Essays

Essays

The Shapes of Grief

Witnessing the unbearable
Christina Sharpe
The Moment

Palestinian Solidarity, Then and Now

The power of encampment as a form of protest
Feisal G. Mohamed
Essays

Louise Glück’s Late Style

The fabular turn in the poet’s last three books
Teju Cole
Essays

Jean Stein’s Rolodex

The legendary editor’s social genius
Benjamin Anastas
Essays

The Path to Playwright

Discovering my literary hero in an unlikely place
Sonya Kelly
Essays

The Frictions of Interracial Love

How one fundamental difference can color every aspect of marriage
Anne Anlin Cheng

Browse

Essays

Image of COVID-19 virus. Graphic by Bianca Ibarlucea.
Pandemic Files

Reading the Decameron through the Lens of COVID-19

The fallacy of “literary distancing”
Millicent Marcus
June 22, 2020
Image of COVID-19 virus. Graphic by Bianca Ibarlucea.
Pandemic Files

Giving Up the Ghost

There are a million ways to teach a Black boy about death
Hafizah Geter
June 18, 2020
Image of COVID-19 virus. Graphic by Bianca Ibarlucea.
Pandemic Files

Safe

The world is collapsing, but we go on
Elisa Gabbert
June 18, 2020
Image of COVID-19 virus. Graphic by Bianca Ibarlucea.
Pandemic Files

Coronavirus and the Danger of Disbelief

Why was it so hard even for doctors to see what was coming?
Randi Hutter Epstein
June 16, 2020
Image of COVID-19 virus. Graphic by Bianca Ibarlucea.
Pandemic Files

I Can’t Sleep

After days of witnessing racial violence, respite is no longer a given
Emily Bernard
June 15, 2020
Image of COVID-19 virus. Graphic by Bianca Ibarlucea.
Pandemic Files

How I Became a Prophetess

Joyelle McSweeney
June 9, 2020
Image of COVID-19 virus. Graphic by Bianca Ibarlucea.
Pandemic Files

Why Does Every Ad on TV Sound Exactly the Same?

How “In these uncertain times” became ad agencies’ favorite slogan
Ben Purkert
June 9, 2020
The author with her brother, 1999.
Essays

After My Brother

Finding the language of loss
Brianna Zimmerman
June 1, 2020
Photograph of clock at Grand Central Station. Robert Hoge / Creative Commons
Essays

Temps

The law of entropy and life as a fill-in employee, and girlfriend
Victoria Kornick
June 1, 2020
A Black woman raises her fist at a protest against police violence. Joyce by Miki J / Creative Commons
Essays

The Uses of Memory

Ecstasy in the midst of struggle
Roger Reeves
June 1, 2020