Investigations editor for @MLive. Punk rock crooner. Author of "Bear County, Michigan." Book riffage at jcounts.substack.com/
Joined April 2012
- Tweets 6,147
- Following 817
- Followers 1,215
- Likes 959
487 Photos and videos
John Counts retweeted
BEAR COUNTY, MICHIGAN is a 2026 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize Finalist!
In colorful, darkly comic stories, journalist John Counts takes readers to a fictional northern Michigan town filled with backwoods misfits, ruined lumber families, beauty & bleakness.
spr.ly/6012hDb48
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John Counts retweeted
22 Dec 2025
Congratulations Bear County, Michigan by John Counts!
The book has been longlisted for the PEN America Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection! 🐻
spr.ly/6017CX1rb
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18 Apr 2025
All songs are little stories. And short stories share a musicality of language. I talk here a little about the album I wrote based on the book Bear County, Michigan. jcounts.substack.com/p/i-wro…
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11 Apr 2025
So cool getting to talk to @slagterm about the collision of rock and roll and word: radioamor.substack.com/p/thi…
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Portals of Escape:
John Counts' short stories chronicle how “Bear County, Michigan” residents try to evade their realities. We spoke to the MLive journalist about his new fiction collection. Counts will appear at @LiteratiBkstore on Fri. Feb. 28.
pulp.aadl.org/node/639477
ALT Author John Counts on the left; Bear County, Michigan book on the right.
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John Counts retweeted
25 Feb 2025
On Friday, we welcome MLive editor @John_Counts for the release of his short story collection, Bear County, Michigan, which the Chicago Review of Books says is “a prime example of Michigan’s modern literary renaissance.”
mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/202…
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24 Feb 2025
Come see me at one of the coolest bookstores in Michigan this Friday!
24 Feb 2025
Great events this week @ 6:30pm!
Wed: Poetry w/ Lauren Watel & Linda Gregerson
Thurs: Adam Plunkett talks Robert Frost w/ Mark Randolph
Fri: @John_Counts presents Bear County, Michigan.
literatibookstore.com/event
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24 Feb 2025
Had a great time talking to @ConcentrateA2. "Blending elements of crime, folklore, and personal experience, Counts draws inspiration from his time as a police reporter in Manistee, weaving real-life events into fictional landscapes."
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John Counts retweeted
20 Feb 2025
It’s an exciting day to see @John_Counts on 9&10 News out of Cadillac promoting his short story collection, BEAR COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
9and10news.com/2025/02/20/go…
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17 Feb 2025
BEAR COUNTY, MICHIGAN is out now. Here's an interview I did with Ann Arbor's cool little alt weekly, Current: ecurrent.com/music/michigan-…
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16 Feb 2025
Today we officially release “Bear County, Michigan” into the world. I am celebrating quietly at home alone with five dogs —James, Ivy, Pepper, Charley and Cookie.
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John Counts retweeted
14 Feb 2025
This week @rosekellywhite published a deep investigation into the death of a migrant farmworker who fell ill picking asparagus in a Michigan field, looking into allegations pesticides or heat were to blame.
mlive.com/public-interest/20…
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9 Feb 2025
My book "Bear County, Michigan" comes out in one week! I did a Q/A with @detroitnews to kick things off. We talked about covering crime in Michigan, punk rock, tourist towns and the outdoors. Check it out! detroitnews.com/story/entert…
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27 Jan 2025
Big thanks to @ChicagoRevBooks for including Bear County, Michigan on it's most anticipated list! Book is out Feb. 15! chireviewofbooks.com/2025/01…
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John Counts retweeted
12 Oct 2024
Short stories by the spouse @John_Counts, set in the fictional BEAR COUNTY, MICHIGAN from Northwestern University Press. Lots of small town Midwestern characters, looking for happiness in unexpected ways. Out this Feb.
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John Counts retweeted
6 Oct 2024
Twelve years ago, our first year back downstate, the year @John_Counts and I rented a place in Chelsea and I was pregnant with the second kiddo, we had this incredible local candidate. She was honest and determined. It felt like she never slept. Everybody loved her.
ALT A baby in patterned jammies stands at a box like it’s a lectern, surrounded by an audience of soft toys
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John Counts retweeted
5 Oct 2024
Every year #FatBearWeek stuns with its wildness, its ferocity, its rotundness.
This year we asked some massive units what they think of Bear County, Michigan by @John_Counts. Their answers did not disappoint.
Out Feb. 2025. Preorder today. 🐻
spr.ly/6013UbtyN
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4 Sep 2024
Sometimes it feels like I’m a wolf ripping off its shirt when I vote … and when I write too.
4 Sep 2024
If the new "I Voted" stickers at all speak to your soul, you need to preorder Bear County, Michigan by @john_counts IMMEDIATELY.
Sometimes a state really is a wolf ripping off its shirt, a long-suffering fish, and a small "yay".
@northwesternup
nupress.northwestern.edu/978…
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27 Jun 2024
I'm grateful Don De Grazia helped link me up with the @Greatlakesrev many years ago. He was a true Chicago character with the rare combo of having both the right words and street sense.
27 Jun 2024
In Memoriam: Don De Grazia
By @John_Counts
And I think of Don that way, too – that he was tough, funny, even a hardass sometimes, but beneath all that there was sensitivity and vulnerability.
greatlakesreview.org/in-memo…
#GreatLakesReview
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