95 Authors to Follow on Twitter

It’s been 6 years since I joined Twitter upon hearing that J.K. Rowling was on the social media platform and that she (!) tweeted (!) things (!) for us commoners! It was all very exciting (I know, I know, but I was 17, can you blame me?). In these last 6 years, however, I have come to appreciate authors on twitter for much more what 17yo-me wanted. Yes, you sometimes chance upon Neil Gaiman doing a live Q&A, Margaret Atwood answering fans’ questions, and Roxane Gay doing giveaways of her books, but I am thankful, more than anything, for learning something enlightening and significant every day from these authors: about the publishing industry and what it means to be a writer, and about the politics of literature. And in this day and age, when most authors on Twitter are more active than usual in an attempt to reach out and do some literary activism, there’s a lot more smarts to be absorbed. Here are 95 authors to follow for a great mix of wit, books, and insights into writing in your Twitter feed: 1. Adam Silvera @AdamSilvera 2. Alexander Chee @AlexanderChee 3. Alisha Rai @AlishaRai

If there’s shelf space for all Nicholas Sparks’ books about white ppl almost kissing, there’s space for multiple depictions of brown people.

— Alisha Rai (@AlishaRai) January 13, 2017

4. Alyssa Harad  @alyssaharad 5. Amanda Lovelace @ladybookmad 6. Amy Spalding @theames 7. Amy Tan @amytan

The daily news headlines about tRump read like the synopsis of the next chapter of a badly written political thriller sitcom.

— Amy Tan (@AmyTan) January 21, 2017

8. Ann Aguirre @MsAnnAguirre 9. Anna Kendrick @AnnaKendrick47 10. Aziz Ansari @azizansari

Trump wants to ban Muslim immigrants like my parents. I wrote a piece for @NYTimes telling him to go fuck himself: https://t.co/MCDsQyz2jy

— Aziz Ansari (@azizansari) June 24, 2016

11. Barack Obama @BarackObama 12. Benjamin Alire Saenz @BenjaminAlireSa 13. Catherynne Valente @catvalente 14. Celeste Ng @pronounced_ing

2017: where brainstorming for this dystopian novel is just guessing what’s about to happen in a few hours.

— Celeste Ng (@pronounced_ing) January 26, 2017

15. Chantel Acevedo @chantelacevedo 16. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni  @cdivakaruni 17. Chuck Wendig @ChuckWendig 18. CJ Redwine @cjredwine 19. Colin Dickey @ColinDickey

Write for another hour, or go home and get started on the pre-debate drinking?

— Colin Dickey (@colindickey) October 19, 2016

20. Corinne Duyvis @corrineduyvis 21. Courtney Milan @courtneymilan 22. Courtney Summers @courtney_s 23. Dana Simpson @MizDanaClaire

I hope we are not yet so jaded that unicorn waffles don’t help. https://t.co/FzIoKMnj72

— Dana Simpson (@MizDanaClaire) January 21, 2017

24. Daniel Jose Older @djolder 25. Eric Smith @ericsmithrocks 26. Gene Luen Yang @geneluenyang

Let’s read without walls, folks! https://t.co/VJ3OnpJERq

— Gene Luen Yang (@geneluenyang) January 28, 2017

27. Glennon Doyle Melton @momastery 28. Gwenda Bond @Gwenda 29. Hari Kunzru @harikunzru 30. Heidi Heilig @heidiheilig

Okay a little friday joy because i just got my 35 paperback author copies and i live in a small NYC apartment. i’m going to do a giveaway.

— heidi heilig ?? (@heidiheilig) January 27, 2017

31. Hillary Clinton @hillaryclinton 32. Jason Reynolds @JasonReynolds83 33. Jeff Zentner @jeffzentner 34. Jes Baker @militant_baker 35. Jessica Valenti @JessicaValenti

Excuse me if I don’t listen to feminist activism advice from a man who once told women “power is in the kitchen” https://t.co/NzOST5z3ld

— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) January 24, 2017

36. J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling 37. Joe Hill @joe_hill 38. John Lewis @repjohnlewis 39. Justina Ireland @justinaireland

Publishers: if your “feminist” YA book features nothing but cis-heterosexual-able-bodied white girls then it really ain’t all that feminist.

— Ruiner of YA (@justinaireland) January 27, 2017

40. Karan Mahajan @kmahaj 41. Karina Glaser @KarinaYanGlaser 42. Karolina Waclawiak @believekarolina

What witchcraft do I have to perform for these thirty pages to write themselves?

