Lit Hub has a compelling essay by “The Last Illusion” author Porochista Khakpour about her struggle to survive early in her career as a novelist.
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A Heart-Shaped Life: Twelve Ways of Looking at Amy Krouse Rosenthal
The author, speaker, and performance artist was far more than her final, heartbreaking Modern Love column.
Here is My Heart
Long after the shooting at her old high school, Megan Stielstra worries about her father’s heart. Part one of a three-part series on gun violence.
Between Their Arab Past and American Present
Lauren Alwan narrates her family’s migration from Syria to California to explore how people’s evolving identities help gain them a foothold in America and create unintentional tensions across generations.
This is Not My Beautiful House
Former Lucky Magazine editor and Girls of a Certain Age blogger Kim France reflects on the miscalculation that her life would be perfect, and her marriage would work, if she lived in the perfect Brooklyn Brownstone.
What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About
Michele Filgate reflects on her teen years with an abusive stepfather and a mother whose silence protected him.
I Want to Persuade You to Care About Other People
After changing her conservative grandfather’s mind about affirmative action, Danielle Tcholakian commits to trying to get through to people whose politics are very different from her own.
Kathleen Hale Hunts the Most Dangerous Game
“Pregnancy is a time of regression. It throws the mind into maturational crisis.”
On NYC’s Paratransit, Fighting for Safety, Respect, and Human Dignity
An incident on lawyer Britney Wilson’s ride home from work exposes her vulnerabilities as a Black disabled woman.
My Journey to the Heart of the FOIA Request
Fifty years ago, the Freedom of Information Act gave the public access to government secrets — all you had to do was ask. How a simple request became a bureaucratic nightmare.

