Kevin Smokler shares some of his favorite interviews.
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Posted inFeature, Member Pick, Nonfiction, Story
David Foster Wallace and the Nature of Fact
David Foster Wallace saw clear lines between journalists and novelists who write nonfiction, and he wrestled throughout his career with whether a different set of rules applied to the latter category.
Posted inUncategorized
“The Semplica-Girl Diaries.” George Saunders, The New Yorker (Oct. 2012) Quote found by Charlie Stadtlander
Posted inUncategorized
[Fiction] A father uses his lottery winnings for an extravagant birthday party for his teenage daughter: September 3rd: Having just turned forty, have resolved to embark on grand project of writing every day in this new black book just got at OfficeMax. Exciting to think how in one year, at rate of one page/day, will […]
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Longreads Best of 2012: Elliott Holt's Favorite New Yorker Fiction
Elliott Holt‘s first novel, You Are One of Them, will be published by The Penguin Press in June 2013 One of my two favorite short stories published in 2012 is “Member/Guest” by David Gilbert, which appeared in The New Yorker the week of November 12, but since that story is not available online without a subscription, […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Writing Advice from George Saunders
“You may remember some of my other biggies, such as, ‘Any monkey in a story had better be a dead monkey,’ and ‘Aunts and uncles are best construed as the heliological equivalent of small-scale weather systems,’ or (the mother of all advice-quote-pairs): ‘The number of rooms in a fictional house should be inversely proportional to […]
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Personal History: Chicago Christmas, 1984
Personal History: Chicago Christmas, 1984 Then it was the Christmas party. The way we knew it was festive was the garage had been cleared of dog shit. It had also been cleared of the dog, a constantly barking mutt who even bit Warner. He bit Warner, he bit the shovel head Warner thrust at him, […]
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Personal History: Chicago Christmas, 1984
Personal History: Chicago Christmas, 1984 Then it was the Christmas party. The way we knew it was festive was the garage had been cleared of dog shit. It had also been cleared of the dog, a constantly barking mutt who even bit Warner. He bit Warner, he bit the shovel head Warner thrust at him, […]
Posted inUncategorized
[Fiction] The pale boy with unfortunate Prince Valiant bangs and cublike mannerisms hulked to the mudroom closet and requisitioned Dad’s white coat. Then requisitioned the boots he’d spray-painted white. Painting the pellet gun white had been a no. That was a gift from Aunt Chloe. Every time she came over he had to haul it […]
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Writer Maria Bustillos: My Top Longreads of 2011
Maria Bustillos is a journalist who writes frequently for The Awl. *** The power of Allison Benedikt’s “Life After Zionist Summer Camp” (The Awl) derives from the purity of its point of view, which is that of one person’s lived experience, minutely and honestly detailed. Benedikt swings gracefully between humor and searing candor in this […]