— Karolina Waclawiak (@believekarolina) May 8, 2016

43. Kelly Jensen @veronikellymars 44. Kelly Sue DeConnick @kellysue 45. Kristine Wyllys @KristineWyllys 46. Lamar Giles @LRGiles 47. Leigh Bardugo @LBardugo

Walked into @ChevaliersBooks looking for one thing, walked out with three great recs. Love this store. pic.twitter.com/KdlgjdUlOW

— Leigh Bardugo (@LBardugo) January 11, 2017

48. Lin-Manuel Miranda @Lin_Manuel

Good morning. Woke up grateful for the air in my lungs, the sleep in my eyes, the ache in my bones, the chance to say hello again.

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) January 27, 2017

49. Lyndsay Faye @LyndsayFaye 50. Malinda Lo @MalindaLo 51. Mara Wilson @MaraWilson 52. Marissa Meyer @marissa_meyer 53. Margaret Atwood @MargaretAtwood

Think very hard about it… when was the last Canadian election? https://t.co/iTd6kjYOEu

— Margaret E. Atwood (@MargaretAtwood) January 28, 2017

54. Maureen Johnson @maureenjohnson 55. Meg Cabot @megcabot 56. Megan Abbott @meganeabbott 57. Mindy Kaling @mindykaling 58. Mona Eltahawy @monaeltahawy

Before any racist shit asks”don’t you know what they do to women?”-I wrote a whole book & I know your concern is bullshit.Fix your own house

— Mona Eltahawy (@monaeltahawy) January 28, 2017

59. Neil Gaiman @neilhimself 60. Nicola Yoon @NicolaYoon 61. Nilanjana Roy @nilanjanaroy 62. NK Jemisin @nkjemisin

People surprised that the woman who helped murder Emmett Till lied: stop. Go read some American history books. Right now.

— N. K. Jemisin (@nkjemisin) January 27, 2017

63. Nova Ren Suma @novaren 64. Peggy Orenstein @peggoprenstein 65. Phoebe Robinson @dopequeenpheebs 66. Rabih Alameddine @rabihalameddine 67. Rachel Held Evans @rachelheldevans

Please read this. I’m so angry and heartbroken tonight. https://t.co/JvmUoxjY9f

— Rachel Held Evans (@rachelheldevans) January 28, 2017

68. Rainbow Rowell @rainbowrowell 69. Roshani Chokshi @NotRashKnee 70. Roxane Gay @rgay

A white woman just messaged me to chastise me for saying it’s not my job to teach white women how to be inclusive. My response was terse.

— roxane gay (@rgay) January 23, 2017

71. Rumaam Alam @Rumaan 72. Sabaa Tahir @SabaaTahir 73. Sady Doyle @sadydoyle 74. Saeed Jones @theferocity

You: “How are y—“

Me: *running away before I have to another conversation about how upsetting everything has been lately* — Saeed Jones (@theferocity) January 26, 2017

75. Saladin Ahmed @saladinahmed 76. Salman Rushdie @SalmanRushdie 77. Sandhya Memon @smenonbooks 78. Sarah Andersen @SarahCAndersen

pic.twitter.com/zsmtGldWDr

— Sarah Andersen (@SarahCAndersen) November 27, 2016

79. Sarah Maclean @sarahmaclean 80. Sasha Devlin @sashadevlin 81. Shonda Rhimes @shondarhimes 82. Shveta Thakrar @shvetathakrar

Re: writing and art, @ericsmithrocks and I were talking about how normalizing the “Other” is so important to raise empathy and end bigotry.

— Shveta શ્વેતા (@ShvetaThakrar) January 25, 2017

83. Sona Charaipotra @sona_c 84. Steph Cha @stephycha 85. Stephen King @StephenKing 86. Ta-Nehisi Coates @TaNehisiCoates

And I told him you gotta learn how to make the simple sentences first, then you can throw in the crazy commas and semicolons.

— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) December 31, 2016

87. Tahereh Mafi @TahereMafi 88. Tananarive Due @TananariveDue 89. Tess Fowler @TessFowler 90. Tim Federle @TimFederle

I already resent the cinematography nomination for Clint Eastwood’s inevitable “Border Wall”

— Tim Federle (@TimFederle) January 26, 2017

91. Tressie Mc @tressiemcphd 92. Veronica Roth @VeronicaRoth 93. Victoria Dahl @VictoriaDahl 94. Victoria Schwab @veschwab

But I’ll be damned if I let Tr*mp keep me from getting this book into the world. You know, the one about monstrous humans.

— Victoria/V.E. Schwab (@veschwab) January 26, 2017

95. Zoraida Cordova @zlikeinzorro Happy following, and let us know which authors you love to have on your Twitter feed!