Never mind heaving bosoms and whimpering grunts, some writers – from Sally Rooney to DH Lawrence – depict genuine, sometimes graphic, intimacy in all its forms
November 2022
Tsitsi Dangarembga, Anne Carson and Mary Gaitskill honoured by Royal Society of Literature
New authors chosen for the RSL International Writers programme, championing ‘the power of literature to transcend borders’, are announced
February 2022
‘A certain pleasant darkness’: what makes a good fictional sex scene?
The novelist Niamh Campbell on why describing intimacy is so difficult and how creative writing about sexuality is changing. Plus, she picks 10 of her favourite examples
January 2022
Oppositions by Mary Gaitskill review – wide-ranging, unsparing essays
From Nabokov to Talking Heads, these insightful and revealing pieces stubbornly reject groupthink
November 2021
The best original photographs from the Observer
Original Observer Photography
Books interview
Mary Gaitskill: ‘I have a nuanced mind, for better and worse’
August 2021
Take risks and tell the truth: how to write a great short story
Drawing on writers from Anton Chekhov to Kit de Waal, Donal Ryan explores the art of writing short fiction. Plus Chris Power on the best books for budding short story writers
December 2020
This much I know
Mary Gaitskill: ‘The menopause had tremendous creative energy for me’
The novelist, 66, tells Megan Nolan about knowing how to behave, the terrors of climate change and appearing in her students’ dreams
November 2019
Mary Gaitskill: ‘I don’t like the word ‘harassment’ any more. That doesn’t always seem to be the right word’
This Is Pleasure by Mary Gaitskill review – a moment of reckoning
October 2019
Book of the day
This Is Pleasure by Mary Gaitskill review – pitch perfect response to #MeToo
The American writer’s extraordinary novella tells the story of one man’s fall from grace with real nerve
August 2019
Cat Person author Kristen Roupenian on the trouble with writing about sex
Mary Gaitskill’s collection Bad Behaviour has defined her career. Will a new generation of female writers be stereotyped in the same way?
August 2017
Short story roundup – prison, pregnancy and the pain of adolescent sexuality
The latest crop of short stories offers visceral truths from a range of viewpoints
July 2016
Critical eye
Book reviews roundup: The Mare; The Allegations; White Sands
What the critics thought of The Mare by Mary Gaitskill, The Allegations by Mark Lawson and White Sands by Geoff Dyer
The Mare by Mary Gaitskill review – bold, dramatic and deeply unsettling
A childless couple, a troubled inner-city kid and a volatile horse are the ingredients in a complex story of love, guilt and attachment
Mary Gaitskill: ‘Literature is not a realm for politeness’
Provocative US author Mary Gaitskill talks about writing, parenting and teaching in the age of ‘safe spaces’
