“Strings unleashing”

"The lie I told most often in my twenties during the Reagan era was that I liked other people’s children although I didn’t intend to have my own." For The Rumpus, Kyoko Mori writes an essay on the choice to raise animals instead of children. Pair with: an essay on the complexities of motherhood.

Novelists, poets, and playwrights aren't the only people who can call themselves writers. Don't forget the oft begrudged screenwriters. The New York Times highlights 14 of this year's best screenwriters, including Julie Deply and Seth Rogen, and asks them for writing advice and one original line of dialogue for some excellent short films. Our favorite short film is Robert Redford's.

"As a Pulitzer winner, it’s a unicorn." For the Washington Post, book critic Ron Charles praised the Pulitzer Prize judges for awarding the Fiction prize to Andrew Sean Greer's Less, a comedic, "laugh-till-you-can't-breathe funny" novel. Pair with: our post with all the 2018 Pulitzer winners.