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short story

Capsized green canoe wedged between rocks and whitewater rapids in the James River Richmond, Virginia.
Posted inQuotes

The Unlikely Hero in George Saunders’ Short Story, ‘The Falls’

by Krista Stevens February 2, 2022October 18, 2022

And he “…stopped in his tracks, wondering what in the world two little girls were doing alone in a canoe speeding toward the Falls, apparently oarless.”

Posted inEditor's Pick

The Falls

by Krista Stevens January 31, 2022October 19, 2022

“Come to think of it, it was possible, even probable, that the boat had already gone over the Falls or hit the Snag.”

A Changpa boy sips from a cup of steaming yak-butter tea.
Posted inQuotes

Going into Starbucks to Order Butter Tea

by Krista Stevens January 19, 2022October 18, 2022

“Pema wants to ask Jamal, Have you seen the news? But of course he hasn’t. He’s got other things to think about and now so does she.”

Posted inEditor's Pick

Butter Tea at Starbucks

by Krista Stevens January 18, 2022October 19, 2022

“The flames flap with a noise like laundry on a line. The fire is an orange column. A plastic bag pirouettes in mid-air. The camera, unsteady, lingers and lingers. And in the middle, the figure stands upright, stoic or suicidal. Pema thinks: she’s already dead.”

Posted inFiction, Highlight, Quotes

Sit Back, Relax, and Try Not To Think About the Hole We’re Making In Your Skull

by michelleweber February 3, 2020October 19, 2022

You can understand how the dura mater connects to the arachnoid mater, but that doesn’t mean you understand the mind.

Edwidge Danticat
Posted inStory

10 Outstanding Short Stories to Read in 2020

by Longreads January 15, 2020December 30, 2022

Stories by Edwidge Danticat, Etgar Keret, Valeria Luiselli, and more.

Posted inBooks, Fiction, Story

The Hospital Where

by Longreads October 24, 2018October 19, 2022

When accompanying his father to the emergency room, a writer reflects on how he developed his talent — and why that’s a story he can never tell his father.

Posted inEditor's Pick

Etta or Bessie or Dora or Rose

by Sari Botton May 24, 2018October 19, 2022

From Elisa Albert’s acclaimed 2006 collection, the infamous short story that turned Philip Roth’s playbook inside out.

Posted inFiction, Story

The Wolves

by Longreads April 2, 2018October 19, 2022

A forester’s daughter spends a night in a cabin in Soviet Russia, but it takes decades to discover how much danger she put her family in.

Author Han Kang
Posted inFiction, Reading List

10 Outstanding Short Stories to Read in 2018

by Longreads January 9, 2018October 19, 2022

Must-read stories from Han Kang, Porochista Khakpour, and Min Jin Lee.

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