Stories That Got Lost in 2020’s Erratic News Cycle
No matter how hard you work on a story, especially this year, it might get overlooked. Here are 20 that deserve more love.
Roald Dahl’s Anti-Black Racism
The first edition of the beloved novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory featured "pygmy" characters taken from Africa.
How to Gather the Oral Histories of COVID-19
The Federal Writers’ Project offers vital lessons for capturing the oral histories of ordinary Americans living through the coronavirus pandemic.
Terry Southern’s Lucid Absurdities
From his novels Candy and The Magic Christian to his work on Dr. Strangelove and Barbarella, Terry Southern sought to expose madness.
Rare 1969 Story from The Queen’s Gambit Author Walter Tevis
In this short story a graduate student makes a deal with the devil: Write my dissertation and my soul is yours.
Diane di Prima
The Italian American poet and artist's “willingness to speak” about what was culturally unspeakable was a liberation.
The Poem That Inspired Radical Black Women to Organize
Beah Richards is best known as an actor, but in 1951 she wrote a sweeping poem that influenced the Civil Rights Movement.
How Trumbull Park Exposed the Brutal Legacy of Segregation
Frank London Brown’s 1959 novel, which presents a powerful story of white supremacist hatred, has been selected for the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame.
The Creepy Backstory to Horatio Alger’s Bootstrap Capitalism
In a famous essay, a scholar uncovered difficult truths about Alger, whose name has been associated with the "rags to riches" myth.