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Michael Taeckens

@mtaeckens.bsky.social
2.9K followers 989 following 403 posts

Co-founder, Broadside PR Lit Agent, Massie McQuilkin & Altman michaeltaeckenspr.com/about-me

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Reposted by Michael Taeckens
Hamilton Cain @hamiltoncain.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
'Tis the season for bibliophiles. Here's my "something for everyone" basket of fall books for TIME: time.com/article/2026...
time.com
The 50 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2026
All the must-read works of fiction and nonfiction to look forward to this fall
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Kate Tuttle @katekilla.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I asked emerging critic Mina Leazer to review Min Jin Lee's new book, 'American Hagwon,' because she has lived the world Lee's novel describes. She was enraptured. In Sunday's print edition of the @bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com/2026/09/22/a...
bostonglobe.com
Min Jin Lee’s sweeping generational epic probes education, family, and society - The Boston Globe
The literary world has been eagerly anticipating the release of Lee’s new novel, “American Hagwon.” It has been nearly a decade since the release of “Pachinko,” a generational saga of diasporic Korean...
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Adam Morgan @adamm0rgan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Nine years after we discussed PACHINKO, I was happily reunited with @minjinlee.bsky.social to talk about AMERICAN HAGWON — and her 🔥next novel, MARSHALL PLAN🔥 — for @readbookpage.bsky.social. www.bookpage.com/interviews/m...
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 25/09/2026
The author talks with David Remnick about leaving corporate law to become a novelist, and making Korean culture and experiences legible to readers around the globe. www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-...
newyorker.com
Min Jin Lee on “American Hagwon,” Her First Novel After the Phenomenon of “Pachinko”
The author talks with David Remnick about leaving corporate law to become a novelist, and making Korean culture and experiences legible to readers around the globe.
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Maris Kreizman @maris.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
We are about to enter into the Autumn of Big Ass Novels
Big new books by Kawai Stream by Washington, T. Geronimo Johnson, Hernan Diaz, Min Jin Lee, Jane Schoenbrun, Marlon James, and Chloe Benjamin
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Kate Tuttle @katekilla.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Our big fall books preview is up at www.bostonglobe.com/2026/08/20/a... Thank you to @paperhaus.bsky.social and @coryoldweiler.bsky.social for pulling together the fiction list! And to my colleagues at the @bostonglobe.com for a beautiful digital production. This will be in the print edition Sunday.
bostonglobe.com
Forty of the best new books to read this fall - The Boston Globe
Leave it to your friendly Globe book critics to help you find your next big read.
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The Boston Globe @bostonglobe.com · 20/08/2026
In today’s Starting Point, we take a look at this fall’s big books and what makes this year’s list a little different.
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It’s big books time, with a twist: humility - The Boston Globe
Less self-help certainty and billionaires on how they make their bundle this book season; more vulnerability, salted with humor.
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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
New from 404 Media: we solved which AI company is buying massive shipments of rare books, scanning and destroying them to train AI. We put an Apple AirTag in a rare book, followed it. It ended up at an Amazon facility. Its logo is a dinosaur ripping through a book www.404media.co/we-tracked-a...
404media.co
We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility
We placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books.
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Ana Marie Cox @anamariecox.com · 16/08/2026
If you got something out of my post about staying alive when you don't much feel like it, you should definitely check out this resource from @wordyanchorite.bsky.social. Re-mix as needed! So much better to do a skills and tools inventory before things get hinky. docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com
Jazz Chart - Personal Depression Action Plan
My Contacts Severity My Symptoms Coping Skills Name Phone number Role Mild Feeling sad for no reason A, B, C, E Psychologist Loss of appetite C, E Psychiatrist Moderate Sleeping too much C ...
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Meg Reid 🦦 @megireid.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Something I've been working on! The Southern Prize for Literature supports writers developing book-length manuscripts and stands as one of the largest recent investments in Southern literature. One winner will $25k two runners-up will each receive $10k. www.southarts.org/grants-oppor...
southarts.org
Southern Prize for Literature | South Arts
The Southern Prize for Literature advances the work of writers engaged in the development of book-length manuscripts. The award is designed to provide timely support at a critical juncture in a projec...
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Kristen Martin @kwistent.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Join me this fall for a redux of my popular hybrid memoir class with Blue Stoop, expanded and refreshed! We’ll meet via Zoom on Monday nights from late September through late November, and scholarships available to folks in the greater Philly area. Hit up bluestoop.org/classes for more!
