un petit update, iii

a round-up, as a treat

Photo by Khara Woods on Unsplash

Hello friends—

Happy Friday and all that. Just coming at you with a few nibs and nubs.

Kiese Laymon, human genius, is joining the faculty at Rice University, and I suddenly feel compelled to go back to college.

Tobi Haslett just dropped an absolute must-read banger of a piece on last summer’s BLM protests. It’s sharp, elegant, and incredibly moving.

Derrick Austin has a dazzling new poem.

For Lit Hub, I wrote about Thomas Dworzak’s Digital Record of The Longest Year: 2020+

Real Life was shortlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award and selected as one of the honored titles for the Society of Midland Authors in adult fiction. Very cool.

I’m joining The Sewanee Review as an Editor-at-Large alongside Danielle Evans and Sidik Fofana, both of whom are geniuses, and I’m just glad they’re letting me tag along.

I have a short story in the upcoming issue of A Public Space called “That’s the Pain You Have.” More on that in the next week or so—I think. Don’t quote me on that.

Also, the blurbs for Filthy Animals are officially official, so I’ll drop a few here and remind you that preorders (especially for stories!) matter a lot, and if you felt so inclined, I’d appreciate it, but also no big deal if not:

“Brandon Taylor writes with unsparing precision about the blurry territories of fear, longing, violence, and desire. An extraordinary book that rewards, and deserves, keen attention.” —Karen Russell

“The characters at the heart of this elegant storm of stories are ablaze with risk and tenderness. Their voices are bright and clear, the contours of their pains and desires sharp and urgent. A profoundly gifted writer.” —Laura Van Den Berg

“A dazzling showcase for Brandon Taylor’s formidable talents—his fierce intellect, his emotional and linguistic precision, his dry and unflinching humor. He is a writer of rare daring, his fiction a series of revelations.” —Katie Kitamura

“A writer who meets life with a rare combination of will, wonderment, temperament, and vitality.” —Yiyun Li

“Superb work by a writer of extraordinary psychological insight.” —Joseph O’Neill

Also, a big thanks to y’all for reading and sharing this newsletter. I never imagined that anyone would care very much about my random typing. The last…several months have been very frustrating because I haven’t been able to write the things I want to write, mostly meaning fiction. But getting to write this newsletter each week really has been so sustaining and really fun. It’s the only writing I’m really able to do right now, and I’m grateful to have it, haha. I’m just grateful to y’all for reading it and listening to my weekly rambling. It means a lot to me. So, from one frustrated, anxious, struggling writer, a big big big big thank you.

Okay, I’m off to read. Happy weekend. Stay safe. Touch grass. Don’t let anybody tell you what to do.

b