Catherynne M. Valente

There is a large general strike in Maine today to protest ICE. It has quite a bit of energy and momentum behind it, and much of the city is closed. As someone who can (kind of, sort of) not work for a day if I need to, I figure the least I can do is join the side of good. Therefore, though the rewar

Note: This is cross-posted from my Substack, where I keep my Extremely Angry Political Writing. I don't like to post it here, because it is Decidedly Not Cozy, and I want this place to be for art and community and conversations about the Better Thoughts. But I've been working on this series for a lo

Fifteen years ago, I wrote a book, mostly, but not entirely, for children, called The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. Rather a lot of people liked it. Over the years, that one book became five. Five, and two short stories. And then, in 2016...well. I don't have to tel

I know it's my job to be one of the people who Says Something About It. I know it's my job to be one of the people who says something comforting, or at least insightful, or at a minimum cathartic. I'll try soon. I promise. But I just don't have anything right now. I can't even look at the analysis,

The outstanding rewards for October are coming, I promise, I just am having a lot of physcial issues right now and also I can't think about anything but the election tomorrow so here is my brain at the moment...it's all I got. *** It’s almost over. One way or the other. I think I’ve aged ten years s

(Cross-posted from Substack 24 hours later so no one misses anything if they hate a platform) If you were thinking of joining the ranks of those who like to comment suggesting I write these pieces with less swearing, or indeed type without one elbow on the capslock key, this would not be the essay t

Crosspoted from Substack even though it's not cozy because I feel this is pretty damn important to get out now while the beast is young. You know, I had other things I wanted to yell about. I have about five essays in my drafts folder about like, deep systemic issues and big bad shadows on the horiz

Hello, my loves. It is the day before Election Day here in the US, which means it is a crisp, moody, blustery day in November, full of golden leaves tumbling through the air like wishes and woodsmoke spiralling up through the New England clouds like dreams, and I want to throw up my soul. I wanted t

Hello, everyone! Now comes the time when I explain why there is a political poem about a wombat just below this post. Yesterday, while discussing politics on Twitter, as seemingly everyone does all the time at the moment, I ended up in a pretty heated conversation with someone from Texas named Craig