Aimee Pokwatka
@aimeepokwatka.bsky.social
Author of the novels SELF-PORTRAIT WITH NOTHING (2022), THE PARLIAMENT (2024), and ACCUMULATION (forthcoming 2026) (she/her)
www.aimeepokwatka.com
You can preorder signed copies of ACCUMULATION here: https://www.bedfordbooks.shop/accumulation
www.aimeepokwatka.com
You can preorder signed copies of ACCUMULATION here: https://www.bedfordbooks.shop/accumulation
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Aimee Pokwatka
@aimeepokwatka.bsky.social
· Aug 16
Some *news*: I wrote a haunted house book about suicidal ideation, the horrors of modern motherhood and the mental load, and the creepy doll we found in our yard, and I’m OVER THE DANG MOON to be working on it with Daphne Durham at Putnam.
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
I'm in the final stages of getting the 2026 new horror list ready to launch, so a reminder: please let me know about your books if you haven't already! RTs very appreciated
do you have a horror/horror-ish book coming out in 2026? tell me about it here, please! I'm working on the 2026 horror list and while I'm very good at sniffing out new books, I still miss things - help me help you!
forms.gle/KxLNwVDVbbRS...
forms.gle/KxLNwVDVbbRS...
2025-2026 Horror Master List Book Submissions
Because I'm out of my mind, I maintain a running list of the year's new horror releases. If you're an author/editor/marketer/publicist/agent who'd like one of your books included, please fill out the ...
forms.gle
November 24, 2025 at 4:27 PM
I'm in the final stages of getting the 2026 new horror list ready to launch, so a reminder: please let me know about your books if you haven't already! RTs very appreciated
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
Thing that rattles around in my head:
Fifteen or so years go I attended a book event for two ghost hunters. One of them just casually said, "As we all know, ghosts can't move anything heavier than a five-pound bag of flour."
I think about this ALL. THE. TIME.
Fifteen or so years go I attended a book event for two ghost hunters. One of them just casually said, "As we all know, ghosts can't move anything heavier than a five-pound bag of flour."
I think about this ALL. THE. TIME.
November 16, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Thing that rattles around in my head:
Fifteen or so years go I attended a book event for two ghost hunters. One of them just casually said, "As we all know, ghosts can't move anything heavier than a five-pound bag of flour."
I think about this ALL. THE. TIME.
Fifteen or so years go I attended a book event for two ghost hunters. One of them just casually said, "As we all know, ghosts can't move anything heavier than a five-pound bag of flour."
I think about this ALL. THE. TIME.
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
I call it “joyful rigor” when I explain this effort to my students. I don’t believe in or rather, I’m not a “suffering poet.” I’m a writer who enjoys writing. The work works on me and I’m grateful for the opportunity to delve into the process at my own pace and to be changed by it.
That’s the other thing that baffles me about AI and creative writing, actually.
The work IS the joy for me. I don’t want to be able to snap my fingers and have a completed “product.” I want to be transformed by the process. I’m an author but I do this because I enjoy the rigor of being a writer.
The work IS the joy for me. I don’t want to be able to snap my fingers and have a completed “product.” I want to be transformed by the process. I’m an author but I do this because I enjoy the rigor of being a writer.
In terms of process, I enjoy writing but revising????? Oh, that’s my real kink. A second or third draft???? A fourth???? Making tweaks on my desktop AND my phone???? *moans* I’m a WHORE for revision.
October 20, 2025 at 3:09 PM
I call it “joyful rigor” when I explain this effort to my students. I don’t believe in or rather, I’m not a “suffering poet.” I’m a writer who enjoys writing. The work works on me and I’m grateful for the opportunity to delve into the process at my own pace and to be changed by it.
As if I needed another reason to love librarians: yesterday my 8th grader, who's on a Stephen King kick, came home to report that the librarian at his middle school went to the high school library specifically to procure a copy of Pet Sematary for him.
October 16, 2025 at 2:57 PM
As if I needed another reason to love librarians: yesterday my 8th grader, who's on a Stephen King kick, came home to report that the librarian at his middle school went to the high school library specifically to procure a copy of Pet Sematary for him.
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
Be the Booksmith you want to see in the world. sfstandard.com/2025/06/26/s...
September 10, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Be the Booksmith you want to see in the world. sfstandard.com/2025/06/26/s...
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
For a while I naively thought children dying was just something the right wing was willing to accept. But it’s become unavoidably clear that it’s an active goal.
Teens calling Idaho's suicide hotline are being told they can't proceed with the conversation without parental consent. Many of the callers are then hanging up.
Idaho approved a strict parental consent law last year.
idahocapitalsun.com/2025/08/29/i...
Idaho approved a strict parental consent law last year.
idahocapitalsun.com/2025/08/29/i...
September 2, 2025 at 5:51 PM
For a while I naively thought children dying was just something the right wing was willing to accept. But it’s become unavoidably clear that it’s an active goal.
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
if you want a place to channel your energy that isn’t raw panic?
you live somewhere with a schoolboard.
find all of its members’ emails. it isn’t hard.
find out their plans to deal with this. demand they ignore it. almost no one ever does even this much & you can legit make a difference.
you live somewhere with a schoolboard.
find all of its members’ emails. it isn’t hard.
find out their plans to deal with this. demand they ignore it. almost no one ever does even this much & you can legit make a difference.
