james folta
@jamesfolta.com
// staff writer @literaryhub.bsky.social //
// managing editor @pointsincase.com //
// hangin' tuff @nyc //
// jamesfolta.com //
// managing editor @pointsincase.com //
// hangin' tuff @nyc //
// jamesfolta.com //
Pinned
james folta
@jamesfolta.com
· Nov 10
WARNING: My posts are protected with my blade!
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Love learning about a new Scandinavian relaxation concept that just boils down to “a sweater and a robust social safety net”
November 25, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Love learning about a new Scandinavian relaxation concept that just boils down to “a sweater and a robust social safety net”
Every year I think, "This @mcsweeneys.net piece won't be relevant next year," and every year I'm wrong
This Thanksgiving We’re Pivoting to Video
Before we pop this turkey in the oven, I just want to say that Thanksgiving will be a little different this year. Don’t worry; it will still be mos...
www.mcsweeneys.net
November 25, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Every year I think, "This @mcsweeneys.net piece won't be relevant next year," and every year I'm wrong
Me listening to my hardcore records in the kitchen while my wife looks on confused
November 25, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Me listening to my hardcore records in the kitchen while my wife looks on confused
We have a winner, folks
After six rounds of voting, you’ve finally chosen Literary Twitter’s greatest icon! Congratulations to Joyce Carol Oates.
What Was Literary Twitter? *The Champion*
I wish I could say it was close, dear reader, but with 72.6% of the vote, Joyce Carol Oates won our bracket by a wide margin. We sensed that this was coming watching the returns—JCO was putting up …
buff.ly
November 25, 2025 at 3:35 PM
We have a winner, folks
Reposted by james folta
In last week's newsletter, @jamesfolta.com and I assembled great writing by Jack Handey in @newyorker.com, Madeline Cash in @grantamag.bsky.social, Tommy Smith in @pointsincase.com, and @wendymolyneux.bsky.social in @mcsweeneys.net.
Plus, info about our next Hangout!
Check it out & subscribe 👇
Plus, info about our next Hangout!
Check it out & subscribe 👇
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
by Luke Burns & James Folta A weekly newsletter dedicated to humorous writing and humorous writers. We round up the best short humor pieces and funny articles every week, and have some fun extras ever...
buttondown.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:36 PM
In last week's newsletter, @jamesfolta.com and I assembled great writing by Jack Handey in @newyorker.com, Madeline Cash in @grantamag.bsky.social, Tommy Smith in @pointsincase.com, and @wendymolyneux.bsky.social in @mcsweeneys.net.
Plus, info about our next Hangout!
Check it out & subscribe 👇
Plus, info about our next Hangout!
Check it out & subscribe 👇
Our @literaryhub.bsky.social What Was Literary Twitter? bracket has reached the final round! It's down to Joyce Carol Oates vs. cat person, the insider vs. the outsider
What Was Literary Twitter? The Bracket *Championship Round*
We’ve reached the finals, after a week of nostalgia and a weekend of quarterfinal voting. The final two are a fitting last pairing, though we were sad to see Should writers read? and @GuyInYourMFA …
lithub.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Our @literaryhub.bsky.social What Was Literary Twitter? bracket has reached the final round! It's down to Joyce Carol Oates vs. cat person, the insider vs. the outsider
Sometimes you have to double check thet the joke tracks by explaining it in the tags, that’s the sign of a good joke sometimes
Catch up on what happened this week with these Venn diagrams.
This week’s news in Venn diagrams.
With our “What was Literary Twitter?” bracket (don’t forget to vote!) and the National Book Awards happening all in the same week, I’ve been very sleepy lately. Please send …
buff.ly
November 23, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Sometimes you have to double check thet the joke tracks by explaining it in the tags, that’s the sign of a good joke sometimes
Reposted by james folta
Our greatest tool for fighting AI might actually be poetry.
Can “adversarial poetry” save us from AI?
Turns out, the Terminator movies would have been more realistic if Sarah Conner had a poetry MFA. In a new paper titled “Adversarial Poetry as a Universal Single-Turn Jailbreak Mechanism in Large L…
buff.ly
November 22, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Our greatest tool for fighting AI might actually be poetry.
Reposted by james folta
Extremely fun chat with Drew and Oliver about our Literary Twitter bracket!
Pretty pleased with my Canva work this week. Also pretty pleased with the episode, which features some shit-shootin' with @jamesfolta.com and @trshboyoli.bsky.social about Twitter and one of the best conversations I've had all year, with Peter Coviello about the NYT:
lithub.com/giving-up-on...
lithub.com/giving-up-on...
Giving Up on The New York Times and Remembering Literary Twitter on The Lit Hub Podcast
A weekly behind-the-scenes dive into everything interesting, dynamic, strange, and wonderful happening in literary culture—featuring Lit Hub staff, columnists, and special guests! Hosted by Drew Br…
lithub.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Extremely fun chat with Drew and Oliver about our Literary Twitter bracket!
