We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in profiles.
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Posted inNonfiction
Records on Bone
One young Ukrainian-American struggles to piece together a clear portrait of her parents’ difficult Soviet past, once they quit erasing, and began embracing, their legacy.
Posted inBooks, Fiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story, Writing
Sam Lipsyte on ‘Mental Archery,’ the Quest for Certainty, and Where All the Money Went
“It’s difficult to say what you really think. You’re too aware of the traps, the dead ends, the cul-de-sacs of utterance: all the ways we let cliché steer us in a certain direction, force us to say not quite what we mean…”
Posted inBooks, Fiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story
‘What Would Social Media Be Like As the World Is Ending?’
In Mark Doten’s “Trump Sky Alpha,” a journalist who has survived Trump’s nuclear apocalypse gets an assignment from what’s left of the New York Times Magazine: find out what people were tweeting as the bombs fell.
Posted inNonfiction
The Psychiatrist in My Writing Class and His ‘Gift’ of Hate
Rani Neutill recalls a literary workshop in which a white man critiqued her ability to write in “proper” English.
Posted inNonfiction
Edible Complex
Never eat pot chocolate on a third date, and other lessons about love.
Posted inNonfiction
Longreads Best of 2018: Crime Reporting
We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in crime reporting.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books, Nonfiction, Story
Edward Gorey: A Highly Conjectural Man
When asked if there was “anything people don’t understand” about him, Gorey responded: “Yes. No. Yes. No.” A new biography by Mark Dery attempts to sort myth from reality.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Feature, Nonfiction, Story
The Year of the Cat
Elisabeth Donnelly looks back at a relationship with a wily cat during a lonely time in upstate New York.
Posted inEditor's Pick, Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction
Every Day I Write the Book
At 63, Michael Musto reveals how he keeps managing to add new chapters to the consistently unfolding story of his career.