States must ax transgender references from sex ed or risk losing funds, Trump admin says
The mandate comes just days after the Trump administration terminated funding for a sex education program in California.
www.nbcnews.com
August 28, 2025 at 8:51 PM
if you want a place to channel your energy that isn’t raw panic?
you live somewhere with a schoolboard.
find all of its members’ emails. it isn’t hard.
find out their plans to deal with this. demand they ignore it. almost no one ever does even this much & you can legit make a difference.
you live somewhere with a schoolboard.
find all of its members’ emails. it isn’t hard.
find out their plans to deal with this. demand they ignore it. almost no one ever does even this much & you can legit make a difference.
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
hi this is my favorite writing advice, it's from former simpsons writer john swartzwelder (i think about the crappy little elf all the time) www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
August 16, 2025 at 8:43 PM
hi this is my favorite writing advice, it's from former simpsons writer john swartzwelder (i think about the crappy little elf all the time) www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
This video from Fairmount Bagels in Montreal from their Instagram is the most impressive thing I've ever seen
August 15, 2025 at 7:00 PM
This video from Fairmount Bagels in Montreal from their Instagram is the most impressive thing I've ever seen
OBSESSED.
If you're a fan of surrealist film, weirdo animation, or feminist art, do yourself a favor and watch the films of Suzan Pitt on @criterionchannl.bsky.social. They're gloriously outlandish, filled with stunning visuals and evocative moments. Really great stuff!
August 6, 2025 at 1:20 AM
OBSESSED.
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
My wife is in Vogue shitting on your AI-generated "art" 💜 www.vogue.com/article/matt...
![Well, everything. The death of art. [Laughs.] A thing that I’ve been struck by in the last year of tech development around art is that what makes us human is making art, even if you’re not a professional artist. This is kind of corny, but I think about cavemen, right? One of the first things we ever did as a species was put our handprints on a wall, and it’s just this drive that has always been there. It’ll always be there. And I think it’s preposterous that these people are suggesting that they develop this technology, and the first thing they want to eliminate is art, so you have more time to…what, email? I don’t know what they think I’m going to do with my fucking day. Most of the population is not artists, but a lot of the population has artistic hobbies, and if you replace that with a computer doing it for you or whatever, it’s just pointless. I think there’s a death drive in these people, almost, and an actual hatred of artists; they are jealous of people with imagination because they don’t have one, and they almost consciously want to eliminate it.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:obalt57atoxc2zooldtuur75/bafkreifnjtvupzmkqg7cggiv2z5nckzpp5yd2sm7h5gg2kq3plbwv2btuy@jpeg)
July 31, 2025 at 1:03 PM
My wife is in Vogue shitting on your AI-generated "art" 💜 www.vogue.com/article/matt...
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
Happy birthday Kate Bush 🎂
📷 Guido Harari, London, 1993
"One secret of Bush’s artistry is that she has never feared the ludicrous - she tries things that other musicians would be too careful or cool to go near."
- Margaret Talbot
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pllR...
📷 Guido Harari, London, 1993
"One secret of Bush’s artistry is that she has never feared the ludicrous - she tries things that other musicians would be too careful or cool to go near."
- Margaret Talbot
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pllR...
July 30, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Happy birthday Kate Bush 🎂
📷 Guido Harari, London, 1993
"One secret of Bush’s artistry is that she has never feared the ludicrous - she tries things that other musicians would be too careful or cool to go near."
- Margaret Talbot
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pllR...
📷 Guido Harari, London, 1993
"One secret of Bush’s artistry is that she has never feared the ludicrous - she tries things that other musicians would be too careful or cool to go near."
- Margaret Talbot
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pllR...
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
Alex de Waal has worked on humanitarian causes across the globe for over 40 years.
“There is no case, over those four decades, of such minutely engineered, closely monitored, precisely designed mass starvation of a population as is happening in Gaza today.”
“There is no case, over those four decades, of such minutely engineered, closely monitored, precisely designed mass starvation of a population as is happening in Gaza today.”
July 21, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Alex de Waal has worked on humanitarian causes across the globe for over 40 years.
“There is no case, over those four decades, of such minutely engineered, closely monitored, precisely designed mass starvation of a population as is happening in Gaza today.”
“There is no case, over those four decades, of such minutely engineered, closely monitored, precisely designed mass starvation of a population as is happening in Gaza today.”
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
One would hope the obvious fact that a crazy racist billionaire can reprogram an AI bot to also be crazy racist in the blink of an eye will make anyone pause just a sec before they open up any other AI tool and treat it as gospel.
July 9, 2025 at 2:52 PM
One would hope the obvious fact that a crazy racist billionaire can reprogram an AI bot to also be crazy racist in the blink of an eye will make anyone pause just a sec before they open up any other AI tool and treat it as gospel.
