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Kara Rota

@karalearota.bsky.social
5.7K followers 2.9K following 101 posts

Senior literary agent at TLA (nonfiction) / book editor / writing sometimes / reading always ♏️☀️♒️🌑♍️⬆️ www.thompsonliterary.com querymanager.com/query/KaraRota kararota.substack.com reedsy.com/kara-rota

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Kara Rota @karalearota.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
open.substack.com
word witchery
Happy pub week to word witch Kate Belew! Here she is talking about her new book and the spellcraft of writing on the Witch Wave with Pam Grossman. Working on this book was itself a spell and I’m very ...
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Kara Rota @karalearota.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
open.substack.com
things that aren’t writing but feel like writing
being in a state of reception
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Claudia Friedlander @voiceteachernyc.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Tesla Model 3 crushed by an Olmec statue By Mexican sculptor @chavismarmol.bsky.social
A blue Tesla Model 3 has been crushed by an Olmec statue. A man with long black braids leans against the hood of the car with his arms crossed, staring down the camera.
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Cassidy M. Graham @cassidygraham.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Super excited to share this belated Valentine's Day deal! Can't wait to work with Dr. Marina Rosenthal on this important book, and big thanks to @karalearota.bsky.social and @thompsonlitagency.bsky.social! Deal of the Day!✨
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Kara Rota @karalearota.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
I liked this one too!
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Cʜʀɪs Sᴛᴇɪɴ @chrisstein.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
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Kara Rota @karalearota.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
lrb.co.uk
Katherine Rundell · Why children’s books?
Children’s books, to a great extent because they are written for those who cannot participate in the market, can offer...
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Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Ending voting for women is a core part of the Evangelical plan for the country. They have even considered implementing “household” voting where each family only casts one vote (and we know who decides). This is the first step. (Image reposted with ALT)
Highlighted text “tens of millions of married women could not present their birth certificate as proof of citizenship under the SAVE Act, as it does not display their current legal name.”

CAP
The SAVE Act Would Disenfranchise Millions of Citizens
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The vast majority of married women cannot present a valid birth certificate
While the vast majority of Americans have a birth certificate, tens of millions of married women could not present their birth certificate as proof of citizenship under the SAVE Act, as it does not display their current legal name.
A survey from the Pew Research Center found that 79 percent of American women married to men have taken their spouse's name. When women who have hyphenated their surname are also accounted for, 84 percent of American women have changed their surname.
Nationwide, approximately 69 million women could not use their birth certificate to prove their identity or citizenship status under the SAVE Act.
Additionally, 5 percent of married men have also changed their surname, accounting for approximately 4 million men nationwide who could also not present an acceptable birth certificate under the SAVE Act. The legislation does not mention the potential option for these Americans to present change-of-name documentation or a marriage certificate in combination with a birth certificate to prove their citizenship. This shows yet another area in which the legislation makes no attempts to ensure that citizens' voting rights are protected. Seemingly, the SAVE Act would rather err on the side of disenfranchisement.
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Maria Strutz @mariastrutz.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
Fox Dreaming of Spring 🤍🌿🐾
 a curled up fox, looking down to the right, surrounded by blackberry blossoms, a crescent moon in the right top corner. Linocut, dark blue and white lines, Maria Strutz
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Kara Rota @karalearota.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
Having had drain flies this fall I can tell you this really is exactly what it’s like
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X-R-A-Y @xraylitmag.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
it's the first of the month & subs are open: xraylitmag.com/submissions/
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 02/02/2025
Venus and the Moon are gorgeous tonight 😍
A not particularly clear picture of a crescent moon with a bright dot of Venus to the upper right. The sky behind is a deepening blue.
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Pronoy @pronoysarkar.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
News, as they say. Granted, there’s enough news. But this one is personal. Books to be made, especially during these times. Now as an agent representing non-fiction of all kinds.
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Todd Dillard @toddedillard.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
shoutout to how songs you like are a gift you can give
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Eric Smith @ericsmithrocks.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
If the trees in my yard can enter dormancy and sleep for months why can’t I?
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Darrell Z. Grizzle @dzgrizzle.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
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Kara Rota @karalearota.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
saw people complaining about the font choice on the new lucy dacus album cover so i looked it up and you would never ever not in a million years before seeing it guess the totally normal font and context like i thought it was going to be papyrus or something
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Dirt @dirt.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
Ranging from packing lists to unsaid romantic confessions, Notes shows the full spectrum of human experience encapsulated in one irreplaceable app. The book ships February 27th. Preorder on @metalabel.bsky.social! nightgallery.metalabel.com/notes?varian...
nightgallery.metalabel.com
Notes
Notes is the first book collaboration between Dirt and Night Gallery. A tribute to the humble iPhone note, the collection features 100 phone notes from 100 creative contributors. Ranging from packing ...
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Dirt @dirt.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
Are you in New York City on 2/27/25? Come celebrate the launch of Notes at @mcnallyjackson.bsky.social's Seaport location. Tickets are $30 and include a copy of Notes, a drink and a printout of your own note. 🍷 www.mcnallyjackson.com/event/022720...
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Dirt @dirt.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
Introducing...Notes 📱🗒️ Notes is the first book collaboration between Dirt and Night Gallery. A tribute to the humble iPhone note, the collection features 100 phone notes from 100 creative contributors.
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Lincoln Michel @thelincoln.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
My astrological belief is that your personality is determined by the solitaire deck you always picked.
Card decks in the old Windows Solitaire game
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Dirt @dirt.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
"She looked straight ahead. She had her headphones in. Her mouth was the color of lipstick and she made it flat and hard." New flash fiction from @karalearota.bsky.social dirt.fyi/article/2025...
dirt.fyi
Two Fairy Tales
Once upon a time.
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X-R-A-Y @xraylitmag.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
today we have a story by Daisy Alioto @princessdaisy.bsky.social !! it's about Peggy, a woman trying to find a good man xraylitmag.com/peggy-by-dai...
xraylitmag.com
PEGGY by Daisy Alioto
Peggy got down on her knees and asked God to send her a good man. She thought she had one in Jack but her friends told her that he wasn’t a good man, or if he was, he was good in the way that men are ...
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Tom Snarsky @tomsnarsky.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
the extraordinary again common Ron Schreiber
back down to earth


