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Kristen Martin

@kwistent.bsky.social

1.5K followers 1.3K following 690 posts

Author of THE SUN WON'T COME OUT TOMORROW, out now from Bold Type / critic with words in NYRB, NYT Mag, WaPo, The New Republic, and elsewhere / member Freelance Solidarity Project and National Book Critics Circle / Philly / kristenmartin.net

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Kristen Martin @kwistent.bsky.social · Nov 9

Hi new pals! I am a cultural critic based in Philadelphia, and my first book, THE SUN WON'T COME OUT TOMORROW: THE DARK HISTORY OF AMERICAN ORPHANHOOD, comes out the day after the inauguration (gulp). bookshop.org/p/books/the-... (1/2)

The Sun Won't Come Out Tomorrow: The Dark History of American Orphanhood a book by Kristen Martin

The real history of being an orphan in America is nothing like the myth, and nothing like the American dream. The orphan story has been mythologized: Step one: While a child is still too young to fo...

bookshop.org

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Reposted by Kristen Martin

Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 11h

You should read reviews. And write them. And subscribe to publications that run them.

buy my book @nmamatas.bsky.social · 13h

What's your totally ordinary opinion about books that you nonetheless find compelled to share when asked on a social media site such as this one for your most extreme/unhinged/hottest takes?

I'll go first: manga is popular among young people because manga often features young people.

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Kristen Martin @kwistent.bsky.social · 10h

1) Reading makes you reflect and think / 2) you can learn something new from every book you read

John Wiswell @wiswell.bsky.social · 17h

Tell me your most life-affirming literary opinion.

Kristen Martin @kwistent.bsky.social · 1d

I’ve had Building a Mystery stuck in my head for ten days

Reposted by Kristen Martin

Rachel de Leon @raeoflion.bsky.social · 1d

Last year, we wrote about survivor Taylor Cadle. When she was 12, she told police she’d been raped. They said she was lying and charged her with false reporting. She then took the extraordinary measure of recording the next act of abuse.

Now, Taylor has legal counsel and filed a lawsuit.

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Reposted by Kristen Martin

Christopher Jason Bell @christopherbell.bsky.social · 6d

Opened up my horror short THE CONFECTION for you to see, free, for October "spooky season"
t.co/TsrnG6bCXs

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Kristen Martin @kwistent.bsky.social · 5d

For @newrepublic.com, I wrote about John J. Lennon's THE TRAGEDY OF TRUE CRIME, which provides a challenging and bracing reckoning with guilt and the possibility of changing the narrative of one’s life: newrepublic.com/article/2010...

What Happens When the True Crime Story Is Over?

John J. Lennon’s book, written in his twenty-fourth year in prison, provides a bracing reckoning with guilt, remorse, and the possibility of change.

newrepublic.com

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Reposted by Kristen Martin

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 6d

repost this if an editor has ever saved you from yourself

violent alien @blipstress.bsky.social · 6d

An actual hot take: Too many authors are afraid of editors watering down their voice or whatever and not afraid enough of editors letting you put any old slop on the page.

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Anne Elizabeth Moore @anneelizabethmoore.bsky.social · 6d

Every royalty statement from my publisher is a new chance to thank you from the bottom of my heart for buying up every copy of BODY HORROR we have been able to print over the last—OMG—eight years. Free shipping today on bookshop dot org, plus the book is a buck fifty off! <3 <3 <3

Body Horror: Capitalism, Fear, Misogyny, Jokes

Capitalism, Fear, Misogyny, Jokes

bookshop.org

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Reposted by Kristen Martin

Alana Semuels @alanasemuels.bsky.social · 6d

Anti-abortion communities are using private and public money to install baby boxes—devices where people can anonymously surrender infants—in fire stations and hospitals. In June 2020 there were just 29 of these devices in the U.S., now there are more than 350. My story:
time.com/7299476/baby...

Why Baby Boxes Are Suddenly Everywhere

Devices to help parents anonymously surrender an infant are spreading across the U.S., stirring emotions and debate.

time.com

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Kristen Martin @kwistent.bsky.social · 6d

Really glad to this story, Alana! One small point—as a I wrote in a piece for TIME Made by History earlier this year, there were organizations in the U.S., such as the NYC Foundling Hospital, that supported legal anon infant relinquishment in the 19th and 20th centuries: time.com/7280998/deva...

