Michael Taeckens
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mtaeckens.bsky.social
Michael Taeckens
@mtaeckens.bsky.social
2.8K followers 970 following 350 posts
Co-founder, Broadside PR
—michael at broadsidepr dot com
Lit Agent, Massie McQuilkin & Altman
—michael at mmqalit dot com
https://michaeltaeckenspr.com/about-me/
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mtaeckens.bsky.social
My 2nd deal as an agent. I've been reading Pulitzer Prize winner Forrest Gander's work since my late teens and am over the moon about working with him.
Publishers Lunch announcement of 2-book Forrest Gander deal. Publisher's Lunch Deal of the Day--announcement of 2 books by Forrest Gander
November 11, 2025 at 3:44 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
September 13, 2025 at 11:07 AM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
Congrats Nicholas Boggs, whose BALDWIN (FSG) is a $50,000 Kirkus Book Prize finalist and an instant national bestseller: #7 on the L.A. Times bestseller list and #8 on the Washington Post bestseller list! 🎉🎉🎉
August 27, 2025 at 3:11 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
“Boggs’s book [BALDWIN], at more than six hundred pages, makes a hugely important contribution.”—Louis Menand, @newyorker.com

www.newyorker.com/best-books-2...
August 16, 2025 at 1:16 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
A new book from @elizmccrack.bsky.social is cause for celebration! 🎉 Get an up-close look at her brilliant, delightfully idiosyncratic, & uber-funny notes on writing fiction in A LONG GAME, coming Dec. 2 from @eccobooks.bsky.social. Pre-order: www.harpercollins.com/products/a-l...
A horizontal stack of 5 A Long Game galleys—the covers are light blue with a labyrinth-like design in red crayon around the title, subtitle, and author name, all in black type.
June 2, 2025 at 12:44 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
Ty @chrisvognar.bsky.social
& @katekilla.bsky.social @bostonglobe.com for including BALDWIN (8/19, FSG) in your summer reading feature!
The left shows a 3D image of the BALDWIN book, the cover of which bears a striking black-and-white photo of James Baldwin in profile—to the right of the cover is the text promoting the book.
May 30, 2025 at 4:02 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
Recent book haul from Chaucer’s Books 😍
Three paperback books on a white fabric background—PROGNOSIS, I WHO HAVE NEVER KNOWN MEN, and LOVED AND MISSED
March 24, 2025 at 4:00 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
ARCs of BALDWIN: A LOVE STORY have landed! 😍

Coming 8/19—at the tail end of the Baldwin centennial—from @fsgbooks.bsky.social.

Book media, hit Steve Weil & me up for review copies:
* michael at broadsidepr dot com
* stephen dot weil at fsgbooks dot com
Front of ARC which shows the book cover (a striking b&w photo of Baldwin in close-up profile) and the spine (BALDWIN in bold black type) The back of the ARC showing the descriptive copy and boilerplate info
March 7, 2025 at 5:41 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
Everything is horrible but on a positive note I’ve befriended the crows in my neighborhood. They visit me each day for peanuts and apple slices. 🖤
March 6, 2025 at 2:39 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
New (old) desk, circa 1979 ✨✨
Wooden desk with leather-top writing area—above the writing area is a shelving system with three smallish horizontal drawers stacked vertically on the far sides, and in between a variety of slots for storing/filing papers, etc.
February 11, 2025 at 5:59 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
Devoured this in one sitting last night. A masterpiece.
@appletwigli.bsky.social @fsgbooks.bsky.social
The galley of Yiyun Li’s forthcoming book, THINGS IN NATURE MERELY GROW. Army-green cover, white title type, black author type.
February 7, 2025 at 1:48 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
The often-memed 2-panel cartoon strip of a dog in a hat sitting in a cafe chair, coffee mug on table, while surrounded by high flames and a thick cloud of smoke above.
January 25, 2025 at 3:34 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
Some news. Thanks to @shelf-awareness.com for sharing this. ❤️
Headshot of me (wearing brown glasses, a plaid sports coat in mauve and light blue, white shirt, and a navy blue tie) to the right of the announcement
January 21, 2025 at 1:53 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
In ‘90 @joriegraham.bsky.social introduced our class to Anne Carson’s work. I later went to the library & photocopied every poem she had published in lit journals. I then wrote her a fan letter (& included my own poems lol—I was only 19!). To my astonishment, she responded w/this gracious letter. ❤️
A handwritten letter from Anne Carson on yellowed McGill University letterhead.
January 3, 2025 at 4:18 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
Syd is dubious about the new year.
A black Lab in profile on a bed—his expression is slightly doubtful
January 2, 2025 at 3:51 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
The Guardian’s 2025 lit preview, incl. Booker Prize finalist Madeleine Thien’s *spectacular* new novel, THE BOOK OF RECORDS (May 20, @wwnorton.bsky.social). @theguardian.com

