Katy Waldman
@xwaldie.bsky.social
Yup! I think, psychoanalyzing my own hatred of AI, that a lot of it stems from an intuition that what people want out of AI (affirmation, therapy, instant gratification) is what they increasingly want (or are being trained to want) out of art and culture
bsky.app/profile/alis...
bsky.app/profile/alis...
The piece about AI in romance novels (which, I mean, has been very widespread, I don’t think this is surprising) has reminded me of this excellent @xwaldie.bsky.social article of a year ago about romantasy that I think about probably weekly at least:
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Did a Best-Selling Romantasy Novelist Steal Another Writer’s Story?
Tracy Wolff, the author of the “Crave” series, is being sued for copyright infringement. But romantasy’s reliance on standardized tropes makes proving plot theft tricky.
www.newyorker.com
February 8, 2026 at 4:39 PM
Yup! I think, psychoanalyzing my own hatred of AI, that a lot of it stems from an intuition that what people want out of AI (affirmation, therapy, instant gratification) is what they increasingly want (or are being trained to want) out of art and culture
bsky.app/profile/alis...
bsky.app/profile/alis...
look at this Maleficent bombshell queen x.com/ABC/status/2...
x.com
February 5, 2026 at 11:33 PM
look at this Maleficent bombshell queen x.com/ABC/status/2...
I found this book to be genuinely restorative! www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
The Perennial Predicament of the Artist with an Office Job
In “The Copywriter,” by Daniel Poppick, a poet searches for meaning in the grindset.
www.newyorker.com
February 2, 2026 at 9:19 PM
I found this book to be genuinely restorative! www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Reposted by Katy Waldman
Two new books consider fawning—a trauma response involving ingratiating, people-pleasing behavior—and how we can unlearn it. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
How to Recover from Caring Too Much
If you laugh at unfunny jokes, raise your hand too quickly, or can’t decide on your favorite color, you may be exhibiting a fawn response.
www.newyorker.com
January 16, 2026 at 10:30 PM
Two new books consider fawning—a trauma response involving ingratiating, people-pleasing behavior—and how we can unlearn it. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Reposted by Katy Waldman
Greatly enjoyed my colleague @xwaldie.bsky.social's anti-anti-fawning piece; turns out fawning has a great artistic tradition, on stage and screen (as here: two pieces, and a better translation of the full, hair-raising Nietzsche passage:
www.newyorker.com/culture/rich...
www.newyorker.com/culture/rich...
January 17, 2026 at 2:54 AM
Greatly enjoyed my colleague @xwaldie.bsky.social's anti-anti-fawning piece; turns out fawning has a great artistic tradition, on stage and screen (as here: two pieces, and a better translation of the full, hair-raising Nietzsche passage:
www.newyorker.com/culture/rich...
www.newyorker.com/culture/rich...
Contemporary escapism: scroll past "Trump threatens to invoke Insurrection Act after people in Minneapolis protest ICE shooting a woman in the face," "Trump is risking global catastrophe by kidnapping the leader of Venezuela and menacing NATO," click on "people are mad about autistic Barbie"
January 15, 2026 at 3:40 PM
Contemporary escapism: scroll past "Trump threatens to invoke Insurrection Act after people in Minneapolis protest ICE shooting a woman in the face," "Trump is risking global catastrophe by kidnapping the leader of Venezuela and menacing NATO," click on "people are mad about autistic Barbie"
So I thought these authors really had a point
January 12, 2026 at 6:51 PM
So I thought these authors really had a point
Reposts equal I want to die bsky.app/profile/jody...
January 5, 2026 at 2:30 PM
Reposts equal I want to die bsky.app/profile/jody...
Reposted by Katy Waldman
Algorithmic America
Influencers and OnlyFans models dominate US ‘extraordinary’ artist visas
Work permits increasingly being awarded on basis of online reach, favouring content creators
www.ft.com
January 5, 2026 at 2:22 PM
Algorithmic America
Reupping my 2025 Trump Kennedy Center Honors bingo card for no particular reason
December 20, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Reupping my 2025 Trump Kennedy Center Honors bingo card for no particular reason
omg what an honor! um i'd like to thank the academy, james frey, my parents for ruining my personality (just kidding mom and dad it's not your fault!) lithub.com/the-most-sca...
The Most Scathing Book Reviews of 2025
Pans, glorious pans. No end-of-year roundup would be complete without them. Among the books being driven into the woods by pitchfork-wielding villagers this year: Louis C.K.’s masturbatory debut no…
lithub.com
December 19, 2025 at 6:26 PM
omg what an honor! um i'd like to thank the academy, james frey, my parents for ruining my personality (just kidding mom and dad it's not your fault!) lithub.com/the-most-sca...
Not Zoltan Maga at the white nationalist soiree!
December 18, 2025 at 1:44 AM
Not Zoltan Maga at the white nationalist soiree!
A “take” on (or ode to) Mary McCarthy in last week’s mag www.newyorker.com/magazine/tak...
