Jen Benka
@jenbenka.bsky.social
Writer, reader, literary arts and culture worker. Views my own.
"However we read — by eye, by ear or both — it all counts. What matters is that the words get in, the brain makes meaning and the identity of being a reader takes hold. We need more readers, however they get there." —Brian Bannon, The New York Public Library www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/o...
Opinion | Do Audiobooks Count as Reading?
www.nytimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:16 PM
"However we read — by eye, by ear or both — it all counts. What matters is that the words get in, the brain makes meaning and the identity of being a reader takes hold. We need more readers, however they get there." —Brian Bannon, The New York Public Library www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/o...
“There are numerous benefits to a regular reading practice, experts say…Studies have found that reading fiction specifically can make people more empathetic, strengthen their social-cognitive abilities and increase psychological richness.” www.theguardian.com/wellness/202...
In a reading rut? How to get back into reading for fun
In a world full of distractions, it can be difficult to form a habit that needs attention. Experts advise on getting out of the rut
www.theguardian.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:39 PM
“There are numerous benefits to a regular reading practice, experts say…Studies have found that reading fiction specifically can make people more empathetic, strengthen their social-cognitive abilities and increase psychological richness.” www.theguardian.com/wellness/202...
"There is room for all of our voices..." —Roxane Gay www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/b...
Books That Examine the Past and Present of the Middle East Take National Book Awards
www.nytimes.com
November 20, 2025 at 1:48 PM
"There is room for all of our voices..." —Roxane Gay www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/b...
"Yes, the past is gone, but the past is how we learn. The past is how we got here. It’s worth a celebration. Even when it all went wrong. Especially when it did not." —Jeanette Winterson lithub.com/an-anniversa...
An Anniversary That Bears Fruit: Oranges, 40 Years On
Earlier this month was my birthday. Such dates are more than times of celebration. They are memory-markers. Where we were. Who we were with. How did it feel? This year, 2025, I had a different birt…
lithub.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:42 AM
"Yes, the past is gone, but the past is how we learn. The past is how we got here. It’s worth a celebration. Even when it all went wrong. Especially when it did not." —Jeanette Winterson lithub.com/an-anniversa...
"Perhaps this is where literature and art can help: by bringing forth perspectives and experiences we might otherwise never encounter, by turning abstract phenomena such as extinction and climate change into experiences and stories we can live through." —Iida Turpeinen lithub.com/iida-turpein...
Iida Turpeinen on Exploring Our Relationship With the Natural World Through Fiction
Iida Turpenen’s Beasts of the Sea, translated from the Finnish by David Hackston, is a rare first novel, drawing readers into intimate connection with a little-known species, the Stellar’s sea cow.…
lithub.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:39 AM
"Perhaps this is where literature and art can help: by bringing forth perspectives and experiences we might otherwise never encounter, by turning abstract phenomena such as extinction and climate change into experiences and stories we can live through." —Iida Turpeinen lithub.com/iida-turpein...
"He was a poet of the particular." —Bob Holman www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/n...
Hal Sirowitz, Poet Who Mined His Mother’s Worry With Wit, Dies at 76
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:14 AM
"He was a poet of the particular." —Bob Holman www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/n...
"Fiction is an alchemical art, a way of knowing not only the worlds that exist today but hypothetical worlds, vanished pasts and imaginary futures. Why read or write fiction at all, if you don’t want to go beyond the mind you have?" —Karen Russell lithub.com/meet-the-202...
Meet the 2025 National Book Award Finalists
The winners of the 76th National Book Awards—given every year in Young People’s Literature, Translation, Poetry, Nonfiction, and Fiction—will be announced next week in a ceremony hosted by Jeff Hil…
lithub.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:56 AM
"Fiction is an alchemical art, a way of knowing not only the worlds that exist today but hypothetical worlds, vanished pasts and imaginary futures. Why read or write fiction at all, if you don’t want to go beyond the mind you have?" —Karen Russell lithub.com/meet-the-202...
Reposted by Jen Benka
During the government shutdown, booksellers are collecting food for Americans who receive federal aid to buy groceries.
Bookstore Food Drives Help Food Stamp Recipients
During the government shutdown, booksellers are collecting food for Americans who receive federal aid to buy groceries.
nyti.ms
November 12, 2025 at 1:40 AM
During the government shutdown, booksellers are collecting food for Americans who receive federal aid to buy groceries.
"Every word matters; the spaces between the words matter. The book is about living, and the strangeness of living and, as we read, as we turn the pages, we’re glad we’re alive and reading..." —Roddy Doyle @thebookerprizes.com thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-l...
Everything you need to know about Flesh by David Szalay, winner of the Booker Prize 2025 | The Booker Prizes
As Flesh by David Szalay wins this year’s Booker Prize, here’s the lowdown on the winning book and its author
thebookerprizes.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:28 AM
"Every word matters; the spaces between the words matter. The book is about living, and the strangeness of living and, as we read, as we turn the pages, we’re glad we’re alive and reading..." —Roddy Doyle @thebookerprizes.com thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-l...
