Literature

In November 2012, the founder and figurehead of a regional rightwing party died, and to mark his passing, Bombay city went into a complete, daylong shutdown. Shops, markets and roads were ordered to close without notice, and people largely stayed indoors—a combination of acceptance and fear. In response, a young woman posted a comment on

In Case of Emergency, Have Your Cat Call an Ambulance The True Story Jessie was eating olives over the kitchen sink when she woke up in the emergency room. She’d almost died, but only almost. “It’s a good thing you called 9-1-1 before you hit the floor,” the doctor told her. “But I didn’t call.”

The history of progress is a history of protest. We would have few of our modern rights if no one had stood up and demanded them. The books on this list cover some of the largest protests in the last century, protests that reshaped societies and reimagined futures. These books show that small groups of

In this story of lengthy quarantine due to an unnamed virus, a woman sneaks into the mountain to collect ferns—many ferns. Simultaneously evoking life under past Chilean political oppression and living under recent worldwide quarantines due to Covid-19, this Cortazarian story marks the author’s English-language debut. Let the tall ferns sleep,silent as a secret,let them

Leah Johnson’s debut YA novel, You Should See Me in a Crown, is about Liz Lighty, a queer black girl from Indiana who has always believed she was too poor and too awkward to make a mark in her small, rich town. Since the college financial aid money she depended on fell through, her only

After the birth of her daughter, in 2014, Sarah Menkedick was surprised to find herself racked with anxiety. Rather than enjoying joyful days out in the world, Menkedick spent her days obsessing about everything that could potentially hurt her child. She was living in Mexico at the time, and at one point became so paralyzed

Stories encompassing Black life and individuality do not begin and end with racism. Even when racism is part of the narrative, it is not all there is to our story. To become dedicated to anti-racism is to admit, first and foremost, that Black people are human. That we love, live, thrive, and hurt. That any

Introduction to The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, published by Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC. Translation copyright © 2020 by Flora Thomson-DeVeaux. Fifteen pages into Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas, when the narrator, delirious and on the brink of death, is carried off by a

Five years ago, my second collection of short stories, Amora, was published in Brazil to unexpected acclaim, taking home one of the country’s most important literary prizes. A surprise to everyone, not least of all me. The Prêmio Jabuti catapulted me into the limelight, making me a spokesperson for writing by LBTQ women. I was

In this profile, one of Marie-Helene Bertino’s students at the New School provides a personal glimpse of the author, whose new novel, Parakeet, was published June 2. On the evening of the National Book Awards, Marie-Helene Bertino strolled into our workshop ready for the after party adorned in a gold, sequined ball gown and black

Any Friend of Pickles on Pizza is a Friend of Mine Jean Kyoung Frazier Author of Pizza Girl.  Share article An excerpt from Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier Her name was Jenny Hauser and every Wednesday I put pickles on her pizza. The first time she called in it’d been mid-June, the summer of 2011.

Why have the police become one of the most common perpetrators of violence in today’s America, rather than a measure of safety? It has been made clear, over and over again, that the killing of George Floyd is far from one cop being “a bad apple.” We have seen police violence escalate, tear gas and

In this column that originally appeared in La Jornada, Elena Poniatowska considers the role of editors and talks with Diego Rabasa, founder of publisher Sexto Piso. Already precarious, the pandemic lockdown has made the plight of independent publishers and bookstores in Mexico in light of Covid-19 even more acute. To be an editor is to

Naoise Dolan probably wishes her debut novel, Exciting Times (Ecco, 2020), wasn’t so relevant. Although the book isn’t set during a global pandemic, it does include the many unsavory aspects of millennials’ lives that usually dominate the news: the characters endure unstable and uncomfortable housing arrangements, romantic relationships that lack all human warmth, and jobs that distance them

On December 23rd 2016, Seidu Mohammed, a 24-year-old man traveled from Youngstown, Ohio to a bus station in Minneapolis. He was looking for a way out, a way forward. Seidu, who identified as bisexual, had left Ghana, where any form of homosexuality is punishable by at least three years in prison, and spent nearly a

For those who have not been on the receiving end of the systemic violence of racism, and who are therefore responsible for dismantling it, the work begins with listening to the voices and experiences of those who have. For those who are subject to anti-Blackness every day, it can be valuable to see your experience

Few books are able to oscillate the fine line between now and then while also invoking a sense of urgency, a reminder to bear witness to the institutional negligence of the past and to actively resist when it resurfaces in the future—like it is now amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Carter Sickel’s The Prettiest Star is

Every person of conscience right now is experiencing deep anger, either as or on behalf of Black Americans. If you’re looking for works that reflect your rage, or help clarify the rage of others, we’ve collected some of our favorite interviews with authors who are shedding light on the experience of living as a Black