Substacks recommended by The First Person with Michael Judge

Recommended by The First Person with Michael Judge

Turning Life into Fiction, Robin Hemley's Substack

Turning Life into Fiction, titled after my craft book, 30 years in print, focuses on various forms of life writing from autobiographical fiction to memoir to autofiction.

Hemley moves seamlessly from genre to genre—journalism, novels, memoir, travel writing, autofiction—always revealing the truth and beauty in places too many of us overlook.

- The First Person with Michael Judge

Amelina about Ukraine

By Victoria Amelina

I am a Ukrainian writer, Joseph Conrad Prize Awardee, founder of a literary festival in the Donetsk region, and war crimes researcher. I will switch to this platform in case Twitter becomes unbearable.

Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life

By Donald J. Robertson

Email newsletter and podcast from Donald J. Robertson, cognitive-behavioural therapist, and author of Stoicism books, including How to Think Like a Roman Emperor. Sign up to learn how ancient philosophy and modern psychology can be used in self-help.

Figs in Winter: New Stoicism and Beyond

By Massimo Pigliucci

A newsletter by the School for a New Stoicism

Art Cullen’s Notebook

A view from rural America: immigration, agriculture, environment, politics

The best reporter and straightest shooter in Iowa, if not the nation. His Pulitzer was well-deserved, and his wisdom and humor are greatly needed in today’s America.

- The First Person with Michael Judge

Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture

By Robert Leonard

The politics and culture of Iowa, the midwest, and beyond.

The Charrette

By Kathleen Sykes

Where art, history, politics & public opinion meet.

Sometimes a Ghost

By Deborah J. Stein

I live sometimes in NYC and most times in New Mexico. I write and make pictures, often in tandem to explore every possibility of how all things speak to each other and quite simply to create some kind of language to speak to my ghosts.

Deborah Stein’s mind and heart are like her paintings and writing… honest, joyful, heartbreaking, and miraculous. I can’t get enough of everything she does.

- The First Person with Michael Judge

Hong Kong Law & Policy

By Samuel Bickett

Writing about Hong Kong's deteriorating human rights & rule of law. Blocked by the Hong Kong government.

A must-read for anyone who loves Hong Kong, a free press, and democracy.

- The First Person with Michael Judge

Dead Poets Daily

By DeadPoetsDaily.com

No commentary, no ads, just poems from the greats.

Public Things Newsletter

By Matthew Lamb

Broad discussions about ideas and intellectual history regarding literary culture and democracy - these public things.

Thinking about...

By Timothy Snyder

Opening the future by understanding the past.

Patti Smith

The reader is my notebook

A peek behind the genius of Patti Smith. Never a dull post.

- The First Person with Michael Judge

The Honest Broker

By Ted Gioia

A trustworthy guide to music, books, arts, media & culture by Ted Gioia

Wonderful writer and big-hearted jazz aficionado.

- The First Person with Michael Judge

Black Music and Black Muses

By Harmony Holiday

Music writing that is not restricted by the demands, wishes, and timelines of the music industry. Writing, not advertising. Love, not a battle of the brands.

Harmony Holiday sings the truth in every post, not just about music but the souls from which it rises and flows. Like the music she loves, every sentence is "a portal to all kinds of renewal and understanding." Beautiful, brilliant, and necessary.

- The First Person with Michael Judge

Diane Francis

Insight and analysis of events and developments

Brilliant, dispassionate analysis from one of the best reporters and writers of our time.

- The First Person with Michael Judge

The Spirits

By Richard Godwin

A book club but for cocktails! Every Friday, around 4pm GMT, I will send a delicious recipe to your inbox, plus a light but erudite essay, a little bar talk, a handful of links and a specially curated playlist to match your drink.

The right recipe for booze aficionados.

- The First Person with Michael Judge

Letters from an American

By Heather Cox Richardson

A newsletter about the history behind today's politics.

In 1787, at the Constitutional Convention, Elizabeth Willing Powel asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" “A republic, if you can keep it,” replied Franklin. Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American is necessary reading for anyone who wants not only to “keep” our republic, but better understand and protect it.

- The First Person with Michael Judge