“But writing itself, living a life defined by work and intellect rather than love or marriage, became her primary feminist commitment.”
Profiles & Interviews
Longreads Best of 2019: Profiles
We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in profiles.
‘By Choice, and Not By Choice…Time Is Going To Change You.’
Nina MacLaughlin discusses her retelling of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. “[In] my very vague high school memories…there was no discussion of the fact that this book is just rape after rape after rape.”
‘I Was Being Used in Slivers and Slices’: On Feminism at Odds With Evangelical Faith
“I wasn’t unified in my being. I wasn’t able to bring my whole self to the table,” says Cameron Dezen Hammon about her life as a worship leader for an evangelical megachurch.
‘I Was Interested in the People Who Are Stuck With These Memories.’
Steph Cha discusses her new novel “Your House Will Pay,” the LA Riots, the Korean American Angeleno community, her 3,600 Yelp reviews, and pushing back against gatekeepers in publishing.
Unearthing the Story: An Interview with Peter Hessler
The New Yorker writer describes his career’s circuitous route, from his start as a struggling fiction writer to becoming a China correspondent, and now the author of a new book about the Arab Spring.
‘Writing This Book Was a Weird Séance ’: An Interview With Deborah Levy
“If you have the depth, the surface can be as light as it’s possible to make it…I don’t mind that ‘Swimming Home’ is sometimes described as a ‘beach read’ — actually that’s a triumph.”
Korean Director Bong Joon-ho on How to Laugh in the Face of Horror
Korean director Bong Joon-ho on his new film, Parasite
‘I Went Quiet…and That Allowed Me To Understand’: The Life of a Molecatcher
Marc Hamer discusses life, death, and the lost art of catching a mole.
“We’re All Still Cooking…Still Raw at the Core”: An Interview with Jacqueline Woodson
“When I look at that dress and how much intention went into the making of it…it’s like we want to have something that can’t be destroyed, because so much of the past has been destroyed…”
