Tag Archives: Books

Zyzzyva Magazine —– Spring 2026 Preview

ZYZZYVA Magazine: The latest issue features…

Nonfiction

“Saguaro in the Sea” by Sophia Acuña: on surfing and indigeneity in Southern California, told through collage.

“Care Directive” by Sarah Matsui: a daughter’s attempt to keep her aging father in Hawaii from all sorts of calamity, but having to monitor him from the mainland.

“Triptych: A Biographer’s Sketchbook” by Carolyn Burke: “The Baroness was lively, curious, and still blond at eighty-five. She received me in a flurry of franglais, the mingling of two languages in which we would converse, and put us at ease with pink champagne, her favorite.”

Fiction

“Decoys” by Will Boast: goofing around working at the town supermarket, burning through the days till it all comes to head.

“Lilac Mud” by Anita Felicelli: A Bay Area artist in Amsterdam is approached one night by a man claiming to be a former student, leading to a crisis of identity and purpose.

“Grote geplumaceerde” by Emily Nemens: “Afterward, staring hard at her phone, which was her radio, which was the bearer of bad news, she wondered what mattered at all.”

Poetry

Kevin Cantwell, Geraldine Jorge, Jonathon Keats, Caroline Kessler, and Noelani Piters.

In Conversation

Lydia Kiesling talks to acclaimed author Karen Russell about Russell’s latest novel, The Antidote, and about Russell’s “fascination with foundational myths, the things we choose to know, and the things we choose to ignore or forget.”

Art

Ian Everard

TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT – MAY 1, 2026 PREVIEW

TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT: The latest issue features ‘A View of Her Own’….

Out of nothing

Tracey Emin’s self-fashioning By Sophie Oliver

Amateurs in name only

Women landscape painters reconsidered By Jenny Uglow

Bomb culture

Mankind has escaped nuclear war, for now By P. D. Smith

So close to the United States

Mexico’s challenge to received historical ideas By Benjamin T. Smith

Greedy for light        

The bittersweet contentment of old age By Rory Waterman

LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS – MAY 7, 2026 PREVIEW

LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS: The latest issue features ‘Who Owns The Arctic?’ by Laleh Khalili; De Kooning in Cuba by T.J. Clark; Politics on Speed by William Davies…

Who owns the Arctic?

Laleh Khalili

From the 16th century onwards, as European powers feverishly colonised the world, the possibility of a Northern Sea Route connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Scandinavia to the Bering Strait, tantalised the Dutch and the British as an alternative to the southern routes to Asia and the Americas, which were dominated by Portugal and Spain. But the route only became a reality in the Soviet era, after investments in scientific, economic, industrial and military infrastructure in Siberia. 

Politics on Speed

William Davies

This is what distinguishes hyperpolitics from the mass democracy of the mid-20th century. Symbolic political gestures are now commonplace, but paid membership of organisations and parties has plummeted. The left has failed to find a replacement for trade unions as a basis for collective action in civil society. Political movements are easy to join, and just as easy to leave. 

De Kooning in Cuba

T.J. Clark

De Kooning’s Suburb in Havana is a counter-revolutionary painting. Well, of course. It is counter-revolutionary because it is counter everything, versus everything, lost in suburbia. It wants to show us how hard it had to work to get precisely nowhere. Why nowhere was where it wished to get to is a question it leaves to the viewer. 

Orbán’s Fall

Jan-Werner Müller

Can there be poetic justice in politics? Perhaps once in a lifetime. In 1989, a young Viktor Orbán bravely told the crowds in Budapest’s Heroes’ Square that it was time for the Russians to go home, just as protesters had demanded in 1956; almost four decades later, he was heckled on the campaign trail with the same words.

THE NEW YORK TIMES – WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2026

Beneath the King’s Jokes and Decorum, Some Subtle Rebuttals to Trump

On the first full day of his state visit to the U.S., King Charles gently pushed back against President Trump’s attacks on Britain and NATO.

At State Dinner, Charles Charms the Court of Trump

King Charles presented President Trump with a golden bell. “Should you ever need to get hold of us,” the king said, “well, just give us a ring!”

Supreme Court Considers Trump’s Plan to Revoke Deportation Protections

The Trump administration wants to terminate humanitarian protections known as Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of migrants from Haiti and Syria.

Epstein Obtained Objects From Islam’s Holiest Site for His Island ‘Mosque’

Jeffrey Epstein’s messages cast light on an unusual building on his private island and show how his connections helped him secure tapestries from Mecca for it.

THE NEW YORK TIMES – TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2026

United Arab Emirates Says It Will Leave OPEC in Blow to Oil Cartel

The Persian Gulf government has long complained about the group’s quotas, which officials believe unfairly limited their exports.

The World Needs Natural Gas Now, but the U.S. Is Exporting All It Can

U.S. Gas Prices Hit Highest Level Since Beginning of War in Iran

Republicans Brace for Brutal Midterms as Trump’s Popularity Slips

The House is now favored to fall into Democratic hands while control of the Senate, once seen as a G.O.P. bulwark, is increasingly up for grabs.

Blockbuster OpenAI Trial Pits Elon Musk Against Sam Altman

Elon Musk’s legal showdown with Sam Altman’s OpenAI could have far-reaching consequences for the future of artificial intelligence.

