Though Jones was gentle about the story’s deficiencies, it was clear he was frustrated. I think this was because it was clear to him that the basics of humanity shouldn’t be that difficult to express. He spent an hour and a half going over...
VQR Editor Charlotte Kohler chose Nadine Gordimer’s short story “The Catch” for publication in the Summer 1951 issue. It was the young South African writer’s first letter of acceptance for publication in an American magazine. Some forty...
We all know how Jane Austen wrote her books in the parlor, that most public of spaces. When she heard someone approach, she slipped her pages unobtrusively beneath the blotter.
The surge in the number of unaccompanied minors crossing the US border is so alarming that President Barack Obama described it as “an urgent humanitarian situation.” Following the president’s comments, the federal government announced a $2...
We are tired of arguing about who is the most hurt. Better to toddle off for a little Chinese. The locust flowers each year like cornmeal in the gutters.
Through the window Clara could see the men: dark still hats huddled together. The only thing moving was their pipe smoke. It curled in lamp-lit clouds. Then—a whoop!—the clouds blew, the huddle burst, the hats were flying.