Readings

The new podcast from This American Life has been lauded for telling an empathetic, accurate story about the South. But S-Town is very much a story, and mere accuracy doesn't make it journalism.

After writing a novel that explored disordered eating, I needed to confirm the private truth I thought I'd discovered. Then I spoke to someone whose truth was far different from my own.

Both holy and wholly her own, Amy Grant was the soundtrack to my rebellion. When my church rejected her, what I heard was, "You can't be a believer and a woman who wants more." 

The author of Startup on gender inequality, tech culture and the shifting world of journalism. 

For the past five centuries being black has meant collectively experiencing grief in ways that the rest of society does not understand and cannot fully comprehend.

Speaking with the author of Behaving Badly about the spread of misinformation and what drone strikes and clever robots have to teach us about the future of ethics.

On the bloom of spectacular decline.

Talking with the author of 4 3 2 1 about unfair criticism, being haunted by what-ifs, and the stuffy conventions of modern American fiction.

Fifteen years after its release, Bend It Like Beckham is still an essential representation of South Asian teenagehood.