Julie Sedivy
@juliesedivy.bsky.social
Writer and language scientist, author of LINGUAPHILE: A LIFE OF LANGUAGE LOVE and MEMORY SPEAKS: ON LOSING AND RECLAIMING LANGUAGE AND SELF.
I'll be doing a workshop for Edmonton's LitFest that I've long wanted to put together! We'll be getting intimate with sentences, exploring the magic that can happen when you leverage language structure with skill and sensitivity. Saturday, Oct. 18, noon-2 pm. litfestalberta.org/event-1/work...
Workshop: Crafting Superb Sentences, with Julie Sedivy - LitFest Alberta
Facilitator: Julie Sedivy Tickets: $15, Available HERE Sentences are the foundation of all writing, and mastering the sentence is essential to developing a strong writing voice. In this workshop, I […...
litfestalberta.org
October 4, 2025 at 7:23 PM
I'll be doing a workshop for Edmonton's LitFest that I've long wanted to put together! We'll be getting intimate with sentences, exploring the magic that can happen when you leverage language structure with skill and sensitivity. Saturday, Oct. 18, noon-2 pm. litfestalberta.org/event-1/work...
Important article at this point in history: "As much harm as a 40 percent cut to the NIH budget would have on scientific innovation, destroying the peer-evaluation system that decides what science is funded would be far worse." Indeed. It would be like doing away with criminal trial by jury.
This is the original story that i wrote about the topic for The Transmitter.
www.thetransmitter.org/craft-and-ca...
www.thetransmitter.org/craft-and-ca...
Fear and loathing on study section: Reviewing grant proposals while the system is burning
As grants are canceled, delayed and subject to general uncertainty, participating in study sections can feel futile. But it’s more important than ever.
www.thetransmitter.org
September 29, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Important article at this point in history: "As much harm as a 40 percent cut to the NIH budget would have on scientific innovation, destroying the peer-evaluation system that decides what science is funded would be far worse." Indeed. It would be like doing away with criminal trial by jury.
I got to review @michaelerard.bsky.social's new book for @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, a book that grapples with the things most worth thinking about: language, human connection, mortality.
lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-...
lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-...
The Thing You’ve Been Saying Your Whole Life | Los Angeles Review of Books
Julie Sedivy reviews Michael Erard’s “Bye Bye I Love You: The Story of Our First and Last Words.”
lareviewofbooks.org
September 8, 2025 at 7:28 PM
I got to review @michaelerard.bsky.social's new book for @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, a book that grapples with the things most worth thinking about: language, human connection, mortality.
lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-...
lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-...
This book by David Martin was such hearty brain and soul food! I was glad to have had a chance to review it. albertaviews.ca/limited-verse/
Limited Verse by David Martin - Alberta Views
David Martin’s third book, Limited Verse, is a brilliant feat of imagination, mashing together poetry, dystopian sci-fi and literary theory.
albertaviews.ca
September 3, 2025 at 8:18 PM
This book by David Martin was such hearty brain and soul food! I was glad to have had a chance to review it. albertaviews.ca/limited-verse/
It's delusional to think that in this day and age, scrubbing sexual content from school libraries will protect kids. More than ever, they need books and materials to help them navigate the often toxic sexual content that is everywhere.
“Banning books won’t preserve childhood innocence,” writes Ira Wells. It will, however, rob young people of enriching stories and teach others that censorship is the solution to ideas you find challenging or contrary to your personal values. thewalrus.ca/albertas-book-ba...
July 7, 2025 at 7:50 PM
It's delusional to think that in this day and age, scrubbing sexual content from school libraries will protect kids. More than ever, they need books and materials to help them navigate the often toxic sexual content that is everywhere.
Reposted by Julie Sedivy
@juliesedivy.bsky.social is the best of the best
Constraints on our working memory fundamentally shape how language works and how we converse with one another.
This article (which is one of the coolest pop linguistics articles I’ve read this year) explains how:
psyche.co/ideas/why-ev...
This article (which is one of the coolest pop linguistics articles I’ve read this year) explains how:
psyche.co/ideas/why-ev...
