Marcia Aldrich on why cell phones, so thin and light and little, don’t seem fitting for momentous calls, for life and death communications, or for last words.
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Posted inEssays & Criticism, Feature, Nonfiction, Story
How I Got My Shrink Back
An entanglement with her shrink-stalking protege teaches Susan Shapiro something about forgiveness.
Posted inNonfiction
How Does a Person Lose Track of Their Diary?
Stumbling upon someone’s lost journal in a used book store leads Sophie Lucido Johnson down a path she couldn’t have expected.
Posted inBooks, Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
Michelle Tea and the Betrayal of Queer Memoir
Memoir is always a betrayal. When writing about life in queer subcultures, the harm of honesty can feel even greater.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books, Profiles & Interviews
Arranging Your Body in Space: Talking Identity, Memoir, and Twins with Leah Dieterich
“One-eighth of all natural pregnancies begin as twins,” Leah Dieterich writes in her memoir, “but early in pregnancy, one twin becomes less viable and is compressed against the wall of the uterus or absorbed by the other twin.” This concept of a vanishing twin, a term coined in the year of Dieterich’s birth, frames the […]
Posted inArts & Culture, Books, Profiles & Interviews, Story
Nic and David Sheff on ‘Beautiful Boy’ and Telling Addiction Stories Responsibly
Nic and his father David Sheff’s memoirs about grappling with Nic’s addiction are the basis for the new movie ‘Beautiful Boy.’ It was important to them that the movie communicate what addiction really is — an illness.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story, Writing
‘As a Grown Woman, I Still Have To Continuously Learn To Say No’
Memoirist Tanya Marquardt talks about consent, trauma, and investigating our memories in the age of #MeToo.
Posted inNonfiction
‘Brokenness and Holiness Really Go Together’: Darcey Steinke on Menopause
Darcey Steinke says that most menopause memoirs “end with this come-to-Jesus moment of, ‘Then I accepted hormones.’ I’m not against it, but … I wanted to hear what it’s like for other women.”
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
Father of Disorder
One woman finds insight into her father’s rage in the scientific concept of entropy.
Posted inUncategorized
How to Pitch Personal Essays to Longreads: An Updated Guide
New submissions guidelines, plus information about our new essay series.
