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nick.hilden

Culture, science & politics writer | Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Publishers Weekly, Scientific American, Nautilus, the BBC etc | Signal nickhilden.99

New for @aljazeeraenglish - “I hope that people

New for @aljazeeraenglish - “I hope that people maybe just aren’t aware of how poorly paid and poorly treated their federal firefighters are,” says Bobbie Scopa, executive secretary for Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, an extralegal lobbying group of retired and anonymous firefighters campaigning to improve pay and labour conditions. “They feel underappreciated.” Link in bio
#firefighter #firefighters #wildfire #climatechange #wildfires

My latest for @nautilusmag is about one of the bes

My latest for @nautilusmag is about one of the best science/history books I've read. Carl Zimmer's Air-Bourne tells the history of how humans discovered that life (like viruses) can live in the air, how we transmit them, and how our approaches to pandemics have evolved. It's super engaging and informative. I recommend it as a gift to covid skeptic family members who enjoy reading about history. They'll get wrapped up in the story and learn something along the way. Link in bio!
#science #history #books

Casa de Trotsky

Casa de Trotsky

Bowie lived here. Read about it in my new Al Jazee

Bowie lived here. Read about it in my new Al Jazeera piece!

#davidbowie#bowie#music#berlin#berlinwall#history#art#arthistory

"Now, nearly 35 years after the Wall fell, with ol

"Now, nearly 35 years after the Wall fell, with old divisions cropping up once again in Germany and the wider world, the story of Bowie and the Berlin Wall suggests important lessons. That there can be great creativity and beauty even through calamity. That the human compulsion towards freedom cannot be caged. That life is full of changes. That walls come down." Link in bio.

#davidbowie#bowie#music#berlin#berlinwall#history#art#arthistory

My latest for @aljazeeraenglish indulges my apprec

My latest for @aljazeeraenglish indulges my appreciation for Time and Space. Link in bio!

#science#space#moon#time

New for my Writers Talking Writers series at @publ

New for my Writers Talking Writers series at @publisherswkly - This month, we spoke with 1991 Booker Prize recipient Ben Okri (The Famished Road, The Age of Magic) about the groundbreaking Nigerian poet-soldier Christopher Okigbo and 2021 National Book Award nominee Katie Kitamura (Intimacies, Audition) about Italian essayist and novelist Natalia Ginzburg’s powerful fusion of the personal and the political. Link in bio!

#books#writing #writer #writerscommunity #literature #books#art#bookrecommendations

A few shots to go along with my new @aljazeeraengl

A few shots to go along with my new @aljazeeraenglish piece on William Burroughs and the death of Joan Vollmer. I’ve been fascinated with the story for years because on one hand Burroughs is one of my biggest artistic inspirations, but on the other I find it difficult to reconcile his monstrosity. He was a tremendous writer but a terrible person, and Joan Vollmer ended up yet another woman cast into the dustpan of history in the furtherance of a “great man.” Here are a few shots of the bar where they hung out above which Vollmer was shot (then called the Bounty, now Krika’s), the park where the Beats used to get high, the street where the couple lived, and one of the only photos of Vollmer’s grave ever published.

#williamsburroughs #williamburroughs #burroughs#joanvollmer #art#literature #books#beatgeneration #history#mexicocity

I've spent years trying to convince someone to let

I've spent years trying to convince someone to let me write about the death of Joan Vollmer, and here it finally is. Including one of the first published photos of her grave. Link in bio.

#williamsburroughs #williamburroughs #joanvollmer #literature #books#art

My latest for @aljazeeraenglish is one of the most

My latest for @aljazeeraenglish is one of the most powerful I've worked on: "...the chance to go back and do something. I wouldn’t call it closure … my daughter called it ‘closing the circle’. That’s a good description.” Link in bio.

#vietnam #vietnamwar

Oslo #oslo#architecture

Oslo

#oslo#architecture

Working on a piece about Bowie's time in Berlin fo

Working on a piece about Bowie's time in Berlin for Al Jazeera.

#bowie#berlin#davidbowie

Mexico City view #mexicocity#cdmx#photography#pho

Mexico City view

#mexicocity#cdmx#photography#photooftheday#abstractcartography#expressionistphotography#streetphotography#art

Trotsky was killed with an ice axe here.

Trotsky was killed with an ice axe here.

Krika's used to be the Bounty Bar where William Bu

Krika's used to be the Bounty Bar where William Burroughs drank. He shot his wife Joan Vollmer upstairs. I have a piece exploring the writer's complicated legacy coming out in Al Jazeera soon.

#burroughs#williamburroughs#williamsburroughs #mexicocity#roma#literature#joanvollmer #femicide

The latest in my Writers Talking Writers series at

The latest in my Writers Talking Writers series at @publisherswkly:

"It feels very grown up to acknowledge that like that: people aren’t amazing."

"You know, life—when it’s not a tragedy—is definitely a dark comedy."

Link in bio as usual.

#books#bookrecommendations#literature#booknerd

For @observer - "It’s been 35 years to the day s $For @observer - "It’s been 35 years to the day since the Berlin Wall came down, ending nearly as many years of Cold War antagonism between the two halves of the fractured city and ushering the reunification of Germany at large, reuniting families and friends long separated by political forces beyond their control. Namely, the global conflict that pitted the USSR in the east against the U.S. and its allies in the west. Its shadow loomed over the art created on both sides, and its divisive presence is still felt to this day." Link in bio.$

For @nautilusmag - I spoke with author Karl Ove Kn

For @nautilusmag - I spoke with author Karl Ove Knausgaard about the nature of consciousness, climate change, his newfound appreciation for science, and why he remains an optimist. Link in bio.

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Culture/science/politics writer | Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Publishers Weekly, Scientific American, Esquire, Nautilus, the BBC | Signal nickhilden.99

Retweet on Twitter Nick Hilden Retweeted

Gianluca Costantini @channeldraw ·

17 Feb

FACT CHECK: @JDVanceclaims “Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.” False: judges interpret what is or is not a legitimate use of power. This is a key aspect of the US system of checks and balances.

@channeldraw / @nickhilden

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Nick Hilden @nickhilden ·

15 Feb

My latest for @NautilusMag - interview w/ @carlzimmer about his excellent book on the history of aerobiology and the "invisible zoo" all around us.

https://nautil.us/life-in-an-atmospheric-zoo-1190591/

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Nick Hilden @nickhilden ·

15 Feb

My latest for @AJEnglish is disturbingly timely amidst all the Forest Service firings.

Lives on the line: Low pay has US wildland firefighters quitting

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2025/2/15/lives-on-the-line-low-pay-has-us-wildland-firefighters-quitting

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Nick Hilden @nickhilden ·

12 Feb

FACT CHECK: @JDVance claims “Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.” False: judges interpret what is or is not a legitimate use of power. This is a key aspect of the US system of checks and balances.

@channeldraw/@nickhilden

Reply on Twitter 1889713738976047555 Retweet on Twitter 1889713738976047555 Like on Twitter 1889713738976047555 1 Twitter 1889713738976047555

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