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Kate Tuttle @katekilla.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Oh, sorry -- for anyone who sees this out of the blue, I am researching the idea of hosting a book club (and newsletter) as part of my work as the books editor at a major newspaper. So this isn't white wine in the living room, much as I love wine.
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Alexander Chee @alexanderchee.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Mary Ruefle on The Odyssey.
Deconstruction
I think the sirens in the Odyssey sang the Odyssey, for there is nothing more seductive, more terrible, than the story of our own life, the one we do not want to hear and will do anything to listen to.
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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 04/08/2026
I tried to bring the focus back where it needs to be: "Whatever the strategic (mis)calculations behind this crisis, what is indisputable is that on any given day, there are thousands of young people in Morocco who are willing to risk everything for a chance to live in Europe." tinyurl.com/mpeyzavu
tinyurl.com
The Makings of a Mass Crisis
Unless Morocco’s government provides better jobs, education, healthcare, and human rights to young people, the crisis we witnessed this last week will happen again.
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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 04/08/2026
I haven’t felt like posting on this site since my mother died in October, but I feel compelled to raise my periscope given the horrifying crisis at the Morocco/Spain border in Ceuta and the disturbing amount of misinformation that’s circulating around it.
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American Libraries magazine @amlibraries.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
“I think it’s the most romantic thing I could say, but my life has been liberated by public education.” Read more from the #alaac26 session of novelist @minjinlee.bsky.social americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs…
americanlibrariesmagazine.org
Prices Paid for Lessons Learned | American Libraries Magazine
Author Min Jin Lee's latest book explores the hagwon system of Korean education and the economic forces that shape narratives.
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Elizabeth McCracken @elizmccrack.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Hello! Would you like to take a craft seminar with me this Saturday, and get a copy of my book? Here's where you can: writersleague.org/calendar/sat...
writersleague.org
WLT Saturday Craft Seminar: “A Long Game” with Elizabeth McCracken
A few times a year, the WLT hosts Saturday Craft Seminars featuring a presentation and conversation with an author who has recently released a book on the craft of writing. Everyone who buys a tick…
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Colson Whitehead @colsonwhitehead.com · 31/07/2026
And the official announcement — variety.com/2026/tv/news...
variety.com
Colson Whitehead’s ‘Harlem’ Trilogy TV Show in Development at Apple (EXCLUSIVE)
Apple TV is in development on a series based on Colson Whitehead's 'Harlem' trilogy, including 'Harlem Shuffle,' 'Crook Manifesto' and 'Cool Machine.'
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Caleb Crain @calebcrain.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
I’ve been waiting for the print edition to read The Review (I am an old), but my principle here is that if a reviewer isn’t free to give her honest opinion of a work of art, what freedom worth having still exists in the world? Gratitude and ingratitude are just terms for social control here.
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Michael Taeckens @mtaeckens.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Thrilled for Douglas Stuart and Grove Press! 🎉
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Ignacio Gallup-Diaz @igallupd.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
“A Penn professor thought she’d sell 1000 copies of her ‘Odyssey’ translation. She sold a million this year alone, thanks to Christopher Nolan.” “West Philly's Emily Wilson, who penned a highly acclaimed translation of the epic poem in 2017, is having a big summer.”
share.inquirer.com
A Penn professor thought she’d sell 1000 copies of her ‘Odyssey’ translation. She sold a million this year alone, thanks to Christopher Nolan.
West Philly's Emily Wilson, who penned a highly acclaimed translation of the epic poem in 2017, is having a big summer.
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Julian Lucas @jcljules.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Bravely getting on stage with the brilliant and deranged Cole Escola, aka “Mayhem’s Muse” (apparently). Come out!
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Colson Whitehead @colsonwhitehead.com · 20/07/2026
If you’re looking for a freelance book editor for your project, hit up @wcboggess.bsky.social. When I finished the trilogy, I wanted to someone to read the books back to back, to check consistency, tone, vibe, thematic progression, all of it. William was really great, perceptive & insightful!
