Nick Hilden
LightNews LightNews
banner
nickhilden.bsky.social
Nick Hilden
@nickhilden.bsky.social
410 followers 260 following 58 posts
Culture, science & politics writer | Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Publishers Weekly, Scientific American, Esquire, Rolling Stone, Nautilus, Vanity Fair, etc | www.nickhilden.com
Posts Replies Media Videos
nickhilden.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/seriousm...
Anti-Food Stamp Crusaders Reveal the American Lack-of-Imagination Crisis
One of the biggest problems facing the United States is that too many of its people reside in imagination deserts.
open.substack.com
October 30, 2025 at 4:38 AM
nickhilden.bsky.social
I had an inspiring talk with @sanders.senate.gov for @vanityfair.com about oligarchy, authoritarianism, and the need for everyday people to run for office.

www.vanityfair.com/news/story/b...
Bernie Sanders on Trump’s AI Slop Storm and Why You Should Run for Office
“This is a guy who puts up an AI image of him in an airplane defecating on American cities—not quite the image of the president of the United States that I was educated to respect,” the senator and au...
www.vanityfair.com
October 29, 2025 at 1:10 AM
nickhilden.bsky.social
New for @vanityfair.com - David Cross doesn't hold back.

www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/st...
David Cross Doesn’t Care If He Offends You
The candid comic still thinks those who performed at the Riyadh Comedy Festival participated in “a very dangerous, upsetting thing,” he tells ‘VF’—but he also thinks rape kit jokes and the r-word can ...
www.vanityfair.com
October 27, 2025 at 5:49 PM
nickhilden.bsky.social
New for @theobserveruk.bsky.social
To Understand the Present, Read These 10 Political Novels from the Past
These powerful political novels from the past century—spanning countries and contexts—offer fresh insights into the urgent issues shaping our world today.
observer.com
October 19, 2025 at 5:27 PM
nickhilden.bsky.social
New for @nautil.us - I chat with techno-thriller author Daniel H Wilson about his new novel and humanity's venture into the unknown.
Can Embracing the Unknown Save Us From Dystopia?
Can Embracing the Unknown Save Us From Dystopia? An interview with Daniel Wilson, author of shamanic techno-thriller Hole in the Sky.
nautil.us
October 17, 2025 at 11:13 PM
nickhilden.bsky.social
Time for an antifa-Thin White Duke phase: no to nazis, yes to weird art excess.
October 5, 2025 at 8:33 PM
nickhilden.bsky.social
Stumbled across a shot from the first day I moved abroad back in 2012. Granada, Ulysses, olives and cold beer. Without a doubt one of the happiest moments of my life.
October 4, 2025 at 7:32 PM
nickhilden.bsky.social
The New York Times piece cited here is a great example of why more and more people are turning to independent journalism, and why I'm ramping up my Substack.

seriousmoonlightxyz.substack.com/p/a-bad-nyt-...
A Bad NYT Trump Edit. The Media Sucks. And Why You Should Subscribe to My Substack (Besides My Eternal Gratitude).
The current media landscape doesn't support quality journalism, so I want to bring my stories directly to you.
seriousmoonlightxyz.substack.com
October 3, 2025 at 10:06 PM
nickhilden.bsky.social
The latest for Writers Talking #Writers at @publisherswkly.bsky.social!

Ada Limón on Emily Dickinson
Rickey Laurentiis on Wallace Stevens

www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
Writers Talking Writers: Ada Limón on Emily Dickinson and Rickey Laurentiis on Wallace Stevens
The former poet laureate and the Whiting Award winner discuss the enriching and complex legacy of two landmark American poets.
www.publishersweekly.com
October 2, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Reposted by Nick Hilden
channeldraw.bsky.social
I’m very happy to publish for the first time with @aljazeera.com on such an important story:

@aiww.bsky.social and the lost backpack — a tale of exile, memory, and bureaucracy. Introduction by @nickhilden.bsky.social

Read more ⬇️
Ai Weiwei and the lost backpack: A Chinese exile’s brush with bureaucracy
Artist’s encounter with a railway ‘lost and found’ highlights the difficulties of those forced to leave their countries.
www.aljazeera.com
September 15, 2025 at 6:26 AM
nickhilden.bsky.social
Paperwork is serious when you're living in exile. New in @aljazeera.com - Ai Weiwei tells a story highlighting the importance of documentation for refugees, @channeldraw.bsky.social illustrates, and I provide the intro.

www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2025...
Ai Weiwei and the lost backpack: A Chinese exile’s brush with bureaucracy
Artist’s encounter with a railway ‘lost and found’ highlights the difficulties of those forced to leave their countries.
www.aljazeera.com
September 14, 2025 at 5:35 PM
nickhilden.bsky.social
In my latest for @nautil.us I discuss Plato and tyranny with classicist James Romm.
nautil.us/the-philosop...
The Philosophy of Tyranny
What a formative period in Plato's life tells us about US politics today
nautil.us
August 11, 2025 at 11:00 PM
nickhilden.bsky.social
The latest in my Writers Talking Writers series at @publisherswkly.bsky.social!

