Readings

Two people sitting on chairs with their backs to each other and to their surroundings, with the smoke stacks of Auschwitz in the background and the smoking rubble of Gaza reflected in the pool in the foreground.
The Making of the Genocidal Mind

The genocidal mind is not the preserve of cartoon monsters in history books. It is a collusion of psychological habits groomed and grown in people like us when we fixate on our private gardens.

A painting of a man kneeling, surrounded by a circle of legs. He wears a white tank top and there is blood on his body.
Writing a Novel With Pictures

Smuggling contraband in from the realm of the actual.

Diptych of author Jennifer Croft and the cover of her novel, The Extinction of Irina Rey
‘The Intimate Process That Takes Place Between’: An Interview with Jennifer Croft

The author of The Extinction of Irina Rey on writing a literary sitcom about life, death and climate change.

Dickie Greenleaf stares out a window but the reflection is Tom Ripley
My Funny Valentine

Back in high school a friend had called me Matt Damon in the drawl of Team America, but the connection to Tom Ripley felt more psychic, fundamental.

A chicken coop depicted in the moonlight
Chicken Tender

I learned to ignore the doubt that lapped at my ankles, a wave that rose every time I kissed him goodbye, left town for work or travel, and remembered, with a shock, how happily whole I felt alone.

An image of Chtanl against a colourful background.
Beige Foods Forever

They are often stewed foods, sometimes steamed or boiled. They are foods defined by their colours first—in this context, the lack of colour, the overall sameness, somehow gets misread as a fault.

A portrait of the author
Where Are All These Journalists Going to Get a Sense of Self from Now?

Maybe I like being defined by my work! Did you ever think of THAT???

A rendering of Anna Kashfi looks directly at the viewer. She wears a green shirt.
Illegal Bride

Days after Anna Kashfi wed the actor Marlon Brando, doubts about her purported Indian heritage surfaced, destroying her Hollywood career and branding her a liar. The truth was more complicated than anyone knew.

A portrait of the author
A Requiem for Pitchfork

There’s a difference between a critic and a fan, but the line between them is receding from view.