Your hold is ready! (6.30.26)

Author

Cavar S
June 30, 2026

Hi everyone!

Welcome to my last post pre-move. Next month, I’ll be moving to Grand Rapids, MI, to start a new faculty position + my first post-PhD job! Things are about to get really busy (and already are, with moving, writing/editing things, research, and more) and I’m so excited to step into this new phase of my life.

This past month, I had my last Differential Diagnosis event until I’m settled in my new place, this time in NYC with Mordecai Martin and Topaz Winters. It was a great reading + conversation about –– what else? –– Madness and poetics, and a great way to end this early stage of book promotion (though the self-promo cycle, unfortunately, never truly ends).

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More recently, I got to visit a friend for a gloriously low-stress bookstore-hopping trip in Boston, that did not require me to do any readings or schmoozing. Definitely a relief after beginning to associate bookstores with “work.”

My other big event this month was my FIRST EVER HALF-MARATHON! It went surprisingly smoothly, which I think is a testament to my effective training. The first ten miles were shockingly easy, last 3ish were tough both due to exhaustion and to me speeding up. Mostly, I’m pleased that my early-race discipline, especially in terms of starting off slow, really paid off. I ran 14 full miles simply because I’m Like That™, but my half-marathon time was 2:17:52, at a 10:31/mile average pace. Not bad for my first time!

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So, an eventful June, and now we’re heading into an arguably More Eventful July. Wish me luck with everything, and next time I update this newsletter, I’ll be in my new place and hopefully unpacked!

Housekeeping:

If you want to read about transMad queercrip nonsense as aesthetic and praxis and haven’t ordered a copy yet, check out Differential Diagnosis, which is now available on Northwestern University Press’s website and on Bookshop (or, in Canada, at Another Story or your local indie!) Be sure to request it from your favorite indie bookstore, and add it on Goodreads and Storygraph.

Likewise, you can find my debut experimental-sf- trans dyke body modification novel, Failure to Comply, at featherproof books, Bookshop (+ your local indie), Another Story, Goodreads, and Storygraph.

Also - manywor(l)ds is open through July 31! Send your stuff!

Now, onto the recommendations.

Today’s Recs:

Books:

Music:

Poetry & Prose & In-Between:

Essays and Articles:

My Recent Work: