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Art

Who Cares About Ballet?

Everyone says the art form is dying. For me, it’s never felt more alive.
Joanna Biggs
Mira Nadon on pointe in a red ribbon skirt, one arm lifted overhead, against a deep blue backdrop.
Books

The Sappho We Fell in Love With

Mary Barnard reinvented an ancient poet for a modern world.
Emily Greenwood
From the Archives

Making Contact

Encounters with readers
Annie Dillard
18th-century oil portrait of a Black man in a scarlet coat and silver waistcoat, looking directly out.
Essays

In Search of John Canoe

On the mysterious origins of a Caribbean festival and the fictions that make up history
Kei Miller
Black-and-white photo of the underside of an office chair on castors, shadow falling across carpet.
Fiction

Two Sketches

Gwendoline Riley

One of my main complaints about American literary culture is that no one dances at parties. (They do in London.) So I think writers should dance at parties!

Joanna Biggs Behind the Essay

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Poetry

Killanova

An excerpt from a new verse play featuring the Kardashians
Joyelle McSweeney
Drama

The Sun’s Song

An excerpt and annotation
S. Shakthidharan
Ideas

How to Talk About Murder

Edgar Allan Poe’s stories are full of ghastly crimes, but the true horror lies in their confessions.
Emily Ogden
Ink illustration of a small boat suspended on the inner wall of a vast whirlpool of spiralling lines.
A film camera on a tripod faces a young fruit tree in a dark courtyard, lit by a work light.
Film

The Reticent Auteur

Why are we so fascinated by filmmakers who stop making films?
Bilge Ebiri
Weathered apartment intercom panel; the paper name strips are torn, taped over and mostly illegible.
Essays

Famous Writers School

My encounters with literary greats
Lucy Sante
Drama

Man in Love

An excerpt and annotation
Christina Anderson
Poetry

In the beginning

Carolyn Forché
Poetry

Ottawa–Montreal Corridor

Karen Solie
Poetry

Clover

Karen Solie
Poetry

Other World

Carolyn Forché

Fall 2026

Read our new issue online now.

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Objects of Desire

Objects of Desire

Richard Pryor

A fiction
Hilton Als
Objects of Desire

My Face

When I look in the bathroom mirror, I see my past and future selves
Melissa Febos
Objects of Desire

Absolute Darkness

A curious disorientation
Lydia Davis

From the Archives

From the Archives

The Mirror

Haruki Murakami,
translated by Philip Gabriel
From the Archives

Gods

Vladimir Nabokov,
translated by Dmitri Nabokov
From the Archives

A Conversation About Art

Virginia Woolf
Jan Brandes, Ananas, 1785. Courtesy Rijksmuseum, Amserdam.
Poetry

Sunrise

Louise Glück
Graphic with pudding. Illustration by Laura Padilla Castellanos
From the Archives

Cantilever

John Ashbery