Multimedia

Lucas Mann reads from his memoir, Lord Fear, forthcoming in May from Pantheon Books.  [NOTEBOOK, UNDATED, “THE MATTER OF THE DRUGS”]: Rules!!– ANY substance cannot be taken two days concurrently. I will keep it to twice per week, at least to start...

Ansel Elkins reads three poems from her debut collection, Blue Yodel, forthcoming in March from Yale University Press.   Blues for the Death of the Sun The evening sun descended with the decorum of an old manWho removes his wide-brimmed hat as a...

Alice Eve Cohen reads four excerpts from her memoir, The Year My Mother Came Back, forthcoming in March from Algonquin Books.   The Year My Mother Came Back One day, my brilliant, beautiful, complicated mother appeared at my kitchen table, thirty-...

Kelly Link reads an excerpt of the story "Light" from her latest collection, Get in Trouble, published in February by Random House.   Light two men, one raised by wolves The man at the bar on the stool beside her: bent like a hook over some item. A...

Tim Johnston reads an excerpt from his novel Descent, published in January by Algonquin Books.From The Life Before Her name was Caitlin, she was eighteen, and her own heart would sometimes wake her—flying away in that dream-race where finish lines...

Dawn Lundy Martin reads two poems from her collection Life in a Box is a Pretty Life, published in December by Nightboat Books.

Meghan Daum reads two excerpts from her essay collection The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion, forthcoming in November from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.  From the Introduction For more than twenty years now I have been making something of...

Chloe Caldwell reads an excerpt from her novella, Women, published in October by Short Flight / Long Drive Books. What I know for certain about this time: My pupils were expanding. I never did figure out if this was a symp­tom of falling in love or...

Shane Book reads a selection of poems from his latest collection, Congotronic, forthcoming in September from University of Iowa Press. African Evening I had a thing for mange.Her skin was fluorescent with it.The open canoe made smooth, curling...

Courtney Moreno reads an excerpt from her debut novel, In Case of Emergency, forthcoming in September from McSweeney's Books.In Case of EmergencyWhen conducting the triage of a multi-casualty incident, start by taking charge. Consider the textbook...

Jess Row reads an excerpt from his novel, Your Face in Mine, published in August by Riverhead Books. Your Face in Mine It doesn’t seem possible, even now, that it could begin the way it begins, in the blank light of a Sunday afternoon in February,...

Megan Stielstra reads an excerpt from her debut essay collection, Once I Was Cool, forthcoming in May from Curbside Splendor. Stop Reading and Listen   1. Just after we eloped and just before the housing market crashed, my husband and I bought a...

Sally Wen Mao reads five poems from her debut collection, Mad Honey Symposium, forthcoming in May from Alice James Books. Valentine for a Flytrap You are a hairy painting. I belong to your jaw.Nothing slakes you—no fruit fly, no cricket,not even...

Michael Earl Craig reads four poems from his collection Talkativeness, published in April by Wave Books. Quick Sketch of a Bullet There is a bullet here on my desk.Tipped over on its side.Its jacket is brassand perfectly cylindrical.It is cool. It...

Kyle Minor reads the first story in his new collection, Praying Drunk, published in February by Sarabande Books. The Question of Where We Begin We begin with the trouble, but where does the trouble begin? My uncle takes a pistol and blows his brains...

Marianne Boruch reads three poems from her new collection, Cadaver, Speak, published in February by Copper Canyon Press. Face On winter's long red-eye out of Anchorage, small lampsnear the floor madea grainy blurry everything, which meantawake, then...

Justin Hocking reads the first chapter of his new memoir, The Great Floodgates of the Wonderworld, forthcoming from Graywolf Press in March. Ophelia, Part I Late summer 2005 and everything’s underwater. The news warns us that New York City could be...

It turns out our annual Inspiration Issue inspires more than writing. Singer-songwriter and novelist Ben Arthur (benarthur.com), who wrote and recorded a song inspired by Frank Bures's article "The Secret Lives of Stories: Rewriting Our Personal...