The Paris Review #253 : Fall 2025

Trade paperback.  Hot off the press!!  Prose, poetry, art and interviews to make your brain sing.

Eliot Weinberger on the Art of the Essay: “I have no interest in first-person investigation. Personally, I’ve never found myself an interesting person.”

Maggie Nelson on the Art of Nonfiction: “It’s important to notice when the spark of magic or curiosity is there and what snuffs it out, and being around too many writers, for me, snuffs it out.”

Prose by Anne Carson, Renny Gong, Aurora Huiza, Jordy Rosenberg, Bud Smith, and Yan Lianke.

Poetry by Roque Dalton, Ishion Hutchinson, Patricia Lockwood, Mariano Melgar, Eileen Myles, Katie Peterson, and authors unknown.

Art by Talia Chetrit, Martha Diamond, and Jamian Juliano-Villani; cover by Issy Wood.

Table of Contents      

Fiction        

Anne Carson -- I Don’t Do Innocents: A Radio Play in One Act

Renny Gong  -- Ping-Pong Kids

Aurora Huiza -- Eiffel Towers

Yan Lianke -- Plants, Stones, Dirt, and Sky

Jordy Rosenberg -- My Life, by Barbara Rosenberg

Bud Smith -- Skyhawks    

Interview        

Maggie Nelson -- The Art of Nonfiction No. 13

Eliot Weinberger -- The Art of the Essay No. 4    

Poetry

Mariano Melgar -- On Some Whim or Other

Roque Dalton -- I Wasn’t Always This Ugly

Unknown -- Telipinu went

Unknown -- They sent an ox

Unknown -- The Moon that fell from heaven

Ishion Hutchinson -- My Nocturne

Patricia Lockwood -- Perfect Pussy

Patricia Lockwood -- The Ventifact

Patricia Lockwood -- Cave Painting

Eileen Myles -- from “Bird Watching”

Katie Peterson -- Elegy as the Four Seasons

Portfolio        

Talia Chetrit -- Liberty

Martha Diamond -- Fall    

Cover

Issy Wood -- Issue No. 253 Cover

Art

Jamian Juliano-Villani -- Fluffy