Virginia Quarterly Review
@vqr.bsky.social
An award-winning national magazine at the University of Virginia. Established in 1925. vqronline.org
Weekly email newsletter: http://eepurl.com/hiepvn
Weekly poetry newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ilfAh1
Weekly email newsletter: http://eepurl.com/hiepvn
Weekly poetry newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ilfAh1
Pinned
Our centennial issue is online today, featuring essays from Joseph Earl Thomas, Leslie Jamison, and Tom Bissell; portfolios from Syria by George Butler & Columbia University by Nina Berman; fiction by Etgar Keret & Karan Mahajan, poetry by Victoria Chang, and more: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025
VQR Editor at Large Leslie Jamison and her daughter go to the depths of Disneyland in “Dark Ride to the Source,” a new essay in our centennial issue: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
August 21, 2025 at 4:26 PM
VQR Editor at Large Leslie Jamison and her daughter go to the depths of Disneyland in “Dark Ride to the Source,” a new essay in our centennial issue: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
Reposted by Virginia Quarterly Review
Reposted by Virginia Quarterly Review
I love when I read a piece of poetry that resonatesso deeply and on such a personal level. Thank you Amanda Gunn, not only was this beautiful but so very real and raw. Diagnostic I www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
Diagnostic I
Where you are goingyou cannot takeyour things leavein this locker the rivetsat the corners of your bluejeans
www.vqronline.org
August 12, 2025 at 3:05 AM
I love when I read a piece of poetry that resonatesso deeply and on such a personal level. Thank you Amanda Gunn, not only was this beautiful but so very real and raw. Diagnostic I www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
Reposted by Virginia Quarterly Review
thoughtful exploration of what all those 'one-euro houses!' actually mean in reality
The Sedini Special
If you could move anywhere, where would it be? This used to be a question I’d ask myself or others at dinner parties or in fits of fancy, but two years ago, as new parents facing both the unsustainabl...
www.vqronline.org
August 13, 2025 at 8:17 PM
thoughtful exploration of what all those 'one-euro houses!' actually mean in reality
In “Seeing Political,” @LouiePalu.bsky.social’s political photography goes in search of the imperfect picture, deconstructing the photo op to perfect it. Read the rest of his #VQRTrueStory in partnership with the Pulitzer Center from our centennial issue: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
July 31, 2025 at 5:33 PM
In “Seeing Political,” @LouiePalu.bsky.social’s political photography goes in search of the imperfect picture, deconstructing the photo op to perfect it. Read the rest of his #VQRTrueStory in partnership with the Pulitzer Center from our centennial issue: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
Cyantown investigates a murder in the latest Open Letter, by Gambineri, from our centennial issue. Find out who did it: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
Cyantown
www.vqronline.org
July 28, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Cyantown investigates a murder in the latest Open Letter, by Gambineri, from our centennial issue. Find out who did it: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
Nina Berman’s photographs of Columbia University are “haunting images of a locked-down campus… autocracy revealed in the form of a restive yet silence space under control,” Ellen Schrecker writes in her introduction to the portfolio, new in our centennial issue: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
July 24, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Nina Berman’s photographs of Columbia University are “haunting images of a locked-down campus… autocracy revealed in the form of a restive yet silence space under control,” Ellen Schrecker writes in her introduction to the portfolio, new in our centennial issue: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
Reposted by Virginia Quarterly Review
this essay about a Pokémon tournament was so good it made me boot up my emulator for the first time in many a year www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
The Game Is Played With Great Feeling
In the back of an Uber creeping down Decatur Street, my driver, Ursa, this short-haired Black woman a generation above me, is reminiscing about last week’s Frankie Beverly concert, slowing down to rep...
www.vqronline.org
July 23, 2025 at 7:16 PM
this essay about a Pokémon tournament was so good it made me boot up my emulator for the first time in many a year www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
“The second time I escaped a language was conscious and planned. In the summer of 1997, right after college, I left the suburbs of Madrid for New York City to learn English and the language of my body,” Javier Fuentes writes in our latest On Becoming column: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
July 23, 2025 at 5:48 PM
“The second time I escaped a language was conscious and planned. In the summer of 1997, right after college, I left the suburbs of Madrid for New York City to learn English and the language of my body,” Javier Fuentes writes in our latest On Becoming column: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
Tom Bissell met William Goldman as a young writer in New York City, at first with the intent of profiling him. But their relationship became something more important than a single article, Bissell recalls in “Awe and Splendor,” a profile from our centennial issue: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
July 22, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Tom Bissell met William Goldman as a young writer in New York City, at first with the intent of profiling him. But their relationship became something more important than a single article, Bissell recalls in “Awe and Splendor,” a profile from our centennial issue: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
Reposted by Virginia Quarterly Review
This is one of those Rare Things: a piece about a game that's beautifully written and meaningful (+ readable) to those beyond its fandom.