"Always the same story: two people, one tree, not enough land or light or love." —Philip Metres @philipmetres.bsky.social
thelandcle.org/stories/a-li...
thelandcle.org/stories/a-li...
A life characterized by verse: How one Cleveland poet found himself through writing – The Land
When Cleveland poet Philip Metres was a senior in AP English at Wilmette, Illinois’ Loyola Academy in 1987, he was assigned a poem that would change the course of his life.
thelandcle.org
November 11, 2025 at 10:16 AM
"Always the same story: two people, one tree, not enough land or light or love." —Philip Metres @philipmetres.bsky.social
thelandcle.org/stories/a-li...
thelandcle.org/stories/a-li...
Reposted by Jen Benka
The Literary Arts Fund’s 2026 general operating grant application window is now open. U.S.-based literary arts nonprofits whose primary mission is presenting, publishing, and/or otherwise directly supporting creative writers are invited to apply: literaryartsfund.org/grants/
November 10, 2025 at 4:59 PM
The Literary Arts Fund’s 2026 general operating grant application window is now open. U.S.-based literary arts nonprofits whose primary mission is presenting, publishing, and/or otherwise directly supporting creative writers are invited to apply: literaryartsfund.org/grants/
"A hunger that feels distinctly of our time: to follow thought as it unfolds, to see the forces that shape it, to watch meaning being made instead of delivered." —Laura Moore electricliterature.com/nonfiction-i...
Nonfiction Isn’t False, but Who Says It’s True? - Electric Literature
A new micro-genre turns "truth" into an investigation about how meaning gets made
electricliterature.com
November 8, 2025 at 10:46 AM
"A hunger that feels distinctly of our time: to follow thought as it unfolds, to see the forces that shape it, to watch meaning being made instead of delivered." —Laura Moore electricliterature.com/nonfiction-i...
"Art can’t save us from anything, but we need it as a reminder of something better." —A.O. Scott www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
This Poem About Monet’s “Water Lilies” Reflects on the Powers and Limits of Art
“Monet’s ‘Waterlilies,’” by Robert Hayden, reflects on what art can (and can’t) do in tumultuous times. Our critic A.O. Scott shows you why he loves it.
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 10:47 AM
"Art can’t save us from anything, but we need it as a reminder of something better." —A.O. Scott www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
"The AI boom not only normalizes plagiarism, but it also entirely ignores the work it takes to produce great writing." —Maris Kreizman lithub.com/when-we-deva...
When We Devalue Art (Books!) We Devalue the Future
When you’ve spent your whole adult life working in and around book publishing you get used to hearing that people don’t read anymore and that the industry is on its last legs. There is always a cri…
lithub.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:22 AM
"The AI boom not only normalizes plagiarism, but it also entirely ignores the work it takes to produce great writing." —Maris Kreizman lithub.com/when-we-deva...
Reposted by Jen Benka
Citing a chronic shortage of financial backing for independent publishers & nonprofits dedicated to writing and reading, a coalition of seven charitable foundations has established a Literary Arts Fund that will distribute a minimum of $50 million over the next five years. https://to.pbs.org/4o6lqua
$50M Literary Arts Fund will support independent publishers and nonprofits
Citing a chronic shortage of financial backing for independent publishers and nonprofits dedicated to writing and reading, a coalition of seven charitable foundations has established a Literary Arts F...
www.pbs.org
October 29, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Citing a chronic shortage of financial backing for independent publishers & nonprofits dedicated to writing and reading, a coalition of seven charitable foundations has established a Literary Arts Fund that will distribute a minimum of $50 million over the next five years. https://to.pbs.org/4o6lqua
"American philanthropy can and must play a bigger role in strengthening the financial infrastructure of the literary organizations and nonprofits that serve these literary artists." —Elizabeth Alexander, poet and President of the Mellon Foundation lithub.com/good-news-a-...
Good news! A new fund will distribute $50 million to literary nonprofits.
Several charitable groups—among them the Ford, Hawthornden, Lannan, MacArthur, Mellon, and Poetry foundations—are teaming up to launch the Literary Arts Fund, an effort to give the “essential…
lithub.com
October 28, 2025 at 5:38 PM
"American philanthropy can and must play a bigger role in strengthening the financial infrastructure of the literary organizations and nonprofits that serve these literary artists." —Elizabeth Alexander, poet and President of the Mellon Foundation lithub.com/good-news-a-...
Happy to help share the news of the Literary Arts Fund launch today and to serve as its executive director. More here: literaryartsfund.org
October 28, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Happy to help share the news of the Literary Arts Fund launch today and to serve as its executive director. More here: literaryartsfund.org
"To let it be—that is the crux of the poet’s task: 'Leave this little echo to haunt the poem…It has the shape of your own soul as you write.'" —Elisa Gonzalez @parisreview.bsky.social www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/09...
