Ilana Masad
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ilanaslightly.bsky.social
Ilana Masad
@ilanaslightly.bsky.social
4.3K followers 1.3K following 4.8K posts
Writer and critic for hire. Author of the novels "All My Mother's Lovers" and "Beings"; co-editor of "Here for All the Reasons", coming May 5 2026

Pre-order links (and hopefully other stuff soon): https://linktr.ee/ilanaslightly
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ilanaslightly.bsky.social
I am so incredibly honored that @yrfatfriend.bsky.social - author, activist, co-host of one of my favorite podcasts - has blurbed the Bachelor anthology I co-edited 😍

She says: "As a longtime conflicted member of Bachelor Nation, this is the Bachelor book I've been waiting for."
As a longtime conflicted member of Bachelor Nation, this is the Bachelor book I've been waiting for. Here For All The Reasons is sharply observed, deeply interrogated, and fun as hell. It's the smartest warxh part around. --Aubrey Gordon, author, columnist, and co-host of Maintenance Phase
February 10, 2026 at 4:44 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
I dunno, somehow I don't think this is actually ottessa moshfegh
Sent via form submission from Ilana Masad Name: ottessa Moshfegh Email: moshfeghottessa0@gmail.com Subject: On All My Mother’s Lovers, Generational Understanding, and Queer Family Ties Message: Dear Sacha,
January 20, 2026 at 1:51 AM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
Like, this does not surprise me in the least and it infuriates me as someone who has struggled with body dysmorphia for nearly half my life. I don't know that I consciously avoided the Wicked film because of this, but unconsciously? Probs.

(the below is from this: www.thecut.com/article/emac...
Almost every client Heidi Hartig has seen over the past months has brought up Wicked. The eating-disorder therapist says her younger patients tend to view the stars’ bodies as “thinspo,” and a few have even relapsed after watching the movie or seeing the press tour. Another therapist told me that
January 7, 2026 at 1:09 AM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
THIS THIS THIS all of this especially this:
The concern arises when algospeak also reflects a larger softening of language, one driven by the desire to pursue safety over reality, dilution over strength. Here, the algorithm is a stand in for something larger in the form of a fear of cultural censure if people speak frankly. Algospeak becomes a form of anticipatory compliance that in the process asserts a new status quo. There is a fear of being too confrontational, of making people uncomfortable. Using distancing and often infantilizing language like algospeak to make a concept seem more relatable—or less frightening—to those who might be alienated by language deemed confrontational serves only those in positions of power. Any conversation about the rise of algospeak should, can, and does include explicit criticism about the rise and cultural implications of softened language.
January 6, 2026 at 6:25 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
Yes, yes, the list of things people got stuck in their orifices is always fascinating, but did you know it can also reveal how broken our healthcare system is? For example, in a civilized country where calling an ambulance wouldn't make you broke, I suspect this person would have done that:
From the Defector article "What Did We Get Stuck In Our Rectums Last Year?": "PLASTIC COATHANGER INSIDE HIS ANUS. HE INSERTED THE HANGER DURING SEXUAL ACTIVITY. HE CUT OFF THE OUTSIDE OF THE HANGER SO HE COULD DRIVE TO THE ER"
January 2, 2026 at 5:20 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
Been a minute since I saw such an obviously masturbatory novel description
Publishers Lunch deal announcement that reads: Literary Gresham College professor of business, Oxford University Institute for Ethics in AI senior research associate, and author of GROWTH Daniel Susskind’s THE BASILISK STARE, in which a brilliant AI developer disappears, leading his old university friend to delve into what the company is building—the world’s most capable AI—and its frightening potential, while grappling with the legacies of our age’s greatest scientists, to Asya Muchnick at Little, Brown, by Sarah Chalfant at The Wylie Agency (NA).
December 23, 2025 at 2:54 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
Oh wow, this part.
I am sitting here in exile this morning while my spouse sleeps in, listening to “Mother,” and understanding how people like Elise, Vivek, Donald, Roger, and Elon end up becoming conduits for evil. Fascism begins with loneliness. Loneliness begins in youth. The fascist impulse is to return to a youth you never had; one where you felt loved and in communion with other people, especially those with power over you. One where mom held you in her arms and you never had to grow up.
December 19, 2025 at 10:14 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
The passive fucking voice being used her is driving me insane. People are making choices! There are policy decisions and funding decisions affecting this!
nytbooks: The age of the book may be fading in U.S. high schools.
December 18, 2025 at 4:59 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
This is disgusting. The guy hosting this runs this site that promises it will help you "effortlessly get the most out of your slush pile." I'm sorry, but it's a GOOD thing that the slush pile requires effort?!?!?
Novel Manuscript Discovery Effortlessly get the most out of your slush pile. Logo of Inkbloom, a small book with a pen coming out of it and squirting ink everywhere
December 17, 2025 at 4:00 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
Um. What the fuck?
Googled books for 2 year olds and the first sponsored product result is this bizarre looking book called AntiWoke Baby by Henry Rogers
December 13, 2025 at 6:18 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
Intrigued to see how something a sitting president is doing is, yet again somehow, the fault of a former president
Screenshot of a NYT email header that reads Opinion Today: Trump is making Biden's mistake
December 11, 2025 at 3:18 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
I like it when shit like this happens on Netgalley by accident
Four books on Netgalley. On the top right is a book titled "unhitched: the essential divorce guide for women." On the bottom left is a novel called "The Hitch" by Sara Levine.
December 11, 2025 at 2:51 AM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
In news that may shock you: people like it when human beings recommend books to them rather than algorithms!
Today's Meal: Social App Reading Report Shows Personal Recommendations Lead Discovery Social reading app Fable and digital subscription service Everand released their State of Reading Report, an analysis of reading trends based on a survey of more than 1600 users. More than half of respondents report reading more this year than last. Fable also notes that personal recommendations have risen and are the dominant mode of discovery, over finding their next read on ebook and audiobook platforms. "Sometimes, humans get it better than machines," Fable says in a release. "Many readers say algorithms and search tools don’t quite get their tastes – what some describe as a 'discovery crisis.' They want recommendations that feel personal, not prescriptive. Books are a true form of self-expression, full of emotions and nuance that automated systems can’t quite get."
December 10, 2025 at 4:15 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
Cool, then maybe let us keep our jobs.
I’m a stand-up comedian. Not a book critic. I don’t want to be a book critic.
December 10, 2025 at 3:58 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
Oh hey, BEINGS is 15% off on Bookshop dot org and all shipping is free through tomorrow!

