Books & the Arts

A scene from “Youth (Spring).”

Wang Bing, the World’s Hardest-Working Director Wang Bing, the World’s Hardest-Working Director

In his new film, Youth (Spring), the prolific director examines how the People’s Republic became the workshop for much of the world.

Nov 9, 2023 / Books & the Arts / J. Hoberman

A New York City apartment building.

A Modern-Day Fable for the Tenant Class A Modern-Day Fable for the Tenant Class

Hilary Leichter’s fiction examines contemporary crises like work and inequality through the lens of magical realism. Her latest novel, Terrace Story, is a parable about the family...

Nov 8, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Grace Byron

Surreal Tales From Erdoğan’s Turkey

Surreal Tales From Erdoğan’s Turkey Surreal Tales From Erdoğan’s Turkey

In Kenan Orhan's collection I Am My Country, he examines a pervasive sense of estrangement in contemporary Turkish life for both citizens and exiles.

Nov 7, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Kaya Genç

Coenties Slip in New York, 1850–1900.

How the New York Waterfront Shaped American Modernism How the New York Waterfront Shaped American Modernism

In The Slip, Prudence Peiffer looks at the role an overlooked neighborhood played in the lives and work of an eclectic set of postwar artists.

Nov 6, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Tausif Noor

Nation Poetry

Talk Talk

Oct 31, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Noah Warren

A scene from “Infinite Life.”

The Small Gestures and Big Questions of Annie Baker’s Plays The Small Gestures and Big Questions of Annie Baker’s Plays

In Infinite Life, Baker asks: How do you reach out to others when everyone ultimately suffers alone?

Oct 31, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Vikram Murthi

Barricade fight in Berlin, March 1848.

The Year Europe Revolted The Year Europe Revolted

A new history by Christopher Clark on the 1848 revolutions.

Oct 31, 2023 / Books & the Arts / David A. Bell

Illustration by Lily Qian.

The Enigmatic Science Fiction of Djuna The Enigmatic Science Fiction of Djuna

The radical visions of South Korea’s mononymous, pseudonymous, and officially anonymous sci-fi novelist and film critic.

Oct 30, 2023 / Books & the Arts / E. Tammy Kim

African American women employed as gardeners in the rose garden of the Botanical Gardens, Washington DC, 1943.

The Pleasure and Peril of Gardening While Black The Pleasure and Peril of Gardening While Black

Poet Camille T. Dungy's Soil is a personal and wide-ranging history of the garden and the environment in African American life.

Oct 26, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Edna Bonhomme

A scene from the day Princess Isabel abolished slavery in Brazil, 1888.

In Brazil, a Best-Selling Novel Confronts the Brutal Afterlife of Slavery In Brazil, a Best-Selling Novel Confronts the Brutal Afterlife of Slavery

Crooked Plow made Itamar Vieira Junior an essential voice in Brazilian letters.

Oct 25, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Jimin Kang

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