Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · 13h

Desperate? Or joyful... either way, slightly disturbing

ᴄʜᴀʀʟᴇʏ★ᴘɪʀᴏᴛʜ @charlespiroth.bsky.social · 1d

Cueva de las Manos (Cave of the Hands) located in the Río Pinturas Canyon in the province of Santa Cruz, Patagonia, Argentina, created over 9,000 years ago.

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · 23h

Of course, the sector has misses as well as hits, but our job as judges is to surface the jewels hiding in plain sight (bc of lack of funds for PR and distribution) and highlight and reward the risks the Indies take on.

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · 23h

Along with @stuhennigan.bsky.social and @susannacrossman.bsky.social I am judging this year's #QueenMarySmallPressFictionPrize and have read books from most of the presses who've signed the Open Letter. The Indie sector is where boldness and invention live.

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · 23h

The future of UK Independent presses hang by a thread. Supporting the sector is vital: this is where ALL the bravery lies. The big houses are risk averse, but copycat small press successes to revitalise their lists. Small presses are the motor!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/open...

Open letter on the future of small press publishing in the UK

The industry must work together to ensure the longevity of the UK’s independent presses.

www.thebookseller.com

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · 1d

So funny, yet so disturbing. Those ICE-like raids were exactly what a pointed satire needs to do: put chill in your soul.

Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · 1d

Priceless

The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 1d

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · 1d

Exactly. And at least in the past, people bothered to puzzle over the vairous different ways of thinking they encountered.

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · 1d

Before we were aware of neurodiversity - mediccal men were confounded by the the coexistence of 'genius' and disability.
aeon.co/essays/histo...

History’s shaming fascination for the so-called ‘idiot savant’ | Aeon Essays

The convergence of singular talent and profound disability confounded scientists eager to place humans into neat categories

aeon.co

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · 3d

Emotional abuse hides. You can exist in an abusive relationship for years and explain it away. Until the penny drops. Then you can no longer stay.
psyche.co/turning-poin...

My husband had been abusive for years, I just couldn’t see it | Psyche Turning points

A smart, educated woman, there’s no way I could have ended up in an abusive relationship, could I?

psyche.co

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Reposted by Marina Benjamin

Joanna Pocock @joannapocock.bsky.social · 6d

London people interested in memoir, the craft of non-fiction, and how we shape lives into words on a page, this is for you!
I will be in conversation at Daunt Books in Notting Hill with @lilydunn.bsky.social and @marinabenjamin.bsky.social ...
See you there!

#nonfiction #writing #memoir

Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · Sep 5

This event has all the feels. I'll be chairing, asking what memoir can do that other forms can't, and how each of them was changed by writing theirs @lilydunn.bsky.social and @joannapocock.bsky.social
dauntbooks.co.uk/shop/events/...

Joanna Pocock and Lily Dunn in conversation with Marina Benjamin

Buy tickets for the event with Joanna Pocock and Lily Dunn in conversation with Marina Benjamin at Daunt Books Notting Hill from Daunt Books today.

dauntbooks.co.uk

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · 7d

a great shortlist, no?

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · 8d

A different kind of coming out story - profound and funny at once
psyche.co/turning-poin...

Can I be gay and Catholic? A severe joy helped me stop asking | Psyche Turning points

I wanted conviction to tell me if I could be gay and Catholic. My convictions told me something bigger

psyche.co

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · 8d

Jenny Potter is crowdfunding a new book about the artist Kurt Schwitters, but she explains it far better than I can in this video ⬇️. @littletollerbooks.bsky.social will be publishing.
www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/looking-fo...

Looking for Mr Schwitters - a new book

To produce an innovative and finely illustrated book about the émigré artist Kurt Schwitters’ final years in the Lake District.

www.crowdfunder.co.uk

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · 8d

Smuggled out of Afghanistan — a chronicle of the last four years of living under Taliban rule as a woman. It was a rare privilege to work on this essay, and I am proud to have had some small part, alongside Untold Narratives and the Bagri Foundation is making it happen.
aeon.co/essays/one-w...