Why every utterance you make begins with a leap of faith | Psyche Ideas
Time pressure and the limitations of memory compel you and your listener to engage in a fascinating linguistic trade-off
psyche.co
July 7, 2025 at 1:53 AM
@juliesedivy.bsky.social is the best of the best
I'm honoured and delighted that Linguaphile was chosen as the winner of this year's W.O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize. Many thanks to the jury, who read through a big pile of books, and warm congrats to my fellow finalists, David Martin and Teresa Wong.
June 19, 2025 at 4:23 PM
I'm honoured and delighted that Linguaphile was chosen as the winner of this year's W.O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize. Many thanks to the jury, who read through a big pile of books, and warm congrats to my fellow finalists, David Martin and Teresa Wong.
Reposted by Julie Sedivy
If we listen to their poems as birds might, relieved of our preoccupation with message, we may hear the beloved music of our language on display, intensified, toyed with, subverted, stretched taut to its quivering point.
#SundaySentence
Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love
@juliesedivy.bsky.social
#SundaySentence
Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love
@juliesedivy.bsky.social
June 1, 2025 at 4:09 PM
If we listen to their poems as birds might, relieved of our preoccupation with message, we may hear the beloved music of our language on display, intensified, toyed with, subverted, stretched taut to its quivering point.
#SundaySentence
Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love
@juliesedivy.bsky.social
#SundaySentence
Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love
@juliesedivy.bsky.social
Reposted by Julie Sedivy
A standing ovation for federal workers by the thousands of physicists who are meeting in Anaheim this week, supporting their colleagues in science agencies who couldn’t afford—or weren’t allowed—to come. Sorry, no pictures, in part out of green-card holders’ fears. #APSGlobalSummit2025 #APSMarch
March 17, 2025 at 2:32 AM
A standing ovation for federal workers by the thousands of physicists who are meeting in Anaheim this week, supporting their colleagues in science agencies who couldn’t afford—or weren’t allowed—to come. Sorry, no pictures, in part out of green-card holders’ fears. #APSGlobalSummit2025 #APSMarch
So "AI safety" and "responsible AI" are now "ideological terms" that are forbidden. What's next? "Personal autonomy"? "Human flourishing"? www.wired.com/story/ai-saf...
Under Trump, AI Scientists Are Told to Remove ‘Ideological Bias’ From Powerful Models
A directive from the National Institute of Standards and Technology eliminates mention of “AI safety” and “AI fairness.”
www.wired.com
March 17, 2025 at 1:01 AM
So "AI safety" and "responsible AI" are now "ideological terms" that are forbidden. What's next? "Personal autonomy"? "Human flourishing"? www.wired.com/story/ai-saf...
Reposted by Julie Sedivy
If you are looking for a nonfiction read that’ll leave you inspired, wiser and sobbing like a baby, look no further than @juliesedivy.bsky.social latest masterpiece. #writingcommunity #canlit
March 13, 2025 at 9:11 PM
If you are looking for a nonfiction read that’ll leave you inspired, wiser and sobbing like a baby, look no further than @juliesedivy.bsky.social latest masterpiece. #writingcommunity #canlit
I got measles back in 1970, before MMR vaccines were available. It wiped out my immune system for a year. In short order I got mumps, rubella, chicken pox and scarlet fever, which landed me (without family) in a quarantine facility. I was one sick little kid with two very, very worried parents.
March 5, 2025 at 8:55 PM
I got measles back in 1970, before MMR vaccines were available. It wiped out my immune system for a year. In short order I got mumps, rubella, chicken pox and scarlet fever, which landed me (without family) in a quarantine facility. I was one sick little kid with two very, very worried parents.
Reposted by Julie Sedivy
This is very insightful and incredibly helpful: the different ways that academics (learn to) behave in autocratic societies.
I wrote this for my US friends and colleagues, but also for all of us. Lessons from the past. open.substack.com/pub/verakemp...
Scholarship Under Autocracy
We Have Been Here Before
open.substack.com
February 25, 2025 at 11:34 AM
This is very insightful and incredibly helpful: the different ways that academics (learn to) behave in autocratic societies.
