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Defining Color

“A deep pink that is bluer, lighter, and stronger than average coral, bluer than fiesta, and bluer and stronger than sweet william.”

by Kory Stamper

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The cover of Kory Stamper's new book, True Color, shows a selection of colored paper pieces, each folded to reveal a second color behind the first. The cover is next to a photograph of Stamper, who wears a colorful white and green shirt and has purple hair and glasses.

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Longreads features

Into the Darkness

Germany’s Black Forest faces a future of transformation. So do the people who have lived there for centuries.

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My Unlikely Existence

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An Internet of Checkpoints

A mysterious YouTube video gave thousands of people a place to breathe. Then it vanished.

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35 and 1

A brother lost, a son born, and the strange arithmetic of love.

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Vigilantes at Dawn

A forgotten deportation, a family archive, and the cost of belonging.

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The Endless Self

Exploring animal life beyond the limits of human understanding.

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Recent editors’ picks

‘Their Power Feels Like Mine’: A Dog Sled Racer Says Goodbye to Her Pack

Blair Braverman | The New York Times Magazine | March 18, 2026 | 4,665 words

“After years of racing, I wanted to take my sled dogs back into the wilderness.”

Night Knowledge

Aria Aber | The Yale Review | March 16, 2026 | 4,249 words

“What I learned at the club.”

The Docteur Is In

David Beal | The New York Review of Books | March 11, 2026 | 8,091 words

“The Congolese rumba pioneer Docteur Nico helped define the sound of African decolonization—and became one of the great visionaries of the electric guitar.”

It’s the Music You Hear All Day, Without Ever Noticing

Ryan Francis Bradley | The New York Times Magazine | March 10, 2026 | 4,028 words

“Sync music” has become the soundtrack to our lives — whether we realize it or not.

Thinking in the Margins

Bill Hayes | The American Scholar | March 2, 2026 | 2,229 words

“What Oliver Sacks jotted down in the books he read.”

Degrees of Separation

Maya Rosen | Jewish Currents | November 2, 2025 | 5,305 words

“Israel’s new international college programs offer American students an escape from campus activism while training them as state cheerleaders.”

In Search of Banksy

Simon Gardner, James Pearson, and Blake Morrison | Reuters | March 13, 2026 | 5,911 words

“The British street artist’s identity has been debated, and closely guarded, for decades. A quest to solve the riddle took Reuters from a bombed-out Ukrainian village to London and downtown…

Where Duolingo Falls Down: How I Learned to Speak Welsh With My Mother

Dan Fox | The Guardian | March 12, 2026 | 5,637 words

“Once violently defended from extinction, Welsh is still a part of daily life. By learning my family’s language, I hoped to join their conversation.”

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Weekly Top 5

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Featuring stories by Brenna Ehrlich, Patrick R. Crowley, Abe Beame, E. Tammy Kim, and Jeffrey McWhorter.

March 13, 2026

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Showcasing stories from Andrew Logan, Arash Dabestani, Eric McHenry, Carolina A. Miranda, and Andy Hageman.

March 6, 2026

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Showcasing stories from Jane Ruffino, Bruce Li, Elsa Pearl, Joseph Howlett, and Lester Black.

February 27, 2026

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The Longreads questionnaire

The Longreads Questionnaire, Featuring Neal Allen and Anne Lamott

The authors of the new book Good Writing share their insights on reading, writing, and their day-to-day life.

March 18, 2026

The Longreads Questionnaire, Featuring Julian Brave NoiseCat

The author of We Survived the Night and co-director of Sugarcane responds to our 25 questions on writing, reading, and creativity.

March 11, 2026

The Longreads Questionnaire, Featuring Rebecca Solnit

The author of The Beginning Comes After the End talks about jackrabbits, her own “informational hypervigilance,” and the one word she won’t stop using.

March 4, 2026March 4, 2026

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