Jay Jennings
@jayjenni.bsky.social
Writer: CARRY THE ROCK / Editor: CHARLES PORTIS: COLLECTED WORKS / jayjennings.net
Local Goodwill find for $1.99.
November 13, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Local Goodwill find for $1.99.
Reposted by Jay Jennings
Chaser; a great Charles Portis piece on life on the open road:
oxfordamerican.org/magazine/iss...
oxfordamerican.org/magazine/iss...
Motel Life, Lower Reaches
MOTEL #1 Back when Roger Miller was King of the Road, in the 1960s, he sang of rooms to let …
oxfordamerican.org
October 23, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Chaser; a great Charles Portis piece on life on the open road:
oxfordamerican.org/magazine/iss...
oxfordamerican.org/magazine/iss...
Some news: My screenplay adapted from Kate Kruimink's historical novel A Treacherous Country has won the top prize at the Byron Bay Film Festival in Australia. I'm gobsmacked. www.filmink.com.au/public-notic...
A Treacherous Country wins BBFF Screenplay Competition - FilmInk
Submissions to the Byron Bay International Film Festival’s 2025 Screenplay Competition came from around the world - from Turkey to Canada - with a particularly strong showing from the United States.
www.filmink.com.au
October 23, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Some news: My screenplay adapted from Kate Kruimink's historical novel A Treacherous Country has won the top prize at the Byron Bay Film Festival in Australia. I'm gobsmacked. www.filmink.com.au/public-notic...
As a former Vanderbilt walk-on football player (admittedly, for only about six weeks), I never thought I’d live long enough to see the Commodores in the Top 10.
October 21, 2025 at 10:53 AM
As a former Vanderbilt walk-on football player (admittedly, for only about six weeks), I never thought I’d live long enough to see the Commodores in the Top 10.
Reposted by Jay Jennings
No question that Charles Portis is exactly the kind of writer I am thinking about -- totally his own man, writing in his own way and unlike anyone else alive. Although he was clearly channeling the spirit of Mark Twain, bless him.
Thanks to @ghoward1950.bsky.social for this clear-eyed essay. To his list of once-neglected writers now acknowledged as masters, I’d of course add Charles Portis. I hope Gilbert Rogin also achieves the latter.
The Dogged, Irrational Persistence of Literary Fiction www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/o...
The Dogged, Irrational Persistence of Literary Fiction www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/o...
Opinion | The Dogged, Irrational Persistence of Literary Fiction
www.nytimes.com
October 20, 2025 at 2:52 PM
No question that Charles Portis is exactly the kind of writer I am thinking about -- totally his own man, writing in his own way and unlike anyone else alive. Although he was clearly channeling the spirit of Mark Twain, bless him.
Thanks to @ghoward1950.bsky.social for this clear-eyed essay. To his list of once-neglected writers now acknowledged as masters, I’d of course add Charles Portis. I hope Gilbert Rogin also achieves the latter.
The Dogged, Irrational Persistence of Literary Fiction www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/o...
The Dogged, Irrational Persistence of Literary Fiction www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/o...
Opinion | The Dogged, Irrational Persistence of Literary Fiction
www.nytimes.com
October 20, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Thanks to @ghoward1950.bsky.social for this clear-eyed essay. To his list of once-neglected writers now acknowledged as masters, I’d of course add Charles Portis. I hope Gilbert Rogin also achieves the latter.
The Dogged, Irrational Persistence of Literary Fiction www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/o...
The Dogged, Irrational Persistence of Literary Fiction www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/o...
Reposted by Jay Jennings
“If you riff hard enough, you end up in the bedrock of shared humanity,” writes @girinathan.bsky.social in Defector. “At least if you’re as potent a riffer as Charles Portis.” A reader enters the hilarious and turbulent world of Portis’s 1979 gem The Dog of the South: defector.com/charles-port...
