Sam Sacks
@ssacks.bsky.social
Fiction critic at the Wall Street Journal (https://www.wsj.com/news/author/sam-sacks); editor at Open Letters Review, formerly Open Letters Monthly (https://openlettersreview.com/) sam_sacks [at] hotmail
Utterly delightful piece by Dan Barry about catching up with a sharply dressed William Kennedy, now a spry 97 years old, at a fundraising event in Albany! He remembers his mother's excitement when FDR won the presidential election in '36. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/a...
William Kennedy, Albany’s Bard, Reads a Story With Legs
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Utterly delightful piece by Dan Barry about catching up with a sharply dressed William Kennedy, now a spry 97 years old, at a fundraising event in Albany! He remembers his mother's excitement when FDR won the presidential election in '36. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/a...
Reposted by Sam Sacks
And a tiny piece of good news, my friend, the writer Boualem Sansal, whose novels, essays and speeches I have had the privilege to translate, has been pardoned by the Algerian government. He is now in Germany being treated for cancer.
French relief as Algeria frees novelist Boualem Sansal
Almost a year to the day after Boualem Sansal was arrested, the Algerian president grants him a pardon.
www.bbc.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:36 PM
And a tiny piece of good news, my friend, the writer Boualem Sansal, whose novels, essays and speeches I have had the privilege to translate, has been pardoned by the Algerian government. He is now in Germany being treated for cancer.
Reposted by Sam Sacks
I’ve written monthly for the Star Trib since 2020, when then editor @lhertzel.bsky.social took a chance on me. The Strib has now stopped assigning freelance reviews so this piece on Joy Williams’ PELICAN CHILD is my final review for them. Here’s to the next gig, which hopefully exists.
www.startribune.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:26 PM
I’ve written monthly for the Star Trib since 2020, when then editor @lhertzel.bsky.social took a chance on me. The Strib has now stopped assigning freelance reviews so this piece on Joy Williams’ PELICAN CHILD is my final review for them. Here’s to the next gig, which hopefully exists.
If I were rich and powerful I would have never gotten into this kind of mess, because I'm too lazy to reply to anyone's emails
November 13, 2025 at 4:52 AM
If I were rich and powerful I would have never gotten into this kind of mess, because I'm too lazy to reply to anyone's emails
Reposted by Sam Sacks
While we are both delighted and relieved to see Boualem Sansal pardoned and able to reunite with his family, he should never have been deprived of his freedom in the first place. Algeria must do better in protecting writers’ freedom of expression. www.france24.com/en/live-news...
Algeria pardons French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal
Algeria’s president on Wednesday granted a humanitarian pardon to French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal following a German request for his release. The 81-year-old writer, whose year-long imprisonme...
www.france24.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:17 AM
While we are both delighted and relieved to see Boualem Sansal pardoned and able to reunite with his family, he should never have been deprived of his freedom in the first place. Algeria must do better in protecting writers’ freedom of expression. www.france24.com/en/live-news...
Reposted by Sam Sacks
One evening, I returned to Central Park to observe our Barred Owl. It was quite active and, at one point, flew out of the Loch and across the roadway. It returned almost immediately with a Robin, which it promptly devoured! 😲😲😲 #Owls #CentralPark #birding
November 12, 2025 at 2:23 PM
One evening, I returned to Central Park to observe our Barred Owl. It was quite active and, at one point, flew out of the Loch and across the roadway. It returned almost immediately with a Robin, which it promptly devoured! 😲😲😲 #Owls #CentralPark #birding
Reposted by Sam Sacks
My latest Substack post is on the art of falling in love with a short story. open.substack.com/pub/rionamil...
Falling For a Story
For the love of short fiction...
open.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:22 PM
My latest Substack post is on the art of falling in love with a short story. open.substack.com/pub/rionamil...
Reposted by Sam Sacks
At 17, Jose Barco was the youngest in his unit in Iraq. After a 2004 car bomb near Fallujah, he saved two fellow soldiers, suffering severe burns and earning a Purple Heart. Now he faces deportation.
Read more here: www.csmonitor.com/World/Americ...
Read more here: www.csmonitor.com/World/Americ...
Should a war hero be deported? The complex dilemma around one convicted vet.
When noncitizen veterans make bad choices after their time in the military, they serve prison sentences and then face deportation. Is that fair?
www.csmonitor.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:18 AM
At 17, Jose Barco was the youngest in his unit in Iraq. After a 2004 car bomb near Fallujah, he saved two fellow soldiers, suffering severe burns and earning a Purple Heart. Now he faces deportation.
Read more here: www.csmonitor.com/World/Americ...
Read more here: www.csmonitor.com/World/Americ...
