Katy Waldman

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Ian McEwan Casts the Climate Crisis as a Story of Adultery His new novel, “What We Can Know,” imagines the historians of the twenty-second century, who long for the world that they’ve missed out on.

For the fall books issue of @newyorker.com, I reviewed Ian McEwan's excellent new novel, which features city-drowning floods, "the famous group Radiohead," and a metric ton of adultery. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Ian McEwan Casts the Climate Crisis as a Story of Adultery His new novel, “What We Can Know,” imagines the historians of the twenty-second century, who long for the world that they’ve missed out on.

“What We Can Know,” Ian McEwan’s 18th novel, takes place in the 22nd century, after a nuclear disaster. “Much of the novel’s charm lies in its re-creation of our era as seen from the future,” Katy Waldman writes.

Well, that’s lovely, thank you. Esp given the source. And thank you for explaining anime to me via the NYTM. That was delightful.

Josh! Thanks so much. (I disagree but am flattered.)

Seeing ice cream cones during their spawning runs really takes your breath away. They’ll only do this once in their entire lives.

Thanks for reading!

Monday version of me here to re-up this post for all of your Monday selves!

Helen Oyeyemi’s Novel of Cognitive Dissonance Kinga, the protagonist of “A New New Me,” has an odd affliction: there are seven of her.

I reviewed Helen Oyeyemi’s new new novel, in which a character divides herself by seven — one identity for each day of the week (Should we all try this?) www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

While I’m self-promoting, this piece is in dialogue with an earlier piece about MAGA aesthetics and how Trump is a LLM regurgitating signifiers without understanding them www.newyorker.com/culture/crit...

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Our Age of Zombie Culture Zombies are the least eloquent monster. But they have a lot to say about us.

With media such as “28 Years Later” and “The Last of Us,” 2025 has been a bacchanalia of zombies. Katy Waldman writes about our cultural fixation on the walking dead.

Our Age of Zombie Culture Zombies are the least eloquent monster. But they have a lot to say about us.

Zombies are reactionary babies, tell your friends www.newyorker.com/culture/crit...

How Eva Victor Reimagined the Trauma Plot In her new film, the actor, writer, and director charts the nonlinear course of a young woman’s recovery from assault.

Really enjoyed spending time with the film Sorry Baby and with its singular creator and star Eva Victor www.newyorker.com/culture/pers...

I snuck a few of my "Anora" gripes into a piece about "Materialists" and the rise of the anti-Cinderella story
www.newyorker.com/culture/crit...

The Rise of the Anti-Cinderella Story A pair of recent films, Celine Song’s “Materialists” and Sean Baker’s “Anora,” turn the fairy tale on its head, with mixed results.

Does Prince Charming still exist? A spate of media scrutinizing the one-percent—including “Materialists” and “Anora”—attests to the difficulty of romanticizing wealth and love.

The Rise of the Anti-Cinderella Story A pair of recent films, Celine Song’s “Materialists” and Sean Baker’s “Anora,” turn the fairy tale on its head, with mixed results.

Subbing in for the inimitable Naomi Fry on this week’s critics column, I wrote about Hollywood’s new anti-Cinderella plot www.newyorker.com/culture/crit...

James Frey’s New Cancelled-Guy Sex Novel Is as Bad as It Sounds With a status-obsessed comeback book, the author of the fabricated memoir “A Million Little Pieces” attempts to rebrand.

“I have wrestled with a Frey-like dread through the writing of this review—I’m afraid that I’ll describe his book and no one will believe me.” Read @xwaldie.bsky.social’s review of the cancelled author’s attempt to rebrand.

James Frey’s New Cancelled-Guy Sex Novel Is as Bad as It Sounds With a status-obsessed comeback book, the author of the fabricated memoir “A Million Little Pieces” attempts to rebrand.

Reviewed James Frey’s new book somehow www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...

Is “Thunderbolts*” Marvel’s Attempt to Salvage the Superhero Genre? The film succeeds in part by flipping the franchise’s standard script: the main characters aren’t embarrassed because they’re superheroes; they’re embarrassed because they’re not.

