Marguerite Duras on Her Remarkable Mother
Noted novelist and screenwriter Marguerite Duras on how her fictional mothers are all really her own (complicated, difficult, inimitable) mother.
The Many Different Annes of Green Gables
Anne Shirley, created almost 100 years ago, has been reimagined countless times. Why do we still love Lucy Maud Montgomery's plucky orphan?
The FBI Goes to the Movies
In its hunt for communists in Hollywood, the FBI criticized the 1946 classic It's "A Wonderful Life" as subversive propaganda.
Can Fiction Really Spark Suicide?
The Netflix drama 13 Reasons Why is so powerful—and so controversial—it's sparked a national debate about teenage suicide.
The Literary Life of Jean Stein
Among her other literary accomplishments, Jean Stein edited Grand Street for 14 years. Here are two of her interviews for the magazine.
Mexican-Americans Have Always Battled Movie Stereotypes
Stereotyping and discrimination in Hollywood has elicited different responses from Mexican-Americans and Mexicans in Mexico.
Women Were Pirates, Too
Maybe you've never heard of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, but they were real-life women pirates who cross-dressed to get on ships.
5 (Free!) Works of Flash Fiction
Flash fiction by Grace Paley, Helen Phillips, Clemens Setz, Vanessa Gebbie, and Josefine Klougart, available for free PDF download.
Old English Has a Serious Image Problem
Although studying the language known as “Anglo-Saxon” helped women advance in the academy, the subject is fraught with racist associations.
Friend or Faux? The Linguistic Trickery of False Friends
"False friends" appear or sound like words in their own language, but have different meanings in others. They give us insight into how language changes.