Charles Portis Can Make You Love A Loser | Defector
I am more likely to laugh at a movie than a book. I’m sure this is true of many people, and I’m sure there are a host of social-emotional reasons for this disparity, but I can think of at least one cr...
defector.com
October 16, 2025 at 2:28 PM
“If you riff hard enough, you end up in the bedrock of shared humanity,” writes @girinathan.bsky.social in Defector. “At least if you’re as potent a riffer as Charles Portis.” A reader enters the hilarious and turbulent world of Portis’s 1979 gem The Dog of the South: defector.com/charles-port...
Reposted by Jay Jennings
This is going to be my new favorite True Grit-themed restaurant.
Utah Eats: Le Boeuf is a new French-inspired restaurant in Salt Lake City's Central Ninth neighborhood, serving up steaks and, yes, escargot — but without the stuffy attitude.
A French restaurant opens in Central Ninth, without the stuffy attitude
Utah Eats: Le Boeuf is a new French-inspired restaurant in Salt Lake City's Central Ninth neighborhood, serving up steaks and, yes, escargot — but without the stuffy attitude.
www.sltrib.com
October 16, 2025 at 7:52 PM
This is going to be my new favorite True Grit-themed restaurant.
Defector goes deep on The Dog of the South.
Charles Portis can make you love a loser: defector.com/charles-port...
Charles Portis Can Make You Love A Loser | Defector
I am more likely to laugh at a movie than a book. I’m sure this is true of many people, and I’m sure there are a host of social-emotional reasons for this disparity, but I can think of at least one…
defector.com
October 16, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Defector goes deep on The Dog of the South.
I sent Kaleb an early version of the newly discovered Portis fiction that appeared in @harpers.bsky.social and hoped he would write more about Portis. A heartfelt, wrenching appreciation here from Luke O’Neil.
It seems that Kaleb Horton has passed away. A devastating loss. One of the best writers of this generation. Kaleb was a friend for ten years and in all our conversations I was trying to convince him how good he was, something he seemed to know but also never fully believe. I am going to go cry now.
October 2, 2025 at 10:20 AM
I sent Kaleb an early version of the newly discovered Portis fiction that appeared in @harpers.bsky.social and hoped he would write more about Portis. A heartfelt, wrenching appreciation here from Luke O’Neil.
R.I.P. Kaleb Horton. When I recently reread this memorial tribute he wrote on Charles Portis—one of the best Portis essays ever—I wrote to ask if he had this in the can or if he wrote it fresh. I was astonished to learn it was the latter. That's how good he was. Everything here is worth your time.
September 28, 2025 at 12:32 PM
R.I.P. Kaleb Horton. When I recently reread this memorial tribute he wrote on Charles Portis—one of the best Portis essays ever—I wrote to ask if he had this in the can or if he wrote it fresh. I was astonished to learn it was the latter. That's how good he was. Everything here is worth your time.
Doing crowdwork opening for Nate Bargatze in North Little Rock, Julian McCullough asked a 15-year-old in the audience what book he should have been reading instead of seeing the Sunday night show and the boy replied, "Small Things Like These." Kudos to that kid's teacher whoever they might be.
September 22, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Doing crowdwork opening for Nate Bargatze in North Little Rock, Julian McCullough asked a 15-year-old in the audience what book he should have been reading instead of seeing the Sunday night show and the boy replied, "Small Things Like These." Kudos to that kid's teacher whoever they might be.
Reposted by Jay Jennings
Vroman's Bookseller Recs:
TRUE GRIT by Charles Portis
Recommended by Anne
A western for people who don't especially like westerns, True Grit is smart, funny, and full of rip-roarin' adventure!
vromansbookstore.com/book/9781590...
TRUE GRIT by Charles Portis
Recommended by Anne
A western for people who don't especially like westerns, True Grit is smart, funny, and full of rip-roarin' adventure!
vromansbookstore.com/book/9781590...
