More from Seija Rankin
For Ziwe, Hell Is Getting Confronted About Sociopolitical Issues at Target
There’s just one problem with Ziwe’s first book of personal essays: She really hates getting personal. “I don’t want anyone to know anything about me,” she says with a laugh while Zooming from her home in New York. “I hate sharing.” The comedian and writer became famous for her uncomfortable, nearly satirical interviews with stars […]
- By
Bryan Washington on Writing About Houston’s Queer Spaces and Sharing Restaurant Lexicon with ‘The Bear’
Bryan Washington has been publishing writing about Houston — at book length, at least — for more than four years to extreme success. His first short story collection, 2019’s Lot, earned him a spot on the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 list and a spot on Barack Obama’s annual list of favorite books. His follow-up […]
- By
Melissa Broder on the Inspiration for New Novel ‘Death Valley’ and Her High Hopes for the Big Screen
In Melissa Broder’s new novel, the protagonist is a novelist dealing with a father in the ICU and a husband with a chronic illness; she escapes to the parched California wilderness in search of figurative (and literal) clarity and discovers a cactus with mythical powers. Death Valley is what the author describes as a “sendup […]
- By
Inside the Whirlwind ‘May December’ Production and Big Netflix Payout
Sophie Mas and Natalie Portman met by chance at the Cannes Film Festival 15 years ago. Portman was on the jury, Mas was introduced through a friend, and they developed an instant friendship. A decade and a half later, they found themselves back at the Croisette — this time to premiere the first project out […]
- By
How Jordan Firstman’s Instagram Hangover Led to His First Starring Movie Role
Jordan Firstman is sitting on a couch in a sterile corporate office after a photo shoot, wearing just a pink beach towel and cowboy boots, talking about recreational drugs. The juxtaposition is both funny and an apt metaphor for his career path. He spent eight years working in the writers rooms of irreverent comedies like […]
- By
Kerry Washington on What You Still Don’t Know About Her Memoir
By now, you’ve probably heard about the major plot point in Kerry Washington’s new memoir. If not: In 2018, her parents told her that her father is not her biological father; she is the result of her parents’ use of a sperm donor. It’s the inciting incident for Thicker Than Water, and also for a […]
- By
Netflix Sets Heather McMahan Stand-Up Special ‘Son I Never Had’ (Exclusive)
Heather McMahan found herself an absolutely yes. The comedian, who also hosts the popular Absolutely Not podcast on the Dear Media network, will debut her first stand-up special on Netflix Oct. 17. Titled Son I Never Had, the hourlong show is based on the material from her facetiously-titled The Farewell Tour, which ran 94 dates […]
- By
Maggie O’Farrell on the ‘Hamnet’ Adaptation, Working With Chloé Zhao, and What ‘The Marriage Portrait’ Means to Her
Maggie O’Farrell has had a prolific summer. After becoming an instant bestseller and a finalist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, her 2022 novel The Marriage Portrait — which tells the somewhat true story of young Lucrezia di Cosimo de’Medici’s arranged marriage in 1500s Florence — was released in paperback. Her publisher, Knopf, is also […]
- By
‘The Other Black Girl’ Author on Adapting Her Novel for a Post-2020 World
When The Other Black Girl hit bookshelves June 1, 2021, it was already a phenomenon. The manuscript went through a 14-way auction, eventually landing at Atria for a seven-figure deal — and an adaptation was already in the works at Hulu after a similarly competitive bidding war. The novel became an instant New York Times best-seller. […]
- By
Excerpt: How Long Beach Gay Bars, a Yellow Hatchback and a Stevie Wonder Run-In Influenced Melissa Etheridge’s Early Career
Melissa Etheridge’s storied career has been marked by all sorts of accomplishments: The singer-songwriter has been nominated for 15 Grammy Awards (with wins for best rock vocal performance in 1993 and 1995), she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and an Oscar (for her original song “I Need to Wake Up” from […]
- By
Venice Hidden Gem: Newcomers Fuel Partly Improvised ‘Gasoline Rainbow’
When Bill and Turner Ross were in the early days of brainstorming their latest film, they decided to take each other out to lunch to discuss the ideas they’d had floating around for the past few months, mostly via back-and-forth texts. They sat outside at a restaurant in New Orleans, where the brothers live a […]
- By
Jessica St. Clair and June Diane Raphael’s Podcast Offshoot Offers a Subversive Take on Wellness
June Diane Raphael and Jessica St. Clair launched their podcast, The Deep Dive, in the midst of the pandemic as a way to compensate for the loneliness and disconnect of lockdown. Each week, the two longtime friends and creative collaborators discuss their pursuit of joy amid a bevy of challenges both relatable (motherhood, aging) and […]
- By