An essay in which Roxane Gay reveals how she chose the short stories for inclusion in Best American Short Stories 2018 — with an eye toward writing that engaged with the political in thoughtful, engaging, diverse and inclusive ways.
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Posted inNonfiction
Fire/Flood: A Southern California Pastoral
In and around Los Angeles, natural and man-made disasters have been inextricable for almost two centuries.
Posted inBooks, Essays & Criticism, Fiction, Story
A Mysterious Crack Appears: Past Trauma and Future Doom Meet in “Friday Black”
In Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s fantastical short story collection, the strangest fantasy of all is that people try to act morally in a corrupt world.
Posted inNonfiction
The Danger of Befriending Celebrities
Once upon a time, nightlife journalist Michael Musto didn’t set the strongest boundaries with the boldfaced names he covered.
Posted inNonfiction
Hot for Teacher
When a student in her writing workshop submits a piece suggesting his character could ‘take’ a teacher just like her ‘atop her desk,’ Courtney Zoffness is flooded with memories of men touching her against her will.
Posted inBooks, Fiction, Story
The Word ‘Hole’
The first page was blank. On the second page, in an almost illegible calligraphic script, was written “Manifesto for a House in the Sky.”
Posted inBooks, Fiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story
The Need for Distance: Jaclyn Gilbert on Writing and Running
For author Jaclyn Gilbert, revising her writing is much like doing the same running loops over and over, to the point where she doesn’t have to think about where she’s going anymore.
Posted inBooks, Fiction, Story
The New Feeling
When Eleanor takes a break from reading the news, her laptop goes missing. Full of self-abnegation, she asks Wallace Shawn for advice.
Posted inBooks, Current Events, Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Story
The Grieving Landscape
Upon discovering that her mother had been a member of the group Women Strike For Peace (WSP), Heidi Hutner becomes obsessed with feminist nuclear history.
Posted inBooks, Profiles & Interviews, Story, Writing
I Would Never Say That, But the Character, He Said It: An Interview with Catherine Lacey
“When I write, I’m creating a character, and then I’m just performing that character, and typing what they say.”
