“
I am not looking for a quota. I do not have a checklist. But I do want more. I want to no longer feel like too much is missing. I want writing that is more vibrant, more interesting, more challenging, more daring, more unexpected, more reflective of the world we actually live in and the people who populate that world. I want to see writing that takes chances and makes me uncomfortable and that makes me think. I want to read books and stories that are memorable and that don’t become part of the incoherent blur of things I once read. All I want is everything.

- Roxane Gay, who adds “There are always so many prescriptions for writers about what they should or shouldn’t write about, about what they’re failing to write about, and about what they’re writing too much about. … Perhaps, we should offer prescriptions for readers, editors, and critics to develop a more complete measure of excellence, and a more responsible, risk taking, and inclusive way of reading.”

The root of this — her frustration with the most prestigious of the best-of-2011 lists — deepens my appreciation for what Longreads is doing. For instance, Jeremy P. Bushnell’s 12/27 contribution to the Longreads potluck steers readers to Rachel Levy’s “Becoming Deer,” which appeared in PANK Magazine, where the aforementioned Roxane Gay is co-editor.

Notes

  1. davidquigg posted this