Plotting Out Structure and Writing Out Heroes: A Chat With the Writer and Editor Behind The Atavist‘s New Issue By Brendan O'Meara Feature In this excerpt from The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, host Brendan O’Meara talks to Katia Savchuk and Atavist editor-in-chief Seyward Darby about their work on “A Crime Beyond Belief.”
Celebrating Bitch Magazine: A Reading List By A.H. Reaume Feature A writer traces her own feminist journey as she reflects on the forthcoming shutdown of Bitch Media.
Disappearing Language: A Reading List on Losing Your Native Tongue By Pardeep Toor Feature Powerful reads on which language comes first, second, or even third.
‘This Wasn’t His First Time’ By Longreads Feature A kidnapping deemed a hoax, the newbie detective who cracked the case, and the Harvard-trained lawyer whose mental unraveling set the whole story in motion.
Low Country, High Water: A Reading List for a South Under Climate Change By Spencer George Feature How do you love a place that is sinking?
The 19th-Century Hipster Who Pioneered Modern Sportswriting By Robert Isenberg Feature More than a century before GoPro, Thomas Stevens’ around-the-world bike ride vaulted first-person “sports porn” into the mainstream.
Tomorrow Isn’t Over: A Reading List About Brighter Futures By Peter Hemminger Feature Hope may seem to be in short supply these days, but these stories dare to chart a course toward something better.
The Big, Bonkers, British, Christmas Pantomime By Carolyn Wells Feature Oh, yes I did! An attempt to explain the bizarre tradition of the British Christmas pantomime.
Longreads Best of 2021: All of Our No. 1 Story Picks By Longreads Feature Here’s every story that was chosen as No. 1 in our weekly Top 5 email.
The Great British Reading List By Carolyn Wells Feature A reading list on the weird and wonderful culture of Great Britain.
The Many Decades of Bond By Carolyn Wells Feature “How has someone who is a borderline rapist, murderer, and potential sociopath, endured through all these decades?”
Deconstructing Disney: Queer Coding and Masculinity in Pocahontas By Jeanna Kadlec Feature Pocahontas may seem like a strange vehicle for discussing our gay villains. But Disney gets inventive when they need to circumvent white people’s historical responsibility for genocidal atrocities — and queerness is a useful scapegoat.
Longreads Best of 2020: Arts and Culture By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Feature Our top editors’ picks in arts and culture writing this year.
Longreads Best of 2020: Science and Nature By Carolyn Wells Feature Our top picks in science and nature stories for 2020.
Longreads Best of 2020: Crime Reporting By Carolyn Wells Feature Our top picks in Crime Reporting for 2020.
Celebrating 13 Years of Longreads By Longreads Feature Ten favorite Longreads originals, as selected by the editors.
The Emptying By Longreads Feature “I’m amazed at our human capacity to adapt to the unbearable. Almost anything can seem normal if it’s inflicted on us long enough.”
What’s The Vibe? A Reading List By Bekah Waalkes Feature Amorphous and intangible, a vibe is hard to describe. Let these five longreads sharpen your focus.
The Significance of Sniffing: A Reading List on Smell By Genevieve Fullan Feature Why it’s important to give things a sniff.
Reading List: Who’s Your Susan Sontag? By Brooke Nagler Feature Five longreads about the iconoclastic American writer, director, and activist.
Balancing Story and Sentiment: A Chat With the Writer and Editor Behind The Atavist‘s New Issue By Brendan O'Meara Feature In this excerpt from The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, host Brendan O’Meara talks to Kelly Loudenberg and Atavist editor-in-chief Seyward Darby about their work on “The Caregivers.”
‘Raphael Couldn’t Have Painted Something More Beautiful’ By Longreads Feature The couple who saved an imprisoned artist’s life — and the extraordinary gift he gave in return.
Analyzing the ‘Bimbo’: A Reading List on Hollywood Blondes By Sascha Cohen Feature The source of glamour, sex, and transgression? Or a carefully crafted persona? A closer look at the Hollywood blonde.
Archives of Our Own: A Reading List on Fandom & Community By Lindsay Eanet Feature Fandom gets at our most human urges: to share the things we love with others, to seek community among like-minded peers, especially at a time when we are all still too far apart.
The Cabin on the Mountain By Colin Dickey Feature “Sometimes, the mechanism of the answer is something ludicrously complex, a thing that must be pieced out bit by bit. Other times, the solution requires retooling your perspective.”
What We Remember: A Reading List on Archives By Hallel Yadin Feature Why do we keep what we keep — and who decides? An archivist digs and collects longreads on how objects and materials shape public memory.
Dreaming of Water with Tiger Salamanders By Sam Keck Scott Feature “There is no more urgent form of communication than going extinct.”
Shamrocks Not Required: A Reading List on Modern Ireland By Clare Egan Feature Eight stories to complicate your clichéd idea of Ireland.
How to Save True Crime: A Reading List of Wrongful Conviction Stories By Maurice Chammah Feature Stories about wrongful convictions open our eyes to systemic injustices in the U.S. court system. Maurice Chammah, a staff writer at The Marshall Project, compiles his recommended longreads within the genre.
Searching for the Mountaintop in Upstate New York By Benje Williams Feature A family confronts its racial past along the Appalachian Trail.
What We Wear: A Reading List on Fashion and Our Complex Relationship to Clothes By Sara Tatyana Bernstein Feature Getting dressed isn’t a low-stakes activity.
Becoming Human Again: A Reading List for the Extremely Offline By Lisa Bubert Feature Think it’s time to get off social media? Then this is the reading list for you.
Great American Wasteland By Longreads Feature I am of that bit of earth. So I will not let it go. I show up in the small ways I can, which is talking to people, which is why I tell this to you.
Talking Craft With the Writer and Editor Behind The Atavist‘s New Issue By Brendan O'Meara Feature In this excerpt from The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, host Brendan O’Meara talks to Bill Donahue and Atavist editor Jonah Ogles about their work on “The Voyagers.”
Let Go of Your Ego: A Reading List on Brian Wilson and “Pet Sounds” By Cecilia Gigliotti Feature Let’s go away for awhile and reflect on the genius of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys’ 1966 album “Pet Sounds.” Wouldn’t it be nice?
Perilous Passage By Longreads Feature The true story of a Ukrainian father and son who became the first — and only — Soviet defectors to seek freedom in the West by crossing the icy Bering Strait.
The Sounds of Silence: A Reading List About Listening to Nature By Peter Hemminger Feature Kindling a new awareness of the outdoors wasn’t something the author predicted, but it brought a host of realizations — including the discovery of these five thoughtful longreads.
Powerful reads on which language comes first, second, or even third.