Roxane Gay writes about the necessary and inevitable influence of politics on literature at this fraught time in history.
Sari Botton
Posted inEditor's Pick
Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Schemes as He Reaped Riches From His Father
A ground-breaking investigation into the potentially illegal financial schemes, tax evasions, and grandiose lies employed by Fred Trump and his son, Donald J. Trump, designed to create the illusion of the president as a self-made billionaire, and to falsely raise and lower the values of their holdings as needed to make money, and hide it.
Posted inEditor's Pick
What Does a Political Story Look Like in 2018?
An essay in which Roxane Gay reveals how she chose the short stories for inclusion in Best American Short Stories 2018 — with an eye toward writing that engaged with the political in thoughtful, engaging, diverse and inclusive ways.
Posted inArts & Culture, Essays & Criticism, Highlight, Nonfiction, Unapologetic Women
The Art of the Pan
Sarah Miller recalls her days in the ’90s as a fickle movie critic.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Movie Assassin
This personal essay by Sarah Miller has gone viral and divided Twitter. Those who love the piece — about Miller’s struggle in 1996 to get away with panning “The English Patient” for an alt weekly paper — appreciate her brutal honesty and her irreverence toward the Serious Film establishment.
Posted inEditor's Pick
A Visit to Opioid Country
In this personal essay, Aaron Thier contemplates the connections between privilege, addiction, and recovery.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Highlight, Nonfiction, Quotes, Unapologetic Women
It’s Time to Stop Painting Joyce Maynard as an ‘Oversharer’ Already
In the #metoo era, there’s no excuse for continuing to deride women like Maynard who speak out about their experiences with men who had much more power.
Posted inUncategorized
A Birth Plan for Dying
In this personal essay, Hanna Neuschwander grapples with ending a wanted pregnancy, and finds that “right” or “wrong” fail to describe the moral reckoning.
Posted inEditor's Pick
46 Years Ago, I Left Yale for J.D. Salinger — This Fall, I’m Returning
A personal essay in which author Joyce Maynard writes about finally returning to Yale this fall, at 64, to complete her Bachelor’s degree. Maynard had dropped out at 18 in 1971, following her freshman year, after which she went to live with a much older J.D. Salinger.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Next Level of Commitment: Revealing Our Money Secrets
A personal essay in which Vanessa Golenia contemplates the ins-and-outs of merging finances as the higher earner — and bigger spender — in her (heterosexual) relationship.