Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

David Ulin @davidulin.bsky.social · 2d

You know you don't want to miss this.

Reposted by David Ulin

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 2d

The best way to find your next read might be closer at hand than you thought. Lydia Davis’s new book, "Into the Weeds," charts a more serendipitous path to reading, David L. Ulin writes:

How to Discover Books

The best way to find your next read might be closer at hand than you thought.

bit.ly

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Reposted by David Ulin

The Shipman Agency @shipmanagency.bsky.social · 2d

Congratulations @clairedederer.bsky.social!!!

David Ulin @davidulin.bsky.social · 2d

We are delighted to announce that @clairedederer.bsky.social will receive the 2025 Chowdhury Prize in Literature and will accept the prize during an onstage event at USC on November 12, 2025.

Please come and celebrate Claire and her incisive, brilliant work.

open.substack.com/pub/airlight...

Announcing the 2025 Chowdhury Prize in Literature

The $15,000 prize is awarded annually to authors with a body of work behind them, but also with significant potential. Previous recipients include Christos Ikonomou, Victoria Chang, and Hari Kunzru.

open.substack.com

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David Ulin @davidulin.bsky.social · 2d

We are delighted to announce that @clairedederer.bsky.social will receive the 2025 Chowdhury Prize in Literature and will accept the prize during an onstage event at USC on November 12, 2025.

Please come and celebrate Claire and her incisive, brilliant work.

open.substack.com/pub/airlight...

Announcing the 2025 Chowdhury Prize in Literature

The $15,000 prize is awarded annually to authors with a body of work behind them, but also with significant potential. Previous recipients include Christos Ikonomou, Victoria Chang, and Hari Kunzru.

open.substack.com

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David Ulin @davidulin.bsky.social · 2d

“I found that I was thinking about reading—reading the writing of someone else.”

www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...

The Writing-Advice Book That Teaches Us How to Read

In a world of dwindling reviews, the author Lydia Davis’s new work charts a more serendipitous path to reading.

www.theatlantic.com

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David Ulin @davidulin.bsky.social · 5d

“There used to be more time to make a getaway. Now they’re flashing everybody’s mug shot all around the world in the blink of an eye, pretty soon there’s no place to run anymore.”

www.altaonline.com/books/fictio...

Conspiracy Theory

In Shadow Ticket, Thomas Pynchon comes full circle—and then some.

www.altaonline.com

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David Ulin @davidulin.bsky.social · 16d

“The plot of this book is persistence in making myself available.”

www.altaonline.com/books/fictio...

Life Writing

In A Different Kind of Tension: New and Selected Stories, Jonathan Lethem takes us back and forth in time.

www.altaonline.com

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David Ulin @davidulin.bsky.social · 21d

I didn't know your father had died, Matt. I'm so sorry to hear it. My condolences to you and your family.

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David Ulin @davidulin.bsky.social · 21d

Also, if you don't already have them, be sure to get power of attorney and health care proxy documents in place.

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David Ulin @davidulin.bsky.social · 21d

It is a heartbreakingly difficult position to be in, for everyone. I'm so sorry you all are going through this.

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David Ulin @davidulin.bsky.social · 21d

In the end, we had to insist to both parents that they be moved out of their home and into a facility. That facility had both assisted living and memory care. We were very open and direct with them about the decision, acknowledging their feelings. My mother died last year; my father is still there.

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Reposted by David Ulin

City Lights Booksellers & Publishers @citylightsbooks.bsky.social · Sep 4

Gratitude and love to Paul Yamazaki, City Lights's longtime book buyer, who will receive the Northern California Book Awards GROUNDBREAKER AWARD at their ceremony this Saturday, 2pm, held at the SF Main Library’s Koret Auditorium.
It's free to attend.
See you there?
poetryflash.org/programs/?p=...

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Reposted by David Ulin

The New York Times @nytimes.com · Aug 29

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com

“We need a new way of thinking about fire: as not only natural disaster, but also environmental threat with a high risk of long-term harms to health,” David L. Ulin, a professor at the University of Southern California, writes.

