Jill Talbot
@jilltalbot.bsky.social
Essayist, Single Mother, Reader, Runner, Dog Owner, Postcard Collector, Payphone Photographer, Probably Staring Out a Window. http://jilltalbot.net
Thanks to @sonorareview.bsky.social for publishing my essay. sonorareview.com/2025/11/04/s...
Staring at the Silence | Jill Talbot - Sonora Review
Stepping through the back door, I squint against the shadows before sliding into the corner booth of the bar section. The restaurant’s near empty, the way I like it. Every few weeks, I drive the seven...
sonorareview.com
November 12, 2025 at 2:20 AM
Thanks to @sonorareview.bsky.social for publishing my essay. sonorareview.com/2025/11/04/s...
"The postcards materialize an unselfconscious act, a persona not quite public, a version of herself meant to be seen by one other person for a fleeting moment." — Sarah Bochicchio @theparisreivew.bsky.social www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/11...
Postcards from Virginia Woolf by Sarah Bochicchio
November 7, 2025 – "Woolf likely imagined these cards would end up in a garbage can or, at best, someone’s attic."
www.theparisreview.org
November 7, 2025 at 11:00 PM
"The postcards materialize an unselfconscious act, a persona not quite public, a version of herself meant to be seen by one other person for a fleeting moment." — Sarah Bochicchio @theparisreivew.bsky.social www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/11...
"What is it about the steady movement of a vehicle—a bus, a plane, a boat, a train—that makes every possible life I could live spill out in front of me?" — Maggie Hart
Love the setting & details & rumination in this essay. @offassignment.bsky.social
www.offassignment.com/articles/mag...
Love the setting & details & rumination in this essay. @offassignment.bsky.social
www.offassignment.com/articles/mag...
To the Boy on the Night Bus — Off Assignment
“You could’ve been five or twelve, for all I knew. I’m not good with children; I haven’t been around them often, never witnessed or memorized the milestones that my friends my age seem to carry like i...
www.offassignment.com
November 5, 2025 at 5:29 PM
"What is it about the steady movement of a vehicle—a bus, a plane, a boat, a train—that makes every possible life I could live spill out in front of me?" — Maggie Hart
Love the setting & details & rumination in this essay. @offassignment.bsky.social
www.offassignment.com/articles/mag...
Love the setting & details & rumination in this essay. @offassignment.bsky.social
www.offassignment.com/articles/mag...
Six Novembers ago (!!), the first essay in my year-long @theparisreivew.bsky.social column ran, followed by 17 more essays across the four seasons about me & my daughter in the year before she left for college—leading to the day I drove away from her dorm. www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/11...
All Our Leavings by Jill Talbot
November 1, 2019 – Jill Talbot’s first essay in a year-long series on her daughter leaving home.
www.theparisreview.org
November 3, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Six Novembers ago (!!), the first essay in my year-long @theparisreivew.bsky.social column ran, followed by 17 more essays across the four seasons about me & my daughter in the year before she left for college—leading to the day I drove away from her dorm. www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/11...
"I, likewise, have invented scenes that occurred long before my birth. I have filled in gaps in the record, 'remembered' things I could not remember, and here and there written what I liked for the sheer fun of writing it." — Gish Jen @lithub.com.web.brid.gy lithub.com/whats-real-a...
What’s Real and What’s Not: Gish Jen on Writing Between the Factual Lines
In his poem, “Epilogue,” Robert Lowell rues the difficulty of making “something imagined/not recalled.” Famously autobiographical, he laments that sometimes everything I write with the threadbare a…
lithub.com
October 21, 2025 at 4:19 PM
"I, likewise, have invented scenes that occurred long before my birth. I have filled in gaps in the record, 'remembered' things I could not remember, and here and there written what I liked for the sheer fun of writing it." — Gish Jen @lithub.com.web.brid.gy lithub.com/whats-real-a...
"Sometimes, we learn the meaning of words and it has nothing to do with dictionaries; the kinds of meanings we learn because we must live them."
"[H]e has become a shoebox of letters in the closet, on a shelf too high for me reach." — Allison Albino The Missouri Review
missourireview.com/albino/
"[H]e has become a shoebox of letters in the closet, on a shelf too high for me reach." — Allison Albino The Missouri Review
missourireview.com/albino/
“Coup de foudre” by Allison Albino | The Missouri Review
Discovering the best in fiction, essays, and poetry
missourireview.com
October 13, 2025 at 3:17 PM
"Sometimes, we learn the meaning of words and it has nothing to do with dictionaries; the kinds of meanings we learn because we must live them."
"[H]e has become a shoebox of letters in the closet, on a shelf too high for me reach." — Allison Albino The Missouri Review
missourireview.com/albino/
"[H]e has become a shoebox of letters in the closet, on a shelf too high for me reach." — Allison Albino The Missouri Review
missourireview.com/albino/
"As we drove on, the miles slipping away beneath us, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there were things that lived in the spaces between what my mother told me and what she kept hidden." —Fay Sachpatzidis @baltimorereview.bsky.social
A fascinating essay baltimorereview.org/summer_2025/...