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Bring Me The News @bringmethenews.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Talking Volumes returns this fall with Marlon James, Colson Whitehead, Min Jin Lee. More: bringmethenews.com/minnesota-lifest…
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Reminder! There are alternatives to Substack! Which do not have its ethical problems! (My newsletter is on Ghost, which is fabulous, and Buttondown is among the others I've heard praised.) Thread--
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Kate Tuttle @katekilla.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
There's nobody I would rather have review a new novel by @colsonwhitehead.com than Walton Muyumba, who says that COOL MACHINE, the final book in the Harlem Trilogy, is the best of of the bunch. In print in Sunday's @bostonglobe www.bostonglobe.com/2026/07/16/a...
bostonglobe.com
‘Cool Machine’ completes Whitehead’s Harlem Trilogy with thoughts of justice denied - The Boston Globe
Colson Whitehead’s tenth novel, “Cool Machine,” concludes his crime fiction series centered on the trials and triumphs of Ray Carney, both a legitimate furniture-store proprietor and a fence for stole...
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Colson Whitehead @colsonwhitehead.com · 15/07/2026
I didn’t know it was airing 🤪, but I hosted a “White Guys Sweating” double feature of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre & The Killing on TCM last weekend. It was fun! www.instagram.com/tcm/reel/Daq...
instagram.com
Turner Classic Movies on Instagram: "Novelist and two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Colson Whitehead shares his favorite movie-theater memories, dream dinner guest from the Golden Age...
1,057 likes, 13 comments - tcm on July 11, 2026: "Novelist and two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Colson Whitehead shares his favorite movie-theater memories, dream dinner guest from t...
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Marc Chamberlain @marcchamberlain.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Pablo Neruda was born on this day in 1904. Here he is on political and environmental corruption, from ‘America, I Do Not Invoke Your Name in Vain’, part six of Canto General. This translation is by Ben Belitt. #poetry
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250 to 250 @250to250.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
@minjinlee.bsky.social is the award-winning author of “Free Food for Millionaires” and “Pachinko.” Here, Lee profiles Nam June Paik, the Korean American artist who became the father of video art and foresaw our connected digital future. #WeAreAmerica250
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Kate Tuttle @katekilla.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
My semi-regular reminder that if you subscribe to a publication and you like antyhing anyone there is doing, try to click on the article, comment on it, write an email to the publication's editor, etc. Because we really live and die by engagement metrics, and it's hard out here on the books beat.
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Elizabeth McCracken @elizmccrack.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Having got rid of 90% of my books recently, I very much endorse this wonderful piece by the wonderful Maris Kreizman
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Simon and Gargamel @kellylink.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
The idea that David Brooks has anything useful to say to anyone, let alone Democrats and the left, is so beyond comedy that I am actually in pain.
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Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪 @neonpajamas.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Sarah Jean Grimm @sarahjgrimm.bsky.social
PEP TALK

Buy yourself some flowers, damn it.
Wear whatever you'd wear to check the mail.
You came into this world with six fontanelles, no ideas.
The future buffered like a mobile over your soft head.
Now you keep several plants alive at once.
You are a good professional.
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The New Negroni @omweekes.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
This is the best one of these that they’ve done by far.
nytimes.com
Opinion | Trump and the Democrats: 13 Black Democratic Voters Discuss
The group discusses Donald Trump, America today and the future of the Democratic Party.
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Elizabeth McCracken @elizmccrack.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Nick Hornby has always been incredibly kind to me, and about my work.
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Hamilton Cain @hamiltoncain.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
'Tis the season for books! Here's my "something for everyone" basket of 41 titles for TIME--thanks to editors Lucy Feldman and Mahita Gajanan: time.com/article/2026...
