Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Allison Van Deventer

Audra Wolfe @audrajwolfe.bsky.social · 1d

My best advice to aspiring authors of scholarly books is to read other scholarly books recently published by your target press. This may seem obvious and yet is not!

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Allison Van Deventer @allisonvandev.bsky.social · 1d

Check it out: we turned our September "Identify Your Audience and Find Target Presses" webinar into a free self-paced course, with video clips and a worksheet!

(We took out all the info that would have identified participants and their projects and re-recorded some clips)

#AcademicSky

Katelyn E. Knox @katelynknox.bsky.social · 5d

Get a taste of our teaching styles and learn how to identify your audience more succinctly in this FREE course.

workshops.dissertationtobook.com/l/pdp/audience

#academicbookcentral #academicwriting #freeworkshop

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Reposted by Allison Van Deventer

Ignacio GHOULup-Diaz @igallupd.bsky.social · 2d

“‘These men think they’ve done nothing wrong’: the philosopher who tried to understand Gisèle Pelicot’s rapists”

“When 50 men went on trial in France, accused of raping a woman who had been drugged by her husband, Manon Garcia was in the courtroom. How does she make sense of what happened?”

‘These men think they’ve done nothing wrong’: the philosopher who tried to understand Gisèle Pelicot’s rapists

When 50 men went on trial in France, accused of raping a woman who had been drugged by her husband, Manon Garcia was in the courtroom – and in the prosecutors’ closing arguments. How does she make sen...

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Allison Van Deventer

Terrestrial Defense League @david-fieni.bsky.social · 2d

I would urge you to take part in a No Kings even this Saturday if you can. It's big tent time, meaning we can't do purity politics but need to build coalitions. Find an event by clicking on the link then share widely and commit to demonstrating the strength of our numbers. www.nokings.org#map

No Kings

As the president escalates his authoritarian power grab, the NO KINGS non-violent movement continues to rise stronger. We are united once again to remind the world: America has No Kings and the power ...

www.nokings.org

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Reposted by Allison Van Deventer

Caitlin G. DeAngelis @caitlindeangelis.bsky.social · 2d

ICE kidnapped a 7th-grader with a pending asylum claim and spirited him out of state without notifying his parents, seemingly with the cooperation of the local police in Everett, MA.

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/12/m...

Everett 13-year-old arrested by ICE and sent to Virginia detention facility
By Marcela Rodrigues Globe Staff,Updated October 12, 2025, 44 minutes ago

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A 13-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Everett and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia.
A 13-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Everett and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia.
A 13-year-old boy was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Everett after an interaction with members of the Everett Police Department and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia, according to his mother and immigration lawyer Andrew Lattarulo.

The boy’s mother, Josiele Berto, was called to pick her son up from the Everett Police Department on Thursday, the day he was arrested. After waiting for about an hour and a half, she was told her son was taken by ICE, Berto told the Globe in a phone interview.

“My world collapsed,” Berto said in Portuguese.

From the police department, the boy was taken to ICE’s holding facility in Burlington on Thursday evening, where he spent a night before being transferred by car to the Northwestern Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Winchester, Va., on Friday morning, his mother said. The juvenile facility is more than 500 miles away from Everett.

The boy is a 7th-grader at Albert N. Parlin School in Everett, his mother said. The teen and his family, who are Brazilian nationals, have a pending asylum case and are authorized to work legally in the United States, Lattarulo said.

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Joseph Rezek @rezekjoe.bsky.social · 4d

Peaceful protest is as American as apple pie. The No Kings protests exemplify that tradition - for GOP leaders to come out and accuse them of hating America means the leadership must truly be terrified of the groundswell of righteous nonviolent anger they have unleashed.

Seth Abramson @sethabramson.bsky.social · 4d

Yes, America, he is referring to the 100% peaceful No Kings rallies that have literally nothing to do with Hamas or antifa or hating America.

America has been gaslit by these lunatics every day for a decade, and at some point the other shoe will drop—though I have no idea what or when that will be.

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Reposted by Allison Van Deventer

Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 4d

Look, I get critiques of *how* someone conducts an interview.

But Wilson’s congregants include the Sec. of Defense, who invited a pastor in Wilson’s denomination to lead the first of a recurring worship service at the Pentagon.

If anything, it’s odd it took this long for outlets to interview him.

Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 5d

Spending your time talking to someone who wants to relitigate slavery is definitely a choice you can make

Opinion | He Believes America Should Be a Theocracy. He Says His Influence Is Growing.

www.nytimes.com

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Allison Van Deventer @allisonvandev.bsky.social · 6d

Here's a post from Katelyn about a topic of perennial interest to our workshop authors and my editing clients: when to write your book's introduction.

dissertationtobook.com/when-introdu...

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Allison Van Deventer @allisonvandev.bsky.social · 6d

Good luck!!! This framing can actually be pretty fun to play with--that's the premise of this book!

If Everybody Did

If Everybody Did [Stover, Jo Ann] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. If Everybody Did

www.amazon.com

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Allison Van Deventer @allisonvandev.bsky.social · 6d

Another one is the If Everybody Did frame. (There's a cute kids' book about this, one fat-shaming example though). You want to spray the cleaner. What would happen If Everybody Did?

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Allison Van Deventer @allisonvandev.bsky.social · 6d

I don't know if this would help because our kids have different struggles, but we've had success with the Everyone Has a Job frame.

