Sign in

Phil Klay

@philklay.bsky.social
6.7K followers 405 following 836 posts

Author of Redeployment, Missionaries, and Uncertain Ground: Citizenship in an Age of Endless, Invisible War. Teaches at Fairfield University MFA.

PostsRepliesMedia
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
‘Hoel, who sported an impressive beard, told me that he hated that A.I. compromised human freedom. “I want a world where my kids are able to matter in the way that our generation was able to matter and make choices.’” —Becca Rothfeld www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
newyorker.com
The Humanism Driving the Anti-A.I. Movement
At the Pro-Human Assembly in Washington, D.C., attendees talked less about jobs and policy, and more about their philosophy of life.
130
Reposted by Phil Klay
Rima I Anabtawi @rimaanabtawi.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Love her or repelled by her, Andrea Dworkin, was, often, right and possessed a brilliantly sharp intellect. She was attacked, mercilessly, relentlessly, because she refused to be diminished. Younger generations need to know about her.
0121
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
“Cheap, propagandistic views of fucking…are repudiated by the presence of a whole human life with all its worth in the act and at stake.” —Dworkin, INTERCOURSE
084
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
“Language isn’t just the sound of a community – it also carries a whole way of thinking. It captures the character and nature of the people whose mother tongue it is” pen.org/alim-aliiev-...
pen.org
'A Critical Part of Our Code': Alim Aliiev, PEN Ukraine Member, on Crimean Tatar Language, Literature, and Identity
Russia’s illegal occupation in 2014 came with new attempts to dismantle the Crimean Tatar identity in a bid to re-colonize Crimea.
041
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Unless there’s “a legitimately high likelihood of violence,” Shahverdian [PEN/America’s director of higher education and free expression] said, “campus leaders need to model a willingness to do everything they can to allow that speech to happen.” www.chronicle.com/article/hasa...
chronicle.com
Hasan Piker Is the Latest Test of College Speech
Last year’s murder of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University shows safety risks are real.
151
Reposted by Phil Klay
Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Literally happening right now www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/dig...
616157
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
It is worth looking at the profiles of these writers to see what they are enduring for daring to criticize their own government (an act which, in the long term, strengthens countries)
1122
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
In a joint letter @penamerica.bsky.social together with a coalition of 10 human rights organizations called for the immediate release of unjustly imprisoned Vietnamese journalists and writers including Le Huu Minh Tuan, Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Tuong Thuy, and Pham Doan Trang. pen.org/press-releas...
pen.org
Joint Letter to US State Department on Vietnamese Imprisoned Writers
In a joint letter to Marco Rubio, PEN America called for the immediate release of unjustly imprisoned Vietnamese journalists and writers.
051
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I’m honored to serve as the President of PEN/America, which has been defending free expression and celebrating literature for over a hundred years.  pen.org/press-releas...
pen.org
Award-Winning Author Phil Klay Named President of PEN America
PEN America today announced the selection of award-winning novelist, essayist, and professor Phil Klay to serve as its president and chair of the Board of Trustees of the 104-year-old writers organiza...
5689
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Dillard was such a beautiful writer but also so damn funny.
0183
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
“That it's rough out there and chancy is no surprise. Every live thing is a survivor on a kind of extended emergency bivouac. But at the same time we are also created.” RIP Annie Dillard
0151
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Tonight at Fairfield University The World after 9/11: Reflections on the Enduring Global Impact of the Attacks events.fairfield.edu/event/the-wo...
061
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
The lieutenant said, 'Have you seen enough?" speaking savagely, almost as though I had been responsible for these deaths. Perhaps to the soldier the civilian is the man who employs him to kill, who includes the guilt of murder in the pay-envelope and escapes responsibility. —The Quiet American
0173
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
“Wistful appeals to congressional action should be accompanied by the desolate strains of Tchaikovsky's Pathétique” @kschake.bsky.social www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
foreignaffairs.com
Why We Should Fight
And where Trump went wrong.
063
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
“[Under Obama] Israel approved just three new settlements in the West Bank; since the start of 2023…it has approved one hundred and four.” “In the first seven months of 2026, there were at least one thousand three hundred and eighty settler attacks” www.newyorker.com/news/a-repor...
newyorker.com
New Maps Show How Israel Has Thwarted Hopes for a Palestinian State
The breakneck expansion of settlements in the West Bank has rendered American talk of a two-state solution increasingly irrelevant.
2104
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
“I believed, and I was as sure as if she had told me, that when she sat alone that way, hurting or not, she was praying. Though I never heard her pray aloud in my life, it seems to me now that I can reproduce in my mind the very voice of her prayers.” RIP Wendell Berry
1373
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
War is the continuation of memes by other means.
0191
Reposted by Phil Klay
Task & Purpose @taskandpurpose.com · 28/08/2026
Over the past 8 years, Jeff Schogol has been a steadfast and reliable teammate, a trusted voice for our audience, and the heart of Task & Purpose. Today is his last day, and as he leaves, we want to take a moment to reflect on his incredible contributions and the impact his work has had.
