The New Negroni
@omweekes.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of English at Queens College, CUNY, living in NYC / “It’s really hard not to mention, llamas.”
My latest review for @bookforum.bsky.social is also out now. In it, I think alongside Namwali Serpell’s resplendently rigorous new book on Toni Morrison about the last greatest living writer’s legacy and how we’re meant to read her.
A Heartbreaking Work of Swaggering Genius
Namwali Serpell’s study of Toni Morrison – Omari Weekes
www.bookforum.com
February 10, 2026 at 6:33 PM
My latest review for @bookforum.bsky.social is also out now. In it, I think alongside Namwali Serpell’s resplendently rigorous new book on Toni Morrison about the last greatest living writer’s legacy and how we’re meant to read her.
Reposted by The New Negroni
R1: No we're not hiring on the tenure track because our peers aren't hiring on the tenure track
R1: Our peers aren't hiring on the tenure track because we aren't hiring on the tenure track
R1: wtf our grad students aren't getting hired on the tenure track
R1: No one could know how this happened
R1: Our peers aren't hiring on the tenure track because we aren't hiring on the tenure track
R1: wtf our grad students aren't getting hired on the tenure track
R1: No one could know how this happened
"Warren stated that job outcomes were a 'key factor' in the decision-making process—within the previous decade, only a 'tiny percentage' of PhD students who graduated from the LCS program went on to receive tenure track at an R1 institution." An absurd metric & sign of the conservatism of higher ed.
February 10, 2026 at 2:32 PM
R1: No we're not hiring on the tenure track because our peers aren't hiring on the tenure track
R1: Our peers aren't hiring on the tenure track because we aren't hiring on the tenure track
R1: wtf our grad students aren't getting hired on the tenure track
R1: No one could know how this happened
R1: Our peers aren't hiring on the tenure track because we aren't hiring on the tenure track
R1: wtf our grad students aren't getting hired on the tenure track
R1: No one could know how this happened
Pretty sure this is the first (and probably only) time I’m on a podcast. ☺️
This is my first attempt to capture a live event of this size.
I’m thankful to @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social & @johannawinant.bsky.social for letting me adapt the launch of their tremendous book.
I think these episodes will be an additive supplement to it.
I’m thankful to @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social & @johannawinant.bsky.social for letting me adapt the launch of their tremendous book.
I think these episodes will be an additive supplement to it.
February 10, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Pretty sure this is the first (and probably only) time I’m on a podcast. ☺️
Reposted by The New Negroni
This is my first attempt to capture a live event of this size.
I’m thankful to @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social & @johannawinant.bsky.social for letting me adapt the launch of their tremendous book.
I think these episodes will be an additive supplement to it.
I’m thankful to @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social & @johannawinant.bsky.social for letting me adapt the launch of their tremendous book.
I think these episodes will be an additive supplement to it.
February 10, 2026 at 12:28 PM
This is my first attempt to capture a live event of this size.
I’m thankful to @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social & @johannawinant.bsky.social for letting me adapt the launch of their tremendous book.
I think these episodes will be an additive supplement to it.
I’m thankful to @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social & @johannawinant.bsky.social for letting me adapt the launch of their tremendous book.
I think these episodes will be an additive supplement to it.
Reposted by The New Negroni
Don’t you wish this were a podcast? 😉
February 9, 2026 at 11:08 PM
Don’t you wish this were a podcast? 😉
Reposted by The New Negroni
CALL FOR PITCHES
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
February 9, 2026 at 1:56 PM
CALL FOR PITCHES
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
I didn’t think “broccoli head” described much of anything and then I went to a gym in southwest Florida.
February 9, 2026 at 9:08 PM
I didn’t think “broccoli head” described much of anything and then I went to a gym in southwest Florida.
“suspected” lmfao literally no one at Fox News speaks Spanish?
February 9, 2026 at 3:27 AM
“suspected” lmfao literally no one at Fox News speaks Spanish?
