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Reposted by Patricia Bender

Martina Dalton

@martinadalton.bsky.social

Beyond excited to share the news that my first poetry collection, Midnight at the Saltmarsh, will be published by @thegallerypress.bsky.social in May 2026! 💫✨

January 13, 2026 at 11:55 AM

Reposted by Patricia Bender

Laura Besley

@laurabesley.bsky.social

'My father taught me how to count. At first it was the number of fish he’d catch whenever he carried me to the farm pond down the hill from our house every Sunday.'
Beautiful portrayal of a father/son relationship by @kiptain.bsky.social @fictivedream.bsky.social
fictivedream.com/2026/01/12/m...

MicroMonday #39

Catch and Release by Kip Knott My father taught me how to count. At first it was the number of fish he’d catch whenever he carried me to the farm pond down the hill from our house every Sunday. By …

fictivedream.com

January 13, 2026 at 11:58 AM

Reposted by Patricia Bender

Fictive Dream

@fictivedream.bsky.social

"...my father and I shared stories and worries and life’s little victories in those seventy-eight steps to and from the pond." Catch and Release by Kip Knott @kiptain.bsky.social #microfiction #MicroMonday series. Please click on the link below and enjoy

fictivedream.com

January 12, 2026 at 11:15 AM

Reposted by Patricia Bender

Sherrilyn Ifill

@sifill.bsky.social

Please, PLEASE. Read this thread.

ashley fairbanks @ziibiing.com · 14h

just a reminder that we aren’t even seeing the worst of what is happening in Minneapolis from someone detailed at the Whipple Federal Building yesterday

Eyewitness account:
Good morning,
My name is Brandon Siguenza, and l am a US citizen from Minneapolis. Yesterday, while doing legal observation, ICE stopped their cars to harass my friend and me. They sprayed pepper spray into the vent of our vehicle. We held our hands in the air and told them we were not obstructing, that the car was in park and they were free to drive forward and away. There was no active immigration raid. They returned to their cars, and drove forward a bit, then decided to stop again. They surrounded us, smashed the windows of our car, opened the doors (they were unlocked), ripped my friend and I out of the car and arrested us on charges of obstruction.
I was put in an unmarked SUV, separated from my friend.
As I was put in the back seat an ICE agent tore the whistle off my neck and said "I'll be taking this, I might need it later." My phone was knocked out of my hand while being arrested. As we drove away I asked the driver and the passenger if they wouldn't mind buckling my seatbelt, as they were driving erratically. I was ignored. I asked them if I could have the handcuffs loosened, as I was losing circulation, and was told no. At one point the passenger realized his own driver's license was in the backseat next to mine, and tried to surreptitiously grab it without me seeing it.
We were taken to the Whipple federal building, where I saw dozens of brown people being processed in an unheated garage. I was frisked, told of my charges, and saw buses and vans being prepped. I later learned that these were being filled with detainees and driven to the airport for deportation. As we were led in, I noticed that the building was very busy. I got the impression that one of the 2 agents bringing me around was being trained. At multiple points throughout my stay, government agents were unable to open doors, not sure where they were meant to be going, and overall confused and overwhelmed. They couldn't figure out how to use the building phones, or complai…

January 13, 2026 at 2:52 PM

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Roxane Gay

@roxanegay.bsky.social

This week my imprint is publishing an amazing, odd but unputdownable novel, The Hitch by Sara Levine, and the book, deservedly, received one hell of a review in the NYT! www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/b...

She’s Mad at Everything, but Not as Mad as the Dog Possessing Her Nephew

www.nytimes.com

January 12, 2026 at 11:03 PM

Reposted by Patricia Bender

National Flash Fiction Day

@natflashfictionday.bsky.social

Over the next four weeks NFFD’s @scooterwriter.bsky.social will be chatting to our microfiction comp judges. This week it’s the turn of @joannacampbell.bsky.social . Read what advice she has to give on writing micros & much more: www.nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/index.php/ne...

January 12, 2026 at 6:09 PM

Reposted by Patricia Bender

Melissa Fitzpatrick

@melissafitz.bsky.social

Somebody pinch me, because I’m … on the shortlist??? 🤯

Congrats to the other shortlisters. Can’t wait to read your stories!

The Welkin Writing Prize @welkinprize.bsky.social · 2d

Are you ready for a shortlist?

Here we are then...

🤩

My TOP TWENTY picks for the Welkin Writing Prize 2026.

Each of these is a marvel and a gem, and they'll be coming your way one by one over the next three weeks:

www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-prize...

January 11, 2026 at 3:27 PM

Reposted by Patricia Bender

Kai Ryssdal

@kairyssdal.bsky.social

Listen to Powell here.

www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/s...

Statement from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell

Good evening. On Friday, the Department of Justice served the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas, threatening a criminal indictment related to my testi

www.federalreserve.gov

January 12, 2026 at 12:55 AM

Reposted by Patricia Bender

Federal Reserve

@federalreserve.gov

Video message from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KckG...
www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/s...

Statement by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell

YouTube video by Federal Reserve

www.youtube.com

January 12, 2026 at 12:35 AM

Reposted by Patricia Bender

Aaron Rupar

@atrupar.com

Chris Murphy: "It's reasonable for Democrats, speaking on behalf of the majority of the American public who don't approve of what ICE is doing, to say, 'If you want to fund DHS, I want to fund a DHS that is operating in a safe and legal manner.'"

