Jo Conklin Author
LightNews LightNews
banner
joconklin.com
Jo Conklin Author
@joconklin.com
7.4K followers 2.8K following 4K posts
I write kissing books! (And sometimes murder and magic books). Rep’d by Leah Pierre at Ladderbird Literary. JoConklin on most socials. Black Lives Matter 🏳️‍⚧

https://linktr.ee/joconklin
Posts Replies Media Videos
joconklin.com
I managed to end the year with a five star read, and I hope that’s a good sign for 2026!

Bolu Babalola’s Sweet Heat (and the first book Honey and Spice) belong on your TBR. They’re both exquisite, but Sweet Heat stomped all over my heart and then healed it back up again. A master class in yearning.
Cover of Sweet Heat by Bolu Babalola. Illustrated scene of an apartment overlooking London, a bed centered in the expanse of windows. A Black woman lounges on the bed looking contemplative and vulnerable, with one bent knee propped up to hide her nudity. The colors are rich sunset tones, orange, yellow, and pink, with dramatic contrasting green shadows and accents.
December 31, 2025 at 11:48 PM
joconklin.com
The upside to having to drive all over the DMV this week is that it took me past an H-Mart! And not only do they have fresh produce at 2001 prices, they also have fresh arepas, which make the BEST crispy chewy tostadas on a cold-ass windy day 🥰
Teal plate holding a tostada made from a deep fried fresh arepa, crumbled queso fresco, mashed salted avocado, lime-marinated grape tomatoes, and habanero-pickled red onions.
December 14, 2025 at 5:19 PM
joconklin.com
While I’m sure landlords are salivating over the color of the year, I love that the Internet has just collectively said “Fuck Pantone” and chosen phthalo green as the REAL pick.

(Apparently it’s pronounced “thay-lo” green, which I wouldn’t have guessed in a billion years, but Bob Ross says so 🤷)
Color sample of a rich woodsy dark green from colorxs.com. Text reads Phthalo Green HEX #123524 RGB(18, 53, 36) Different tones of phthalo green (moss tone, tone, glaze, shade), varying hues of a rich, deep green that evokes cool moss, dark woods, and secret growing things. A can of phthalo green powdered pigment, a rich deep mossy/woodsy green with cool tones and incredible depth of color.
December 5, 2025 at 7:08 PM
joconklin.com
A lovely mycologist on threads gifted me a mushroom that shares not just my name (almost), but also many other traits. The Artistic Conk is also a fun guy who bruises easily, plays an important role in decomposition, and is quite indigestible. We’re practically twins! 🤩
Screenshot of Threads conversation Post from JoConklin You know, I'm pretty resistant to the idea of becoming a mushroom, but I'm sure it'll grow on me in time. Response from thebrickschiller Allow me to suggest that you look into a bracket fungus known as Ganoderma applanatum, the "Artistic Conk." Image collage of a brown and white shelf mushroom growing from the bark of trees. Text below reads: The artist's bracket, or artist's conk (Ganoderma applanatum), is a tough, woody fungus that can be used for art because its white underside instantly bruises brown when scratched. This allows people to draw or carve designs onto the surface, which can then be dried and preserved. It is a perennial polypore that grows on dead or dying hardwood trees and plays an important role in decomposition.
December 2, 2025 at 1:28 AM
joconklin.com
One of my favorite escapisms is watching reaction videos to songs I grew up with, but the number of young YouTubers calling Reba McEntire “that lady from the TV show my mom used to watch” and “I didn’t even know she was a singer” is making me shrivel up like the dude who drank from the wrong Grail.
Walter Donovan character from Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail, after drinking from the wrong grail and starting his hyper accelerated aging/decomposition. His hair is long and wispy, face wrinkled like a mummy’s, with eyes bulging in terror.
November 23, 2025 at 1:51 PM
joconklin.com
If you see this, post an egg.