A fascinating essay baltimorereview.org/summer_2025/...
Fay Sachpatzidis: Root Lady
Fay Sachpatzidis is a writer and poet based in New York City. Her writing has appeared in Prairie Schooner, The Normal School, and Bodega Magazine, among other places.
baltimorereview.org
October 12, 2025 at 6:43 PM
"As we drove on, the miles slipping away beneath us, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there were things that lived in the spaces between what my mother told me and what she kept hidden." —Fay Sachpatzidis @baltimorereview.bsky.social
A fascinating essay baltimorereview.org/summer_2025/...
A fascinating essay baltimorereview.org/summer_2025/...
"As it turns out, I prefer the doorknobs as useless objects, tucked into the back corner of a closet. I suppose at some point they’ll no longer speak to me, and I’ll set them out on the stoop for someone else to take." — Katie Kitamura @yalereview.bsky.social yalereview.org/article/kati...
Katie Kitamura's Object of Desire
A flea-market find unlocks something unexpected for the novelist.
yalereview.org
October 11, 2025 at 4:45 PM
"As it turns out, I prefer the doorknobs as useless objects, tucked into the back corner of a closet. I suppose at some point they’ll no longer speak to me, and I’ll set them out on the stoop for someone else to take." — Katie Kitamura @yalereview.bsky.social yalereview.org/article/kati...
“I just want to think out loud about the things that matter most to me.” @zadiesmith.bsky.social @newyorker.com www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
The Art of the Impersonal Essay, by Zadie Smith
In my experience, every kind of writing requires some kind of self-soothing Jedi mind trick, and, when it comes to essay composition, the rectangle is mine.
www.newyorker.com
September 28, 2025 at 1:56 PM
“I just want to think out loud about the things that matter most to me.” @zadiesmith.bsky.social @newyorker.com www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
"In elementary school art class, we studied the color wheel and contour lines and Vincent van Gogh, which is perhaps where I got the idea that mental illness is a prerequisite of being a successful artist." New @gabemontesanti.bsky.social Essay Alert! @anmlymag.bsky.social anmly.org/ap40/gabe-mo...
Gabe Montesanti – ANMLY
anmly.org
September 26, 2025 at 6:02 PM
"In elementary school art class, we studied the color wheel and contour lines and Vincent van Gogh, which is perhaps where I got the idea that mental illness is a prerequisite of being a successful artist." New @gabemontesanti.bsky.social Essay Alert! @anmlymag.bsky.social anmly.org/ap40/gabe-mo...
Sue William Silverman's latest essay collection: Amazing. I knew it would be when I saw glowing blurbs by other amazing essayists: @paullisicky.bsky.social @jillchristman.bsky.social & Sonja Livingston. @univnebpress.bsky.social
September 15, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Sue William Silverman's latest essay collection: Amazing. I knew it would be when I saw glowing blurbs by other amazing essayists: @paullisicky.bsky.social @jillchristman.bsky.social & Sonja Livingston. @univnebpress.bsky.social
“Away from anything and everything familiar, I was where I wanted to be.” — Joanna Pocock gives us an immersive road narrative in conversation with other writers of the road, views from her past & present self, environmental geography & a celebration of the roadside motel. #ontheroad
August 21, 2025 at 10:11 PM
“Away from anything and everything familiar, I was where I wanted to be.” — Joanna Pocock gives us an immersive road narrative in conversation with other writers of the road, views from her past & present self, environmental geography & a celebration of the roadside motel. #ontheroad
Moved & proud to be a part of this anthology with a collaborative essay with Marcia Aldrich along with an impressive list of contributors. With thanks to an extraordinary editor, Stephanie Vessely. Pre-order here: www.fulcrumbooks.com/product-page...
July 29, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Moved & proud to be a part of this anthology with a collaborative essay with Marcia Aldrich along with an impressive list of contributors. With thanks to an extraordinary editor, Stephanie Vessely. Pre-order here: www.fulcrumbooks.com/product-page...
Published 10 years ago today! softskull.com/books/the-wa... #memoir #books #singlemother #memoirinessays #motherdaughter #roadnarrative #home
July 14, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Published 10 years ago today! softskull.com/books/the-wa... #memoir #books #singlemother #memoirinessays #motherdaughter #roadnarrative #home
My friend, Liane Malinowski, has a wonderful guest essay in Jack Christian’s charming #Substack, Day Dates. I recommend both. open.substack.com/pub/daydates...
Mogan's
The world is your oyster house
open.substack.com
June 30, 2025 at 7:04 PM
My friend, Liane Malinowski, has a wonderful guest essay in Jack Christian’s charming #Substack, Day Dates. I recommend both. open.substack.com/pub/daydates...
I have so much admiration for (& experiential connections with) this memoir by Hala Alyan. A powerful memoir, but also a series of well-crafted, form-forward essays. And so much more. If you've ever waited & guarded your wanting. @simonandschuster.bsky.social www.simonandschuster.com/books/Ill-Te...
