Meghan O'Rourke
@meghanor.bsky.social
Writer and poet | Editor of The Yale Review | Professor of Creative Writing at Yale | playing with a Substack about writing
Most recent book: THE INVISIBLE KINGDOM: REIMAGINING CHRONIC ILLNESS, which was a finalist for the nonfiction National Book Award.
Most recent book: THE INVISIBLE KINGDOM: REIMAGINING CHRONIC ILLNESS, which was a finalist for the nonfiction National Book Award.
Reposted by Meghan O'Rourke
We are saddened to hear of the death of Kai T. Erikson, a distinguished sociologist and former editor of The Yale Review. Penelope Laurans—former associate editor of TYR—offers a remembrance of Erikson's life and work. news.yale.edu/2025/11/11/k...
Kai T. Erikson, eminent sociologist and historian of disaster
Kai T. Erikson, a beloved teacher and prominent figure on Yale’s campus for 45 years, died on Nov. 10.
news.yale.edu
November 12, 2025 at 4:06 PM
We are saddened to hear of the death of Kai T. Erikson, a distinguished sociologist and former editor of The Yale Review. Penelope Laurans—former associate editor of TYR—offers a remembrance of Erikson's life and work. news.yale.edu/2025/11/11/k...
I'm so honored to have my work featured on the Slow Down! Thank you, @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social.
Wonderful timing, as I'm writing poems again and trying to finish a manuscript. New poems coming soon from some magazines near you! ✨
Wonderful timing, as I'm writing poems again and trying to finish a manuscript. New poems coming soon from some magazines near you! ✨
“While we don’t have access to the answers, this poem is a beautiful place for the questions to live," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1393 of The Slowdown.
Read “The Night Where You No Longer Live" by @meghanor.bsky.social: bit.ly/4qSoA6s
📖: @wwnorton.com
Read “The Night Where You No Longer Live" by @meghanor.bsky.social: bit.ly/4qSoA6s
📖: @wwnorton.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:56 PM
I'm so honored to have my work featured on the Slow Down! Thank you, @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social.
Wonderful timing, as I'm writing poems again and trying to finish a manuscript. New poems coming soon from some magazines near you! ✨
Wonderful timing, as I'm writing poems again and trying to finish a manuscript. New poems coming soon from some magazines near you! ✨
My son is texting me for the first time and it's quite the wild ride. How do they learn to be so Gen Alpha without even practicing?
November 11, 2025 at 7:54 PM
My son is texting me for the first time and it's quite the wild ride. How do they learn to be so Gen Alpha without even practicing?
Looking forward to chatting with Ann Packer about her wonderful new book in New Canaan at Elm Street Books this Wednesday at 6pm!
November 11, 2025 at 3:36 AM
Looking forward to chatting with Ann Packer about her wonderful new book in New Canaan at Elm Street Books this Wednesday at 6pm!
Excited to talk about invisible illness and the ethics of recognizing suffering tonight at 7pm at Emory's Center for Ethics. @emorycenters.bsky.social. Come by if you are in town. www.emory.edu/home/events/...
November 5, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Excited to talk about invisible illness and the ethics of recognizing suffering tonight at 7pm at Emory's Center for Ethics. @emorycenters.bsky.social. Come by if you are in town. www.emory.edu/home/events/...
Last night my 9-year-old showed me his first essay. I gave him notes.
Today he got home and said, "I’ll finish it myself. I didn’t like your edits.” When I burst out laughing, he asked, “Is that the first time a writer’s been honest with you?”
Today he got home and said, "I’ll finish it myself. I didn’t like your edits.” When I burst out laughing, he asked, “Is that the first time a writer’s been honest with you?”
October 31, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Last night my 9-year-old showed me his first essay. I gave him notes.
Today he got home and said, "I’ll finish it myself. I didn’t like your edits.” When I burst out laughing, he asked, “Is that the first time a writer’s been honest with you?”
