Rebecca Makkai
@rebeccamakkai.bsky.social
Pulitzer finalist for THE GREAT BELIEVERS; new novel, I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU, out now. Artistic Director at StoryStudio Chicago. Trying to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. You should, too.
rebeccamakkai.substack.com
https://rebeccamakkai.com
rebeccamakkai.substack.com
https://rebeccamakkai.com
HEY, if you're working on your first novel and you're home for Thanksgiving, do NOT tell people what it's about. Make up a decoy novel (Psychic nun who fights crime with martial arts!) and let them be condescending about that one instead.
I've had too many students' novels "ruined" over holidays.
I've had too many students' novels "ruined" over holidays.
November 27, 2025 at 5:04 PM
HEY, if you're working on your first novel and you're home for Thanksgiving, do NOT tell people what it's about. Make up a decoy novel (Psychic nun who fights crime with martial arts!) and let them be condescending about that one instead.
I've had too many students' novels "ruined" over holidays.
I've had too many students' novels "ruined" over holidays.
Reposted by Rebecca Makkai
They say nothing good comes from hate, but when I see artists hating on AI, it makes me immediately like them and want to check out their work.
November 26, 2025 at 9:11 PM
They say nothing good comes from hate, but when I see artists hating on AI, it makes me immediately like them and want to check out their work.
Very curious what will happen here. Goebbels did not intervene when his own wife’s Jewish stepfather was thrown in a concentration camp. Richard Friedländer died in 1939 at Buchenwald.
"A woman with a family connection to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Revere, Massachusetts."
www.wcvb.com/article/karo...
www.wcvb.com/article/karo...
![REVERE, Mass. —
A woman with a family connection to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Revere, Massachusetts.
The woman, Bruna Ferreira, has an 11-year-old son with Michael Leavitt, Karoline Leavitt's brother.
Ferreira migrated with her family to the United States from Brazil as a child and is currently in custody at an ICE facility in southern Louisiana.
Michael Leavitt released a statement, saying that his "only concern has always been the safety, well-being, and privacy of [his] son."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:x4qyokjtdzgl7gmqhsw4ajqj/bafkreiacyzixchgacpjse7wyra342opgjsvdxzqdrkxq55zzqah65zyeae@jpeg)
November 26, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Very curious what will happen here. Goebbels did not intervene when his own wife’s Jewish stepfather was thrown in a concentration camp. Richard Friedländer died in 1939 at Buchenwald.
I love this. The little manbabies could not handle a mild Chicago November and felt threatened by our whistles. Whatever Charlotte dishes out, they won't be ready for either.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Charlotte activists met the immigration crackdown with ‘bless your heart’ resistance
ICE and CBP’s North Carolina operation faced an early-warning system run by thousands of volunteers
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:08 PM
I love this. The little manbabies could not handle a mild Chicago November and felt threatened by our whistles. Whatever Charlotte dishes out, they won't be ready for either.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
There is absolutely no legitimate reason for this. It's not, for instance, being replaced by more specific language or something. This is not a misleading article.
November 21, 2025 at 3:31 PM
There is absolutely no legitimate reason for this. It's not, for instance, being replaced by more specific language or something. This is not a misleading article.
Fun fact, my father hated Chomsky so much that until I was about 8 I was pretty sure he was a Soviet dictator. He'd talk about Stalin and Chomsky in the exact same tone of voice.
@rebeccamakkai.bsky.social Greetings, Rebecca. Thought you might get a kick out of knowing that decades ago, your dad published this article I wrote in grad school (which ended my career in that field, I might add). bsky.app/profile/did:...
Chomsky, yet another megalomaniac, was responsible for a revolution, a dictatorship, and a purge in linguistics in the 1960s. You can still read my 1979 article, "Crisis in Linguistic Inquiry," in which I describe Chomsky's ascent in and toxic influence on the field. www.academia.edu/1984315/Cris...
November 21, 2025 at 4:44 AM
Fun fact, my father hated Chomsky so much that until I was about 8 I was pretty sure he was a Soviet dictator. He'd talk about Stalin and Chomsky in the exact same tone of voice.
Um, I'll do a fuller post tomorrow like I planned, but just a big bat signal that we opened up early bird registration today for @storystudiochicago.bsky.social's Pub Crawl*, and agent meetings are already half gone (!) so if you were planning to sign up, do it like ten minutes ago. Link in thread!
