Rebecca Makkai
@rebeccamakkai.bsky.social
Pulitzer finalist for THE GREAT BELIEVERS; new novel, I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU, out now. Artistic Director at StoryStudio Chicago. Trying to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. You should, too.
rebeccamakkai.substack.com
https://rebeccamakkai.com
rebeccamakkai.substack.com
https://rebeccamakkai.com
I’m so excited for my two-hour online class for writers (and other artists), Five Things I’ve Learned about Writing While Parenting 🧵
myfivethings.com/class/rebecc...
myfivethings.com/class/rebecc...
December 3, 2025 at 3:42 PM
I’m so excited for my two-hour online class for writers (and other artists), Five Things I’ve Learned about Writing While Parenting 🧵
myfivethings.com/class/rebecc...
myfivethings.com/class/rebecc...
There is absolutely no legitimate reason for this. It's not, for instance, being replaced by more specific language or something. This is not a misleading article.
November 21, 2025 at 3:31 PM
There is absolutely no legitimate reason for this. It's not, for instance, being replaced by more specific language or something. This is not a misleading article.
Um, I'll do a fuller post tomorrow like I planned, but just a big bat signal that we opened up early bird registration today for @storystudiochicago.bsky.social's Pub Crawl*, and agent meetings are already half gone (!) so if you were planning to sign up, do it like ten minutes ago. Link in thread!
November 21, 2025 at 4:34 AM
Um, I'll do a fuller post tomorrow like I planned, but just a big bat signal that we opened up early bird registration today for @storystudiochicago.bsky.social's Pub Crawl*, and agent meetings are already half gone (!) so if you were planning to sign up, do it like ten minutes ago. Link in thread!
While I’d like to say it’s for an even bigger bookshelf for published student books, actually the unrestricted grant will go toward operational funding and community programming, and allow us to keep growing. A zillion cheers for our amazing staff, board, and students for making this all possible!!!
November 19, 2025 at 3:49 PM
While I’d like to say it’s for an even bigger bookshelf for published student books, actually the unrestricted grant will go toward operational funding and community programming, and allow us to keep growing. A zillion cheers for our amazing staff, board, and students for making this all possible!!!
Somehow in all the excitement over on the @storystudiochicago.bsky.social account, I didn’t manage to share this news (from a couple weeks ago) directly myself: We were awarded a $100,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation and could not be more excited 🧵
November 19, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Somehow in all the excitement over on the @storystudiochicago.bsky.social account, I didn’t manage to share this news (from a couple weeks ago) directly myself: We were awarded a $100,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation and could not be more excited 🧵
It’s gonna be SO FUN. Optional costume: Dress like a classic mystery character (femme fatale, bumbling detective, thrice-widowed heiress, tall dark stranger, jewel thief)… All to support @storystudiochicago.bsky.social & Stories Matter Foundation. Save the date before someone kidnaps it for ransom!
November 18, 2025 at 3:11 PM
It’s gonna be SO FUN. Optional costume: Dress like a classic mystery character (femme fatale, bumbling detective, thrice-widowed heiress, tall dark stranger, jewel thief)… All to support @storystudiochicago.bsky.social & Stories Matter Foundation. Save the date before someone kidnaps it for ransom!
It would be weird to play soccer using the tennis rules. So why are we writing fiction with the unnecessary limitations of film? I have some theories. And I wrote about 12 things film teaches us wrong (and 4 it teaches us right) about writing prose. Please join me!
open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...
open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...
November 17, 2025 at 7:02 PM
It would be weird to play soccer using the tennis rules. So why are we writing fiction with the unnecessary limitations of film? I have some theories. And I wrote about 12 things film teaches us wrong (and 4 it teaches us right) about writing prose. Please join me!
open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...
open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...
FIVE @storystudiochicago.bsky.social Novel in a Year classes are open for applications right now, but move quickly—those apps are due 11/14!
Here are your options🧵
Here are your options🧵
November 13, 2025 at 5:05 PM
FIVE @storystudiochicago.bsky.social Novel in a Year classes are open for applications right now, but move quickly—those apps are due 11/14!
Here are your options🧵
Here are your options🧵
Uh... Chicagoan here. A few things: 1) It's MAGNIFICENT Mile. 2) It's not a shopping center. It's a mile-long stretch downtown. 3) I have no idea how a street could "call it quits" 😂 4) Vacancies started during & because of Covid. 5) Know what's TOTALLY empty? Trump tower retail space 1 block west.
November 12, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Uh... Chicagoan here. A few things: 1) It's MAGNIFICENT Mile. 2) It's not a shopping center. It's a mile-long stretch downtown. 3) I have no idea how a street could "call it quits" 😂 4) Vacancies started during & because of Covid. 5) Know what's TOTALLY empty? Trump tower retail space 1 block west.
