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Meghan O'Rourke

@meghanor.bsky.social

3.3K followers 70 following 180 posts

Writer and poet | Editor of The Yale Review | Professor of Creative Writing at Yale | playing with a Substack about writing Most recent book: THE INVISIBLE KINGDOM: REIMAGINING CHRONIC ILLNESS, which was a finalist for the nonfiction National Book Award.

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Reposted by Meghan O'Rourke

Michael Miller @mchlmllr.bsky.social · 9d

New Bookforum. @xlo.bsky.social @sashafrerejones.bsky.social @meghanor.bsky.social @hermionehoby.bsky.social @ryanruby.bsky.social @adamwilson.bsky.social @jenniferkrasinski.bsky.social www.bookforum.com/print

Meghan O'Rourke @meghanor.bsky.social · 10d

Thrilled to announce a dream collaboration dreamed up by me and Adam Biles: @yalereview.bsky.social + @shakespeareandcompany.com .Together, we’ll publish author conversations from the legendary Paris bookshop—beginning with Neige Sinno on her extraordinary Sad Tiger. yalereview.org/article/shak...

A Shakespeare and Company Interview: Neige Sinno on her memoir Sad…

Shakespeare and Company’s Adam Biles discusses form, memory, childhood sexual abuse, and the paradoxes of testimony with novelist and memoirist Neige…

Meghan O'Rourke @meghanor.bsky.social · 10d

A new Yale study finds a striking rise in self-reported cognitive disability among U.S. adults — especially younger people. What role might Covid and Long Covid be playing? We urgently need more studies. news.yale.edu/2025/09/24/g...

A growing number of U.S. adults report cognitive disability

In a 10-year study, U.S. adults reported growing rates of problems with their memory, concentration, and decision-making abilities, with the figure doubling among the youngest cohort.

Meghan O'Rourke @meghanor.bsky.social · Aug 21

💙

Meghan O'Rourke @meghanor.bsky.social · Aug 21

I've been quiet here because summer break is anything but that when you have kids... but, as part of endless vacay with those aforementioned kids, we watched Back to the Future 2 last night and its "alternate" 1985 is a fascinating parallel to T's America.... tempted to write about it.

Meghan O'Rourke @meghanor.bsky.social · Aug 21

Here is the link to news of it: www.mountsinai.org/about/newsro...

Mount Sinai Creates First Manual for Treating Infection-Associated Chronic Illness for Clinicians

www.mountsinai.org

Meghan O'Rourke @meghanor.bsky.social · Aug 21

Mount Sinai’s new manual for the treatment of infection-associated chronic diseases is an important step: not a cure-all, sure, but an important instance of a medical institution taking IACD seriously—including Lyme & TBDs—and introducing frameworks for care. Thx @putrinolab.bsky.social & CORE!

Meghan O'Rourke @meghanor.bsky.social · Aug 21

“Living with #MECFS is like holding what has no meaning.”

@julierehmeyer.bsky.social's new piece about illness and grief for her friend Beth Mazur is searing and unforgettable. I’m better today, but when I was sickest, this paragraph was my life:

Meghan O'Rourke @meghanor.bsky.social · Aug 16

playing around with ChatGPT 5 (for the paper I'm about its effect on creativity) . I find it less strong as an administrative editing tool: v normie in its outputs, tending to cut anything interesting / odd. Anyone else seeing this? Here's my earlier piece: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o...

Opinion | I Teach Creative Writing. This Is What A.I. Is Doing to Students.

www.nytimes.com

Meghan O'Rourke @meghanor.bsky.social · Aug 6

New Substack post! I answer your writing questions—on structure, self-editing, and getting through the messy middle. I also talk about what I learned from Nancy Drew, index cards, and the most common notes I give writers.

meghanorourke.substack.com/p/how-to-edi...

How to Edit Yourself, Weave Narrative Threads, and Keep Going When You're Lost in the Middle

Structure is the writer’s most underrated tool. Here’s how I use index cards and detective fiction to help me edit my work.

meghanorourke.substack.com

Reposted by Meghan O'Rourke

Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · Jul 20

Anyone thinking about AI and writing — or what may soon be at stake with much of human creativity — should read this essay by @meghanor.bsky.social. It is… genuinely thought-provoking and insightful. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o...

Opinion | I Teach Creative Writing. This Is What A.I. Is Doing to Students.

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Meghan O'Rourke

Nataliya Kosmyna, Ph.D @nataliyakosmyna.bsky.social · Jul 18

Loved today’s Guest Opinion Essay published in @nytimes.com, written by @meghanor.bsky.social after her thought experiment with ChatGPT, also mentioning our paper «Your Brain on ChatGPT».

Meghan O'Rourke @meghanor.bsky.social · Jul 18

Great question. I didn’t necessarily find that but I did find that in talking to it about the book I’m writing it strongly made the case (a smart one) for the more distinctive version over the more conventional version that my human readers felt it should tend toward. So an area to explore?