bookshop.org/info/bloomsb...
Bloomsbury - Riveting New Releases from Bloomsbury Publishing! Get 15% off with code BLOOM15 Brilliant Literary Fiction Bog Queen by Anna North Beings by Ilana Masad Loneliness & Company by Charlee Dyroff Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum translated by Shanna Tan
November 29, 2025 at 10:06 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
I'm sorry, a what resume?
Screenshot of Google Docs homepage. Header reads "Start a new document" and then the options below are "Blank document" and "Pet resume"
November 29, 2025 at 9:09 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
This is an excellent piece that you should read and also, I think there's something so much bigger going on on top of all this, which is that we have become so utterly numbed to dead kids in this country that we think just a couple kids dying of a horrible preventable disease isn't a big deal
Perhaps no one can be surprised that the subject of a scandal writes a book anymore. But offering her an editorship showed disregard for the damage she’s caused and the journalistic ethics she’s burned to the ground. The glamorous photo shoots, the breathless gossip on her sordid saga—they all function to rehabilitate the images and careers of people who have done harm. When a major publication repeats a joke about vaccines without mentioning, for instance, the two unvaccinated children who died of measles in the U.S. this year, they contribute to the rise of dangerous actors and they normalize those who helped them into power.
November 25, 2025 at 10:39 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
She's here, she's available for preorder, and she's available for ARC requests 🥹

