Sex magic, aliens, and the Rapture: Ron Athey’s books for end times
The avant-garde artist known for his bloody, subversive performances schools us on Genesis P-Orridge, Mother Theresa, and ‘the solar anus.’
Tremaine Emory of No Vacancy Inn on the 5 books that ignited his love of art
The creative powerhouse discusses James Baldwin, Frank Miller's ‘Batman,’ and why the most inspiring books are those you haven't read yet.
‘The Memory Police’: Yoko Ogawa’s 1994 dystopian fiction gets a timely second life
The surrealist Japanese novel that predicted our current cultural amnesia is now available in English.
Capitalism is the internet troll you can’t block—and other lesson’s from Jia Tolentino’s ‘Trick Mirror’
The writer's debut book diagnoses a spectrum of incurable issues millennials face today
Toni Morrison remembered—in the words of Marlon James, Yara Shahidi, and Janet Mock
The giant of American literature has passed away at the age of 88—Here, five cultural figures describe the Morrison novels they'll never forget.
5 playful, surrealist books Sharna Osborne reaches to for inspiration
The photographer and videographer on the authors that inform her nostalgic VHS aesthetic, from the philosophical to the downright childish.
5 books beloved by the 2020 candidates—none of which are ‘Ulysses’
You can't judge a book by its cover, but you can judge the Democratic debates by the books the presidential hopefuls can't stop talking about.
‘Three Women’ is a gonzo odyssey into the underbelly of desire
Author Lisa Taddeo sets the record straight on sex positivity, #MeToo, and why she's not Carrie Bradshaw.
5 fantastical texts (and a Finnish cartoon) for escaping the heat
Designer Vasilis Loizides' summer reading list will transport you to new realms and change your perception.
Jess Cole’s 7 short books for each day of the week
“I'm seduced by writing that makes me feel something—and intensely so. I love the thrust of shorter literature it pulls, rolls, and leaves before you...
Ira Silverberg’s guide to poets as prose-writers, from Sylvia Plath to Ocean Vuong
The New York literary heavyweight gives his reading list of genre-defying poets.
Toni Morrison, in her own voice
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders's documentary, 'Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am,' reveals the author's strength and sharp wit, surprising no one.
John Edmonds’ 5 books for the serious daydreamer
The photographer assembles books to spark a 'Walter Mitty'-esque escape.
5 books that shaped Simone Rocha’s version of womanhood
The designer tells Document about the books that informed her romantic Edwardian aesthetic and made her laugh during pregnancy.
Celebrating Walt Whitman’s vulnerable, inclusive patriotism on his 200th birthday
“The genius of the United States is not best or most in its executives or legislatures, nor in its ambassadors or authors or colleges, or...
Edmund White’s 7 books to take to Provincetown
The author of 'A Boy's Own Story' gives his primer on LGBTQ+ literature.
Shelby Lorman’s 5 science fiction books for navigating our existing mess
The author and illustrator of 'Awards for Good Boys,' released today, selects otherworldly sci-fi books for discovering universal truths.
Lord Birthday’s 7 ‘religious’ texts for the post-religious age
The author and illustrator tells Document about the books that redeem and recharge him, from gripping personal memoirs about loss of faith to E. B....
Tilda Swinton’s first photography show, inspired by Virginia Woolf’s ‘Orlando’
The actor draws upon the gender-bending novel to guest edit Aperture's Summer 2019 issue, featuring photography by Collier Schorr and Carmen Winant.
Fatimah Asghar talks poetry, prose and the diverse nature of being a Muslim American
Document speaks with the artist about the power of social media, expanding the narrative, and why collaboration is always her guiding principle with an exclusive...
Liana Finck’s 9 favorite picture books for proper adults
The New Yorker cartoonist tells Document about the books she can't put down, from absurdist comic strips to illustrated personal anecdotes.
Critics Parul Sehgal and Teju Cole on the changing authority of words
The writers reflect on the strenuous, theatrical, and brutally confessional craft of contemporary criticism in Document S/S 2019.
John Waters and Edmund White decode death, sexting, and the flaws of Dalí
Ahead of Waters's new essay collection, 'Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder,' the writers reminisce on glory holes and redeem Warhol's legacy...
Helen Schulman explores age-old questions in the age of information
Set in a Silicon Valley multiverse ruled by apps and algorithms, Schulman's latest book 'Come With Me' reveals the myriad consequences of our gluttonous hunger...
Frankenstein 200 years later: are we finally living in a transhumanist world?
As science-fiction experiments become reality, author Hubert Haddad performs a head transplant and imagines a “modern prometheus” for the 21st century in ‘Desirable Body.’
Lawrence Ferlinghetti on the old San Francisco, his new novel, and his first 100 years
The literary legend discusses the legacy of City Lights, anarchism, and the San Francisco that was with editor Ira Silverberg.
Your favorite Disney princess is illegal in Kuwait
Kuwait has banned over 4,000 books in the last five years, including Disney's The Little Mermaid, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and Why We Write.
Denham Fouts: The most expensive male sex worker in the world
So-called by novelist Christopher Isherwood, Denham Fouts was pursued by a Greek king, a German baron, a British viscount, and many, many more. Arthur Vanderbilt...
A look back at Gore Vidal’s “sexual paradise”
Was Gore Vidal’s objection to being defined as gay intellectual—“post-gay” before his time?—or was it personal, rooted in the sexual mores of a different generation?
Author Chris Kraus interrogates social practice in her upcoming book of the same name
Chris Kraus makes radical proposals for how art can be read through context and circumstances in Social Practice
Ottessa Moshfegh gives sleeping it off a try, for once
Murder, booze, and sex have been just some of the novelist's go-tos in the past. Now, the dissolution of her latest book takes its inspiration...
Emily Wilson and Maria Dahvana Headley on goddesses and monsters
Challenging the ways in which the ancient epics ‘The Odyssey’ and ‘Beowulf’ have been translated by men, authors Emily Wilson and Maria Dahvana Headley discuss...
Big books and bigger sticker prices are for big boys, only, researchers conclude
An analysis of over 2 million books published between 2002 and 2012 by researchers at the City University of New York finds that publishing, after...
It took six months and 18 sexual assault allegations for the Swedish Academy to confront its own #MeToo crisis
The elite body responsible for awarding the Nobel Prize in Literature is handling its own sexual misconduct crisis more poorly than you could imagine.
In ‘Blue Self-Portrait’ Noémi Lefebvre created a space to breathe
Document talks with the French author about her breakthrough novel, Blue Self-Portrait, out in the U.S. this month.
Novelists Édouard Louis and Zadie Smith on writing in a distracting political present
The novelists, famous for addressing the trauma of the present and the past in their work, seek to harness the energy of uncompromised political beliefs.