January 11, 2026 at 3:27 PM

Reposted by Patricia Bender

Matt Kendrick

@mattkendrick.bsky.social

A wonderful thing. Today is the FIVE YEAR anniversary of my first ever #WriteBeyondTheLightbulb course. Can't quite believe it's been that long. So, so grateful to everyone who has taken one of the courses since then. There have been A LOT of you. Today I'm starting course number FORTY!!!!

Lightbulbs in a divided square with one half in orange and the other against a blue sky. The text reads #WriteBeyondTheLightbulb

January 11, 2026 at 11:32 AM

Reposted by Patricia Bender

The Welkin Writing Prize

@welkinprize.bsky.social

Are you ready for a shortlist?

Here we are then...

🤩

My TOP TWENTY picks for the Welkin Writing Prize 2026.

Each of these is a marvel and a gem, and they'll be coming your way one by one over the next three weeks:

www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-prize...

January 11, 2026 at 9:33 AM

Reposted by Patricia Bender

Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock

@warnock.senate.gov

Here’s the unspoken truth: While we’re busy fighting each other, this administration is working overtime to funnel wealth from the bottom to the top.

That’s the whole game.

January 10, 2026 at 9:12 PM

Reposted by Patricia Bender

Carl Quintanilla

@carlquintanilla.bsky.social

“Do not get lost in a sea of despair.”

- John Lewis #RIP

January 10, 2026 at 5:34 PM

Reposted by Patricia Bender

Dr. Vin Gupta

@vinguptamd.bsky.social

My origin story to becoming a doctor.

Thank you to @aft.org for giving me the chance and space to share it.

January 10, 2026 at 5:49 AM

Reposted by Patricia Bender

The Tennessee Holler

@thetnholler.bsky.social

ICYMI — One of Trump’s untrained racist ICE goons slips and falls on the ice and his gun goes off in a residential Minneapolis neighborhood

January 10, 2026 at 4:47 AM

Reposted by Patricia Bender

The Tennessee Holler

@thetnholler.bsky.social

CARTOON OF THE DAY

(From @BennettCartoons)

January 10, 2026 at 2:13 AM

Reposted by Patricia Bender

jamelle

@jamellebouie.net

rare to see an american politician speak in these terms and it rocks

Amanda Litman @amandalitman.bsky.social · 3d

“When I speak about making our city more affordable, my vision is not limited to the homes that we live in or the child care that we’re making universal — it’s also a vision where we make it possible for working people to afford lives of joy, of art, of rest, of expression.”

Handing Out Free Tickets, Mamdani Says Theater Should Not Be ‘a Luxury’

www.nytimes.com

January 10, 2026 at 2:48 AM

Reposted by Patricia Bender

Literary Namjooning | Submissions Closed

@lit-namjooning.bsky.social

Please join us in congratulating our Best Small Fictions 2026 nominees: @saipradhan.bsky.social, @francinewitte.bsky.social, @laurabesley.bsky.social @writesofkathryn.bsky.social and @happilander.bsky.social 😍

Read their stories here: literarynamjooning.wixsite.com/litnam/proje...

#namjooning

January 9, 2026 at 1:44 AM

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The Tennessee Holler

@thetnholler.bsky.social

👇🏽

January 9, 2026 at 6:41 PM

Reposted by Patricia Bender

Tressie McMillan Cottom

@tressiemcphd.bsky.social

I’m writing about this right now and should be doing that instead of this. However this poem tracks with what I’m processing. I don’t really understand all the performative closure stuff we do culturally. It seems enough for me to know I’m done.

𝚕 𝚒 𝚋 𝚋 𝚢 @feral-libra.bsky.social · 4d

do not mistake
my silence
for forgiveness.
some things
i simply stopped
explaining.

[sometimes closure is quiet]

#poetry #micropoetry

January 9, 2026 at 2:11 PM

Reposted by Patricia Bender

Matt Kendrick

@mattkendrick.bsky.social

A lovely thing. My newsletter now has more than 3000 (!!) subscribers. Amazed that so many of you want to read my waffle each month, but so grateful that so many of you do put up with me:

prattlefogandgravelrap.substack.com

Prattlefog & Gravelrap | Matt Kendrick | Substack

A monthly article series about the elements of short fiction: ideas for rocket-boosting your writing craft, reading recommendations, and other writing-related ramblings. Click to read Prattlefog & Gra...

prattlefogandgravelrap.substack.com

January 7, 2026 at 5:26 PM

Reposted by Patricia Bender

Matt Kendrick

@mattkendrick.bsky.social

Welkin longlist day is one of my favourite days of the year. So wonderful to see everyone's joy and the general embracing of the competition by the whole writing community.

The Welkin Writing Prize @welkinprize.bsky.social · 5d

DRUM ROLL!!!! 🥁🥁🥁

It gives me great pleasure to announce the SPARKLING longlist for the Welkin Writing Prize 2026.

Congratulations to all the writers on this list. And commiserations to everyone else. The standard was incredibly high:

www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-prize...