LIT
Lucy Sante on Kafka, Communism, and Comme des Garçons
February 13, 2024
“I was most concerned with explaining myself,” the writer says of her new memoir, which details her transition. “It’s a long explanation of myself to the world.”
OPENING
Christopher Udemezue on Ghost Towns and Goth Sensibilities
February 8, 2024
“They’re vibing, they’re in the Blue Mountains, they found a field of mushrooms, they’re falling in love.”
LIT
Author Megan Nolan on True Crime and Trauma Plots
February 7, 2024
“I have this thing now where I want every book to be different from the last one,” said the author of “Ordinary Human Failings.”
LIT
Sheila Heti Was Wasting Her Time. Then She’d Written a Book.
February 6, 2024
“It felt more like playing Tetris or something,” the writer says of working on her new book, “Alphabetical Diaries.”
LIT
How Venita Blackburn Wrote a Sci-Fi Novel About Sex, Grief, and Debt Collection
February 2, 2024
“Remember, we don’t believe in debt.”
LIT
Couplets Author Maggie Millner Can’t Help But Break the Rules
January 24, 2024
“Plato had a theory that poets should probably be banished from society.”
EXCERPT
Willow Defebaugh Shares an Essay From Her Book The Overview
January 17, 2024
“I do have a theory, though: perhaps we love because it is our nature.”
open book
Celine Saintclare Writes Her Sex Scenes to Tchaikovsky
January 11, 2024
“You know I can’t say or I’ll get myself in trouble.”
PERSONA
“I Like the Idea of a Basic Bitch Album”: L’Rain, in Conversation With Marlon James
January 4, 2024
“I feel like L’Rain is one big persona.”
LIT
With Her Debut Novel, Rachel Connolly Is Avoiding the Discourse Trap
January 4, 2024
“A lot of stuff that gets a lot of attention is very didactic, morally obvious.”
LIT
Isabelle Graw and Eliza Douglas on Freud, Fear, and Friendship
December 28, 2023
“I usually have this rule that I don’t become friends with students.”
LIT
“Can We Still Be Cool?”: Sarah Blakley-Cartwright, in Conversation With Anna Khachiyan
December 28, 2023
“We met at a baby birthday party. There was a clown.”
LIT
Blake Butler on Faith, Therapy, and His Wrenching New Memoir Molly
December 22, 2023
“It’s not Molly’s story, it’s mine.”
LIT
Gabriel Bump and Ed Park Compare Notes on Their New Novels
December 20, 2023
“I don’t think I’ll ever write a book with this many characters again.”
LIT
Gabrielle Korn on GoodReads Trolls and Girlboss Dystopias
December 19, 2023
“Maybe it’s all of our media trauma.”
OPEN BOOK
James W. Jennings’ Wings of Red Flips the MFA Novel on Its Head
December 13, 2023
“I don’t look for inspiration as much as clarity.”
ADAPTATION
Ottessa Moshfegh and Luke Goebel Want to Make a Movie About Rats
December 8, 2023
“Oh, fuck no. We do not smoke.”
ICONS
Philip Glass on Moondog, Pop Music, and Mahatma Gandhi
December 7, 2023
“I know what direction I’m going in. I’m not sure whether other people are with me or not.”
LIT
Lexi Freiman Wrote the Year’s Funniest Novel. It’s About Ayn Rand.
December 5, 2023
“I do think we’ve been terrorized by lunatics on Twitter for long enough now.”
BOOK CLUB
“I Don’t Want Any Boners in My Direction”: Julia Fox, in Conversation with Charli XCX
December 1, 2023
“I’d rather have a bunch of girls fantasizing about me than a bunch of dudes jerking off to my photos.”