At the Hay Festival in Wales last weekend, dozens of writers talked about their books. But one writer sat on stage completely silent for a full hour.
This wasn’t an avant-garde work of performance art or a literary version of John Cage not playing the piano for four minutes and 33 seconds.
No, this was just a shameless demonstration of Facebook’s bullying.
Last year, Sarah Wynn-Williams published Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism. It’s a shocking memoir about the seven years she worked as an advisor to Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg.
Her book levels both personal and institutional accusations against Facebook and its parent company, Meta. She accuses them of everything from workplace mistreatment to enabling deadly hate speech and exploring ways to accommodate Chinese censorship.
Meta, that noble defender of free speech, launched a legal and PR battle against “Careless People” even before it was released. Fortunately, the trillion-dollar company wasn’t able to stop the book from being published — or becoming a bestseller — but the company did win an arbitration ruling against Wynn-Williams based on the terms of a non-disparagement clause in her severance agreement.
Now, Wynn-Williams risks a $50,000 fine every time she dares to criticize Meta.
According to The Guardian, lawyers advised Wynn-Williams not to speak during the discussion of her book with Carole Cadwalladr and Tim Wu at the Hay Festival on Sunday.
Wu called Meta’s gagging of Wynn-Williams an example of a company asserting power like a “despotic nation.”
“We have an author in a hostage situation,” Cadwalladr said. “Blink once if you can hear us, Sarah, twice if Zuckerberg is an asshole.”
Wynn-Williams reportedly could not even nod or shake her head.
We’re all living in a meta-Meta-satire now.
Companies claim that non-disparagement clauses are simply a matter of protecting their good name. But the rapid creation of companies richer than many nations doesn’t bode well for freedom of expression.
The right to criticize, even to ridicule, a former employer is essential to liberty. Without it, we’re not citizens; we’re vassals. Non-disparagement clauses are an affront that ought to be outlawed like selling your organs. No one ever signs away the right to speak their mind except in situations that are fundamentally coercive or exploitative.
Some lawmakers have begun to help workers push back against this indignity. About 20 states have outlawed or defanged non-disparagement clauses for millions of ordinary employees (though not former executives like Wynn-Williams). Yet, just as the public is winning back some ground from corporate overreach, a more troubling threat to free speech is emerging in Washington.
We may be in the prelude to a Great Silence, a vast harmonizing of corporate and government power to suppress what well-informed insiders can reveal.
Taking a cue from Trump’s dealings with campaign officials, Apprentice contestants, and porn stars, the administration has proposed that all federal employees sign nondisclosure agreements that would last for five years after they leave government service.
This alarmingly censorious move would stretch duct tape over the mouths of millions of government workers and deny the American people information about what’s being done in their name, with their money.
Of course, such an NDA frenzy would cripple the work of journalists and investigative reporters — that’s its very purpose, as any official at the Ministry of Truth knows.
But Trump’s gag rule would be even more devastating to people writing books about government policy, scientific research, and public health. How many books about Watergate, the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina, the COVID pandemic, or the chaos of Trump’s first term could have been written if government officials and employees had been barred from speaking even after they left public service? Historians would find firsthand sources locked away in Tupperware until they’re spoiled by freezer burn.
Even as governments and corporations tighten their control over information and our access to it, they can’t control what lesson we hear in Sarah Wynn-Williams’s hour of silence. We need to think like Ovid’s Philomela, who had her tongue cut out yet still found a way to weave her story.◆
The rest of the newsletter follows below.
Books Go to the Movies
Underland, which is playing in select theaters, is a documentary based on Robert Macfarlane’s 2019 nonfiction book about descending into some of the deepest, remotest places on Earth. The film is narrated by Oscar-nominated actress Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall). Writing in the Washington Independent Review, Gretchen Lida called Macfarlane “a modern-day Indiana Jones” in search of “wonder and an understanding of time.”
Cape Fear, a psychological thriller starring Javier Bardem, Amy Adams, and Patrick Wilson, is streaming on Apple TV (trailer). The 10-episode series is based on John D. MacDonald’s 1957 novel, The Executioners, about an attorney whose family is terrorized by a man he once put behind bars. Entre nous, I know this menacing tale only from The Simpsons’ 1993 parody.
Every Year After, about a group of attractive young people in grief and bathing suits, premieres June 10 on Prime Video (trailer). The series is based on Carley Fortune’s debut novel, Every Summer After, which sold more than 1 million copies.
P.S. Acknowledging the extraordinary prevalence of literary adaptations, Netflix has launched a page called Watch Your Favorite Books, where you’ll find everything from Frankenstein and The Lincoln Lawyer to Bridgerton and Persuasion.◆
It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times
Is there a happier story in American retail than the resurgence of independent bookstores?