Reposted by The New Negroni
It was transforming the biggest NFL stage in the world into a sugar cane plantation that did it for me.
Like, the multiple layers of turning an American icon into a plantation and highlighting the history of exploitation of Black and Brown bodies by the NFL and American colonialism simultaneously?
Like, the multiple layers of turning an American icon into a plantation and highlighting the history of exploitation of Black and Brown bodies by the NFL and American colonialism simultaneously?
February 9, 2026 at 1:54 AM
It was transforming the biggest NFL stage in the world into a sugar cane plantation that did it for me.
Like, the multiple layers of turning an American icon into a plantation and highlighting the history of exploitation of Black and Brown bodies by the NFL and American colonialism simultaneously?
Like, the multiple layers of turning an American icon into a plantation and highlighting the history of exploitation of Black and Brown bodies by the NFL and American colonialism simultaneously?
Wasn’t that Blue Ivy? 😬
February 9, 2026 at 12:16 AM
Wasn’t that Blue Ivy? 😬
She gives literally the entire game away and pretends she doesn’t know the rules.
February 8, 2026 at 6:11 PM
She gives literally the entire game away and pretends she doesn’t know the rules.
This coward doesn’t want anyone to know who she is because she doesn’t want people to know her novels are written this way.
The whole article is repulsive but this passage is at the core of it. She has no interest in writing books, she wants to win some kind of competition that nobody entered
February 8, 2026 at 4:37 PM
This coward doesn’t want anyone to know who she is because she doesn’t want people to know her novels are written this way.
Just remembering when I had to explain what happened at the end of Janet Jackson’s halftime show performance to my students because none of them were alive to see it.
February 7, 2026 at 2:01 PM
Just remembering when I had to explain what happened at the end of Janet Jackson’s halftime show performance to my students because none of them were alive to see it.
Reposted by The New Negroni
Audre Lorde told an audience in Eugene, OR in 1984: When she sees a foot on someone's neck, her reaction is not to try to understand either person's feelings. Her reaction is to ask, "How can I help you get it off?"
February 6, 2026 at 4:20 PM
Audre Lorde told an audience in Eugene, OR in 1984: When she sees a foot on someone's neck, her reaction is not to try to understand either person's feelings. Her reaction is to ask, "How can I help you get it off?"
This is a travesty.
The Post killing its Books section (one of the best around) is so fucking bleak
February 4, 2026 at 2:17 PM
This is a travesty.
Reposted by The New Negroni
I’m gearing up for the release of my second book and it‘s amazing to see how much less arts and book criticism there is in America now than just 3 years ago (including no more Washington Post books section)
The layoffs at the Washington Post have begun, with newsroom leaders telling employees its sports and books sections will be 'eliminated in current forms' and its international coverage will be downsized
February 4, 2026 at 2:11 PM
I’m gearing up for the release of my second book and it‘s amazing to see how much less arts and book criticism there is in America now than just 3 years ago (including no more Washington Post books section)
Reposted by The New Negroni
For those in the UK, just wanted to put on your radar that @deadinkbooks.bsky.social is republishing Randall Keenan’s first novel, A Visitation of Spirits, as part of their Outside Classics series and yours truly has written the introduction. Pre-order your copy today!
A Visitation of Spirits - Dead Ink Books
A Visitation of Spirits is the powerful story of a popular and high-achieving sixteen-year-old boy who wrestles with the guilt of discovering who he is...
deadinkbooks.com
October 24, 2025 at 8:24 PM
For those in the UK, just wanted to put on your radar that @deadinkbooks.bsky.social is republishing Randall Keenan’s first novel, A Visitation of Spirits, as part of their Outside Classics series and yours truly has written the introduction. Pre-order your copy today!
This has been the best and the worst week of my life. And it’s only Tuesday.
February 3, 2026 at 10:26 PM
This has been the best and the worst week of my life. And it’s only Tuesday.
Reposted by The New Negroni
CFP: CUNY English Student Association Graduate Conference on Beauty, Pleasure, Value. Proposal deadline 2/20.
