The Whitney Review of New Writing (Issue 5)

The Whitney Review of New Writing is expanding literary criticism. Bringing together author interviews, literary essays, and short-format book reviews, it offers an interdisciplinary perspective on the culture of reading and writing. The fifth issue features interviews with Sianne Ngai, Ishmael Houston-Jones, and Bruce Benderson, essays on Peter Weiss's anti-fascist magnum opus, new horizons in first-person essay writing, and a meditation on the archetype of the fag hag. Ruby McCollister considers the legacy of the bouquet fragrance and Barbara Lazaroff while Celebrity Book Club podcasters Steven Phillips-Horst and Lily Marotta revisit the Oprah Book Club scandal featuring James Frey. There's poetry by Karl Holmqvist plus reviews by leading voices, among them A. S. Hamrah, Rhea Dillon, Alissa Bennett, Rayne Fisher-Quann, Drew Zeiba, Paige K. Bradley., Ludwig Hurtado, and more. Since its founding in 2023, this biannual newsprint journal has earned an unlikely cohort of admirers and partners. Writing in all forms — from small-press poetry to celebrity memoir to advertising copy — is examined with wit, intelligence, and originality.