Tess Callahan
@tesscallahan.bsky.social
Author of DAWNLAND and APRIL & OLIVER. Words in NY Times Mag, NPR, Electric Lit, Writer's Digest, AGNI, Narrative Mag. TEDx speaker. Bennington MFA. Substack/Podcast: Writers at the Well. https://tesscallahan.com/. https://tesscallahan.substack.com/.
Grateful to George Saunders for sharing my podcast interview and my essay in @electricliterature.com on his Substack today. Vigil is riveting, funny, and unsettling in all the right ways. A novel for our time. electricliterature.com/in-vigil-rag...
February 9, 2026 at 3:04 AM
Grateful to George Saunders for sharing my podcast interview and my essay in @electricliterature.com on his Substack today. Vigil is riveting, funny, and unsettling in all the right ways. A novel for our time. electricliterature.com/in-vigil-rag...
My essay on George Saunders' VIGIL is up today at @Electricliterature.com
Saunders has long encouraged us to "revise toward kindness." But in Vigil, he asks what happens when empathy veers toward complicity?
#georgesaunders #electricliterature
electricliterature.com/in-vigil-rag...
Saunders has long encouraged us to "revise toward kindness." But in Vigil, he asks what happens when empathy veers toward complicity?
#georgesaunders #electricliterature
electricliterature.com/in-vigil-rag...
In “Vigil,” Rage Is a Tool for Compassion and Liberation - Electric Literature
George Saunders’s new novel examines the line between sympathy and complicity
electricliterature.com
February 6, 2026 at 5:46 PM
My essay on George Saunders' VIGIL is up today at @Electricliterature.com
Saunders has long encouraged us to "revise toward kindness." But in Vigil, he asks what happens when empathy veers toward complicity?
#georgesaunders #electricliterature
electricliterature.com/in-vigil-rag...
Saunders has long encouraged us to "revise toward kindness." But in Vigil, he asks what happens when empathy veers toward complicity?
#georgesaunders #electricliterature
electricliterature.com/in-vigil-rag...
George Saunders' new novel Vigil is out today from @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social I had the pleasure of talking with George about writing, meditation and evoking fierceness and compassion in life and on the page.
0n “Writers at the Well" podcast & YouTube
open.substack.com/pub/tesscall...
0n “Writers at the Well" podcast & YouTube
open.substack.com/pub/tesscall...
George Saunders on the Paradox of Fierce Compassion
Vigil breaks new ground while remaining signature Saunders
open.substack.com
January 27, 2026 at 4:47 PM
George Saunders' new novel Vigil is out today from @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social I had the pleasure of talking with George about writing, meditation and evoking fierceness and compassion in life and on the page.
0n “Writers at the Well" podcast & YouTube
open.substack.com/pub/tesscall...
0n “Writers at the Well" podcast & YouTube
open.substack.com/pub/tesscall...
Vigil by George Saunders is out tomorrow. I will be sharing my conversation with George about writing, meditation, and fierce compassion. Stay tuned!
Thank you
@penguinrandomhouse for the advanced copy.
#georgesaunders #writingliife #writersatthewell
Thank you
@penguinrandomhouse for the advanced copy.
#georgesaunders #writingliife #writersatthewell
January 27, 2026 at 2:00 AM
Vigil by George Saunders is out tomorrow. I will be sharing my conversation with George about writing, meditation, and fierce compassion. Stay tuned!
Thank you
@penguinrandomhouse for the advanced copy.
#georgesaunders #writingliife #writersatthewell
Thank you
@penguinrandomhouse for the advanced copy.
#georgesaunders #writingliife #writersatthewell
Greatly enjoyed my interview with @marthacooley.bsky.social author of The Archivist and now My Little Donkey from @catapultbooks.bsky.social. Writers and readers, says Cooley, are “the guardians of the collective imagination.”
Martha Cooley on Embracing Uncertainty as a Catalyst for Growth
“My Little Donkey” explores freedom, possibility, and the art of getting curious.
open.substack.com
December 11, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Greatly enjoyed my interview with @marthacooley.bsky.social author of The Archivist and now My Little Donkey from @catapultbooks.bsky.social. Writers and readers, says Cooley, are “the guardians of the collective imagination.”
Sometimes my mind spins like an unhinged carnival ride. This pocket practice brings me back to Earth.
#thanksgiving #writingflow #mindfulness
#thanksgiving #writingflow #mindfulness
Random Gratitude and the Art of Savoring
A pocket practice for bringing a touch of Thanksgiving to every day.
open.substack.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Sometimes my mind spins like an unhinged carnival ride. This pocket practice brings me back to Earth.
#thanksgiving #writingflow #mindfulness
#thanksgiving #writingflow #mindfulness
Fascinating TEDx Talk by Andrew Holecek about Dark Retreat. #tedx #darkretreat #andrewholecek #tedxboulder
The Wisdom of Darkness | Dr. Andrew Holecek | TEDxBoulder
YouTube video by TEDx Talks
youtu.be
November 7, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Fascinating TEDx Talk by Andrew Holecek about Dark Retreat. #tedx #darkretreat #andrewholecek #tedxboulder
I’ll be reading from my novel Dawnland at East End Books in the Boston Seaport this Saturday 1018 at 6pm alongside @hickswriter.bsky.social author of The Gospel According to Danny. Come for stories, conversation, and a bit of magic by the water!
#bostonreads #authorreading
#bostonreads #authorreading
October 14, 2025 at 2:05 PM
I’ll be reading from my novel Dawnland at East End Books in the Boston Seaport this Saturday 1018 at 6pm alongside @hickswriter.bsky.social author of The Gospel According to Danny. Come for stories, conversation, and a bit of magic by the water!
