Why subscribe?

I’m Alexander Chee, the author of the novels Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night, and the essay collection How to Write an Autobiographical Novel. I write this newsletter, and for now, there are no other contributors. I teach writing at Dartmouth College.

These posts are what I’d call critics notebook essays, or they are writing advice, writing prompts, travel essays, political thoughts, diaries, letters to anyone. This is a place where I can go deeper than, say, the posts I make on Bluesky or Instagram. If you want to keep up with my writing and teaching, and avoid social media, and you don’t want the paid subscriber content, the free tier would be for you.

If you want the weirder literary essays or you want a glimpse at my back catalog that isn’t online, or you want to read chapters for my new book on writing, subscribing gives you full access to the newsletter and the archives. Paid subscriptions now help me pay my mortgage. I’m grateful for every one of you, paid or free. Thank you for thinking about subscribing.