Reposted by Sam Sacks
His children lose their father's care.
Our economy loses his skill.
Our treasury loses his tax payments.
This family separation makes America poorer & less joyful.
President Reagan's amnesty program would have let him become a citizen after paperwork & paying $185 ($550 w/inflation).
Our economy loses his skill.
Our treasury loses his tax payments.
This family separation makes America poorer & less joyful.
President Reagan's amnesty program would have let him become a citizen after paperwork & paying $185 ($550 w/inflation).
It has been enormously difficult to see our members at American Families United go through forced family separation. Here's the story of Jenni and her husband. "Mexican father, reflecting a trend, leaves family of 19 years and self-deports due to threat of arrest."
abcnews.go.com/US/mexican-f...
abcnews.go.com/US/mexican-f...
Mexican father, reflecting a trend, leaves family of 19 years and self-deports due to threat of arrest
Fidel Rivera, a husband and father who has been in the U.S. for 30 years, is one of thousands of undocumented migrants who have self-deported due to the threat of arrest.
abcnews.go.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:36 AM
His children lose their father's care.
Our economy loses his skill.
Our treasury loses his tax payments.
This family separation makes America poorer & less joyful.
President Reagan's amnesty program would have let him become a citizen after paperwork & paying $185 ($550 w/inflation).
Our economy loses his skill.
Our treasury loses his tax payments.
This family separation makes America poorer & less joyful.
President Reagan's amnesty program would have let him become a citizen after paperwork & paying $185 ($550 w/inflation).
Congrats to David Szalay. An obligatory gift-linked post to my WSJ review of 'Flesh': "We witness István proceed through the world like a half-feral animal, helpless to his instincts, terrible and strangely pitiable." www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
November 10, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Congrats to David Szalay. An obligatory gift-linked post to my WSJ review of 'Flesh': "We witness István proceed through the world like a half-feral animal, helpless to his instincts, terrible and strangely pitiable." www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
A terrific interview with Salman Rushdie about his history with Granta. Bill Buford published the first chapter of 'Midnight's Children' in the magazine before the book was out and without Rushdie even knowing. granta.com/reclaiming-t...
Reclaiming the Territory
‘It was awful to get sued by the prime minister of India.’ Granta interviews Salman Rushdie about his dealings with the magazine, the course of Indian fiction, and his brushes with Indian politics.
granta.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:58 PM
A terrific interview with Salman Rushdie about his history with Granta. Bill Buford published the first chapter of 'Midnight's Children' in the magazine before the book was out and without Rushdie even knowing. granta.com/reclaiming-t...
Reposted by Sam Sacks
☝️Includes Jules Renard trying a banana for the first time, Ivan Turgenev not being able to get it up, Oswald Mosley “stretching the cock over three generations” and Samuel Pepys shitting in a chimney (twice). Yes I am a man of simple appetites.
November 9, 2025 at 9:53 AM
☝️Includes Jules Renard trying a banana for the first time, Ivan Turgenev not being able to get it up, Oswald Mosley “stretching the cock over three generations” and Samuel Pepys shitting in a chimney (twice). Yes I am a man of simple appetites.
Reposted by Sam Sacks
Manchester City play a game of football today. Most of us will be watching. Which makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is why so few care about City’s owner playing an active role in a genocide so gruesome it can be seen from space. By @barneyronay.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Silence over Sudan: why do Manchester City’s owners get away with so much?
Two midweek matches in England had a backdrop of war and geopolitics, but only one drew large protests
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Manchester City play a game of football today. Most of us will be watching. Which makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is why so few care about City’s owner playing an active role in a genocide so gruesome it can be seen from space. By @barneyronay.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Now happening in Central Park
November 8, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Now happening in Central Park
My review for this weekend's WSJ is on Gerald Howard's fascinating biography of Malcolm Cowley, the 'literary bureaucrat' who helped to establish so much the American canon (gift link) www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
‘The Insider’ Review: Champion of the Lost Generation
As an editor and book critic, Malcolm Cowley backed innovative American writers. His greatest achievement may have been his rescue of William Faulkner’s literary reputation.
www.wsj.com
November 8, 2025 at 6:37 PM
My review for this weekend's WSJ is on Gerald Howard's fascinating biography of Malcolm Cowley, the 'literary bureaucrat' who helped to establish so much the American canon (gift link) www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
if you see this, post an album cover with a motor vehicle on it
November 8, 2025 at 6:32 PM
if you see this, post an album cover with a motor vehicle on it
Reposted by Sam Sacks
What a day for a walk to Andy Goldsworthy’s extraordinary Hanging Stones on the North York Moors #AndyGoldsworthy
October 28, 2025 at 7:46 PM
What a day for a walk to Andy Goldsworthy’s extraordinary Hanging Stones on the North York Moors #AndyGoldsworthy
"I was seeing men styling, wallowing, and self-pitying, but I wasn’t seeing them reading or writing or thinking." Steve Donoghue on the vacuous, anti-intellectual world that men's magazines present to the young men who read them. open.substack.com/pub/stevedon...