Reposted by james folta
Hard to know how this is going to shake out! The remaining four are all killer no filler
I also spoke to @danaschwartz.bsky.social, a.k.a. GuyInYourMFA, about making the quarterfinals and about Literary Twitter fame!
Get in there and vote!
I also spoke to @danaschwartz.bsky.social, a.k.a. GuyInYourMFA, about making the quarterfinals and about Literary Twitter fame!
Get in there and vote!
Only two match-ups remain before we move on to the final round! Vote in our What Was Literary Twitter? bracket to determine the greatest moment of the literary internet.
What Was Literary Twitter? The Bracket *Day 5*
Day five and only four remain! Pour out a cold plum for yesterday’s runner-ups, including “This Is Just To Say,” bad art friend, and the transparency and advocacy campaign #PublishingPaidMe The fou…
buff.ly
November 21, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Hard to know how this is going to shake out! The remaining four are all killer no filler
I also spoke to @danaschwartz.bsky.social, a.k.a. GuyInYourMFA, about making the quarterfinals and about Literary Twitter fame!
Get in there and vote!
I also spoke to @danaschwartz.bsky.social, a.k.a. GuyInYourMFA, about making the quarterfinals and about Literary Twitter fame!
Get in there and vote!
Reposted by james folta
For the @literaryhub.bsky.social Literary Twitter bracket week, I wrote about Patricia Lockwood’s Paris Review tweet and why it’s always on my mind
Our favorite Literary Twitter moments: James Folta on the Paris Review Tweet.
Pulling together the 64 original Literary Twitter moments and incidents to create our winter game, What Was Literary Twitter? The Bracket, required the vast institutional memory of the entire Lit H…
lithub.com
November 21, 2025 at 6:06 PM
For the @literaryhub.bsky.social Literary Twitter bracket week, I wrote about Patricia Lockwood’s Paris Review tweet and why it’s always on my mind
Taking my men’s one a day multivitamin at the bar to look cool
November 23, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Taking my men’s one a day multivitamin at the bar to look cool
Ranking all my friends on the Murray’s Cheese alignment chart
November 22, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Ranking all my friends on the Murray’s Cheese alignment chart
This is starting today!
Fall of Freedom events, part of “a nationwide wave of creative resistance,” begin in November.
Fall of Freedom, “a nationwide wave of creative resistance,” starts next month.
Artists around the country are organizing events, making zines, and planning performances for next month’s Fall of Freedom, a “wave of creative resistance” in defiance of authoritarianism. And you&…
buff.ly
November 22, 2025 at 3:02 AM
This is starting today!
Reposted by james folta
Everything in this bracket needs to be part of a formal archive. Literary Twitter as The Algonquin Hotel.
Hard to know how this is going to shake out! The remaining four are all killer no filler
I also spoke to @danaschwartz.bsky.social, a.k.a. GuyInYourMFA, about making the quarterfinals and about Literary Twitter fame!
Get in there and vote!
I also spoke to @danaschwartz.bsky.social, a.k.a. GuyInYourMFA, about making the quarterfinals and about Literary Twitter fame!
Get in there and vote!
Only two match-ups remain before we move on to the final round! Vote in our What Was Literary Twitter? bracket to determine the greatest moment of the literary internet.
November 21, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Everything in this bracket needs to be part of a formal archive. Literary Twitter as The Algonquin Hotel.
For the @literaryhub.bsky.social Literary Twitter bracket week, I wrote about Patricia Lockwood’s Paris Review tweet and why it’s always on my mind
Our favorite Literary Twitter moments: James Folta on the Paris Review Tweet.
Pulling together the 64 original Literary Twitter moments and incidents to create our winter game, What Was Literary Twitter? The Bracket, required the vast institutional memory of the entire Lit H…
lithub.com
November 21, 2025 at 6:06 PM
For the @literaryhub.bsky.social Literary Twitter bracket week, I wrote about Patricia Lockwood’s Paris Review tweet and why it’s always on my mind
Reposted by james folta
Joyce Carol Oates did best Bad Art Friend!
I kinda thought that scrappy little kidney might bring her down. Shows what I know.
Don't forget to make your picks today, #WritingCommunity!
lithub.com/what-was-lit...
I kinda thought that scrappy little kidney might bring her down. Shows what I know.
Don't forget to make your picks today, #WritingCommunity!
lithub.com/what-was-lit...
November 21, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Joyce Carol Oates did best Bad Art Friend!
I kinda thought that scrappy little kidney might bring her down. Shows what I know.
Don't forget to make your picks today, #WritingCommunity!
lithub.com/what-was-lit...
I kinda thought that scrappy little kidney might bring her down. Shows what I know.
Don't forget to make your picks today, #WritingCommunity!
lithub.com/what-was-lit...
Hard to know how this is going to shake out! The remaining four are all killer no filler
I also spoke to @danaschwartz.bsky.social, a.k.a. GuyInYourMFA, about making the quarterfinals and about Literary Twitter fame!