no sky visions but these clouds
red air above the Sierras
by Nevada City    this pool of water
this fountain built by beavers
two bodies playing on the rocks
a muskrat swimming upstream
the extraordinary again common
learning to count:
aspen    calendula    eucalyptus    pine
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Kara Rota @karalearota.bsky.social · 31/12/2024
club chalamet being 58 is so all fours group chat
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Maggie Smith @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
Lucille Clifton, always.
“i am running into a new year” by Lucille Clifton 

i am running into a new year
and the old years blow back
like a wind
that i catch in my hair
like strong fingers like
all my old promises and
it will be hard to let go
of what i said to myself
about myself
when i was sixteen and
twenty-six and thirty-six
even thirty-six but
i am running into a new year
and i beg what i love and
i leave to forgive me
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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 28/12/2024
Texas--with one of the country's strictest abortion bans, highest maternal mortality rates, and the most women without health insurance--faces an "epidemic" of abandoned babies, some being found in ditches and dumpsters wapo.st/3ZXDbks
wapo.st
‘Baby in a dumpster.’ A spate of abandoned newborns unsettles Texas.
Critics say these cases are no coincidence in a state with one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bans and near-bottom rankings on women’s health care.
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Tom Snarsky @tomsnarsky.bsky.social · 26/12/2024
Elizabeth Arnold
SOLSTICE

We laugh to think the Romans lit great fires in December
to persuade the sun to come back. To persuade the sun!
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Rachel Deering @racheldeering.bsky.social · 21/12/2024
The Snow Queen, Thomas Bromley Blacklock, 1902.
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Chelsea M. Cameron (she/they) @chel-c-cam.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
This is still one of my favorite poems in the entire world
The Tiger by Nael, age 6
From They're Singing a Song in Their Rocket
The tiger
He destroyed his cage
Yes
YES
The tiger is out
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Kara Rota @karalearota.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
“I want to sit around a giant pot of hot soup and eat it with you forever and I want to never get full”
lithub.com
“Sexting is Roleplay About Desire,” a Prose Poem by Vera Blossom
“Sexting is Roleplay about Desire” I want to sit in your truck and talk about nothing I want to put up Christmas lights with you in our townhouse and walk through the snow I want to hug you for a w…
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Kara Rota @karalearota.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
“And it was corny, I mean lovely, I mean unforgettable in one way or another. The slant of the light, etc. I’m still working out exactly what it was.”
dirt.fyi
Splitting the Rabbit
“Don’t listen to me, nothing I say means anything.”
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Amanda Marcotte @amandamarcotte.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
Looking back at the "tradwife" and related trends in 2024, like the "I can't pay my mortgage" TikToks. What's remarkable is how fake it all is. In reality, women are more independent than ever. It's propaganda more than a trend. www.salon.com/2024/12/19/t...
salon.com
"Tradwives" were the hot online topic in 2024 — but offline, women are more independent than ever
Social media celebrating women's submission is propaganda, not a reflection of reality
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
the giséle pelicot story is one i’ve had trouble concentrating on too closely because it’s a tragedy beyond comprehension. her ability to triumph through it is something i will never understand, but deeply admire forever.
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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 19/12/2024
If they’re openly discussing ending mifepristone access via telehealth—for no legitimate reason, it’s safely available via telehealth now and nothing about that has changed—I really don’t think they will stop there.
notus.org
Josh Hawley Says RFK Jr. Is ‘Open’ to Restricting Abortion Pill Access
As Donald Trump’s pick for health secretary makes the rounds on Capitol Hill, some Republican senators are asking about his views on abortion.
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Soraya Nadia McDonald @soraya.press · 18/12/2024
They deported her for missing her immigration hearing...which she notified the court she needed to reschedule, because at the time of her hearing, SHE WAS LITERALLY BIRTHING US CITIZENS. Violent, shameful, utterly disgusting.
theguardian.com
Ice deports mother and children, including newborn twins, to Mexico
Despite the infants being US citizens, Christina Salazar and all four of her children were put on a plane on 11 December
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Read the book Read Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell) @jphillll.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
It would be cool to live somewhere that actually did something about this
Nevertheless, a suite of tactics collectively known as dynamic pricing has already crept into an expansive array of consumer transactions. Through dynamic pricing, retailers algorithmically adjust prices, sometimes in real time, using whatever data they can scrape together—the time of day, your location, the product’s popularity and inventory level, competitors’ prices, even whether you’ve visited the product page before. And this practice is likely to become much more widespread in pretty short order.
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Tom Snarsky @tomsnarsky.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
happy birthday @sadqueer4life.bsky.social 🎈
THINGS THAT MAKE ME FEEL EMBARRASSED

