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Max Liu

@maxjliu.bsky.social

310 followers 400 following 230 posts

Freelance writer

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Max Liu @maxjliu.bsky.social · 28d

I wrote about Jung Chang's Fly, Wild Swans which succeeds as a memoir sequel and companion to the books that made her name: inews.co.uk/culture/wild...

After reading the Wild Swans sequel, I never want to go to China

I am regularly asked if I would like to go to China – due to my surname, which comes from my Chinese grandfather – but the picture Chang paints of contemporary China is depressing

inews.co.uk

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Max Liu @maxjliu.bsky.social · 11h

Someone sent me a proof of a book about ai so I robotically threw it in the recycling

Reposted by Max Liu

Ann Powers @annkpowers.bsky.social · 1d

D'Angelo was remarkable in so many ways. I'm saddest right now, as a fan, that we won't be getting an eccentric late period from him. His contributions remain inestimable but what he would have made in his 50s and onward, I just know it would have been amazing. RIP

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Max Liu @maxjliu.bsky.social · 1d

What a loss. He had more music to make pitchfork.com/news/dangelo...

D’Angelo, Groundbreaking R&B Artist, Dies at 51

From his 1995 debut Brown Sugar to his 2014 comeback Black Messiah, he helped define the neo-soul movement

pitchfork.com

Reposted by Max Liu

Carolyn Ownbey, PhD @carolynownbey.bsky.social · 3d

If you haven’t seen it, this footage from @apnews.com is incredibly important.

The intent here seems unmistakable, in two ways: (1) just read the genocide convention, here it **absolutely** is, and (2) this level of infrastructural destruction is, no question, meant as pre-development demolition.

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Martin Shaw @thebooksdesk.bsky.social · 3d

Always love reading a good Ryan Ruby essay, no matter if I'm actually that interested in the subject: he's a bright dude! And actually he might just have won me over with all things Pynchon too... newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...

Ryan Ruby, Post-American Blues — Sidecar

On Thomas Pynchon.

newleftreview.org

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Reposted by Max Liu

The New York Review of Books @nybooks.com · 4d

Christopher Tayler on Olga Tokarczuk

In the Fourth Person | Christopher Tayler

In 1896 the French writer Alfred Jarry gave a speech introducing his play Ubu Roi, a pioneering work of avant-garde provocation, at the Théâtre de l’Œuvre

buff.ly

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Nitish Pahwa @nitishpahwa.com · 5d

yeah uh not sure this Nobel Peace Prize is the anti-Trump dunk so many people seem to believe it is www.thetimes.com/world/latin-...

For now, her greatest hope — and that of the majority of Venezuelans, who are opposed to the regime — lies in Trump and his desire to ensure Maduro’s political demise.

“I totally support his strategy,” Machado told me. “And I’ve said on behalf of the Venezuelan people that we are very grateful. I think it is the right thing to do. It’s courageous. It’s visionary.”

But attacking a speedboat? Killing 11 citizens? “I’m in favour of the US dismantling this criminal structure.”

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Max Liu @maxjliu.bsky.social · 5d

c.org/X75CJbG6mC

Sign the Petition

Release Journalist Emily Wilder from Israeli Detention

c.org

Max Liu @maxjliu.bsky.social · 6d

www.newstatesman.com/culture/2025...

Why László Krasznahorkai won the Nobel Prize for Literature

The Hungarian author’s work displays a huge and haunting vision

www.newstatesman.com

Reposted by Max Liu

Alexander Wells @ajbwells.bsky.social · 6d

quick everyone repost your Krasznahorkai essays!!!!

newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...

Alexander Wells, Fight or Flight — Sidecar

On László Krasznahorkai.

newleftreview.org

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Reposted by Max Liu

Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 7d

Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann is gravely concerned about the detention of writer Naoise Dolan...The flotilla was illegally intercepted last night and seized by armed Israeli forces in international waters.
irishpen.com/2025/10/08/t...

