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Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · 4d

You can add my fury, and my phone calls to my elected representatives, to theirs. Using American cities a military "training grounds"? Including the one where I was born and where my heart remains? This is authoritarianism, pure and simple. History is watching.

www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...

Trump Administration Live Updates: Oregon Officials Vent Fury as California National Guard Head to Portland

www.nytimes.com

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Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · 14d

Our new issue of At Length is available! We're particularly excited to have our first translation piece edited by @affisher.bsky.social out in the world!

At Length @atlengthmag.bsky.social · 14d

Dear Readers: At Length's September issue is ready! We're got a story, “Nosegay on a Marble Plinth,” from Elizabeth Bull; an excerpt from Sophia Andrukhovych’s Ukrainian novel, Hart, translated by Ali Kinsella; and “The Must Be the Place,” Eli Karren’s comic long poem.

Read 'em all: atlengthmag.com

literature that looks good on a laptop

atlengthmag.com

Reposted by Derek Mong

Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 21d

The last political column I was allowed to write in the @washingtonpost.com was a criticism of Obama.

His people took issue with my piece, but we were respectful.

Now he is tweeting in support of me.

This is how free political speech and respect for debate *actually works*.

Or used to work.

Tweet From Obama mentioning my firing from the Washington post. Wirh a photo of me

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Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · Sep 4

"Shut the fuck up, Donny." -Walter Sobchak & Everyone in the United States Still Interested in Preserving Democracy

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Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · Aug 16

Трамп, иди на хуй!

Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · Aug 15

D.C. dude hits a guy in battle gear with a sandwich, gets charged with a felony, and will likely go to prison, but 1,000+ folks, some in actual battle gear, break into the Capitol, and try to overturn an election--they get pardoned?

I cannot be any clearer about this: fuck this administration.

Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · Aug 12

Fellow Hoosier Writers! @shana-r.bsky.social is forming an Indiana Chapter of Writers for Democratic Action. If you'd like to attend our call out meeting on Thursday, September 4th (6 PM), please contact her or me. The meeting with be over Zoom. Thank you!

www.writersfordemocraticaction.org

Writers for Democratic Action

www.writersfordemocraticaction.org

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Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · Aug 10

As someone developing a similarly placed streak of gray hair, I'd like to remind us all that it was Susan Sontag's first, and that Tulsi Gabbard can fuck right off back to the Kremlin she shills for.

slate.com/life/2025/08...

It’s the Hair Color of Feminist Icons, Titans of Culture, and Me. One MAGA Figure Has Ruined It.

I hate her politics. I love her hair.

slate.com

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Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · Aug 9

"Sometimes institutions are deprived of vitality and function, turned into a simulacrum of what they once were, so that they gird the new order rather than resisting it."

@timothysnyder.bsky.social, from ON TYRANNY - a book I read and taught in 2017, hoping it would lose relevance by 2025. Sigh.

Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · Aug 3

Democracy Update in America: this President is a firing non-partisan labor statistician for telling the truth, has eliminated the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and continues his attacks on scientific research and higher education.

This is what authoritarianism looks like.

Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · Aug 2

It's me and Norman Rockwell, ya'll: my @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social essay on the American Road Trip was just re-published in the @satevepost.bsky.social.

Thanks @erynbrown.bsky.social!

www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2025/07/savi...

Saving the Great American Road Trip | The Saturday Evening Post

It took Fourth of July fireworks and a stop on Route 66 to remind me of the promise of this place and its people.

www.saturdayeveningpost.com

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Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · Jul 29

We're back from Portland, but here are some behind-the-scenes pics from @affisher.bsky.social's interview with Emmy-winning TV host, Helen Raptis of AM NW fame!

Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · Jul 28

Farewell, Thomas Sayers Ellis, whose The Maverick Room is one of the best poetry books from the 2000s. My copy, which Ellis signed in various colors of marker--on the cover no less--is well-loved and oft-taught and all the more cherished now that he's gone.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/b...

Thomas Sayers Ellis, Poet of ‘Percussive Prosody,’ Dies at 61

www.nytimes.com

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Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · Jul 24

@affisher.bsky.social makes her television debut, which I got to watch from within the studio. She made the camera guy chuckle! See the full segment below from KATU in Portland.

katu.com/amnw/am-nort...