Jess Walter on Charles Portis
Jonathan Lethem on James Salter

www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
Writers Talking Writers: Jess Walter on Charles Portis and Jonathan Lethem on James Salter
The National Book Award finalist talks about Portis's appeal as the “patron saint of journalists who become novelists” and the National Book Critics Circle Award winner discusses Salter's “breathtakin...
www.publishersweekly.com
June 27, 2025 at 8:43 PM
nickhilden.bsky.social
New in my Writers Talking Writers series at @publisherswkly.bsky.social

Madeleine Thien discusses the "stone on stone" writing of her friend Y-Dang Troeung and the act of writing as an "afterlife."
www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
Writers Talking Writers: Madeleine Thien on Y-Dang Troeung
The Giller Prize–⁠winning novelist reflects on the late memoirist and scholar's ambitious work about the history of violence in Cambodia and its resonance with current events.
www.publishersweekly.com
May 22, 2025 at 1:26 AM
nickhilden.bsky.social
To mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War I spoke with some of those impacted by Operation Babylift for @aljazeera.com.

www.aljazeera.com/features/202...
In 1975, thousands of babies were daringly airlifted from the Vietnam war
Some of those involved in ‘Operation Babylift’ recall the events – and what happened to the children after.
www.aljazeera.com
April 26, 2025 at 4:31 PM
nickhilden.bsky.social
My latest Writers Talking Writers installment at @publisherswkly.bsky.social is a special edition for the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War:

Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai on Thích Nhất Hạnh
Karl Marlantes on Leo Tolstoy

www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
Writers Talking Writers: Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai on Thích Nhất Hạnh and Karl Marlantes on Leo Tolstoy
On the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, two acclaimed authors who have written about the conflict and its consequences discuss the writers who shaped them.
www.publishersweekly.com
April 18, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by Nick Hilden
keziahweir.bsky.social
A Friday treat: eavesdrop on Tommy Orange and Kaveh Akbar's Bay Area roadtrip courtesy of @nickhilden.bsky.social. “Kaveh is team poetry and I’m team novel, and we were both trying to recruit each other for each other’s teams, then realized we could play for both.” www.vanityfair.com/style/story/...
Inside a Book Tour Turned Road Trip With Best Friends and Best-Selling Authors Tommy Orange and Kaveh Akbar
The authors of the celebrated novels ‘Wandering Stars’ and ‘Martyr!’ are each other’s valued early readers. “We both wrote when no one gave a shit that we were writing it,” Akbar tells VF. “It’s fun t...
www.vanityfair.com
March 21, 2025 at 6:02 PM
nickhilden.bsky.social
New for @vanityfair.com - On the road with Tommy Orange and Kaveh Akbar!

www.vanityfair.com/style/story/...
Inside a Book Tour Turned Road Trip With Best Friends and Best-Selling Authors Tommy Orange and Kaveh Akbar
The authors of the celebrated novels ‘Wandering Stars’ and ‘Martyr!’ are each other’s valued early readers. “We both wrote when no one gave a shit that we were writing it,” Akbar tells VF. “It’s fun t...
www.vanityfair.com
March 21, 2025 at 5:51 PM
nickhilden.bsky.social
New for Writers Talking Writers @publisherswkly.bsky.social

Colum McCann on John Berger
Torrey Peters (@torreypeters.bsky.social) on Halldor Laxness

www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
Writers Talking Writers: Colum McCann on John Berger and Torrey Peters on Halldor Laxness
The National Book Award winner remembers drinking with John Berger and the PEN/Hemingway Award winner recounts the joys of reading Halldor Laxness.
www.publishersweekly.com
March 20, 2025 at 4:46 AM
nickhilden.bsky.social
New for @nautil.us - a chat with Michael Joseph Gross about his fascinating new book Stronger, about our changing understanding of muscle and strength.

nautil.us/the-importan...
The Importance of Muscle
In his new book, Michael Joseph Gross explores how the notion of strength has changed since Homer
nautil.us
March 13, 2025 at 2:35 AM
nickhilden.bsky.social
My latest for @aljazeera.com explores California's legacy of conflict over war.

www.aljazeera.com/features/202...
California water wars: A century of wrangling over Los Angeles’s water
The battle for California’s water pitted ranchers against water barons and still echoes today.
www.aljazeera.com
March 8, 2025 at 7:15 AM
nickhilden.bsky.social
New for my Writers Talking Writers series at @publisherswkly.bsky.social

Charlotte Wood (@charlottewood.bsky.social) on William Maxwell
Laila Lalami on Franz Kafka

www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
Writers Talking Writers: Charlotte Wood on William Maxwell and Laila Lalami on Franz Kafka
The Booker-shortlisted novelist praises compassion in the work of William Maxwell and the Pulitzer finalist discusses the peerless artistic commitment of Franz Kafka.
www.publishersweekly.com
February 21, 2025 at 11:28 PM
nickhilden.bsky.social
New for @aljazeera.com

“I hope that people maybe just aren’t aware of how poorly paid and poorly treated their federal firefighters are."

www.aljazeera.com/features/202...
Lives on the line: Low pay has US wildland firefighters quitting
As wildfires get worse, firefighters are struggling to combat blazes and remain in a job with poor labour conditions.
www.aljazeera.com
February 15, 2025 at 4:43 PM
nickhilden.bsky.social
My latest for @nautil.us:

Journalist Carl Zimmer on the earliest studies of the aerobiome, historical approaches to pandemic readiness, and how learning about the creatures who live in the air around us has changed the way he moves through the world.

nautil.us/life-in-an-a...
Life in an Atmospheric Zoo
Journalist Carl Zimmer tells the story of the science of aerobiology
nautil.us
February 14, 2025 at 10:00 PM
nickhilden.bsky.social
One of the biggest problems of our day is chronic lack of foresight.

OK, you fire hundreds of thousands of people and superheat the job market: what is the logical outcome of that?
February 14, 2025 at 5:30 PM