The Many Minds podcast with the very sharp @kensycoop.bsky.social is one of my faves these days, and I especially love this episode with @tanialombrozo.bsky.social , which does a deep dive in how we learn not just by experience or exposure but also by thinking.
open.spotify.com/episode/1Clj...
open.spotify.com/episode/1Clj...
A paradox of learning
Many Minds · Episode
open.spotify.com
February 25, 2025 at 3:16 AM
The Many Minds podcast with the very sharp @kensycoop.bsky.social is one of my faves these days, and I especially love this episode with @tanialombrozo.bsky.social , which does a deep dive in how we learn not just by experience or exposure but also by thinking.
open.spotify.com/episode/1Clj...
open.spotify.com/episode/1Clj...
My favorite interviews are when the host is prepared, deeply curious and emotionally present. I loved this one, in which we talked about the difference between communication as performance versus connection, the power of obliqueness and the tragic limits of AI.
open.spotify.com/episode/14pS...
open.spotify.com/episode/14pS...
The Sounds of Language
Flow · Episode
open.spotify.com
February 16, 2025 at 5:41 PM
My favorite interviews are when the host is prepared, deeply curious and emotionally present. I loved this one, in which we talked about the difference between communication as performance versus connection, the power of obliqueness and the tragic limits of AI.
open.spotify.com/episode/14pS...
open.spotify.com/episode/14pS...
“We must vow not to do stenography for people in power.” Carl Zimmer on science journalism in a politicized era.
A few years ago, I gave a lecture about how the Soviet Union denied genetics for years as "bourgeois perversion." There are lessons to be learned about what can happen to science. carlzimmer.com/lets-not-los...
Let’s Not Lose Our Minds, Carl Zimmer
I was asked to give the keynote talk at “Science, Journalism, and Democracy: Grappling With A New Reality” at Rockefeller...
carlzimmer.com
February 13, 2025 at 6:12 PM
“We must vow not to do stenography for people in power.” Carl Zimmer on science journalism in a politicized era.
I've long admired Alan Alda's podcast and SciComm activities—what an honor to appear on his Clear + Vivid podcast! clear-vivid-with-alan-alda.simplecast.com/episodes/jul...
Julie Sedivy: How Language Shapes Us | Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda
Her new book, Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love is an ode to the power of language to both shape us and be shaped by us. It’s informed by her own experience with languages: she spoke five before le...
clear-vivid-with-alan-alda.simplecast.com
February 12, 2025 at 4:53 PM
I've long admired Alan Alda's podcast and SciComm activities—what an honor to appear on his Clear + Vivid podcast! clear-vivid-with-alan-alda.simplecast.com/episodes/jul...
Reposted by Julie Sedivy
ChatGPT is bad at counting, you may know. Turns out it’s also bad at accent arithmetic. Amusing bit early in Pete Holmes’ podcast today. They started wondering about sentences that would be neutral for US/UK accent & CGPT gets it so wrong. (Soon after, gets NSFW.)
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/y...
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/y...
Gareth Reynolds Returns
Podcast Episode · You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes · 12/02/2025 · 2h 25m
podcasts.apple.com
February 12, 2025 at 1:37 PM
ChatGPT is bad at counting, you may know. Turns out it’s also bad at accent arithmetic. Amusing bit early in Pete Holmes’ podcast today. They started wondering about sentences that would be neutral for US/UK accent & CGPT gets it so wrong. (Soon after, gets NSFW.)
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/y...
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/y...
Reposted by Julie Sedivy
Stand Up for Science rallies will be held in DC and state capitals on March 7th. Share with friends. Sign-up here to get email updates with details: www.eventbrite.com/e/stand-up-f...
STAND UP FOR SCIENCE 2025 - DC and NATIONWIDE
Stand up for science with us on March 7th, 2025, because science is for everyone! More info at www.standupforscience2025.org
www.eventbrite.com
February 12, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Stand Up for Science rallies will be held in DC and state capitals on March 7th. Share with friends. Sign-up here to get email updates with details: www.eventbrite.com/e/stand-up-f...
Reposted by Julie Sedivy
Looking to add science journalism to your feed?
