Readings

The Last Distraction

I thought baseball would become political in 2017, but it only absorbed the frazzled, babbling-lunatic tenor of the country at large—which gives me hope for the game’s future.

'I'm Writing for Everybody Else, Too': An Interview with Jesmyn Ward

The author of the National Book Award-winning Sing, Unburied, Sing on the pressure of accolades, discovering new stories and processing pain. 

I Always Wanted To Be Owen Wilson

As a nerdy kid who wanted to be a film critic, I saw myself in Wilson's unexpected comedy. But my favourite writer was destined to become a movie star.

'Why Are We Always Food?': An Interview with Celeste Ng

The author of Little Fires Everywhere on class markers, digging into the suburbs, and the depictions of East Asian characters in art. 

Reckoning with Ambiguity

On Gregory Crewdson's photograph "Untitled (Beer Dream)," the cover art for Yo La Tengo's And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out. 

The First Time I Ate an Oyster

God had taken someone from me, I reasoned, and I could inhale some of his creatures in exchange. 

'So Many People Are Allergic to Ideas of Spirituality': An Interview with Jesse Jacobs

Talking to the Crawl Space cartoonist about putting characters in danger, the union between humans and nature, and the effects on his work of living in a beautiful place.

Anatomy of a Surrogacy

They wanted a baby, she wanted to carry it for them—for a fee. It’s a common transaction but illegal in Canada, and the system here leaves both parties vulnerable.

The Evolution of Sarah Polley

As an actor, director, writer and producer, she’s often examined women on the verge of reconfiguration. Her latest project, an adaptation of Alias Grace, is one she’s been thinking about for decades.

Beautiful Losses

Leonard Cohen's decision to pursue music as a career certainly proved a good one—for him and for us—but I'm still curious about what we lost when he gave up writing fiction.