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Zamira Rahim

@zamirarahim.bsky.social
7.9K followers 2.5K following 1.8K posts

Staff editor for The New York Times (in London). Previously writing for CNN and Time Magazine. One of those Brits who ended up in American media.

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Damian Barr @damianbarr.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
London pals, I’m at yer big Foyles Weds night if anybody wants anything* www.foyles.co.uk/events/the-t... *Is like the big Tesco. *pls ignore my earlier claims to be there tomorrow. I’m not. Unless they let me sleep over the night before which I’d be into.
foyles.co.uk
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Jonathan Gibbs @jonathangibbs.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I’m continuing A Personal Anthology but also thinking about a similar but different project around the novella. So if novellas (novellae?) are your thing, or if you even have strong thoughts about them, and if you have a favourite novella, then do let me know!
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Maris Kreizman @maris.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I am a cynical person but I am pretty earnest when it comes to literary prizes. Books need all the help they can get these days, and prizes are one way for unheralded books to get their due. lithub.com/in-defense-o...
lithub.com
In Defense of Literary Awards (and Longlists, and Shortlists)
It’s awards nominations announcement season, which means it’s also snarky opinions about awards nominations season. I love a hot take as much as anyone, but the truth is I have been and remain flag…
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Jami Attenberg @jamiattenberg.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
So excited to see PEOPLE launching the cover of my new novel The Amnesiac today! people.com/jami-attenbe...
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
A very happy National Poetry Day folks, I gather this year's vague theme is 'Wonder' so here's some Walt Whitman on the stars (When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer)
When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
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John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Is Andy Burnham the first prime minister in my lifetime who actually likes fiction and poetry? I feel quite moved to hear him talk with genuine enthusiasm about Tony Harrison’s V.
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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
WE LOVE STUDENT JOURNALISTS IN THIS HOUSE
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This is the only "girl takes off glasses, becomes beautiful" scene I will tolerate, it's just that good
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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I give up. I’m moving into a cave.
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Snapshots from an absurdly beautiful Cambridge.
Cambridge's Bridge of SighsA street in CambridgeThe River CamMagdalene College, Cambridge.
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Publishing is in so, so much trouble. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/w...
nytimes.com
His Novel Had a Shot at a Top Book Prize. Then Someone Ran an A.I. Test.
“It Was Either That Or Die,” by the Haitian-Canadian author Thélyson Orélien, was the hit of the French literary season. Now it has been pulled from the shortlist for a prestigious prize.
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The screech I just let out. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Backlash as Indian oil heir made professor of sustainability by Newcastle University
Role for Anant Ambani, son of India’s richest person, who also runs a controversial mega-zoo, met with incredulity
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This is excellent + manages to capture a particular kind of 90s immigrant kid school life.
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Joe Barton @joebarton.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Hey we’re back
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Kathryn VanArendonk @kvanaren.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
this is not paywalls, fyi - this chart looks roughly the same for sites that have had paywalls since long before 2022. this is all former SEO traffic that has now vanished in exchange for ai search summaries
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Starting to wonder if Marlon James wins this again www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/b...
nytimes.com
Booker Prize 2026: Six Novels Make Shortlist
If James wins for “The Disappearers” or Stuart for “John of John,” it would be a rare second win for an author in the history of the prestigious literary award.
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Patrick W. Reed @patrickwreed.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
There's something to be said about how in the US CS Lewis is seen as a writer of Christian apologetics above all else & as a result Narnia is *only* seen as allegory, while in Britain he's seen as an author of beloved children's books, & we find the whole "the lion is Jesus" stuff a bit embarrassing
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Took them long enough. www.thebookseller.com/news/harperc...
thebookseller.com
David Walliams' backlist dropped by HarperCollins
HarperCollins has dropped the backlist of children's author David Walliams, The Bookseller understands.
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John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Naomi Alderman’s The Strangers should - if there’s justice - supplant The Power as the book she is most famous for. It goes straight into my book of the year contenders. My excitable review:
thetimes.com
Naomi Alderman’s The Strangers is not just a good book, it’s a special one
Naomi Alderman is best known for The Power, which won the Women’s Prize. Her new novel is even better
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 14/09/2026
thinking about this tweet again, and the fact that it's got such a hold on me that I genuinely think about it whenever I write a feature because I don't want to do "the hot dog thing"
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
A lot of sane film critics will wonder who on earth this is for and the answer is: people like me. variety.com/2026/film/ne...
variety.com
‘Family Stone 2’ Gets Official Title ‘The Families Stone’ and Sets Cast: Rachel McAdams, Sarah Jessica Parker and More Returning
Rachel McAdams, Sarah Jessica Parker, Claire Danes and more are all returning for 'The Family Stone 2," officially titled "The Families Stone."
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
So, YouTube's classical music recs get real weird, real fast.
A strange YouTube video title reads "You're standing at the gates of a kingdom you built alone" paired with what appears to be a painting of a young king.
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Deborah @deborahzafer.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Another beautiful poem from Tomas Tranströmer 🖤 C Major
Tomas Transtromer 
Trans Robin Fulton
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This is Halloween 🎃 @redvioletpanda.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Kind of saw this coming with the 'dropping an entire season in one day' model. You drop an entire season in one day and you have to wait more than a year for the next season isn't healthy for the longevity of a TV show.
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June Caldwell @junec.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The BBC National Short Story Award (in sponsorship with the University of Cambridge) 2026 shortlist is: Two Minutes to Midnight by Laura Beatty Little Lands by Lucy Caldwell Burning Bush by Merryn Glover A Second Opinion by Caoilinn Hughes Ditto by Cherise Saywell
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This makes sense, her profile has outgrown the place. www.amediaoperator.com/news/marina-...
amediaoperator.com
Top Guardian Columnist Marina Hyde to Leave Paper After 26 Years
One of The Guardian’s most popular columnists, Marina Hyde, is leaving after 26 years at the paper.
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andy™ @andylevy.net · 08/09/2026
werner herzog on AI filmmaking (from here www.indiewire.com/features/int...)
Q: A couple years ago at IDFA, I saw this movie "About a Hero," which is this partly Al-generated hybrid documentary that tries to recreate the atmosphere of your films.