#bostonreads #authorreading
#bostonreads #authorreading
Honored to interview Dr. Suzanne Mettler about Rural vs. Urban, co-written Trevor Brown. @princetonupress.bsky.social The book unpacks the current threat to democracy and how it can be repaired. A must-read for the moment at hand.
Dr. Suzanne Mettler on Saving Democracy Before it's Too Late
The divide that threatens democracy can be repaired. Rural vs. Urban shows how.
tesscallahan.substack.com
October 3, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Honored to interview Dr. Suzanne Mettler about Rural vs. Urban, co-written Trevor Brown. @princetonupress.bsky.social The book unpacks the current threat to democracy and how it can be repaired. A must-read for the moment at hand.
Reposted by Tess Callahan
I'm so happy to have "conversed" with the incomparable @tesscallahan.bsky.social in her Substack, "Writers at the Well" -- Tess is warm, welcoming, and asks deep, thought-provoking, soul-searching questions ❣️
Carrie Birde on Writing from the "Bright Wood" Within
open.substack.com/pub/tesscall...
Carrie Birde on Writing from the "Bright Wood" Within
open.substack.com/pub/tesscall...
Carrie Birde on Discovering the "Bright Wood" Within
How a friendship with a Catbird inspired a literary fairy tale
open.substack.com
September 15, 2025 at 6:50 PM
I'm so happy to have "conversed" with the incomparable @tesscallahan.bsky.social in her Substack, "Writers at the Well" -- Tess is warm, welcoming, and asks deep, thought-provoking, soul-searching questions ❣️
Carrie Birde on Writing from the "Bright Wood" Within
open.substack.com/pub/tesscall...
Carrie Birde on Writing from the "Bright Wood" Within
open.substack.com/pub/tesscall...
Happy #PubDay, Paula Saunders! STARTING FROM HERE is out today from #penguinrandomhouse . In our interview, Saunders shares her experience of writing to illuminate her past. In addition to this podcast, her written interview is available on my Substack, “Writers at the Well.” Enjoy! #books
Novelist Paula Saunders on Starting from Here, and Writing as an Act of Compassion
Podcast Episode · Writers at the Well · 08/26/2025 · 49m
podcasts.apple.com
August 26, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Happy #PubDay, Paula Saunders! STARTING FROM HERE is out today from #penguinrandomhouse . In our interview, Saunders shares her experience of writing to illuminate her past. In addition to this podcast, her written interview is available on my Substack, “Writers at the Well.” Enjoy! #books
For me, meditation is a way to
access a more intimate, grounded, present experience of this wild ride we call life. These meditations draw from my 2-year training with Tara Brach & Jack Kornfield, and others. Free on Apple, Spotify, and Insight Timer. #meditation
www.buzzsprout.com/1998903/achi...
access a more intimate, grounded, present experience of this wild ride we call life. These meditations draw from my 2-year training with Tara Brach & Jack Kornfield, and others. Free on Apple, Spotify, and Insight Timer. #meditation
www.buzzsprout.com/1998903/achi...
Heart Haven Meditations
Weekly meditations to calm your mind, connect to your heart, and take refuge in love. These practices draw from neuroscience, wisdom traditions, and teachers such as Adyashanti, Tara Brach, Pema Chodr...
www.buzzsprout.com
August 5, 2025 at 9:24 PM
For me, meditation is a way to
access a more intimate, grounded, present experience of this wild ride we call life. These meditations draw from my 2-year training with Tara Brach & Jack Kornfield, and others. Free on Apple, Spotify, and Insight Timer. #meditation
www.buzzsprout.com/1998903/achi...
access a more intimate, grounded, present experience of this wild ride we call life. These meditations draw from my 2-year training with Tara Brach & Jack Kornfield, and others. Free on Apple, Spotify, and Insight Timer. #meditation
www.buzzsprout.com/1998903/achi...
I hope you enjoy as much as I did my interview with @agnimagazine.bsky.social & @arrowsmithpress.bsky.social editor/author Askold Melnyczuk on The Venus of Odesa, now out from MadHat Press. #ukrainewriter #ukraine #poetry #odesa
Askold Melnyczuk on What We Think We Should Write vs. What Wants to be Written
"Most of us have a natural field of action, an arena, in which we can assert ourselves and make some difference in the world."
tesscallahan.substack.com
August 5, 2025 at 5:20 PM
I hope you enjoy as much as I did my interview with @agnimagazine.bsky.social & @arrowsmithpress.bsky.social editor/author Askold Melnyczuk on The Venus of Odesa, now out from MadHat Press. #ukrainewriter #ukraine #poetry #odesa
Happy Pub Day, Holly Kennedy! Her new novel, The Sideways Life of Denny Voss, is a sensitive, cross-genre story about a 30-year old neurodivergent man who, in the process of fighting a murder charge, discovers unexpected truths about himself, his family, and the world. It's a beautiful read.
Holly Kennedy on the Intimacy of First Person Narration
Kennedy's new cross-genre novel embraces serious topics with sensitivity and grace.
open.substack.com
April 8, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Happy Pub Day, Holly Kennedy! Her new novel, The Sideways Life of Denny Voss, is a sensitive, cross-genre story about a 30-year old neurodivergent man who, in the process of fighting a murder charge, discovers unexpected truths about himself, his family, and the world. It's a beautiful read.
Novelist Brooke Lea Foster on the narratives we create in life and on the page. #books #authorinterview
Brooke Lea Foster
"Giving voice to the concerns of women is paramount in my novels."
open.substack.com
March 20, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Novelist Brooke Lea Foster on the narratives we create in life and on the page. #books #authorinterview