The teacher's job is to make sure everyone gets a turn with the iPad. If they don't do their job, they'll get in trouble with their boss, the principal.

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Reposted by Allison Van Deventer

Katherine Carroll @katherinecarroll.bsky.social · 6d

Revisions can be overwhelming, and I often encourage authors to rank revisions from "critical" to "if-there-is-time."

I also tell authors to write down three parts of the manuscript that make them proud because every manuscript has fantastic parts, too.

#AcademicSky #amediting #academia #writing

Tree trunk with autumn leaves on the ground around it.

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Reposted by Allison Van Deventer

Rebecca Colesworthy @rcolesworthy.bsky.social · 9d

FYI happening this Thursday—free and open to all. Just click the link to register. Featuring @dwcongdon.com, @dawnd.bsky.social, and Alyssa Napier talking all things diss to book—what’s the diff b/w them, how to find a press/approach an editor, tips for proposal writing. Join us & spread the word!

Association of University Presses @aupresses.bsky.social · 9d

All are invited to the first in Publishing with University Presses Webinar Series, "Turning Your Dissertation into a Book," Oct 9 at 1pm ET. Organized by our Faculty Outreach Committee with the Rutgers Ctr for Minority Serving Institutions.

Register here: https://buff.ly/UiOAr5M

Turning You Dissertation into a Book webinar promotional tile

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Reposted by Allison Van Deventer

McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 12d

"There is nothing funny about calling me or Donald Trump a fascist, and if you do, we will ship you to Guantanamo."

We Are Not Fascists, and If You Call Us Fascists, We Will Arrest You

President Trump had another successful week of what is already the greatest presidency of all time, and yet, the woke leftist mob continues to deli...

buff.ly

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Allison Van Deventer @allisonvandev.bsky.social · 12d

And for an insightful discussion of the same topic, check out this podcast episode from @janejoann.bsky.social: rightprose.co/podcast/you-....

You Need Feedback While Writing Your Academic Book: Here’s How You Get It – Right Prose

rightprose.co

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Allison Van Deventer @allisonvandev.bsky.social · 12d

This sort of thing is DOABLE in a short-to-medium time frame. You'll be writing with a goal and a specific, friendly audience in mind. You'll be taking on a manageable task, and you'll be proving to yourself that you can produce messy work and survive.

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Allison Van Deventer @allisonvandev.bsky.social · 12d

When you do that, you're going to send it to a writing partner (or a developmental editor!) with these questions: "Do these sections make sense? What do you think of the argument? Which part of the analysis is your favorite?"

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Allison Van Deventer @allisonvandev.bsky.social · 12d

To "finish" it, you'd need six months and a writing retreat. But you don't need to finish it; you just need to get it ready for the next feedback point. So you set a goal: come up with set of section headings; tweak the arg't; fill a section with relevant paragraphs in an order that makes sense.

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Allison Van Deventer @allisonvandev.bsky.social · 12d

Instead of trying to FINISH your draft, focus on getting it "just good enough" to elicit some useful feedback.

For instance: let's say you have a chapter draft that's really just a pile of notes, some paragraphs from a conference paper, and a skeleton argument.

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Allison Van Deventer @allisonvandev.bsky.social · 12d

Authors of scholarly books: Are you struggling with perfectionism? Are you overwhelmed by the sheer number of things you have to do to finish your manuscript?

Here's @katelynknox.bsky.social with a suggestion: find a way to get regular, low-stakes feedback on your writing.

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Allison Van Deventer @allisonvandev.bsky.social · 12d

Did some door-knocking for our school committee candidate; engaged in some light political bribery (giving the 7yo Skittles per door knocked/opened)

Selfie: I'm a white woman with a brown bob, smiling at the camera on a neighborhood street in suburban Massachusetts.

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Allison Van Deventer @allisonvandev.bsky.social · 13d

That's FASCINATING! The only book I've read that gave me a vivid picture of the influenza pandemic was not a girls' book, but a middlebrow novel from the 1970s called a Woman of Independent Means: www.goodreads.com/book/show/34...

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Allison Van Deventer @allisonvandev.bsky.social · 13d

It's especially interesting because LMM doesn't shy away from using illness at other key points (Gilbert, Ruby Gillis, Emily of New Moon, Pat). And if I were searching for references to the Spanish flu in literature, I'd look at girl literature 1st (my friends and I have a whole theory about this!)

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Allison Van Deventer @allisonvandev.bsky.social · 13d

If you're in the US, use the code PENN-SAMESKY30 for a 30% discount: www.pennpress.org/978151282771.... If you're outside the Americas, order at www.combinedacademic.co.uk and use the discount code CSPENN30 at checkout. (2/2)

Under the Same Sky – Penn Press

An ethnographic study of the everyday lives of religious minorities near Turkey’s border with SyriaHow do people coexist in a world shaped by longstanding ...

www.pennpress.org

Allison Van Deventer @allisonvandev.bsky.social · 13d

Congratulations to Seçil Daǧtaş, an early alum of The Dissertation-to-Book Workbook, whose timely and beautiful book "Under the Same Sky: Everyday Politics of Religious Difference in Southern Turkey" is out from the University of Pennsylvania Press! (1/2)

www.pennpress.org/978151282771...

cover image of Under the Same Sky: Everyday Politics of Religious Difference in Southern Turkey by Seçil Daǧtaş. The cover shows a painting of crowd of people, many with pink shadows.

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