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Kevin MacDonell (he/him)

@kevinmacdonell.bsky.social

1.6K followers 760 following 540 posts

Writer and lifelong diarist. Nova Scotia, Canada. Creative nonfiction, personal essays. Recent/forthcoming: Malahat Review, Queen’s Quarterly, Grain, Dalhousie Review, Camel, Rural Delivery, Globe & Mail. A.I.-free since 1969.

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Kevin MacDonell (he/him) @kevinmacdonell.bsky.social · Jan 19

Hi, new followers! I’m Kevin (he/him). Cape Breton, Nova Scotia raised. Diarist, writer of CNF, essays, memoir. Not very clever. Bewildered mostly. Recovering middle-management cog. Formerly lost in dark wood; emerging out the other side. Finally giving power and time to creative work.

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The Fiddlehead @fiddlehd.bsky.social · 15h

We're excited to announce the winner of our 2024 Creative Nonfiction Contest is Shelley Pacholok for her essay "How Not to Say Good-Bye to Your Professor"! Keep an eye out for when our autumn issue goes live to read an excerpt from her essay!

See the full announcement on our website:
bit.ly/4obSKPU

The graphic announcing Shelley Pacholok as the winner of The Fiddlehead's 2025 Creative Nonfiction Contest

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The New Quarterly @thenewquarterly.bsky.social · 18h

Are there best practices for navigating the push-pull of editors, publishers, and media? What about managing the expectations of fans, friends, and family? Join us in discussing how to write a memoir.

Get tickets here: wildwriters.ca/.../troublin...

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Conundrum Press @conundrumpress.bsky.social · 19h

📚 🎨
COVER REVEAL! Check out that incredible cover illustration by Adam de Souza!

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Kate Beaton @katebeaton.bsky.social · 2d

I have letter to the editor this week in our local paper.
Our community is, once again, facing a developer who wants to turn public, protected coastal land into a golf course. We've been here before. This time, it's shadier. And God knows it was shady last time. www.invernessoran.ca/top-story/co...

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 2d

repost this if an editor has ever saved you from yourself

violent alien @blipstress.bsky.social · 2d

An actual hot take: Too many authors are afraid of editors watering down their voice or whatever and not afraid enough of editors letting you put any old slop on the page.

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Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 2d

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Kevin MacDonell (he/him) @kevinmacdonell.bsky.social · 3d

“We will soon need to read books for protection. We will need them for survival. We will seek them out because they offer an escape from the degraded digital domains, where duplicity is now dictated by the largest platforms with the richest owners.”

The Glorious Future of the Book

It's still the best data center of them all

www.honest-broker.com

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Kevin MacDonell (he/him) @kevinmacdonell.bsky.social · 3d

Wisdom here from Kate Cayley.

Why We Write the Extra Details

Some years ago, I saw Yiyun Li interviewed at an event at the Toronto Reference Library. Li, a writer whose stories are compressed and deceptively simple, spoke with humor and a certain hardness, p…

lithub.com

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Bookshop.org @bookshop.org · 3d

Can’t decide what to buy on Prime Day?

Try: absolutely nothing, and then go support indie bookstores instead 📚

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The Fiddlehead @fiddlehd.bsky.social · 3d

In this week's Stop! Look! Listen! Kim Pittaway recommends something different: Art-scrolling!

Listen to how she accessibly finds art that inspires here:
thefiddlehead.ca/content/stop...

Stop! Look! Listen! Kim Pittaway’s Viewing Recommendation | The Fiddlehead

I’ll admit it: I often feel ground down by the world. Climate. Politics. The economy. Patriarchy. Fascism. I try not to doomscroll—but then end up simply toggling between doom and puppies. My latest solution? Art-scrolling.

thefiddlehead.ca

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Kevin MacDonell (he/him) @kevinmacdonell.bsky.social · 4d

Clam Harbour Beach this morning. Twenty degrees. Barbecue dinner home on our deck in Bedford where it is 29 degrees. Normal Nova Scotia weather for October. Yep TOTALLY NORMAL.

Middle aged man smiling with hands in the pockets of his shorts standing in bright sun on an expansive beach. Yours truly.

Kevin MacDonell (he/him) @kevinmacdonell.bsky.social · 4d

Booktoberfest at Halifax Central Library is Oct 11! writers.ns.ca/programs/boo...

