The former WSJ editor's independent newsletter featuring essays, poems, and in-depth conversations with writers, thinkers, and doers around the globe.
| Platform |  | Pricing | Freemium | Publishes | Twice weekly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issues | 312 | Founded | 5 years ago | Last Issue | 4 days ago |
| Active | |||||
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michaeljudge.substack.comLatest Issues
The Orchard Keeper
Three goddesses at the Judgement of Paris painted by Simon Vouet (1590–1649) National Museum in Lublin
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published
The Orchard Keeper
for Czes...
Signed First Edition of The Grace of the Stars: New and Selected Poems (1986-2026)
“Memory, mother of the muses, ignites the deeply felt portraits, elegies and homages in Michael Judge’s stunning new collection, The Grace of the Stars.” —Askold Melnyczuk, author of The Venus of Odesa: New and Selected Poems
Reserve Your...
Scott Samuelson: Songs for Sisyphus, A Mixtape
Mahalia Jackson in 1962, photographed by Carl Van Vechten (Wiki Commons)
By Scott Samuelson
I had a long drive ahead of me. Sick of podcasts that all blur together, news programs with their predictable slants, and algorithm-controlled rad...
Can Human Rights Survive the Era of Great-Power Competition?
Pro-democracy protesters in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, Oct. 19, 2014. Photo credit: r-monochrome
THE JAPAN TIMES
July 20, 2026
By Michael Judge
When I first interviewed Maya Wang in 2024, China’s crackdown on Hong Kong had ent...
Trying to Pray on 9/11
Image courtesy of the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael in San Rafael, Calif.
Still,
There are good things in this world.
Those two lines from James Wright’s 1963 poem Trying to Pray come to mind each year on the anniversary of 9/11.
I...
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Authors
The writers behind this newsletter.
Michael Judge is a poet, journalist, and former WSJ writer and editor. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Columbia Journalism Review, Politico, NPR, and The Literary Review, among other publications.
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