One woman’s eye-witness account of life under Taliban rule | Aeon Essays

When the Taliban captured my city, thousands fled and the rest were severely repressed. But I’ve stayed – and survived

aeon.co

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · 9d

Morning. Turns out that 3 of my books are eligible for the Anthropic Copyright Settlement class action claim. It's easy to file. See here for more info.
www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com

ANT Homepage | ANT

www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · 23d

I'm endlessly fascinated by the subject of women and money, and this first person story I commissioned for Psyche is a classic gaslight swindle. Why are so many women pushovers for money-grabs dressed as courtship?
psyche.co/turning-poin...

When a boyfriend conned me, I gained something priceless | Psyche Turning points

I was a pushover with a habit of picking cheating men as boyfriends; then one of them pushed me too far

psyche.co

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · Sep 8

Apart from Richard Holmes &Jeanette Winterson, the non-fiction list is one I'd prefer to take in online essay form. Is it just me, or do others think there's a crisis in contemporary non-fict? There's so much science/nature writing and celeb memoirs and v. little that's truly experimental/original.

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · Sep 8

The fiction flagged up here looks to be the best crop of new books in a long while. I want to read them all (butt how - given I've got 30+ books to read now for the Queen Mary Small Press Prize) Lord give me more hours!
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...

From a new Thomas Pynchon novel to a memoir by Margaret Atwood: the biggest books of the autumn

Essays from Zadie Smith; Wiki founder Jimmy Wales on how to save the internet; a future-set novel by Ian McEwan; a new case for the Slow Horses - plus memoirs from Kamala Harris and Paul McCartney… al...

www.theguardian.com

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · Sep 5

This event has all the feels. I'll be chairing, asking what memoir can do that other forms can't, and how each of them was changed by writing theirs @lilydunn.bsky.social and @joannapocock.bsky.social
dauntbooks.co.uk/shop/events/...

Joanna Pocock and Lily Dunn in conversation with Marina Benjamin

Buy tickets for the event with Joanna Pocock and Lily Dunn in conversation with Marina Benjamin at Daunt Books Notting Hill from Daunt Books today.

dauntbooks.co.uk

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · Sep 5

This> www.shellgrotto.co.uk

Tourist Attraction | Shell Grotto | England

Home of the Grade 1 listed Shell Grotto. Open to enquiring minds since 1838.

www.shellgrotto.co.uk

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · Sep 5

Hard agree. Diversity doesn't just 'happen' you have to seek other voices, and it's hard work.

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · Sep 5

also.... Julia Roberts !!!!

Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · Sep 4

Always a joy to work with Jay Griffiths. Her unique understanding of our relationship to nature shines through this essay. @aeon.co
aeon.co/essays/why-w...

Why we should tune into the orchestra of the animal world | Aeon Essays

Listen to the boundless sounds of nature, the great animal orchestra, whose songs imbue the world with fresh meaning

aeon.co

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · Sep 2

Why Ai can't write my book. It's sycophantic, can't break with pattern recognition, flat, sad, it can't simulate emotional acuity, personality or experience on the ground.

on.ft.com/47k2y5v

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · Aug 29

In politics, you never get fired for fucking up, you only get recycled.

makena kelly @makenakelly.bsky.social · Aug 29

SCOOP: DOGE ops join Airbnb cofounder + DOGE member Joe Gebbia’s new National Design Studio.

Gebbia was possibly going to join USDS, but now he has his own office and is bringing DOGE folks from the General Services Administration along with him.

www.wired.com/story/doge-o...

DOGE Operatives Are Joining Donald Trump’s New National Design Studio

Many proposed NDS projects were already in the works from federal workers who were let go earlier this year. Now, DOGE is getting involved.

www.wired.com