November 21, 2025 at 4:34 AM
Um, I'll do a fuller post tomorrow like I planned, but just a big bat signal that we opened up early bird registration today for @storystudiochicago.bsky.social's Pub Crawl*, and agent meetings are already half gone (!) so if you were planning to sign up, do it like ten minutes ago. Link in thread!
Reposted by Rebecca Makkai
Reposted by Rebecca Makkai
This is simultaneously so good & so entertaining
It would be weird to play soccer using the tennis rules. So why are we writing fiction with the unnecessary limitations of film? I have some theories. And I wrote about 12 things film teaches us wrong (and 4 it teaches us right) about writing prose. Please join me!
open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...
open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...
November 18, 2025 at 6:27 PM
This is simultaneously so good & so entertaining
Somehow in all the excitement over on the @storystudiochicago.bsky.social account, I didn’t manage to share this news (from a couple weeks ago) directly myself: We were awarded a $100,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation and could not be more excited 🧵
November 19, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Somehow in all the excitement over on the @storystudiochicago.bsky.social account, I didn’t manage to share this news (from a couple weeks ago) directly myself: We were awarded a $100,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation and could not be more excited 🧵
Reposted by Rebecca Makkai
I’m still thinking about “quiet, piggy.” No president should be able to speak to a member of the press that way and remain president. That moment encapsulates how vile, misogynistic, and horrible that man is.
November 18, 2025 at 2:34 PM
I’m still thinking about “quiet, piggy.” No president should be able to speak to a member of the press that way and remain president. That moment encapsulates how vile, misogynistic, and horrible that man is.
It’s gonna be SO FUN. Optional costume: Dress like a classic mystery character (femme fatale, bumbling detective, thrice-widowed heiress, tall dark stranger, jewel thief)… All to support @storystudiochicago.bsky.social & Stories Matter Foundation. Save the date before someone kidnaps it for ransom!
November 18, 2025 at 3:11 PM
It’s gonna be SO FUN. Optional costume: Dress like a classic mystery character (femme fatale, bumbling detective, thrice-widowed heiress, tall dark stranger, jewel thief)… All to support @storystudiochicago.bsky.social & Stories Matter Foundation. Save the date before someone kidnaps it for ransom!
It would be weird to play soccer using the tennis rules. So why are we writing fiction with the unnecessary limitations of film? I have some theories. And I wrote about 12 things film teaches us wrong (and 4 it teaches us right) about writing prose. Please join me!
open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...
open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...
November 17, 2025 at 7:02 PM
It would be weird to play soccer using the tennis rules. So why are we writing fiction with the unnecessary limitations of film? I have some theories. And I wrote about 12 things film teaches us wrong (and 4 it teaches us right) about writing prose. Please join me!
open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...
open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...
Reposted by Rebecca Makkai
"only 16 of them have been identified ...as a "high public safety risk"
"it runs contradictory to what has been perpetuated over the last several months, where this is a targeted enforcement operation designed to go after kind of the worst of the worst."
www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...
"it runs contradictory to what has been perpetuated over the last several months, where this is a targeted enforcement operation designed to go after kind of the worst of the worst."
www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...
November 17, 2025 at 3:26 AM
"only 16 of them have been identified ...as a "high public safety risk"
"it runs contradictory to what has been perpetuated over the last several months, where this is a targeted enforcement operation designed to go after kind of the worst of the worst."
www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...
"it runs contradictory to what has been perpetuated over the last several months, where this is a targeted enforcement operation designed to go after kind of the worst of the worst."
www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...
Reposted by Rebecca Makkai
Remember the recent middle-of-the-night apartment building raid where children were dragged outside naked & zip-tied in the street while black & Latino residents were _sorted by race_ and piled into separate vans while their apartments were ransacked & robbed? That raid? So it resulted in 0 arrests.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should resign and be criminally charged, according to critics who seized on a report revealing that zero people who were arrested in a high-profile raid were charged with a crime.
'Noem should resign over this': Fury over alleged DHS 'child kidnapping and trafficking'
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should resign and be criminally charged, according to critics who seized on a report revealing that zero people who were arrested in a high-profile raid were charged with a crime.ProPublica recently reported on the DHS raid on an apartment building that was al...
bit.ly
November 16, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Remember the recent middle-of-the-night apartment building raid where children were dragged outside naked & zip-tied in the street while black & Latino residents were _sorted by race_ and piled into separate vans while their apartments were ransacked & robbed? That raid? So it resulted in 0 arrests.
