Chewing, We Hardly Knew Ye: A Soylent Reading List

These five writers muse on what it feels like — and means for us as a food-centric society — to be free from food.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 17, 2015

Six Stories About the Swimming Pool

Ready to grab your towel? Take a dip in these six stories about swimming pools.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 14, 2015

Come Hear My Song

A night at the San Joaquin Valley’s last historic honky-tonk.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 11, 2015
Length: 17 minutes (4,437 words)

Canada’s National Magazine Award Winners: A Reading List

Guest reading list from Eva Holland: “This year’s awards were up for grabs among 326 nominees from 80 publications, spread across 43 categories. ‘Gold’ and ‘silver’ winners get awards, and the balance of the nominees receive honorable mentions. That spawns the occasional joke about how in Canadian magazines, everyone gets a medal for participation, but—go ahead, call me biased (I was a nominee/honorable mention in the ‘society’ category, for ‘The Forgotten Internment’)—I like the way our format lets us celebrate many different sorts of work, not just the ‘biggest,’ most ambitious features.”

Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 10, 2015

The Art and Business of Book Covers

Here are pieces I’ve enjoyed, new and old, about the art and business of book cover design.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 10, 2015

The Box and the Basement

Nathan Rabin writes about being laid off from a high-profile media job and making the difficult decision to sell his home and move into his in-laws’ basement with his wife and son.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 9, 2015
Length: 7 minutes (1,900 words)

The Cost of Telling Your Truth, Publicly

Jillian Lauren on the challenges of holding nothing back as a writer—about her time in a harem, her life as a sex worker, and the fallout from her family’s response to her memoirs.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 8, 2015
Length: 7 minutes (1,858 words)

Session In Progress: Five Stories About Therapy

Here are five stories about different people experiencing different kinds of therapy.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 7, 2015

After Water

Family, politics, rural identity—and water: A new Longreads Exclusive by illustrator-journalist Susie Cagle on the plight of East Porterville, California, and what happens to agriculture when the last drop is gone.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 2, 2015
Length: 20 minutes (5,160 words)

The People on Our Postage Stamps: A Reading List

After much deliberation, I chose to feature five stamped individuals: an inventor, an entertainer, an activist, a journalist and a short story mastermind.

Source: Longreads
Published: May 31, 2015