Speaking, walking through any crowded room or open
space, asking for help, having a body, complaining about

having a body, not understanding big grad school words,
understanding big grad school words, catching my reflection

in a mirror, listening to the thoughts in my head, considering
any moment in my past, even one second ago when I was

wondering what to say here, and questioning, questioning,
always questioning myself, my intent, is this push towards

healing selfish, am I a selfish person for wanting the tiny
drops of comfort that form on the sphere of glass I keep

around my innermost self, is it a crime to be this sensitive,
should I be leaving the house more, oh no, now I'm sad,

is it wrong to feel sad, where is my labor going, oh no,
I didn't answer that text, didn't respond to those emails,

was too busy dying, convinced I was dying, whatever,
the other day a stranger caught me standing out beneath

the sun and smiling with my eyes shut at the warm
breath of wind upon my face and oh god I was so

embarrassed I erased the moment, dropped the
catharsis, abandoned my relief for the pigeons 

and flies to feast upon with love.
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Amanda Marcotte @amandamarcotte.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
New Standing Room Only! Today's excerpt: Texas's abortion ban is being used primarily by men getting revenge on women for telling them "no." Subscribe today! salon.com/newsletter Music by Boy Harsher.
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Preeti Chhibber @runwithskizzers.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
This is the most embarrassing thing I have read in a long time. Like. I’d call them babies except our children are forced to be stronger and more mature than these weak ass turds since god forbid we do anything about school shootings.
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NicDaisy @nicdaisy.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
North Netherlands. Memento Mori gold & enamel ring, 1640-60. The book reads: ‘’t Leven is mijn Christi, Sterven is mijn Gewin’ (For me to live is Christ& to die is gain). Inscribed inside is:‘ons leven is een schadú op aerde’ (our life on earth is a shadow). ©@rijksmuseum.bsky.social #Jewellery
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Kara Rota @karalearota.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
lake report
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Dr. Han VanderHart @hanvanderhart.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
For a long time nothing changed. It was like driving all day through Texas. Jane Kenyon
Colors

(for S.D.)

Sometimes I agreed with you 
to make you stop telling me things.
I was a fist closed around a rock.

For a long time nothing changed.
It was like driving all day through Texas.

But now I've stopped
tearing the arm off the waiting-room chair, 
and sneaking back at night to fix it.

And the change was like light 
moving through a prism, red 
turning to yellow, green to blue, 
and all by insensible degrees.
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Kim Wilson @kimwilsonauthor.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
A Jane Austen Advent Calendar - December 15 December 15, 1798: At Jane Austen’s village of Steventon, Hampshire, there have been hard black frosts. Jane later wrote that she enjoyed them very much and “one day…walked to Deane by myself.—I do not know that I ever did such a thing in my life before.”
A woman dressed in a Regency-style dress, a red, fur-trimmed cape, and a black hat, and carrying a large fur muff, walks down a snowy country lane. The lane is lined with stone walls. In the distance are leafless trees and an English-style, two-story farmhouse with brick chimneys.
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Rachel Deering @racheldeering.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
Anna Blackburn, C18th.
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lukelukeluke @lukelukeluke.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Here are some nice mushrooms
A stick is held upright at an angle to show its underside is covered in Splitgill mushrooms, one stacked above the next, each of them radiating gills from their center, above a leaf covered forest floor

Photo by me

#mushroomsky #fungifriends
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Alina Stefanescu @alinaetc.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
Night the black beard a string running through it with the sound of a breath - W. S. Merwin, “The String”
THE STRING
Night the black bead a string running through it with the sound of a breath
lights are still there from long ago when they were not seen
in the morning it was explained to me that the one
we call the morning star and the evening star are the same
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