September 6, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Vroman's Bookseller Recs:
TRUE GRIT by Charles Portis
Recommended by Anne
A western for people who don't especially like westerns, True Grit is smart, funny, and full of rip-roarin' adventure!
vromansbookstore.com/book/9781590...
TRUE GRIT by Charles Portis
Recommended by Anne
A western for people who don't especially like westerns, True Grit is smart, funny, and full of rip-roarin' adventure!
vromansbookstore.com/book/9781590...
Reposted by Jay Jennings
Attention journalists!
If you report on national security, space, AI, climate change, the environment, and/or local economic and health issues, attend this year's free Nuclear Reporting Summit on October 9-10 near Little Rock, Arkansas, to discuss how these are all connected. Details in the link.
If you report on national security, space, AI, climate change, the environment, and/or local economic and health issues, attend this year's free Nuclear Reporting Summit on October 9-10 near Little Rock, Arkansas, to discuss how these are all connected. Details in the link.
Looking forward to attending and speaking at the 2025 @outrider.org Nuclear Reporting Summit, held this year, appropriately, in a decommissioned Titan II ICBM silo near Little Rock, Arkansas. Click the link below to learn more or to apply to attend this free, two-day conference. Space is limited.
2025 Outrider Nuclear Reporting Summit
This fall, in a former nuclear missile silo, we'll convene journalists at the nexus of health, climate, artificial intelligence, outer space, and national security to discuss how these issues are inte...
outrider.org
August 29, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Attention journalists!
If you report on national security, space, AI, climate change, the environment, and/or local economic and health issues, attend this year's free Nuclear Reporting Summit on October 9-10 near Little Rock, Arkansas, to discuss how these are all connected. Details in the link.
If you report on national security, space, AI, climate change, the environment, and/or local economic and health issues, attend this year's free Nuclear Reporting Summit on October 9-10 near Little Rock, Arkansas, to discuss how these are all connected. Details in the link.
My first-grader daughter brought this home from school today. I feel seen under her don’ts.
August 27, 2025 at 1:36 AM
My first-grader daughter brought this home from school today. I feel seen under her don’ts.
My 6-year-old-daughter and I were stopped on a freeway frontage road next to a building with a big sign reading CENTERFOLDS, and I had to explain that some people pay to watch origami.
August 24, 2025 at 2:32 PM
My 6-year-old-daughter and I were stopped on a freeway frontage road next to a building with a big sign reading CENTERFOLDS, and I had to explain that some people pay to watch origami.
Reposted by Jay Jennings
Tried using Chatgpt 5 to look up 1918 rail routes. It's still useless. Still confidently reports made-up nonsense. Still sneakily gives links to unrelated websites, or sites that give facts flatly contradicting chatgpt. It'll send you on wild goose chases. Credulous users are a danger to us all.
August 10, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Tried using Chatgpt 5 to look up 1918 rail routes. It's still useless. Still confidently reports made-up nonsense. Still sneakily gives links to unrelated websites, or sites that give facts flatly contradicting chatgpt. It'll send you on wild goose chases. Credulous users are a danger to us all.
Dwight Garner quite rightly recommends Charles Portis's Dog of the South as a great road-trip read— "the fullest flowering of his particular kind of genius"—but the article links to the original NYTBR review from Larry L. King, who doesn't get it at all. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/b...
18 Great Road Trip Books That Aren’t ‘On the Road’
www.nytimes.com
August 5, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Dwight Garner quite rightly recommends Charles Portis's Dog of the South as a great road-trip read— "the fullest flowering of his particular kind of genius"—but the article links to the original NYTBR review from Larry L. King, who doesn't get it at all. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/b...
