Will Kostakis
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willkostakis.bsky.social
Will Kostakis
@willkostakis.bsky.social
420 followers 61 following 61 posts
Look at us starting all over again. WE COULD BE SOMETHING.
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Reposted by Will Kostakis
swright.au
A little something from me on disclosure and trustworthiness.
stevivor.com Stevivor @stevivor.com · 18d
A Monday night ABC Media Watch report into a failure by Press Start's Shannon Grixti to properly disclose sponsorships and sponsored content has highlighted the thin line that can exist between Australian influencers, journalists, and brands.
Paid for content: The tenuous relationship between brand and media
Companies mentioned as part of an ABC Media Watch report into a failure by Press Start's Shannon Grixti to properly disclose sponsorships and sponsored content have remained silent after requests for ...
stevivor.com
November 12, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Reposted by Will Kostakis
patricknessbooks.bsky.social
Interesting. I didn’t notice first time that it was for middle grade only. Which would have in the past left out Mal Peet (too teen) and Jon Klassen (too young), which I regard as the best “children’s books” of the past twenty five years. Still, MG does get overlooked for other kids prizes, so…
thebookseller.com The Bookseller @thebookseller.com · Oct 24
The Booker Prize Foundation has launched the Children’s Booker Prize, the charity’s first award for children’s fiction. 👇 #BookSky
The Booker Prize Foundation launches Children’s Booker Prize
ebx.sh
October 24, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Reposted by Will Kostakis
samatlounge.bsky.social
Reminder, now the world has been reduced to ‘content’ being fed into make-believe machines run by billionaires, books are gold dust when compared to all other ‘content’. If only book publishing positioned themselves as that and believed in themselves.
October 16, 2025 at 11:37 AM
willkostakis.bsky.social
Also every celebrity has a team that will weigh the pros and cons of having a fart. Pretty sure they considered this.
October 14, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Will Kostakis
patricknessbooks.bsky.social
It’s National Coming Out Day for all the letters of the rainbow. It’s a huge risk for anyone, but if you can, we need you more than ever. And there’s an army of us here to back you up, you beauty.
October 11, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Will Kostakis
rodger.bsky.social
We unlocked each new level of Internet by playing through the game. These kids are getting access to all the bosses and weapons from the start and they don’t have enough XP to handle it
February 24, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by Will Kostakis
daniellebinks.bsky.social
Financial blow but festival book supplier stands with writers in protest www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/904243...
Financial blow but festival book supplier stands with writers in protest
The independent bookstore said it was proud of their stance.
www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au
August 17, 2025 at 8:56 PM
willkostakis.bsky.social
Quite possibly the worst statement I've ever read.
jayhulmepoet.bsky.social Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · Aug 14
Polari prize update: John Boyne has now made a statement. I'm putting it below.
For 6 years, since the publication of My Brother's Name is Jessica I've been the focus of an extraordinary amount of bullying and intimidation not just at the hands of trans activists but also by a small group of toxic novelists My views on trans rights have never changed and they're quite simple: All human beings should have the same rights, but if the rights of trans women come into conflict with the rights of what you call 'cis' women, then the latter must take precedence. There's 4 billion of them, after all, and it took them 2,000 years to achieve even a semblance of equality. That's pretty much my only thoughts on the subject To the organisers and judges of the Polari Prize: thank you for standing strong in the face of extraordinary intimidation To the writers who withdrew from the prize and those who organised petitions, I say this: You may have meant well. You may have thought you were doing an honourable thing. But you forgot one crucial fact. That the novelist you're protesting, and the novel you tried to exclude, is part of a sequence about sexual abuse from a gay man who endured that very trauma at school, was denied justice because my abuser died in the months leading up to the trial, and is still coping with not getting my day in court. And how do I cope? When I published my debut novel in 2000, I would have given my left arm to find myself on a prize list. The attention it brings to a new writer - or, more importantly - a writer's work is terrific. You sell more copies, your publisher starts thinking about your next contract, and you get to continue doing the job you love. It seems absurd and wrong to me that so many debut writers are losing their opportunity for this either through misguided ideas about who I am or as I'm aware has happened in some cases because you too were bullied or intimated into withdrawing. I love fiction I love literature and I've always supported new writers through reviews and blurbs so this and this alone weighs on me. So, I propose the following. I have shelves full of awards at home and my book sales are extremely healthy. I would encourage all the debut writers on the Polari Longlist to return to the list, to look forward to the shortlist announcement and, in time, the fun and excitement of the ceremony. One of you gets to win the prize, and that's as it should be. The organisers stood firm and didn't expel me from the longlist, which I appreciated. And I am not withdrawing from the longlist. However, should the debut writers all return, I would respectfully ask the judges not to consider Earth for the shortlist. I don't think I can say any fairer than that. I came very close to the edge this week because of endless harassment at the hands of both strangers and fellow writers. I remained silent throughout but there's been a few moments where I thought it would be easier not to go on. There's really only so much abuse one person can take. However, I'm still here. Because I have too many books in me that I still want to write. And so do all of you. The Elements, the combined edition of the novellas Water, Earth, Fire, and Air, will be published on September 9th in the US and September 25th in the UK and Ireland. I hope you get a chance to read it. I'm very proud of the book. But then I'm proud of all my books and of the fact that I've spent my 33-year career helping other writers, elevating them, and finding opportunities to promote them, rather than trying to tear them down. Online bullying has has to stop. John Boyne
August 14, 2025 at 10:37 PM
willkostakis.bsky.social
They've stolen all our work for this shit. They should be ridiculed to high heaven.
edzitron.com Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · Aug 8
At first I thought GPT 5 had got this right then I saw things like "Tonnessee," "Mississipo" and my personal favourite "West Wigina." Please do not respond just saying the different typos to me we can all read the joke, we all know about "Distrricke"
August 8, 2025 at 4:21 AM
Reposted by Will Kostakis
cjmagus.bsky.social
We Could Be Something, by Will Kostakis @willkostakis.bsky.social