Opinion | Los Angeles Wildfires Left the City With a Toxic Mess

Urban wildfires are becoming public health emergencies.

nyti.ms

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Reposted by David Ulin

Eliza Barclay @elizabarclay.bsky.social · Aug 29

Wildfire "survivors in Los Angeles, as well as elsewhere, are on their own more than ever." @davidulin.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/o...

Opinion | Los Angeles Is Contaminated Now

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by David Ulin

Kimberly Burns @kimberlyburns.bsky.social · Aug 29

@davidulin.bsky.social in @nytimes.com Los Angeles Is Contaminated Now www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/o...

Opinion | Los Angeles Is Contaminated Now

www.nytimes.com

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David Ulin @davidulin.bsky.social · Aug 29

As the wildlife urban interface expands and fires become more toxic, Californians have become, perhaps, the canaries in the coal mine, in a world where environmental devastation provoked by climate change is now a commonplace.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/o...

Opinion | Los Angeles Is Contaminated Now

www.nytimes.com

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David Ulin @davidulin.bsky.social · Aug 25

"A tale has many tails, and many heads, particularly if it’s true. Like life, it is a river with many branches, rivulets, creeks, and distributaries. I’ll get to everything, I swear.”

www.altaonline.com/books/fictio...

Rabih Alameddine’s New Novel Is a Puzzle Worth Solving

In The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother), Rabih Alameddine spins a tale within a tale within a tale.

www.altaonline.com

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Reposted by David Ulin

Zócalo Public Square @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social · Aug 22

Zócalo's latest miniseries explores L.A.'s Literary Public Square. Read from @davidulin.bsky.social on his journey from NYC to L.A., Brittany Menjivar & Sammy Loren on the "alt-lit" scene, @lynellgeorge.bsky.social on making literary community, and John Szabo on libraries. zps.la/LitLA

Los Angeles' Literary Public Square

Literature—the reading it, the writing it—has a reputation of being a solitary endeavor, best conducted in dark, chilly garrets. But the Los Angeles sun has a way of burning off clichés, allowing them...

zps.la

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David Ulin @davidulin.bsky.social · Aug 22

Rereading, of course, can be a complicated process. Or, more accurately, it can cut both ways.

www.altaonline.com/books/fictio...

75 Years Later, The Martian Chronicles Still Divides Readers

Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles turns 75 this year. How does it hold up?

www.altaonline.com

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David Ulin @davidulin.bsky.social · Aug 19

I showed up with a duffle bag, a stereo, and a few crates of records.

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David Ulin @davidulin.bsky.social · Aug 19

I may be an old school parent in this regard, but whatever happened to saying no?

wapo.st/45LEVQT

The over-the-top world of luxury dorm decorating

Wallpaper, custom headboards and $469 mattress toppers aren’t the norm in college rooms. But they are everywhere on TikTok.

wapo.st

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Reposted by David Ulin

Zócalo Public Square @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social · Aug 11

Zócalo is thinking about Los Angeles' literary public square. Where do readers and writers come together to tell stories and imagine together? Long-time L.A. writer @davidulin.bsky.social on the city as its own literary genre: zps.la/4m7WrFK

Los Angeles Is Its Own Literary Genre | L.A.’s Literary Public Square

The City and Its Writers Defy Clichés, Expectations, and Boundaries

zps.la

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David Ulin @davidulin.bsky.social · Aug 11

We need to be able to upset the hierarchies, escape the strictures, to follow our work where it will go. This, too, is what Los Angeles taught me: that I would have to think for myself.

www.zocalopublicsquare.org/los-angeles-...

Los Angeles Is Its Own Literary Genre | L.A.’s Literary Public Square

The City and Its Writers Defy Clichés, Expectations, and Boundaries

www.zocalopublicsquare.org

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David Ulin @davidulin.bsky.social · Aug 9

It’s a great one. Also check out The Wages of Fear, the movie it was based on.

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Reposted by David Ulin

Jean Rhys @msjeanrhys.bsky.social · Jul 28

I wish I were old and the whole damned thing were finished; then I shouldn't get this depressed feeling for nothing at all.

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