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Maud Newton

@maudnewton.bsky.social

7.2K followers 2K following 1.8K posts

Wrote ANCESTOR TROUBLE. Most recently in Narrative, Baffler, Guardian, NYT. Dog person, cat person, native plant restoration person. Opinions my own. NYC. She/her. https://linktr.ee/maudnewton

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Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · Nov 24

Hello, new followers! You might like my book, ANCESTOR TROUBLE, if you're interested in family history, genealogy, mental health, generational trauma, systemic harms, and spiritual practices around ancestors and our alienation from those practices in Western modernity. maudnewton.com/book/ancesto...

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Ancestor Trouble was a book of the year per New Yorker, NPR, Washington Post, and more; a finalist for the John Leonard Prize; a NYT Editors’ Choice selection; and a Roxane Gay Book Club pick.

maudnewton.com

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Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · Jun 1

Fascinating to see these types lay the blame for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—both originating in the George W. Bush administration—outside their ever-redrawn definition of conservatism.

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Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · Jun 1

This is fairly emblematic of the thinking of the sector of Trump apologists who argue that the culture itself *forced* conservatives to hold their noses and watch Trump deliver the crackdown McCarthy started.

Opinion | The Cerebral, Bach-Loving Patrician Who Wrote Trump’s Playbook

www.nytimes.com

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Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · Jun 1

Nice! I only lived in Brooklyn before Queens (Williamsburg, 1999-2003; Greenpoint, 2003-2008; Kensington, 2008-2016).

Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · Jun 1

I've lived in Queens since 2016!

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Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · Jun 1

(I mean, apart from all the other things 2025 is known for around here that are considerably more dystopian.)

Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · Jun 1

Thank you, Don! I appreciate this so much.

Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · Jun 1

This is not only the oldest surviving ice cream shop in NYC, it's also the best ice cream I've ever eaten. Around here, summer 2025 is known as hot fudge sundae summer.

An Ice-Cream Parlor Where Time Stands Still (Published 2021)

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Maud Newton

Helena Fitzgerald @hellafitzgerald.bsky.social · Jun 1

me, starting Lonesome Dove on wednesday: can’t wait to settle in and slowly read this gigantic book all summer long
me, emerging 96 hours later, wild-eyed, weeping, twigs in my hair: hey cowboy you ever think about how everyone you’ve ever met carries with them some enormous unspeakable loss

Helena Fitzgerald @hellafitzgerald.bsky.social · May 28

ok I’m finally reading Lonesome Dove, why did none of you tell me how great this book is (literally all of you told me)

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Reposted by Maud Newton

Narrative @narrativemag.bsky.social · May 21

“He moved me around like a rag doll, twisted me like a flex toy. I handled him like I was taking revenge on everyone who’d ever wronged me.” —excerpt from “Conversations You Have at Twenty” by Maud Newton

Join us in celebrating Narrative Prize winner Maud Newton’s @maudnewton.bsky.social birthday!

Conversations You Have at Twenty | Narrative Magazine

Conversations You Have at Twenty by Maud Newton — Jake and I w...

www.narrativemagazine.com

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Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · May 31

I'm looking forward to talking with Lee Hawkins, author of I AM NOBODY'S SLAVE: HOW UNCOVERING MY FAMILY'S HISTORY SET ME FREE, for the @mcnallyjackson.bsky.social festival! Tuesday 6/3, 6:30 pm, South St Seaport. Would love to see you fellow family historians! www.mcnallyjackson.com/event/resear...

Image reads Researching Your Family History, McNally Jackson Festival, Lee Hawkins & Maud Newton, June 3, 6:30 PM, South Street Sea Port, Preservation of Record. Image also shows the authors Lee Hawkins and Maud Newton, a black man and white woman.

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Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · May 31

I so resent that they have claimed "Make America Healthy Again." I also like foods without toxic chemicals, herbs as medicine, etc. And vaccines.

