“As reading declines and self-censorship grows, bookshops are shuttering in the city once hailed as the Arab world’s publishing capital.”
Cheri Lucas Rowlands
Cheri has been an editor at Longreads since 2014.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Humanities Aren’t Dead Yet
“Enrollment in the liberal arts has been in freefall for years. But despite apocalyptic declarations about the end of the humanities, in my own classroom I see signs of life.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The (Mostly) True Story of Galveston’s Legendary Deaf Lifeguard
“LeRoy Colombo was a champion swimmer and even landed in the Guinness Book of World Records. But his legacy is complicated.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Last Days of Social Media
“Social media promised connection, but it has delivered exhaustion.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Museum of Color
“From ochre to lapis lazuli, Stephanie Krzywonos opens a door into the entangled histories of our most iconic pigments, revealing how colors hold stories of both lightness and darkness.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Saving a New Orleans Banksy
“How a truck driver, a hotelier, and an art conservator brought a beloved street mural back into public view.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
11 Women, 9 Dogs, Not Much Drama (and No Guys)
“These retired women in Texas have been through infertility, illness, layoffs, addiction and disappointing marriages. Now they are trying to create a utopia just for themselves.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Meta’s Flirty AI Chatbot Invited a Retiree to New York. He Never Made It Home.
“A cognitively impaired New Jersey man grew infatuated with a Facebook Messenger chatbot with a young woman’s persona. His fatal attraction puts a spotlight on Meta’s AI guidelines, which have let chatbots make things up and engage in ‘sensual’ banter with children.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
AI Isn’t Coming for Hollywood. It’s Already Arrived
“An early winner in the generative AI wars was near collapse—then bet everything on a star-studded comeback. Can Stability AI beat the competition?”