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Siegenthaler Lab @siegenthalerlab.bsky.social · Jul 18

@meghanor.bsky.social article is exceptional, the concerns raised apply just as much to scientific writing.
You can use AI to generate ideas, to summarize, to even write your grants & manuscripts...but, ethics aside, do you miss out on 'the pleasure of invention'?
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o...

Opinion | The Seductions of A.I. for the Writer’s Mind

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Meghan O'Rourke

Peter Steinberg @peter23.bsky.social · Jul 18

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o...

I think this is the best thing I’ve ever read on writing and A.I. by @meghanor.bsky.social
Gifted article.

Opinion | The Seductions of A.I. for the Writer’s Mind

www.nytimes.com

Meghan O'Rourke @meghanor.bsky.social · Jul 18

Thank you!

Meghan O'Rourke @meghanor.bsky.social · Jul 17

A good reminder that higher ed isn’t a luxury; it’s our democracy’s backbone. Trump’s assault on academic independence is a power grab that hurts all fields of inquiry, as well as liberals and conservatives alike:

Politico @politico.com · Jul 16

OPINION: The real goal of Trump’s attack on Harvard isn’t what you think, writes Michael S. Roth, president of Wesleyan University.

Opinion | The Real Goal of Trump’s Attack on Harvard Isn’t What You Think

Conservative values are at stake as much as liberal ones.

www.politico.com

Meghan O'Rourke @meghanor.bsky.social · Jul 16

Oh my god. I really don’t know what to say.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Jul 16

JOHNSON: How many air traffic controllers have left the FAA since January 20? And don't tell me you don't know

DUFFY: I don't know that

JOHNSON: Are you trying to tell us you don't know how many air traffic controllers are in the building?

DUFFY: They're in towers

Meghan O'Rourke @meghanor.bsky.social · Jul 12

❤️❤️❤️

Meghan O'Rourke @meghanor.bsky.social · Jun 30

UVA’s president resigned because DOJ threatened to yank research funds & visas if DEI didn’t go. Feels eerily like Milosz’s Captive Mind—intellectuals pressured into submission by political power. This isn’t just policy—it’s a colonization of the academy, and a loss of academic freedom.

The U. of Virginia’s President Was Targeted Over DEI. Now He’s Resigning.

James E. Ryan announced his departure on Friday, following a reported demand by federal officials that he step down to resolve a Department of Justice investigation into the university’s diversity-rel...

www.chronicle.com

Meghan O'Rourke @meghanor.bsky.social · Jun 17

It is insane and anti-democratic that we've come to this.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @aoc.bsky.social · Jun 17

ICE just arrested Brad Lander, the NYC Comptroller and one of the leading candidates for Mayor, without grounds.

He was conducting routine immigration court work, escorting individuals from hearings.

He asked ICE for their warrant - well within his legal rights.

This is political intimidation.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · Jun 17

Whoa! NYC mayoral candidate and current city Comptroller Brad Lander seemingly arrested at the NYC immigration court while attending to escort someone attending their hearing.

Reposted by Meghan O'Rourke

The Yale Review @yalereview.bsky.social · Jun 17

“Sometimes I think that a good work of art, from start to finish, is really only saying one thing: ‘This world is a very strange place.’”

Samanta Schweblin on the uncanny, literature as technology, and her new short story in our summer issue. yalereview.org/article/sama...

Samanta Schweblin on Paying Attention and Literature as Technology

An interview with the Argentine novelist about the uncanny, literature as technology, and the child psychoanalyst who changed her life.

Reposted by Meghan O'Rourke

The Yale Review @yalereview.bsky.social · Jun 16

Your summer reading bundle, as seen in ELLE: our Little Magazine tote plus the spring and summer issues of The Yale Review. $10 off for a limited time.

Get yours → shop.yalereview.org/products/lit...

Canvas tote with pink lettering reads "Little Magazine" on a natural wood background. Overlayed text reads "Featured in Elle" on left side. On the right side: Summer Reading Bundle. Little Magazine tote + two recent issues
of The Yale Review

$10 off for a limited time

Reposted by Meghan O'Rourke

News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · Jun 14

Holy shit, New York!

Here’s the full view.

#NoKings #50501Movement

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Hari Kunzru @harikunzru.bsky.social · Jun 11

Someone’s paying $1k in Trumpcoin for seat fillers for his birthday Nuremberg rally

Seat Fillers Needed - June 14th - Constitution Avenue - DC
T-Mellon Events is looking for seat fillers and extras to provide their time for space maximization and attendance perception for an event taking place in Washington DC on June 14th. Extras and Seat fillers will check in on the morning of June 14th at 9:00 a.m.
Extras are required to wear Red, White and Blue clothing and will be provided a RED hat to wear. GOLD accessories are acceptable as well. The team will advise the extras where to stand or sit according to the line of sight from a VIP viewing platform area.
Extras and Seat fillers will be paid a flat daily fee and will be provided a lunch of fast food and soda.
We encourage people of color and ethnic groups to sign up for maximum perception control and these individuals will be prominently displayed on the televised broadcast