Roxane Gay examines her own feelings on tragedy and atrocity and in doing so, helps us find compassion in grief and anger.
Unapologetic Women
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes, Unapologetic Women
‘The One Who Gives Birth to Herself’: Rachel Syme on Empowerment and Agency Through Posting Selfies
It’s difficult to select just one perfect quote as a representative sample of Rachel Syme’s excellent ode to the selfie, at Matter.
Posted inFiction, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Quotes, Unapologetic Women
‘Don’t You Write Anything Happy?’: Chinelo Okparanta on Learning from Public Readings
Once, I did a reading in New York where an older lady came up to me afterwards and said, “Your writing is beautiful, and there’s no doubt you’re a great writer, but I’m sorry I won’t be reading any more of that story. That was just too painful for me.” Then, a year or two […]
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‘The Past Is More Now Than Usual’: Eileen Myles on Having Two Books Released with Mercury in Retrograde
I think there’s a very interesting poetry moment going on culturally now. Part of what I’m experiencing with this nice reception of this book is the way being a female poet is a certain version of coming of age — poetry is very diaristic, small pieces, an art form you can realize — you wrote […]
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‘The Corrosiveness of Wanting Someone to Stay Hidden’: Carrie Brownstein on Her Father’s Coming Out at 55
So here was my father, in this white apartment with textured walls and thick carpeting, and the scant amount of furniture and paintings he’d brought from Redmond, looking like interlopers, like imposters, neither here nor there. And we’re sitting in this living room and I have no idea who he is and he says, “So […]
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Hallowed Ground: Patti Smith on Visiting the Prison of Jean Genet’s Dreams
We were entering a military zone and hit a checkpoint. The driver’s identity card was inspected and after an interminable stretch of silence we were ordered to get out of the car. Two officers searched the front and back seats, finding a switchblade with a broken spring in the glove box. That can’t be so […]
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The Unsung Women of Rock and Roll
The sensitivity of male egos, the demands of motherhood, and the general disdain for female ambition made loneliness the likely lot of the chick singer. For the young, female rock-and-roll fan, the arm of a male musician might have seemed more welcoming. Girlfriends and wives appeared as fairy-tale heroines who held royal sway in the […]
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Nancy Meyers on Writing a Film Without a Romance
In a conversation with New York magazine, Nancy Meyers talks about her new film The Intern, and why she didn’t want to write another romantic comedy.
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Jenny Diski Remembers Doris Lessing: Why Can’t People Be Sensible?
Jenny Diski remembers Doris Lessing’s unemotional approach to motherhood and life.
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Marilynne Robinson on Writing and Discipline
INTERVIEWER Do you keep to a schedule? ROBINSON I really am incapable of discipline. I write when something makes a strong claim on me. When I don’t feel like writing, I absolutely don’t feel like writing. I tried that work ethic thing a couple of times—I can’t say I exhausted its possibilities—but if there’s not […]