Literary MagNet

When Greg Marshall began writing the essays that would become his memoir, Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew From It (Abrams Press, June 2023), he wanted to explore growing up in Utah and what he calls \"the oddball occurrences in my oddball family.\" He says, \"I wanted to call the book Long-Term Side Effects of Accutane and pitch it as Six Feet Under meets The Wonder Years.\" But in 2014 he discovered his diagnosis of cerebral palsy, information his family had withheld from him for nearly thirty years, telling him he had \"tight tendons\" in his leg. This revelation shifted the focus of the project, which became an \"investigation into selfhood, uncovering the untold story of my body,\" says Marshall. Irreverent and playful, Leg reckons with disability, illness, queerness, and the process of understanding our families and ourselves.

THE MEUSEUM OF HUMAN HISTORY

READING The Museum of Human History felt like listening to a great harmonic hum. After I finished it I found the hum lingering in my ears. Its echo continued for days.

The Sea Elephants

SHASTRI Akella's poised, elegant debut, The Sea Elephants, is a bildungsroman of a young man who joins a street theater group in India after fleeing his father's violent disapproval, the death of his twin sisters, and his mother's unfathomable grief.

The History of a Difficult Child

MIHRET Sibhat's debut novel begins with God dumping rain on a small Ethiopian town as though. He were mad at somebody.

The Sorrows of Others

AS I read each story in Ada Zhang’s brilliant collection, The Sorrows of Others, within the first few paragraphs— sometimes the first few sentences— I felt I understood the characters intimately and profoundly, such that every choice they made, no matter how radical, ill-advised, or baffling to those around them, seemed inevitable and true to me.

We Are a Haunting

TYRIEK White’s debut novel, We Are a Haunting, strikes me as both a love letter to New York City and a kind of elegy.

RADICAL ATTENTION

IN HER LATEST BOOK, THE LIGHT ROOM: ON ART AND CARE, PUBLISHED BY RIVERHEAD BOOKS IN JULY, KATE ZAMBRENO CELEBRATES THE ETHICAL WORK OF CAREGIVING, THE SMALL JOYS OF ORDINARY LIFE, AND AN ENGAGEMENT WITH THE NATURAL WORLD WITHIN HUMAN SPACES.

The Fine Print

HOW TO READ YOUR BOOK CONTRACT

First

GINA CHUNG'S SEA CHANGE

Blooming how she must

WITH ROOTS IN NATURE WRITING, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, POETRY, AND PHOTOGRAPHY, CAMILLE T. DUNGY'S NEW BOOK, SOIL: THE STORY OF A BLACK MOTHER'S GARDEN, DELVES INTO THE PERSONAL AND POLITICAL ACT OF CULTIVATING AND DIVERSIFYING A GARDEN OF HERBS, VEGETABLES, FLOWERS, AND OTHER PLANTS IN THE PREDOMINANTLY WHITE COMMUNITY OF FORT COLLINS, COLORADO.

Bringing the Joy

LUIS ALBERTO URREA ALWAYS KNEW HIS MOTHER HAD A STORY; HE JUST DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO TELL IT. BUT IN RESEARCHING AND WRITING HIS NEW NOVEL, GOOD NIGHT, IRENE, WHICH FICTIONALIZES HER EXPERIENCES AS A MEMBER OF THE RED CROSS'S LITTLE-KNOWN CLUBMOBILE SERVICE IN WORLD WAR II, HE GAINED A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF THE PERSON SHE WAS-AND ATLAST GAVE HER THE HAPPY ENDING SHE DESERVED.

Radiant Fog

ONE WRITER'S LIFE IN RURAL AMERICA

Major Jackson of The Slowdown

In January, Major Jackson became host of The Slowdown, a popular podcast that each weekday presents a poem and reflection in a five- to ten-minute segment.

Best Wishes

Stories from the front of the book-signing line

Annie Hwang - Agents & Editors

Annie Hwang of Ayesha Pande Literary talks about community building, professional burnout, the questions writers should ask when querying agents, and the demanding work of advocating for diversity in publishing.

Reviewers & Critics

A CONTRIBUTOR to the Boston Globe since 2007, Kate Tuttle became the newspaper's books editor in 2020. Over the past year and a half at the Globe she has interviewed an array of writers, including Kaveh Akbar, Rabih Alameddine, Lan Samantha Chang, Bernardine Evaristo, Gish Jen, Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, and Lisa Taddeo.

Reclaiming My Book

TRANSLATING AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE TO TEXT AND SOUND

On Writing About Books

TEN PRO TIPS FOR THE FREELANCE REVIEWER

The Savvy Self-Publisher

DEBRA ENGLANDER is a consulting editor for Post Hill Press and a book coach who advises authors on the publishing industry, whether they're self-publishing or seeking a traditional publisher. She lives in New York City.

The New Nonfiction 2022

Non Fiction Books review

Matejka Leads Change at Poetry

Adrian Matejka became the new editor of Poetry in May-the first Black editor in the magazine's 110-year history.

My Life in Book BANNING

THE AUTHOR OF OF LAST YEAR'S MOST CHALLENGED BOOKS CONFRONTS A CAMPAIGN OF THREATS, CYBERATTACKS, AND DOXING IN THE POST-TRUTH ERA.

HOW IT FELT

IN HER SECOND NOVEL, THE FURROWS: AN ELEGY, NAMWALI SERPELL CONJURES THE ROILING NATURE OF GRIEF IN A POWERFUL NARRATIVE THAT EXPLORES MEMORY, LOSS, AND BLACK IDENTITY WITHOUT RESTING ON WHAT SHE CALLS THE "MEANINGLESS PLATITUDE" THAT ART PROMOTES EMPATHY.

Centering Neurodivergent Poets

If reading is another form of listening, truly attuning to an unfamiliar voice can be a means of transformation.

Book Prize Celebrates Older Poets

Even as the number of awards for debut poetry books seems to have increased over the years, an inordinate number of those awards are won by writers age forty and under.

Night of the Living Rez

Morgan Talty whose debut story collection, Night of the Living Rez, will be published in July by Tin House

She Is Haunted

Paige Clark whose debut story collection, She Is Haunted, was published in May by Two Dollar Radio

God’s Children

Arinze Ifeakandu whose debut story collection, God’s Children Are Little Broken Things, was published in June by A Public Space Books

We Measure the Earth With Our Bodies

Tsering Yangzom Lama author of the novel We Measure the Earth With Our Bodies, published in May by Bloomsbury

Nightcrawling

Leila Mottley whose debut novel, Nightcrawling, was published in June by Knopf