Author Roxane Gay profiles hip-hop artist Nicki Minaj as part of T: The New York Times Style Magazine‘s “The Greats” series, which also includes six other cover profiles: Alexander Chee on Korean director Park Chan Wook, Hanya Yanagihara on designer Dries Van Noten, Lin Manuel Miranda on lyricist Stephen Sondheim, Manohla Dargis on actor Amy […]
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An Unapologetic Plea for Your Help Funding More Personal Essays
Longreads’ Essays Editor on the importance of budgeting for personal narratives.
Alexander Chee: ‘He thought I wanted monogamy more than him, and I didn’t.’
Alexander Chee didn’t realize that his boyfriend, M., was pretending to be someone content to be monogamous.
In Spain, Secrets and a Possible Betrayal
When the New York Times asked authors to share stories of when love intersected with travel, Alexander Chee recalls a summer in Granada, Spain, with M. — his boyfriend at the time — who betrayed Chee at a local hammam. “He thought I wanted monogamy more than him, and I didn’t. And I couldn’t forgive […]
The Poisoning
Alexander Chee reflects on his affinity for gin and how over the years — in its various cocktail permutations alongside vermouth in martinis and negronis — it has more than kept him company, becoming “almost a travel companion.”
On a Remote Greek Island, Learning to Take a ‘Real’ Vacation
In creating a routine “entirely alien to his normal life,” Alexander Chee attempts a real vacation from his work as a writer. As he sketches his way around Sifnos, capturing both the “least famous” Greek island and his memories of it in a Moleskine notebook, he learns how to draw fresh strength to fuel his […]
Longreads Best of 2017: Profile Writing
We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in profile writing.
Ferrante in Fragments of Her Choosing
At The New Republic, novelist Alexander Chee has an essay/review of Frantumaglia: A Writer’s Journey, Ferrante’s new book of selected letters and interviews spanning nearly two-and-a-half decades.
The ‘Smashing Things Together’ Approach to Editorial Illustration
Art Director Kjell Reigstad’s insights on editorial illustration.
Longreads Essays Editor Sari Botton’s Guide to Pitching
What I’m looking for, what are the best ways to pitch, and what you can expect from working with me.
