May 2013 Issue

“www.deepintrusion.com, 2004″ by Laura Carton
from Stripped, 2010

April 2013 Issue

“New York Dash”
by Greg Waldmann

March 2013 Issue

By the poet Paul Hannigan, who would have turned 77 this month

February 2013 Issue

“Refinement and Elegance,” 2010
by Caleb Cole

“I’m interested in failure…”

a conversation with cover-artist Caleb Cole

January 2013 Issue

A still from Face (triptych)
by Aaron Angello

December 2012: The Burgess Issue

“Anthony Burgess”
by Rachel Burgess

November 2012 Issue

“Inside the Glass Origin” (detail)
By David Abed

October 2012 Issue

from “Ink” by Katie Caron

September 2012 Issue

“Prewar” by Kathleen Rooney

August 2012 Issue

from Useful Fictions by Adrianne Mathiowetz

July 2012 Issue

from Imeday Imeday Olladay Icklenay
by Jennifer Catron and Paul Outlaw

June 2012 Issue

photo by Jeff Proctor

May 2012 Issue

Theresa Anderson
“Bernie Bee”

April 2012 Issue

Joshua Ware
“Hannibal Missouri”

March 2012 Issue

February 2012 Issue

Megan Heeres
detail from “Home Alone”

January 2012 Issue

Bill Amundson
“The Promised Land”

December 2011 Issue

Rebirth to the Stars
by Patti Lee Becker

November 2011 Issue

from “A Strange Beauty”
by John Bonath

October 2011 Issue

from “Collective Tissue”
by Katie Caron

September 2011 Issue

“Do what the clouds do (for Charles Wright)”
by Charles Matson Lume

August 2011 Issue

from “Chapel for One”
by Quynh Vantu

July 2011 Issue

from “Keeping Up Appearances”
by Elizabeth Alexander

June 2011 Issue

“Spiro #0114″ by Tim Eads

May 2011 Issue

“Music Box Toaster” by Julie Schustack

April 2011 Issue

“Thicket” by Karen Roehl

March 2011 Issue

“Celestial Navigation” by Peter Illig and Rebecca Vaughan

February 2011 Issue

“4 Men at a Desk” by Addie Langford

January 2011 Issue

from “After Usuyuki” by Anne Gorrick

December 2010 Issue

“Greenhouse Post” by J. Robert Lennon

November 2010 Issue

from “Study (St. Eustace)” by Sarah Goldstein

October 2010 Issue

“Unquote” by Skye Gilkerson

#3 The Big Short

The Big Short
By Michael Lewis
W.W. Norton, 2010
I used to know a pair of aspiring plutocrats who’d occasionally trade books about rich investors managing, through their cunning, to get even richer. “He’s a very interesting guy,” …

#2 The Obama Diaries

#2 in our third annual Fiction Bestseller List feature.

#5 Sliding into Home

Sliding into Home
By Kendra Wilkinson
Gallery Books, 2010
Kendra Wilkinson’s name will be familiar to the many fans of her two reality-TV shows, The Girls Next Door and Kendra, and the story she tells in Sliding Into …

#7 Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang

Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang
By Chelsea Handler
Grand Central Publishing, 2010
It’s hard not to like Chelsea Handler, only you keep wishing she were funny. Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang is her third book to reach the bestseller list, …

#10 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
By Rebecca Skloot
Crown Publishing Group, 2010
In American criminal law, there is a doctrine called “the fruit of the poisonous tree.” In the 1950s, it was at the core of Fourth …

#6 Coming Back Stronger

Coming Back Stronger: Unleashing the Hidden Power of Adversity
by Drew Brees with Chris Fabry
Tyndale House Publishers, 2010
Winning a Super Bowl entitles you to a book. I don’t have any problem with that. Win …

#1 Sh*t My Dad Says

Sh*t My Dad Says
By Justin Halpern
ItBooks/HarperCollins, 2010
The story behind this New York Times best-selling plotless, formless, uncrafted 90-page pamphlet is the kind of thing that could give hope to an entire San Fernando Valley of …