Love Marvel, hate Marvel, all I know is that they put the New Yorker in their closing credit sequence alongside a David Brooks joke that deserves its own Oscar www.newyorker.com/culture/crit...

Colum McCann’s Limp Novel of Digital Life In “Twist,” the characterization is listless and the internet is just a series of tubes.

“Twist,” by Colum McCann, centers around the cables that relay computer data around the world, and what happens when a cable off the Ghanaian coast is severed. But the book doesn’t establish the human stakes of the repair, Katy Waldman writes.

'Everything is worse' at Kennedy Center as the 'Trump anti-Midas touch' takes hold: expert In an interview with Slate's Mary Harris, the New Yorker's Katy Waldman stated that nothing is going well at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts since Donald Trump took over the venerable Washington D.C. institution.Following up on earlier reports that crowd-pleasing –– and ticket-selling...

In an interview with Slate's Mary Harris, the New Yorker's Katy Waldman stated that nothing is going well at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts since Donald Trump took over the venerable Washington D.C. institution.

Decoding Donald Trump’s Love of A.I. Imagery The President loves posting A.I. images of himself. The staff writer Katy Waldman sees these often bizarre representations as the “statements of intent” of a budding authoritarian.

Donald Trump loves posting A.I. images of himself. On a new episode of The Political Scene podcast, the staff writer @xwaldie.bsky.social talks about how she sees these often bizarre representations as the “statements of intent” of a budding authoritarian. Listen here.

Trump Is the Emperor of A.I. Slop It makes sense that a man who yearns for a reality untroubled by other humans would be drawn to art that is untouched by anything human.

Donald Trump and A.I.-generated imagery are well matched, Katie Waldman writes. “It makes sense that a man who yearns for a reality untroubled by other humans would be drawn to art that is untouched by anything human.”

Trump Is the Emperor of A.I. Slop It makes sense that a man who yearns for a reality untroubled by other humans would be drawn to art that is untouched by anything human.

I subbed in on “Critics Notebook” this week and wrote about Trump’s AI aesthetic! www.newyorker.com/culture/crit...

The Trump Show Comes to the Kennedy Center Can the fifty-four-year-old arts hub weather the next four years?

Things fall apart; the Kennedy center cannot hold. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

Did a Best-Selling Romantasy Novelist Steal Another Writer’s Story? Tracy Wolff, the author of the “Crave” series, is being sued for copyright infringement. But romantasy’s reliance on standardized tropes makes proving plot theft tricky.

A well-known romantasy author is being sued for copyright infringement. But the genre’s reliance on tropes makes proving plot theft tricky. Romantasy novels “express the longing to be unique, but they pour that desire into imitative forms,” Katy Waldman writes.

Did a Best-Selling Romantasy Novelist Steal Another Writer’s Story? Tracy Wolff, the author of the “Crave” series, is being sued for copyright infringement. But romantasy’s reliance on standardized tropes makes proving plot theft tricky.

This is really good, and goes beyond the plagiarism angle. I shouldn’t give away what happens when authors working in an iterative genre featuring protagonists of revelatory specialness stare into the abyss of Kindle Direct Publishing. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Did a Best-Selling Romantasy Novelist Steal Another Writer’s Story? Tracy Wolff, the author of the “Crave” series, is being sued for copyright infringement. But romantasy’s reliance on standardized tropes makes proving plot theft tricky.

this excellent feature from @xwaldie.bsky.social, on a case that pushes at the boundaries of what constitutes plagiarism in a genre based profoundly on tropes, is a truly wild and fascinating ride www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Did a Best-Selling Romantasy Novelist Steal Another Writer’s Story? Tracy Wolff, the author of the “Crave” series, is being sued for copyright infringement. But romantasy’s reliance on standardized tropes makes proving plot theft tricky.

Hi! Some-time lurker, first time poster.

For this week’s @newyorker.com, I dove into a romantasy plagiarism lawsuit that raises deeper questions about tropes, authorship, and the grubby imperatives of selling books in a post-literate world.

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...