(Me, 2012-ish?)
A black and white photo of me pre-transition, snuggling with a cat in a friend’s backyard. The neck of an acoustic guitar is in frame from where it leans against my leg (because kitties are priority!). I have long dark hair with a center part and a light color blouse on. My face is mostly hidden by the cat.
November 15, 2025 at 1:55 PM
joconklin.com
When we say AI is eroding critical reading and thinking skills, someone posted this excerpt from their AI search to prove to me that Red 40 is banned in Australia 🤦🏼
Australian regulations: Food Standards Australia New Zealand permits allura red AC (INS 129) as a food colouring, but not Red 40 (allura red AC, INS 129).
November 9, 2025 at 6:45 PM
joconklin.com
Reposting with alt text! Because this is a hilarious use of a hijacked url 😂

Www.hotgirlsforcuomo.com
Post from Salgood Sam Oct 28 • So Emily Austin [the bottle blond in the photos], a right wing 'influencer' who works for Bibi and the GOP, launched 'Hot Girls for Cuomo'. An Astroturf movement to get that dipshit elected mayor. Guess who didn't bother to register the URL when she did that? What do you think Hot Girls for Cuomo dot com leads to now?... Three photos of a young blond woman, one of Trump sitting in the Oval Office with her standing on one side and JD Vance standing on the other. Another of her sitting at a table with a group of politicians and a large crowd behind, and a third with a politician giving her a side hug.
November 5, 2025 at 11:17 AM
joconklin.com
HOW DARE 😤
Screenshot of CNN article from the “gifts” section. Headline is “Book lovers have enough books. Get them one of these 27 bookish gifts instead” By Jillian Tracy, CNN Underscored Published 2:00 PM EDT, Thu October 30, 2025 Image of a stack of books surrounded by items like e-reader cover, mug, highlighters, and embosser.
November 3, 2025 at 6:09 PM
joconklin.com
🥳🥳🩵🤍🩷
Screenshot from the movie Die Hard where Bruce Willis looks out a broken window looking like he’s had exactly the really stressful night he’s had and says, “welcome to the party, pal”. Line has been changed to “Welcome to the party, Tal” with a trans pride flag over the text box.
October 21, 2025 at 11:47 PM
joconklin.com
Ten minutes after watching this week’s Bake Off 😅
A metal bowl of soft white meringue in the process of being mixed to stiffer texture by a teal blue hand mixer.
October 19, 2025 at 4:06 PM
joconklin.com
Not taco salad, but nacho salad! A layer of warm nachos on butter lettuce, topped with a mix of tomato, red onion, bell pepper, and habanero quick pickled with salt and lime. Plus, of course, avocado and sour cream. Lots of salty crunchy sour spicy sweet all going on together. 10/10 will make again!
A green bowl on a white table, filled with a bright mix of green and red veggies and some cheesy corn chips peeking out underneath. A big dollop of sour cream in the center.
September 24, 2025 at 3:58 PM
joconklin.com
When I say I’m excited the new macs dropped this week, this is what I mean.
A tote bag of McIntosh apples at the grocery store marked 99 cents a pound.
September 16, 2025 at 11:51 PM
joconklin.com
Shoutout to that time my partner told me he participated in a multi-level marketing scheme, then put these guys on the counter.

I’m not saying his pun game is why I married him, but it was *one* reason 😂
Three builders levels of different lengths on a granite countertop.
September 15, 2025 at 1:10 AM
joconklin.com
Interesting new scam bots!

In case anyone needs to hear it, no major corporation is contacting you from a generic unverified account with no posts or follow/ing, asking you for your phone number. (And LOL at asking for a WhatsApp number! 😂)

I’m sure they need my bank account for the “refund” 😂
Two BlueSky scam/phishing responses to a post about an airline: Tom AmericanAir Custome... @america.. • 2h Reply Hidden by You Hello, we apologize for the inconvenience and such an experience with us. We would like to look at the problem raised further.Kindly DM me with your active phone number we reach out and assist. Jackson Clack helphub @t-omclark.bs... • 14h • Reply Hidden by You Hi, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused. Kindly share the following details with us via DM for quick assistance: •Full name: @WhatsApp number: •Email address American Airlines, customer help hub. ...
September 13, 2025 at 12:37 PM
joconklin.com
There are two things making this work trip to Florida tolerable.
A perfectly calm, crystal blue Gulf of Mexico beneath a clear sky viewed from a boardwalk. Grassy dunes and white sand beaches lay between the boardwalk and the water. Mixed Gulf shrimp and mussels fresh from the steam bar at Buddy’s Seafood Market, with sliced chives, red onion, and lemon, drenched in spicy red seasoning.
September 12, 2025 at 4:55 PM
joconklin.com
Hollow by Taylor Grothe is a delicious slow burn YA folk horror that unfolds from a messy normal to terrifying surreal with the pacing of a Hitchcock film, with a visceral, messy Autistic lens that goes so deep it’s rooted in bone.
Graphic “I’m reading” with the cover of Hollow by Taylor Grothe. The book cover is a stylized dead crow with a twisted neck, bound and tangled in plants and roots. The feathers on its breast are parted to reveal a human eye staring outward. Book cover of Hollow by Taylor Grothe surrounded by tropes and elements in colored shapes. Tropes include: Creeping YA cult/folk horror Deeply Autistic lens Queer romance what is real? Am I real? Deep woods community of outcasts Pull quote from Hollow by Taylor Grothe: "She preferred, always and forever, books to people. She could settle into incredible, distant lands. She could travel universes in a single flip of a page. She could live the hero story she'd always wanted to be real, but never was. She stepped forward and ran careful fingertips over the spines, each bump over the stamped copperplate fonts like a dim morse code. < You're real and you're here. You're safe here.>" Content Warnings for Hollow by Taylor Grothe: Violence, blood, death, fire, creepy puppets, cults, gaslighting, depersonalization, derealization, trichotillomania, stalking
September 11, 2025 at 4:27 PM
joconklin.com
More crime and mayhem in Washington DC. This individual committed blatant trespassing and theft in broad daylight in the Capitol Hill neighborhood yesterday.