February 1, 2026 at 7:29 PM
CFP: CUNY English Student Association Graduate Conference on Beauty, Pleasure, Value. Proposal deadline 2/20.
Reposted by The New Negroni
Happy February! Now’s a great time to submit your proposals for ASAP/17!
www.artsofthepresent.org/conference/3...
www.artsofthepresent.org/conference/3...
ASAP/17: Get It Together!
Madison, WI | October 15-17, 2026
www.artsofthepresent.org
February 1, 2026 at 1:20 PM
Happy February! Now’s a great time to submit your proposals for ASAP/17!
www.artsofthepresent.org/conference/3...
www.artsofthepresent.org/conference/3...
Reposted by The New Negroni
NBCC member Sarah Dowling was interviewed by Alix Beeston on her podcast for the New Books Network about their book "Here Is a Figure: Grounding Literary Form," a work of literary criticism that gathers together the lying-down figures in contemporary literature:
Sarah Dowling, "Here Is a Figure: Grounding Literary Form" (Northwestern UP, 2025) - New Books Network
Also Hosted By Alix Beeston
buff.ly
January 29, 2026 at 9:01 PM
NBCC member Sarah Dowling was interviewed by Alix Beeston on her podcast for the New Books Network about their book "Here Is a Figure: Grounding Literary Form," a work of literary criticism that gathers together the lying-down figures in contemporary literature:
Never mind the jobs you had, five classes you took in college:
1. Interracialism in American literarure
2. Irish Modern Lit
3. Scuba Diving
4. Intro to Geology
5. Beginner’s Tumbling
1. Interracialism in American literarure
2. Irish Modern Lit
3. Scuba Diving
4. Intro to Geology
5. Beginner’s Tumbling
Never mind the jobs you had, five classes you took in college:
The Sentimental Novel
Writing Poetry (Intro + Advanced)
Brain and Behavior
Gegenbilder von Hitler
Theory and Practice of Feminist Literary Criticism
The Sentimental Novel
Writing Poetry (Intro + Advanced)
Brain and Behavior
Gegenbilder von Hitler
Theory and Practice of Feminist Literary Criticism
Never mind the jobs you had, five classes you took in college:
1). Heterodox Global Political Economy
2). Television and Black Struggle
3). Marguerite Duras (en francais)
4). The Frankfurt School
5). Calculus III
1). Heterodox Global Political Economy
2). Television and Black Struggle
3). Marguerite Duras (en francais)
4). The Frankfurt School
5). Calculus III
January 31, 2026 at 2:32 PM
Never mind the jobs you had, five classes you took in college:
1. Interracialism in American literarure
2. Irish Modern Lit
3. Scuba Diving
4. Intro to Geology
5. Beginner’s Tumbling
1. Interracialism in American literarure
2. Irish Modern Lit
3. Scuba Diving
4. Intro to Geology
5. Beginner’s Tumbling
Reposted by The New Negroni
For 4Columns, I wrote about the Wilfredo Lam show at MoMA. He was the first Cuban artist to enter the collection, but his masterpiece, The Jungle, hung near the coatcheck for years. It’s a great show about an artist who saw his practice as an act of decolonization. 4columns.org/d-souza-arun...
Wifredo Lam
4columns.org
January 31, 2026 at 2:01 PM
For 4Columns, I wrote about the Wilfredo Lam show at MoMA. He was the first Cuban artist to enter the collection, but his masterpiece, The Jungle, hung near the coatcheck for years. It’s a great show about an artist who saw his practice as an act of decolonization. 4columns.org/d-souza-arun...
Reposted by The New Negroni
all while cutting PhD spots. loser stuff. www.ctinsider.com/news/educati...
January 29, 2026 at 9:24 PM
all while cutting PhD spots. loser stuff. www.ctinsider.com/news/educati...
Wondering what this course change entails when they’re still *checks notes* tear gassing preschools.
January 28, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Wondering what this course change entails when they’re still *checks notes* tear gassing preschools.