David Byrne on Turning 'American Utopia'...

<p>Literature isn’t a horse race. Taste is subjective, and artistic value can’t be measured in terms of “winners" and “losers.”</p><p>That doesn’t mean it’s not fun to try.</p><p>The book world’s awards season officially kicked off on Oct. 9, when the Hungarian novelist Laszlo Kr ... Show More

<p>Nicholas Boggs’s “Baldwin: A Love Story,” is many things at once. It’s a comprehensive biography of James Baldwin. It’s a nimble excavation of Baldwin’s work, filled with astute literary analysis of his books and prose. And, most pressingly, it’s an argument for a new critical ... Show More

<p>On Nov. 10, 1975, during a calamitous storm, the Edmund Fitzgerald sunk below the waves of Lake Superior. All 29 men aboard went down with the vessel. With no survivors and no eyewitnesses, there’s always been a sense of mystery to what is arguably the most famous shipwreck in ... Show More

<p><span>Ling Ma joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “</span><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/05/seeing-ershadi">Seeing Ershadi</a><span>,” by Nicole Krauss, which was published in<span> </span></span><em>The New Yorker</em><span><span> </span>in 2018. M ... Show More

<p><span>Akhil Sharma joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “</span><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1994/10/24/zombie-2">Zombie</a><span>,” by Joyce Carol Oates, which was published in<span> </span></span><em>The New Yorker</em><span><span> </span>in 1994. Sharma ... Show More

<p><span>Ben Purkert joins</span><span><span> </span></span><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/kevin-young">Kevin Young</a><span><span> </span>to read “</span><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1992/08/24/notes-on-the-reality-of-the-self">Notes on the Realit ... Show More

<p><span>Elif Batuman joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “</span><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1961/12/02/truth-and-fiction">Truth and Fiction</a><span>,” by Sylvia Townsend Warner, which was published in<span> </span></span><em>The New Yorker</em><span><spa ... Show More

<p><span>Dorothea Lasky joins Kevin Young to read “Three Songs,” by Louise Bogan, and her own poem “The Green Lake.” Lasky is the author of several books of poetry and prose, including her forthcoming collection “The Shining.” She’s the co-creator, with Alex Dimitrov, of Astro Po ... Show More

<p><span>Diane Mehta joins Kevin Young to read “</span><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/25/the-lost-art-of-letter-writing">The Lost Art of Letter Writing</a><span>,” by Eavan Boland, and her own poem “</span><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/05/2 ... Show More

Hal Foster is one of the most well-known thinkers about art today. In a career that spans several decades, he is known for important much-cited books including The Return of the Real from 1996, Design and Crime from 2002 and most recently, Brutal Aesthetics from 2020. He teaches ... Show More

<p><span>Aria Aber joins </span><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/kevin-young">Kevin Young</a><span><span> </span>to read “</span><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/10/half-light">Half Light</a><span>,” by Frank Bidart, and her own poem “</span><a h ... Show More

<p><span>Kate Baer joins Kevin Young to read “The Morning After,” by Ellen Bass, and her own poem “Mixup.” Baer is the New York </span><em>Times</em><span><span> </span>bestselling author of three poetry collections, including, most recently “And Yet.”</span></p> Learn about you ... Show More