Michael Bourne

I just signed the @AuthorsGuild's Open Letter to Generative AI Leaders calling on them to compensate writers fairly for the use of copyrighted materials in their AI programs. Sign here: actionnetwork.org/petitions/…

My father died April 15. Here is an obit I wrote about his work as a scientist and his love for his family, particularly my mother, who was the love of his life. michaelbourne.substack.com/p…

Check out my tax tips for writers in this month's Poets & Writers

A librarian at the college where I teach stopped by class today and presented me with this, a copy of my first book that will go on the campus library shelves. I signed it and they're talking about having me do a book event. (You can see the BCIT Library barcode on the cover.)

I have no opinion whatever on Madonna's face. There, I said it.

Anyone else read Atticus Lish's The War for Gloria? I found the book deeply unsettling. Good, but unsettling. You get the sense that Atticus Lish's head wouldn't be a happy place to live inside.

Can I just say that revisions of a scene that is basically working (despite the bad writing) is the most satisfying of all writing tasks.

This is a travesty. They gutted the AP African American Studies courses. There's that old word, bowdlerize, named after the guy who "cleaned up" Shakespeare. That's what happened here. nytimes.com/2023/02/01/us/ap…

Hats off to the 49ers, who did amazing things this year under some pretty dire circumstances. #SF49ers #SFvsPHI

We were thinking of taking a vacation in Australia next winter. Then I did some research: $10,000 for a family of three to fly to Oz and back. Just for the flights. Um, no. Guess we'll be going someplace closer. And, well, that staycation is looking better all the time.

A no longer very hot take: American Dirt isn't a racist book, just a bad one. Cardboard characters, implausible scenarios, soapy melodrama. I wish we could stop talking about who has a right to write a book and talk instead about whether it's any good. nytimes.com/2023/01/26/opini…

American history nerds, you must read Beverly Gage's new Hoover bio. He remains an enigma, ultimately, but what a fascinating one. penguinrandomhouse.com/books…

Garland had no choice. The real issue, I think, is the over-classification of materials. There's so much of it, and most of it isn't important, so the system becomes less vigilant. First Hillary, then Trump, now Biden. We've got to stop this endless train of nonscandal scandal.