Michael Taeckens
@mtaeckens.bsky.social
Co-founder, Broadside PR
—michael at broadsidepr dot com
Lit Agent, Massie McQuilkin & Altman
—michael at mmqalit dot com
https://michaeltaeckenspr.com/about-me/
—michael at broadsidepr dot com
Lit Agent, Massie McQuilkin & Altman
—michael at mmqalit dot com
https://michaeltaeckenspr.com/about-me/
Pinned
Michael Taeckens
@mtaeckens.bsky.social
· Jan 21
Some news. Thanks to @shelf-awareness.com for sharing this. ❤️
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
"The Golden Boy," a long extract--really, a standalone novella--from Daniyal Muenuddin's extraordinary forthcoming "This Is Where the Serpent Lives," has just been published by the New Yorker www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
“The Golden Boy,” by Daniyal Mueenuddin
Bayazid had never quite given up the fantasy he nurtured in boyhood, of discovering himself a child of some minister or prince.
www.newyorker.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:24 PM
"The Golden Boy," a long extract--really, a standalone novella--from Daniyal Muenuddin's extraordinary forthcoming "This Is Where the Serpent Lives," has just been published by the New Yorker www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
17 strikes and you’re out. 💀
November 23, 2025 at 4:48 PM
17 strikes and you’re out. 💀
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
11 years ago today, 12 year old Tamir Rice was gunned down by police officers on Cleveland’s west side.
The officer shot him within seconds of arriving at the park he was playing in.
Tamir’s life mattered. It still does. My thoughts are with his family today.
The officer shot him within seconds of arriving at the park he was playing in.
Tamir’s life mattered. It still does. My thoughts are with his family today.
November 22, 2025 at 11:32 PM
11 years ago today, 12 year old Tamir Rice was gunned down by police officers on Cleveland’s west side.
The officer shot him within seconds of arriving at the park he was playing in.
Tamir’s life mattered. It still does. My thoughts are with his family today.
The officer shot him within seconds of arriving at the park he was playing in.
Tamir’s life mattered. It still does. My thoughts are with his family today.
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
Just an absolutely gutting essay by Tatiana Schlossberg, a writer, mother of two young children, and cousin of RFK Jr who is dying of leukemia.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
November 22, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Just an absolutely gutting essay by Tatiana Schlossberg, a writer, mother of two young children, and cousin of RFK Jr who is dying of leukemia.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
well, I read it, and the salient, non-gross part is Lizza alleging, midsentence and without elaboration, that Nuzzi ran numerous “catch-and-kill operations” on RFK’s behalf, which would give her a role in both his appointment and the untold preventable deaths he has abetted in office. Cool.
November 22, 2025 at 2:31 PM
well, I read it, and the salient, non-gross part is Lizza alleging, midsentence and without elaboration, that Nuzzi ran numerous “catch-and-kill operations” on RFK’s behalf, which would give her a role in both his appointment and the untold preventable deaths he has abetted in office. Cool.
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
I'm happy I grew up in the era of card catalogs and the dewey decimal system. Just walking into the library with a stack of index cards, a pen, and an idea.
I keep thinking the *process* of researching is as important as what you discover.
It forces you to consider what impacts and relates to what you are looking for and the context of what you find impacts its meaning.
Knowledge is not a box of cereal that you can just grab a handful of. #KM
It forces you to consider what impacts and relates to what you are looking for and the context of what you find impacts its meaning.
Knowledge is not a box of cereal that you can just grab a handful of. #KM
Well slap my ass and call me Suzy
November 21, 2025 at 1:43 PM
I'm happy I grew up in the era of card catalogs and the dewey decimal system. Just walking into the library with a stack of index cards, a pen, and an idea.
Happy to see @lucaseschaefer.bsky.social’s novel THE SLIP on here! A thoroughly brilliant book.
Our selections for the 10 best books of 2025. Gift link: wapo.st/487XY8Z
The 10 best books of 2025
The year’s best fiction and nonfiction, as selected by the staff of The Washington Post’s Book World.
wapo.st
November 21, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Happy to see @lucaseschaefer.bsky.social’s novel THE SLIP on here! A thoroughly brilliant book.
