Literature

To Be Young and in Love and Stranded in the Snow Stuart Dybek Share article Cordoba by Stuart Dybek While we were kissing, the thick, leather-bound OBRAS COMPLETAS, opened to a black and white photo of Federico Garcia Lorca—in profile, a mole prominent beside a sideburn of his slicked-back hair—slid from her lap to the

When a fictional Tehran is seized by rolling tremors, the city’s inhabitants are thrown into carnivalesque disarray. As the earth slips and sways, a mother clicks her digital prayer beads between operatic screams, young people rollerblade maniacally amidst scurrying riot cops, and a cane-clad old man guards his precious African violets from the frenesi. Watching

Grandma Craves More Than Fast Food  Filet-O-Fish On Qingming day, bring a filet-o-fish to Nainai’s grave. Beat back the crows coming to steal from ghosts. No weeping. She would’ve said: You can’t wipe anyone’s ass with sad. She would’ve slapped the salt off your cheeks, sent your mole saucering through the sky. Feel cheap about

The holiday season—which I (arbitrarily!) define as beginning in mid-November and continuing through the first of the year—is a minefield. If you’re lucky, the bombs are carbohydrate- or confetti-filled. If you’re not, you’re facing roughly two months of celebratory gatherings and realizing that alcohol, while perhaps a helpful social lubricant, does not actually have the

We as society need to accept our love of Hallmark movies. No more quietly enjoying Hallmark movies when no one else is around, no more calling them “guilty pleasures” or feeling embarrassed when someone labels you a Hallmark movie enjoyer. It’s time to end the stigma of enjoying the simple pleasures, because we could all

The celebrity cookbook is a curious genre: its essential premise is that a person who is famous for something other than cooking can, on the basis of that fame, also teach us how to cook. At the same time, it’s a tried-and-true publishing gambit: Gwyneth Paltrow and Stanley Tucci are following in the footsteps of

Caught in traffic on I-95, my boyfriend asked me to put some music on. I had come back east for a friend’s wedding, and Harry and I were driving together to a small town in Connecticut for the ceremony. “Time for ‘Silk Chiffon,’ ” I said, unlocking his phone.  Harry glanced over at me, then

Everyone’s Christmas Present is Burning Resentment Cara Blue Adams Share article “Charity” by Cara Blue Adams I get home to Vermont from my first semester at Williams for winter break after a long, snowy ride on a Greyhound bus redolent of urine and the alcoholic tang of Wet Wipes to find my mother has had

Spanning dreamy teenagers to furious parents, violence to kindness, each of the ten short stories in Five Tuesdays in Winter is rendered with Lily King’s signature longing and wit. We are all learning to carry our grief, this collection argues, yet still hoping to scrape together a few more moments of passion and connection. From

Gokyo Lakes, Khumjung, Nepal / Photo by Kalle Kortelainen / Unsplash In the aftermath of COP26, it is easy to see we will most likely fail to limit global warming to 1.5℃, or even a catastrophic 2℃, yet we continue to live as though we will somehow avert the consequences. Thomas L. Friedman, writing for

Writing conferences serve many purposes. They’re places to meet other writers and build community. They’re places to help polish up existing writing or generate new work. They’re places to reset and get inspired. They’re places to meet agent, editors, and other members of the publishing literati. They’re even places to party. Still, they can feel

A few years ago, I found myself a bit tipsy at the National Book Award ceremony. It was my first—and so far, only—time there. The experience felt grand; it was a red-carpeted “benefit dinner” on Wall Street. People wore tuxedos and gowns. I couldn’t look around the room without seeing a writer I admired: Dorothy

For those of us who put off holiday gift shopping, it can be hard to figure out what to get our loved ones in a pinch. This list offers twenty-three of the best books of 2021—with a couple of guest appearances from 2020—categorized to fit the needs of almost anyone. The Foodie Cal Peternell, Burnt

No One Was Exploited in the Production of this Space Tea Extrasolar Teas Box   (Front) Extrasolar Teas — Xenobiotic teas, grown where they grow, cultivated by their cultivators Flower of Suhwill Behold our oldest tea. A sharp, herbaceous cup with a smooth soothing finish sure to assuage your stress and awaken your yeetsu. (Top)

[embedded content] In this fourth episode of WLT Book Buzz, Laura Hernandez & Bunmi Ishola cover 18 books in translation for children and young adults, with translations from Japanese, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. Dragons, zombies, friendship, and adventure + a special shout-out to @worldkidlit! Books in Episode 4 1. Chirri & Chirra, by Kaya Doi; trans. Yuki Kaneko 2. Soul Lanterns, by

I’ve Been Looking Everywhere for Me Missing Woman Unwittingly Joins Search Party Looking for Herself They had water. They suckled canteens,wiping their mouths with the backs of their wrists.When I say they, I mean for days all I sawwere walking lampposts. Then, them: a crowd in red shirts,“so as to be visible in shrubbery,” I

Retrospection about nuns is in.  Claire Luchette‘s novel Agatha of Little Neon packs a suckerpunch beyond its bold pink cover. At first it is unassuming, as a woman in a habit can be. The story opens with four sisters who are being removed from their home near Buffalo to be put in charge of running