“We are all, it seems, still waiting for Godot.”
Writing
Posted inFeature
How Reporting Creates Change: A Conversation with Pamela Colloff
Writing is always going to be hard and why it’s worth the struggle.
Posted inQuestionnaire
The Longreads Questionnaire, Featuring Elisa Gabbert
The author of Any Person Is the Only Self and recent Guggenheim fellow talks about the worst time of day, the value of wasting an hour, and chilaquiles.
Posted inQuestionnaire
The Longreads Questionnaire, Featuring Cory Doctorow
The author of Enshittification and the new The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI on hammock life, the joy of pulp, and writing through it.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Comparisons as Predictable as the Sunrise
“An analysis of 200,000 similes from popular fiction.”
Posted inFeature
Getting Unstuck with Ramona Ausubel
On finding joy in the writing process, embracing friction, and developing your voice.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Prehistory of A.I. Slop
“Before ChatGPT, there was the Plot Robot, Auto-Beatnik, and a century’s worth of schemes for automating authorship.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
ISpyForGood
“On any given day I was seen as both valuable and disposable, sometimes oscillating between these in the same hour.”
Posted inFeature
The Secret Door
“When we read, we make believe. We aren’t duped or ensorcelled. Deep down we decide. We make ourselves believe.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Up In Smoke
“I woke up one day to the realization that I had written ten good pages of a book that was due in five months.”