Smart Writers
An entirely subjective and limited list of excellent writers, mostly literary fiction. To be expanded. If you want to be included, comment/repost and I’ll add you!
Created by
@isabelkaplan.bsky.social
@scarletteharris.bsky.social
Tomatometer-approved culture critic at Vogue, New York Times, Cosmo & elsewhere. Author & editor. I have a lot of opinions. Pay me to write about them 📩 scarlett.harris@y7mail.com she/her scarlettwoman.com.au/about/ scarlettwoman.substack.com
@cherylpappas.bsky.social
Writer. Book: THE CLARITY OF HUNGER Word West Press (2021). MacDowell Fellow ‘23. Email: fabulistpappas@gmail.com Novel-in-progress: Abandon www.cherylpappas.net
@thebookmaven.bsky.social
NEW PODCAST: The Book Maven: A Literary Revue https://thebookmavenpodcast.substack.com/ Critic @LATimesBooks LIFE B memoir: https://bookshop.org/p/books/life-b-overcoming-double-depression-bethanne-patrick/1874245 https://linktr.ee/bookmaven
@dawniewalton.bsky.social
Writer, teacher, co-host of Ursa Short Fiction. Author of THE FINAL REVIVAL OF OPAL & NEV.
@readandbreathe.bsky.social
Writer. Editor of WHAT MY MOTHER AND I DON’T TALK ABOUT (2019) and WHAT MY FATHER AND I DON’T TALK ABOUT (May 2025). www.michelefilgate.com
@czoffness.bsky.social
Author of SPILT MILK (McSweeneys). Sunday Times Short Story Award winner. Fellowships: The Center for Fiction, MacDowell. Creative Writing Director at Drew University.
@meganloverdesavage.bsky.social
Writer, Community College Faculty, Fig Companion, Carolyn Moore Writers House Residency, PDX OR Work in The Rumpus, Tahoma Literary Review, Sixth Finch, Portland Review, Subtropics, etc. Called: “Story Witch,” “Pure Light in Human Form”
@kermichele.bsky.social
mouse detective. HOUSE OF BETH out from Simon & Schuster in July 2025 & available for preorder now. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/House-of-Beth/Kerry-Cullen/9781668074596
@spencerfleury.bsky.social
Author, THE SHITBIRD (Stanchion Books, 2026), I BLAME MYSELF BUT ALSO YOU (Malarkey Books, 2024) (https://malarkeybooks.com/store/iblamemyself) and HOW I’M SPENDING MY AFTERLIFE. Hat enthusiast. Former Florida man. My Erdos number is four. SF, CA.
@kevinashton.bsky.social
Called a thing the Internet of Things—Wrote How to Fly A Horse—http://amzn.to/1jTEwzf—He/Him—Literary Agent: Richard Pine/Inkwell—Speaking Agent: Mary Ellen/Leigh Bureau. Bi, queer, British—Austin, TX—New book 3/3/2026—I do not argue, debate, or engage.
@edyong209.bsky.social
Writer, journalist. Science, health. Pandemics, animals. Birder, photographer. Many words, some awards. AN IMMENSE WORLD, I CONTAIN MULTITUDES. Married to Liz Neeley, parent to Typo. he/him 📷 Canon R6mkii + RF 800mm Edyong.me
@eminietfeld.bsky.social
Journalist / author of "Acceptance" / Speaker / ex-Google engineer / Words @nytopinion @theatlantic @teenvogue @thenation @theinformation | emi@eminietfeld.com
@delistraty.bsky.social
journalist; speechwriter; author of the grief cure: looking for the end of loss (@harperbooks)
@katierunde.bsky.social
Emotional beach reader, Jersey Shore Midwesterner, dad rock & Taylor Swift car singer Author of The Shore (2022) katierundewriter.com
@meghanor.bsky.social
Writer and poet | Editor of The Yale Review | Professor of Creative Writing at Yale | playing with a Substack about writing Most recent book: THE INVISIBLE KINGDOM: REIMAGINING CHRONIC ILLNESS, which was a finalist for the nonfiction National Book Award.
