Catherine Nygren
@broomgrass.bsky.social
PhD in dh, c18; Teaching English lit, esp sff, at Champlain College-Saint Lambert; she/her
Thinking about an Indigenous colleague's observation that starting a resolution in the depths of winter is counterintuitive. Wait until nature wakes up, friends; it's okay to rest and reflect while the nights are still long.
December 22, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Thinking about an Indigenous colleague's observation that starting a resolution in the depths of winter is counterintuitive. Wait until nature wakes up, friends; it's okay to rest and reflect while the nights are still long.
Bienvenue à Montréal
if tumblr dies I need this video to make it's seasonal rotation here instead just in case, Happy holidays 🎄
December 18, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Bienvenue à Montréal
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
Very happy to introduce a new tool, BookReconciler!
You can take spreadsheets with book data and add subject headings, descriptions, ISBNs, HathiTrust IDs, & more. You can also cluster editions & variations of the same "Work."
Led by @thisismattmiller.com and supported by @post45data.bsky.social.
You can take spreadsheets with book data and add subject headings, descriptions, ISBNs, HathiTrust IDs, & more. You can also cluster editions & variations of the same "Work."
Led by @thisismattmiller.com and supported by @post45data.bsky.social.
December 17, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Very happy to introduce a new tool, BookReconciler!
You can take spreadsheets with book data and add subject headings, descriptions, ISBNs, HathiTrust IDs, & more. You can also cluster editions & variations of the same "Work."
Led by @thisismattmiller.com and supported by @post45data.bsky.social.
You can take spreadsheets with book data and add subject headings, descriptions, ISBNs, HathiTrust IDs, & more. You can also cluster editions & variations of the same "Work."
Led by @thisismattmiller.com and supported by @post45data.bsky.social.
Beware: your to-read list shall grow, quite a lot!
If you like science fiction and fantasy, and you're not already a listener of the Coode Street Podcast (could such a thing be possible), this is a good time to start. I've really been enjoying their advent calendar interviews this year.
The Coode Street Podcast | Jonathan Strahan & Gary K. Wolfe
Discussion and digression on science fiction and fantasy with Gary K. Wolfe and Jonathan Strahan.
jonathanstrahan.podbean.com
December 17, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Beware: your to-read list shall grow, quite a lot!
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
Here are the top 10 most popular post-1945 American authors at the Seattle Public Library over the last 20 years.
December 11, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Here are the top 10 most popular post-1945 American authors at the Seattle Public Library over the last 20 years.
I told my SFF students that I'd give them "a few" recs for holiday reading.
Reader, I gave 17. 😂
Reader, I gave 17. 😂
December 12, 2025 at 2:59 AM
I told my SFF students that I'd give them "a few" recs for holiday reading.
Reader, I gave 17. 😂
Reader, I gave 17. 😂
Glad to see @worldsbeyondnumber.bsky.social on this list - it's doing some of the best fantasy storytelling of the past few years, imo. "54 episodes of pure gold," indeed. Excited for their upcoming turn to SF!
Welcome to THE BEST BOOKS OF 2025: REVIEWER'S CHOICE!! Reactor's book reviewers have come together to recommend their favorite 2025 reads. How many have you picked up?
Reviewers' Choice: The Best Books of 2025 - Reactor
Reactor’s regular book reviewers talk about notable titles they read in 2025
reactormag.com
December 9, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Glad to see @worldsbeyondnumber.bsky.social on this list - it's doing some of the best fantasy storytelling of the past few years, imo. "54 episodes of pure gold," indeed. Excited for their upcoming turn to SF!
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
It started on the weekend. Ice pancakes form and travel down river toward my bridge 🌿
December 2, 2025 at 1:26 AM
It started on the weekend. Ice pancakes form and travel down river toward my bridge 🌿
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
You really have to read this thread. The genius of Tom Stoppard, the fragility of memory, the magic of theatre — and the glorious stubbornness of a researcher who would not stop.
Eleven years ago, I wrote to Tom Stoppard to ask about this coup de théâtre from 1949. It took me down an unexpected rabbit hole - in memory of Stoppard, here's what I found.
November 30, 2025 at 2:42 PM
You really have to read this thread. The genius of Tom Stoppard, the fragility of memory, the magic of theatre — and the glorious stubbornness of a researcher who would not stop.
