Michael Taeckens

@mtaeckens.bsky.social

2874 Followers 988 Following

Co-founder, Broadside PR Lit Agent, Massie McQuilkin & Altman https://michaeltaeckenspr.com/about-me/

A black-and-white photo of a middle-aged James Baldwin wearing a white, collared shirt and a light-colored cardigan. He’s on the right side of the photo, facing left, and appears to be mid-sentence. He’s in a living room—a fireplace with a mantel bears a horizontal, framed photo of a woman’s face (close-up, dark hair) and other misc. items that are out of focus. A white horizontal overlay banner at bottom center reads: “Queer writers you didn’t know were queer”
A group portrait of the 6 family members from Family Ties with the headline “4 Books Perfect for Fans of the Hit ‘80s Series Family Ties”
A photo of poet Nikky Finney (smiling, dreadlocks pulled back from her face, dark-framed glasses) wearing a shirt in shades of blue and green. The side of a yellow house is behind her, and some dark green leaves from a plant in front of her. The test reads MMQ&A - WELCOME TO THE AGENCY - NIKKY FINNEY
A Publishing for Minnesota "I Donated" graphic including a headshot: brown/grey hair parted to the side, brown glasses, plaid sports jacket in maroon and blue, white collared shirt, navy blue tie
Sidewalk star plaque that reads: ICON TV STAR SINGER HUMANITARIAN LYNDA CARTER There’s an image of a palm tree in a circle below the type and within the star.
Publishers Lunch announcement of 2-book Forrest Gander deal.
A horizontal stack of 5 A Long Game galleys—the covers are light blue with a labyrinth-like design in red crayon around the title, subtitle, and author name, all in black type.
The left shows a 3D image of the BALDWIN book, the cover of which bears a striking black-and-white photo of James Baldwin in profile—to the right of the cover is the text promoting the book.
Three paperback books on a white fabric background—PROGNOSIS, I WHO HAVE NEVER KNOWN MEN, and LOVED AND MISSED
Front of ARC which shows the book cover (a striking b&w photo of Baldwin in close-up profile) and the spine (BALDWIN in bold black type)
Wooden desk with leather-top writing area—above the writing area is a shelving system with three smallish horizontal drawers stacked vertically on the far sides, and in between a variety of slots for storing/filing papers, etc.
The galley of Yiyun Li’s forthcoming book, THINGS IN NATURE MERELY GROW. Army-green cover, white title type, black author type.
The often-memed 2-panel cartoon strip of a dog in a hat sitting in a cafe chair, coffee mug on table, while surrounded by high flames and a thick cloud of smoke above.
Headshot of me (wearing brown glasses, a plaid sports coat in mauve and light blue, white shirt, and a navy blue tie) to the right of the announcement
A handwritten letter from Anne Carson on yellowed McGill University letterhead.
A black Lab in profile on a bed—his expression is slightly doubtful
The Guardian’s illustration headlining the lit preview—a photo montage of, from L to R, Zadie Smith, Lionel Richie, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichis, Han Kang, Bill Gates, and the pope against a pastel pink background with botanical illustrations of 3 flowers and stems/leaves as well as two open books with pages of various bright colors.
Left hand holding a light blue bound manuscript of the Baldwin biography; blurry, pink floral arrangement in the background
Left hand holding a light blue bound manuscript of the book mentioned, blurry floral arrangement in the background
A gray cat curled into a ball on a bright green blanket in a gray cat bed.
Selfie wearing a charcoal gray cashmere hoodie with a zipper down the front
A black Lab in bed sleeping on top of a white pillow and white sheets
TV screen showing the show title + the main character, a beautiful, middle-aged Black woman
Holding a box of Trader Joe’s addictive Candy Cane Joe-Joe’s cookies
Full-color image of an alarmed Jimmy Stewart (a film still from Vertigo) on the left, text on the right against a black background.
Holding a physical advance review copy of Paul Lisicky’s SONG SO WILD AND BLUE in the foreground. The cover shows an illustration of Joni Mitchell in upper left—she’s in profile, facing left, blonde hair, wearing a black hat and a coral shirt. To the right of her is the book title and author name in light blue capital letters and there are 4 sheets of paper blowing upwards in the wind. The bottom 1/3rd is a horizontal illustration of a concert with audience members in the foreground and a stage further back, against a background of an ocean and low mountains; in the right-hand foreground is a piece of paper bearing the handwritten subtitle, A LIFE WITH THE MUSIC OF JONI MITCHELL.
A full-page review of Jeff VanderMeer’s novel ABSOLUTION in the NYT Book Review. There’s an original illustration up top with a marbled red and yellow border around 2/3rds of the image on the left. Within the frame is a beach setting with a bright blue ocean and blue sky, and in the foreground is an image of a woman from the neck up; most of her is a black silhouette, but part of her face, which is a putty color, is showing and the right side of her face is stretching out in a hallucinatory, abstracted way into the borderless right part of the rectangular image. To the right of the review is a vertical column about VanderMeer’s AUTHORITY with an image of the cover—yellow with black type and a white rabbit on the front.
A screenshot of NYT opinion columns, including Pamela Fucking Paul’s 1,000th idiotic column obsessing about the trans community
Textual statement from Jorie Graham
Grove Atlantic’s job listing for Sales & Operations Executive
Gillian Anderson holding and recommending Safiya Sinclair’s book HOW TO SAY BABYLON
Book jacket showing a cartoon illustration of 7 kittens in strollers with cotton candy trees and clouds behind them
A vertical display of 5 books with their spines showing—Luis Urrea’s GOOD NIGHT, IRENE; Nathan Thrall’s A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ABED SALAMA; Abraham Verghese’s THE COVENANT OF WATER; Safiya Sinclair’s HOW TO SAY BABYLON; and Nicole Chung’s A LIVING REMEDY.
Adult male black Lab on a comfy chair with his front paws hanging off the edge
Three vertical stacks of books with a view of the bottoms of the books, showing the thickness of each—each book has a different set of colored pages, including pink, blue, purple, orange, yellow, maroon, brown, white, gray, and black
Cover of Cocteau Twins album Victorialand