Agents & Editors: Katie Raissian
An executive editor at Scribner, previously a senior editor at Grove Atlantic, Katie Raissian talks about learning to be fearless, what grabs her in a query, and the art of publishing books.
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The Value of Our Work: What Writers Can Learn From the Harvard Business School
An author who worked for years as a scribe at the Harvard Business School shares the lessons she learned that can be applied to writing, most notably: Believe that what you do is valuable.
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The New Nonfiction 2025
Essays by debut authors Sarah Aziza, Erika J. Simpson, Julian Brave NoiseCat, Amanda Hess, and Samina Najmi as well as excerpts from their books.
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Looking for Love in a Time of Global Loneliness: A Profile of Kiran Desai
In her third novel, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, which comes out nearly twenty years after her Booker Prize–winning The Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai considers loneliness in all its states of loss and heartache, possibility and promise, through the lens of a love story.
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Haunted by My Almost-Book: The Afterlife of a Canceled Contract
A poet who canceled the contract for her debut collection describes the difficult years-long process of scrubbing the internet of erroneous information about her book.
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Rachel Cusk on Writing Shamelessly
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“If writing has rules, they are exactly the same as the rules of living.” In this Louisiana Channel interview, Rachel Cusk reads from her latest novel, Parade (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024), and talks about her approach to writing, which includes focusing on the interplay of instinct, discipline, and authenticity.
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Still Alive
In her elegiac poem “the rites for Cousin Vit,” Gwendolyn Brooks captures the aliveness of a loved one as she lays in her casket. Brooks writes: “Even now she does the snake-hips with a hiss, / Slops the bad wine across her shantung, talks / Of pregnancy, guitars and bridgework, walks.” Write a poem that captures the vibrant, unmistakable presence of someone you remember vividly, whether they are near or far, alive or gone. Focus on the small, lively details that make them unique: their gestures, their voice, the habits that linger in your memory. Consider how these fragments—imperfect, intimate, and raw—keep that person alive in your mind.
Bora Chung: Your Utopia
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In this Asia Society Switzerland event, South Korean author Bora Chung reads “To Meet Her” from her second story collection, Your Utopia (Algonquin Books, 2024), translated from the Korean by Anton Hur, and discusses how activism shaped her life and writing in a conversation with Serena Jung.
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The History of Sound
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The History of Sound is a historical romantic drama film written by Ben Shattuck and based on his short story of the same name. Directed by Oliver Hermanus, the film stars Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor as Lionel and David who travel together recording folk songs after the end of World War I.
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SoCal Poets Lester Graves Lennon and Sehba Sarwar
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In this Poetry.LA video, Altadena co-poets laureate Lester Graves Lennon and Sehba Sarwar read a selection of their poems and speak about how the Eaton Fire has affected their lives and community. Lennon and Sarwar were recently awarded a fellowship from the Academy of American Poets to launch their poetry project “After the Fires: Healing from Histories.”
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