According to the latest annual report from the American Booksellers Association, last year 12 new bookstore businesses opened every week.
Bookselling may not be a way to vast wealth for most owners. But profit margins are increasing, and “the majority of stores also reported year-over-year increases in sales.”
Still, ABA CEO Allison Hill called 2025 “the most challenging year for indies on record.” Some of the challenges stemmed from the Trump administration’s policies, including “ever-changing and misguided tariff policies” and “the impact of ICE and the National Guard in communities,” which affected retail traffic.
The ABA is also working to increase competition among credit card companies and lower swipe fees, which, now that I’m living off $5-per-month subscriptions, make my teeth hurt.
And finally, Hill called out “Amazon’s monopoly and monopolistic chokehold on our industry.” Remember: Every time you order from the Big A, an indie bookstore loses its wings.
It’s worth noting how much indie bookstores do to support local literary communities with readings, classes, and clubs. The ABA has also “greatly expanded its anti-censorship advocacy” and it aggressively defends free expression and stores targeted by censorship groups.
Hill says that indie bookstores are “facing existential threats and disruption,” but for the moment at least the industry is expanding. That’s a plot twist to stick with.◆
Flush Your Cares Away
I’ve been reading for almost 60 years and going to the bathroom even longer than that, but I didn’t realize until now that June is National Bathroom Reading Month.
That revelation comes to me from Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, which characterizes itself as “the punctual plumber,” a quality that Ben would have appreciated.
This year, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing is celebrating National Bathroom Reading Month with its Porcelain Picks Reading Challenge. According to the press release, this promotion “turns those everyday moments of peace into an opportunity to reset, recharge, and give back.”
“Give back” is, perhaps, not a phrase I would use in relation to the bathroom, but I digress.
Steve Clemente, President & COO of Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, wants us to make the most of “those small, quiet moments” that “don’t come around often.” (Try increasing your fiber intake, Steve.)
To take the Porcelain Picks Reading Challenge — which is really more of a raffle — name your favorite library and pick your favorite title from this list:
Atomic Habits, by James Clear
The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans
Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt
The House in the Cerulean Sea, by T.J. Klune
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Benjamin Franklin Plumbing says these titles were chosen “for the way people read today — in brief, everyday moments that fit into a busy schedule.” Take that, Scottie. And also remember to “maintain proper ventilation for a more comfortable space.”
One lucky participant, chosen at random, will receive $2,000 toward “a bathroom refresh” and another $2,000 to give to their library. Enter here and don’t forget to close the lid.◆
Picture This
If your family is gearing up for the World Cup, remember the littlest players might need some encouragement (ages 3-5).
Who better to offer a wee hug than Tiny T. Rex?
In the latest installment, written by Jonathan Stutzman and illustrated by Jay Fleck, Tiny has been watching a lot of soccer games and is excited to give it a try. His siblings make it look easy. “They pass and shoot and score!”
But, he admits, “when I try to dribble... the ball dribbles me instead.” He can’t kick straight, he can’t run fast, he can’t stop the ball. It’s enough to make the world’s least ferocious carnivore a little sad.
Fortunately, his sweet team members remind him to be patient with himself as he practices. (In this version of the Late Cretaceous Period, T. rexes are considerably more supportive than the fossil record suggests.)
Does he score the winning goal? (No spoilers here.)
Contains tips for soccer success, instructions on how to draw Tiny, and stickers, which take the sting out of defeat (almost).
P.S. Hardcore soccer fanatics will enjoy Soccer Trivia, also from Chronicle. The box contains 140 multiple-choice questions on players, teams, rules, leagues — more than enough to get you through halftime.◆
We Have a Winner
Sandra, in Dallas, will receive The Making of American Girl, the gargantuan photo book I mentioned here last week. (I just need to find a big enough box....)
“When my daughter was the American Girl age, I dreamt of giving her one of the dolls but could not afford to,” Sandra tells me. “I would peruse the AG catalog around her birthdays and Christmas but could not swing much more than one of the paperback books. She loved the stories and never complained about not having one of the dolls.”
“Some 30 years later, my baby had a baby girl. By then I could afford the dolls, the clothes, the accessories, and the books. You betcha she got them all, starting with a Bitty Baby, then a Camille who has blond hair like hers.”
Thanks to all of you who wrote in, including those of you who upbraided me and my younger daughter for not appreciating the American Girl books.