"Pioneer Summer" Translator Anne O. Fisher Shares Story Behind Gay Romance Novel

Kateryna Sylvanova and Elena Malisova’s star-crossed gay romance is a #1 bestselling TikTok sensation that took readers by storm, made international news, and c

katu.com

Reposted by Derek Mong

Natalie Solmer @nataliesolmer.bsky.social · Jul 24

If you missed our interview with Derek Mong in our Spring Issue, be sure to check it out! Here he discusses the long poem...read the interview in full theindianapolisreview.com/featured-poe... @derekmong.bsky.social

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Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · Jul 22

@affisher.bsky.social makes her television debut talking about Pioneer Summer. And she bloody killed it! Watch below.

katu.com/amnw/am-nort...

"Pioneer Summer" Translator Anne O. Fisher Shares Story Behind Gay Romance Novel

Kateryna Sylvanova and Elena Malisova’s star-crossed gay romance is a #1 bestselling TikTok sensation that took readers by storm, made international news, and c

katu.com

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Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · Jul 21

Portlanders! Annie reads from Pioneer Summer & chats with @lizzyacker.bsky.social tomorrow night at 7 PM. @powells.bsky.social on Hawthorne. Pack the house!

Or watch "AM Northwest" tomorrow at 9 AM when she'll also be on live TV. Because, you know, she's famous now.

www.powells.com/events/anne-...

Anne O. Fisher in Conversation With Lizzy Acker Event

The Legendary Independent Bookstore

www.powells.com

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Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · Jul 3

Friends! Here's the longer (by about 100 words), slightly better, and paywall-free version of my essay on the American road trip. With thanks to @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social, @erynbrown.bsky.social, & Sarah Rothbard!

I love that you can see the motel in question right here.

Zócalo Public Square @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social · Jul 3

Poet @derekmong.bsky.social had lost his faith in the American road trip. He found it anew in a small town in Texas, on the Fourth of July. zps.la/45NaF9V

Saving the Great American Road Trip | Essay

It Took Fourth of July Fireworks and a Stop on Route 66 to Remind Me of the Promise of This Place and Its People

zps.la

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Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · Jul 3

If you're reflecting on this beautiful & flawed & enormous nation right now--and the road trips that hope to capture it all--check out my latest essay in today's @latimes.com.

Thanks to @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social, @erynbrown.bsky.social, & Sarah Rothbard!

www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

Contributor: The road trip — sublime, profane and (almost) reclaimed

Driving the country's highways is one way to define the American psyche and a big, beautiful, flawed nation.

www.latimes.com

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Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · Jul 2

Mike Braun is really giving Todd Rokita a run for his money in the Wabash-Alumnus-in-Politics-Who-Forgot-to-Live-Humanely Award.

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Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · Jun 21

Nothing to see here except my wife @affisher.bsky.social's new translation, Pioneer Summer, in a feature-length article in @washingtonpost.com. Thanks @sophianguyen.bsky.social for this thoughtful piece!

www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/0...

Two friends wrote a gay romance — and had to flee Russia

“Pioneer Summer,” by Elena Malisova and Kateryna Sylvanova, which sparked a backlash amid a government crackdown, is now available in English

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Derek Mong

Annie Fisher @affisher.bsky.social · Jun 19

Hey Chicago! Come see me read from #pioneersummer tomorrow night at City Lit Books, in conversation with the rad and talented Ali Kinsella!

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Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · Jun 12

We're marching on Saturday in the #NoKingsProtest. In solidarity with Los Angeles. In support of democratic ideals. And against the rising tide of fascism in the United States.

Join us at Margerum Fountain at 10 AM in West Lafayette. Thanks to Greater Lafayette Indivisible for organizing.

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Derek Mong @derekmong.bsky.social · Jun 11

Creating fake emergencies to stoke fear & show power. Sending Marines into a city against a governor's wishes. To quell said "emergency." To display existing power. Lying on television about talking with said governor. Holding a b-day party with tanks.

If this isn't fascist behavior, what is?

Reposted by Derek Mong

At Length @atlengthmag.bsky.social · Jun 10

Check out "from 'Thend,'" by Ben Doller on At Length!

In these self-aware, snappy sonnets from Doller's long poem, "Thend," Doller discovers his doppelganger, considers his mortality, and learns that “it’s hard to say when one’s saying goodbye.”

atlengthmag.com/from-thend/

The back of a frame. Featured image for "from 'Thend'" by Ben Doller, published by At Length.

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