Yes! If you’re a writer interested in submitting or pitching, here’s what we’re interested to see:
A critical essay could be “about” almost anything — books, technology, sports, entertainment, celebrities, politics, fashion — or it can connect the dots between examples in multiple categories. At its heart, a critical essay should make an informed, clear-eyed argument about what a particular person or artifact or trend shows us about the way our culture functions today.
Whatever you’re writing about, it should be something that matters to people right now, or something that will matter to them forever, or both. If it doesn’t have an obvious news peg, make sure it’s clear why your idea is important right now. Your piece should both take into account the conversation that’s already going on around the topic and advance it in a significant way.
With features, we're looking for profiles of interesting people, stories about a particular place or trend and fascinating narratives.
We don't run as many personal essays as we used to but we are still interested in them. For personal essays, we’re looking for writing with a strong voice that doesn’t just describe your own experience, but builds on it to create something deeply valuable and compelling to readers. There’s more than one way to do that. It might be writing about something other people haven’t experienced and will be fascinated to understand better, or a discussion of something tough or taboo that isn’t talked about enough, or an aspect of your own life that sheds light on a current news story. Whatever that experience is, it should offer insight into an ongoing and relevant cultural conversation for readers.
Personal essays can deal with almost any topic; some to think about are money, family, food, religion, sexuality, relationships, disability, illness (mental or physical), hormones, race, body image, drugs, travel. The bottom line is that you should know why you’re writing about whatever you’re writing about. What did you learn from your experience? What should we learn? What does it illuminate about humans and the world we live in? Not every personal essay needs to have a tidy ending. And writing doesn’t have to be sad to be profound; funny is great! But the piece should crystallize a clear main idea that feels really fresh and meaningful.