A: The intention of this young filmmaker was never to remake any [of my films], but making something in the spirit. And I immediately said, "You will fail. It is such a stupid idea. It's phenomenally, abysmally stupid. I will not take part in it." He wanted me to explain things and have my voice in it.
I said, "You are alone. There's such a thing as free speech, which I respect. So go ahead and fail." And it is a failure, period.
It's so standardized that Al can step in because there's not real storytelling. It's mimicry of something that has happened before. And I welcome Al to replace all the idiots who are into nothing but repeating, repeating, repeating until it's ad nauseam.
When it's ad nauseam, please, please, please let Al step in and do the job.
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
"And some time make the time to drive out west Into County Clare, along the Flaggy Shore, In September or October, when the wind And the light are working off each other...." (Seamus Heaney, Postscript.)
And some time make the time to drive out west
Into County Clare, along the Flaggy Shore,
In September or October, when the wind
And the light are working off each other
So that the ocean on one side is wild
With foam and glitter, and inland among stones
The surface of a slate-grey lake is lit
By the earthed lightning of a flock of swans,
Their feathers roughed and ruffling, white on white,
Their fully grown headstrong-looking heads
Tucked or cresting or busy underwater.
Useless to think you’ll park and capture it
More thoroughly. You are neither here nor there,
A hurry through which known and strange things pass
As big soft buffetings come at the car sideways
And catch the heart off guard and blow it open.
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I missed this, published a few days ago: Barbara Kingsolver remembers Wendell Berry, but also remembers how she became a writer and what he taught her about how to live as one. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/04/b...
It's a well-beaten path for rural kids: Go out and seek your fortune. I followed it myself, lured away from Kentucky by some combination of embarrassment for the homely and the shine of what's generally called opportunity. Yet having entered its temple, I found nothing worth saying until I could claim the place I'm from, as a cultural capital of its own surprising kind. I have a handful of writers to thank for lighting my circular path home, but mostly Wendell Berry.
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Alexander Chee @alexanderchee.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I’m celebrating the 25th anniversary of my debut novel Edinburgh this fall with a new Mariner Classics edition (intro by @garthgreenwell.bsky.social) on Oct. 13th at the Center for Fiction with Brandon Taylor, @mirajacob.bsky.social and @rokwon.bsky.social. centerforfiction.org/event/edinbu...
A dark green book jacket with a wooden fox head at the center. Text is in white and reads: "ONE
OF THE
GREAT QUEER NOVELS •
- BRANDON TAYLOR, GQ
0 F
OUR
TIME."
EDINBURGH
25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
ALEXANDER CHEE
BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE QUEEN OF THE NIGHT
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Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Right - apparently some of these are struggling with ticket sales. I know, I'm shocked too. BUT - if you were hoping to attend and hadn't got around to booking yet, then NOW IS THE TIME
linktr.ee
Jonn Elledge Events | Linktree
Join bestselling author Jonn Elledge to celebrate his new book 31 Inventions That Built Our World
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Edward Hopper @edwardhopper.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Office in a Small City - 1953 botfrens.com/collections/173/conten…
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Ellie Mae O'Hagan @elliemaeohagan.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
I love the dedication in My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinhem
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pcullie @pcullie.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Sad to lose Wendell Berry, poet, author, activist, farmer. He was a poet, but his books are poetry as well. This, from “Jayber Crow,” one of the Port William’s series.
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
'I come into the peace of wild things/who do not tax their lives with forethought/of grief' (Wendall Berry, The Peace of Wild Things)
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
If we must be bombarded with 'cosy crime' dramas made with the utmost laziness, could someone at ITV please bring back Rosemary & Thyme? Even the title music was superior to half the slop out there.
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
"The sun bursts what it has been saving so suddenly, so brilliantly, we are smiling. It is August still." ( A Crow, Edwin Morgan)
The summer grows late, cool, ragged, precious.
Clouds like ungaily brooms are sweeping showers 
across the slates. On a dripping lamp-standard
a crow hunches, flaps, hunches. The young painter 
with his tin of white sings as he hops in and
out of the rain. The sun bursts what it has been saving 
so suddenly, so brilliantly, we are smiling. 
It is August still. The leaves hang fast and glisten. 
If there were no seasons, who would be singing?
If there was no weather, who would be painting? 
If there was no earth turning, we darkly, partly
think, no crow would have a lawn to stamp on, 
or Aristarchus any globe to dandle. 