Much applause to novelist/professor Joseph Earl Thomas, and to @longreads.com for pointing in its direction.
www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
Much applause to novelist/professor Joseph Earl Thomas, and to @longreads.com for pointing in its direction.
www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
The Game Is Played With Great Feeling
In the back of an Uber creeping down Decatur Street, my driver, Ursa, this short-haired Black woman a generation above me, is reminiscing about last week’s Frankie Beverly concert, slowing down to rep...
www.vqronline.org
July 18, 2025 at 1:53 PM
This is one of those Rare Things: a piece about a game that's beautifully written and meaningful (+ readable) to those beyond its fandom.
Much applause to novelist/professor Joseph Earl Thomas, and to @longreads.com for pointing in its direction.
www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
Much applause to novelist/professor Joseph Earl Thomas, and to @longreads.com for pointing in its direction.
www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
Reposted by Virginia Quarterly Review
Grantee George Butler travels back to Syria, after 12 years, to portray a nation rebuilding itself.
These interviews for @vqr.bsky.social showcase how civil society—the bedrock of the Syrian humanitarian response—is flourishing across the country. bit.ly/4nUvbvF
These interviews for @vqr.bsky.social showcase how civil society—the bedrock of the Syrian humanitarian response—is flourishing across the country. bit.ly/4nUvbvF
In the Silences Between Caution and Hope
Portraits From a New Syria It’s easy to be cynical about Syria. Westerners have become largely inured to the bad news coming out of the country, where, under the brutal Baathist regimes of Bashar al.....
pulitzercenter.org
July 18, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Grantee George Butler travels back to Syria, after 12 years, to portray a nation rebuilding itself.
These interviews for @vqr.bsky.social showcase how civil society—the bedrock of the Syrian humanitarian response—is flourishing across the country. bit.ly/4nUvbvF
These interviews for @vqr.bsky.social showcase how civil society—the bedrock of the Syrian humanitarian response—is flourishing across the country. bit.ly/4nUvbvF
Reposted by Virginia Quarterly Review
4. "The Game Is Played With Great Feeling" (Joseph Earl Thomas)
"But this is no mere subculture story or travelogue. It’s a journey under the skin, an investigation of why the game has become such a specific kind of phenomenon."
www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
"But this is no mere subculture story or travelogue. It’s a journey under the skin, an investigation of why the game has become such a specific kind of phenomenon."
www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
The Game Is Played With Great Feeling
In the back of an Uber creeping down Decatur Street, my driver, Ursa, this short-haired Black woman a generation above me, is reminiscing about last week’s Frankie Beverly concert, slowing down to rep...
www.vqronline.org
July 18, 2025 at 1:17 PM
4. "The Game Is Played With Great Feeling" (Joseph Earl Thomas)
"But this is no mere subculture story or travelogue. It’s a journey under the skin, an investigation of why the game has become such a specific kind of phenomenon."
www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
"But this is no mere subculture story or travelogue. It’s a journey under the skin, an investigation of why the game has become such a specific kind of phenomenon."
www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
Reposted by Virginia Quarterly Review
In our Weekly Top 5:
* A first-person flood account @texasmonthly.bsky.social
* Californians icing ICE @rollingstone.com
* Sexually diverse vegetables @noemamag.com
* Pokémon: Go! @vqr.bsky.social
* Polo clonies @wired.com
longreads.com/2025/07/18/t...
* A first-person flood account @texasmonthly.bsky.social
* Californians icing ICE @rollingstone.com
* Sexually diverse vegetables @noemamag.com
* Pokémon: Go! @vqr.bsky.social
* Polo clonies @wired.com
longreads.com/2025/07/18/t...
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week - Longreads
Showcasing stories from Aaron Parsley, David Peisner, Leah Zani, Joseph Earl Thomas, and Matt Reynolds.
longreads.com
July 18, 2025 at 1:17 PM
In our Weekly Top 5:
* A first-person flood account @texasmonthly.bsky.social
* Californians icing ICE @rollingstone.com
* Sexually diverse vegetables @noemamag.com
* Pokémon: Go! @vqr.bsky.social
* Polo clonies @wired.com
longreads.com/2025/07/18/t...
* A first-person flood account @texasmonthly.bsky.social
* Californians icing ICE @rollingstone.com
* Sexually diverse vegetables @noemamag.com
* Pokémon: Go! @vqr.bsky.social
* Polo clonies @wired.com
longreads.com/2025/07/18/t...
A student comes to IIT-Delhi’s administrative offices to change his name—and his entire identity. Read “A Friendship,” fiction by Karan Mahajan in our centennial issue. www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
A Friendship
The metallic desks in the administrative offices of IIT-Delhi, India’s top-ranked engineering college, hadn’t been moved since 1976; nor had their bureaucratic occupants. This created in the office an...
www.vqronline.org
July 17, 2025 at 11:49 PM
A student comes to IIT-Delhi’s administrative offices to change his name—and his entire identity. Read “A Friendship,” fiction by Karan Mahajan in our centennial issue. www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
“The Cloud of Unknowing, 2019,” new poetry by Victoria Chang in our centennial issue: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
The Cloud of Unknowing, 2019
The tops of the buildings were shorn. So I walkeddown Market Street to see if I could find them. The fog tried to take my head off. I was so scared onsome parts of Market that I stayed a few feet behi...