Enchanted, in all its meanings, by the poetry of Christian Lehnert in Wickerwork, as translated by Richard Sieburth. The poet is deeply and movingly engaged with all nature, even algae, moss, larvae. A quiet comfort amid chaos. @archipelagobooks.bsky.social
August 2, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Enchanted, in all its meanings, by the poetry of Christian Lehnert in Wickerwork, as translated by Richard Sieburth. The poet is deeply and movingly engaged with all nature, even algae, moss, larvae. A quiet comfort amid chaos. @archipelagobooks.bsky.social
Nine years ago, @oxfordamerican.bsky.social produced a variety show celebrating the 50th anniversary of Charles Portis’s NORWOOD. Backstage, voice artist Fred Newman discovered a new sound from Harrison Scott Key’s ear.
August 1, 2025 at 10:58 AM
Nine years ago, @oxfordamerican.bsky.social produced a variety show celebrating the 50th anniversary of Charles Portis’s NORWOOD. Backstage, voice artist Fred Newman discovered a new sound from Harrison Scott Key’s ear.
Reposted by Jay Jennings
It's still summer, right? I've just gotten my beach reads lined up.
#charlesportis #mavisgallant #readmoremavis #booksky
#charlesportis #mavisgallant #readmoremavis #booksky
July 28, 2025 at 8:18 AM
It's still summer, right? I've just gotten my beach reads lined up.
#charlesportis #mavisgallant #readmoremavis #booksky
#charlesportis #mavisgallant #readmoremavis #booksky
Reposted by Jay Jennings
I'll never forget being on a shoot in a model's apartment and being surprised to find a first edition hardback of True Grit by Charles Portis.
"Oh, it came with the house," she told me. "They all did."
I stole it, of course.
"Oh, it came with the house," she told me. "They all did."
I stole it, of course.
"It’s never been easier to build an impressive-looking library, especially if you’re mostly interested in the colour and size of your books. Is this necessarily a bad thing?"
Yes. It says you're shallow, ignorant, too lazy to do anything about either, and too stupid to realise how obvious you are.
Yes. It says you're shallow, ignorant, too lazy to do anything about either, and too stupid to realise how obvious you are.
‘Look how well-read I am!’ How ‘books by the metre’ add the final touch to your home – or your image
It’s never been easier to build an impressive-looking library, especially if you’re mostly interested in the colour and size of your books. Is this necessarily a bad thing?
www.theguardian.com
July 23, 2025 at 2:18 AM
I'll never forget being on a shoot in a model's apartment and being surprised to find a first edition hardback of True Grit by Charles Portis.
"Oh, it came with the house," she told me. "They all did."
I stole it, of course.
"Oh, it came with the house," she told me. "They all did."
I stole it, of course.
It’s not often that this Faulkner gets an honor on a wall of writers, but the stairwell at Weidmann’s restaurant in Meridian includes John Faulkner in its notable writers of Mississippi. (His brother is here, too, of course.)
July 26, 2025 at 1:01 PM
It’s not often that this Faulkner gets an honor on a wall of writers, but the stairwell at Weidmann’s restaurant in Meridian includes John Faulkner in its notable writers of Mississippi. (His brother is here, too, of course.)
I tried to wrestle with the enormous, too-brief life of poet Frank Stanford and James McWilliams' monumental new biography for the @arktimes.bsky.social. (My review opens with a surprise Portis appearance.) arktimes.com/rock-candy/2...
Frank’s battlefield: On James McWilliams’ Frank Stanford biography - Arkansas Times
Frank Stanford, who killed himself at age 29, died far too young. Thanks to writer James McWilliams, the legendary Arkansas poet's short but colorful life is now documented in a monumental biography.
arktimes.com
July 14, 2025 at 2:07 PM
I tried to wrestle with the enormous, too-brief life of poet Frank Stanford and James McWilliams' monumental new biography for the @arktimes.bsky.social. (My review opens with a surprise Portis appearance.) arktimes.com/rock-candy/2...
Reposted by Jay Jennings
Just a note from this lovely place. I've got a job toilet-cleaning at the tennis.
July 13, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Just a note from this lovely place. I've got a job toilet-cleaning at the tennis.