As not to be be born is worst - a crow will tell you, 
a worm will tell you - not to be created
crosses galaxies like a shadow of horror.
But created they are; born, I and the painter; 
really wet ruffled shiny black half-happy 
the feathers of the raucous-hearted clatterer.
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John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
F-shaped blurbs, seducing chatbots, nicking quotes off GoodReads and paying BookTokers: in today's Guardian I investigated the book world's tricks of the trade.
theguardian.com
How to make a bestseller: insiders reveal the tricks of the book trade
From cover design to shelf placement and influencer partnerships … how publishers will persuade you to buy their books this autumn
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I had no idea how many brilliant TV writers started out in kids TV (Russell T Davies on Chucklevision! Steven Moffat on Press Gang!)
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I get the sense that Kiran Desai doesn't think much of the Ambanis
She must be guilty! But why, when everywhere one saw powerful individuals enjoying themselves, althpugh they were physically distorted as if they'd gobbled up all they'd stolen, chomped all those they'd destroyed. They dressed in glitzy Bollywood outfits, threw Bollywood-style weddings for their children attended by Bollywood stars, seranded by American pop legends flown in on private jets
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Okay, fine, now I'm interested. What on earth is going on at Focus Features?
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Dorothy, a publishing project @dorothyproject.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Friends, book reviews are drying up. We all know this. But it's worth repeating. Advance reviews we used to (gratefully!) count on are no longer a given; we're not getting them. Newspapers where intrepid reviewers used to talk about our books . . . well, you know. PLEASE, if you read our books . . .
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Lev Parikian @levparikian.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
This thing seems to be out in the open now, so even though publication’s eight months away, let’s drum up some early interest, shall we? Wayfarers is out next April. Here’s the cover.
A book cover. Wayfarers: The Incredible Story of Animal Migration, by Lev Parikian. It’s mostly blue, with swirling patterns representing movement, and stylised images of various migrating animals (butterflies, terns, a whale, bats, wildebeest, dragonflies, penguins, an arctic fox) dotted about the place.
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Didn’t expect this but as a business decision for S&S this does make some sense www.thebookseller.com/news/simon-s...
thebookseller.com
Jason Arday: Simon & Schuster UK to release memoir as planned
Simon & Schuster UK will release the memoir of the late Cambridge professor Jason Arday, Great and Unfortunate Things, as planned on 27th August, in accordance with his family's wishes.
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Every word of this. One thing about working in audience journalism is that it really forces you to see readers as they are and not as who they'd like to be.
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
It is Onam (a Keralan harvest festival) for the next few days, which means if you live in London a lot of South Indian restaurants will be serving sadhyas, which are amazing. Highly recommend. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadya
en.wikipedia.org
Sadya - Wikipedia
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
I'd missed the entire Rachel Cusk/Natalie Portman mess and now feel compelled to read every word on it www.nytimes.com/2026/08/20/s...
nytimes.com
Rachel Cusk on Her Novel ‘Life of M,’ Gossip and Natalie Portman
“Life of M,” Rachel Cusk’s new book, has a protagonist with an uncanny resemblance to Natalie Portman. But in an interview, Cusk says she never expected it would cause such a frenzy.
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Maris Kreizman @maris.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I wrote about the importance of literary friction and how the acts of thinking and learning and growing are anathema in our increasingly fascistic world. Which is all the more reason to double down on them. lithub.com/in-praise-of...
lithub.com
In Praise of “Wordy, Old Prose.” (Or, F*ck Your AI Reading Buddy)
More than two years ago I wrote an angry piece about how lame the bulletpointization of books is: the point of reading and engaging with books is not so the reader can consume little bullet points …
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Rob Palk @robpalk.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Intrigued by Alfred Lord Tennyson's chaotic business decisions
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Zamira Rahim @zamirarahim.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
"We should be careful/Of each other, we should be kind/While there is still time." (Larkin, The Mower.)
The mower stalled, twice; kneeling, I found   
A hedgehog jammed up against the blades,   
Killed. It had been in the long grass.

I had seen it before, and even fed it, once.   
Now I had mauled its unobtrusive world   
Unmendably. Burial was no help:

Next morning I got up and it did not.
The first day after a death, the new absence   
Is always the same; we should be careful

Of each other, we should be kind   
While there is still time.
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