@taliakolluri.bsky.social
Writer, cat wrangler. WHAT WE FED TO THE MANTICORE (Tin House 2022) taliakolluri.com
@karismaprice.bsky.social
I'm Always So Serious (Sarabande Books, 2023) | Poet | Cave Canem | Screenwriting Rep: Laura Cameron @ Transatlantic Agency | she/her
@alissonwood.bsky.social
Mom of 🐱🐱🐱 | Author of Being Lolita | EIC of Pigeon Pages | Words in NYT, Vanity Fair, the Rumpus, Vogue UK, Elle | She/her
@smathewss.bsky.social
writer, fun guy 🍄. ✍🏾 novel ALL THIS COULD BE DIFFERENT, shortlisted for the national book award, and some other stuff. work in a bunch of places. organizes sometimes. newsletter: http://smathewss.substack.com
@caitlinkunkel.bsky.social
Funny writer of fiction and satire. INSIDE JOKES: A COMEDY AND CREATIVITY GUIDE FOR ALL WRITERS out Jan 2026. My newsletter on our creative wells: https://inputandoutput.substack.com/
@zanopticon.bsky.social
culture writer for hire / author of BIG FAN, SQUARE WAVES & lots of other stuff / co-host of On the Bleachers, a podcast about the intersection between sports and pop culture
@alisonbhart.bsky.social
Writer. Get-er-doner. Dog lover. THE WORK WIFE. APRIL MAY JUNE JULY.
@amandahess.bsky.social
women will literally write a debut work of memoir and cultural criticism instead of going to therapy. preorder SECOND LIFE: HAVING A CHILD IN THE DIGITAL AGE https://bookshop.org/p/books/second-life-having-a-child-in-the-digital-age-amanda-hess/21713723
@emmaceisenberg.bsky.social
writer & full fattie 🍦• author of 📚 HOUSEMATES (2024) & 📚 THE THIRD RAINBOW GIRL (2020) • ✍🏻 NYT, Time, Esquire, The Atlantic, Granta, The Cut etc 🌈 she/her https://www.emmacopleyeisenberg.com
@melissafebos.bsky.social
Author of five books—next up The Dry Season 6/3/25 Thoughts my own and not representing any institution. https://linktr.ee/melissafebos melissafebos.com https://www.prairielights.com/pre-order-dry-season-june-2025-prairie-lights-0
@rachelyoder.bsky.social
the original Nightbitch, novelist, screenwriting prof at UIowa, WGA West, "Every ending is a beginning, motherf**ker." -Lidia Yuknavitch
@tkiramadden.bsky.social
author: Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls & forthcoming Whidbey • hapa kanaka ‘ōiwi dyke • soup enthusiast & magician • land back • aloha 'āina • she/her
@cherylstrayed.bsky.social
Writer. Mom. Portlander. Traveler. Cat/dog lady. Author of Wild, Tiny Beautiful Things, Torch, and Brave Enough. Also: Dear Sugar.
@ruthmadievsky.bsky.social
ALL-NIGHT PHARMACY, a national bestseller & california book award winner | ✍️ The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Cut, etc | HIV & primary care pharmacist https://linktr.ee/ruthmadievsky
@benpurkert.bsky.social
debut novel, THE MEN CAN'T BE SAVED, Top 20 Book of 2023 Vanity Fair. words / poems in The New Yorker, The Nation, Slate. https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-men-can-t-be-saved-ben-purkert/19736868?ean=9781419767135
@sarahmanguso.bsky.social
Writer: Liars, Questions Without Answers, Very Cold People, 300 Arguments, Ongoingness, The Guardians, The Two Kinds of Decay, Siste Viator, etc. Work with me: shipmanagency.bsky.social
@gregmania.bsky.social
📚author of the memoir, BORN TO BE PUBLIC 📝writes SOS (Save Our Serotonin) on substack 🎤co-host of Empty Trash, an LA reading series 🤪DSM-5 darling https://linktr.ee/gregmania
@margaretatwood.bsky.social
Writer of this and that... www.margaretatwood.ca and margaretatwood.substack.com;I also have an Instagram account, though I don't know how to use it much, beyond posting pictures...
@kristenarnett.bsky.social
writer, librarian, huuuuge lesbian. dad. floridian. New York Times Bestselling author. Mostly Dead Things & WITH TEETH & STOP ME IF YOU’VE HEARD THIS ONE https://www.kristenarnettwriter.com
@ambersparks.bsky.social
Your garbage mom; writer; she/her; I ♥️ unions; essayist on film, books, fairy tales, and horror; wrote AND I DO NOT FORGIVE YOU; HAPPY PEOPLE DON’T LIVE HERE in October; rep’d by Kent Wolf; I just want you to be happy, honey linktr.ee/ambernoellesparks
@maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social
The other one. Poet & NYT bestselling author. Next 📚: DEAR WRITER (April 2025), THE PEOPLE’S PROJECT (Sept 2025), A SUIT OR A SUITCASE (March 2026).
