Dear Readers,

We’ve missed you, and we know what you’re probably thinking: Why is there no Fall issue of The Paris Review? Has the staff taken some kind of sabbatical? Perhaps they have given up on print altogether? (There is, as you might have heard, a national paper shortage.) I am here to assure you that we have not absconded to a Greek island, nor have we (just) been curled up with cups of tea.

Since I joined the Review this summer, a flurry of activity has taken over our Chelsea office, which had been uninhabited since the pandemic began and was, as a result, a bit dusty. Things are starting to look quite different around here (thank you to Nick Poe for the tables and to Ohad Meromi for the rehang). We made the decision not to put out a Fall issue because we were feeling ambitious. Over the past few months, we have immersed ourselves in reading—manuscripts, transcripts of interviews in progress, and our very own archives. Inspired by the past issues we love most, we have been working on a beautiful new design for the print quarterly with the Pentagram designer Matt Willey and on all kinds of other surprises with our new art director, Na Kim.

We also have several other new staff members to introduce: Lidija Haas, senior editor, who recently interviewed the philosopher Amia Srinivasan; Amanda Gersten, managing editor, who has been setting deadlines with our new printer, Prolific, in Canada (rest assured, they have paper, and it’s recycled); Olivia Kan-Sperling, assistant editor, who has already taken charge of our weekly “Review’s Review”; and Maya Binyam, contributing editor, whose writing you will soon be able to enjoy regularly right here. And you’ll find plenty of other sustenance there. Last week, we published “The Chorus,” a prose poem by Ben Lerner—also known, it turns out, as Benner—and we are excited to share more new work from some of our favorite writers in the coming months.

To tide you over, on October 27, we will launch Season 3 of our celebrated podcast, featuring the words and voices of Phoebe Bridgers, Molly McCully Brown, Yohanca Delgado, Joan Didion, Robert Frost, Amber Gray, Allan Gurganus, Edward P. Jones, and many more. (Listen to the trailer below.)

We can’t wait to share our Winter issue, no. 238, with you in December.

Emily Stokes
Editor

Photos (from left to right): Managing editor Amanda Gersten, designer Matt Willey, art director Na Kim, senior editor Lidija Haas, and Emily Stokes; Matt and Na with Emily; Emily, assistant editor Olivia Kan-Sperling, publishing manager Robin Jones, engagement editor Rhian Sasseen, development director Jane Breakell, contributing editor Maya Binyam, and Amanda; Na’s dog, Moon. Photos courtesy of Landon Speers.