Hilarious one moment, heartbreaking the next. A romance/coming out story/family drama with alternating generational storytelling that's utterly unique.

#🌈📚 #Authors #books #reviews #lgbtqromance #booksky #queerbookworms
August 6, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by Will Kostakis
leena.reuben.games
do they think the only reason for a mid shot is because they couldn’t afford to build enough for a wide shot?

how do these people even cross the street safely
culturecrave.co Culture Crave 🍿 @culturecrave.co · Aug 1
'The Wizard of Oz' (1939) vs 'The Wizard of Oz at Sphere' (2025)

Over 90% of the film has been 'touched up' with AI
August 2, 2025 at 5:08 AM
willkostakis.bsky.social
My favourite kind of post is: company makes social media manager redundant, then advertises for a new one (comments off).

A massacre.
July 17, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Reposted by Will Kostakis
trishhepworth.bsky.social
“By far the most troubling thing I learnt while researching this story is the decline of school libraries in public schools, both in their number and standard of facilities.”
www.smh.com.au/national/a-t... #Reading #Libraries
‘A ticking time bomb’: How Australia’s reading slump is making us stupid
Low literacy. A drop in recreational reading. Students who can’t finish texts. A book industry of falling margins. The decline in reading poses a risk to us all.
www.smh.com.au
July 4, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Reposted by Will Kostakis
alexlondon.bsky.social
Open AI’s valuation is at $400 billion. They used about 190,000 books to train their plagiarism bot. Randomly saying 25% of their value comes from that stolen dataset, I think they owe the authors about $526,000 per stolen book.
May 27, 2025 at 10:28 AM
willkostakis.bsky.social
Bye
May 3, 2025 at 10:58 AM
willkostakis.bsky.social
The writing on Reacher has never been worse.

