CATEGORIES
Stephen Sondheim – A Giant in the Sky
The measureless, omnipresent influence of Stephen Sondheim.
God Save The Queen
It will be a mess when she’s gone
The End Of Trust
Suspicion is undermining the American economy.
How Self-Reliant Was Emerson?
Transcendentalism, the American philosophy that championed the individual, emerged from an exceptionally tight-knit community.
Peter Gelb – The Divo
All of Peter Gelb’s big problems running the Metropolitan Opera only got bigger during the pandemic.
Life After Nirvana
Dave Grohl is being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for a second time. He’s got a lot to reflect on.
It Didn't Have to Be This Way
A brilliant account of 30,000 years of change upends the bedrock assumptions about human history.
The Men Who Are Killing American's Newspapers
Inside Alden Global Capital, the secretive hedge fund gutting newsrooms and damaging democracy
When Isis Was Queen
At the ancient Egyptian temples of Philae, Nubians gave new life to a vanishing religious tradition
Jonathan Franzen Thinks People Can Change
Even if his new book suggests it’s nearly impossible to make it stick.
Big Apples
The tree expert who turned the five boroughs into his personal orchard.
Tess Holliday – Bombshell
Model and body positivity activist Tess Holliday channels her inner Pamela Anderson for this sexy shoot.
Colson Whitehead Subverts the Crime Novel
In a country born of theft, everyone is an accomplice.
The Unwritten Rules of Black TV
For decades, Black writers and producers have had to tell stories that fit what white executives deemed “authentic.” Can a new generation finally change that?
1,960 minutes with …Isaac Fitzgerald
A pilgrimage with the most gregarious member of the literary internet.
And Not a Drop to Drink
A neo-noir set in an even thirstier Hollywood.
Anthony Veasna – Infinite Self
Anthony Veasna so died unexpectedly last winter, before his debut short-story collection, Afterparties, was released. Everyone remembers him differently.
Katie Kitamura – The Interpreter
Katie Kitamura’s hypnotic new novel asks, What happens when your main character is a passive witness to her own life?
Fiction – Bump
To those who accuse me of immoderate desire, I say look at the oil executives. Look at the Gold Rush. Look at all the women who want a ring and romance and lifelong commitment, and then look again at me.
The Weird Science of Edgar Allan Poe
Known as a master of horror, he also understood the power—and the limits—of empiricism.
The World Kodak Made
The tech giant of the 20th century changed the way Americans saw themselves and their country— and built the city where it made its home. Now Kodak and Rochester are trying to reinvent themselves, and escape their history.
The Other Black Girl
Zakiya Dalila Harris introduced by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
The Power of Refusal
New novels by Rachel Cusk and Jhumpa Lahiri explore women’s struggle to withdraw and create.
Stacey Abrams Writes A Thriller
How she became a novelist, what politics and writing have in common, and why, at the end of every good story, someone’s got to die
Alison Bechdel's Spiritual Sprint
In her new memoir, the cartoonist runs, climbs, bikes, skis, spins, and Solo exes her way toward transcendence.
Ehrlich Speaks to Mother-Writers
Lara Ehrlich, author of the short story collection Animal Wife (Red Hen Press, 2020), has a deep narrative investment in the ways the world denies women power and agency. In October 2020 that commitment took a new shape with the first episode of her podcast, Writer Mother Monster, a much-needed balm for those of us balancing mothering and writing in the midst of a global pandemic. Aimed at dismantling the myth that women can “have it all,” her podcast is a series of interviews with mother-writers working in all genres, at varied points in their careers, who candidly discuss the joys and complications of that dual identity. Ehrlich, herself a mother-writer—her daughter turns five this year—spoke about what she has gleaned from these exchanges and how they’ve influenced her own approach.
Mads Mikkelsen – ‘Oh, That's Right. I'm This Guy.'
Mads Mikkelsen is known for playing villains in America and more nuanced roles in Denmark. He takes everything and nothing seriously.
The Awful Wisdom of the Hostage
What a new memoir reveals about endurance—and extreme remorse
Asian Americans Are Ready for a Hero
After going from “model minority” to invisible minority to hunted minority, the community needs a new generation of cultural and political leaders
Beirut – After The Blast
Last summer’s explosion in Beirut killed hundreds of people and damaged much of the city. My efforts to repair my apartment reveal a lot about how Lebanon works—and doesn’t.