When Adoption Promises Are Broken
Many birth mothers hope to maintain contact with their child. But their agreements with adoptive parents can be fragile.
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Illustration by Hokyoung Kim I Never Feel That I Write Alone
I’m grateful to all of you who’ve shared this space with me.
What Writers Gain From Mentorship
A conversation with Vauhini Vara about mentoring writers of color and expanding access to literary spaces
‘A Living Remedy’ Is Out Now
The writing, I often remind myself, is the best part. We’ll keep at it together.
‘A Common American Death’
It is hard for me not to think of my father’s death as a kind of negligent homicide, facilitated and sped by the United States’ broken safety net and strained systems of care.
The Atlantic Writing About the Dead
Someone recently asked me if my parents’ deaths freed me to write about them. If anything, I feel an even greater sense of responsibility to our story.
The Family Who Tried to End Racism Through Adoption
Bob and Sheryl Guterl saw their family as a kind of “ark for the age of the nuclear bomb” and attempted to gather “two of every race.”
Photo-illustration by Trevor Davis. Sources: Courtesy of Matthew Pratt Guterl; Phillip Spears / Getty. A Year of Notes
‘What is one thing you can do to benefit your writing life?’ This whole year has been that for me.
Sabrina Imbler: ‘Wonder Is the Animating Force Behind a Lot of My Stories’
“I want to help people think about all the different ways there are to live and to try to keep living.”
Writing Isn’t About Finding the Right Answer
What to do when you get stuck working around a project instead of writing it, and how to talk with students about reading and writing