Booktoberfest

Booktoberfest Booktoberfest is our annual literary festival that celebrates Nova Scotian authors & publishers and the books they've published over the past year. It offers a place for authors & reader...

writers.ns.ca

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Roland Allen, author of 'The Notebook: a History' @zibaldoni.bsky.social · 5d

Lovely piece in today's Observer (no paywall) about @lettersofnote.com's latest, DIARIES OF NOTE, which looks like it'll be as fascinating and well-made as the other books in the series. By Anthony Quinn.
observer.co.uk/style/featur...

The pages of our lives | The Observer

Diaries can be the most revealing records of who we are. One compulsive diarist introduces the intimate reflections of Audre Lorde, Salvador Dalí, Elton ...

observer.co.uk

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Kevin MacDonell (he/him) @kevinmacdonell.bsky.social · 6d

Postmedia editor fail. Possibly representative.

Kevin MacDonell (he/him) @kevinmacdonell.bsky.social · 6d

Say what.

Snippet of newspaper text about solar flares, which includes the line, “NASA has been monitoring the sun’s activity since the 1600s.”

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River Street @riverstreetwriting.bsky.social · 7d

Where they went I cannot name—
those liquefying emissaries
or my aunt’s wishes, whatever it was
that she held tight that morning—

—from Votive by Annick MacAskill, Gaspereau Press, 2024

Read the full excerpt:

www.riverstreetwriting.com/blog/2025/8/...

@gaspereaupress.bsky.social

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Kevin MacDonell (he/him) @kevinmacdonell.bsky.social · 8d

The Writing Rumble is happening again! Time to sponsor your favourite tag-team in this fun, totally non-violent fundraiser for the Nova Scotia Writers’ Federation!

Writing Rumble 2025 (Halifax)

Fundraiser & public reading Thursday, Oct 23 (2pm - 8pm) All welcome

writers.ns.ca

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Lezlie Lowe ~ lezlielowe.com @lezlielowe.bsky.social · 8d

What will you be doing at exactly this moment next Thursday evening? I'll be starting up another Writing Your Family Story workshop. 8 weeks, online, all levels — come join in, why don't you? ukings.ca/programs/non... ✍️

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Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 8d

Reminder that @theguardian.com has a partnership with OpenAI, and has of late published a spate of asinine articles that are uncritical in framing, and just read as press releases for the company and for "AI" in general.
The headline/implicit framing of this article seems consistent with its biases.

Waitman Wade Beorn, PhD, FRHistS @waitmanwbeorn.com · 8d

Oh, man. After reading the article, what it actually says is that an historian did a lot of archival work and spatial research to determine the site of a killing and then the family of the likely perpetrator stepped forward with photographs to confirm identity.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Historian uses AI to help identify Nazi in notorious Holocaust murder image

Jürgen Matthäus has for years been investigating the killer – and is confident he has finally solved the mystery

www.theguardian.com

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Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 9d

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

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Kevin MacDonell (he/him) @kevinmacdonell.bsky.social · 9d

Anyone remember a brilliant children’s book called “Drummer Hoff”? I loved that book; so colourful, so scary. The words “Drummer Hoff fired it off” come to mind as Trump and Hegseth make their short-lived strut across the stage.

Reposted by Kevin MacDonell (he/him)

Biblioasis @biblioasis.bsky.social · 16d

Best Canadian Series: CALL FOR 2025 JOURNAL ISSUES!

Every year, Biblioasis publishes Best Canadian Poetry, Best Canadian Essays, and Best Canadian Stories, anthologies which feature works that were published in magazines/journals/online publications the previous year.

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Guy Gavriel Kay @guygavrielkay.bsky.social · 10d

My splendid translator in France, Mikael Cabon, asked me to support an urgent campaign, launching today, opposing AI being used instead of people. I do so willingly, and feel same on behalf of audiobook readers and bookworld artists. I hope readers worldwide will show their agreement.

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Kevin MacDonell (he/him) @kevinmacdonell.bsky.social · 10d

It’s easier said than done, for sure.

Kevin MacDonell (he/him) @kevinmacdonell.bsky.social · 10d

Shane Neilson on protecting time to write: “Let everyone in your life know that they cannot intrude. ... If anything threatens the fortress, then overreact. Behave like you’re five years old, with a wooden sword. Rush out of your fortress and brandish it at the interloper.” Malahat Review interview.

The Malahat Review

The Malahat Review, established in 1967, is among Canada’s leading literary journals. Published quarterly, it features contemporary Canadian and international and contemporary works of poetry and fict...

malahatreview.ca

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