Et Tu, Brute? What Elon Musk’s Clash With Sam Altman Is Really About.

Mr. Musk’s lawsuit against Mr. Altman and OpenAI, which went to trial this week, makes the case that all-encompassing greed is Silicon Valley’s defining feature.

THE NEW YORK TIMES – MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2026

Gunman in Press Gala Attack to Be Arraigned in Federal Court

Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said the suspect would face multiple counts, and that more charges were expected.

Grievance Propelled Gala Attack Suspect Across Country, Authorities Say

Writings that the authorities said were left behind by the man displayed outrage at policies put in place by the White House.

Supreme Court Reviews Police Use of Cell Location Data to Find Criminals

Geofence searches have become popular as a tool for law enforcement, but critics say they put Americans’ personal data at risk and violate the Constitution.

Hezbollah Says It Will Keep Weapons as Lebanon Says Israeli Strikes Killed 14

Despite a cease-fire, Israel and Hezbollah have been trading attacks almost daily.

THE NEW YORK TIMES – SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2026

Search for Motive of Gunman Who Charged Press Gala

White House Officials Were Likely Targeted, Justice Dept. Says

  • President Trump was rushed from the stage at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner after gunfire broke out.
  • Federal authorities surrounded the Los Angeles-area home of a suspect, who was in custody.

California Man Is in Custody After Shooting

Iranian Negotiators Set to Return to Pakistan to Try to Revive Truce Talks

Israel’s President, Putting Off Decision on Pardon for Netanyahu, Will Push for Plea Deal

President Isaac Herzog of Israel has decided not to issue a pardon to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his corruption case, and instead will seek mediation, officials say.

THE NEW YORK TIMES – SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2026

Trump Confronts Iran’s Atomic Stockpile, and His Role in Expanding It

President Trump withdrew from the Obama-era nuclear accord in 2018. But Iran responded with an enrichment spree that haunts the negotiations to this day.

Witkoff and Kushner to Travel to Pakistan for Talks on Iran

It is unclear if Jared Kushner, a son-in-law of President Trump’s, and Steve Witkoff, a special envoy, will meet any Iranian officials.

Fed Chair Inquiry May Be Over, but Shadow It Cast Over Central Bank Remains

It will be a challenge to recoup confidence in the Federal Reserve’s ability to operate independently from a White House that has tried to bully it.

U.S. Says Venezuelan Government Can Pay for Nicolás Maduro’s Defense

Trump Says He Dislikes Prediction Markets. His Family Invests in Them.

Witkoff and Kushner to Travel to Pakistan for Talks on Iran

THE NEW YORK TIMES – FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2026

War in Iran Has Drained U.S. Supplies of Critical, Costly Weapons

The Pentagon’s rush to rearm its Mideast forces makes it less ready to confront potential adversaries like Russia and China, administration and congressional officials say.

U.S. Blockade Will Last ‘As Long as It Takes,’ Hegseth Says

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that U.S. forces had stopped 34 vessels since President Trump imposed the order. Iran has made lifting it a condition of resuming talks to end the war.

Gaza Set to Hold First Local Election in Two Decades

Hamas said it was not participating in the municipal elections in Deir al-Balah, set for this weekend. Residents said it was a long-awaited opportunity to address the city’s problems

Tariffs Raised Consumers’ Prices, but the Refunds Go Only to Businesses

Many families felt the sting of the president’s now-illegal tariffs, but companies have said little about whether they will share the $166 billion return.

Trump’s Dreams for a Battleship Led to His Navy Secretary’s Ouster

THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS – MAY 14, 2026

THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS: The latest issue features Jed Perl on the Whitney Biennial, Fintan O’Toole on the president’s precarious sanity, Nicole Rudick on June Leaf’s unique vision, Clare Bucknell on know-it-alls, Julian Bell on Joseph Wright of Derby, Dennis Lim on low-resolution cinema, Elaine Blair on the Guerrilla Girls, Mark O’Connell on a death in London, Martin Filler on David Adjaye’s demons, Nick Laird on the complete Seamus Heaney, Rosa Lyster on the evaporating salt lakes, Susan Tallman on Manet and Morisot, poems by Paul Muldoon and Fiona Sze-Lorrain, and much more.

‘The Right Amount of Crazy’

In Trump’s strategy of feigning madness to get what he wants, there is no longer any border between pretense and actual irrationality. By Fintan O’Toole

Charlatans & Bores

The profile of the pedant has changed surprisingly across time periods and cultures, but what’s constant is that nobody wants to be called one.

On Pedantry: A Cultural History of the Know-It-All by Arnoud S.Q. Visser

‘The Music of What Happens’

Seamus Heaney’s complete poems, following on editions of his letters, prose, and translations, confirm the extent of his achievement.

The Poems of Seamus Heaney edited by Rosie Lavan and Bernard O’Donoghue, with Matthew Hollis

Manet and Morisot: Game On

An important exhibition showcases a painterly repartee that altered the trajectory of the two artists’ work and, by extension, modern art itself.

Manet and Morisot – an exhibition at the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, October 11, 2025–March 1, 2026, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, March 29–July 5, 2026