Essays

Essays

The Unfolding of Time in Paint

My encounters with Joan Mitchell's panels
Rachel Cohen
Sepia toned photograph showing painter Joan Mitchell behind a canvas in her studio
Memoir

The Talented Ms. Highsmith

I worked for the novelist in her final months. I thought she wanted to kill me.
Elena Gosalvez Blanco
A Closer Read

Taking Offense

Reading through bad feeling
Garth Greenwell
Essays

How Mrs. Dalloway Began

Slipping into Virginia Woolf’s sentences
Edmund de Waal
Essays

When Does a Divorce Begin?

Most people think of it as failure. For me it was an achievement.
Anahid Nersessian
Dan Fox as a child with his nain, or grandmother, in the chicken-filled yard of Siambr Wen, near Llanrwst, North Wales, UK
Essays

What Happened When I Began to Speak Welsh

By learning my family's language, I hoped to join their conversation.
Dan Fox

Browse

Essays

Grayscale AI rendering of road-rage victim Christopher Pelkey
Essays

When AI Speaks for the Dead

A murder victim recently addressed a defendant with the help of AI. What are the limits of our new reality?
Patricia J. Williams
September 8, 2025
Crabs cooking in a pot of steaming water
Objects of Desire

Blue Crabs

Eating them the way God intended
Joseph Earl Thomas
June 9, 2025
A pair of weathered wood doors with peeling orange paint
Objects of Desire

Doorknobs

I never installed them. What doors could they have opened?
Katie Kitamura
June 9, 2025
Objects of Desire

Salomé

I gave my daughter the name my mother wanted—but who was her namesake?
Colombe Schneck
June 9, 2025
Abstract photo of bent-over nude
A Closer Read

Taking Offense

Reading through bad feeling
Garth Greenwell
June 9, 2025
A black-and-white photo of Patricia Highsmith smoking at her kitchen table in Tegna, Switzerland
Memoir

The Talented Ms. Highsmith

I worked for the novelist in her final months. I thought she wanted to kill me.
Elena Gosalvez Blanco
June 9, 2025
A portrait of Edmund White wearing a navy-blue sweater and standing on a red-staired NYC stoop with a wrought-iron railing
Tribute

Edmund White

My friend in literature, laughter, and grief
Yiyun Li
June 6, 2025
Essays

The Ragpicker's Way

Among scraps and ruins, an artist gathers a different kind of archive
Edmund de Waal
May 13, 2025
Objects of Desire

Rubber Bands

How can we extend love?
Catherine Barnett
May 6, 2025
The Moment

The Post-Francis Church

Catholicism has long wrestled with tradition and modernity. Will the late pope’s legacy offer a way forward?
Jack Hanson
April 29, 2025