Paper Trail

A. J. Verdelle on blunt writing advice from Toni Morrison; the Washington Post establishes a Kyiv bureau


A. J. Verdelle

The Washington Post is establishing a bureau in Kyiv to help cover the war in Ukraine. Isabelle Khurshudyan has been named bureau chief with Max Bearak as the lead Ukraine correspondent.  

Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed while covering Israeli army raids in Jenin. Abu Akleh reported for Al Jazeera for twenty-five years. Dalia Hatuqa, a journalist and friend of Abu Akleh said in a New York Times article, “I know of a lot of girls who grew up basically standing in front of a mirror and holding their hair brushes and pretending to be Shireen. . . . That’s how lasting and important her presence was.” 

At LitHub, an excerpt from A. J. Verdelle’s new book, Miss Chloe: A Memoir of a Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison. Verdelle describes how Morrison’s blunt answer—“it sounds like you don’t know what you’re doing”—to a question about writing has stuck with her over the years.  

Slate has hired Hillary Frey, a former executive editor at HuffPost, as its new editor in chief. 

Tomorrow night, the PEN America World Voices Festival presents “World Verses: An Evening of International Poetry,” featuring nine poets from around the world. The event will be in-person at NYU’s Skirball Center and also live streaming