As a teen, Jabeen Akhtar discovered that trying to be an exceptional immigrant can make you do stupid things.
Search results
Not Quite Not White
Sharmila Sen grew up understanding distinctions between castes and religions, between the educated and the illiterate. Race was a distinction she didn’t understand until she came to America.
Looking Inside My Heart
Jen Hyde discovered that her heart valve was made by women working in a factory near her childhood home. Getting to know them brought her closer to her own mother.
Hating Big Pharma Is Good, But Supply-Side Epidemic Theory Is Killing People
New books about the opioid crisis — “Dopesick,” “Fight for Space” and “American Fix” — have different ideas about who’s to blame and what to do next. Our critic says regulating supply can have deadly consequences, and we need to address users’ pain.
A Storyteller, Unbecoming
On showing, telling, and finding one’s way as a literary writer of color.
Hierarchy of Needs
Angela Palm learns to find joy in a world filled with suffering.
Ugly, Bitter, and True
After years of feeling hopeless and barely human, one talented writer manages to find her will to live.
‘I Try Not to Have a Schedule’: Talking Writing with William Vollmann
Renowned for the size of his books as the magnitude of his subjects, the author is ready to take on waste and climate change.
Terry Gross, National Interviewer: 40 Years of Fresh Air
In The New York Times Magazine Susan Burton profiles “national interviewer” Terry Gross, who celebrates 40 years behind the microphone as the host of NPR’s Fresh Air.
How Harper Lee Helped Bring Back ‘Bloom County’
Berkeley Breathed is responsible for one of the more delightful things to happen to my Facebook feed in some time: The Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, who created “Bloom County” and characters like Opus the penguin, has revived his beloved comic strip after a 25-year hiatus, posting new installments on his Facebook page. In a new interview […]
