5 signs of false modesty that make you look worse to editors than honestly owning your achievements — Bestselling authors are among the most modest people I’ve interviewed as journalist. No matter how famous they are, they typically had a lot of rejection before they struck gold, and they remember all their panning in icy waters for acceptances. Compared with politicians and star athletes, writers are a reporter’s…

An old hate group has found a new target in LGBTQ rights, and I learned why after it hit my street — One morning seven years ago, an ugly sight greeted residents of my small Alabama town, which journalists often call one of the prettiest in the South. During the night, the Ku Klux Klan had tossed hundreds — perhaps thousands — of anti-transgender flyers into our driveways and onto our well-tended…

Why Peter Rabbit’s creator deserves a get-out-of-jail-free card — Poor Beatrix Potter. Until recently, the creator of Peter Rabbit has avoided getting hauled into court by the academic police who patrol the literary highways, looking to arrest long-dead authors who violate cultural norms that didn’t exist in their day. But no more. A few months ago, a postcolonial studies…

Ronan Farrow shows why we needed the #MeToo movement in a book based on Pulitzer-winning stories — Harvey Weinstein was Hollywood’s apex predator, the man at the top of a food chain that sparked the #MeToo movement. He ate young women alive, figuratively speaking: actresses, employees, and others unlucky enough to cross his path during his long career as a producer and studio head. All of it…

A saint’s birthday seems to hold quasi-mystical significance for the Russian president — Vladimir Putin’s aims in invading Ukraine were clear: He wanted to expand his power and sphere of influence by annihilating the country, restoring it to full Russian control, and neutralizing any threats posed by NATO and the West. But why did Putin choose to attack on Feb. 24? Luke Harding…

Whenever the government faces a shutdown, the novelist could pull out his checkbook — Nobody has asked for my opinion of how to solve America’s federal debt crisis, but I have one. The U.S. Treasury should borrow money from James Patterson. Think about how easy this would make the nation’s political life. Whenever the government faces a potential shutdown, it wouldn’t have to ask…

Can Ukraine’s president keep it up now that his political enemies are becoming more vocal? — “He’s Churchill with an iPhone.” Not long after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland wrote those words about Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It was a stretch, but you knew what he meant. With weeks of the Russian assault, Ukraine’s president had become “arguably the most popular politician in the modern…

A gifted journalist shows a nation’s resilience in a blend of first-rate reporting and insightful analysis — Three seconds before a Russian artillery attack, stray dogs take cover — “a useful alarm signal,” a young Ukrainian officer told Luke Harding. Harding, a Guardian foreign correspondent, recalls their conversation in his ninth book, Invasion: The Inside Story of Russian’s Bloody War and Ukraine’s Fight for Survival. A finalist…

Historical novelist and ‘Hester’ author Laurie Lico Albanese does a sparkling presentation on Zoom — Book clubs across America face a daunting challenge in looking for speakers. Authors who breeze into town on whistle-stop bookstore visits typically lack the time to meet with smaller groups. And they may not otherwise find their way to you if you live in a town as quiet as mine…