The Secrets of a Hidden Diary By Seyward Darby Highlight A hidden diary, a love story, and a mystery.
‘Writing Was a Way to Have My Say’: An Interview with Author Sejal Shah By Krista Stevens Highlight “I didn’t know at first what I was doing. I was just trying to represent the inside of the feeling.”
Sharing Our Stories Was Supposed to Dispel Our Shame By Sari Botton Highlight Emily Gould reconsiders the likelihood of women’s first-person writing bringing about change.
Elizabeth Wurtzel Made it Okay to Write ‘Ouch’ By Sari Botton Highlight Today’s memoirists and personal essay writers owe a debt of gratitude to the Prozac Nation author for rewriting an inhibiting rule.
When the Dishes Are Done, I Wonder About Progress By Sarah Rose Haas Feature In “Coventry,” Rachel Cusk draws a connection between politeness and narrative death, rudeness and tragedy, storytelling and war.
‘The Survivor’s Edit’: Bassey Ikpi on Memory, Truth, and Living with Bipolar II By Naomi Elias Feature Bassey Ikpi discusses writing about mental illness. “I could count on the morning. It became the thing that existed without my input… without determining whether or not I was worthy of it.”
Mountains, Transcending By Ailsa Ross Feature “Ever since I was five years old,” wrote opera singer–turned–Buddhist lama Alexandra David-Néel, “I craved to go beyond the garden gate, to follow the road that passed it by, and to set out for the Unknown.”
‘We Live in an Atmosphere of General Inexorability’: An Interview with Jia Tolentino By Hope Reese Feature Jia Tolentino talks about what kinds of personalities thrive online, why she is suspicious of her own self-narrative, and the pervading sense that everything’s spiraling out of control.
A Reading List of Long-form Writing by Asian Americans By Mike Dang Reading List Longreads editor-in-chief Mike Dang shares some of his favorite long-form writing by Asian American journalists.
The Wind Sometimes Feels in Error By Luke O'Neil Feature Each year the balloon strained and strained against its cords.
Shovel, Knife, Story, Ax By Erika Howsare Feature When you live with animals, you collect killing stories.
Wonder Woman By Longreads Feature Of all the genes parents pass down and values they instill, how does one take hold so much stronger than the others?
And They Do Not Stop Until Dusk By Daisy Alioto Feature I’ve never known what it means to feel Jewish, but I still have a past — I have György Román, who painted dreams and saw nightmares.
Los Angeles Plays Itself By David L. Ulin Feature In this land of constant reinvention, a longtime resident walks the streets to understand what the city was and what it’s becoming.
Lean On By Longreads Feature A declaration of dependence, excerpted from Briallen Hopper’s new essay collection.
For Single Mothers Working as Train Conductors By Laura Esther Wolfson Feature My Soviet husband said we’d need 24-hour day care for any children we might have. Many years and the fall of an empire later, I finally realized why he said it.
On Not Being Able to Read By Tajja Isen Feature In law school, they told me I wouldn’t be able to read anymore. That the pleasure of the text, like a lover in a non-law degree, would slowly grow opaque to me.
Making Peace with the Site of a Suicide By Liz Arnold Feature One woman reconciles with her father’s death on her family’s property.
How To Build An Intellectual By Hedia Anvar Feature For one young immigrant, growing up Iranian in New York City meant raising herself.
A Beginner’s Guide to Fly Fishing With Your Father By Heather Radke Feature It was the place he came to feel wild, and I was ready to trespass into the world of men.
We Are Scientists By Kirtan Nautiyal Feature A scientist examines the connections between his Indian immigrant father and the brilliant but overlooked Indian scientist Yellapragada Subbarow.
But What Will Your Parents Think? By Morgan Jerkins Feature Morgan Jerkins tackles the time-worn question of how far is too far to go in revealing yourself in first-person writing.
Captive Audience By Longreads Feature When you live alongside anything for a long time — any person, any character, any narrative structure, any screen flicker — you become a part of it and it becomes a part of you.
Here is My Heart By Megan Stielstra Feature Long after the shooting at her old high school, Megan Stielstra worries about her father’s heart. Part one of a three-part series on gun violence.
Rules for Departure By Rachel Z. Arndt Feature While hitching a ride to a week-long bike tour, Rachel Z. Arndt considers the rituals of leaving — and making a clean break.
This Is How They Saved Me By Michelle Legro Feature One month after her father was arrested, Neda Semnani and her family were taken on a dangerous journey to be smuggled out of Iran.
The Month of Giving Dangerously By Elizabeth Greenwood Feature Elizabeth Greenwood decides to give everything: time, money, praise, forgiveness. But when does generosity become a mania for giving?
Longreads Best of 2017: Under-Recognized Stories By Longreads Reading List Here are the best stories we thought deserved more attention this year.
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