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
For Barbara Morgan's birthday, her most famous photograph: "Kick" 🎂
Martha Graham portrays Emily Dickinson in her ballet "Letter to the World", 1940
Martha Graham portrays Emily Dickinson in her ballet "Letter to the World", 1940
July 8, 2025 at 3:10 PM
For Barbara Morgan's birthday, her most famous photograph: "Kick" 🎂
Martha Graham portrays Emily Dickinson in her ballet "Letter to the World", 1940
Martha Graham portrays Emily Dickinson in her ballet "Letter to the World", 1940
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
Casts of Apollo astronaut hands for spacesuit glove construction (1968).
May 19, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Casts of Apollo astronaut hands for spacesuit glove construction (1968).
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
Fuck this, absolutely fuck this, everyone who loves audiobooks loves their favourite narrators because they are great at their jobs and interpreting the author's words and they make the experience what it is www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...
Audible unveils plans to use AI voices to narrate audiobooks
Amazon brand will offer more than 100 artificial intelligence-generated voices in English and other languages
www.theguardian.com
May 15, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Fuck this, absolutely fuck this, everyone who loves audiobooks loves their favourite narrators because they are great at their jobs and interpreting the author's words and they make the experience what it is www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
Mike D: Prospect Park down to Park Slope, it’s time to listen to
All 3 Beastie Boys:
All 3 Beastie Boys:
May 8, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Mike D: Prospect Park down to Park Slope, it’s time to listen to
All 3 Beastie Boys:
All 3 Beastie Boys:
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
Happy Independent Bookstore Day! Read Maris's piece, then go show your local indie bookstore some love. They're so much more than places to get books--they are places to engage with ideas and others in your community. Staffed by actual humans to help you find the books you didn't know you needed!
I needed to write about something that’s giving me hope, so I wrote about Independent Bookstore Day which is this Saturday. lithub.com/something-go...
Something Good in the World: Let’s Celebrate Independent Bookstore Day This Weekend
I was going to write something else for today’s column, something complain-y but righteous that would allow me to get some stuff off my chest and maybe even get some rage clicks. Shit is bad. But I…
lithub.com
April 26, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Happy Independent Bookstore Day! Read Maris's piece, then go show your local indie bookstore some love. They're so much more than places to get books--they are places to engage with ideas and others in your community. Staffed by actual humans to help you find the books you didn't know you needed!
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
Man, this is a pretty fucking gross move from Amazon, huh? Good on @bookshop.org for not mincing words, though:
April 25, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Man, this is a pretty fucking gross move from Amazon, huh? Good on @bookshop.org for not mincing words, though:
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
I love this epigraph from Maggie Nelson that opens SHRAPNEL by @lance-olsen.bsky.social.
April 25, 2025 at 9:34 PM
I love this epigraph from Maggie Nelson that opens SHRAPNEL by @lance-olsen.bsky.social.
My sister is a Jet Blue pilot. As kids, we both got really fucking good at Super Mario Bros 3. We've gotten every white mushroom house & treasure ship. We've beat it more times than we can count.
She just found out she's about to fly the MARIO PLANE. www.travelandleisure.com/jetblue-supe...
She just found out she's about to fly the MARIO PLANE. www.travelandleisure.com/jetblue-supe...
April 19, 2025 at 11:35 PM
My sister is a Jet Blue pilot. As kids, we both got really fucking good at Super Mario Bros 3. We've gotten every white mushroom house & treasure ship. We've beat it more times than we can count.
She just found out she's about to fly the MARIO PLANE. www.travelandleisure.com/jetblue-supe...
She just found out she's about to fly the MARIO PLANE. www.travelandleisure.com/jetblue-supe...
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
Normally a “separate the art from the artist” guy but when your art features protagonists obsessed with virtue and your entire vibe is oriented around luxuriating in systemic cruelty, kind of hard to believe in the art.
You all need to treat Harry Potter IP like we’re treating the Tesla brand.
April 18, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Normally a “separate the art from the artist” guy but when your art features protagonists obsessed with virtue and your entire vibe is oriented around luxuriating in systemic cruelty, kind of hard to believe in the art.
Reposted by Aimee Pokwatka
👇🎯 We are having trouble using proper terminology because it requires us to fully accept exactly what has happened to our country & wrestle with the fact that every single one of our elected representatives in Congress is violating their oaths of office by not immediately impeaching & removing him.
Kidnapping.
Capturing a person against their will without due process is called kidnapping.
Transporting them to another country without due process is called human trafficking.
A squalid extrajudicial prison for people found guilty of no crime is called a concentration camp.
Capturing a person against their will without due process is called kidnapping.
Transporting them to another country without due process is called human trafficking.
A squalid extrajudicial prison for people found guilty of no crime is called a concentration camp.
stop calling things deportation just because they call it deportation.
-You cannot legally deport people without due process.
-You cannot legally deport citizens.
-They are defining down deportation to break the law.
-You cannot legally deport people without due process.
-You cannot legally deport citizens.
-They are defining down deportation to break the law.
April 9, 2025 at 3:42 AM
👇🎯 We are having trouble using proper terminology because it requires us to fully accept exactly what has happened to our country & wrestle with the fact that every single one of our elected representatives in Congress is violating their oaths of office by not immediately impeaching & removing him.