Family
Persons of Interest
The Rise and Fall of the Trad Wife
Alena Kate Pettitt helped lead an online movement promoting domesticity. Now she says, “It’s become its own monster.”
Photo Booth
A Landmark Look at Family Dysfunction
Richard Billingham’s unvarnished depiction of his parents and brother in the book “Ray’s a Laugh” earned him accusations of sensationalism. But, he says, “I’m a realist.”
The Weekend Essay
The Fab Five and Hair That Does the Talking
In my youth, when I wore a kufi, what my hair looked like became a source of wonder for the people around me. I took a foolish pleasure in holding on to that kind of power.
Personal History
Missing My Dad’s Funeral
At thirteen, I went to sleepaway camp, consumed by crushes, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and my father’s worsening battle with AIDS.
Screening Room
A Family Reunion with High Jinks and Catharsis in “Cousins”
In Karina Dandashi’s short film, a night out shortens the distance between two cousins.
Cover Story
Sarula Bao’s “Lunar New Year”
The artist depicts the joys of gathering with loved ones, around a table of good food.
The Front Row
“All of Us Strangers” Is a Romantic Fantasy About Filmmaking
Andrew Scott stars in Andrew Haigh’s metaphysical melodrama of an orphaned gay screenwriter’s yearnings for love and family.
The Weekend Essay
Facing the Rivals
I was eager to escape my parents. Then they befriended a couple from Belgium, who seemed eager to replace me.
Photo Booth
These Photos Are “Pure Fiction”
Talia Chetrit’s heady and eclectic body of work pokes holes in our expectations of what an image can reveal or hide.
This Week in Fiction
Shuang Xuetao on Labor and the Heart
The author discusses “Heart,” his story from the latest issue of the magazine.
The New Yorker Documentary
Happiness Begins with Café con Leche, in “Encarnación”
In a low moment, the filmmaker David Pisonero Tarantino set out to learn how his great-aunt maintained her bright disposition.
The New Yorker Documentary
A Grandmother’s Salt and Pepper Shakers Take on a New Life
In a short documentary, Meredith Moore catalogues her grandmother’s extensive collection, and explores how our obsessions shape our lives.
Page-Turner
“Hangman” Turns the Novel of Migration Upside Down
Maya Binyam’s sphinxlike début, about an exile returning home, punctures the demands we make of immigrants and their stories.
Culture Desk
Time-Travelling with My Father
Accompanying my dad to dialysis doesn’t feel like the promise of the future I had imagined.
Page-Turner
Sammy Harkham’s Work-Life Balance
“Blood of the Virgin” is about the discovery that family and art require the same resources.
Photo Booth
A Tender and Knowing Portrait of Rural Life in Wisconsin
Erinn Springer’s “Dormant Season” pays tribute to a patch of prairie that her family has called home for generations.
The Weekend Essay
Growing Up in the House of Freud
My psychoanalyst father wanted to prove the existence of the unconscious in the lab—and at home.
The New Yorker Documentary
A Father-Son Racetrack Rivalry in “Supernova”
The documentary short, co-directed by a pair of brothers, follows a father and son as they enter a new phase of their careers and their relationship.
Under Review
The Upper West Side Cult That Hid in Plain Sight
In the sixties and seventies, the Sullivanian Institute had a winning sales pitch for young New Yorkers: parties, sex, low rent, and affordable therapy.