Famous Short Story

The New Yorker Interview Diane Williams Will Never Be Dutiful Williams can write startling things about sex, relationships, and family. But her real project is to test the limits of fiction itself. By Merve Emre October 10, 2021 "If I'm afraid while I'm writing, I think I do better work," Williams said. Photographs by Meghan Marin for The New Yorker The short-story writer and editor Diane Williams is often described in epic terms. Jonathan Franzen hails her as "one of the true living heroes of the American avant-garde." Ben Marcus calls her "a hero of the form: the sudden fiction, the flash fiction." What does it mean to be a hero? "I was proud of myself like a hero should be proud, who risks her life, or who doesn't risk her life, but who saves somebody, anybody!" Williams writes, in her story "Marriage and the Family." I would describe Williams as the writer who saved my life—or my soul, if one believes that such a thing e...

A reading list, from our readers. This is the Education Briefing, a weekly update on the most important news in U.S. education. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Today, the newsletter is taken over by you — our readers — and your gobsmacking recommendations for children's books. Reading in a treehouse in North Dakota. Jenn Ackerman for The New York Times Your Favorite Children's Books Thank you, thank you. Almost 350 people wrote in to share beloved books, and I loved reading through your suggestions. There were so many books I remembered from my own childhood and from reading to my little cousins. Readers wrote in with plenty of classics — "Charlotte's Web," the "Magic Tree House" series, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" — that should be part of every reading list. But we also were amazed at the range of titles, with gems for every age group. This newsletter couldn't possibly list every great choice. But I've plucked out ...

St. Augustine once said, 'The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page'. Reading books can certain transport your mind to a whole new world, but what if you have the opportunity to get to see the places they're actually based on in real life? Imagine walking on the cobblestone pavement where your favourite characters have walked, investigating their favourite shops and stores, sneaking through secret passageways leading to secret chambers, or simply visiting the place where your favourite character was born. With that being said, if you, like me, have read Cassandra Clare's The Infernal Devices series and fallen head over heels in love with it (undoubtedly crying during every reread), these are the top five places that you need to visit to once again relive the thrilling adventures of Will, Jem, and Tessa. For those of you who aren't familiar with the story, the books follow 16-year-old Tessa Gray who travels to London in the year 1878 in sea...

Take a "tools, not rules" approach to master writing for business with The Economist . The course explores the psychology, craft and purpose of writing with a focus on the choices writers must make, from words, phrases, metaphors and idioms to sentences and paragraphs. Participants will learn how to persuade and inform, to write to deadline and to engage a diverse audience. We cover reports, memos, social-media posts and presentations, helping practitioners develop into more effective and productive writers.

Nikki Giovanni, Photo Courtesy of The Creative Independent  On Sept. 27, poet, activist, educator and HBCU graduate, Nikki Giovanni became the first writer-in-residence of the Toni Morrison Writing Program at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU), a public HBCU in rural Texas.  The purpose of this program is to raise awareness and appreciation for African American literature. The writing program was established by President Ruth Simmons in honor of the esteemed African American author, Toni Morrison, with the help of Morrison's former student, MacKenzie Scott. Scott, a novelist herself, donated $50 million to PVAMU last fall, and the university set aside $3 million specifically for the establishment of this program.  Having Giovanni as the first writer-in-residence comes with excitement from both students and faculty members. "I feel that Nikki Giovanni's new position as the writer-in-residence of the...

For a professor focused on the past, James Hoopes always has been ahead of the times. Over the past three decades at Babson College, Hoopes has taught a course on the history of capitalism. But, about seven or eight years ago, seeing an opportunity to enrich his syllabus, he made a significant shift and changed the course to The History and Ethics of Capitalism. "It has evolved. It used to have no ethical content. It was just simply the history of what happened and why," said Hoopes, the Murata Professor of Ethics in Business at Babson. "So, this course on the history and ethics of capitalism is both about the moral risks and the moral opportunities of capitalism." Rooted in the lessons of the past, it is a weighty and important subject that speaks to the present—and the future. And, it is part of a growing trend as businesses and individuals increasingly incorporate and prioritize social responsibility; sustainability; ESG (environmental, social, and governan...

A writer's career may start off with a bang, but it isn't always onward and upward according to Guy Vanderhaeghe. The Saskatoon writer stunned in 1982 when he won the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction for his first book, a gritty collection of short stories entitled  Man Descending . Though he went on to receive two more Governor General's Literary Awards for  Daddy Lenin and Other Stories  and  The Englishman's Boy,  Vanderhaeghe humbly insists that every writer's career goes through its peaks and valleys. His latest,  August into Winter,  is another peak. The 70-year-old writer is one of five finalists for the Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Prize for Fiction, an annual $60,000 award. August into Winter  is Vanderhaeghe's first novel in nine years — and his longest book to date. The story takes place in rural Manitoba in 1939, as the shadow of&nbs...