Vauhini Vara
@vauhinivara.bsky.social
author of SEARCHES, THIS IS SALVAGED, & THE IMMORTAL KING RAO. pulitzer finalist. contributing writer at businessweek. mentor at the lighthouse writers workshop's book project. Contact me: DM, Signal (@vauhinivara.82), or my website (vauhinivara.com).
My son was trick or treating in Boulder, CO, on Halloween, and at one house got this offer: candy or a mystery coin. He chose the coin. (1/x)
November 15, 2025 at 3:17 AM
My son was trick or treating in Boulder, CO, on Halloween, and at one house got this offer: candy or a mystery coin. He chose the coin. (1/x)
penguin random house authors, meet the new ceo of prh's parent company! 🤪
November 13, 2025 at 4:45 PM
penguin random house authors, meet the new ceo of prh's parent company! 🤪
OMG i made the @nymag.com copy editing newsletter AGAIN AND HE CALLED ME A *REGULAR* 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩 i'm famous
November 13, 2025 at 3:42 AM
OMG i made the @nymag.com copy editing newsletter AGAIN AND HE CALLED ME A *REGULAR* 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩 i'm famous
SEARCHES has been shortlisted for the Atta Galatta-Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize! 🔥 Congratulations to the other shortlisted authors: Jeyamohan, Srikar Raghavan, Sam Dalrymple, Ameer Shahul, and Manu Joseph.
November 10, 2025 at 4:47 PM
SEARCHES has been shortlisted for the Atta Galatta-Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize! 🔥 Congratulations to the other shortlisted authors: Jeyamohan, Srikar Raghavan, Sam Dalrymple, Ameer Shahul, and Manu Joseph.
omg i made the @nymag.com copy editing newsletter from copy chief carl rosen!!!!!! (in addition to being a spelling bee kid i am a lifelong grammar stan 😎)
November 6, 2025 at 4:00 AM
omg i made the @nymag.com copy editing newsletter from copy chief carl rosen!!!!!! (in addition to being a spelling bee kid i am a lifelong grammar stan 😎)
This whole recent @cdt.org report on the risks of AI in schools is worth a read, but this is the bit that surprised me most (maybe partly because I've reported on AI in schools but not on ICE in schools). cdt.org/insights/han...
November 4, 2025 at 5:03 PM
This whole recent @cdt.org report on the risks of AI in schools is worth a read, but this is the bit that surprised me most (maybe partly because I've reported on AI in schools but not on ICE in schools). cdt.org/insights/han...
In 2017, Sam Altman thought AI could create new jobs for humans. Then again, he also thought it would be possible that human labor would go the way of ... horse labor. (4/x)
October 29, 2025 at 5:45 PM
In 2017, Sam Altman thought AI could create new jobs for humans. Then again, he also thought it would be possible that human labor would go the way of ... horse labor. (4/x)
In 2017, Sam Altman told me he believed in Medicare for all, free college, and higher taxes for the wealthy, including himself. (3/x)
October 29, 2025 at 5:45 PM
In 2017, Sam Altman told me he believed in Medicare for all, free college, and higher taxes for the wealthy, including himself. (3/x)
Back in 2016, Sam Altman implicitly compared Donald Trump to Hitler. (2/x)
October 29, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Back in 2016, Sam Altman implicitly compared Donald Trump to Hitler. (2/x)
In January, Sam Altman gave Donald Trump credit for OpenAI's success: "We wouldn't be able to do this without you, Mr. President." I keep thinking of this profile I wrote in 2017, when Trump was first elected. Here are some excerpts and a link. (1/x) story.californiasunday.com/silicon-vall...
October 29, 2025 at 5:45 PM
In January, Sam Altman gave Donald Trump credit for OpenAI's success: "We wouldn't be able to do this without you, Mr. President." I keep thinking of this profile I wrote in 2017, when Trump was first elected. Here are some excerpts and a link. (1/x) story.californiasunday.com/silicon-vall...
Arundhati Roy on John Berger —
October 26, 2025 at 4:06 AM
Arundhati Roy on John Berger —
oh my god i was reading people's recs for great magazine profiles and clicked on this new yorker profile of marlon brando by truman capote and have never read anything worse than this lede PLEASE SEND ME GENUINELY GREAT PROFILES TO CLEANSE MY SOUL OF THIS ☠️
October 24, 2025 at 5:50 PM
oh my god i was reading people's recs for great magazine profiles and clicked on this new yorker profile of marlon brando by truman capote and have never read anything worse than this lede PLEASE SEND ME GENUINELY GREAT PROFILES TO CLEANSE MY SOUL OF THIS ☠️
nbd just me & SEARCHES on the @publisherswkly.bsky.social's cover for the best books of 2025: "Vara’s most inventive work yet is a soulful, perceptive take on humanity’s relationship with technology." (also: @annanorth.bsky.social's new BOG QUEEN!) ✨ best-books.publishersweekly.com/pw/best-book...
