Best New Yorker Articles of 2025

Début fiction by Kanak Kapur: First, they would consult the family astrologer, he said, and only if the man approved of the match would Dev be allowed to go through with the proposal.

In Ohio, Catholic bishops and the Center for Christian Virtue have teamed up with Republican politicians to advocate for school vouchers that shift money away from low-income students and public schools. Alec MacGillis reports.

David Lammy, the U.K.’s top diplomat in the government of the Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, must navigate Brexit fallout, the new Trump Administration, and conflicts involving Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, and the U.N. Sam Knight reports.

Fiction by the Argentinean writer Samanta Schweblin, author of “Fever Dream”: She’d seen enough movies to know that this was the moment when she needed to brandish the gun and threaten the man.

Benjamin Wallace-Wells on how Trump’s rant about diversity initiatives after the horrific plane crash in the Potomac were of a piece with his Administration’s messy attempt to freeze federal programs.

Sisters from a convent outside Waco have repeatedly visited the prisoners—and even made them affiliates of their order. The story of a powerful spiritual alliance. Lawrence Wright reports.

Fiction by Joseph O’Neill, the author of “Netherland”: Between the ages of eighteen and fifty-four, Nadia does not for a single moment not have an admirer or a boyfriend or a better half. Then her husband disappears forever.

In 1885, white rioters murdered dozens of their Asian neighbors in Rock Springs, Wyoming. A hundred and forty years later, the story of the atrocity is still being unearthed. Michael Luo reports.

Fiction by Yiyun Li, the author of “The Book of Goose,” “Wednesday’s Child,” and “Things in Nature Merely Grow”: It’s astonishing, Lilian often thought, that people feel this urge to talk about themselves with a stranger.

Jill Lepore writes about Ruth Stout, an American radical known for the “no-work gardening” method, and the author of “How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back.”

When a prosecutor began chasing an accused serial rapist, she lost her job but unravelled a scandal. Ronan Farrow reports on why the police refused to investigate Sean Williams.

The popular wedding website helps d.j.s, caterers, and florists find spouses-to-be. Some venders say they’re finding something else, Adam Iscoe writes.

A Profile of the author of the new book “Vanishing World,” plus “Convenience Store Woman,” both translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori. Elif Batuman reports.

Why are incarcerated people dying from lack of food or water, even as private companies are paid millions for their care? Sarah Stillman reports.

Can Claudia Sheinbaum manage the demands from D.C.—and her own country’s fragile democracy? Stephania Taladrid reports.

Fiction by Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, the author of “When Skateboards Will Be Free” and “American Estrangement”: This is the way infestations work: first gradually and then all at once. He will never be able to eradicate. He can only hope to contain.

Fiction by Lillian Fishman, the author of “Acts of Service”: No thought was so devastating to Prima as the thought that she was ascribing wisdom and seriousness to something that would turn out to be stupid.

In Sudan’s third civil war, Arab supremacists have been targeting non-Arab groups like the Nuba with genocidal violence. Nicolas Niarchos reports on a Nuba family’s flight from Khartoum.

A Profile of the Tony-winning actress, including her comments about Audra McDonald, Kecia Lewis, Glenn Close, Hal Prince, and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Fiction by the Nobel Prize winner Jon Fosse: I need to open the door now, it’s not the end of the world, it’s just that it’s been such a long time since anyone’s knocked on my door.

Fiction by Jim Shepard, the author of “The Book of Aron” and “The World to Come”: It is possible I’m too flexible for virtue and too virtuous for villainy.

Fiction by Yiyun Li, the author of “Things in Nature Merely Grow” and “The Book of Goose”: And here sat Maureen, who had no one else to send flowers to as sweet revenge. And here sat Lilian, who had thought that little in life could surprise her anymore.

The President’s threats to leave the alliance have spurred more defense spending, troop deployments, and other military preparations by European nations, particularly after Russia’s Ukraine invasion. Joshua Yaffa reports.

Fiction by Zadie Smith, the author of “The Fraud” and “Swing Time”: She could sit on a bench in Europe completely unmolested, without a single human being saying a word to her, until the sun fell out of the sky.