Book critics: hmu for ARCs!
The Guardian’s illustration headlining the lit preview—a photo montage of, from L to R, Zadie Smith, Lionel Richie, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichis, Han Kang, Bill Gates, and the pope against a pastel pink background with botanical illustrations of 3 flowers and stems/leaves as well as two open books with pages of various bright colors. The cover of Thien’s novel: a black background with pale yellow type—title at top and author name at bottom, and in between a painting of abstracted, choppy blue ocean waves and a bright white full moon rising from the waves.
December 31, 2024 at 7:25 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
Get ready for this spectacular, groundbreaking biography of Baldwin, written by Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grantee Nicholas Boggs. Coming from @fsgbooks.bsky.social 8/19/25! @whitingfoundation.bsky.social
Left hand holding a light blue bound manuscript of the Baldwin biography; blurry, pink floral arrangement in the background
December 27, 2024 at 6:06 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
BALDWIN: A LOVE STORY by Nicholas Boggs. Spectacular!
Left hand holding a light blue bound manuscript of the book mentioned, blurry floral arrangement in the background
December 27, 2024 at 4:49 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
Merry Chrismukkah. May everyone be happy, healthy, peaceful, and safe. ❤️
A gray cat curled into a ball on a bright green blanket in a gray cat bed.
December 25, 2024 at 8:38 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
The gift of a cashmere hoodie. Never wearing anything else ever again. (Ty @katelloyd.bsky.social & Sonya! 😍)
Selfie wearing a charcoal gray cashmere hoodie with a zipper down the front
December 21, 2024 at 2:48 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
This good boy had to have 3 teeth pulled yesterday and (despite the pain meds) has been whimpering all morning 😭
A black Lab in bed sleeping on top of a white pillow and white sheets
December 17, 2024 at 1:46 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
Marlon James’ Get Millie Black is pretty damn fantastic. Airing on Max: www.hbo.com/get-millie-b...
TV screen showing the show title + the main character, a beautiful, middle-aged Black woman
December 2, 2024 at 2:18 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
Post-election coping method #947
Holding a box of Trader Joe’s addictive Candy Cane Joe-Joe’s cookies
November 19, 2024 at 5:46 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
Writers, a good reminder that critics—and the public!—sometimes get it royally wrong. Your work may just be decades ahead of its time.

(Photos from a screening of Vertigo at my local indie movie theater this past Sunday. Heaven.)
Full-color image of an alarmed Jimmy Stewart (a film still from Vertigo) on the left, text on the right against a black background. On the left is a b&w profile image of Hitchcock facing right, on the right the text, both against a black background.
November 19, 2024 at 2:20 PM
mtaeckens.bsky.social
Any day I receive an ARC of a book by @paullisicky.bsky.social is a joyous day. This gorgeous work drops 2/25, but you can pre-order it from your local indie or bookshop.org: bookshop.org/p/books/song....
Holding a physical advance review copy of Paul Lisicky’s SONG SO WILD AND BLUE in the foreground. The cover shows an illustration of Joni Mitchell in upper left—she’s in profile, facing left, blonde hair, wearing a black hat and a coral shirt. To the right of her is the book title and author name in light blue capital letters and there are 4 sheets of paper blowing upwards in the wind. The bottom 1/3rd is a horizontal illustration of a concert with audience members in the foreground and a stage further back, against a background of an ocean and low mountains; in the right-hand foreground is a piece of paper bearing the handwritten subtitle, A LIFE WITH THE MUSIC OF JONI MITCHELL.
November 18, 2024 at 1:42 PM