The Devastating History of Baby Relinquishment

Positioning baby drop boxes as a solution to unwanted pregnancy ignores important historical lessons.

time.com

Kristen Martin @kwistent.bsky.social · 7d

@bookshop.org has free shipping today and tomorrow for Anti-Prime Days—as good a time as ever to order my book: bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

The Sun Won't Come Out Tomorrow: The Dark History of American Orphanhood

The Dark History of American Orphanhood

bookshop.org

Reposted by Kristen Martin

Bookshop.org @bookshop.org · 7d

Can’t decide what to buy on Prime Day?

Try: absolutely nothing, and then go support indie bookstores instead 📚

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Reposted by Kristen Martin

Carly Goodman @carlygoodman.bsky.social · 9d

It’s always good to have this on hand

Jim Kenney @JimFKenney
So sad sometimes.
8:42 PM • 2/25/14

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Kristen Martin @kwistent.bsky.social · 9d

(reading this/gift link): wapo.st/46EGqSw

This billionaire Trump ally and his son are building an unprecedented media empire

Larry and David Ellison’s holdings span movies, TV networks, CBS and soon a stake in TikTok, in a paradigm-shifting portfolio with huge influence.

wapo.st

Kristen Martin @kwistent.bsky.social · 9d

There are many other things that make David Ellison contemptible, but why does he still have the "flip" hairstyle of 10-year-old boys circa 1998?

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Kristen Martin @kwistent.bsky.social · 11d

I told a group of college seniors about the garlic mayo book and they were all disgusted

Reposted by Kristen Martin

Emily C. Hughes @emilyhughes.bsky.social · 12d

no no the publishing industry is doing fine, why do you ask

A screenshot from Publisher's Lunch:
Jennifer L. Armentrout and Hellmann's
In a promotion designed for BookTok enjoyment, Jennifer L. Armentrout’s just-published THE PRIMAL OF BLOOD AND BONE is available in a special, limited-edition "garlic-scented copy, infused with Hellmann’s Garlic Aioli to create a one-of-a-kind, Craven-proof book." They explain: "This exclusive edition is printed with garlic-infused ink, designed to ward off Armentrout’s bloodthirsty monsters, the Craven. While humans may dread garlic breath, Hellmann’s has cleverly transformed this social faux pas into an unexpected – and delicious – form of supernatural protection."

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Kristen Martin @kwistent.bsky.social · 13d

sooooo good

Kristen Martin @kwistent.bsky.social · 13d

Anyway @rvoronacote.bsky.social did it best years ago: bookshop.org/p/books/too-...

Too Much: How Victorian Constraints Still Bind Women Today

How Victorian Constraints Still Bind Women Today

bookshop.org

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Kristen Martin @kwistent.bsky.social · 13d

I started wading through publicist pitches and catalogs etc for 2026 book releases today, and discovered that there are two novels coming out with the same Anthony Frederick Sandys painting used in the cover art. This is the 2026 blob cover: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lo...

commons.wikimedia.org

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Kristen Martin @kwistent.bsky.social · 13d

Me to my dog when she wants to double back on a walk www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqjh...

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Reposted by Kristen Martin

Ryan Godfrey @ryangodfrey.com · 14d

This is a great companion piece/explainer for the Klein–Coates discussion from the weekend (which is also worth your time).

Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 14d

I wrote about Ta-Nehisi Coates and Ezra Klein, why swallowing live frogs is a bad idea, and how context and history can release you from bright-kid syndrome, the illusion that you yourself are going to have every answer or fix the world.

You don't have to swallow frogs

Klein and Coates show that if you don't know what your core beliefs are, you're going to get played.

degenerateart.beehiiv.com

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Kristen Martin @kwistent.bsky.social · 14d

A blog about being burnt out on reading and finding my way back americanorphan.substack.com/p/what-im-no...

What I'm (Not) Reading

On crawling out of a reading slump

americanorphan.substack.com

Reposted by Kristen Martin

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 16d

For those who were directly targeted by Charlie Kirk’s rhetoric, bipartisan tributes to him as a champion of free speech signal the mainstreaming of formerly extremist views, Nikole Hannah-Jones writes in an essay for The New York Times Magazine.

What the Public Memory of Charlie Kirk Revealed

www.nytimes.com

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Kristen Martin @kwistent.bsky.social · 18d

So absurd!!