The Books Briefing: The Writers Who Don’t Work Alone
Writing is sometimes seen as a solitary pursuit, but co-authors, editors, and friends enrich the process: Your weekly guide to the best in books
How to Write an Imperfect Black Woman
In her debut novel, Luster, Raven Leilani tries to liberate her protagonist from any inherent virtuousness or exceptionalism.
The Groundbreaking Female Artist Who Shaped Manga History
A new collection introduces English-speaking audiences to an overlooked Japanese cartoonist who smashed both gender and genre norms during her short life.
One Legacy of the Pandemic May Be Less Judgment of the Child-Free
The coronavirus could change lingering cultural assumptions about what makes for a full and happy life.
The Best American Novelist Whose Name You May Not Know
When her first novels were published, in the mid-1970s, Gayl Jones’s talent was hailed by writers from James Baldwin to John Updike. Then she disappeared.
How Poetry Can Guide Us Through Trauma
A former U.S. poet laureate’s new memoir reflects on the power of storytelling to help us grieve—and offers lessons for surviving the cataclysms of the present.
The Books Briefing: And the Winner Is
On this year’s Booker Prize nominees, and winners from recent years: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Will White People Forget About George Floyd?
A parable embedded in The Maltese Falcon offers a cautionary tale.
A KGB Man to the End
The origins of Putin’s worldview—and the rise of Russia’s new ruling class
Winter’s Tale
A poem by Maxine Kumin, published in The Atlantic in 2009
The Books Briefing: What Is a Political Memoir For?
What we can learn from books by politicians and their family members: Your weekly guide to the best in books
The Literature of the Pandemic Is Already Here
For those engaging in quick-response art, mess and chaos—not polished elegance—are the forms to best mimic a crisis that has no end in sight.
All My Mothers
A poem for Sunday
The Books Briefing: What to Read If You’re Looking for Something to Read
An omnibus reading list, from classic novels to poems to short stories: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Marisa Silver on the Tangled Nature of Memory
“We are never living just in the present. We’re constantly sourcing back to the past or thinking about what comes next.”
The Memory Wing
A short story
How Americans Became Part of the Trump Family
The president’s dark emotional inheritance has become the nation’s.
Love Sonnets
A collection of sonnets by Pablo Neruda, published in The Atlantic in 1986
The Threat to American Democracy That Has Nothing to Do With Trump
The disappearance of local news is a slow-moving disaster.
The Books Briefing: How to Read a Classic Today
To Kill a Mockingbird’s legacy is far from the only one readers must reckon with: Your weekly guide to the best in books