I love it.
April 18, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Reposted by Will Kostakis
rezekjoe.bsky.social
I’m sorry but if your students use AI to write papers and you use AI to grade them zero school is happening. You are running together on a hamster wheel
rezekjoe.bsky.social Joseph Rezek @rezekjoe.bsky.social · Apr 15
Why even have a brain, any ideas, any ability to express them, any kind of communication with other people, any desire to solve problems or invent anything, any reason to learn, any use for your eyes or your heart, or any reason to teach or create
From NYT article about the increasing use of AI in the classroom: “Writing is one of the most challenging tasks for students, which is why it is so tempting for some to ask A.I. to do it for them. In turn, A.I. can be useful for teachers who would like to assign more writing, but are limited in their time to grade it.”
April 15, 2025 at 12:15 AM
willkostakis.bsky.social
1. JK Rowling is a mess.
2. An author being gay does not make them your friend, an ally, or in John's case, a good writer.
April 6, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Reposted by Will Kostakis
beneltham.bsky.social
If the Albanese government wanted a trade policy retaliation for the Trump tariffs, I’ve got just the thing: local content requirements for American content companies. Force Netflix to carry 25% Australian content for local audiences, or pay a big levy
March 12, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Reposted by Will Kostakis
elliemarney.bsky.social
Well reviews are in and looks like I managed not to fuck up the finale of the None Shall Sleep series, phew 😂

You can read book 3 All Shall Mourn here:
linktr.ee/allshallmour...
on a purple background, a jumble of pale text - quotes from Goodreads reviews of All Shall Mourn by Ellie Marney - form the backdrop to a graphic of the book itself in 3 formats (paperback, phone, ereader)
February 22, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Reposted by Will Kostakis
alisonbaker01.bsky.social
If you want to show your opposition to banned books, please look on lists for *living authors*, particularly queer authors and authors of colour. John Steinbeck and Harper Lee don’t need your money. Living authors do.
maggietokudahall.bsky.social Maggie Tokuda-Hall @maggietokudahall.bsky.social · Feb 14
A Friday reminder that having your book banned doesn't sell books.

Only THE MOST banned books see support, and I assure you all those creators would prefer their books were NOT banned instead.

There's no silver lining. It's just the knowledge that ppl hate you!

Ok have a good weekend
February 14, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Reposted by Will Kostakis
stephboweprize.bsky.social
Unpublished Australian YA writers under 25 can now submit to The Steph Bowe Prize for Young Writers. The winner receives $1000, a 20-hour mentorship to develop their manuscript, and a professional development package worth $200!

The Prize closes 15 February 2025.

www.stephboweprize.com

#LoveOzYA
A bright purple square with black text in the centre that says ‘DID YOU KNOW? The winner of The Steph Bowe Prize for Young Writers will receive $1000, a 20-hour mentorship with an award-winning YA author, and a professional development package worth $200. www.stephboweprize.com’ A yellow and black illustration of a lightbulb is at the top and The Steph Bowe Prize for Young Writers logo is in the corner.
February 12, 2025 at 6:25 AM
Reposted by Will Kostakis
daniellebinks.bsky.social
Almost half of Australians wish they read more books. Here are 10 ways to get back into reading in a distracted age

theconversation.com/almost-half-...
Almost half of Australians wish they read more books. Here are 10 ways to get back into reading in a distracted age
New research looking at how Australians read for recreation has shaped 10 tailored tactics to help you read more based on whatever is getting in your way.
theconversation.com
February 11, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Reposted by Will Kostakis
dgar.bsky.social
Janeway and Chakotay (Star Trek: Voyager) are conversing on the bridge. Janeway: I HEARD THAT YOU HAVE TATTOOS ALL OVER YOUR SHOULDERS AND BACK Chakotay: YES, CAPTAIN. AND SOMETIMES WHEN PEOPLE ARE SAD I LET THEM COLOR THEM IN Janeway: WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? Chakotay: SOMETIMES PEOPLE JUST NEED A SHOULDER TO CRAYON
February 10, 2025 at 3:14 PM
willkostakis.bsky.social
Not to be *that guy* but we wouldn't tolerate this being drawn about a female ambassador.

I know homosexuality is good for a chuckle, but what if we worked harder for the laugh.
cathywilcox.bsky.social The Cathy Wilcox @cathywilcox.bsky.social · Feb 10
Our man in DC.
My @smh @theage cartoon.
February 11, 2025 at 3:34 AM