I have been using Twitter for almost three years as a way to network, build an audience, and stay connected to a literary community. So, in those three years, I have found a few “tweeters” that are worth following, too. Here is a list of five. My list in no way tries to rank all of Twitter; I’m just trying to suggest people I enjoy following.
- Dave Landsberger — @davelandsberger. Dave is a poet who lives in Chicago. He is one of my favorite poets under 30, and his tweets can make you stop and think like any great haiku or guffaw so hard you accidentally drop your computer and scare the crap out of your dog. Not only will you be granted access to Dave’s comic-book and Motley-Crue mind, you will see links to his poetry as well. Often, Dave tweets the poetry he writes for the Chicago Side Sports.
- Megan Amram — @meganamram. I first found out about Megan Amram when I covered the Literary Death Match for the LA Weekly. Amram was one of the judges. Back then, she was billed as a Twitter phenomenon. So I followed her, and I was suddenly opened up to brief moments of hilarious awkwardness. Nothing is off limits for Amram. Some might not like her soft-core porn raunchiness, but I look forward to her observations and one-liners that are as witty and ironic as Mitch Hedberg
- J. David Gonzalez — @MgrMoustachio. A connoisseur of all things Miami, Gonzo is the editor of Cabinet Beer Baseball Club–a blog on booze, baseball, and literature. He calls himself “a bartender with reading recommendations.” He loves sports, and he’s filled with witty insight and profound observations. Soon he’ll be moving to Los Angeles and tweeting about his transition from one coast to the other. He’s also a great avenue for drink and food recipes. Gonzo pretty much has it all. Plus, he wrote one of the best blog posts on Ozzie Guillen’s comments on Castro that I came across.
- Carolyn Kellogg — @paperhaus. Well, this one is easy. Kellogg is a staff writer at the LA Times and writes about all things bookish. She’s hip to what’s new in literature. She’s also actually pretty funny and snarky on Twitter. You’ll never feel missed out of the literary conversation when you follow Kellogg.
- Jeremy Radin — @bigradinmonster. So I first heard Jeremy Radin read at a festival in Silver Lake. He was reading poetry as part of the PEN Center USA Literary Stage. I walked away from one of the food trucks, and there was this goofy dude reading lines to a hypnotized crowd and waving his hands like a crazy man. His poems were phenomenal, and his readings were so passionate and compelling it was impossible to turn away. His Twitter feed has the same energy. I want to recommend following Radin on Twitter just because he’s such a bad-ass reader and poet, but he’s also a great 140-character writer, too. Strange little observations mixed with moments of sincerity. Give him a shot.
Well, I hope you’ll give these writers a shot. Poets, writers, and comics need to be heard.