The CHIRBys (the @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social awards), aka, ~the~ literary event of the season, is happening on December 11 at the Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago. And you (yes, you) are invited!
November 10, 2025 at 5:04 PM
The CHIRBys (the @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social awards), aka, ~the~ literary event of the season, is happening on December 11 at the Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago. And you (yes, you) are invited!
It’s a “retelling of Biblical events set against the roiling backdrop of history’s first recorded pogrom, an examination of ideology and motherhood, and a poignant argument for love and equality in today’s world as well as its own context.”
October 23, 2025 at 7:13 PM
It’s a “retelling of Biblical events set against the roiling backdrop of history’s first recorded pogrom, an examination of ideology and motherhood, and a poignant argument for love and equality in today’s world as well as its own context.”
Sometimes you begin reading a novel and start to recognize it as the exact book you always wished someone would write. THE GOSPEL OF SALOME instantly rang all those bells for me, and I was so happy to choose it as the winner of @wildhousepubs.bsky.social's 2024 contest!
October 23, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Sometimes you begin reading a novel and start to recognize it as the exact book you always wished someone would write. THE GOSPEL OF SALOME instantly rang all those bells for me, and I was so happy to choose it as the winner of @wildhousepubs.bsky.social's 2024 contest!
I don’t know who made this but I love it
October 19, 2025 at 3:30 AM
I don’t know who made this but I love it
I was thrilled to review Eye of the Monkey (A Majom Szeme), the newly translated 2022 novel from genius Hungarian author Krisztina Tóth. It was a hard book to describe -- dystopian and experimental but fundamentally realist -- and I recommend it enthusiastically.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/b...
October 17, 2025 at 3:59 PM
I was thrilled to review Eye of the Monkey (A Majom Szeme), the newly translated 2022 novel from genius Hungarian author Krisztina Tóth. It was a hard book to describe -- dystopian and experimental but fundamentally realist -- and I recommend it enthusiastically.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/b...
Happy Zillow Day! We’ve got ghost benches, we’ve got a creepy Humphrey Bogart (?) statue, we’ve got the perfect castle for the next Duke of Texas! Please join me over on Subst*ck and we’ll momentarily divert ourselves.
open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...
open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...
October 17, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Happy Zillow Day! We’ve got ghost benches, we’ve got a creepy Humphrey Bogart (?) statue, we’ve got the perfect castle for the next Duke of Texas! Please join me over on Subst*ck and we’ll momentarily divert ourselves.
open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...
open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...
This is TONIGHT! Register for free to come in person, or watch the livestream!
www.newberry.org/calendar/wri...
www.newberry.org/calendar/wri...
October 9, 2025 at 7:20 PM
This is TONIGHT! Register for free to come in person, or watch the livestream!
www.newberry.org/calendar/wri...
www.newberry.org/calendar/wri...
Nice try, NYT, but absolutely not
October 9, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Nice try, NYT, but absolutely not
I’m doing another online seminar for 5 Things I Learned… Specifically: When people ask how I balance parenting with a writing career, two answers come to mind. 🧵
October 8, 2025 at 4:25 PM
I’m doing another online seminar for 5 Things I Learned… Specifically: When people ask how I balance parenting with a writing career, two answers come to mind. 🧵
In early August, the indomitable Chicago AIDS activist Lori Cannon passed away. She was an irreplaceable resource while I was writing The Great Believers, and inspiration, angel, and friend to thousands. 🧵
October 7, 2025 at 4:49 PM
In early August, the indomitable Chicago AIDS activist Lori Cannon passed away. She was an irreplaceable resource while I was writing The Great Believers, and inspiration, angel, and friend to thousands. 🧵
Chicago! I'm in conversation tonight w/ Peter Mountford at 7 pm and you will enjoy the hell out of it. One of the highest compliments I can give a writer is that they aren't boring. He is never boring. He's pictured below. I'd like to convince you he's the bear, but he's really the one on the left.
September 30, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Chicago! I'm in conversation tonight w/ Peter Mountford at 7 pm and you will enjoy the hell out of it. One of the highest compliments I can give a writer is that they aren't boring. He is never boring. He's pictured below. I'd like to convince you he's the bear, but he's really the one on the left.
A thing that will be happening soon on a computer near you.
myfivethings.com/class/rebecc...
myfivethings.com/class/rebecc...
September 23, 2025 at 9:49 PM
A thing that will be happening soon on a computer near you.
myfivethings.com/class/rebecc...
myfivethings.com/class/rebecc...
Wow, so which of these quotes do you find the Godliest? Or are you more into the racism stuff?
September 22, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Wow, so which of these quotes do you find the Godliest? Or are you more into the racism stuff?