Reposted by Rebecca Makkai
Before anyone gets too carried away here.
Anthony Fauci says Marjorie Taylor Greene drove death threats against him
Ex-leader of US Covid response said congresswoman and Fox News sparked ‘credible death threats’ against him and his family
www.theguardian.com
November 15, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Before anyone gets too carried away here.
Reposted by Rebecca Makkai
DO IT DO IT DOOO IIIIIIIT.
FIVE @storystudiochicago.bsky.social Novel in a Year classes are open for applications right now, but move quickly—those apps are due 11/14!
Here are your options🧵
Here are your options🧵
November 14, 2025 at 1:09 AM
DO IT DO IT DOOO IIIIIIIT.
Reposted by Rebecca Makkai
No joke, one of my greatest life decisions:
FIVE @storystudiochicago.bsky.social Novel in a Year classes are open for applications right now, but move quickly—those apps are due 11/14!
Here are your options🧵
Here are your options🧵
November 13, 2025 at 5:53 PM
No joke, one of my greatest life decisions:
FIVE @storystudiochicago.bsky.social Novel in a Year classes are open for applications right now, but move quickly—those apps are due 11/14!
Here are your options🧵
Here are your options🧵
November 13, 2025 at 5:05 PM
FIVE @storystudiochicago.bsky.social Novel in a Year classes are open for applications right now, but move quickly—those apps are due 11/14!
Here are your options🧵
Here are your options🧵
This is fascinating:
how did i go so long not knowing we were literally teaching people to read wrong. i knew something wasn't right but jesus christ www.apmreports.org/episode/2019...
How a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readers
For decades, schools have taught children the strategies of struggling readers, using a theory about reading that cognitive scientists have repeatedly debunked. And many teachers and parents don't kno...
www.apmreports.org
November 12, 2025 at 4:39 PM
This is fascinating:
Uh... Chicagoan here. A few things: 1) It's MAGNIFICENT Mile. 2) It's not a shopping center. It's a mile-long stretch downtown. 3) I have no idea how a street could "call it quits" 😂 4) Vacancies started during & because of Covid. 5) Know what's TOTALLY empty? Trump tower retail space 1 block west.
November 12, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Uh... Chicagoan here. A few things: 1) It's MAGNIFICENT Mile. 2) It's not a shopping center. It's a mile-long stretch downtown. 3) I have no idea how a street could "call it quits" 😂 4) Vacancies started during & because of Covid. 5) Know what's TOTALLY empty? Trump tower retail space 1 block west.
Reposted by Rebecca Makkai
it's not that i ever doubted that being a barista was a skilled position, but my year-long effort to try to produce a half-decent latte at home has convinced me that a good barista is easily more skilled than virtually every c-suite executive on the planet
November 11, 2025 at 3:58 PM
it's not that i ever doubted that being a barista was a skilled position, but my year-long effort to try to produce a half-decent latte at home has convinced me that a good barista is easily more skilled than virtually every c-suite executive on the planet
Really looking forward to being in conversation on World AIDS Day (Dec 1) with @tracybaim.bsky.social, @victorianoe.bsky.social, & Rosa E. Martínez Colón. Join us at the Women & Children First Bookstore in Andersonville (Chicago)!
www.eventbrite.com/e/world-aids...
www.eventbrite.com/e/world-aids...
World Aids Day Panel: Raising Our Voices
This World AIDS Day, join us for a panel discussion featuring Tracy Baim, Rebecca Makkai, Victoria Noe & Rosa E. Martínez Colón.
www.eventbrite.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Really looking forward to being in conversation on World AIDS Day (Dec 1) with @tracybaim.bsky.social, @victorianoe.bsky.social, & Rosa E. Martínez Colón. Join us at the Women & Children First Bookstore in Andersonville (Chicago)!
www.eventbrite.com/e/world-aids...
www.eventbrite.com/e/world-aids...
The CHIRBys (the @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social awards), aka, ~the~ literary event of the season, is happening on December 11 at the Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago. And you (yes, you) are invited!
November 10, 2025 at 5:04 PM
The CHIRBys (the @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social awards), aka, ~the~ literary event of the season, is happening on December 11 at the Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago. And you (yes, you) are invited!