Get in there and vote!
I also spoke to @danaschwartz.bsky.social, a.k.a. GuyInYourMFA, about making the quarterfinals and about Literary Twitter fame!
Get in there and vote!
Only two match-ups remain before we move on to the final round! Vote in our What Was Literary Twitter? bracket to determine the greatest moment of the literary internet.
What Was Literary Twitter? The Bracket *Day 5*
Day five and only four remain! Pour out a cold plum for yesterday’s runner-ups, including “This Is Just To Say,” bad art friend, and the transparency and advocacy campaign #PublishingPaidMe The fou…
buff.ly
November 21, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Hard to know how this is going to shake out! The remaining four are all killer no filler
I also spoke to @danaschwartz.bsky.social, a.k.a. GuyInYourMFA, about making the quarterfinals and about Literary Twitter fame!
Get in there and vote!
I also spoke to @danaschwartz.bsky.social, a.k.a. GuyInYourMFA, about making the quarterfinals and about Literary Twitter fame!
Get in there and vote!
Extremely fun chat with Drew and Oliver about our Literary Twitter bracket!
Pretty pleased with my Canva work this week. Also pretty pleased with the episode, which features some shit-shootin' with @jamesfolta.com and @trshboyoli.bsky.social about Twitter and one of the best conversations I've had all year, with Peter Coviello about the NYT:
lithub.com/giving-up-on...
lithub.com/giving-up-on...
Giving Up on The New York Times and Remembering Literary Twitter on The Lit Hub Podcast
A weekly behind-the-scenes dive into everything interesting, dynamic, strange, and wonderful happening in literary culture—featuring Lit Hub staff, columnists, and special guests! Hosted by Drew Br…
lithub.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Extremely fun chat with Drew and Oliver about our Literary Twitter bracket!
Reposted by james folta
Huzzah! Strange and Perfect Account from the Permafrost is a @washingtonpost.com 2025 notable work of fiction! Thanks to @themountaingoats.bsky.social @portersqbooks.bsky.social @bseitz.bsky.social @leviathanbookstore.bsky.social @jamesfolta.com for championing this book from the jump!
November 21, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Huzzah! Strange and Perfect Account from the Permafrost is a @washingtonpost.com 2025 notable work of fiction! Thanks to @themountaingoats.bsky.social @portersqbooks.bsky.social @bseitz.bsky.social @leviathanbookstore.bsky.social @jamesfolta.com for championing this book from the jump!
"Oh no, the sleepiness is only making him more powerful and more attractive" <-- my haters, undoubtedly
November 20, 2025 at 8:31 PM
"Oh no, the sleepiness is only making him more powerful and more attractive" <-- my haters, undoubtedly
Reposted by james folta
Folks, we're in the single digits! I think it's going to be Cat Person vs. Joyce Carol Oates in the final?
But that's in your hands now, dear reader...
But that's in your hands now, dear reader...
Only eight remain in our What Was Literary Twitter? bracket. What will the final four look like? Vote here to find out!
What Was Literary Twitter? The Bracket *Day 4*
It’s day four, and only 8 out of original 64 are left after yesterday’s voting! The polls today will determine who wins their quadrant (or is it “region”? Or “zone”? We’re not sports people) …
buff.ly
November 20, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Folks, we're in the single digits! I think it's going to be Cat Person vs. Joyce Carol Oates in the final?
But that's in your hands now, dear reader...
But that's in your hands now, dear reader...
dang, regretting not spending last night putting together a National Book Awards dance floor scene report
November 20, 2025 at 4:43 PM
dang, regretting not spending last night putting together a National Book Awards dance floor scene report
Folks, we're in the single digits! I think it's going to be Cat Person vs. Joyce Carol Oates in the final?
But that's in your hands now, dear reader...
But that's in your hands now, dear reader...
Only eight remain in our What Was Literary Twitter? bracket. What will the final four look like? Vote here to find out!
What Was Literary Twitter? The Bracket *Day 4*
It’s day four, and only 8 out of original 64 are left after yesterday’s voting! The polls today will determine who wins their quadrant (or is it “region”? Or “zone”? We’re not sports people) …
buff.ly
November 20, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Folks, we're in the single digits! I think it's going to be Cat Person vs. Joyce Carol Oates in the final?
But that's in your hands now, dear reader...
But that's in your hands now, dear reader...
Reposted by james folta
On day three of our What was Literary Twitter? bracket, some top seeds remain in the game, but the upsets haven’t stopped. Vote here to help your favorite literary internet moments keep climbing!
What Was Literary Twitter? The Bracket *Day 3*
Welcome to the third day of voting! We’re down to just 16, and it’s getting harder for me to discern how this thing will shake out, to be honest. Unsurprisingly, a few top seeds remain—bad art frie…
buff.ly
November 19, 2025 at 3:30 PM
On day three of our What was Literary Twitter? bracket, some top seeds remain in the game, but the upsets haven’t stopped. Vote here to help your favorite literary internet moments keep climbing!