One’s proficiency in a language has little to do with one’s birthplace. Proficiency requires training, study, and practice. The post Translation as a Condition of Life: The Millions Interviews Aron Aji appeared first on The Millions.

“An aphorism,” Friedrich Nietzsche aphoristically wrote, “is an audacity.” Exploring the pithiest of phrases, from Ben Franklin to Susan Sontag. The post The Universe in a Sentence: On Aphorisms appeared first on The Millions.

Even the freedom to be indifferent is political. White, cis, straight men feeling unburdened enough to not talk about politics is political. The post All Poetry Is Political: The Millions Interviews Olivia Gatwood appeared first on The Millions.

It's blockbuster season, which means new books from big names: Naomi Klein, Jonathan Safran Foer, Jacqueline Woodson, and Tracey Chevalier. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Cusk, Barry, Eltahawy, Foer, Klein, Kois, and More appeared first o

What would happen if Margaret Wise Brown's classic got the Marvel treatment? The post Goodnight World-Building appeared first on The Millions.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a fleeting hint of pride. Not for what I’d done, but for what we’d done together. We took a risk and the risk paid off. The post The Time I Opened for Bon Iver: On Allowing Failure to Flourish appeared first on Th

The two authors talk feminism, politics, history, aesthetics, sexuality, cinema, tiki drinks—and wrap things up with a live game of exquisite corpse. The post Women Have Always Been at the Center of Upheavals: Amber Tamblyn in Conversation with Janet

I’ve met enough writers to know my story isn't all that unusual, although I would challenge anyone to match my record of 7 different editors for a first novel. The post The Long, Winding Road to Publication appeared first on The Millions.

I don’t worry about opioids altering how I perceive my life since I don’t get anything but pain relief from them. I just took a pain pill, but I’m not high. The post Complicating Our Narratives About Addiction and Illness: The Millions Interviews Amy

"Full disclosure: Chernobyl—the accident, not the HBO series—and I have some shared history." Dispatches from a life lived within 80 miles of the dead zone. The post My Chernobyl appeared first on The Millions.

A psychological thriller about the money-driven contemporary art world, David Hockney in focus, and a searing graphic novel about Jean-Michel Basquiat. The post Three Must-Read Novels About Artists appeared first on The Millions.

It's the rare week that delivers new writing from Margaret Atwood, Amitav Ghosh, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and beloved medieval Persian poet Rumi. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Emezi, Ellmann, Barkan, Donoghue, Atwood, and More appeared fi

If poetry, as an art, slows us down, then McLarney's poems slow us and sink us and rejuvenate our sense of the surrounding world. The post We Were Born in a World with Predators: Featured Poetry by Rose McLarney appeared first on The Millions.

Major shakeups led to half of our list being populated by newcomers. Welcome J. Robert Lennon, Téa Obreht, Yoko Ogawa, Helen Phillips, and Olga Tokarczuk! The post The Millions Top Ten: August 2019 appeared first on The Millions.

I’ve changed as a person while working on it, reflected both in how I draw and in how I write, and the nation has changed as well, which I’ve tried to acknowledge and incorporate. The post Sprawling Messes Are What I Aim For: The Millions Interviews

Eight new and notable collections you want on your nightstand this month, including work by a lost Catalan master and the latest from our new poet laureate. The post Must-Read Poetry: September 2019 appeared first on The Millions.

Why are American and British literature two different things if they’re both mostly written in English, and how exactly do we delineate those differences? The post The Lion and the Eagle: On Being Fluent in “American” appeared first on The Millions.

September is for back-to-school, the big Vogue issue, and blockbuster books. This month brings new Margaret Atwood, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Ann Patchett. The post September Preview: The Millions Most Anticipated (This Month) appeared first on The Milli

The classic comp exercise is often thought of as facile—the opposite of mature, fully realized work. That's exactly why Rion Amilcar Scott took it on. The post How to Write the Perfect Five-Paragraph Essay appeared first on The Millions.

A blockbuster week for big literary names: new collections from Rebecca Solnit (essays) and Etgar Keret (stories), and Salman Rushdie's spin on Don Quixote. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Keret, Solnit, Truong, Cruz, Rushdie, and More app

The first time—which would become legend among them—they entered in darkness. Night enfolded the sand dunes. Stars clamored around a meager slice of moon. The post ‘Cantoras’: Featured Fiction from Carolina De Robertis appeared first on The Millions.

In "St. Augustine," the final poem in Flynn's excellent new book, we feel the narrator’s conversation with the past, doubt and faith giving breath to each other. The post The Space Between Silence & Enough: Featured Poetry by Nick Flynn appeared

The 2019 Man Booker Prize shortlist is here! The post Man Booker Prize Names 2019 Shortlist appeared first on The Millions.

I’m moving more toward subtraction than addition. Which isn’t to say that the next novel won’t be a big and baggy monster. You change all the time. The post I’m a Stained-Glass Guy: The Millions Interviews Kevin Barry appeared first on The Millions.

It took me more than a dozen years to write. In 2017, I “finished” it. That’s in quotations because it’s a lie—I knew it wasn’t really finished. The post The Most Difficult Story I Ever Wrote appeared first on The Millions.

Writing will be obsolete when we're able to directly access our brains. It’ll be like Hieroglyphs—they’re beautiful, but we don’t need that shit anymore. The post Fiction Is Better Than It’s Ever Been: The Millions Interviews Brian Birnbaum appeared

Cameron Dezen Hammon's debut memoir follows her from a “half-Jewish childhood” to a professional life performing in an evangelical megachurch. The post That’s Her in the Spotlight, Losing Her Religion appeared first on The Millions.

The Hungarian master's novel cycle culminates with a fourth book full of manic humor that also happens to be precisely the book we need right now. The post László Krasznahorkai Comes Home appeared first on The Millions.

A deeply memorable story collection from Edwidge Danticat and Carmen Maria Machado, Jane Smiley and Jenny Zhang's takes on 'Little Women'. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Danticat, Bolick, Zhang, Machado, Smiley, Crain, Rowell, and More ap