Thousand Madleens flotilla Statement - Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann

8 October 2025 Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann is gravely concerned about the detention of writer Naoise Dolan, one of several Irish citizens taking part in the Thousand Madleens f...

irishpen.com

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Max Liu @maxjliu.bsky.social · 7d

Went to a shop, bought a novel on publication day (near enough), came home, started reading. Haven't felt this excitement since err... Bleeding Edge. Or when late Roths were coming out. Cherish greatness while we have it and always be a fan.

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Max Liu @maxjliu.bsky.social · 7d

Helen Garner This House of Grief
Geoff Dyer Another Great Day at Sea
Lamorna Ash Dark, Salt, Clear
Jonathan Raban Hunting Mister Heartbreak

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Nikita Gill @nikitagill.bsky.social · 7d

I am saying once again that the Conservative attack on the Arts is because they are incredibly envious of artists who they perceive as a group that has “too much” cultural power, a type of influence Conservatives crave but will never have because they’re anti-intellectuals with no imagination.

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Max Liu @maxjliu.bsky.social · 9d

The new Geese album, Getting Killed, is making me smile this morning

Reposted by Max Liu

Christian Dametto @chrisdametto.bsky.social · 10d

The ratio of arrests in comparison with the Tommy Robinson protests is absolutely wild. People peacefully holding a sign vs people violently attacking the police and the public.

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 10d

Just when you thought Keir Starmer's Labour Party couldn't get more illiberal, or more like the Tories...
"Change", my left foot.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Police to get new powers to crack down on repeated protests, says Home Office

Move follows arrest of almost 500 people at latest pro-Palestinian demonstration in London on Saturday

www.theguardian.com

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Max Liu @maxjliu.bsky.social · 10d

Wincing the night away

Reposted by Max Liu

josh @lobstereo.bsky.social · 11d

terrorism act charges very serious as well. a young person would live the rest of their life uncertain about the consequences on their employment and travel opportunities. really steep potential punishments.

Dr Phoenix CS Andrews @thatdocphoenix.com · 11d

Part of why so many genteel pensioners are getting arrested for supporting a proscribed group is because they can afford to be arrested. It’s not just that it’s bad optics to arrest retired vicars or whatever. Lots of those who feel strongest would be at much higher risk and face worse consequences

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Jonathan Coe @jonathancoe.bsky.social · 16d

Writing fiction in the third person past tense is starting to feel as stubbornly anachronistic as making studio sitcoms with a laughter track.

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Max Liu @maxjliu.bsky.social · 16d

It feels like autumn so... inews.co.uk/culture/tele...

Why every middle-aged man should watch Gilmore Girls

Watching the show for the first time last autumn, I realised its comforting rituals, perfectly drawn characters and irreverent dialogue were exactly what I needed

inews.co.uk

Max Liu @maxjliu.bsky.social · 18d

Good appreciation of Tony Harrison the dramatist and translator www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/s...

‘The man who came to read the metre’: Yorkshire poet Tony Harrison was the National Theatre bard

Harrison, who has died aged 88, wrote copiously for the stage, both as an ingenious translator and dazzlingly original dramatist

www.theguardian.com

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Max Liu @maxjliu.bsky.social · 18d

This week I was at a reading where re. accessibility a poet said: "I wouldn't want to write a poem my dad couldn't read." I thought of Tony Harrison's more ambivalent: "I'd like to be the poet my father reads" from School of Eloquence. Some of the best poetry on art, class, England. RIP.

Reposted by Max Liu

Deborah Friedell @deborahfriedell.bsky.social · 18d

‪Tony Harrison's 'V.' was first published in the London Review of Books in 1985. The front page of the Daily Mail reported on the 'FOUR LETTER TV POEM FURY.'

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v0...

Tony Harrison · Poem: ‘V.’

www.lrb.co.uk

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Reposted by Max Liu

Jan Carson @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social · 19d

A quick reminder that this wee gem goes out this afternoon at 3:45pm. If you miss it you can catch up later on BBC Sounds.

Jan Carson @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social · 28d

Save the date. I’ve a brand new short story about an exorcism in a nursing home on @bbcradio4 next Friday (26th) at 3:45pm expertly read by Seamus O’Hara and produced by the brilliant Michael Shannon (our 20th collaboration for Radio 4) I really love this wee story #ShadowingGordon

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