Do you believe in truth? (Let’s not even talk about justice and the American way right now — but we will.) Then we invite you to enjoy Truly, our new free monthly newsletter.

                                              Go below to find this feature in full.

Here is what you can expect: astounding memoirs, essays, poetry, narratives, and photography; tips on writing from our authors; exclusive interviews; our obsessions (e.g., family, Barbie, maps, illness, madness, being mad, being in love or out of it).

Some of what you won’t get: spam, sales pitches, junk mail, a swamped inbox, bored.

 

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We are bringing out Truly because we wanted a way to connect regularly with lovers of true stories like you (and us!), to share the things we love, and to offer the best suggestions and ideas about writing. Each monthly edition will bring you great true stories from our pages and from others’.

Sound good? We hope so. Let us know what you think. This is a work in progress (as we all are), so we expect to adjust as we go. Feel free to write us!

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We present here some of November’s Truly offerings, including works and thoughts by James Prochnik, Walter Cummins, Jeanette Winterson, and more.

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Feature of the Month

By James Prochnik.

The Red Bags of Chinatown
The New York Times  celebrates a series of New York street photographs by James Prochnik, a regular contributor to Broad Street and the curator of our photo series (see below). See more here.

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Treats from around the web (and our own pages)

Commitment

From Our Pages
Walter Cummins writes a love story about consigning a wife to others’ care. “She wasn’t dangerous to anyone, not in the sense that the legal test implied.” Read it.

Joyas Voladores

The essayist and novelist Brian Doyle examines the hummingbird and finds a world. This essay breaks the heart. Read it.

How Lolita Seduces Us All

“What is to be done with us, the women and girls who love Lolita?” writes Caitlin Flanagan. Read it.

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Writing Tip

READ ALOUD: “When I finish my work for end of the day I stand up and read it back properly. I don’t just read it silently, I always stand up and I read it out. And then I think, Oh God, this is shite! ’Cause you can hear where it breaks. You know, you can’t cheat the ear in the way you can cheat the eye. The eye will just look for the meaning, but that’s not enough: You have to look for what lies beneath the meaning.”

                        — Jeanette Winterson, interview outtake, Broad Street 1.1

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Photo of the Month

Boy On Horse — Ballinasloe Horse Fair, 2015. Adrianne Ryan.

Selected and interviewed by James Prochnik

“I went to Ireland in 2015 to take photos of the Irish horse world. Ballinasloe Horse Fair is one of the premier horse fairs in the country, attracting a cross section of society and the horse world — everyone from professional show jumpers, to top horse traders, to farmers with plow horses. It’s also a fair that has become a big meeting place for the Irish Travellers, an itinerant ethnic community, who bring their working cobs and and cart-racing ponies. All attendees share one thing in common: The horse plays a big role in their lives.

“I believe the young man in the photo is one of the Travellers, many of whom build their lives around buying and selling horses. Like the Roma in other parts of Europe, the Travellers have often experienced discrimination and other frictions and hardship due to their status as a marginalized ethnic community within Ireland. Normally the young men would be racing their sulkies, but due to an altercation the previous day, they had been banned. So the young men switched to racing their horses bareback, near their caravans on the fairgrounds.” — Adrianne Ryan

Ryan is a New York City-based photographer who specializes in documentary, portrait, and event work, with a focus on stories animated by people and animals. You can see more work from her coverage of the Ballinasloe Horse Fair here. Website: adrianneryan.com Instagram: @fullgallop.

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