October 24, 2025 at 4:08 PM
nbd just me & SEARCHES on the @publisherswkly.bsky.social's cover for the best books of 2025: "Vara’s most inventive work yet is a soulful, perceptive take on humanity’s relationship with technology." (also: @annanorth.bsky.social's new BOG QUEEN!) ✨ best-books.publishersweekly.com/pw/best-book...
pov guilted by ai for not responding to the first ai email
October 19, 2025 at 10:41 PM
pov guilted by ai for not responding to the first ai email
ahhh the latest from @annanorth.bsky.social (via @bloomsburybooksus.bsky.social) — and her most extraordinary yet — just came in the mail! If you want to hear a bog talk (yes, I said ”a bog talk”), I offer this preview. For more: Read BOG QUEEEN 👑
October 2, 2025 at 10:30 PM
ahhh the latest from @annanorth.bsky.social (via @bloomsburybooksus.bsky.social) — and her most extraordinary yet — just came in the mail! If you want to hear a bog talk (yes, I said ”a bog talk”), I offer this preview. For more: Read BOG QUEEEN 👑
I'm running a daylong retreat — How to Write a Novel — with Hedgebrook on December 6th! There are only 20 spots, and registration just opened, so snap up your spot! ✨ hedgebrook.wildapricot.org/event-6352549
October 2, 2025 at 6:36 PM
I'm running a daylong retreat — How to Write a Novel — with Hedgebrook on December 6th! There are only 20 spots, and registration just opened, so snap up your spot! ✨ hedgebrook.wildapricot.org/event-6352549
You can hear me read from Searches and talk to Stephanie Young at this free online event hosted by @northeasternu.bsky.social (Mills College) at noon PT on 11/4! 🔥 www.eventbrite.com/e/writing-cr...
October 1, 2025 at 2:05 AM
You can hear me read from Searches and talk to Stephanie Young at this free online event hosted by @northeasternu.bsky.social (Mills College) at noon PT on 11/4! 🔥 www.eventbrite.com/e/writing-cr...
I've met plenty of public figures and been left unfazed. Even secretly disdained all those fazed fanchildren. Then I met George Saunders—whose work transformed me 25 years ago—at Lighthouse in Denver (and he, as generous as is said!), and now I'm one of you. Such maniacal grinning. I'm unashamed. ✨
September 24, 2025 at 3:43 PM
I've met plenty of public figures and been left unfazed. Even secretly disdained all those fazed fanchildren. Then I met George Saunders—whose work transformed me 25 years ago—at Lighthouse in Denver (and he, as generous as is said!), and now I'm one of you. Such maniacal grinning. I'm unashamed. ✨
Atlanta friends, I'll be giving a talk at Emory with the AIAI Network — about what AI means for writing and reading — on October 16th at 4 pm. Come one, come all! www.eventbrite.com/e/vauhini-va...
September 23, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Atlanta friends, I'll be giving a talk at Emory with the AIAI Network — about what AI means for writing and reading — on October 16th at 4 pm. Come one, come all! www.eventbrite.com/e/vauhini-va...
If you live in LA, Miami, Chicago, DC or Boston, you know what you should do? You should go hear John J. Lennon talk about his extraordinary new book The Tragedy of True Crime. (Stay tuned for events in New York, too.)
September 9, 2025 at 10:08 PM
If you live in LA, Miami, Chicago, DC or Boston, you know what you should do? You should go hear John J. Lennon talk about his extraordinary new book The Tragedy of True Crime. (Stay tuned for events in New York, too.)
It's one possible future but not the only one, as @charleswlogan.bsky.social and others point out! Thanks for reading.
September 5, 2025 at 9:40 PM
It's one possible future but not the only one, as @charleswlogan.bsky.social and others point out! Thanks for reading.
I wrote an article for Businessweek this week about how the tech industry is pushing AI into schools. It includes a section about Alpha, which reveals, among other things, that it's actually been operating as a subsidiary of a major tech company. Its press blitz is part of a bigger plan.
September 5, 2025 at 8:00 PM
I wrote an article for Businessweek this week about how the tech industry is pushing AI into schools. It includes a section about Alpha, which reveals, among other things, that it's actually been operating as a subsidiary of a major tech company. Its press blitz is part of a bigger plan.
That should be a gift link, but the tl;dr is that it turns out Alpha has actually been operating as a subsidiary as a major tech company called Trilogy — using Trilogy products. It's part of a bigger strategy.
September 5, 2025 at 7:58 PM
That should be a gift link, but the tl;dr is that it turns out Alpha has actually been operating as a subsidiary as a major tech company called Trilogy — using Trilogy products. It's part of a bigger strategy.
Alpha's principal — the Trilogy founder Joe Liemandt — sees a lot of business potential in education. And the school's model could be coming to your town soon. (7/x)
September 2, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Alpha's principal — the Trilogy founder Joe Liemandt — sees a lot of business potential in education. And the school's model could be coming to your town soon. (7/x)