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"I hold up his head and carry him to where there is food because that is what mothers do."

From "Stick a Clock in Me I'm Pregnant," a new original essay by Sasha Bortnik.

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February 12, 2026 at 9:01 PM
"...be small. Be good. Be light enough to lift from the chuppa into motherhood. Anything else is taboo."

From "Harpooning the Self," a new original essay by @feed-me-poetry.bsky.social.

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February 12, 2026 at 3:04 PM
"The critters don’t give a fuck / about what’s magic, what’s mama, / what’s science, what’s baby. / Same old, same old."

From "A Mesopotamian Priest," one of two new poems by Costantino Toth.

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February 11, 2026 at 9:00 PM
"They preferred ChatGPT’s writing, I realized, because they had been taught to."

From "More Human: On Science Fairs, Artificial Intelligence, and Educational Experiments," a new original essay by Erika Luckert.

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February 11, 2026 at 3:00 PM
“There is a vulnerability to being a student, being in the position of not-knowing.”

From "My Personal Essay," a new essay by Katy Ryan.

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February 9, 2026 at 9:00 PM
"You can have that sad ending and still have the love story..."

Charlotte Fleming interviews Belle Burden about Strangers (@thedialpress.bsky.social).

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February 9, 2026 at 3:01 PM
“The sense of attrition that gave the book its suspense and power—of the inexorable taking of boys we have come to care about—has vanished.”

Enduring The Long Walk: A review by Michael Washburn.

Read the full review now at buff.ly/lWlZMtz
February 6, 2026 at 9:01 PM
"And we will lie down together / and we will rise up together / and we will raise the roof together / and we will bring all the rivers / to the door of this great house"

From "Rushing Toward the Horizon of My Body," one of two new poems by Rebecca Cook.

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February 6, 2026 at 3:02 PM
"I just wanted my readers to smile and laugh somewhere on every page."

Magic and Beauty and Wonder: Barrett Bowlin interviews Aaron Burch about Tacoma (Autofocus Books).

Read the full conversation now at buff.ly/WrzL4d5
February 5, 2026 at 9:00 PM
“Suffering doesn’t make my writing better; it makes it harder to produce at all.”

From "A Hollow Kingdom All My Own," a new essay by Quinn Que.

Read the full piece now at buff.ly/9FBThKl
February 5, 2026 at 3:00 PM
"To stay alive, even the dead must endure / temporariness."

From "Given Limits Exist, Streets, Oblivion," a new poem by @chelsdingman.bsky.social.

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February 3, 2026 at 3:03 PM
“Romance novelists pay attention to muscle. Bodies are the instruments on which we play love songs.”

From "Mouth and Muscle," a new original essay by @oliviawaite.com about Heated Rivalry.

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February 2, 2026 at 10:00 PM
"That intimate act of reading aloud to someone else, being read to, feels very powerful, a different experience from the solitary pleasure of silent reading."

Our next Letter in the Mail (from authors!) comes from the married duo behind the pseudonym Nicci French.

➡️: buff.ly/ivyofsF
February 2, 2026 at 5:06 PM
“It’s up to the dreamer to find the unicorn, lucidly swimming through oceans, climbing mountains, rustling through broom closets.”

From "Helga Seeks the Unicorn," a new original short story by Melissa Darcey Hall.

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February 1, 2026 at 5:00 PM
“But the old house still breathed: a dampness after rain, the ghost of sautéed onions, the wool-sweat of winter.”

From "A Geometry of Silence," a new original essay by Noreen Zobel.

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January 31, 2026 at 9:00 PM
“Fame is fickle, and positive reception is often ephemeral. And what remains when the public loses interest?”

The Cost of Ambition: @rachellayown.bsky.social reviews @allietagledokus.bsky.social’s Lucky Girl (@tinhouse.bsky.social).

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January 29, 2026 at 9:01 PM
“Reading Maggie Nelson is like drinking from a well. It refreshes and brings clarity to the mind.”

“This Is Not a Drill": Amy Y. Q. Lin reviews Maggie Nelson's The Slicks (@graywolfpress.bsky.social).

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January 29, 2026 at 3:00 PM
"I realized that I wouldn’t be able to change as a person if I didn’t try and take a big risk."

Gabriella Souza interviews Rachel Eliza Griffiths about The Flower Bearers (@penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social).

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January 29, 2026 at 12:00 AM
"I like when a story makes me ask questions that I sincerely don’t know the answers to."

@egjames.bsky.social interviews George Saunders about VIGIL (@penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social).

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January 28, 2026 at 8:00 PM
“It feels like leaving a baby face-down in a tub, like I’ve done something not quite human.”

From "Like Camels Raging," a new original short story by Zein Nakhleh.

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January 27, 2026 at 9:01 PM
Reposted by The Rumpus
If you read one essay this week, make it this one by Hazem Almassry at @therumpus.net about how academic language obfuscates the system of violence Israel is enacting in Gaza. #RumpusEssays therumpus.net/2026/01/21/w...
What They Don’t Teach You About Collapse - The Rumpus
The particular form of governance being implemented in Gaza has a shape to it. It’s recognizable if you know what to look for. It's the same shape that appeared in other places, at other times: the ar...
therumpus.net
January 27, 2026 at 12:04 AM
Reposted by The Rumpus
It’s not often (or ever?) that we get to speak to our heroes, but I got to speak to mine when @therumpus.net let me interview George Saunders. His new book is out today. Please read it. It’s wonderful ❤️

therumpus.net/2026/01/26/t...
The Two-Sentence Outline that Defines the Form: An Interview with George Saunders  - The Rumpus
“Usually, I try to make things as brief as I can (my model is one of those wind-up toys and I wind it up and drop it on the floor and it races right under the couch. The end). But with this, and with ...
therumpus.net
January 27, 2026 at 7:36 PM
“The problem is that distance is a choice. And I’m not sure I believe I have the right to make it anymore.”

From “What They Don’t Teach You About Collapse,” a new original essay by Hazem Almassry.

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January 27, 2026 at 3:04 PM
“I read it in the bathtub of my studio apartment, over and over, until the words slurred into early morning light.”

Tryphena Yeboah interviews @poemsandcake.bsky.social about The Book of Alice (@scribnerbooks.bsky.social).

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January 26, 2026 at 9:00 PM
Up next on the Small Press Sunday roster is @janetrodriguez.bsky.social on Sunday, February 1! Join Janet Rodriquez and Deep Vellum's Bookstore Director and Buyer Riley Rennhack at 3:30 PT / 6:30 ET to peek behind the curtain of one of your favorite small presses. See you there on Instagram Live!
January 26, 2026 at 3:01 PM