Today he got home and said, "I’ll finish it myself. I didn’t like your edits.” When I burst out laughing, he asked, “Is that the first time a writer’s been honest with you?”
the chaos of this interview
October 29, 2025 at 9:25 PM
the chaos of this interview
Reposted by Meghan O'Rourke
Ellen Bryant Voigt—poet and founder of the first low-residency MFA program—transformed American poetry and the way it’s taught. Catherine Barnett, @victoriachang.bsky.social, @cphillipspoet.bsky.social, and @meghanor.bsky.social pay tribute to a singular mentor. yalereview.org/article/trib...
Remembering Ellen Bryant Voigt
Catherine Barnett, Victoria Chang, Meghan O’Rourke, and Carl Phillips remember the poet Ellen Bryant Voigt.
yalereview.org
October 28, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Ellen Bryant Voigt—poet and founder of the first low-residency MFA program—transformed American poetry and the way it’s taught. Catherine Barnett, @victoriachang.bsky.social, @cphillipspoet.bsky.social, and @meghanor.bsky.social pay tribute to a singular mentor. yalereview.org/article/trib...
An interesting essay by Zoe Cunniffe on how uncertainty shapes medicine—and what doctors gain by acknowledging it. It touches on many of the questions I explored in The Invisible Kingdom (and I'm quoted in it!): aeon.co/essays/medic...
Medicine is uncertain: embracing that makes doctors better | Aeon Essays
From late-night calls to unsolved symptoms, uncertainty is woven into every doctor’s day. They should learn to embrace it
aeon.co
October 27, 2025 at 4:43 PM
An interesting essay by Zoe Cunniffe on how uncertainty shapes medicine—and what doctors gain by acknowledging it. It touches on many of the questions I explored in The Invisible Kingdom (and I'm quoted in it!): aeon.co/essays/medic...
Reposted by Meghan O'Rourke
New Bookforum. @xlo.bsky.social @sashafrerejones.bsky.social @meghanor.bsky.social @hermionehoby.bsky.social @ryanruby.bsky.social @adamwilson.bsky.social @jenniferkrasinski.bsky.social www.bookforum.com/print
September 30, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Thrilled to announce a dream collaboration dreamed up by me and Adam Biles: @yalereview.bsky.social + @shakespeareandcompany.com .Together, we’ll publish author conversations from the legendary Paris bookshop—beginning with Neige Sinno on her extraordinary Sad Tiger. yalereview.org/article/shak...
A Shakespeare and Company Interview: Neige Sinno on her memoir Sad…
Shakespeare and Company’s Adam Biles discusses form, memory, childhood sexual abuse, and the paradoxes of testimony with novelist and memoirist Neige…
yalereview.org
September 29, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Thrilled to announce a dream collaboration dreamed up by me and Adam Biles: @yalereview.bsky.social + @shakespeareandcompany.com .Together, we’ll publish author conversations from the legendary Paris bookshop—beginning with Neige Sinno on her extraordinary Sad Tiger. yalereview.org/article/shak...
A new Yale study finds a striking rise in self-reported cognitive disability among U.S. adults — especially younger people. What role might Covid and Long Covid be playing? We urgently need more studies. news.yale.edu/2025/09/24/g...
A growing number of U.S. adults report cognitive disability
In a 10-year study, U.S. adults reported growing rates of problems with their memory, concentration, and decision-making abilities, with the figure doubling among the youngest cohort.
news.yale.edu
September 29, 2025 at 5:12 PM
A new Yale study finds a striking rise in self-reported cognitive disability among U.S. adults — especially younger people. What role might Covid and Long Covid be playing? We urgently need more studies. news.yale.edu/2025/09/24/g...
I've been quiet here because summer break is anything but that when you have kids... but, as part of endless vacay with those aforementioned kids, we watched Back to the Future 2 last night and its "alternate" 1985 is a fascinating parallel to T's America.... tempted to write about it.
August 21, 2025 at 2:13 PM
I've been quiet here because summer break is anything but that when you have kids... but, as part of endless vacay with those aforementioned kids, we watched Back to the Future 2 last night and its "alternate" 1985 is a fascinating parallel to T's America.... tempted to write about it.
