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New Longreads Essays and Features

The Endless Self

Exploring animal life beyond the limits of human understanding.

When Hannibal Lecter Took Over

With “The Silence of the Lambs” hitting theaters, Orion wanted a hit. They didn’t anticipate an antihero.

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Recent Editors’ Picks

‘Fill It With Reality’

Franรงoise Ega | The New York Review of Books | February 10, 2026 | 5,411 words

“A girl from my home country told me such upsetting things about her life at her employersโ€™ house that I swore to get to the bottom of it.”

Rattlesnakes at My Door

Elsa Pearl | Oxford American | February 19, 2026 | 8,105 words

“A nonfiction account of an American crime.”

The End of Mail in Denmark

Anna Juul (Tr. Caroline Waight) | The Dial | February 17, 2026 | 2,481 words

“Who will mourn the last letter?”

Echoic Memory

CMarie Fuhrman | Emergence Magazine | February 12, 2026 | 2,507 words

“I am a person of ground. This is not to say grounded, but of earth, attached to the earth.”

My Mother’s Body

Louise Bokkenheuser | Virginia Quarterly Review | February 12, 2026 | 6,133 words

“The Mysteries of a Loved Oneโ€™s Case File.”

ICE Is Pushing Minneapolis Underground

Gaby Del Valle | The Verge | February 12, 2026 | 6,519 words

“After ICE raids, tear gassing protestors, and two killings, DHS ‘border czar’ Tom Homan arrived in the Twin Cities to announce a winding down of immigration enforcement. But the battleโ€ฆ

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Weekly Top 5

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Recommending stories by Gaby Del Valle, Sheila Heti, Chris Pomorski, Louise Bokkenheuser, and Lida Zeitlin-Wu.

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Showcasing stories from Eve Fairbanks, Gideon Lewis-Kraus, Rochelle L. Johnson, Joseph Winters and Tik Root, and Miles Ellingham.

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Learn to Love Your Search Results Again.

Introducing the Longreads Story Recommender.

More Longreads Essays and Features

By All Measures

Our problems are too vast, our distance from them too great. How do we navigate our derangement of scale?

Anatomy of Absolute Power

The people of Wilcox County, Alabama, remember a longtime sheriff as a god or a monsterโ€”it just depends on who you ask.

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Longreads Reading Lists

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