Opening Night: On the Edge – Judith Butler

An audience of readers, activists, writers, intellectuals, and lovers of the written word gathered to kick off the 2014 PEN World Voices Festival. Some of the globe's most prominent… More

Ovid to His Book

Go on your way now, book, and speak for me / in places that I love, but cannot be, / saluting those whom I have come to meet /… More

Lily La Tigresse: A Melodrama

Sometimes I see less significant people too—girlfriends, high school teachers, men I once went to bed with. A few days ago, for example, I clearly saw Bruria Zimmel, who… More

Time Together

I was hardly proud that my son had somehow pulled off the incredible feat of impregnating some random girl while still tethered to me umbilically. Obviously. I mean, my… More

The Steady Running of the Hour

A dugout can collapse under shelling and bury you alive, or drown you as it slowly fills with water. The two sometimes come in tandem, so that it is… More

The Temporary Gentleman

So I was standing there, flush with my winnings, not thinking of much, as always somewhat intoxicated by being at sea, somewhat in love with an unknown coastline, and… More

You’ll Kiss Her Softly

You know it’s not cool for a man to talk about something that pussified. But you can’t help it. The four-letter word and you. She is older, actually. She’s… More

The Child

ZELDA: You never touched your bank account. / VANESSA: No. / ZELDA: How come? / VANESSA: It belonged to another person. I was no longer that person. I… More

The Noon Signal

These are the available facts regarding the Clementinum’s Astronomical Tower: it is the pale yellow of butter pecan ice cream; the eight-sided cupola at its apex boasts a wrap-around… More