@mdbell79.bsky.social
Writer, teacher. Out now: APPLESEED, a novel (2021, @marinerbooks). REFUSE TO BE DONE, a guide to novel revision (2022, @soho_press). He/him.
@summerbrennan.bsky.social
Award-winning writer and Orion Book Award finalist. American in Paris. Books: THE OYSTER WAR; HIGH HEEL. Next: THE PARISIAN SPHINX, A TRUE TALE OF ART & OBSESSION. Leonard Cohen blew me a kiss one time. Substack: https://www.awritersnotebook.org/
@rebeccamakkai.bsky.social
Pulitzer finalist for THE GREAT BELIEVERS; new novel, I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU, out now. Artistic Director at StoryStudio Chicago. Trying to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. You should, too. rebeccamakkai.substack.com https://rebeccamakkai.com
@shteyngart.bsky.social
Gary Shteyngart is a book writer. garyshteyngart.substack.com http://facebook.com/shteyngart
@novicsara.bsky.social
Author TRUE BIZ + GIRL AT WAR 🧏🏻 deafie | 🌈 they/she/👉🏼 |📍Philly https://linktr.ee/Novic
@saribotton.bsky.social
Bestselling Author/Editor/Teacher/Oldster Memoir: And You May Find Yourself… Anthologies: Goodbye to All That and Never Can Say Goodbye Newsletters: @oldstermag.bsky.social, @memoirland.bsky.social, Adventures in *Journalism* http://saribotton.com
@adamdalva.bsky.social
Writing in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The New York Review of Books, etc. Contributing Fiction Editor, Yale Review. President, National Book Critics Circle. Rep: Duvall Osteen
@garthgreenwell.bsky.social
What Belongs to You, Cleanness, & Small Rain | Eeyore at the gay club | Distinguished Writer in Residence at NYU | https://garthgreenwell.substack.com
@roxanegay.bsky.social
https://linktr.ee/roxanegay Writer, editor, publisher, professor. Some people call me a bad feminist and by some people I mean me.
@tricialockwood.bsky.social
@swordsjew.bsky.social
journalist, author, sword collector, schmoe. newsletter: buttondown.email/theswordandthesandwich buy my new book!! https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/talia-lavin/wild-faith/9780306829192/ contact: talialavinwrites@gmail.com
@kimkelly.bsky.social
labor journalist and author of ‘FIGHT LIKE HELL’ 🏴 big on metal, workers, tattoos, cold places, and Philly. my books: https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Kim-Kelly/178891913 my lefty heavy metal newsletter: salvo.ghost.io rep: The Shipman Agency
@rtraister.bsky.social
Journalist, New York Magazine; author, Good & Mad, All the Single Ladies. Maine, New York, Philadelphia. I am on a book leave till fall 2025. I do have a substack.
@hels.bsky.social
“Zizek if he was a woman and loved sandwiches” New Yorker staff writer, dept. of mastication 🍉
@alexanderchee.bsky.social
Novelist and essayist, most recently author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel. Professor of Creative Writing at Dartmouth College. He/him. Agent: Jin Auh, The Wylie Agency. alexanderchee.net
@thehighsign.bsky.social
Film critic at Slate; co-host of the Slate Culture Gabfest podcast; repped by the Cheney Agency; member NYFCC. Camera Man, my book on Buster Keaton, is out: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Camera-Man/Dana-Stevens/9781501134203
@emilymandel.bsky.social
Six books including Sea of Tranquility, The Glass Hotel, and Station Eleven. St. John is just my middle name; the books go under M.
@pronounced-ing.bsky.social
Fiction writer (EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU, LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE, OUR MISSING HEARTS). Science nerd, ex-Clevelander, embarrassingly sincere. Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch who watches over you. she/her. celesteng.com
@connieschultz.bsky.social
Columnist, novelist, j-prof. NYT bestselling novel, The Daughters of Erietown. Children’s book, Lola and the Troll. On Substack at Hopefully Yours. I love Sherrod Brown. https://connieschultz.substack.com/
@mckinneykelsey.bsky.social
NORMAL GOSSIP dowager queen, Defector Media, books and shit
@rokwon.bsky.social
📚 nationally bestselling novels Exhibit & The Incendiaries • co-edited Kink • ✍🏻 NYT, New Yorker, Time, Vanity Fair, Guardian 🌈 she/her www.ro-kwon.com/exhibit
@isabelkaplan.bsky.social
Author of the national bestselling novel NSFW and that viral essay “My boyfriend, a writer, broke up with me because I’m a writer,” among other things. Substack: isabelkaplan.substack.com / Happiest underwater or surrounded by dogs.