Reading with Kiese Laymon’s “Heavy” By Danielle Jackson Commentary “Heavy” confronts generations of Black art.
‘I’ve Always Been Either Praised or Accused of Ambition’: An Interview with Barbara Kingsolver By Sarah Boon Feature Barbara Kingsolver takes a rigorous, scientific approach to her novels’ subjects — but, as a woman writer, her authority is often challenged.
‘As a Grown Woman, I Still Have To Continuously Learn To Say No’ By Wei Tchou Feature Memoirist Tanya Marquardt talks about consent, trauma, and investigating our memories in the age of #MeToo.
The Writer Alone By Tajja Isen Feature A woman out of her mind, locked in an apartment. This, I believed, was the optimal, and probably only, condition under which art could be made.
‘Mami’s biggest lesson’: On Storytelling and the Weight of Words By Danielle Jackson Highlight The author learned how to tell stories from her psychic mother.
Lyrical Ladies, Writing Women, and the Legend of Lauryn Hill By Michael Gonzales Feature Joan Morgan’s “She Begat This” looks back at how Lauryn Hill crashed through hip-hop’s glass ceiling, while our critic looks at how the author and a cadre of black women writers did the same for hip-hop music journalism.
I Would Never Say That, But the Character, He Said It: An Interview with Catherine Lacey By Tobias Carroll Feature “When I write, I’m creating a character, and then I’m just performing that character, and typing what they say.”
Finding Time to Write Even During the Busiest of Times By Sari Botton Highlight How Jami Attenberg helped form a supportive online literary community with #1000WordsofSummer.
Introducing ‘Fine Lines,’ a Series About Age and Aging By Sari Botton Highlight A new essay and podcast series examines how attitudes toward age and aging have changed.
Letters from Trenton By Thomas Swick Feature While striving to become a travel writer in the years after Watergate, Thomas Swick discovered that although writing for a newspaper was educational, there was more to be learned through romance with a foreigner.
A Beginner’s Guide to Fly Fishing With Your Father By Heather Radke Feature It was the place he came to feel wild, and I was ready to trespass into the world of men.
Meet the New Mormons By Sarah Scoles Feature Is it possible to be queer, lefty, and a Latter-Day Saint? After leaving the church, Sarah Scoles sets out to understand liberal Mormons.
For Me, With Love and Squalor By Lauren Markham Feature After publishing her first book, Lauren Markham begins the long search for what she truly wanted after writing it.
But a Novel Will Never Love You Like Your Children Do By Krista Stevens Highlight Does each of your children represent a novel you’ll never write? Michael Chabon is okay with that.
Listening to the Words of Puerto Rican Poet Julia de Burgos After Hurricane Maria By Danielle Jackson Highlight Largely unknown, Julia de Burgos may have been Puerto Rico’s greatest poet.
Sharp Women Writers: An Interview With Michelle Dean By Natalie Daher Feature On Didion, Arendt, Malcolm, Ephron and other women writers who made an art of having an opinion.
The Writers’ Roundtable: Fiction vs. Nonfiction By Eva Holland Feature A conversation between writers Eva Holland, Benjamin Percy, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Mary H.K. Choi, and Adam Sternbergh about writing on both sides of the fiction-nonfiction divide.
The Death Row Book Club By Aaron Gilbreath Feature When Anthony Ray Hinton was sentenced to death for two murders he didn’t commit, he used his time to create a book club for death row inmates.
This Is How They Saved Me By Michelle Legro Feature One month after her father was arrested, Neda Semnani and her family were taken on a dangerous journey to be smuggled out of Iran.
Use and Abuse By Aaron Gilbreath Feature Amy Long on how it feels to fight for the man you don’t want.
Leslie Jamison: Does Recovery Kill Great Writing? By Krista Stevens Highlight When Leslie Jamison got sober she wanted to know how a life lived without alcohol would affect her writing.
A Storyteller, Unbecoming By Namrata Poddar Feature On showing, telling, and finding one’s way as a literary writer of color.
The Stuff That Came Between Mom and Me: A Story About Hoarding By Susan Fekete Feature Mom would make excuses about not having cleaned the house. I knew they were lies. I knew her house was full.
The Truth About Writing Fiction From Your Life By Sari Botton Feature A conversation about writing novels that have roots in reality.
Hierarchy of Needs By Aaron Gilbreath Feature Angela Palm learns to find joy in a world filled with suffering.
Barbara Ehrenreich on Writing to Think By Krista Stevens Highlight Barbara Ehrenreich on thinking as an antidote to “the unknown and potentially menacing.”
Vanishing As a Way to Reclaim Your Life By Aaron Gilbreath Feature On the eve of her marriage, an adventurous young woman tests how free she really wants to be.
The Money His Father Left Behind, and the Life it Would Start By Michelle Legro Commentary When Alexander Chee’s father died at 43, he left behind a trust that would set the course of his son’s life.
Wallace Shawn’s Late Night By Aaron Gilbreath Feature The playwright has a lot to tell viewers about human nature and our depraved era. Too bad so few people have seen his plays.
Longreads Best of 2017: Essays By Longreads Reading List We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in essays.
