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.
Six Stories About the Swimming Pool
Ready to grab your towel? Take a dip in these six stories about swimming pools.
Come Hear My Song
A night at the San Joaquin Valley’s last historic honky-tonk.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
Session In Progress: Five Stories About Therapy
Here are five stories about different people experiencing different kinds of therapy.
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.
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.