Essays

I read “The Dice Player” in its entirety in an Arabic newspaper right after Darwish read the poem for the first time in Ramallah in June 2008—what would be his last public appearance in that city. 

On the night of August 3, 1944—in the hot crickety darkness of Riga, Latvia—my grandparents did two remarkable things. After midnight, while his children were sleeping, my grandfather—Harijs Mindenbergs—sat down at the kitchen table and...

Inspiration comes from the unlikeliest of places.

Bernardo Atxaga draws a line between theft and homage in his delightful “Obabakoak.”

The year’s best mistakes, Lawerence Weschler’s mysterious power, the merits of literary prizes, and more.

J. Hoberman weighs in Steven Soderbergh’s epic biopic of Che.

Ecce homo: Ernesto, Fuser, The Argentine, The Heroic Guerrilla, The Shadowy Power Behind Fidel Castro, The Great Compañero, The New Socialist Man, The Last Armed Prophet, The Most Complete Human Being of Our Age, The Clearest, Most...

A new study concludes that medical residents are dangerously overworked. But is the healthcare field willing—or able—to change?

The economics of writing have required some of the most celebrated authors to maintain a 9 to 5 job.

Taking a haircut, misery memoirs, Fitzwilliam Darcy on Facebook and National Buy a Book by a Black Author and Give it to Somebody Not Black Month.