The Story of Salvador’s Banda Didá By Tari Ngangura Feature In a country with violent history and violent politics, Brazil’s first all-female, Afro-Brazilian percussion group drums and dances and changes lives.
We Are All We Have By Megan Stielstra Feature While caring for her mother post-surgery and her grandmother during her final days, Megan Stielstra wonders who’s really taking care of who.
The Poetry We Need and the Chitchat We Don’t By Longreads Commentary What we all need to hear right now, with special guest Marisa Siegel, Editor in Chief of The Rumpus.
The Great White Nope By Soraya Roberts Feature Canada’s old white publishing institutions are a lesson in what happens when your media industry contracts: journalism no longer serves the reality of the country.
Self Portrait as a Human Interest Story By Emi Nietfeld Feature Reflecting on the adversities and victories of her youth, Emi Nietfeld interrogates how narratives of resilience minimize suffering.
All Hail the Rat King By Adrian Daub Feature From Martin Luther to The Nutcracker, Germany’s original national nightmare was a tangled knot of writhing rats.
Guns and Marriage By Simone Gorrindo Feature Simone Gorrindo struggles to make peace with the violence that puts food on her table.
Anyone’s Son By Wudan Yan Feature Cody Dalton Eyre, a 20-year-old Alaskan Native, was having a mental health crisis on Christmas Eve, 2017 when his mother called 911 for help. So why did police officers end up shooting and killing him?
Telling About Auschwitz, Before It’s Too Late By Sari Botton Commentary His lover in Auschwitz helped him survive. Now he’s sharing his memories to help prevent the worst from happening again.
Longreads Best of 2019: Crime Reporting By Longreads Reading List We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year. Here is the best in crime reporting.
Longreads Best of 2019: All of Our No. 1 Story Picks By Longreads Reading List Here’s every story that was chosen as No. 1 in our weekly Top 5 email.
Reporting Crime or Turning to Crime By Longreads Commentary Diligent reporters revisit the histories of two conmen, and how their actions have risked others’ lives in the balance.
The Longreads 2019 Holiday Gift Book Guide By Dana Snitzky Commentary Let Longreads help you with your holiday shopping! We’ve made a catalog of books we featured in 2019 that we think would make great gifts for everyone on your list.
Obsession and Release: 10 Years to Write a Longread By Longreads Commentary A Longreads Podcast interview with journalists James K. Williamson and Tim Requarth on writing about family.
Open Secrets: Celebrity Sexuality and Athletic Abuse By Longreads Commentary Editors discuss the gender politics of music criticism, how young womxn drive conversations around cultural figures, institutionalized discrimination in sport, and more.
OK Listener, We’ll Talk About OK Boomer By Longreads Commentary Longreads editors chat with Internet culture reporter Taylor Lorenz about ok boomer, TikTok, patriotism, and more.
This Month In Books: The Book Is an Escape Tool By Dana Snitzky Commentary Sometimes telling a story is the only way to escape it.
Where are the Gay Ladies of Cambodia? By Lindsey Danis Feature Honeymooning in Cambodia, Lindsey Danis and her wife seek refuge in queer spaces, but struggle to find the acceptance granted to male travelers.
What Shattered My Mother’s Mind By Winston Ross Feature Winston Ross recalls the heartbreaking ordeal his family endured after his mother’s routine surgery led to post-operative delirium.
Leaning In with Alex P. Keaton By Nicole Cyrus Feature Born with serious CEO aspirations, Nicole Cyrus found her role model in a white kid from an ’80s sitcom.
Naked City By Leslie Kendall Dye Feature Here, everyone hurries but no one arrives, everyone shows up but no one gets in, everyone’s a member but no one belongs.
Why I Wanted To Finish My Father’s Life’s Work By Karen Brown Feature Karen Brown recalls the pain and joy of fulfilling a deathbed promise.
Running Dysmorphic By Devin Feature On competitive running, exactness, and finding permission to be myself.
Checking in on the Masculinity Crisis By Kelli María Korducki Feature If masculinity really is in crisis — and that’s a big if — we should at least be able to agree that it’s not women’s responsibility to fix it.
In Praise of Del Amitri’s Album Waking Hours By Longreads Feature Some albums make it hard to separate the music from the experience of listening to it.
Bully for You By Soraya Roberts Feature Women with power have the capacity to silence women with less — and they wield it. Why can’t they see that?
A Beautiful, Rugged Place: Erosion of the Body By Longreads Feature The life-long writer, teacher, and activist believed she could save a piece of land or a species, but after her brother took his life, she questioned her optimism and how to grieve for him and the planet.
The Backcountry Prescription Experiment By Mathina Calliope Feature Mathina Calliope goes off her antidepressant and into the woods.
Why Mr. Bauer Didn’t Like Me By Blaise Allysen Kearsley Feature As a child, Blaise Allysen Kearsley tried, in vain, to win over a white friend’s father.
‘To Be Well’: An Unmothered Woman’s Search for Real Love By Vanessa Martir Feature After years of strife with her mother, Vanessa Mártir finds unconditional love in a new, tender relationship.
Thumbing a Ride: What I Learned from Siskel and Ebert By Dipti S. Barot Feature Dipti S. Barot pays homage to the two irreplaceable voices who informed her love of good movies.
Let Me Show You the World By Iman Sultan Feature Almost everything you think you know about Aladdin is wrong.
This Is How You Lose Your Mind By Dani Fleischer Feature Dani Fleischer recalls how a lifetime of perfectionism led her down a path of self-destruction.
Borrowed Babies By Jill Christman Feature Five months into her first pregnancy, one writer pursues a research project about the history of home economics, as she struggles with her own concerns about motherhood.
Under the Influence: Watch(wo)men By Soraya Roberts Feature We watch the (women) influencers watching the (heavily female) influencing industry, but the men aren’t entirely in the dark.
My Brown Dad Voted for Trump By Anjoli Roy Feature Anjoli Roy struggles to understand the conservative father she dearly loves.
Tar Bubbles By Melissa Matthewson Feature Melissa Matthewson remembers the flights of fancy that kept her company as a young girl, and bears witness to her daughter’s.
Cross Talk By Jacqueline Alnes Feature Jacqueline Alnes wrestles with identity, belonging, and privilege after a crisis of faith at a Missouri-based Christian Kamp 9,000 miles from her Indonesian home.
‘By Choice, and Not By Choice…Time Is Going To Change You.’ By Zan Romanoff Feature 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.”
What we all need to hear right now, with special guest Marisa Siegel, Editor in Chief of The Rumpus.