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
Astonishing to stop and realize that, at any given moment, bands of masked men armed to the teeth are storming churches and daycares, terrorizing entire communities—and that most of the country's political establishment barely blinks.
November 19, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Astonishing to stop and realize that, at any given moment, bands of masked men armed to the teeth are storming churches and daycares, terrorizing entire communities—and that most of the country's political establishment barely blinks.
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
I'm editing an anthology about unlikable characters and seeking work from younger writers, 15-21. If you know of one such writer who might want to submit their work for consideration, please share this call for submissions: audacity.substack.com/p/acquired-t...
Acquired Tastes: A Call for Submissions
For younger writers, ages 15-21
audacity.substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 8:23 PM
I'm editing an anthology about unlikable characters and seeking work from younger writers, 15-21. If you know of one such writer who might want to submit their work for consideration, please share this call for submissions: audacity.substack.com/p/acquired-t...
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
Again, it is unbelievable that this man is permitted to walk free after causing the deaths of potentially millions of people. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/u...
Musk Is Back in Politics. Does He Want to Stay a While?
www.nytimes.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Again, it is unbelievable that this man is permitted to walk free after causing the deaths of potentially millions of people. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/u...
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
"Things happen" sometimes, like when you walk into an embassy to apply for your marriage license while your bride-to-be waits outside, but then you get bonesawed to pieces for having exercised freedom of speech as an US-based journalist and have to be carried out in a series of suitcases.
Trump suggests Khashoggi had it coming: "You're mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it. You don't have to embarrass our guest."
November 18, 2025 at 11:18 PM
"Things happen" sometimes, like when you walk into an embassy to apply for your marriage license while your bride-to-be waits outside, but then you get bonesawed to pieces for having exercised freedom of speech as an US-based journalist and have to be carried out in a series of suitcases.
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
Sitewide sale this weekend. Buy 2 books and save 20%, 3 for 30%, or 4 or more and get 40% off. $75 for free shipping within the US.
www.nyrb.com
www.nyrb.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Sitewide sale this weekend. Buy 2 books and save 20%, 3 for 30%, or 4 or more and get 40% off. $75 for free shipping within the US.
www.nyrb.com
www.nyrb.com
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
Can one cure existential ills via sweating in beautiful places? I'm sure trying! keziahweir.substack.com/p/its-sauna-...
It's Sauna Season
The prettiest naked bathhouse in Amsterdam—and are the men alright?
keziahweir.substack.com
November 16, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Can one cure existential ills via sweating in beautiful places? I'm sure trying! keziahweir.substack.com/p/its-sauna-...
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
Exactly one woman has won the Booker in the past six years www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
November 16, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Exactly one woman has won the Booker in the past six years www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
Hello! I wrote about Joy Williams and her new book for @washingtonpost.com.
Review | At 81, Joy Williams is as good as she’s ever been
The new story collection “The Pelican Child” is her best book since the 2000 novel “The Quick and the Dead.”
wapo.st
November 15, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Hello! I wrote about Joy Williams and her new book for @washingtonpost.com.
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
@ezrakupor.bsky.social’s Galley Brag is among the best Substacks on book publishing, and I had such a great time talking with him about book deals, criticism, publicity, and our broken industry!
open.substack.com/pub/galleybr...
open.substack.com/pub/galleybr...
Galley Brag #22
Author and critic Kristen Martin on the Publishers Marketplace deal flow, the fallacy of "most anticipated" lists, and the dearth of book criticism as a fascism indicator.
open.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:56 PM
@ezrakupor.bsky.social’s Galley Brag is among the best Substacks on book publishing, and I had such a great time talking with him about book deals, criticism, publicity, and our broken industry!
open.substack.com/pub/galleybr...
open.substack.com/pub/galleybr...
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
That time my career was over and I had to disappear so I moved to one of richest neighborhoods in one of most media saturated cities in world to hobnob with media elites who offered me fabulous jobs without questions while I prepared for glam photo shots in major papers. We’ve all been there.
