Category: Guest Pick

We asked writers, editors, and booksellers to tell us about a few books they felt deserved more recognition last year.

Circus work can be punishing, and for the performers of Cirque de Soleil, extreme safety measures don’t always prevent fatalities.

Dorthe Nors | Longreads |  August 2015 |  8 minutes (1,904 words)   Our latest Longreads Exclusive is a previously unpublished short story by Danish writer Dorthe Nors, translated into English by Misha Hoekstra, and chosen by Longreads contributing editor A. N. Devers, who writes:  “I first came across the intriguingly sparse work of Dorthe Nors in the pages of the literary […]

Stories about swimming and swimming pools.

David Grann’s “True Crime,” is a strange story of a Polish detective who becomes fixated on a disturbing, provocative, postmodern novel that may be the key to a brutal unsolved murder.

“You’re not showing any remorse, Dakotah. I’m not saying it in a bad way, but is something wrong with your head? Do you have problems with thinking? I mean, because you’re a very intelligent young man.” Steve told him to imagine what would happen “if you weren’t my kid, and I was in this room […]

Douglas Williams is currently a doctoral student in political science at the University of Alabama, where his research centers around public policy and politics as it relates to disadvantaged communities and the labor movement. You can find him on Twitter at @DougWilliams85, at a collaborative blog on Southern progressivism called The South Lawn, as well as at The […]

Nicole Greenfield is a writer and editor based in Brooklyn, New York. I must admit it was the photo of 90-year-old Roman Tritz, clear blue eyes and a blank stare to the camera’s side, that initially drew me into one of my favorite longreads of the week. But the photo didn’t prepare me for the truly […]

Chris Mahr is the managing editor of Lost Lettermen, a college sports website and athlete database. “Talk to any young sportswriter today and odds are that their introduction to both Sports Illustrated’s long-form journalism and renowned writer Gary Smith are one in the same: ‘Higher Education.’ Smith’s March 2001 masterpiece tells the tale of Perry […]

Above: Sebastian Thrun *** Teddy Worcester resides in San Francisco and helps to build products that support the free and open web. Max Chafkin’s Fast Company story covering Sebastian Thrun’s change of course for Udacity is a must-read for anyone interested in online education. The brilliant Thrun admits that MOOCs are not necessarily the right […]

Sasha Belenky is a senior editor at The Huffington Post. Whether it’s negotiating murder-for-hire with a fake hit man or visiting old stomping grounds with the vice president of the United States, if you’re in the car with Jeanne Marie Laskas, you’re pretty much guaranteed that the story will be good. I’ve found myself most […]

“The essay is remarkable from its opening memories of Levy’s own childhood to its heartbreaking ending.”

Jane R. LeBlanc is a freelance journalist who writes for the Dallas Observer where she covers the local comedy scene and anything strange and interesting. She has written for Denton Live, Mayborn magazine, Spirit magazine and the Denton Record-Chronicle. She has a humor blog, Everyone Hates You, where she pontificates about everyday life. You can find her online. Inspired […]