Mount Sinai’s new manual for the treatment of infection-associated chronic diseases is an important step: not a cure-all, sure, but an important instance of a medical institution taking IACD seriously—including Lyme & TBDs—and introducing frameworks for care. Thx @putrinolab.bsky.social & CORE!
August 21, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Mount Sinai’s new manual for the treatment of infection-associated chronic diseases is an important step: not a cure-all, sure, but an important instance of a medical institution taking IACD seriously—including Lyme & TBDs—and introducing frameworks for care. Thx @putrinolab.bsky.social & CORE!
“Living with #MECFS is like holding what has no meaning.”
@julierehmeyer.bsky.social's new piece about illness and grief for her friend Beth Mazur is searing and unforgettable. I’m better today, but when I was sickest, this paragraph was my life:
@julierehmeyer.bsky.social's new piece about illness and grief for her friend Beth Mazur is searing and unforgettable. I’m better today, but when I was sickest, this paragraph was my life:
August 21, 2025 at 2:00 PM
“Living with #MECFS is like holding what has no meaning.”
@julierehmeyer.bsky.social's new piece about illness and grief for her friend Beth Mazur is searing and unforgettable. I’m better today, but when I was sickest, this paragraph was my life:
@julierehmeyer.bsky.social's new piece about illness and grief for her friend Beth Mazur is searing and unforgettable. I’m better today, but when I was sickest, this paragraph was my life:
playing around with ChatGPT 5 (for the paper I'm about its effect on creativity) . I find it less strong as an administrative editing tool: v normie in its outputs, tending to cut anything interesting / odd. Anyone else seeing this? Here's my earlier piece: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o...
Opinion | I Teach Creative Writing. This Is What A.I. Is Doing to Students.
www.nytimes.com
August 16, 2025 at 4:59 PM
playing around with ChatGPT 5 (for the paper I'm about its effect on creativity) . I find it less strong as an administrative editing tool: v normie in its outputs, tending to cut anything interesting / odd. Anyone else seeing this? Here's my earlier piece: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o...
New Substack post! I answer your writing questions—on structure, self-editing, and getting through the messy middle. I also talk about what I learned from Nancy Drew, index cards, and the most common notes I give writers.
meghanorourke.substack.com/p/how-to-edi...
meghanorourke.substack.com/p/how-to-edi...
How to Edit Yourself, Weave Narrative Threads, and Keep Going When You're Lost in the Middle
Structure is the writer’s most underrated tool. Here’s how I use index cards and detective fiction to help me edit my work.
meghanorourke.substack.com
August 6, 2025 at 2:15 PM
New Substack post! I answer your writing questions—on structure, self-editing, and getting through the messy middle. I also talk about what I learned from Nancy Drew, index cards, and the most common notes I give writers.
meghanorourke.substack.com/p/how-to-edi...
meghanorourke.substack.com/p/how-to-edi...
Reposted by Meghan O'Rourke
Anyone thinking about AI and writing — or what may soon be at stake with much of human creativity — should read this essay by @meghanor.bsky.social. It is… genuinely thought-provoking and insightful. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o...
Opinion | I Teach Creative Writing. This Is What A.I. Is Doing to Students.
www.nytimes.com
July 20, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Anyone thinking about AI and writing — or what may soon be at stake with much of human creativity — should read this essay by @meghanor.bsky.social. It is… genuinely thought-provoking and insightful. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o...
Reposted by Meghan O'Rourke
Loved today’s Guest Opinion Essay published in @nytimes.com, written by @meghanor.bsky.social after her thought experiment with ChatGPT, also mentioning our paper «Your Brain on ChatGPT».
July 18, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Loved today’s Guest Opinion Essay published in @nytimes.com, written by @meghanor.bsky.social after her thought experiment with ChatGPT, also mentioning our paper «Your Brain on ChatGPT».
Reposted by Meghan O'Rourke
@meghanor.bsky.social article is exceptional, the concerns raised apply just as much to scientific writing.
You can use AI to generate ideas, to summarize, to even write your grants & manuscripts...but, ethics aside, do you miss out on 'the pleasure of invention'?