For over 40 years we've brought journalists to MIT to hone their craft. Now they're on Bluesky ⬇️
bsky.app/starter-pack...
For over 40 years we've brought journalists to MIT to hone their craft. Now they're on Bluesky ⬇️
bsky.app/starter-pack...
February 11, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Looking to add science journalism to your feed?
For over 40 years we've brought journalists to MIT to hone their craft. Now they're on Bluesky ⬇️
bsky.app/starter-pack...
For over 40 years we've brought journalists to MIT to hone their craft. Now they're on Bluesky ⬇️
bsky.app/starter-pack...
Reposted by Julie Sedivy
If only someone—very many someones, even—had predicted this
Microsoft study finds AI makes human cognition “atrophied and unprepared”
🔗 www.404media.co/microsoft-st...
🔗 www.404media.co/microsoft-st...
February 10, 2025 at 10:31 PM
If only someone—very many someones, even—had predicted this
I'm utterly heartbroken to see the assault on U.S. universities. My intellectual experiences there were unparalleled. My years at the U. of Rochester and Brown U. taught me all about depth and originality, and remain firmly embedded within me.
February 10, 2025 at 6:40 PM
I'm utterly heartbroken to see the assault on U.S. universities. My intellectual experiences there were unparalleled. My years at the U. of Rochester and Brown U. taught me all about depth and originality, and remain firmly embedded within me.
Reposted by Julie Sedivy
And furthermore, they’re geniuses, by the end of the episode I was 100% ready to sign up for their writing class taught by trained linguists/writers/poets that incorporates linguistic insight and eye tracking
This episode with @juliesedivy.bsky.social is SUCH an interesting discussion of the interplay between linguistics and creative writing, I recommend it for writer friends/book nerds
Sometimes, a phrase just leaps off the page and lodges in your mind. Other times, your eyes wander away from the words no matter how hard you try
This ep: what makes for beautiful writing from a psycholinguistic perspective, with @juliesedivy.bsky.social author of Memory Speaks and Linguaphile
This ep: what makes for beautiful writing from a psycholinguistic perspective, with @juliesedivy.bsky.social author of Memory Speaks and Linguaphile
February 9, 2025 at 5:24 PM
And furthermore, they’re geniuses, by the end of the episode I was 100% ready to sign up for their writing class taught by trained linguists/writers/poets that incorporates linguistic insight and eye tracking
My chat with Maryanne Wolf about Linguaphile, in which we talk about love, time, and how language is intertwined with both. If you missed this event hosted by Planet Word, you can find the recording here: planetwordmuseum.org/events/julie...
langscistation.bsky.social
langscistation.bsky.social
Julie Sedivy and Maryanne Wolf: Linguaphile – A Life of Language Love
Join psycholinguist Julie Sedivy in conversation with reading and language science expert Maryanne Wolf about Sedivy’s recent memoir, Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love. Linguaphile traces Sedivy’s ...
planetwordmuseum.org
February 10, 2025 at 6:17 PM
My chat with Maryanne Wolf about Linguaphile, in which we talk about love, time, and how language is intertwined with both. If you missed this event hosted by Planet Word, you can find the recording here: planetwordmuseum.org/events/julie...
langscistation.bsky.social
langscistation.bsky.social
Reposted by Julie Sedivy
This episode with @juliesedivy.bsky.social is SUCH an interesting discussion of the interplay between linguistics and creative writing, I recommend it for writer friends/book nerds
Sometimes, a phrase just leaps off the page and lodges in your mind. Other times, your eyes wander away from the words no matter how hard you try
This ep: what makes for beautiful writing from a psycholinguistic perspective, with @juliesedivy.bsky.social author of Memory Speaks and Linguaphile
This ep: what makes for beautiful writing from a psycholinguistic perspective, with @juliesedivy.bsky.social author of Memory Speaks and Linguaphile
Bonus 96: What makes for beautiful writing, scientifically speaking | Lingthusiasm
Get more from Lingthusiasm on Patreon
www.patreon.com
February 7, 2025 at 2:41 AM
This episode with @juliesedivy.bsky.social is SUCH an interesting discussion of the interplay between linguistics and creative writing, I recommend it for writer friends/book nerds