I knew my writing students were using AI. Their confessions led to a powerful teaching moment
Selected for the Guardian’s Five Great Reads, May 2026.
The Guardian · May 10, 2026
Art & Design
Snapshots in the Context of Forever — SITE
On Wackaging — Kinfolk
International Klein Blue — Kinfolk
Warhol in Buffalo — Vanity Fair
Interview with Sainer — Hi-Fructose
Film
On Patrick Bateman — HiLoBrow
Big Trouble in Little China — HiLoBrow
The Hero Dies at the Beginning: Enter the Dragon at 50 — Little White Lies
Remembering River Phoenix, 23 Years After His Death — Vanity Fair
Pretty in Pink Turns 30, and James Spader Remains the Only Reason to Watch It — Vanity Fair
Celebrating the Brilliance of Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber — Vanity Fair
The 60-Year Itch: Re-Watching The Seven Year Itch on Its 60th Anniversary — Vanity Fair
Travel & Place
Why Southern Comfort Food Is on the Rise in Paris — Vanity Fair
Jimmy’s HideAway Is a Food Lover’s Paradise Amid the Drag-Queen Parades of Provincetown — Vanity Fair
Buffalo, Redux — Eclectica
The Not-So-Lonesome Highway — Eclectica
Culture & Ideas
Inside the Heart of Amateur Boxing — VICE
On Procrastination — Kinfolk
A Female-Fronted Japanese Metal Band Just Took Over Colbert, and They Won’t Stop There — Vanity Fair
Tuesday’s Child — The Paris Review
Cheddar, Cheever, and the Burbs — The Paris Review
A Nice Bowl of Weed — Vanity Fair
Kovalev vs. Chilemba: Let’s Get This Over With — VICE
A Dead Fox and Other Revelations — Free Inquiry
A Fatalist’s Manifesto — Glimmer Train
The Stories of John Cheever — Post Road
All In The Family — Commonweal
Short Fiction
In Search of Absolutely Nothing — Glimmer Train
Quarry — Glimmer Train
One Act — Gettysburg Review
The Love Life of Tigers — Bellingham Review
Simulacrum — DIAGRAM
Photograph by Massimo Contini
About
Micah Nathan is a novelist and essayist whose books have sold more than 200,000 copies worldwide. He is the author of Gods of Aberdeen (Simon & Schuster, 2005), Losing Graceland (Crown / Random House, 2011), and the collection Jack the Bastard and Other Stories.
His fiction and essays have appeared in The Guardian, Vanity Fair, The Paris Review, Glimmer Train, Little White Lies, Kinfolk, and elsewhere. His fiction has been anthologized in The Best American Mystery Stories, and his work has received the Boston University Saul Bellow Prize in Fiction and the Associated Press Short Essay Award.
He teaches fiction and nonfiction writing at MIT. Previously, he co-founded a venture-backed narrative entertainment company, where he served as Chief Narrative Officer.
Selected Honors
- Boston University Saul Bellow Prize in Fiction
- Associated Press Short Essay Award
- 2013 D&AD Wood Pencil, Magazine & Newspaper Design
- Tobias Wolff Award for Short Fiction — finalist
- DIAGRAM Innovative Fiction Award — finalist
Inquiries
For editorial commissions, readings, speaking, and narrative consulting.
Other Work
- Games & NarrativeLead writer and narrative designer on Shadowgun (Unity Game of the Year) and other commercial titles.
- Consortium9Co-founder and Chief Narrative Officer
- LEMON: King of PopHead Copy Editor and Fiction Editor
2013 D&AD Wood Pencil, Magazine & Newspaper Design