Naomi Kanakia
@naokan.bsky.social
Author of books out or forthcoming from HarperTeen, Feminist Press, and Princeton University Press. Also writes a Substack about the Great Books (with frequent detours to talk trash on contemporary literature)
The classics are pretty popular. You can go into any bookstore and buy Tolstoy, Milton, Shakespeare, Jane Austen--that wouldn't be true if people weren't buying them.
What's your totally ordinary opinion about books that you nonetheless find compelled to share when asked on a social media site such as this one for your most extreme/unhinged/hottest takes?
I'll go first: manga is popular among young people because manga often features young people.
I'll go first: manga is popular among young people because manga often features young people.
October 14, 2025 at 11:42 PM
The classics are pretty popular. You can go into any bookstore and buy Tolstoy, Milton, Shakespeare, Jane Austen--that wouldn't be true if people weren't buying them.
Reposted by Naomi Kanakia
<totters out onto porch>
<settles into rocker>
<thumps cane a few times>
Let's talk about what the process of submitting short fiction used to look like, shall we? And about what it looks like now.
<settles into rocker>
<thumps cane a few times>
Let's talk about what the process of submitting short fiction used to look like, shall we? And about what it looks like now.
October 14, 2025 at 9:25 PM
<totters out onto porch>
<settles into rocker>
<thumps cane a few times>
Let's talk about what the process of submitting short fiction used to look like, shall we? And about what it looks like now.
<settles into rocker>
<thumps cane a few times>
Let's talk about what the process of submitting short fiction used to look like, shall we? And about what it looks like now.
I cried.
UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera
In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.
As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.
In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.
As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.
October 11, 2025 at 8:08 PM
I cried.
Reposted by Naomi Kanakia
I loved this short story by @naokan.bsky.social in @lightspeedmagazine.com. Sure, it left me a little depressed, but also maybe a little hopeful?
www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/anti...
www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/anti...
Anti-Capitalism vs. the Man of Flowers - Lightspeed Magazine
One time at a convention I ran across the Man of Flowers, the Superman of Daffodils, a long-haired guy, indestructible (of course), who slept in his car and drank a lot of cough syrup and didn’t reall...
www.lightspeedmagazine.com
September 19, 2025 at 2:40 PM
I loved this short story by @naokan.bsky.social in @lightspeedmagazine.com. Sure, it left me a little depressed, but also maybe a little hopeful?
www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/anti...
www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/anti...
Reposted by Naomi Kanakia
Mmmmm the cheerful fatalism and funweird of this! "Anti-Capitalism vs the Man of Flowers" by Naomi Kanakia @naokan.bsky.social www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/anti...
www.lightspeedmagazine.com
August 30, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Mmmmm the cheerful fatalism and funweird of this! "Anti-Capitalism vs the Man of Flowers" by Naomi Kanakia @naokan.bsky.social www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/anti...
Reposted by Naomi Kanakia
The Sunday Morning Transport retraces its steps today with a story from Naomi Kanakia (@naokan.bsky.social) that considers what it means for a life to be worth living. Free for everyone to read!
The Last Planet
In August, Sunday Morning Transport authors Naomi Kanakia, Jim Kelly, Meg Elison, and Elizabeth Bear share stories from far and wide.
www.sundaymorningtransport.com
August 3, 2025 at 7:11 PM
The Sunday Morning Transport retraces its steps today with a story from Naomi Kanakia (@naokan.bsky.social) that considers what it means for a life to be worth living. Free for everyone to read!
Reposted by Naomi Kanakia
(1/5)
🌀 What if therapy isn’t the only answer?
What if we’re full of insight but still stuck?
Naomi Kanakia’s story exposes the quiet ache beneath modern life.
🔗 www.woman-of-letters.com/p/therapy-is...
📖 Let’s talk myth, meaning, and the mess of being human.
@naokan.bsky.social
🌀 What if therapy isn’t the only answer?
What if we’re full of insight but still stuck?
Naomi Kanakia’s story exposes the quiet ache beneath modern life.
🔗 www.woman-of-letters.com/p/therapy-is...
📖 Let’s talk myth, meaning, and the mess of being human.
@naokan.bsky.social
Therapy isn't the (only) answer
On mythic, legendary, and Romantic action
www.woman-of-letters.com
August 1, 2025 at 5:53 PM
(1/5)
🌀 What if therapy isn’t the only answer?
What if we’re full of insight but still stuck?
Naomi Kanakia’s story exposes the quiet ache beneath modern life.
🔗 www.woman-of-letters.com/p/therapy-is...
📖 Let’s talk myth, meaning, and the mess of being human.
@naokan.bsky.social
🌀 What if therapy isn’t the only answer?
What if we’re full of insight but still stuck?
Naomi Kanakia’s story exposes the quiet ache beneath modern life.
🔗 www.woman-of-letters.com/p/therapy-is...
📖 Let’s talk myth, meaning, and the mess of being human.