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
I see some book piracy discourse, and, to make a positive argument in favor of buying books, your marginal ability to influence what books get published and support the careers of writers you like is massive compared to most other forms of media.
November 25, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
Some more details on my new #ScienceFiction anthology, including one inclusion that I’m especially happy about (thanks in large part to Brooks Hefner’s terrific work in *Black Pulp*)
Edited by Jason Haslam, our upcoming reader is the first new SF anthology in almost ten years 🌌@jasonhaslam.ca
Anthologized here for the very first time is “The Space Ship,” a story by Black SF pioneer James H. Hill. -- and tons more.
See the full TOC 🔗https://buff.ly/E6RyEE4
Anthologized here for the very first time is “The Space Ship,” a story by Black SF pioneer James H. Hill. -- and tons more.
See the full TOC 🔗https://buff.ly/E6RyEE4
The Broadview Anthology of Science Fiction - Broadview Press
The Broadview Anthology of Science Fiction -
buff.ly
November 24, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Some more details on my new #ScienceFiction anthology, including one inclusion that I’m especially happy about (thanks in large part to Brooks Hefner’s terrific work in *Black Pulp*)
If you're interested in poetry and AI, can I recommend Toward Eternity by Anton Hur? There's an AI, and later, multiple AIs, who are, as they say, "built on poetry," who think that "Poetry, not your body, is the true vehicle of your soul."
November 21, 2025 at 12:22 AM
If you're interested in poetry and AI, can I recommend Toward Eternity by Anton Hur? There's an AI, and later, multiple AIs, who are, as they say, "built on poetry," who think that "Poetry, not your body, is the true vehicle of your soul."
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
Great news! This is out: Opening the black box of EEBO academic.oup.com/dsh/advance-...
Opening the black box of EEBO
Abstract. Digital archives that cover extended historical periods can create a misleading impression of comprehensiveness while in truth providing access t
academic.oup.com
November 9, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Great news! This is out: Opening the black box of EEBO academic.oup.com/dsh/advance-...
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
Eligibility lists are now OPEN for Canadian speculative fiction works published in 2025.
If you purchased a 2025 membership to vote in the Aurora Awards this past year, you can head over to www.csffa.ca and log in to add works to our lists. 1/
If you purchased a 2025 membership to vote in the Aurora Awards this past year, you can head over to www.csffa.ca and log in to add works to our lists. 1/
The Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA) – Home of the Prix Aurora Awards and CSFFA Hall of Fame
www.csffa.ca
November 5, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Eligibility lists are now OPEN for Canadian speculative fiction works published in 2025.
If you purchased a 2025 membership to vote in the Aurora Awards this past year, you can head over to www.csffa.ca and log in to add works to our lists. 1/
If you purchased a 2025 membership to vote in the Aurora Awards this past year, you can head over to www.csffa.ca and log in to add works to our lists. 1/
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
Congratulations to Vajra Chandrasekera (@vajra.me), recipient of the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction for Rakesfall!
Chandrasekera's book was chosen by authors Matt Bell, Indra Das, Kelly Link, Sequoia Nagamatsu, and Rebecca Roanhorse.
Chandrasekera's book was chosen by authors Matt Bell, Indra Das, Kelly Link, Sequoia Nagamatsu, and Rebecca Roanhorse.
October 21, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Congratulations to Vajra Chandrasekera (@vajra.me), recipient of the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction for Rakesfall!
Chandrasekera's book was chosen by authors Matt Bell, Indra Das, Kelly Link, Sequoia Nagamatsu, and Rebecca Roanhorse.
Chandrasekera's book was chosen by authors Matt Bell, Indra Das, Kelly Link, Sequoia Nagamatsu, and Rebecca Roanhorse.
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
Excited to share my latest publication, "Generative Aesthetics: On formal stuckness in AI verse." It's published in a special issue in the Journal of Cultural Analytics, expertly edited by Tess McNulty and Laura Chapot, on "Computation and Form, Reconsidered."
culturalanalytics.org/article/1448...
culturalanalytics.org/article/1448...
