It never fully leaves. Years later, you find yourself at a New Year’s party and idly ask a friend a question about dads, and after 10 minutes’ conversation you realize both of you are on the verge either of insensate bawling, or else ready to throw a chair through a window. Or you find yourself […]
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Posted inNonfiction, Story
The Box and the Basement
“On the last day of my old job, I stumbled out the door, holding aloft that iconic emblem of termination: The Box. Though from the outside it might look wholly indistinct, we who have felt its symbolic weight know this is no ordinary box; this is a box that can make grown men cry.”
Posted inBooks, Fiction, Profiles & Interviews
Taking the Slow Road: An Interview with Author Katherine Heiny
She published a short story in The New Yorker in 1992, then seemed to all but disappear. How author Katherine Heiny took her sweet time on the path toward publishing her new story collection.
Posted inEditor's Pick
At 18, Tavi Gevinson Is a Fashion Veteran—and a Broadway Rookie
A profile of a teen icon, after graduation. “‘She likes to argue and so do I,’ says [Kenneth] Lonergan, ‘and she’s really smart and so am I, so you end up having these discussions about interesting and broad-ranging topics. But then I find it very charming that she’ll go from mentioning a talk she gave […]
Posted inNonfiction, Profiles & Interviews
How to Be Aca-Awesome
An interview with Kay Cannon, Pitch Perfect screenwriter, on how her a cappella comedy might be changing the definition of cool.
Posted inMember Pick, Nonfiction
Where the Spirit Meets the Bone: A Memoir by Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams, with Benjamin Hedin | Radio Silence | March 2014 | 11 minutes (2,690 words) Radio SilenceFor this week’s Longreads Member Pick, we are thrilled to share a first-time-ever memoir by the great Lucinda Williams from Radio Silence, a San Francisco-based magazine of literature and rock & roll. Subscribe, and download the free iOS […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
28 Years With Weird Al
“‘Everyone else is here for the Monkees,’ dad said. ‘But we’re a Weird Al family.’” Bex Schwartz looks back on her long-time obsession with singer-songwriter and parodist Weird Al Yankovic.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews
The Twisted History of Your Favorite Board Game
An interview with Mary Pilon about her new book, ‘The Monopolists,’ which uncovers the real story about how Monopoly became the game it is today.
Posted inNonfiction, Story
Buried Alive in a Grain Silo
Grain-bin accidents have become a consequence of our massive corn consumption.
Posted inNonfiction, Story
Come Hear My Song
A night at the San Joaquin Valley’s last historic honky-tonk.