#8 Empire of the Summer Moon

Empire of the Summer Moon
By S.C. Gwynne
Scribner, 2010
I naturally looked at this whole endeavor with trepidation. After all, the latest reading-polls of adult Americans are not promising. Fewer and fewer adults are reading at all, …

#4 Medium Raw

Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook
By Anthony Bourdain
Ecco/HarperCollins, 2010
There’s a chapter in celebrity chef/food critic Anthony Bourdain’s new book Medium Raw about his life-expanding and heartwarming …

#9 Outliers

Outliers: The Story of Success
By Malcolm Gladwell
Little, Brown, 2008
It’s always an awkward thing, when the foremost ideological bullshitter of one generation is still alive when the next generation’s guru comes along. Thus it must be …

September 2010 Issue

“Bowling” by Kirsten Lewis

August 2010 Issue

draft notes from Adam Golaski’s “Green”

July 2010 Issue

“Pride” by Randolph Pfaff and Carissa Halston

June 2010 Issue

“Garage 1″ by Kyle Siddons

May 2010 Issue

“Owl#1 (from the Dan Series)” by Catherine Bourassa-Hébert

April 2010 Issue

from “It Would Look Like…” (Project Row Houses) by Stephanie Diamond

March 2010 Issue

“snoverkill” by Jeffrey Eaton

February 2010 issue

“Dominium” by Katie Caron

January 2010 issue

Lights by Rachel Burgess

December 2009 Issue

“Gates in Winter” by Jeffrey Eaton

November 2009 Issue

“Marguerite Duras” by Carl Kohler.

October 2009 Issue

“Arkansas Sky” by Farrah Field

September 2009 Issue

Photo by Michael George

August 2009 Issue

“White Sands” by Mark Contino

July 2009 Issue

“Scotland Rearview” by Jeffrey Eaton

June 2009 Issue

Photo from Chris Marstall

May 2009 Issue

Photo by Joe Sacks

April 2009 Issue

“Stephanie” by Jonas Sacks

March 2009 Issue

Illustration by Rachel Burgess

February 2009 Issue

“West Unity Road” by Jeffrey Eaton

January 2009 Issue

Illustration of Jack Spicer by Rachel Burgess

December 2008 Issue

Photo by Vladimir Gitin

November 2008 Issue

Painting by Michela Emeson

October 2008 Issue

“One is the Loneliest Number” by Wes Thomas

September 2008 Issue

“A Room with a View” by Judy West.

August 2008 issue

Open Letters’ Monthly 2008 cover images

July 2008 Issue

“Run Down House, Ooty” by Sriram Ramgopal

June 2008 issue

Lori Parkman is an attorney, flâneuses, and photographer who’s work can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/loriellenp/. She lives in Brooklyn.

May 2008 Issue

“Bell Atlantic” by Lianne Habinek

April 2008 Issue

“A Storm at the Airport” by Trey Ratcliff

March 2008 Issue

Photo by Kirsten Lewis

February 2008 Issue

“Hey… are you going to eat that?” by Rik Stavale

January 2008 Issue

“Leap of Faith” by Justin Lowery

December 2007 Issue

“Northern Lights” by Christer Mattson

November 2007 Issue

“New York Night” by Jeffrey Eaton

October 2007 Issue

Photo by Axel Lauerer

September 2007 Issue

“Sandcastle” by James A. Crossman

August 2007 Issue

“Let’s Swing” by Ugur Can

July 2007 Issue

Photo by Kristen Lewis

June 2007 Issue

The Cover Photo for June, “Tree,” was taken by Liam Frankland. Much more of Liam’s work can be seen at www.liamfrankland.com and www.flickr.com/photos/lyrical.

May 2007 Issue

“Melbourne Skyline from Brighton” by Ranjit Doroszkiewicz

April 2007 Issue

“Fort Tabor, 2006″ by Jeffrey Eaton

March 2007 Issue

Photo by Kirsten Lewis