Recommended by Josh Kornbluth
Wow, the amazing Tanya Shaffer is on Substack! This wonderful storyteller, a marvel on both stage and page, weaves her enchanting tales into a vast personal, familial, and spiritual canvas.
I've always had a kind of ... not _phobia_ about reading poetry, exactly, but a worry about not understanding it. Nonetheless, in my dotage I've been venturing out into the poetic world - and finding some lovely, even revelatory things. This delightful, thoughtfully curated Substack is really helping to guide my explorations.
The great Hanif Kureishi, who wrote the screenplay to "My Beautiful Laundrette" and the novel "The Buddha of Suburbia," had a terrible accident last year that left him without the use of his arms or legs. Now he is narrating dispatches to this new publication with his usual wit and ferocity.
I'm so excited to see that the beloved poet Maggie Smith has started her own Substack! It's one of my life goals to learn about how poems are written (and to learn to read them better), and her first post (which I just read) annotates one of her poems in such a way that I can see how she made many of her choices. I'm so looking forward to following her!
It's Colin friggin' Meloy, lead singer and songwriter of The Decemberists!! So far he's posted about the nuts-and-bolts of recording their next album (wow!!) and reminisced about his 20s (charming). Having loved listening to him for so many years, now it's a treat to read him as well.
I am generally terrified of reading about Covid - it just gets me so freaked out! Erin Kissane finds just the right tone to share important information without either underplaying the dangers or making me want to shut down.
I cannot recommend this enough! George Saunders, whose novel "Lincoln in the Bardo" (as well as his many brilliant stories and essays) has rocked my world, is essentially giving an online masterclass in writing and reading fiction. Following his posts is pure joy!!!
In his heart of hearts, Robert Reich probably considers his cameo in "Love & Taxes," a movie I made with my brother Jacob, to be the highlight of his professional life. But he's also pretty darn good at explaining economics and politics.
My friend Wendy MacNaughton is just a magical human being: beyond-brilliant artist, fantastic (and generous) teacher, and a spectacularly beautiful person!! I am so relieved that she survived being my passenger during the brief period I was allowed to drive a car!!
My friend Susie Bright is a great, writer, editor, and (based on a glorious experience I had with her in my dressing room after I'd just performed a show in Santa Cruz) foot-massager.
