At the best of times, August is a weird month. (Ask our managing editor to tell you about his childhood experience of insomnia, which could also be described as an allergy to the month in question.…

I Annotate a Letter from My Latest Aunt by Z.H. Gill My latest aunt—Uncle Jamie’s fifth wife and very freshest beard—left for me lengthy typed instructions in a stern manila envelope set atop the C…

According to the weather apps, the world outside of our window feels like 108 degrees with a severe thunderstorm warning also on the horizon. If ever there was a time to find somewhere air-conditio…

The very first dirty word I ever heard out of Edmund White’s mouth wasn’t what I expected. I was expecting the OG of Gay Literature to blurt out cocksucking, finger fucking, felching, something lik…

Author Jen Michalski is intrigued by the spaces where empathy and imperfection coexist. Her latest novel All This Can Be True is a stunning result of this fascination  – an emotionally resonant sap…

There’s a particular challenge that comes from writing a book in the world of another artistic discipline. Why? The usual challenges that apply to writing fiction apply, but so does the task …

In our morning reading: new writing by Catherine Lacey and Amber Sparks, an interview with Michelle Tea, and more.

An Imposition by Claire Oleson Shane was up to his thighs in the pond, moving pressure between his only two feet, thinking about his older brother, who had obliterated his femur to fine bone-snow j…

An Imposition by Claire Oleson Shane was up to his thighs in the pond, moving pressure between his only two feet, thinking about his older brother, who had obliterated his femur to fine bone-snow j…

Bill Kroyer’s detailed memoir Mr. In-Between scales the many rocky paths in animation from hand drawn to computer. Hear it from the guy who’s seen it all: a Midwestern animator who shot…

The guiding principle of Six Ridiculous Questions is that life is filled with ridiculousness. And questions. That only by giving in to these truths may we hope to slip the surly bonds of reality an…

Atisole / O, Dawn by Adolfo Alzuphar He is a painter of beauty. He is an expert at friendship. At his table, he promised to tell me a story that would be a transcription of reality, that I’d lost m…

I first came to Katharine Coldiron’s work on the pages of LARB, where I quickly fell in love with her critical eye. She is the kind of analytical writer I wish I could be: searingly sharp in observ…

I’m a longtime reader and admirer of Jeanne Thornton’s work, so I was thrilled to be able to talk with her about her new novel A/S/L. It’s a book about a lot of things: online com…

Bodies, Bodies Everywhere (how studying art history turned me into a thriller writer) by Laura Leffler As a student of art history, I was taught to ignore the bodies—the many, many bodies, mostly f…