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o...
You can use AI to generate ideas, to summarize, to even write your grants & manuscripts...but, ethics aside, do you miss out on 'the pleasure of invention'?
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o...
Opinion | The Seductions of A.I. for the Writer’s Mind
www.nytimes.com
July 18, 2025 at 12:32 PM
@meghanor.bsky.social article is exceptional, the concerns raised apply just as much to scientific writing.
You can use AI to generate ideas, to summarize, to even write your grants & manuscripts...but, ethics aside, do you miss out on 'the pleasure of invention'?
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o...
You can use AI to generate ideas, to summarize, to even write your grants & manuscripts...but, ethics aside, do you miss out on 'the pleasure of invention'?
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o...
Reposted by Meghan O'Rourke
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o...
I think this is the best thing I’ve ever read on writing and A.I. by @meghanor.bsky.social
Gifted article.
I think this is the best thing I’ve ever read on writing and A.I. by @meghanor.bsky.social
Gifted article.
Opinion | The Seductions of A.I. for the Writer’s Mind
www.nytimes.com
July 18, 2025 at 10:58 AM
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o...
I think this is the best thing I’ve ever read on writing and A.I. by @meghanor.bsky.social
Gifted article.
I think this is the best thing I’ve ever read on writing and A.I. by @meghanor.bsky.social
Gifted article.
A good reminder that higher ed isn’t a luxury; it’s our democracy’s backbone. Trump’s assault on academic independence is a power grab that hurts all fields of inquiry, as well as liberals and conservatives alike:
OPINION: The real goal of Trump’s attack on Harvard isn’t what you think, writes Michael S. Roth, president of Wesleyan University.
Opinion | The Real Goal of Trump’s Attack on Harvard Isn’t What You Think
Conservative values are at stake as much as liberal ones.
www.politico.com
July 17, 2025 at 11:52 AM
A good reminder that higher ed isn’t a luxury; it’s our democracy’s backbone. Trump’s assault on academic independence is a power grab that hurts all fields of inquiry, as well as liberals and conservatives alike:
Oh my god. I really don’t know what to say.
JOHNSON: How many air traffic controllers have left the FAA since January 20? And don't tell me you don't know
DUFFY: I don't know that
JOHNSON: Are you trying to tell us you don't know how many air traffic controllers are in the building?
DUFFY: They're in towers
DUFFY: I don't know that
JOHNSON: Are you trying to tell us you don't know how many air traffic controllers are in the building?
DUFFY: They're in towers
July 16, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Oh my god. I really don’t know what to say.
UVA’s president resigned because DOJ threatened to yank research funds & visas if DEI didn’t go. Feels eerily like Milosz’s Captive Mind—intellectuals pressured into submission by political power. This isn’t just policy—it’s a colonization of the academy, and a loss of academic freedom.
The U. of Virginia’s President Was Targeted Over DEI. Now He’s Resigning.
James E. Ryan announced his departure on Friday, following a reported demand by federal officials that he step down to resolve a Department of Justice investigation into the university’s diversity-rel...
www.chronicle.com
June 30, 2025 at 9:43 AM
UVA’s president resigned because DOJ threatened to yank research funds & visas if DEI didn’t go. Feels eerily like Milosz’s Captive Mind—intellectuals pressured into submission by political power. This isn’t just policy—it’s a colonization of the academy, and a loss of academic freedom.
It is insane and anti-democratic that we've come to this.
ICE just arrested Brad Lander, the NYC Comptroller and one of the leading candidates for Mayor, without grounds.
He was conducting routine immigration court work, escorting individuals from hearings.
He asked ICE for their warrant - well within his legal rights.
This is political intimidation.
He was conducting routine immigration court work, escorting individuals from hearings.
He asked ICE for their warrant - well within his legal rights.
This is political intimidation.
Whoa! NYC mayoral candidate and current city Comptroller Brad Lander seemingly arrested at the NYC immigration court while attending to escort someone attending their hearing.
June 17, 2025 at 11:49 PM
It is insane and anti-democratic that we've come to this.