410029
Reposted by Phil Klay
Knight First Amendment Institute @knightcolumbia.org · 28/08/2026
Meet our next speakers joining “The Forever War and the First Amendment” symposium! ✦ @philklay.bsky.social, Fairfield University ✦ Brett Max Kaufman, @aclu.org ✦ @pastpunditry.bsky.social, @vanderbilt.edu #FirstAmendment #PressFreedom 🔗 Register here! knightcolumbia.org/events/the-f...
knightcolumbia.org
The Forever War and the First Amendment
044
Reposted by Phil Klay
Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Novelty Cistern
@noveltycistern.bsky.social
im reading bleak house and they just got to the house and guess what. its really nice. so what the fuck
11:26 PM • Apr 14, 2026
191
Reposted by Phil Klay
Full Name @amicusopus.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
does this count, if it's old "social media"? "Perhaps you'd like two more chairs to contain your giant intellect?" (14:08) - Dick Cavett www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb1w...
youtube.com
Vidal VS Mailer — A Battle of Wit! | The Dick Cavett Show
YouTube video by The Dick Cavett Show
241
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Some of my favorite bits of literary criticism on social media. What are other greats?
7808
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
If you didn’t read this superb Mary Townsend piece on Dolly Parton when it first came out, now is the time. @plough.bsky.social www.plough.com/articles/dol...
plough.com
Dolly Parton Is Magnificent | Plough
The beloved Tennessee singer-songwriter gets the joke. Do the rest of us?
03515
Reposted by Phil Klay
New York Times Opinion @nytopinion.nytimes.com · 17/08/2026
“Today’s educational problems are often attributed to a deficit of focus or attention, but attention is an anemic way to understand what allows education to transform people,” Matt Dinan writes.
nyti.ms
Opinion | To Save Higher Ed, Professors Need to Get a Little Weird
Teachers need to model the passion they want to see.
042
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
“If had a nickel for every time this year a controversy-stoking Twitter power-user who attended college in Ohio in the late 2000s published a follow-up memoir to their decade-old, bestselling account of early life, I'd have two nickels.” www.commonwealmagazine.org/fortenberry-...
commonwealmagazine.org
Imitation of Life
J. D. Vance’s ‘Communion’ and Lena Dunham’s ‘Famesick’ are two sequels to splashy, confessional memoirs by millennial authors. Only one of them is fun to read.
1141
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
“Here at the age of thirty-nine I began to be old. I felt stiff and weary in the evenings and reluctant to go out of camp; I developed proprietary claims to certain chairs and newspapers;” Rereading Brideshead in your 40s hits differently.
3337
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
I don’t understand why people lie about this. This tracks sanctioning attempts of scholars from both right and left, a slight majority of which were initiated from the left. www.fire.org/research-lea...
130
Reposted by Phil Klay
Adam Isacson @adamisacson.com · 11/08/2026
Join us virtually, a week from tomorrow, as the Trump administration's lethal, illegal boat strikes near their first anniversary. We'll explain the illegality, who the victims really are, and how to achieve accountability. RSVP here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
VIRTUAL EVENT - AUGUST 19
A Wretched Anniversary:
The Implications of One Year of U.S.
Boat Strikes
ADAM ISACSON
MARIA TERESA RONDEROS
SARAH HARRISON
On September 2, 2025, the U.S. conducted its first boat strike against civilian vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, notionally to counter drug trafficking. Since then, more than 60 strikes have occurred, resulting in more than 220 people being killed. While the last known boat strike took place on June 21, there is no indication that the administration has rejected future strikes or the underlying problematic approach that runs counter to U.S. and international law.
Join with experts to discuss this upcoming ignoble anniversary.
Panelists
• Adam Isacson, Director for Defense Oversight, Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)
• Sarah Harrison, Nonresident Fellow, Stimson Center.
• María Teresa Ronderos, Director, El Centro Latinoamericano de Investigación Periodistica (CLIP - Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism).
• Moderator to be named
Date: Wednesday, August 1gth 2:00 pm-3:00 pm EDT
Location: Zoom
065
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
“It is not surprising that a professoriat disproportionately composed of contract workers would also be one that could be pressured into groupthink.” —Tyler Austin Harper @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
Why I Quit the Tenure Track
The insufferable hypocrisy of elite academia
130
Reposted by Phil Klay
Garth Greenwell @garthgreenwell.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Starting in Sept, I’m teaching a year-long series of classes on Henry James. Join for one or all as we read some of the greatest fiction in English. First up: Portrait of a Lady. Full info here: www.garthgreenwell.com/classes
174
Reposted by Phil Klay
Garth Greenwell @garthgreenwell.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
2017–2026
2581
Reposted by Phil Klay
Ross Sayers @rosssayers.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
[James Stewart as Odysseus] now listen here, Agamemnon, I'm going home, y'see. You keep your fancy armour, I'm getting off this crummy ol' beach. [Spotting the Cyclops] now here's a curious fella, he's only got one peeper
7264701572
Reposted by Phil Klay
Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Doesn't moot the constitutional and civil-military reasons it's very bad, but the thing that didn't work out like Miller & co. fantasized is the National Guard are relatively less likely to crack skulls and be intimidating thugs, and more likely to hand out dog treats and take selfies with tourists.