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Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · May 31

Kew Gardens, Queens (NYC)

Image shows the back of a greige Nissan Sentra with a busted taillight and bumper stickers reading Department of Peace, Tibet, Kennedy for President, Kennedy for President (another, this one round and with a photo), United States Department of Peacebuilding, and Make America Healthy Again.

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Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · May 31

"Adult children seem increasingly likely to publicly, even righteously, cut off contact with a parent, sometimes citing emotional, physical or sexual abuse they experienced in childhood... This cultural shift has contributed to a new, nearly impossible standard for parenting." Yeah how unreasonable.

Opinion | There’s a Link Between Therapy Culture and Childlessness

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Maud Newton

Cari Luna @cariluna.bsky.social · Apr 17

Are you struggling with your novel? It's okay. It happens to ALL of us. My 3-week course, Getting Your Novel Unstuck, returns next month. It's designed to get your novel draft moving again with a fresh charge of energy and a solid plan to carry you forward to the end.
cariluna.com/getting-your...

Getting Your Novel Unstuck – Cari Luna

cariluna.com

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Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · May 27

Enjoyed it tremendously and will be thinking about it for a good long while!!

Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · May 26

(True, there's an exception if there are "sufficient expressive elements" from a human, but the level of human contribution needed is unclear. The risk is huge.)

NewsNet Issue 1060 | U.S. Copyright Office

www.copyright.gov

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Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · May 26

* Note that I would not do this and am not endorsing it. But it is happening, and creators should know this.

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Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · May 26

Here's something anyone using generative AI in their creative process* should know: work written by AI cannot be copyrighted.

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Reposted by Maud Newton

Honorée Fanonne Jeffers @blklibrarygirl.bsky.social · May 21

Unboxing FINISHED COPIES of Misbehaving at the Crossroads! I can’t believe it’s here! PS Shameless plug: Have you pre-ordered your copy? 😊

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Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · May 26

Next weekend, if you'd like to subscribe. It's free.

Meditations on Kinship | Maud Newton | Substack

Writing, books, art. Kinship, broadly construed. Advocate for acknowledging troubled family histories honestly, open-heartedly, and with imagination. Click to read Meditations on Kinship, by Maud Newt...

ancestortrouble.substack.com

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Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · May 26

Between one thing and another I'm very behind on my newsletter, but the next installment will include an Art & Kinship installment with Morgan Jerkins (fantastic author most recently of ZEAL) and lots of links.

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Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · May 26

I recently read @iamlisako.bsky.social's MEMORY PIECE. A good companion read to PARABLE OF THE SOWER, with Y2K era art, tech, and activism storylines that extend to the future. Recommended.

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Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · May 26

It is TENACIOUS!

Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · May 26

Eventually I'll remove the non-native roses and lilac. And as you can see (first in second set of photos) I'm still battling some ivy at the top of the slope. But the pollinators are happy. Two other slope sections to go.

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Maud Newton @maudnewton.bsky.social · May 26

My strategy was to plant vigorous natives in the hope that they'd outcompete any remaining ivy, honeysuckle, etc. I'd do some things differently, and the aesthetics might not impress the neighbors at present (if ever), but: triumph.

Image shows a chain-link fence and chain-link gate, a non-native climbing rose, some remaining ivy, a New England aster, butterfly milkweed, late purple aster, another butterfly milkweed, part of a carolina rose, a lot of yarrow, and in front if the rose and ivy a small black chokeberry, and a small northern bayberry.

Image shows a chain-link fence, a non-native climbing rose, some remaining ivy, a New England aster, butterfly milkweed, late purple aster, part of a carolina rose, a lot of yarrow, showy goldenrod, slender mountain mint, native climbing honeysuckle.

Image shows a chain-link fence, a non-native climbing rose and lilac, smooth blue aster, slender mountain mint, part of a virginia rose, a lot of yarrow, showy goldenrod, slender mountain mint, two common yarrow, false indigo, blavk-eyed susan sprouts, a crowded black chokeberry, fragaria virginiana, some heuchera cultivars, a creeping serviceberry, virginia clematis, some blueberries, a lot of creeping phlox.

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