Disaster Means ‘Without a Star’
A poem for Sunday
Why Do We Keep Writing About Life After Death?
The afterlife provides an opportunity to ponder our biggest existential questions: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Bob Dylan Reveals Himself Through 66 Songs
And it’s the closest we’re probably going to get.
A World Where Death Isn’t the End
Namwali Serpell’s new book explores grief as it’s really experienced.
I Didn’t Want My Children to Know—And Then I Did
In a new book for young readers, Achut Deng recounts her harrowing experiences as a girl escaping the fighting in Sudan and arriving in America as a refugee.
Where My Characters Come From
I don’t choose them; they choose me.
Rachel Cusk Won’t Stay Still
The acclaimed novelist has moved countries and finds herself at a turning point in her art and in her life.
The Green Tram
A poem for Sunday
Six Books That Show No One Can Hurt You Like a Sibling
The unique feeling of sharing parents, or of growing up together, makes this relationship unlike any other.
How to Get Inside of History
An archive’s collection can reconstruct moments in the past: Your weekly guide to the best in books
The Problem With Mothers and Daughters
In new books, the writers Elizabeth McCracken and Lynne Tillman look back at the fraught ends of their mothers’ lives.
How to Avoid the ‘White Savior Industrial Complex’
A missionary in turn-of-the-century Persia gave up his privilege and became a force for good.
Look
A poem for Wednesday
The Secret of How We Move
Two new books show that movement helps us see the rhythms we all share—whether in the angular works of Martha Graham or in the natural choreographies of daily life.
The Trap
What it takes to make it in hip-hop’s new capital
Chrystie Street
A poem for Sunday
Oliver Munday on Expression and Transgression
“The simple answer is that graffiti infuses art and expression with transgression. The danger inherent to the act is addictive.”
You Can Read Any of These Short Novels in a Weekend
These books may be brief, but they use their limited word count to demonstrate the power of concision.
One of the Bravest Things a Book Can Do
Writers are uniquely able to uncover—and condemn—a country’s troubles: Your weekly guide to the best in books
How Did Healing Ourselves Get So Exhausting?
Wellness has become yet another obligation to fit into our schedules.