Arts in Society | Fiction | Literature & Culture | Poetry | Boston Review

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Arts in Society

Arts in Society brings our previously siloed poetry and fiction—along with cultural criticism and belles lettres—into a common project. It focuses on how the arts—including the visual arts, theater, dance, and film—can speak directly to the most pressing political and civic concerns, including racism, inequality, poverty, demagoguery, sex- and gender-based violence, a disempowered electorate, and a collapsing natural world.

Arts in Society

Straight Down to the Bones

In this searching interview, legendary Black Arts poet Sonia Sanchez discusses the ancestral influences on her work and how art can give us strength. Includes new audio of Sanchez reading from her work.

Sonia Sanchez, Christina Knight

Arts in Society

Writing Our Ancestors

Join us on Thursday, March 11 for a launch event for our new literary anthology, Ancestors, featuring readings by award-winning contributors.

Poetry

So I was surprised,
my mother telling me tonight
that having dreaded the loss
of her memory for so long,
the loss itself had come
as a kind of peace.

Dust

Arts in Society

The Millions

“Healing never restores us to the way we were before getting hurt.” A trip to Machu Picchu ends up offering surprising insights into what it means to be a survivor of the genocide of Native Americans.

Poetry

Hattie was building a temple
in her back yard,
she had one room of four,
on the door of that room read
bridge to the other side.

Proofreader

Arts in Society, Law & Justice

A Parable and Parody of Restorative Justice

The Netflix series Dead to Me suggests that we might get closer to justice by forgiving each other and ourselves for the sometimes literally fatal flaw of being human.

Arts in Society

Ancestral Wealth

The Sacred Black Masculine in My Life

Arts in Society

From the Editors: Ancestors

In our new book, some of today’s most imaginative writers consider what it means to be made and fashioned by others.

Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Adam McGee, Ed Pavlić, Ivelisse Rodriguez

Poetry

Can kin include those outside our family, our species? Who includes us, who do we include?

The Kindreds

Meredith Stricker

Arts in Society

Return to the Gay Underground

Dennis Cooper became famous in the 1980s for his transgressive fiction about marginalized men. A new biography makes a case for what his works can offer readers now, in our era of deep suffering and infuriating indifference.

Arts in Society

Untangling Fiction and Reality in the Balkans

The award-winning documentary ‘Honeyland’ sets out to offer a timeless environmental parable, but in the process it also explores misconceptions about the region’s culture and history.

Arts in Society

New Book: Ancestors

In our Winter 2021 book, some of today’s most imaginative writers consider what it means to be made and fashioned by others. Preorder now.

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