HERE FOR ALL THE REASONS: Why We Watch The Bachelor is an anthology of 29 essays by 30 contributors, and includes pieces about racism, spoiling, love, loss, friendship, heterosexuality, and so much more.
Cover of HERE FOR ALL THE REASONS: Why We Watch The Bachelor edited by Ilana Masad and Stevie K. Seibert Desjarlais. It features four women - white with glasses and short hair, Black with long hair holding a wine glass, white with reddish hair holding a wine glass, and brown with log hair up in a bun and glasses - sitting together with their backs to the viewer looking at a big TV screen with the title of the book on it.
November 6, 2025 at 5:56 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
because he wants to be a dictator/king, that's why
Screenshot of subject line from an email from The New Yorker that reads: Why Trump Keeps Talking About a Third Term
October 29, 2025 at 9:36 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
Got to visit @allshewrotebks.bsky.social and @joshthelibromancer.bsky.social at @portershed.bsky.social on Friday, what a joy!
Me, a white queer with glasses and piercings and a tattoo sleeve, wearing a tank top, with my hair up in a high ponytail, smiling at the camera widely while signing a copy of BEINGS in All She Wrote Books. A redheaded toddler holding onto the chalkboard sign outside of Porter Square Books that includes the info about my event there
October 6, 2025 at 1:32 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
I'm going on tour with BEINGS this week, and I'm very nervous and also excited! Here's the rundown - if you live in these cities or know someone who does, please come/tell them to come???

Philly - Mon, 9/29
Washington, DC - Tues, 9/30
NYC - Wed, 10/1
Providence - Thurs, 10/2
Boston - Fri, 10/3
BEINGS tour poster with the info: Wednesday, September 24 / Los Angeles, CA / Skylight Books Monday, September 29 / Philadelphia, PA / Head House Books Tuesday, September 30 / Washington, DC / Loyalty Bookstore Wednesday, October 1 / New York, NY / The Strand Bookstore Thursday, October 2 / Providence, RI / Riffraff Bookstore and Bar Friday, October 3 / Cambridge, MA / Porter Square Books Thursday, October 9 / Bronxville, NY / Sarah Lawrence College Saturday, October 11 / Tarzana, CA / Sunny’s Bookshop Wednesday, November 12 / Lincoln, NE / Francie & Finch Bookshop
September 27, 2025 at 3:50 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
I love it when style guides are pissy
Entry from AP style guide. The header is "OK, OK'd, OK'ing, OKs" and the text of the entry reads, in its entirety, "Do not use okay."
September 23, 2025 at 10:17 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
BEINGS is out today! Writing can be a lonely project (and this book is about loneliness in many ways) but it is absolutely impossible, at least for me, without having a community of people who have your back (and this book is also, in many ways, about having, needing, or finding community).
photo of me, a white queer with glasses and long hair wearing a white tank top, holding my second novel, BEINGS, which is out today. photo of BEINGS's dedication, which reads:To Mike, who kicked this whole thing off, and to Micha, who unknowingly helped finish it Photo of BEINGS's epigraphs which read: Safe journey, space fans, wherever you are. - Stephen Hill, host and producer of Hearts of Space "It is not that I have no past. Rather, it continually fragments on the terrible and vivid ephemera of now." - Samuel R. Delany, Dhalgren Words change depending on who speaks them; there is no cure. - Maggie Nelson, The Argonauts The start of BEINGS's acknowledgements (which are five pages long) which reads: Before I get to the thank-yous, I want to acknowledge that any misrepresentations of or factual errors regarding real places, time periods, or people--and any mistakes in general--are entirely my own. There are many, many people to thank (some of whom don't know I exist but whom I feel compelled to acknowledge anyway), so let's get started. Thank you to Mike Cahill, to whom this book is dedicated, for always listening to podcasts while making dinner, for letting me interrupt you...
September 23, 2025 at 4:48 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
My book comes out tomorrow and I gotta say I've been slaying it on the memes over on Instagram (if you're interested in following me there) but I just have to share my two faves from today
The famous X-Files "I want to believe" poster with a flying saucer hovering above some trees and the text beneath reads "I WANT TO BE" Image from the film Love Lies Bleeding where Kristen Stewart is kneeling on the lap of Katy O'Brian, who is also kneeling; their heads are bent towards each other. Above Stewart's head is the caption "The urge to write sexy queer yearning"; on O'Brian's legs is the caption "The urge to write Serious Literature"; in the space between the two women is the caption "BEINGS"
September 22, 2025 at 11:52 PM
ilanaslightly.bsky.social
I had no idea I could do this and honestly, the list of 53 (!) articles I'm cited in is pretty cool and also not at all surprising lol
Screenshot of some of the Wikipedia articles that my work is cited in. The entries visible are for: Kiley Reid T Kira Madden Whiskey Tender (a memoir) Inappropriation (a novel) Hala Alyan Morgan Talty Queerbaiting British Premonitions Bureua
September 20, 2025 at 1:15 AM