922632
Reposted by Phil Klay
Knight First Amendment Institute @knightcolumbia.org · 07/08/2026
Twenty-five years after 9/11, what is the legacy of the war on terror for free speech, press freedom, and American democracy? In September, join the Knight Institute and the Li Center for Global Journalism for “The Forever War and the First Amendment.” Register: www.eventbrite.com/e/the-foreve...
eventbrite.com
The Forever War and the First Amendment
Journalists, scholars, lawyers, and activists will explore the ongoing impact of the “Forever War” on democratic rights
163
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
“The priest stopped what he was doing, cast himself down, made himself transparent, broke himself open. That is, prayed.” —Louise Erdrich, Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
150
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
I love Louise Erdrich so much.
3111
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Ironic that it is Tolstoy who wrote the best “Guy who thinks he’s gonna get executed” scene in literature though
060
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Just finished rereading War & Peace and while I love the book it also reconfirmed me in my opinion that if you prefer Tolstoy to Dostoevsky you need your head examined.
1152
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
“These men, carried away by their passions, were but blind tools of the most melancholy law of necessity, but considered themselves heroes and imagined that they were accomplishing a most noble and honorable deed.” —Tolstoy, War and Peace
0246
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
“I’m also doing this for my students,” Ms. Prabhakar said [of her lawsuit]. “They were robbed — they were excited to come to class.” Disturbing story out of Florida. Educators need to be able to assign challenging work. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/29/u...
nytimes.com
Florida Professor Fired for Assigning a Profane Story, Lawsuit Says
South Florida State College fired an English professor after she assigned a story about a teacher who talks about sex with her students. Now the professor is suing.
073
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
“Modern people struggle with the idea of true heroes. A figure who identifies what needs to be done and then does it without tremendous inner conflict? What’s the point of that? Such a person will make most modern audiences only feel like failures.” www.nytimes.com/2026/07/26/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | ‘The Odyssey’ Gives Us the Hero We Deserve
Christopher Nolan’s Odysseus is a halfway hero: he wrestles with the problems he creates. That makes him a perfect figure for our modern moment.
260
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Caudle’s “path to that position is a case study in how the military promotion process at the Pentagon under Mr. Hegseth has deviated from tradition, leaving it susceptible in the view of critics to politicization and favoritism” Deeply disturbing, excellent reporting www.nytimes.com/2026/07/26/u...
nytimes.com
An Admiral’s Rise Reveals the Politics Driving Hegseth’s Pentagon (Gift Article)
Before he was picked to lead the Navy, Adm. Daryl Caudle found ways to signal his support for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s anti-diversity goals.
44419
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
“They spoke of the war, and like everyone else unconsciously exaggerated their sorrow about it” —Tolstoy, War and Peace
0319
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Excellent conversation between @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social and @kschake.bsky.social on Ukraine www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | ‘A Million Men With Kalashnikovs Are Dangerous’
A Q&A with Kori Schake on the Russia-Ukraine war.
0104
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
“Trying to build good will while engaging in gunfights beside people’s homes was profoundly confusing. The killing wasn’t detached; it felt deeply personal.” www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/w...
nytimes.com
Why I Sought Out a Taliban Commander I Had Fought (Gift Article)
First as a Marine and then as a journalist, I spent years tied to Afghanistan. I returned one last time to speak to a former enemy in search of answers, and perhaps closure.
0133
Reposted by Phil Klay
Kori Schake @kschake.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
“writing has always been something of a defiant act against the world’s ceaselessness, even when it is scrutinizing the very same.”
0156
Reposted by Phil Klay
War on the Rocks @warontherocks.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Sometimes the world likes to try and break down those doing something meaningful. “Beer in the Snooker Club” is about what's left after. warontherocks.com/2026/07/how-...
warontherocks.com
How Revolutions Break Their Believers
Waguih Ghali, Beer in the Snooker Club (Vintage International, 2014) The noise, the noise, the unrelenting noise of the world: How is any writer with an
063
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
“His country and beliefs have wounded him. Yet he endures, because he must.” Great Matt Gallagher piece on a great, and ever-relevant novel.
1105
Reposted by Phil Klay
Andrew Hazlett @andrewhazlett.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
This is a good, strong stance by PEN America in defending the free expression of Jewish and/or Israeli writers. Along with supporting the same for Palestinian and/or Muslim writers, they are protecting a cultural commons with room for each and all of us.
041
Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
When we hear from writers in our community whose voices are being silenced, and who feel unable to write freely and without fear, we won’t let fear of controversy stop us from telling their stories. We reject any attempt to discredit those experiences.” pen.org/a-statement-...
pen.org
A Statement to Our Community
A letter from PEN America Co-CEOs Summer Lopez and Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf in response to the moment.
070