In Conversation

Staff Picks: Print Favorites

By
From "We Are in a Book!" by Mo Willems

This October, the American Reader is going (almost) all print. In celebration of this shift, the editors have put together an unranked list of twenty of our favorite stories, poems, plays and essays that have appeared in our print edition over the past two years. Of course, our “favorites” change from day to day; these are the ones that are at the top of our minds at present. Revisit these gems with us—or read them for the first time by purchasing the appropriate single issue in our online Shoppe!

  1. Fiction | “Especially Heinous: 272 Views of Law & Order SVU” by Carmen Maria Machado [Vol. 1, No. 5/6]
  2. Poetry | “Candor” by Jacqueline Waters [Vol. 1, No. 5/6]
  3. Essay | “On Deviating From the Norm” by Urs Widmer [Vol. 2, No. 2]
  4. Fiction | “The Poets Dwell in Musclememory” by Joe Wenderoth [Vol. 1, No. 3]
  5. Drama | “Lamepdusa Beach” by Lina Prosa (trans.) [Vol. 1, No. 3]
  6. Poetry | “That Evening When Your Thighs Make Their Debut Beneath Daniel Bănulescu’s Fingers” by Daniel Bănulescu (trans.) [Vol. 2, No. 1]
  7. Essay | “How the FBI Pre-Read African-American Literary Production” by William J. Maxwell [Vol. 1, No. 1]
  8.  Fiction | “Talk” by Stephen Dixon [Vol. 1, No. 1]
  9.  Poetry | Selected Poems by Szilárd Borbély (trans.) [Vol. 1, No. 4]
  10. Fiction | “Castella” by Park Min-gyu (trans.) [Vol. 1, No. 5/6]
  11. Essay | “Why We Don’t Read or Write About Education” by Houman Harouni [Vol. 1, No. 8]
  12. Poetry | Selected Poems by Matt Hart [Vol. 1, No. 3]
  13. Fiction | “West of the Known” by Chanelle Benz [Vol. 1, No. 1]
  14. Essay | “The Lack of Female Road Narratives and Why It Matters” by Vanessa Veselka [Vol. 1, No. 4]
  15. Poetry | “Gloomerang” by Dagmara Kraus (trans.) [Vol. 1, No. 8]
  16. Poetry | Selected Poems by Dean Young [Vol. 1, No.1]
  17. Essay | “Kafka’s Law in a Universe of Risk” by Stanley Corngold  [Vol. 1, No. 3]
  18. Fiction | “Tough Beauty” by Luke Goebel  [Vol. 2, No. 2]
  19. Interview | “Whatever Will Be, Will Be” with László Krasznahorkai and Ion Grigorescu [Vol. 2, No. 1]
  20. Fiction | “The Goldilocks Variations” by Robert Coover [Vol. 1, No. 7]

Discover your own favorites by subscribing here!