Category: Writing

In my native New York, I don’t feel the need to perfume the air around me with the sweet scent of challah. But here in Iowa, there is a void I need to fill.

A writer traces her own feminist journey as she reflects on the forthcoming shutdown of Bitch Media.

Drowning out a pandemic with alcohol.

Ten favorite Longreads originals, as selected by the editors.

Powerful reads on which language comes first, second, or even third.

Do you have an idea for a Longreads essay? Now is the time to share it.

Notable and varied reads on ethical eating, food delivery, food writing, a tense friendship between chefs, and making broth.

Got a great idea for a reading list? Pitch us.

The stories our readers loved.

The journalism that made our jaws drop.

The longtime writer at Denver’s 5280 magazine talks about City Reads, the stellar work published by fellow journalists, and the intimate experience of reading thousands of solidarity letters mailed from across the country, demanding justice for Elijah McClain.

Two friends, Hurricane Katrina, a suicide, and the pain and beauty that holds us all together.

The writer of the Immigrant Strong newsletter wants to diversify your bookshelf. 

For 50 years, Enthusiastic Sobriety programs have offered to help teenagers kick drugs and alcohol. But former followers say ES doesn’t save lives—it destroys them.

The writer describes her process of reporting and shaping her recent essay, “The State of Waiting,” which explores love in the shadow of war and immigration policy.

One man’s quest to find his son lays bare the reality of Palestinian life under Israeli rule.

Adolfo Davis hoped a Supreme Court ruling would give him a chance at a new beginning. But nothing about freedom turned out as he expected.

The inside story of author Blake Bailey’s grooming of middle-school girls.

Pocahontas may seem like a strange vehicle for discussing our gay villains. But Disney gets inventive when they need to circumvent white people’s historical responsibility for genocidal atrocities — and queerness is a useful scapegoat.

Two women gave birth on the same day in a place called Come By Chance. Half a century later, their children made a shocking discovery.

The story of a Somali family uprooted by war and separated by America’s broken refugee resettlement system — and the siblings who brought them back together.

How a journalist found her voice as her mother lost hers.

Learning lessons about love while living in a 1961 Artcraft mobile home in Moab, Utah.

To catch a serial killer.

The quest to save the American chestnut tree.

“I think there is a better-than-good chance that our behaviors will change as a result of this pandemic. I am currently creating a ledger and thinking about opportunities, not just for innovation, but for a better humanity.”

Could shrunken heads from the Amazon hold the key to curing cancer?

In a progressive New Jersey community, racial solidarity is complicated.

A small sampling of standout essays published this year.

Blake Butler writes movingly about his late wife, poet Molly Brodak.