June 12, 2025 at 11:34 PM
I have so much admiration for (& experiential connections with) this memoir by Hala Alyan. A powerful memoir, but also a series of well-crafted, form-forward essays. And so much more. If you've ever waited & guarded your wanting. @simonandschuster.bsky.social www.simonandschuster.com/books/Ill-Te...
Today! The Lyric Essay | 4:00 EST Free registration: www.thepoetscorner.org/events/the-l...
June 8, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Today! The Lyric Essay | 4:00 EST Free registration: www.thepoetscorner.org/events/the-l...
Holy shit this is amazing writing. Hala Alyan @electricliterature.com electricliterature.com/an-excerpt-f...
Addiction Is a Story of Wanting Gone Awry - Electric Literature
An excerpt from “I’ll Tell You When I’m Home” by Hala Alyan
electricliterature.com
May 30, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Holy shit this is amazing writing. Hala Alyan @electricliterature.com electricliterature.com/an-excerpt-f...
"[W]e are all carrying a unique ache, or a unique memory, or a unique desire." — Hanif Abdurraqib @newyorker.com
www.newyorker.com/culture/essa...
www.newyorker.com/culture/essa...
In Defense of Despair
The feeling is most commonly framed as an end point, a level of despondency that cannot be overcome. But it doesn’t have to be so.
www.newyorker.com
May 19, 2025 at 6:57 PM
"[W]e are all carrying a unique ache, or a unique memory, or a unique desire." — Hanif Abdurraqib @newyorker.com
www.newyorker.com/culture/essa...
www.newyorker.com/culture/essa...
So cool! A postcard chapbook in @newlettersmagazine.bsky.social by Courtney Kersten. Also available online: www.newletters.org/address-unkn...
May 6, 2025 at 7:00 PM
So cool! A postcard chapbook in @newlettersmagazine.bsky.social by Courtney Kersten. Also available online: www.newletters.org/address-unkn...
For Mothers—in every moment, in every phase, in every season. @wapress.bsky.social
bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
The Last Year
Check out The Last Year - <p>"The moments that change us, the ghosts that follow us, the memories that slow us down or keep us afloat - Jill Talbot has found the language for all of that. Talbot, a lo...
bookshop.org
May 2, 2025 at 11:36 PM
For Mothers—in every moment, in every phase, in every season. @wapress.bsky.social
bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
"I . . . write down the names of motels I pass, partly because they’ve devolved from Technicolor postcard destinations with mod geometric signs, to roadside slumps of peeling paint and mediocre marquee promises." @emdashphillips.bsky.social blackbird-archive.vcu.edu/v14n1/nonfic...
May 2, 2025 at 6:23 PM
"I . . . write down the names of motels I pass, partly because they’ve devolved from Technicolor postcard destinations with mod geometric signs, to roadside slumps of peeling paint and mediocre marquee promises." @emdashphillips.bsky.social blackbird-archive.vcu.edu/v14n1/nonfic...
"We’re all still here, with the windows down, suspended somewhere between then and now." — Melissa Faliveno @kenyonreview.bsky.social kenyonreview.org/piece/drivin...
Driving Around Central Ohio in my Dad’s ’07 Chevy Listening to the CDs of my Youth; or, Put the Past Away; or, August and Everything After - The Kenyon Review
Already have an account? Log in Join KR for even more to read. Sign up for a free account and read any five pieces a month. Sign Up and Read […]
kenyonreview.org
April 26, 2025 at 5:45 PM
"We’re all still here, with the windows down, suspended somewhere between then and now." — Melissa Faliveno @kenyonreview.bsky.social kenyonreview.org/piece/drivin...
Looking forward to discussing the lyric essay on Sunday, June 8. Registration open (it's free).
www.thepoetscorner.org/events/the-l...
www.thepoetscorner.org/events/the-l...
The Lyric Essay: Shapeshifters of Language — The Poets Corner
“The lyric essay reminds me of lily pads slathered across the surface of a pond. . . . imagine my surprise when I learned lily pads were not merely floating atop the water but were actually tethered t...
www.thepoetscorner.org
April 21, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Looking forward to discussing the lyric essay on Sunday, June 8. Registration open (it's free).
www.thepoetscorner.org/events/the-l...
www.thepoetscorner.org/events/the-l...
"Few people travel the back roads anymore, and highways are speckled with fast food and chain motels. Postcards and souvenirs are things of the past—no one wants a decorative spoon from every state." —Jane Stern @theparisreivew.bsky.social www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/04...
The End of Roadside Attractions - The Paris Review
“Is there a connection between dinosaurs and Jesus? When it comes to roadside attractions, the answer is yes!”
www.theparisreview.org
April 11, 2025 at 7:12 PM
"Few people travel the back roads anymore, and highways are speckled with fast food and chain motels. Postcards and souvenirs are things of the past—no one wants a decorative spoon from every state." —Jane Stern @theparisreivew.bsky.social www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/04...