Katy Waldman on Mary McCarthy’s “One Touch of Nature”
A reader trusts the author’s voice instinctively, charmed by its opaline assessments and zinging aperçus. Still, one can quibble.
www.newyorker.com
December 15, 2025 at 7:53 PM
A “take” on (or ode to) Mary McCarthy in last week’s mag www.newyorker.com/magazine/tak...
This was my Trump Kennedy Center Honors bingo card (12/6)
December 12, 2025 at 7:00 PM
This was my Trump Kennedy Center Honors bingo card (12/6)
Reposted by Katy Waldman
Donld Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center has led to a year of embarrassment and chaos for the once venerable art institution.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
How the Kennedy Center Has Been Transformed by Trumpism
The President was drawn to the institution for its cultural prestige. He and his allies made it radioactive.
www.newyorker.com
December 11, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Donld Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center has led to a year of embarrassment and chaos for the once venerable art institution.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
Wrote about Trump’s Kennedy Center Honors www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
How the Kennedy Center Has Been Transformed by Trumpism
The President was drawn to the institution for its cultural prestige. He and his allies made it radioactive.
www.newyorker.com
December 11, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Wrote about Trump’s Kennedy Center Honors www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
Reposted by Katy Waldman
The 48th Kennedy Center Honors was “a tacky, supersized love letter to the center’s self-installed chairman, President Donald Trump,” @xwaldie.bsky.social writes.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
How the Kennedy Center Has Been Transformed by Trumpism
The President was drawn to the institution for its cultural prestige. He and his allies made it radioactive.
www.newyorker.com
December 10, 2025 at 11:55 PM
The 48th Kennedy Center Honors was “a tacky, supersized love letter to the center’s self-installed chairman, President Donald Trump,” @xwaldie.bsky.social writes.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
Happy Solvej Balle day! (Every day the eighteenth) m.youtube.com/watch?v=kRAW...
Happy Valentines Day - OutKast (HD)
YouTube video by Mark Cee
m.youtube.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Happy Solvej Balle day! (Every day the eighteenth) m.youtube.com/watch?v=kRAW...
Reposted by Katy Waldman
Most stories in the time-loop genre build to a moment of escape. “On the Calculation of Volume” imagines a woman making a life inside an infinitely repeating November 18th. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/11/17/on-the-calculation-of-volume-solvej-balle-book-review
Solvej Balle’s Novels Rewire the Time Loop
Most stories in the genre build to a moment of escape. “On the Calculation of Volume” imagines a woman making a life inside an infinitely repeating November 18th.
www.newyorker.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Most stories in the time-loop genre build to a moment of escape. “On the Calculation of Volume” imagines a woman making a life inside an infinitely repeating November 18th. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/11/17/on-the-calculation-of-volume-solvej-balle-book-review
Is something going on with lettuce in NY being rotten?
November 1, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Is something going on with lettuce in NY being rotten?
Reposted by Katy Waldman
“According to the spokespeople of grind culture, the choice is clear: your individuality can make money for you or it can make money for somebody else,” Katy Waldman writes.
How Corporate Feminism Went from “Love Me” to “Buy Me”
A decade ago, Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In” aimed to tear down the obstacles that kept women from reaching the top. Now her successors want to tear down everything.
www.newyorker.com
October 26, 2025 at 8:13 PM
“According to the spokespeople of grind culture, the choice is clear: your individuality can make money for you or it can make money for somebody else,” Katy Waldman writes.
Reposted by Katy Waldman
Today’s self-help books for working women abandon the pretense that they have anything to do with feminism, or even work. Instead, everything is content. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/10/27/how-corporate-feminism-went-from-love-me-to-buy-me
October 22, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Today’s self-help books for working women abandon the pretense that they have anything to do with feminism, or even work. Instead, everything is content. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/10/27/how-corporate-feminism-went-from-love-me-to-buy-me
Wrote about the state of corporate feminist self-help! www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
How Corporate Feminism Went from “Love Me” to “Buy Me”
A decade ago, Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In” aimed to tear down the obstacles that kept women from reaching the top. Now her successors want to tear down everything.
www.newyorker.com
October 20, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Wrote about the state of corporate feminist self-help! www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
You know what bsky.app/profile/blip...
An actual hot take: Too many authors are afraid of editors watering down their voice or whatever and not afraid enough of editors letting you put any old slop on the page.
October 9, 2025 at 2:05 PM
You know what bsky.app/profile/blip...
For the fall books issue of @newyorker.com, I reviewed Ian McEwan's excellent new novel, which features city-drowning floods, "the famous group Radiohead," and a metric ton of adultery. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Ian McEwan Casts the Climate Crisis as a Story of Adultery
His new novel, “What We Can Know,” imagines the historians of the twenty-second century, who long for the world that they’ve missed out on.
www.newyorker.com
September 24, 2025 at 9:57 PM
For the fall books issue of @newyorker.com, I reviewed Ian McEwan's excellent new novel, which features city-drowning floods, "the famous group Radiohead," and a metric ton of adultery. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...