Go Read, Young Man
Why Esquire needs a Books editor
stevedonoghue.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:33 PM
"I was seeing men styling, wallowing, and self-pitying, but I wasn’t seeing them reading or writing or thinking." Steve Donoghue on the vacuous, anti-intellectual world that men's magazines present to the young men who read them. open.substack.com/pub/stevedon...
Reposted by Sam Sacks
Really honored to receive this for my translation of Michele's beautiful and thrilling book, and very grateful to ALTA and to the judges for what they had to say. Thanks to everyone who's read this one so far – this slug's trail is a long one! 💚🐛
We're excited to announce the winner of the 2025 Italian Prose in Translation Award (IPTA): VERDIGRIS by Michele Mari, translated from Italian by Brian Robert Moore @brianrobmoore.bsky.social, pub. And Other Stories @andotherstories.bsky.social!
literarytranslators.org/winner-of-20...
literarytranslators.org/winner-of-20...
November 7, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Really honored to receive this for my translation of Michele's beautiful and thrilling book, and very grateful to ALTA and to the judges for what they had to say. Thanks to everyone who's read this one so far – this slug's trail is a long one! 💚🐛
It's been a James Schuyler day. The Manhattan sublime, from his Payne Whitney poems.
November 7, 2025 at 2:50 AM
It's been a James Schuyler day. The Manhattan sublime, from his Payne Whitney poems.
In a starred review, Publishers Weekly calls Daniyal Mueenuddin's 'This is Where the Serpent Lives' a "masterpiece." And it's true, this will be one of the finest novels published in years. Out in January, put it on your radar! www.publishersweekly.com/9780525655152
November 6, 2025 at 2:57 PM
In a starred review, Publishers Weekly calls Daniyal Mueenuddin's 'This is Where the Serpent Lives' a "masterpiece." And it's true, this will be one of the finest novels published in years. Out in January, put it on your radar! www.publishersweekly.com/9780525655152
Reposted by Sam Sacks
A bouquet of congratulations to C.D. Rose, a very deserving winner of the @goldsmithsprize.bsky.social for his brilliant, funny, inventive, cynical, enthralling, disorienting novel We Live Here Now. 👇
Missing ships, missing artworks, missing persons… I loved CD Rose’s new novel We Live Here Now, which has echoes of M John Harrison, JG Ballard, Tom McCarthy and … Martin Amis, but is also thoroughly and delightfully its own thing.
Me in today’s Telegraph:
Me in today’s Telegraph:
November 5, 2025 at 9:10 PM
A bouquet of congratulations to C.D. Rose, a very deserving winner of the @goldsmithsprize.bsky.social for his brilliant, funny, inventive, cynical, enthralling, disorienting novel We Live Here Now. 👇
Reposted by Sam Sacks
Federal agents pulling a woman out of Rayito Del Sol, a daycare by Lane Tech high school
November 5, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Federal agents pulling a woman out of Rayito Del Sol, a daycare by Lane Tech high school
Reposted by Sam Sacks
Here's an invitation to take a trip through the new Nov/Dec edition of On The Seawall ... beginning with our feature on poems from STUDY OF SORROWS: TRANSLATIONS by
Shangyang Fang @coppercanyonpress.bsky.social
/ ronslate.com
Shangyang Fang @coppercanyonpress.bsky.social
/ ronslate.com
November 4, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Here's an invitation to take a trip through the new Nov/Dec edition of On The Seawall ... beginning with our feature on poems from STUDY OF SORROWS: TRANSLATIONS by
Shangyang Fang @coppercanyonpress.bsky.social
/ ronslate.com
Shangyang Fang @coppercanyonpress.bsky.social
/ ronslate.com
Reposted by Sam Sacks
French author Laurent Mauvignier wins the 2025 Prix Goncourt for 'La Maison vide' - www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/a...
Laurent Mauvignier wins 2025 Prix Goncourt for 'La Maison vide'
The writer won France's most prestigious literary prize for his monumental novel, a reinvention of his family's history across four generations, set in a rural French house.
www.lemonde.fr
November 4, 2025 at 12:39 PM
French author Laurent Mauvignier wins the 2025 Prix Goncourt for 'La Maison vide' - www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/a...