www.vqronline.org
July 17, 2025 at 12:55 PM
“The Cloud of Unknowing, 2019,” new poetry by Victoria Chang in our centennial issue: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
Reposted by Virginia Quarterly Review
"As my best friend once reminded me: A parent is not a carpenter; she is a gardener. We don’t construct our children. We tend to them." —Leslie Jamison for @vqr.bsky.social
www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
Dark Ride to the Source
Over the course of thirty-six hours, my daughter and I rode with Mr. Toad into the depths of hell, squinted at a bonfire of sewing spindles, choked on hairspray, broke the fourth wall at least fifteen...
www.vqronline.org
July 16, 2025 at 6:41 PM
"As my best friend once reminded me: A parent is not a carpenter; she is a gardener. We don’t construct our children. We tend to them." —Leslie Jamison for @vqr.bsky.social
www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
Executive editor Allison Wright and editorial assistant Julia Mathas peek behind the curtain of VQR’s formative years in this snapshot from the magazine’s archives, the first in a series that will unfold throughout the year. Tour the vault with them: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
July 16, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Executive editor Allison Wright and editorial assistant Julia Mathas peek behind the curtain of VQR’s formative years in this snapshot from the magazine’s archives, the first in a series that will unfold throughout the year. Tour the vault with them: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
Reposted by Virginia Quarterly Review
Grantee @louiepalu.bsky.social is taking an alternative approach to political photography.
"What might be gained by revealing the architecture behind these constructed moments of political life?”
Learn more in this “visual column” for the @vqr.bsky.social.
👉 bit.ly/44w7TVt
"What might be gained by revealing the architecture behind these constructed moments of political life?”
Learn more in this “visual column” for the @vqr.bsky.social.
👉 bit.ly/44w7TVt
July 15, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Grantee @louiepalu.bsky.social is taking an alternative approach to political photography.
"What might be gained by revealing the architecture behind these constructed moments of political life?”
Learn more in this “visual column” for the @vqr.bsky.social.
👉 bit.ly/44w7TVt
"What might be gained by revealing the architecture behind these constructed moments of political life?”
Learn more in this “visual column” for the @vqr.bsky.social.
👉 bit.ly/44w7TVt
Days after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, George Butler went to Syria. “In the Silences Between Caution and Hope” is a collection of portraits of a society reckoning with what it means to be free. In partnership with @pulitzercenter.bsky.social: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
July 15, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Days after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, George Butler went to Syria. “In the Silences Between Caution and Hope” is a collection of portraits of a society reckoning with what it means to be free. In partnership with @pulitzercenter.bsky.social: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
ICYMI:
Our centennial issue is online today, featuring essays from Joseph Earl Thomas, Leslie Jamison, and Tom Bissell; portfolios from Syria by George Butler & Columbia University by Nina Berman; fiction by Etgar Keret & Karan Mahajan, poetry by Victoria Chang, and more: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025
July 14, 2025 at 9:42 PM
ICYMI:
Reposted by Virginia Quarterly Review
Latest on Columbia with words by historian Ellen Schrecker www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
In the Hallowed Place Where There’s Only Darkness
For more than fifty years, I have been studying and writing about political repression and higher education, with a special emphasis on McCarthyism, long considered by historians to be the most seriou...
www.vqronline.org
July 10, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Latest on Columbia with words by historian Ellen Schrecker www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
VQR Editor at Large Leslie Jamison and her daughter go to the depths of Disneyland in “Dark Ride to the Source,” a new essay in our centennial issue: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
Dark Ride to the Source
Over the course of thirty-six hours, my daughter and I rode with Mr. Toad into the depths of hell, squinted at a bonfire of sewing spindles, choked on hairspray, broke the fourth wall at least fifteen...
www.vqronline.org
July 14, 2025 at 2:33 PM
VQR Editor at Large Leslie Jamison and her daughter go to the depths of Disneyland in “Dark Ride to the Source,” a new essay in our centennial issue: www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
Reposted by Virginia Quarterly Review
What is going on at Columbia? Ellen Shrecker, esteemed historian of McCarthyism and higher ed, and Nina Berman, documentary photographer extraordinaire, answer clearly.
In the Hallowed Place Where There’s Only Darkness
For more than fifty years, I have been studying and writing about political repression and higher education, with a special emphasis on McCarthyism, long considered by historians to be the most seriou...
www.vqronline.org
July 12, 2025 at 11:00 AM
What is going on at Columbia? Ellen Shrecker, esteemed historian of McCarthyism and higher ed, and Nina Berman, documentary photographer extraordinaire, answer clearly.
Reposted by Virginia Quarterly Review
"But, as Nina Berman’s photographs of Columbia University show, what has been happening to the American academy these days is incommensurably worse." 2/2 www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...
In the Hallowed Place Where There’s Only Darkness
For more than fifty years, I have been studying and writing about political repression and higher education, with a special emphasis on McCarthyism, long considered by historians to be the most seriou...
www.vqronline.org
July 11, 2025 at 3:06 AM
"But, as Nina Berman’s photographs of Columbia University show, what has been happening to the American academy these days is incommensurably worse." 2/2 www.vqronline.org/spring-2025/...