Betty Friedan worked so hard she forgot to pee. Norman Mailer was married twice in four days. The only way to get Leonard Bernstein out of bed was to play […]
Books & Poetry
BOOKS
The Alternate Realities of Rosemary Woodruff Leary
Susannah Cahalan unveils a life on the sidelines in The Acid Queen
Susannah Cahalan writes that Rosemary Woodruff Leary is “everywhere and nowhere.” Her point is that the woman who was the fourth of five wives of Timothy Leary — the Harvard […]
POETRY
That Come and Go
Open my eyes with the sun, bright over my shoulder, and uniform clear blue […]
POETRY
Transitions
The air felt like May, but the water said it would rather be March. They negotiated through a fog that rose from the moors and burned off in my lungs. […]
POETRY
Marie Howe Maps a Spiritual Journey
The poet won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for her New and Selected Poems
The uncluttered elegance of Marie Howe’s voice has held its power over the 40-plus years she has been publishing poetry. And nowhere is it heard more lovingly than here in […]
BODY HORROR
On the ‘Monstrosity’ of the Human Form
Carmen Maria Machado and Ilana Savdie are drawn to the uncanny
Just before Carmen Maria Machado left for graduate school, she came down with swine flu. The year was 2009: Barack Obama had just started his first term as president, Bitcoin […]
FILM HISTORY
Censored, But Still Queer
In Sick and Dirty, Michael Koresky argues for a second look at Code-era movies
“Golden ages” are rarely golden for everyone, especially in film history. The era referred to as “classic Hollywood” roughly coincided with the Production Code, a set of guidelines developed by […]
RETREAT
Claiming the Right to Grieve
Geraldine Brooks reflects on her husband’s death in a new memoir
In her new memoir, Memorial Days (Viking, 2025), Geraldine Brooks with matter-of-fact and elegant prose delves into a universal experience that, as a culture, we try our best to push […]
FICTION
Fodder for the Old Ladies Gossip Militia
An excerpt from Hush Little Fire, a new novel set on the Outer Cape
Judith Newcomb Stiles is a potter, teacher, and writer whose family has lived in Wellfleet since the days of the Pilgrims. In her new novel, Hush Little Fire, published by […]
HISTORICAL FICTION
Never Quite Free
In The Lilac People, Milo Todd sheds light on the trans experience in Nazi Germany
So many stories, both harrowing and heartwarming, have been told about World War II that it can be hard to imagine what a new novel might add. But as we […]
FICTION
Circus Peanuts
It’s just that I was missing my father. His guilty-yet-triumphant toddler smile when he finished off a brand-new pack of the Circus Peanuts we both loved and were supposed to […]
DREAM STATE
Poetry in Motion
Monique Brunet-Weinmann’s new book, Exil, recounts anxious times and a migration story
As a child, reared close to the Atlantic Ocean in Brittany, the westernmost region of France, Monique Brunet-Weinmann excelled at reciting poetry from memory. “Pretty soon,” she says, “I started […]
BOOKS
Jerome Cohen’s Life in Law
The China scholar, an ‘inveterate optimist,’ holds out hope for human rights
What a life Jerome Cohen has led: Modest New Jersey roots. An education in law at Yale. Clerkships with Supreme Court justices Earl Warren and Felix Frankfurter. Practicing and teaching […]
IN THE MIDS
Demons on the Hour
Sara Martin is a death tourist, a mockumentarian, and a poet
Sara Martin takes a seat in the courtyard at the Fine Arts Work Center and turns her face toward the sun. It’s just past 2 p.m. “Two p.m. is a […]
POETRY
Two Poems by Joe Cunningham
On His Way In minutes Timmy’s mastered his skim board, found the rhythm to toss it in front of his jump, and to land while in motion, as a man […]
