Literature
Of the Top Ten Books Americans Want Banned, Eight Feature Diversity
To grapple with why so many Americans are bent on banning books that have non-white or LGBTQ characters, I spoke with the manager of the reader services department of the New York Public Library.
British Philosopher John Gray Believes Humanity's Desire for Freedom Is a Lie
We talked to him about Gnosticism, torture and the economic crisis.
VICE Meets: Nick Cave
John Doran sits down with Nick Cave to talk about the release of his new book, The Sick Bag Song – an epic poem written, quite literally, on aeroplane sick bags.
'Making Maxine's Baby' Features Medusa, Leatherface and Dante as a Female Hobo
In Caroline Hagood's latest book, a rich New Yorker gives up modern life to live in the subway tunnels.
Looking Back at My Grandmother's Erotic Novels
Heidi Julavits's new short story is a collage of sentences taken from smutty books she found in her grandmothers collection of smutty books in the 1970s.
The Failure of Male Societies: Author Andrew Smith Tackles Monsters and Sex
Andrew Smith's upcoming novel 'The Alex Crow' follows a young Syrian refugee who finds himself adopted by a deranged scientist working on reanimating dead species for the US government to use as spies.
Meeting Charles Chahwan, the Arab World's Answer to Charles Bukowski
The Lebanese author spoke to us about American literature, the Islamic State and how conservatism has shrunk the Arabic language.
Could a Harry Potter Fan Fiction Author Be Spearheading the New Dianetics?
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is not your average piece of fanfiction. Written by AI specialist Eliezer Yudkowsky, the story has commanded a sprawling, cult-like international fanbase with its message of rational thinking.
A Conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist, Douglas Coupland and Shumon Basar
We talked to the curator, author and writer about their new philosophy book The Age of Earthquakes, FKA Twigs and Generation Z's perception of time.
Inside Literature's Latest Cult Success Story – A Book on Tidying Up
Reading Marie Kondo's word-of-mouth hit The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up had me spending my evenings lying on the floor, thanking my sweaters individually for keeping me warm.
Read a Story from Alejandro Zambra's Collection, 'My Documents'
"The Most Chilean Man" is a story from Alejandro Zambra's new story collection, My Documents (McSweeney's), which comes out February 10.
The Utopia of Rules – Why We're Drowning in More Paperwork Than Ever Before
David Graeber follows up his international bestseller Debt: The First 5000 Years with an attack on capitalism's love affair with bureaucracy, asking why our lives revolve around forms, fines and threats.