Investigations editor for @MLive. Punk rock crooner. Author of "Bear County, Michigan." Book riffage at https://xitter.cf/t.co/Ma8WI5aWWz

Michigan
Joined April 2012
BEAR COUNTY, MICHIGAN is a 2026 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize Finalist! In colorful, darkly comic stories, journalist John Counts takes readers to a fictional northern Michigan town filled with backwoods misfits, ruined lumber families, beauty & bleakness. spr.ly/6012hDb48
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Congratulations Bear County, Michigan by John Counts! The book has been longlisted for the PEN America Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection! 🐻 spr.ly/6017CX1rb
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All songs are little stories. And short stories share a musicality of language. I talk here a little about the album I wrote based on the book Bear County, Michigan. jcounts.substack.com/p/i-wro…
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So cool getting to talk to @slagterm about the collision of rock and roll and word: radioamor.substack.com/p/thi…
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John Counts retweeted
Portals of Escape:    John Counts' short stories chronicle how “Bear County, Michigan” residents try to evade their realities. We spoke to the MLive journalist about his new fiction collection. Counts will appear at @LiteratiBkstore on Fri. Feb. 28. pulp.aadl.org/node/639477
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On Friday, we welcome MLive editor @John_Counts for the release of his short story collection, Bear County, Michigan, which the Chicago Review of Books says is “a prime example of Michigan’s modern literary renaissance.” mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/202…
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Come see me at one of the coolest bookstores in Michigan this Friday!
Great events this week @ 6:30pm! Wed: Poetry w/ Lauren Watel & Linda Gregerson Thurs: Adam Plunkett talks Robert Frost w/ Mark Randolph Fri: @John_Counts presents Bear County, Michigan. literatibookstore.com/event
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Had a great time talking to @ConcentrateA2. "Blending elements of crime, folklore, and personal experience, Counts draws inspiration from his time as a police reporter in Manistee, weaving real-life events into fictional landscapes."
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Today we officially release “Bear County, Michigan” into the world. I am celebrating quietly at home alone with five dogs —James, Ivy, Pepper, Charley and Cookie.
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This week @rosekellywhite published a deep investigation into the death of a migrant farmworker who fell ill picking asparagus in a Michigan field, looking into allegations pesticides or heat were to blame. mlive.com/public-interest/20…
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Short stories by the spouse @John_Counts, set in the fictional BEAR COUNTY, MICHIGAN from Northwestern University Press. Lots of small town Midwestern characters, looking for happiness in unexpected ways. Out this Feb.
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Twelve years ago, our first year back downstate, the year @John_Counts and I rented a place in Chelsea and I was pregnant with the second kiddo, we had this incredible local candidate. She was honest and determined. It felt like she never slept. Everybody loved her.
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Every year #FatBearWeek stuns with its wildness, its ferocity, its rotundness. This year we asked some massive units what they think of Bear County, Michigan by @John_Counts. Their answers did not disappoint. Out Feb. 2025. Preorder today. 🐻 spr.ly/6013UbtyN
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Sometimes it feels like I’m a wolf ripping off its shirt when I vote … and when I write too.
If the new "I Voted" stickers at all speak to your soul, you need to preorder Bear County, Michigan by @john_counts IMMEDIATELY. Sometimes a state really is a wolf ripping off its shirt, a long-suffering fish, and a small "yay". @northwesternup nupress.northwestern.edu/978…
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I'm grateful Don De Grazia helped link me up with the @Greatlakesrev many years ago. He was a true Chicago character with the rare combo of having both the right words and street sense.
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