12 Poems by Asian American and Pacific Islander Poets

Poems by Asian American and Pacific Islander poets, including Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Marilyn Chin, Atsuro Riley, Kazim Ali and more.
Krao Farini, c. 1890

Finding Krao Farini

Public discourse on the bearded lady, a staple of circus sideshow, revealed the racial biases underpinning Darwinian theory.
A collage of book covers

What We’re Reading in 2020

Funk music, floating cities, poetic prose, and a return to the classics.
Illustration: An illustration from the cover of Warm Worlds and Otherwise by James Tiptree, Jr.

Source: Ballantine

James Tiptree Jr. and Joanna Russ: Sci-Fi Pen Pals

The two feminist authors corresponded about writing and romance, especially after Tiptree's true identity leaked.
Jeremy Irons in Steven Soderbergh's "Kafka."

Franz Kafka’s The Trial—It’s Funny Because It’s True

Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.
Phrenology head from The Household Physician, 1905

Walt Whitman, America’s Phrenologist

The pseudoscience of phrenology included a notion of body as text that Whitman loved. But the craze of "bumpology" also had a darker side.
Hammock reader summer

Summer Reading in JSTOR

Stories by Meg Wolitzer, David Sedaris, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, E. Annie Proulx, Amy Tan, Donna Tartt, Lydia Millet, Lauren Groff, and more.
Leonid Pasternak - The Passion of Creation

7 Pieces of Expert Writing Advice

Great fiction-writing advice and commiseration from novelists that we dug out of the JSTOR vaults for you procrastinating, er, research pleasure.
JSTOR Daily Friday Reads

A George Saunders Outtake

George Saunders' trademark dark humor is especially on display in this "deleted scene" from the novella Pastoralia, available for free here.
Night Before Christmas

10 Classic Christmas Stories

We've gathered up some of our favorite literary takes on Christmas.