With global conflicts increasingly shaped by drones and A.I., the American military risks losing its dominance. Dexter Filkins reports.

Some psychiatric patients may actually have treatable autoimmune conditions. But what happens to the newly sane? Rachel Aviv reports.

Guy Consolmagno, a Jesuit from Michigan—and a meteorite expert—oversees a team of scientists employed by the Holy See, and is known as the Pope’s Astronomer. Rebecca Mead travels to Italy to discuss science and religion with him.

Fiction by Kiran Desai, the author of “The Inheritance of Loss” and “The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny”: Look, Sunny said, however progressive my mother is, she is an Indian woman from another generation. Do you really think I can tell her that we sleep in the same bed?

The musician’s overwhelming popularity can overshadow his ethos of self-reliance, Amanda Petrusich writes. On his new album, “Guitar,” he played every instrument and is releasing it on his own label.

Fiction by Miriam Toews, the author of “Women Talking” and “Fight Night”: He asked me if I wanted to ride with him, and I said no. He repeated that back to me. He said, No? Or . . . yes?

Fiction by Rachel Cusk, the author of “Outline,” “Transit,” and “Kudos”: Reality became malleable, was always giving way and changing its rules.

The Trump Administration has ignored legal protocols and stoked fears about the gang Tren de Aragua while arresting asylum seekers in Aurora, Colorado, and across the U.S. Jonathan Blitzer reports.

The founder of “House Inhabit” gained popularity chronicling the Presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Clare Malone reports on how she has continued to grow her audience during the second Trump Administration—with political gossip and “quality conspiracy.”

Fiction by Rivka Galchen, the author of “Atmospheric Disturbances” and “Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch”: I was raised to believe that no human is inherently evil, that evil is a surface disturbance caused by fear, misunderstanding, or ignorance. I’m now reconsidering.

In the past few years, as many as two million people have escaped the island’s repressive regime and collapsing economy. Those who’ve made it to the U.S. face a new reckoning. Jon Lee Anderson reports.

A Profile of the actress, the star of TV shows including “Felicity,” “The Americans,” and “The Diplomat.” Emily Nussbaum reports.

Zohran Mamdani’s opponents, including Andrew Cuomo, thought his socialist politics and his position on Israel would sink his candidacy for mayor of New York. Instead, Eric Lach reports, the young candidate is poised to take City Hall.

The Irish cocaine trafficker commands a billion-dollar empire from the U.A.E. Why isn’t he in prison? Ed Caesar reports.

In a Profile, the Oscar-winning star of movies including “Die My Love,” “Silver Linings Playbook,” and “The Hunger Games” discusses fame, having kids, and politics. Jia Tolentino reports.

Fiction by Lauren Groff, the author of “Fates and Furies” and “The Vaster Wilds”: I saw someone coming toward me through the twilight on the road ahead, a skinny man in a glowing white shirt, and dread rushed into me.

A Profile of the former Talking Heads front man, whose 2025 tour features songs from his album “Who Is the Sky?” Amanda Petrusich reports.

Rebecca Mead profiles the British actor and memoirist as he takes on the role of Lady Bracknell in a West End production of Wilde’s play “The Importance of Being Earnest.”

Fiction by Daniyal Mueenuddin, the author of “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders” and “This Is Where the Serpent Lives”: Bayazid had never quite given up the fantasy he nurtured in boyhood, of discovering himself a child of some minister or prince.

Fiction by Joan Silber, the author of “Mercy” and “Improvement”: It horrified me to be from a species that did such things, over and over, but what good did my horror do?

Jonathan Blitzer on Pete Hegseth’s boat strikes, a potential war crime, and how the call for Nicolás Maduro’s ouster is wrapped up in Trump’s most dangerous proclivities, including his disregard for laws constraining his power.

Michael Luo on career prosecutors, military officials, and why those serving in the Administration need to consider the example of the incarceration of Japanese Americans during the Second World War.

The tariff cheerleader established the template of sycophancy for Trump Administration officials.