November 14, 2025 at 7:35 PM
That time my career was over and I had to disappear so I moved to one of richest neighborhoods in one of most media saturated cities in world to hobnob with media elites who offered me fabulous jobs without questions while I prepared for glam photo shots in major papers. We’ve all been there.
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
You might have read something about Ross Douthat’s podcast last week. Becca Rothfeld reviews the new book by Leah Libresco Sargeant, one of the guests on that show. www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/1...
Review | A conservative argues we need to value ‘women as women.’ But what does that mean?
Leah Libresco Sargeant argues that we need to better acknowledge human need and vulnerability, and that valuing women “as women” is a start
www.washingtonpost.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:38 PM
You might have read something about Ross Douthat’s podcast last week. Becca Rothfeld reviews the new book by Leah Libresco Sargeant, one of the guests on that show. www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/1...
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
I interviewed ferociously brilliant filmmaker Mira Nair, a.k.a Zohran Mamdani’s mother, about how her voice and vision have shaped a man who sees a better way forward for all of us. SPOILER ALERT: Love matters.
www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/feat...
www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/feat...
How Mira Nair Built the World That Made Zohran Mamdani
The legendary director talks with Harper's Bazaar about becoming an artist and a parent
www.harpersbazaar.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:28 PM
I interviewed ferociously brilliant filmmaker Mira Nair, a.k.a Zohran Mamdani’s mother, about how her voice and vision have shaped a man who sees a better way forward for all of us. SPOILER ALERT: Love matters.
www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/feat...
www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/feat...
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
UPDATE — With Rep. Pramila Jayapal (Chair Emerita of the Congressional Progressive Caucus), there are now at least 12 congressional Democrats, 15 Democratic-aligned organizations, and 8 Democratic candidates calling for Chuck Schumer to resign as leader:
November 13, 2025 at 2:49 AM
UPDATE — With Rep. Pramila Jayapal (Chair Emerita of the Congressional Progressive Caucus), there are now at least 12 congressional Democrats, 15 Democratic-aligned organizations, and 8 Democratic candidates calling for Chuck Schumer to resign as leader:
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
One day the US will have to face the shame and horror of what has happened here: that a cabal of wealthy people have elevated a monster into the most powerful person in the world www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/u...
Epstein Alleged in Emails That Trump Knew of His Conduct
www.nytimes.com
November 12, 2025 at 2:05 PM
One day the US will have to face the shame and horror of what has happened here: that a cabal of wealthy people have elevated a monster into the most powerful person in the world www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/u...
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
I had the great good fortune to work with Lucy Feldman and her team on TIME's "100 Must-Read Books 2025," the perfect holidays gift list for bibliophiles in your lives: time.com/collections/...
The 100 Must-Read Books of 2025
Discover the novels, memoirs, biographies, and more that entertained and enlightened us
time.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:05 PM
I had the great good fortune to work with Lucy Feldman and her team on TIME's "100 Must-Read Books 2025," the perfect holidays gift list for bibliophiles in your lives: time.com/collections/...
Reposted by Michael Taeckens
The identity of Sarah Kendzior, researcher on authoritarian states, and Sarah Kendzior's content discussing authoritarian states are...not really easy to separate.
So I'm struggling to see this as a response.
So I'm struggling to see this as a response.
False attribution. If a person is suspended it is because of their identity? Could it not be because of their content? I wrote about it here aaron.leaflet.pub/3m52nqqmk322v
Moderating With Humans, For Humans - Trust Issues
aaron.leaflet.pub
November 11, 2025 at 7:33 PM
The identity of Sarah Kendzior, researcher on authoritarian states, and Sarah Kendzior's content discussing authoritarian states are...not really easy to separate.
So I'm struggling to see this as a response.
So I'm struggling to see this as a response.
My 2nd deal as an agent. I've been reading Pulitzer Prize winner Forrest Gander's work since my late teens and am over the moon about working with him.
November 11, 2025 at 3:44 PM
My 2nd deal as an agent. I've been reading Pulitzer Prize winner Forrest Gander's work since my late teens and am over the moon about working with him.