"...we might mention an eccentric teacher or an idiosyncratic assignment, but "the American dream" and "the green light" and "the three witches" and "the balcony scene" pass between us as a kind of lingua franca..."
My summer course is about current trends in lit and we spend a few weeks on award winners so both these pieces will be so helpful!
“McGrath writes with a deft and dust-free feeling for scene and character that is matched by the depth and clarity of her analysis.”
@lbmcgrath.bsky.social with an absolute RAVE in the NYRB!
"It's time to read the CliffsNotes, study the AP exam, and work alongside our high school colleagues"
I am extremely enthusiastic about the work @manshel.bsky.social is doing here. Also, he's a lot of fun to read.
Part of a crucial new @atpost45.bsky.social cluster
post45.org/2026/06/inst...
A great piece on what REALLY happens in the room where it happens when what is happening is a Major Literary Prize!
And very cool to see echoes of what @mellymeldubs.bsky.social and I found in our own research on literary prize juries and the books they pick!
www.publicbooks.org/what-35-year...
Such a fun conference and such an incredible honor to accept Narrative’s Perkins Prize for my book (including this handsome plaque)!
My new essay, on "The Institution(s) of High School English," and the chasm that exists between high school and university English departments, is out now in Post45!
Such a pleasure to be thinking alongside this fabulous collection of teachers and scholars!
post45.org/2026/06/inst...
My new essay, on "The Institution(s) of High School English," and the chasm that exists between high school and university English departments, is out now in Post45!
Such a pleasure to be thinking alongside this fabulous collection of teachers and scholars!
post45.org/2026/06/inst...
Excited to head to Denmark next week for the Narrative conference, where I'll be talking about "The High School Canon & Its Genres"
When it comes to the history of American education, Clifton Hillegass has not gotten his due. In his decades-long career, Hillegass’s name graced the cover of hundreds of books, works that have sold t...
My new essay, on "The Institution(s) of High School English," and the chasm that exists between high school and university English departments, is out now in Post45!
Such a pleasure to be thinking alongside this fabulous collection of teachers and scholars!
post45.org/2026/06/inst...
A great piece on what REALLY happens in the room where it happens when what is happening is a Major Literary Prize!
And very cool to see echoes of what @mellymeldubs.bsky.social and I found in our own research on literary prize juries and the books they pick!
www.publicbooks.org/what-35-year...
We may never know what goes on in the rooms where literary prizes are decided, but thanks to data, we know exactly who was there.
When it comes to the history of American education, Clifton Hillegass has not gotten his due. In his decades-long career, Hillegass’s name graced the cover of hundreds of books, works that have sold t...
post45.org
I assure you, you do not know who Xander is talking about, here: "By some measures, he is the most influential literary critic of the last century."
post45.org/2026/06/inst...
When it comes to the history of American education, Clifton Hillegass has not gotten his due. In his decades-long career, Hillegass’s name graced the cover of hundreds of books, works that have sold t...
Excited to head to Denmark next week for the Narrative conference, where I'll be talking about "The High School Canon & Its Genres"
When it comes to the history of American education, Clifton Hillegass has not gotten his due. In his decades-long career, Hillegass’s name graced the cover of hundreds of books, works that have sold t...
A beautiful day to wake up to find this review of MIDDLEMEN in the New York Review of Books!
Alexander Manshel
When it comes to the history of American education, Clifton Hillegass has not gotten his due. In his decades-long career, Hillegass’s name graced the cover of hundreds of books, works that have sold t...
post45.org
We may never know what goes on in the rooms where literary prizes are decided, but thanks to data, we know exactly who was there.
Writers and readers and even editors have so many misunderstandings about how book prizes work. I’m not going to give anyone a stroke by revealing secrets of the judging room, BUT I want to tell you a whole lot of stuff that you probably don’t know 🧵
open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...
With their blend of taste and market savvy, literary agents have been both invisible and necessary in contemporary American fiction.
Writers and readers and even editors have so many misunderstandings about how book prizes work. I’m not going to give anyone a stroke by revealing secrets of the judging room, BUT I want to tell you a whole lot of stuff that you probably don’t know 🧵
open.substack.com/pub/rebeccam...
📚New cluster!!
Ed. Robert LeBlanc
"The Specter of High School English" initiates a conversation across institutional boundaries that discusses literacy, censorship, technology, writing instruction, and so much more!
Check it out:
post45.org/sections/con...
📚New cluster!!
Ed. Robert LeBlanc
"The Specter of High School English" initiates a conversation across institutional boundaries that discusses literacy, censorship, technology, writing instruction, and so much more!
Check it out:
post45.org/sections/con...
📚New cluster!!
Ed. Robert LeBlanc
"The Specter of High School English" initiates a conversation across institutional boundaries that discusses literacy, censorship, technology, writing instruction, and so much more!
Check it out:
post45.org/sections/con...
Alexander Manshel
Edited by Robert J. LeBlanc and T. Phillip Nichols