time.com
The Best New Books to Read This Summer
This season’s new fiction and nonfiction illuminate our manic world while offering riveting escapes
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Michael Taeckens @mtaeckens.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
“Russian writers you didn’t know were Russian (Dostoevsky)”
A black-and-white photo of a middle-aged James Baldwin wearing a white, collared shirt and a light-colored cardigan. He’s on the right side of the photo, facing left, and appears to be mid-sentence. He’s in a living room—a fireplace with a mantel bears a horizontal, framed photo of a woman’s face (close-up, dark hair) and other misc. items that are out of focus. A white horizontal overlay banner at bottom center reads: “Queer writers you didn’t know were queer”
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Vauhini Vara @vauhinivara.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
in 2020, i visited baja to report on a mysterious die-off of grey whales. people were only sort of worried then: this happened, sometimes. Seven years later, though, the whales keep dying — their entire population has nearly halved. And now we know why. my latest, for @orionmagazine.bsky.social. 🐋
orionmagazine.org
Unusual Mortality Event - Orion Magazine
The mysterious die-off of eastern North Pacific gray whales
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Libby @captainlibatron.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Bless her. I'm hoping my final form will be Toksvig-esque
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Michael Taeckens @mtaeckens.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
The state of books coverage today
A group portrait of the 6 family members from Family Ties with the headline “4 Books Perfect for Fans of the Hit ‘80s Series Family Ties”
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Elizabeth McCracken @elizmccrack.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Annual reminder that one 4th of July spent in England, my mother-in-law took my husband aside to ask whether she should cook a turkey for me.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 03/07/2026
Mamdani: "As we mark 250 years ... we see the wealthiest country -- one where children go to sleep hungry while the world's first trillionaire hungers for more ... we see masked agents terrorizing our streets, eating food cooked by undocumented neighbors before spiriting them away in unmarked vans"
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Carolina A. Miranda @cmonstah.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
BTW, if you're wondering how to help Venezuela, World Central Kitchen is scaling up food support to the site of the earthquake. I've made a donation. You can support here: wck.org/news/media-a...
wck.org
World Central Kitchen | WCK
Founded in 2010 by Chef José Andrés, World Central Kitchen (WCK) is a nonprofit organization that is first to the frontlines providing fresh meals in response to crises. Applying our model of quick ...
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Eric Lundgren @eplundgren.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
If you're looking for a (paid) opportunity to start a career in book publishing, I couldn't think of a better place to begin: milkweed.org/the-milkweed...
milkweed.org
The Milkweed Fellowship | Milkweed Editions
The Milkweed Fellowship
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Victor LaValle @victorlavalle.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
10 transgender athletes out of more than half a million on college teams. That’s it. A cadre of hateful, and deeply weird, wealthy people paid to get their bigotry approved by a corrupt conservative Supreme Court.
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Michael Taeckens @mtaeckens.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Over the moon about representing the great, National Book Award-winning poet Nikky Finney 💙
A photo of poet Nikky Finney (smiling, dreadlocks pulled back from her face, dark-framed glasses) wearing a shirt in shades of blue and green. The side of a yellow house is behind her, and some dark green leaves from a plant in front of her. The test reads MMQ&A - WELCOME TO THE AGENCY - NIKKY FINNEY
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Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
If you're a gay man, and you look at people who identify as queer, NB or trans, and you don't understand that their struggles are our struggles, then you're useless to any progressive moment. The arguments from this prim prisspot were bad when they were popular in the mid-'90s and they're worse now.
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Simon and Gargamel @kellylink.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
This is from @elizmccrack.bsky.social’s A Long Game—
IN FICTION THERE ARE NEEDFUL MYSTERIES AND needless mysteries. If the author and characters know a secret and only the reader is left in the dark, that's a needless mystery. If you withhold a fact and think, When I reveal this, it's going to blow the readers mind, nine times out of ten it will only make them think you've been playing cards with an ace up your sleeve. If you trick your readers, in other words, by hiding a pertinent fact, they won't think you're good at writing. At best, they'll think you're good at tricks. Fiction can disorient readers, but if they don't know where they are, if a piece of fiction continually shutsa reader out of what's happening, who's talking, what year it is, then they will feel as though they're on the other side of the door of an interesting party. Some personality types enjoy this feeling of exclusion. Not many.
Altogether it's easy to overestimate the pleasure readers take in figuring out facts, who is speaking, their relationships to one another, where they are, what time period or geographical location we're in, what level of reality. It's not that everything must be instantly clear, only that if everything is obscure, readers are only looking down at their feet, wondering where they are, not up at the glories of your fictional universe.
Needful mysteries are about the mysteries of life. What can be done and not done, what can be seen and not seen.
Needful mysteries tend to be mysteries to the characters as well.
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Alexander Chee @alexanderchee.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Lucy Yu of Yu and Me Books with the Electric Literature list of most anticipated books by women of color for summer and fall: electricliterature.com/the-most-ant...
electricliterature.com
The Most Anticipated Books by Women of Color for Summer and Fall 2026 - Electric Literature
Explore these new and debut titles by Naima Coster, Zaina Arafat, Stacey Yu, and Deesha Philyaw
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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Grimly amusing Dem machines think they deserve some sort of entitlement hierarchy. My entire life, everything has been moving backwards, politically, democratically, bureaucratically, judicially. You are all failures. You are presumptively part of the rot that must be removed down to the root.
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