also, there is that rarity among us, a best-selling book. I leave it to the reader to judge whether the historians who write such profitable works either deserve or, in a more Constitutional mode of thinking, require protection.

Whatever one’s feelings in these matters, it is surely the case that the present law is feeding publishers, not historians. Are the current constraints on the free and easy dissemination of information worth the barriers to use or the costs and inconvenience of the current permission system? I think not.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I'm in a Zoom meeting and I feel very seen and acknowledged by this PowerPoint.

a table column that says Notes at the head and three cells below that each say "Breakdown as needed"

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The third page provides more velocipede talk, an account of the circus, and a joke that is not funny but I can't tell if that's because it's the 19th century or because a kid is telling it.

Tod; Why! do! not! you! send me horse hairs out of the mane and tail I think you are very mean not to send them. Here is a picture for you you rogue. I went to Barnums the other nigth and it was an awful sell. I went and saw the animals at the Central Park too. Mama be sure and send my Aquarium without the gold fish pack it very carefully and bring my velosepede.

Then there's a drawing of two giraffes and two people standing and one sitting. 1 rustic to 2 rustic do them creatures go fast. 2 rustic I do not know now pretty gait has not it I think it goes slow. 2 or so do I Keeper 35 miles a minute gentlemen 1 my nag Bess could beat that

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Another classic letter from this family.

Dear Mama, do not forget to bring my Aquarium, and do anything with my Fish pitch them in Muddy Brook if you do not want to eat or give them away only bring the Aquarium without the fish. I do not want sharks here; I have got already three decent sized fish although one is a great deal too large being about 2 inches long my others are 1 inch, and I keep them in a basin. Maria takes care of your

plants; very badly too I guess. Now mama if you do not want me to pitch myself out of the third story window bring my Aquarium without those nasty gold fish; and y Velocipede I don't know how to spell it but it does not matter much. Without the last I shall never go out and will be sickly and thin; and without the first I shall have no amusements so I shall [a small drawing of a man in a hat kicking over a pail of water"] Good bye from your unaffectionate son unless you bring the Aquarium without the goldfish and my velocipede.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

RS with your home river. High above the Housatonic, 'mid the Berkshires proud and true. The stretch between Falls Village and Kent shaped the routes and relationships of my childhood, even though PCBs from General Electric meant it was primarily there for looking at, not for playing or fishing in.

A red wooden covered bridge stretching across a river. The trees are golden and glowing in the fall light.

water falling over a large rock shelf. the river pools below. the trees are spring green.

a river in a snowstorm. all the trees are coated but the river is still dark.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Last day of vacation, so I’m just about relaxed enough to enjoy it at this point.

A cloudy sky over calm inlet. The sunset is visible in the distance and it reflects off all of the clouds.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

As I took it, I knew exactly which ones would mark me as Connecticut #NutmegSky

A dialect map showing that the person who took the quiz is from the northeast. The caption says Your dialect map
Redder areas talk more like you; bluer areas least.
You talk most like someone from Connecticut
— about 58% of your answers match a typical resident.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I usually average 3-5 accidental downloads by people who don't realize the link is a PDF. I assume this is finally where you know what gets me.

Dear Author,
You had 46 new downloads in August 2026 across your 1 paper in Digital Commons @ UConn. Your current readership:

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Nothing but this view and a stack of @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social books for the week. A real Bluesky experience.

Looking out over a small inlet. There are seaweed covered rocks visible where the tide is out. Along the left side is a cliff covered in pine trees. Dead head is a dirt path through some beach roses headed towards the water. The sky is blue and cloudless.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

This is the only bit of it that I have and I treasure it. If you’ve got a couple of girl friends you should sing it with them.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

We had all of this in the office already.

A shrine to Dolly Parton set up on an old stair

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

There will be one more panelist for the day, and it will be whichever one of these great authors wins this year's Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award.

a brown and gold instagram tile
the Mark Twain House & Museum
Celebrating 10 years
Announcing the 2026 Shortlist
The American Voice in Literature Award
Atavists Lydia Millet
Heartwood Amity Gage
Crooks Lou Berney
My Darling Boy John Dufresne
Flashlight Susan Choi
Stag Dance Torrey Peters
Fox Joyce Carol Oates
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny Kiran Desai
Life, & Death, & Giants Ron Rindo
The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne Ron Currie

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

In planning this symposium, I placed high priority on a) making it hybrid and b) making it affordable. $10 streaming tickets for sale now, including full Q&A participation and access to the recording after the event. We hope you will tune in! marktwainhouse.vbotickets.com/event/Creati...

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Tickets for this go on pre-sale later this week, with the big reveal of our full panel coming in the next few days. Even if creative writing isn't your central focus as an educator, I'm confident you'll find something good in this day. In-person and live-streaming, priced to sell.

Join us on Saturday November 7th from 9:30am to 3pm for Creative Writing in the Age of AI at The Mark Twain House & Museum.

This day-long symposium will explore the philosophical, ethical, and legal aspects of generative AI and human creativity, the experiences of established and aspiring authors and editors in this critical moment, and the ways generative AI is reshaping how we read, engage with, and teach the literary arts. Gathering together scholars, authors, editors, educators, and critics from around the country, we'll explore how generative AI prompts us to think more about creative writing, what we value about it, and how we can best uphold those values going forward.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

I was at my CSA pick up and it was heartbreakingly New England for a moment.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Here’s a free tip though: as frustrating as it may be that your bucket list museum is undergoing some construction when you visit, try to remember how dearly won that project probably is.

Mark Twain House, a red brick, Gilded Age mansion with a bunch of scaffolding and workers in neon shirts

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Back from six days in Elmira for the Twain quadrennial plus a little extra time to work on an amazing Twain digital project that I am honored to play a little part in. Seven years in and I’ve barely scratched the surface of this wild field.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

I am typesetting all of the pieces for @nfwc-twain.bsky.social's summer 2026 magazine and I was just working on an amazing ekphrastic poem based on Wenzel Hablik's "Starry Sky, Attempt" and I found this.

Delight in Existence!
Wenzel Hablik, 1920
Your ideas should be irresponsibly free as a bird… Let us create a fresh atmosphere, a pure aura of spirit, wit, and joy. Many an idea comes to life through another spirit and matures into fact…

Come and join the struggle against all things negative and corrupting.

Join the struggle, preach, rejoice, blow the trumpet! Speak out in a hundred persuasive tongues. Sacred duties await you — speak out.

We should be teaching people how to be happy — man and woman, girl and child. Speak out! Speak out! Delight in existence — in the universe— in being and perishing. We should be expunging the thought of war from the hearts of all mankind!

What are you, prophets? — the heralds of the new life, telling of the new suns, moons, and stars!

The millions await you!

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Please enjoy this image from Wikipedia labeled "Charlie Rose with Alan Trammell, c. 1990s" that confidently links to a very different Charlie Rose.

a picture of baseball player Alan Trammell shaking the hand of a much shorter man with tinted glasses and a very bald head. Looks like it's at a convention.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

I do think they've stopped making this but it was the only butternut squash preparation I ever liked, because it was savory!

V8 golden butternut squash soup in an aseptic box

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Still, got to give a tour for grownups today and got them right in the feels with my favorite line.

the final illustration of Twain's Eve's Diary, by Lester Ralph. Adam with his head in his hand sitting on a boulder. There is a rainbow in front of a storm in the background.

Eve's Diary p. 109
At Eve's Grave
ADAM: Wheresoever she was, *there* was Eden.
THE END

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