I Actually Went to the Lighthouse
Searching for Virginia Woolf on the Isle of Skye
The Importance of the Coming-of-Age Novel
The transitions from child to teenager and teenager to adult are full of triumphs and struggles.
What Isaac Asimov Can Teach Us About AI
The science-fiction writer imagined artificial intelligence—and what it might want—long before this uncanny reality ever became our own.
The Movie That Helped Kazuo Ishiguro Make Sense of the World
The Nobel Prize–winning author’s work has long had a symbiotic relationship with cinema. His Oscar-nominated film, Living, is the logical next step.
The Double Life of John le Carré
As The Spy Who Came In From the Cold turns 60, a reassessment of John le Carré and the forces that shaped the writer and the man
You Should Be Reading Sebastian Barry
Ireland’s fiction laureate has a special understanding of the human heart.
Judy Blume Goes All the Way
A new generation discovers the poet laureate of puberty.
Six Memoirs That Go Beyond Memories
Sometimes, a writer can use more than their own recollections to tell a personal story.
Flesh
A poem for Sunday
How Should We Teach the Story of Our Country?
Book bans and restrictive laws are threatening to warp the version of American history that kids learn in school: Your weekly guide to the best in books
The Forgotten Ron DeSantis Book
The Florida governor’s long-ignored 2011 work, Dreams From Our Founding Fathers, reveals a distinct vision of American history and how it should influence the present.
There You Are
A poem for Wednesday
What to Read to Come to Terms With Death
These titles can help us accept our limitations and live full lives.
The Body’s River
A poem for Sunday
The Wholly Human Art of Poetry
What truly elevates verse is not just what we write but also what inspires us to write it: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Who Poisoned Pablo Neruda?
A new report suggests what some have long suspected: One of the world’s most famous poets may have been murdered.
Ben Okri on Manipulating Reality
“Reality is all we have to work with, but we don’t really know what it is.”
The Book That Exposed Anti-Black Racism in the Classroom
As African American studies faces resistance, a conversation about the continued relevance of Carter G. Woodson’s 1933 book, The Mis-education of the Negro
What Poets Know That ChatGPT Doesn’t
There’s a reason the AI writes pretty awful verse.
The Best Books to Read With Someone You Love
These five titles are made even better by exploring them alongside another person.