Known best for her short stories and novels, author Ann Beattie recently published More to Say: Essays & Appreciations, a collection of short nonfiction. The winner of numerous awards, Beattie brings her keen insight and sense of language to these curated pieces, all of which were originally published between 1982 and 2022 in a variety […]
In Soul Culture: Black Poets, Books, and Questions that Grew Me Up by Remica Bingham-Risher, the poet and essayist, reflects on her life and the influences of the Black poetry community, as framed by interviews with 10 influential mentors. An Affrilachian Poet, Cave Canem fellow, and winner of the Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award as […]
In Sofia Samatar’s latest book, The White Mosque, the author and James Madison University professor weaves stories from her life together with histories of a group of Russian Mennonites who migrated to what is now Uzbekistan. Ak Metchet, which means “white mosque,” is the name of the Uzbek village that was settled by 19th-century Mennonites […]
The past year was a continuation of a period of mostly escapist reading, during which I found pleasure in re-reading old favorites, and really took my time with books that I sped through in the past. Taking refuge in joy-infused, thoughtful, and imaginative books occupied most of my time as a counterbalance to the heavier […]
Thanks to the tireless work of disability justice activists, as well as an increased attention to chronic conditions that the COVID-19 pandemic necessitates, discussions around disabilities and chronic illness are more present in mainstream culture than at any other time in recent history. Artists, poets, and other writers have also contributed heavily to this awareness, […]
From the opening lines of The Marriage Portrait, author Maggie O’Farrell does not hedge: The Duchess of Ferrara will die. As historical fiction based on the real life and death of the 16-year-old Lucrezia di Cosimo de’Medici—the details were set in stone more than 460 years ago—this new novel probes the who and the how […]
As a poet, Kiki Petrosino has published four collections, including most recently, White Blood: A Lyric of Virginia, and received the Pushcart Prize and the Rilke Prize, among other awards and fellowships. As a prose writer, her first full-length book, Bright: A Memoir, published in August, and she will give a reading from it on […]
Virginia journalist and bestselling author Beth Macy returns this week with Raising Lazarus: Hope, Justice, and the Future of America’s Overdose Crisis. The book builds off her previous book, Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America. While Dopesick traced Purdue Pharma’s orchestration of the opioid epidemic and shared stories of those caught […]
The wife—a 40-something fitness trainer with a compact build—is standing beside the distressed-wood dining table that serves as the transitional element between the simple, serene kitchen and the airy living room, which has a vaulted ceiling accented by two triangular timber trusses and a pair of mod pendant chandeliers that look like giant bows, made […]
Jessie Chapman is standing in the shower of her Charlottesville home. She’s fully clothed and the water is not running. Architects do this sort of thing when they’re trying to give someone an idea of the scale of a particular place. “It really is very comfortable,” says Chapman, the co-principal of Goodhouse Design. At a […]