A Little Ghost, Barbara Guest, and Me by Elisa Gonzalez
September 8, 2025 – “I cared an inordinate amount about locating this poem.”
www.theparisreview.org
September 16, 2025 at 11:33 AM
"To let it be—that is the crux of the poet’s task: 'Leave this little echo to haunt the poem…It has the shape of your own soul as you write.'" —Elisa Gonzalez @parisreview.bsky.social www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/09...
"As laureate I feel a great responsibility to promote the ways poetry, especially poetry in translation, can impact our daily lives." —Arthur Sze, the new US Poet Laureate www.npr.org/2025/09/15/n...
Arthur Sze named 25th U.S. poet laureate
Sze is a poet with a lot of acclaim — he's won the National Book Award, was a Guggenheim fellow and was a finalist for the Pulitzer. He aims to promote interest in translated poetry in his new role.
www.npr.org
September 15, 2025 at 12:20 PM
"As laureate I feel a great responsibility to promote the ways poetry, especially poetry in translation, can impact our daily lives." —Arthur Sze, the new US Poet Laureate www.npr.org/2025/09/15/n...
Praise the mutilated world
and the gray feather a thrush lost,
and the gentle light that strays and vanishes
and returns.
—Adam Zagajewski
www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57095/...
and the gray feather a thrush lost,
and the gentle light that strays and vanishes
and returns.
—Adam Zagajewski
www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57095/...
Try to Praise the Mutilated World
Try to praise the mutilated world. Praise the mutilated world and the gray feather a thrush lost, and the gentle light that strays and vanishes and returns.
www.poetryfoundation.org
September 11, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Praise the mutilated world
and the gray feather a thrush lost,
and the gentle light that strays and vanishes
and returns.
—Adam Zagajewski
www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57095/...
and the gray feather a thrush lost,
and the gentle light that strays and vanishes
and returns.
—Adam Zagajewski
www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57095/...
"By taking the brave leap of participating in challenging conversations, we allow ourselves to be seen more truly and honestly; we may even become better listeners, too, and gain compassion for differing opinions." —Linda-Marie Barrett lithub.com/why-everyone...
Why Everyone—Yes, Everyone—Should Join a Book Club
“Books are something social—a writer speaking to a reader—so I think making the reading of a book the center of a social event, the meeting of a book club, is a brilliant idea.” –Yann Martel * Our …
lithub.com
September 10, 2025 at 11:20 AM
"By taking the brave leap of participating in challenging conversations, we allow ourselves to be seen more truly and honestly; we may even become better listeners, too, and gain compassion for differing opinions." —Linda-Marie Barrett lithub.com/why-everyone...
"There are unbelievably dedicated artists, makers, thinkers and doers working away in rural communities, in their little cabin in the woods next to the river, just like Lorine. How important those voices are." —Clara Wolfe pbswisconsin.org/article/arch...
Archivist Clara Wolfe lends visual impact of Lorine Niedecker's life in 'Welcome Poets' - PBS Wisconsin
Welcome Poets, a digital series from PBS Wisconsin, examines the life of mid-20th-century poet Lorine Niedecker through the lens of...
pbswisconsin.org
September 4, 2025 at 11:20 AM
"There are unbelievably dedicated artists, makers, thinkers and doers working away in rural communities, in their little cabin in the woods next to the river, just like Lorine. How important those voices are." —Clara Wolfe pbswisconsin.org/article/arch...
"Poems are still showing me who I am, what has shaped me, and what I care about, and I love (Stanley) Kunitz’s 'every stone on the road / precious to me.'" —Joan Larkin brooklynrail.org/2025/09/book...
JOAN LARKIN with Tony Leuzzi | The Brooklyn Rail
My interview with Joan Larkin was conducted through email and phone conversations across a two-week period in July 2025. In 2012, she and I interviewed each other for a feature in the Huffington Post—...
brooklynrail.org
September 3, 2025 at 12:15 PM
"Poems are still showing me who I am, what has shaped me, and what I care about, and I love (Stanley) Kunitz’s 'every stone on the road / precious to me.'" —Joan Larkin brooklynrail.org/2025/09/book...
"You have to change it up, you have to experiment, you have to insist that your work is not just a reaction to what’s happening to you. Your work is a thing in and of itself, a way of positing another vision of the world." —Arundhati Roy www.nytimes.com/2025/08/30/m...
Arundhati Roy on How to Survive in a ‘Culture of Fear’
www.nytimes.com
September 3, 2025 at 12:11 PM
"You have to change it up, you have to experiment, you have to insist that your work is not just a reaction to what’s happening to you. Your work is a thing in and of itself, a way of positing another vision of the world." —Arundhati Roy www.nytimes.com/2025/08/30/m...