Fiction & Poetry

When he takes her in his arms, she wants to be with him forever. She wants everyone to know that they’re together, everyone except her mother.

Julia had longed to be an educated mother like Vroni, but there was never a serviceable father in view, so she had limited herself to being educated.

Despite our best efforts, we were going to be, in the end, two more thirtysomethings from Brooklyn getting married in the Hudson Valley.

Katherine’s phone rang, and, because it was Adrian calling, everyone went quiet, trying to hear the famous actor’s voice.

Everyone was looking at us as though they all knew that Ritu had done the work and I had tried to mooch off her.

We all play a bit of a game when in love, don’t we?

Arman scoffed at the idea of a life beyond death, and Dad pointed out the irony of a ghost denying the afterlife.

Could be half my life, I said, could be all of it. Could be a third, Gabby said.

The author discusses her story “Kim’s Game.”

The author discusses her story “Deal-Breaker.”

The author discusses her novella “The Ice-Skater.”

The author discusses her story “The Welfare State.”

The author reads her story from the January 19, 2026, issue of the magazine.

The author reads her story from the January 12, 2026, issue of the magazine.

The author reads her story from the December 29, 2025 & January 5, 2026, issue of the magazine.

The author reads his story from the December 22, 2025, issue of the magazine.

The author joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “A Small Flame,” which was published in The New Yorker in 2017.

The author joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Elephant,” which was published in The New Yorker in 1986.

The author joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Backbone,” which was published in The New Yorker in 2011.

The author joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “The Stone,” which was published in The New Yorker in 2019.

The man from Kabul had warned about the number of men assigned to each room. “I won’t lie to you,” he had said. “You’ll be uncomfortable. You’ll have to adjust.”

It was empty when I logged in. I’d been off it since Vic died, four years ago.

“Of course, Arlette understood, this was not a tragedy. Tragedy would be a broken neck or spine. Paralysis for life. A coma.”

“It’s time to turn up the heat a little bit more. My boys are getting bored, and that’s not good for their appetite or their temper.”

“The thing about children is: / they disappear.”

“I was promiscuous / With my feelings most of all.”

“There is suddenness / to all surfaces.”

“I can’t quite tell, so muddy / is the newsprint, whether he’s looking // toward us or away.”

The poet joins Kevin Young to read and discuss “In the Waiting Room,” by Elizabeth Bishop, and her own poem “Love Poem Like We Used to Write It.”

The poet joins Kevin Young to read and discuss “Refrigerator, 1957,” by Thomas Lux, and her own poem “Love Poem Without a Drop of Hyperbole in It.”

The poet joins Kevin Young to read and discuss “Vita Nova” by Louise Glück, and his own poem “Figs.”

The poet joins Kevin Young to read and discuss “Open Letter to My Ancestors” by Mary Ruefle, and his own poem “The Game.”