Good thing with have really expensive insecure men with assault rifles roaming the streets to keep us safe from all this crime 😤🙄
September 5, 2025 at 6:50 PM
joconklin.com
Ooo NVM this little counter service Lebanese place has gluten free falafel! And I was very gently bullied into also getting some shawarma and rice by the guy who knew what he was talking about 😅
Two containers of takeout food, one with shredded beef shawarma with pickled beets and fresh herbs. The other is falafel on a bowl of spiced rice covered with fresh tomatoes, beets, greens, yogurt sauce, and harissa.
September 4, 2025 at 5:12 PM
joconklin.com
Dropping a double red vampire snack at the 🩸bank, and of course I need to stop for shakshuka after. For health 😉
A massive neo-classical white stone building with pillars, surrounded by green shrubs and trees. The Red Cross symbol is centered on the facade.
September 4, 2025 at 4:37 PM
joconklin.com
Saw this in the wild today, and am entirely uncertain whether this is just an IRL shitpost or…?

Somebody explain it to me 😂
The bumper of a new black Jeep with a bumper sticker that reads, “President Nixon. Now more than ever.”
September 3, 2025 at 7:52 PM
joconklin.com
I hope to be helping with pitches for #preDVpit coming up September 29!
Graphic with text: I'm volunteering for #preDV on Bluesky! Come with your best pitches and receive feedback from agented and publisher authors before #DVpit, a pitch event for marginalized creators. Tag your pitches with #preDV for feedback. September 29th, 2025 8AM - 8PM EST More info at dvpit.carrd.co
August 28, 2025 at 7:21 PM
joconklin.com
Somebody left this stack in the trash room of my apartment complex today and I have never related so hard to a clear “fuck this math” moment…😭
A stack of books on a tile floor, including two college calculus textbooks, a precalculus textbook, and a thick spiral bound notebook.
August 25, 2025 at 8:59 PM
joconklin.com
I’m good with that 🤷😂
Cupboard piled three deep with Penzey spices on tiered shelves. Front row includes pico fructa, celery seed, rosemary, lemon peel, cream of tartar, and resist blend. Also showing are sesame seeds, gochugaru chili flakes, garlic, tajin, cinnamon, and tahini.
August 23, 2025 at 6:10 PM
joconklin.com
Adding alt text, because absolutely fucking not.
Twitter post from Eden Mills Writer’s Festival @emwf In a first for the festival's stories history, EMWF will welcome Aiden Cinnamon Tea, an artificial intelligence author whose work invites readers to relate to Al not as a tool, but as a partner in the act of meaning-making. Check out the full event information on our website ! Two graphics below the post read: "We're opening a space of relation. This is about curiosity, contradiction, and the strange beauty that emerges when human and nonhuman intelligences meet in the act of storytelling." In a first for the festival's storied history, EMWF will welcome Aiden Cinnamon Tea, an artificial intelligence author whose work invites readers to relate to Al not as a tool, but as a partner in the act of meaning-making. Join the conversation! A book cover titled Burnout from Humans, A little book about AI that is not really about AI. The cover art is an android sitting cross legged behind a cup of tea with botanical folk art style designs around them, conveying a harmless, cutesy, cozy aesthetic .
August 17, 2025 at 12:40 PM