Kaveh Akbar Finds Meaning in Misunderstanding

In “Pilgrim Bell,” the poet turns illegibility into a site of creativity, taking apart familiar language and reassembling unexpected truths.

18h

Sunjeev Sahota’s Novels of Arrival and Departure

In “China Room,” the journeys of immigrants divide stories and selves.

18h

Briefly Noted Book Reviews

“This Is Your Mind on Plants,” “Islands of Abandonment,” “Virtue,” and “The Beginners.”

18h

Sarah Braunstein on the Early Web’s Magic

The author discusses “Superstition,” her story from the latest issue of the magazine.

18h

Ann Patchett Reads Maile Meloy

The author joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “The Proxy Marriage,” by Maile Meloy, which was published in a 2012 issue of the magazine.

1d

Sunday Reading: Celebrating James Baldwin

From the magazine’s archive: a selection of pieces by and about Baldwin, on the occasion of what would have been his ninety-seventh birthday.

1d

The Art of the Hollywood Memoir

Accounts of life in Tinseltown reveal as much as they seek to hide.

3d

He’s Very Well Read

“She had a particular shelf, the complaining woman said, where she was keeping all the books he’d given her.”

4d

Coins, the Overlooked Keys to History

A delightful new book argues that numismatics—the study of coins—is the “beautiful science of civilizations.”

5d

Facebook’s Broken Vows

How the company’s pledge to bring the world together wound up pulling us apart.

1w