Generative Aesthetics: On formal stuckness in AI verse | Published in Journal of Cultural Analytics
By Ryan Heuser. This paper examines the formal and aesthetic patterns of AI-generated poems through a series of computational experiments.
culturalanalytics.org
October 13, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Excited to share my latest publication, "Generative Aesthetics: On formal stuckness in AI verse." It's published in a special issue in the Journal of Cultural Analytics, expertly edited by Tess McNulty and Laura Chapot, on "Computation and Form, Reconsidered."
culturalanalytics.org/article/1448...
culturalanalytics.org/article/1448...
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
Reading the Northanger Abbey chapter of @devoney.bsky.social’s latest book and this “turn a Romance into a novel!” table is killing me 😂
October 15, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reading the Northanger Abbey chapter of @devoney.bsky.social’s latest book and this “turn a Romance into a novel!” table is killing me 😂
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
Hampsterdance started as a friendly bet between Canadian artist Deidre LaCarte and her sister. She made a page of animated hamsters set to a chipmunked loop of Whistle Stop from Disney’s Robin Hood (1973). Within months, it took over inboxes & office desktops.
Today, it's gone from the live web.
Today, it's gone from the live web.
October 7, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Hampsterdance started as a friendly bet between Canadian artist Deidre LaCarte and her sister. She made a page of animated hamsters set to a chipmunked loop of Whistle Stop from Disney’s Robin Hood (1973). Within months, it took over inboxes & office desktops.
Today, it's gone from the live web.
Today, it's gone from the live web.
Short story rec on using AI to plan your (social etc) life: Better Living Through Algorithms by Naomi Kritzer. (It's not all bad, though!) clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_05_23/
If only there was an entire branch of literature dedicated to what happens to those who delegate their choices to machines
Life is a continuous series of burdensome choices. True freedom comes when you give yourself over to the algorithm.
September 21, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Short story rec on using AI to plan your (social etc) life: Better Living Through Algorithms by Naomi Kritzer. (It's not all bad, though!) clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_05_23/
brb, modifying my SF course slideshow for next year 🔥
Simply the best slide I have ever seen in a powerpoint presentation care of @premeemohamed.com’s talk at @banffcentre.bsky.social re: Putting the Science in Science Fiction
September 10, 2025 at 9:03 PM
brb, modifying my SF course slideshow for next year 🔥
Aaron Burr: "And Hamilton wrote...the other...51!" [Federalist papers]
Me, every time: "🙏 I love the digital humanities"
companions.digitalhumanities.org/DH/?chapter=...
Me, every time: "🙏 I love the digital humanities"
companions.digitalhumanities.org/DH/?chapter=...
A Companion to Digital Humanities
companions.digitalhumanities.org
August 30, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Aaron Burr: "And Hamilton wrote...the other...51!" [Federalist papers]
Me, every time: "🙏 I love the digital humanities"
companions.digitalhumanities.org/DH/?chapter=...
Me, every time: "🙏 I love the digital humanities"
companions.digitalhumanities.org/DH/?chapter=...
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
Major congratulations to all the Nommo award nominees for 2025! It was an honor to be able to make the announcement virtually at Seattle worldcon. I've read almost all the nominated stories and they represent some of the best of African speculative fiction. You should definitely check them out!
2025 Nommo Awards Finalists 🎉 www.africansfs.com/nommo-awards...
2025 Nommo Awards Finalists
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL NOMINEES
www.africansfs.com
August 19, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Major congratulations to all the Nommo award nominees for 2025! It was an honor to be able to make the announcement virtually at Seattle worldcon. I've read almost all the nominated stories and they represent some of the best of African speculative fiction. You should definitely check them out!
The Hugo Awards are this weekend, and I start teaching my Hugos course on Wednesday! It's fun to teach a "contemporary literature" course and have it be contemporary, indeed!
August 15, 2025 at 8:48 PM
The Hugo Awards are this weekend, and I start teaching my Hugos course on Wednesday! It's fun to teach a "contemporary literature" course and have it be contemporary, indeed!
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
BTW, if ppl are looking for repositories of scientific films that can be viewed online, I created this list for a class I taught several years ago on science and film. Happy to hear about any that are missing!
library.seattleu.edu/guides/FILM3...
library.seattleu.edu/guides/FILM3...
August 13, 2025 at 3:45 PM
BTW, if ppl are looking for repositories of scientific films that can be viewed online, I created this list for a class I taught several years ago on science and film. Happy to hear about any that are missing!
library.seattleu.edu/guides/FILM3...
library.seattleu.edu/guides/FILM3...