Benjamin Woodard
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woodardwriter.bsky.social
Benjamin Woodard
@woodardwriter.bsky.social
890 followers 610 following 430 posts
Writer | Book critic | Writing Center coordinator | Adjunct | Represented by my cat, who is a horrible agent | he/him http://benjaminjwoodard.com
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woodardwriter.bsky.social
My hometown public library has this incredible gargoyle downspout, and I think its existence helps explain the kind of reader and writer I turned into.
A red brick library is with an ornate gargoyle face. The gargoyle's open mouth reveals a copper downspout that descends to the ground.
November 19, 2025 at 4:44 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
I snagged a huge stack of postcards at a garage sale this summer. Almost all from 30+ years ago. Tons of fun memories that I've been sending out.
November 14, 2025 at 5:06 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
Mixed within a stack of sympathy cards was a birthday card from my mother-in-law that I initially thought was an odd choice for a sympathy card. It gave me a laugh.
An illustration of a lobster being lifted out of a fish tank. He says to the other lobsters, "Did you hear that, guys? I get to go to a party in the hot tub!"
November 6, 2025 at 12:55 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
In brighter news, the "trinkets and treasures" Little Free Library my wife set up is a big hit with the neighborhood littles.
A blue cabinet with a glass door sits atop a wooden post in a suburban front yard. Inside are shelves of little knick knacks.
October 21, 2025 at 2:23 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
A man dressed as Freddy Krueger holding a sign that says this administration is a real nightmare.
October 18, 2025 at 5:43 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
New micro is in the latest issue of @south85journal.bsky.social! Lots of great writers in this issue.

This piece came from a @kathyfish.bsky.social prompt many years ago. Always grateful for her wisdom.

www.south85journal.com/to-the-empty...
Cover of the Fall/Winter 2025 issue of South 85. A seashore under cloudy skies.
October 14, 2025 at 4:59 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
Is this me in today's Clues by Sam? I am going to say yes. cluesbysam.com
Emoji of a man, with blond hair and glasses, standing in front of a blackboard. He is labeled "Ben, teacher"
September 27, 2025 at 11:43 AM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
Connecticut friends: Join me in celebrating @jasondiamond.bsky.social's new novel, Kaplan's Plot, this Tuesday at RJ Julia in Madison.