@naokan.bsky.social
I highly recommend Nick as a teacher! He is the best writing instructor I've ever had.
love workshop alumna @naokan.bsky.social 's wonderful substack, Woman of Letters, especially as it captures the classic blog experience: I leave a comment, and then some shufflefuck moron tells me that I'm wrong.
July 16, 2025 at 3:58 PM
I highly recommend Nick as a teacher! He is the best writing instructor I've ever had.
Reposted by Naomi Kanakia
I recently talked with @naokan.bsky.social about book reviews, pitching, and how to deal with editorial feedback for her newsletter, Woman of Letters:
www.woman-of-letters.com/p/how-to-rev...
www.woman-of-letters.com/p/how-to-rev...
How to review books for the New York Times
Between 2021 and 2023, I had an eighteen-month stint as a book reviewer and literary essayist who wrote for periodicals like The Los Angeles Review of Books, Tablet, The Chronicle Review, The Rumpus, ...
www.woman-of-letters.com
June 26, 2025 at 8:34 PM
I recently talked with @naokan.bsky.social about book reviews, pitching, and how to deal with editorial feedback for her newsletter, Woman of Letters:
www.woman-of-letters.com/p/how-to-rev...
www.woman-of-letters.com/p/how-to-rev...
Reposted by Naomi Kanakia
🗣️ SF BAY 🗣️
This is tomorrow!! 👇
See @aaantons.bsky.social and @naokan.bsky.social in a BAR discussing LITERATURE
This is tomorrow!! 👇
See @aaantons.bsky.social and @naokan.bsky.social in a BAR discussing LITERATURE
📣 OAKLAND EVENT ALERT 📣
The inimitable stylish NAOMI KANAKIA (@naokan.bsky.social) will be interviewing man of the hour ANTON SOLOMONIK (@aaantons.bsky.social) next Tuesday about his utterly hilarious and wildly desperate and strangely heartbreaking story collection
📕 REALISTIC FICTION! 📕
Deets👇
The inimitable stylish NAOMI KANAKIA (@naokan.bsky.social) will be interviewing man of the hour ANTON SOLOMONIK (@aaantons.bsky.social) next Tuesday about his utterly hilarious and wildly desperate and strangely heartbreaking story collection
📕 REALISTIC FICTION! 📕
Deets👇
June 23, 2025 at 6:02 PM
🗣️ SF BAY 🗣️
This is tomorrow!! 👇
See @aaantons.bsky.social and @naokan.bsky.social in a BAR discussing LITERATURE
This is tomorrow!! 👇
See @aaantons.bsky.social and @naokan.bsky.social in a BAR discussing LITERATURE
Reposted by Naomi Kanakia
Billionaires ke paas already sab kuchh hai. Ab, aapka time aageya.
Billionaires already have everything. Now, your time has come.
Billionaires already have everything. Now, your time has come.
June 4, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Billionaires ke paas already sab kuchh hai. Ab, aapka time aageya.
Billionaires already have everything. Now, your time has come.
Billionaires already have everything. Now, your time has come.
A novella I self-published on my newsletter got a full write up in the New Yorker.
May 11, 2025 at 4:18 PM
A novella I self-published on my newsletter got a full write up in the New Yorker.
Has anyone read this Vivian Blaxell book? I am finding it tough going. Wondering whether to keep with it. www.littlepuss.net/shop/p/wote
Worthy of the Event: An Essay by Vivian Blaxell — A trans literary whirlwind — LittlePuss Press
A trans essayist with a checkered past takes on the big questions of human existence. Move over Michel de Montaigne, there's a new girl in town!
www.littlepuss.net
May 4, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Has anyone read this Vivian Blaxell book? I am finding it tough going. Wondering whether to keep with it. www.littlepuss.net/shop/p/wote
Finally reading the Vivian Blaxsell book. Okay girls, are we gonna talk about her hate-on for Mackenzie Wark?
This is wild, but it's sort of the perfect content, given the audience for this book is exclusively composed of people who have heard of Mackenzie Wark
This is wild, but it's sort of the perfect content, given the audience for this book is exclusively composed of people who have heard of Mackenzie Wark
May 4, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Finally reading the Vivian Blaxsell book. Okay girls, are we gonna talk about her hate-on for Mackenzie Wark?
This is wild, but it's sort of the perfect content, given the audience for this book is exclusively composed of people who have heard of Mackenzie Wark
This is wild, but it's sort of the perfect content, given the audience for this book is exclusively composed of people who have heard of Mackenzie Wark
Okay...WOODWORKING is shockingly good, no?
May 3, 2025 at 5:37 AM
Okay...WOODWORKING is shockingly good, no?
Am having trouble w STAG DANCE. The story seems quite sad, pathetic, painful. Have been stuck for weeks, forcing myself to read it.
April 27, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Am having trouble w STAG DANCE. The story seems quite sad, pathetic, painful. Have been stuck for weeks, forcing myself to read it.
