To mark the turning of the year, we’ve assembled a list of some of our favorite reviews, essays, and interviews from 2015. Enjoy with our wishes for a wonderful (and book-filled) 2016.
Stardust in Antartica: Jynne Dilling Martin on her sojourn as the South Pole’s Writer in Residence.
The Fishermen: Katherine A. Powers makes the case for Chigozie Obiama’s story of a Nigerian family (which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize) as one of the year’s best books.
Appropriately Divided: In a year in which immigration became a hot political topic, Mia Alvar, Boris Fishman, and Sara Nović talk about the crossing the gap between there and here for Discover Great New Writers.
Peter Carey Is Punk Rock: Alexander Chee looks back at The Tax Inspector.
No Secrets: Award-winning poet Tracy K. Smith talks about her lyrical memoir, Ordinary Light.
Fidgital Evertime: Lizzie Skurnick on creating a lexicon for a brave new world with That Should Be a Word.
Rediscovering Ben Okri: Porochista Khakpour on the shadow cast by The Famished Road.
The Charge to Be Fair: Roxane Gay talks with Ta-Nehisi Coates about his National Book Award–winning bestseller, Between the World and Me.
The World Is Bewildering: Adam Johnson talks about finding the haunting material for his National Book Award–winning collection, Fortune Smiles.
Remembering Little Brother: E. L. Doctorow’s longtime editor, Kate Medina, talks about her decades working with the late novelist.
The Country of Ice Cream Star: Robert Christgau explores the future according to Sandra Newman.
The Slaughterhouse Library: Maris Kreizman on the reading that’s behind her deliriously insightful literary-pop/culture mashup Slaughterhouse 90210.
Witches Then and Witches Now: Talking with Stacy Schiff about her investigation into the true story of the infamous hysteria in Salem, and with Alex Mar about her journey into the world of 21st-century witches and magicians.
The Jane Smiley Century: Mark Athitakis looks at the novelist’s Last Hundred Years trilogy and its message for the next one.
Elvis Costello Has Great News: The master of the short, sharp shock on what it’s like to write a 670-page memoir.
Regretfully, I Found My Voice: Writer Shon Arieh-Lerer makes a discovery, with mixed results.
Twenty-One Visions of a Handful of Rain: Greil Marcus finds the protean heart of a Bob Dylan classic among a host of archival studio recordings.
The Man in the Gray Flannel Nightmare: Paul Di Filippo looks at the how the era of The Twilight Zone produced its own characteristic brand of American fantasy and horror.
Vasilisa the Beautiful: Liesl Schillinger on the unique power of a Russian fairy tale.
Writing the City: David L. Ulin on the challenges and serendipitous discoveries involved in capturing the life of a city on paper.