More info: rjjulia.com/event/jason-...
Promo for RJ Julia event. Jason Diamond in conversation with Ben Woodard. Tuesday, September 16 at 6:30pm.
September 12, 2025 at 3:27 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
on The Hairdresser’s Son by Gerbrand Bakker, translated from the Dutch by David Colmer Dutch author Gerbrand Bakker’s novel, The Hairdresser’s Son, first published in 2022 and now superbly translated for anglophone audiences by David Colmer, uses a real-life air disaster as an impetus to meditate on the kinds of solitude and loneliness felt all too often — yet rarely discussed — by generations of men. Bakker centers his novel on Simon, a 40-something hairdresser living in present day Amsterdam, as well as Simon’s father, Cornelis, who deserted his family in 1977 to abscond with another man and was presumed dead in a plane crash months before Simon’s birth. Simon now runs Chez Jean, a small salon handed down to him by his grandfather, Jan; against that elder’s wishes, he leaves the salon door’s sign turned to fermé most days. He opts to work with clients on an individual, pre-scheduled basis, rarely speaking and interjecting with a simple “hm” or “gosh” as he snips away. Outside of conversing with Jan during his monthly appointments, the single client Simon halfheartedly chats up is an unnamed male writer, who asks to observe Simon at work for his latest novel. Simon agrees, but otherwise, he lives an introverted life in the apartment above the salon, surrounded by framed posters of famous swimmers he once tried to emulate.
September 12, 2025 at 2:38 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
Now in my mid-40s, I have hit the age where nostalgic traps seem impossible to avoid. Movies from my childhood are remade at an astonishing clip, as are cartoons and television programs. Online, I swap memes of silly 80s and 90s toys with cousins, friends, and my spouse; I trawl the internet, hunting for half-remembered songs or old novel covers, and frankly, I am embarrassed by the hours I have lost on Wikipedia, reading through the various lineups of bands that my 18-year-old students have never heard of. Most of this activity is designed to fool myself into thinking I can recapture elements of my vanished youth, of course, but I also value the storytelling aspect of nostalgia. When I visit my ailing father, I listen closely as he recalls his past, and as the number of aged loved ones in my life dwindles with each passing year, I have learned the vitality of slowing down to appreciate such reminiscence. Absence, the splendid debut novel by British writer Issa Quincy, revels in this same kind of unhurried listening, and as its protagonist bounces from country to country, from the near present to the past (and back again), it embraces the echoes and distress that accompany wistful conversations.
September 12, 2025 at 12:40 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
Two new book reviews at On the Seawall! The first is on Issa Quincy's Absence (@twodollarradio.bsky.social), while the second digs into Gerbrand Bakker's The Hairdresser's Son (
@archipelagobooks.bsky.social). Both novels are well worth your time. www.ronslate.com/on-absence-a...
Cover to the novel The Hairdresser's Son, which features an illustration of a white and red bird. Cover to the novel Absence, which features a grid of black and white photographs on an orange background.
September 10, 2025 at 6:46 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
Due to the all caps, I can only read the text on Jen's Lemon Drops in the voice of Gordon Cole.
Text on bag reads: NOW YOU CAN ENJOY THAT OLD FASHIONED NATURAL LEMON CANDY FLAVOR IN A DELICIOUS HARD CANDY. TRY SOME TODAY. David Lynch as the character Gordon Cole in Twin Peaks.
August 18, 2025 at 9:51 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
Watching The Limey for about the 50th time. Terence Stamp is so good in this one. R.I.P. (Also, Soderbergh uses some excellent Nicholas Roeg editing techniques to cut it all together.)
Still from The Limey. Terence Stamp walks toward the camera, along with the caption, "You tell him! You tell him I'm coming."
August 18, 2025 at 1:17 AM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
Pleased as punch to have a new story in the latest issue of @funfunfunicular.bsky.social! Big thanks to everyone involved. The issue looks terrific.
Cover of Funicular magazine. Artwork depicts a female astronaut in an orange space suit blowing a pink bubble gum bubble. Opening lines to my story, "A Soft Seduction"
July 14, 2025 at 5:30 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
Damn right I plunked down $3 to buy a giant stack of 80s and 90s promo postcards. Will start mailing these puppies out soon!
Stack of 50+ postcards. Visible are cards with the comic strip character Cathy, David Letterman, and the cast of St. Elsewhere.
July 13, 2025 at 1:44 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
Today's T for the 4th:
Book Moon bookstore T-shirt: "Read Books, Punch Nazis"
July 4, 2025 at 6:08 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
It's over 100 degrees, the world is in shambles, but it's FB Marketplace that consistently provides me with new nightmares:
Painting of Bill Cosby eating an ice cream cone being sold on FB for $1000.
June 24, 2025 at 7:16 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
Ugh, this makes my brain hurt.
Sign that reads Fyzical.
June 21, 2025 at 5:38 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
Friday night when you're over 40.
Empty stage awash in blue light. Projected on the curtains are the words "Sarah Millican, Late Bloomer"
June 20, 2025 at 11:38 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
From last October:
Me (middle-aged nerd, glasses, green baseball cap, yellow vest) standing in front of the Welcome to Camp Crystal Lake sign at Camp NoBeBoSco.
June 13, 2025 at 4:05 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
Happy Friday the 13th to those who celebrate.
White camping mug with red text that reads "Camp Crystal Lake, Est. 1935"
June 13, 2025 at 12:19 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
In brighter news, the dogwood's in bloom.
Cream petals in bloom on a tall dogwood tree.
April 29, 2025 at 8:07 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
Please enjoy this free writing prompt, courtesy of my local FB Marketplace:
Two stacks of CDs on a desktop. The group is being sold as "43 CDs I'm not taking to Seattle". The price is $5.
April 26, 2025 at 1:10 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
The opening of my latest story, which can be found in the new issue of @stanchion.bsky.social.

The kernel of this piece came from one of @mcarphil.bsky.social's writing prompts. Always grateful for her ideas

Buy the issue. Lots of good stuff inside.
Opening paragraph of a story titled "When Darkness Steps out of the Darkness" Black and white cover of the journal Stanchion.
April 21, 2025 at 4:21 PM
woodardwriter.bsky.social
A good sign:
Sign that looks like a book and which reads "even the librarians are shouting"
April 19, 2025 at 4:26 PM