Reposted by Naomi Kanakia
Non-Business Newspapers: "The Unconventional Legal Strategy Trump is Using Against Harvard"
Business Newspapers: "They're ASSAULTING lady liberty. They're SHOOTING the bald eagles. How much longer do we have to deal with these fucking MORONS"
Business Newspapers: "They're ASSAULTING lady liberty. They're SHOOTING the bald eagles. How much longer do we have to deal with these fucking MORONS"
April 24, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Non-Business Newspapers: "The Unconventional Legal Strategy Trump is Using Against Harvard"
Business Newspapers: "They're ASSAULTING lady liberty. They're SHOOTING the bald eagles. How much longer do we have to deal with these fucking MORONS"
Business Newspapers: "They're ASSAULTING lady liberty. They're SHOOTING the bald eagles. How much longer do we have to deal with these fucking MORONS"
METS is a fantastic resource--one that I actually use. I own several of their books and have consulted others. Truly unique in their democratic ethos and business model. I just donated $200.
The recent cancellation of NEH funds has hit the wonderful resource that is the Medieval English Text Series (METS) @urochester.bsky.social, a free online resource that 1000s use for teaching & research.
Please consider making a donation if you can, and please share!
metseditions.org/donate
Please consider making a donation if you can, and please share!
metseditions.org/donate
April 15, 2025 at 4:30 PM
METS is a fantastic resource--one that I actually use. I own several of their books and have consulted others. Truly unique in their democratic ethos and business model. I just donated $200.
Reposted by Naomi Kanakia
Interesting read by @naokan.bsky.social, with a mention of our own John Pistelli --> www.woman-of-letters.com/p/a-writers-...
A writer's career can be rooted in real power or in fake power. Real power is better.
A few weeks ago, Compact published an article—“The Vanishing White Male Writer”—about how there’s no white men writing literary fiction anymore.
www.woman-of-letters.com
April 9, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Interesting read by @naokan.bsky.social, with a mention of our own John Pistelli --> www.woman-of-letters.com/p/a-writers-...
Reposted by Naomi Kanakia
Might I remind!!! This is the first time I am actually getting to go on book tour EVER beyond topside tour 2014 and I am very excited to see you friends!
here is also the rest of the formal A/S/L tour put together by @sohopress.bsky.social!
also reading in Boston in June, plus at Pete's Reading Series (April), Ditmas Lit (June), and you'd better believe WORLD TRANSSEXUAL FORUM in April, where @aaantons.bsky.social and I will be co featured readers
also reading in Boston in June, plus at Pete's Reading Series (April), Ditmas Lit (June), and you'd better believe WORLD TRANSSEXUAL FORUM in April, where @aaantons.bsky.social and I will be co featured readers
March 25, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Might I remind!!! This is the first time I am actually getting to go on book tour EVER beyond topside tour 2014 and I am very excited to see you friends!
Reposted by Naomi Kanakia
I believe the firings and the AI have the same purpose: to get humans out of the loop of evaluating contracts. To automate the process of spending government money. To rig up a computer that sends taxpayer dollars directly to the broligarchy.
March 21, 2025 at 10:58 PM
I believe the firings and the AI have the same purpose: to get humans out of the loop of evaluating contracts. To automate the process of spending government money. To rig up a computer that sends taxpayer dollars directly to the broligarchy.
I am followed by hundreds of trans women, most of whom are writers. It is fascinating that nobody is reading this book. Something we should think about, given those most writers I know aspire to be this author and get this kind of book deal.
Is anyone out there reading STAG DANCE? I'm really liking it!
March 21, 2025 at 3:12 PM
I am followed by hundreds of trans women, most of whom are writers. It is fascinating that nobody is reading this book. Something we should think about, given those most writers I know aspire to be this author and get this kind of book deal.
Reposted by Naomi Kanakia
The solution has to be a movement against cartelization and against Big Tech, which is seeking to plunder the noosphere--Meta's lawyers believe that if they license even a single book for AI, they cannot make fair use claims for any book. It's all or nothing to them. 10/
March 21, 2025 at 5:49 AM
The solution has to be a movement against cartelization and against Big Tech, which is seeking to plunder the noosphere--Meta's lawyers believe that if they license even a single book for AI, they cannot make fair use claims for any book. It's all or nothing to them. 10/
Is anyone out there reading STAG DANCE? I'm really liking it!
March 21, 2025 at 5:57 AM
Is anyone out there reading STAG DANCE? I'm really liking it!
Never liked Newsom but always at least thought he was smart. How could he have possibly thought this was the right move?
Gavin Newsom sees 10-point net drop in favorability since launching his podcast. Survey finds "the podcast only made 13% of voters have an improved perception of the Governor, with 26% saying that it harmed their perception."
CA 120: Gavin's podcast - Presidential run or empire building? - Capitol Weekly
Gov. Gavin Newsom's new podcast has sent shockwaves through California's political world. But is there more to Newsom's efforts than meets the eye?
capitolweekly.net
March 17, 2025 at 4:33 AM
Never liked Newsom but always at least thought he was smart. How could he have possibly thought this was the right move?