Longreads features

Failure To Lawn

On what a dying patch of turfgrass can teach us about water scarcity, ecological repair, and the lies we tell ourselves about success.

The Secret Door

“When we read, we make believe. We arenโ€™t duped or ensorcelled. Deep down we decide. We make ourselves believe.”

Was It Worth It?

“I didnโ€™t think about those nachos even once. I had never experienced anything like it. Is this, I asked my friends, how it feels to be normal?”

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Recent editors’ picks

Why Are Fish So Gay?

Lars Horn, Sabrina Imbler, Lulu Miller, and Joseph Osmundson | Orion | May 27, 2026 | 4,189 words

“A conversation about finding community in the aquatic.”

This Literary AI Scandal Changes Everything

Vauhini Vara | The Atlantic | May 21, 2026 | 1,884 words

“A magazineโ€™s response to accusations of publishing AI-generated fiction points to a new phase in the struggle to keep literature human.”

Love Languageย 

Katie Thornton | Harper’s Magazine | May 21, 2026 | 6,963 words

โ€œThe undying dream of Esperanto.โ€œ

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Weekly Top 5

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Stories from Mina Tavakoli, Lindsey Adler, Joshua Jackson, Ben Tarnoff, Paloma Karr, and Jon Greenaway.

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Learn to Love Your Search Results Again.

Introducing the Longreads Story Recommender.

The Longreads questionnaire

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Excerpts from The Atavist Magazine, our sister publication

Open Season

Coloradoโ€™s San Luis Valley was a wildlife poacherโ€™s paradise. Then an undercover federal agent arrived.

The Good Catholics of Buffalo

With thousands of US soldiers dying in Vietnam, a righteous group of young New Yorkers embarked on a secret mission to bring the war machine to its knees.

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Longreads reading lists

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