I particularly enjoyed the note from Breene, who told me about trying to survive Hurricane Irene while her daughter kept begging her to call the American Girl Doll Hospital “because Kit and Bitty Baby were submerged in water.”
“Not my priority at that moment,” Breene writes, “but finally to shush her up I called.” Alas, the operator told her that the AG hospital couldn’t help.
“But a day or two later, we received a giant box with new dolls. It was incredible customer service, and 14 years later I am still talking about it!”◆
This Week’s Poem
I get a kick out of the comically unpoetic subjects in Lisa Low’s new collection, Replica. This is a poet who ranges deftly from dentistry and social anxiety to racism, romance, and mental health.
And before you turn up your nose at this week’s poem, remember that Low is following in the grand tradition of a poet sounding his barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world and declaring, “The scent of these arm-pits aroma finer than prayer.”
Ode to Armpit Hair
Every June I think I might stop shaving
my armpits. Every summer’s
half-assed attempt involves parties
with my arms clamped shut
like when I was in middle school, afraid
my deodorant wasn’t working, or suddenly
shaving if an event called for me
to lift my arms above my head. I don’t feel free
like I feel I should, even in T-shirts,
my weak conviction guards me. But in the privacy
of my own home, I stroke my hair
like someone who wants wisdom
from their beard. I can’t stop admiring
myself to Ben, who isn’t as amazed
as I am about follicles containing
2 or 3 strands, or the different lengths
of hair like actual grass. My first
female friend with armpit hair was beautiful
and a poet, and before meeting in graduate school
I observed her armpits on Facebook and laughed
with my friends, not knowing I wasn’t
as brave or wise as she was. Most of my energy
then was spent writing about my mom, but not once did I
think of her armpit hair, which I believed as a child
existed out of self-disregard, like a price paid
for being a mother. I look at the cute peach fuzz
in models’ armpits online from brands who want to
make a statement next to the hibernation-ready, high-contrast
armpits of my own, recalling pubic hair.
In my wishful utopia, my future daughter
thinks as seldom of her armpit hair
as she does mine.
From “Replica,” by Lisa Low, originally published in Poetry. Copyright © 2026 by Lisa Low. Reprinted by permission of the University of Wisconsin Press. All rights reserved.
P.S. Night Watch, the most recent collection by Kevin Young, The New Yorker’s poetry editor, won the Griffin Poetry Prize. The Canadian award, worth about $95,000, honors a collection written in or translated into English by a living poet.◆
You’re Still Buying Bookcases?
Dawn and our younger daughter, Madeline, recently took a class together at Woodcraft. Neither of them had much previous experience. In fact, I don’t think Madeline had used a saw since we made butterfly houses together when she was 6 (story).
Furniture Making 101 was a challenge for them both — as it was for me when I took the same class a couple of years ago. Blades sometimes wandered. Drills didn’t always go quite where intended. Not enough to make typing difficult — the teachers are extremely safety-conscious — just enough to imperil a clean line.
There were moments, I heard later, of crushing frustration.
But elbow grease and some sandpaper can obliterate a surprising number of errors. There’s a life metaphor there, surely.
Thomas Moser has not called yet, but that’s fine. Dawn and Madeline are happy to keep teaching English. And proud to show off their desktop bookcases.
Clippings
This week’s review is Whistler, Ann Patchett’s novel about a chance encounter that sends a woman back to the defining chapter of her childhood (review).
On this day in 1851, the first installment of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, appeared in The National Era, an abolitionist newspaper published in Washington, D.C. When the story was released in book form the following year, it sold hundreds of thousands of copies and galvanized antislavery sentiment throughout the North.
The Two Georges: Parallel Lives in an Age of Revolution, an extraordinary exhibit launched by Dr. Carla Hayden at the Library of Congress, must close July 4. If you’re visiting D.C. this summer, don’t miss this illuminating study of George Washington and King George III (details). But if you do miss it, you can catch a companion exhibit later this year at the Science Museum in London.◆
Simple rule to live by:
Don’t visit, or worse, join Facebook. Or any of those anti-social media sites. They are just machines to manipulate you as described in the historical documentary “Century of the Self.” (It’s available for viewing in lots of places, often for free - well worth the watching time.) That is the basis of their businesses, and they say as much to the investment community. They want you to become their product.
Anybody you really want to communicate with can be seen face to face, seen remotely through FaceTime and the like, spoken to through an actual telephone, or <gasp> written to via email or even on paper. Meet new people and make new friends at the library, an indie bookstore, at a woodworking class, etc.
Thank you - again - Ron !! What a treasure-trove today - from censorship (AWFUL) to home-made bookcases (WONDERFUL!) and all the rest.