There is a pervasive idea that serious fiction is purely a pursuit of the mind, meaning it is not of the body, of desire, of pleasure, of satisfaction and relief. It is not meant to be therapeutic or healing.
Stories in the World is a series in which we explore a particular element of a piece of writing in a broader context. Here, Lisa looks at the phenomenon of women who become involved in relationships with queer women while self-identifying as straight, as featured in Max Delsohn's "All Time Low."
While we might be living through what is commonly referred to as late-stage capitalism, we are not at the end of anything—we are always in the middle of an unfolding story.
Check out five books we're looking forward to that are coming out in March, including new releases from Rebecca Solnit and Louise Erdrich.
Persona’s title and premise of two women who seem to share some aspects of their identities is evocative of the Bergman film of the same name, but it is also a rich exploration of technological isolation that centers on what one character calls the Default Persona.
The stories of the activist group Mothers United in Mass Mothering are refracted through the lenses of layer upon layer of witnesses. We have seen this same thing playing out in Minneapolis, where people are looking, watching, witnessing.
A work of quirky alternative history gives agency to women who struggled under the yoke of patriarchy, including Anne Boleyn, Nellie Bly, and Joan of Arc.
In which I write about Nina McConigley's debut novel and fall far into comparisons to my own biracial childhood and adolescence in the 1980s and '90s, as well as musings on Asian American literature.
Our takes on six books forthcoming in February 2026, including novels, short story collections, and nonfiction.
When you’re living in the fishbowl of your own queer life, when it’s all you’ve ever known, you might not recognize that the people who have always surrounded you do not treat you with a great deal of care. This is the phenomenon that Palaver represents so well.
The ongoing pandemic is affecting authors just as it's affecting everyone else. We’re not supposed to talk about it, and we’re treated with disdain if we take precautions to prevent infection. Just the same, authors are not supposed to write about it.
While reading Quan Barry’s new novel The Unveiling alongside Tiphanie Yanique's "On Character," I was struck by how it reflects Yanique's expansive approach to realism for authors of color, demonstrating a way to write fiction beyond the limits of the psychological.
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