Sharmila Sen grew up understanding distinctions between castes and religions, between the educated and the illiterate. Race was a distinction she didn’t understand until she came to America.
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Eileen Myles: There’s No Escaping History
The poet and one-time presidential candidate isn’t the least bit surprised by the state of our union.
My Brother Comes to Moscow
‘We had had many arguments, but he was my brother; he had always been my brother.’
When the Movies Went West
Scorned by stage actors and mocked by the theater-going upper classes, filmmakers nevertheless developed a bold new art form — but they needed better weather.
Captive Audience
When you live alongside anything for a long time — any person, any character, any narrative structure, any screen flicker — you become a part of it and it becomes a part of you.
Ghost Writer: The Story of Patience Worth, the Posthumous Author
The most remarkable thing about Patience Worth wasn’t that she was dead. It was that all she wanted to do was write books.
The Blue Ridge Country King
No one would have thought that Highland Ridge, Virginia was the center of anything. Then Jim McCoy’s honky-tonk came along.
Writing for Rejection (and Reading Doris Lessing)
On reality, writing, publishing, fiction, non-fiction, Doris Lessing, and femininity: a writer muses on writing that impacted her, and what it means to write fiction at all.
Moira Donegan is the Anti-Katie Roiphe We Need
Katie Roiphe’s moment is over.
Longreads Best of 2017: Profile Writing
We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in profile writing.
