“By the way, don’t touch the figs.” Actress Siân Phillips has remarked that when she traveled the world, even decades after the premiere of I, Claudius, someone would recognize her voice and ask her to deliver the phrase delivered by her character, the Machiavellian Livia Drusilla. That scene from the series competes in collective imagination with its opening sequence, in which at the start of its 13 episodes, a serpent slithered to threatening music over a tiled mosaic face of Emperor Claudius. There it was in a nutshell: the greatness and filth of a newborn empire already corroded by corruption, the moral sickness that dominated a family, the political intrigues, the personal betrayals, the devastating effects of exercising and coveting power. The influence of I, Claudius can be seen in much more recent television projects, fromGame of Thronesto Succession, but it also emerges in the current international political panorama, in the form of leaders like Donald Trump. This year, a half-century will have passed since its first broadcast, but anyone who watches an episode will confirm that it continues to be as relevant as it was back then.
In Pinky Brahma Choudhury’s Duphang-Ni Solo, a Gaan tale of a grieving mother asks how many more families in Assam must lose their children before the mourning stops.
For decades, one question has nagged at specialists in ancient Mexico: did Teotihuacan — the city that dominated central Mexico from roughly the first to the sixth century AD, with a population that may have reached 125,000 — actually have a writing system, or were its symbols just decorative emblems? The stakes of that question […]
For a brief time, Sacha Jafri was both the creator of the world’s largest painting and one of the world’s most expensive living artists, after his 17,000‑square‑foot work The Journey of Humanity was theatrically “sold” for $62 million at a Dubai charity auction. The buyer, French “crypto billionaire” André Abdoune, never paid a cent and, given his history as a serial fraudster, almost certainly never will—meaning no money ever reached the charities that were promised the proceeds. So what was the real story: a giant painting, or a giant scam?
Many of Jafri’s other claims do not stand up to scrutiny. He is often touted as an artist whose work sells in the millions, but publicly available commercial auction records are more modest. His most expensive painting before The Journey Of Humanity was a piece called Dance of the Midnight Samurai, which sold in 2019 for approximately $70,000. The previous year, another work, Dreamscape II, went unsold at two auctions, before eventually being acquired for $893. Newspaper articles document purchases by Kevin Spacey and Guy Ritchie, but there are no reports of sales to Bill Gates, Leonardo DiCaprio, Barack Obama or Bill Clinton. No pictures exist of their red-printed hands.
Count the verbs in Alexander Chee’s essay, note the absence of emotional language, and then thank Annie Dillard for her part. Chee, an essayist and fiction writer, revisits his undergraduate writing workshop with Dillard, the distinguished, Pulitzer Prize-winning nonfiction writer who died last week at 81. Chee’s account of their semester together is an affectionate portrait that doubles as a brisk craft talk; in it, he puts Dillard’s lessons through their paces, a fitting tribute to the teacher who borrowed cigarette drags from her students, chewed through caramel candies during class, and nurtured his own artistic evolution with her rules and exercises.
Narrative writing sets down details in an order that evokes the writer’s experience for the reader, she announced. This seemed obvious but also radical—no one had ever said it so plainly to us. She spoke often of “the job.” If you’re doing your job, the reader feels what you felt. You don’t have to tell the reader how to feel. No one likes to be told how to feel about something. And if you doubt that, just go ahead. Try and tell someone how to feel.
. . .
One afternoon, at her direction, we brought in our pages, scissors and tape, and told to bring several drafts of an essay, one that we struggled with over many versions.
Now cut out only the best sentences, she said. And tape them on a blank page. And then when you have that, write in around them, she said. Fill in what’s missing and make it reach for the best of what you’ve written thus far.
About 56 miles (90 km) from Brescia and 75 miles (120 km) from Milan, in the Lombard Alps, the forest of Naquane is still turning up surprises after seventy years of excavation. The latest field season, which resumed on August 31, 2026, has uncovered a rock surface that had never been recorded before: a panel […]
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) filled his notebooks with insects: dragonflies, bees, wasps, butterflies — almost all of them winged. That focus lines up with what historians already knew about him. Leonardo was fixated on the mechanics of flight, and scholars have long read his drawings of flying insects as studies feeding into his designs for […]
What film brought them together? 'Jamón, jamón' (1992), directed by Bigas Luna. But their romance did not truly begin until 15 years later, during the filming of 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona,' with Woody Allen and Scarlett Johansson as unlikely witnesses.
What happened next? The second chance worked. They married in 2010 and are now parents of two children.
And now? They are sharing the screen once again in 'Bunker,' which has just premiered at the Venice Film Festival.
What film brought them together? 'Vanilla Sky' (2001), the Hollywood remake of Alejandro Amenábar's 'Abre los ojos.' (Open Your Eyes).
What happened next? The two embarked on a relationship that lasted about three years before ending in 2004.
Why did they split? A combination of intense media scrutiny, conflicting schedules and religious differences. Cruise is a devoted member of the Church of Scientology, while Cruz did not share his commitment to the faith.
Who are they? Penélope Cruz and Matthew McConaughey.
What film brought them together? The adventure movie 'Sahara' (2005), where they met shortly after Cruz's relationship with Tom Cruise had ended.
What happened next? Their on-screen chemistry quickly turned into a real-life romance.
How long did it last? Just over a year. They split in 2006, citing the distance between them and the demands of their respective careers as the main reasons for the breakup.
What film brought them together? 'Days of Thunder' (1990), in which they played a race-car driver and a doctor who fall in love.
What happened next? They married later that year, adopted two children and became one of Hollywood's most famous couples. Their marriage lasted a decade before they separated in 2001 and finalized their divorce later that year.
Why did they split? Kidman later spoke about living in the shadow of her husband's fame. Media reports and subsequent accounts also pointed to several factors behind the breakup, including the couple's demanding careers and Cruise's deep involvement with the Church of Scientology.
What film brought them together? 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' (2017), in which they played Peter Parker and MJ.
What happened next? The chemistry between their characters eventually carried over into real life, though they did not publicly confirm their relationship until 2021.
And then? They got engaged in 2025 and married in a secret ceremony this year, with no wedding photos or details of the bride's dress leaked so far. They have also reunited on screen in the latest Spider-Man film, which has become another major box-office success.
What film brought them together? 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' (2005), in which they played a married pair of assassins unaware of each other's true identity.
What happened next? Pitt separated from Jennifer Aniston and began a relationship with Jolie. Together they built one of Hollywood's most famous families, raising six children, three biological and three adopted.
And then? They married in 2014 but split two years later, setting off a long and bitter legal battle that was finally resolved years later. Many of their children have since distanced themselves from their father, with several choosing to drop the Pitt surname.
What film brought them together? 'Se7en' (1995), David Fincher's thriller in which Paltrow played the wife of the detective portrayed by Pitt.
What happened next? Paltrow has said it was close to love at first sight. The couple became one of Hollywood's most glamorous pairings and even got engaged.
Why did they split? Their careers were just taking off and, by their own account, they were too young for such a serious commitment. They ended their relationship in 1997. Nearly three decades later, Paltrow still speaks warmly of Pitt and considers him a good friend.
Who are they? Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
What film brought them together? 'Cleopatra' (1963), in which Taylor played the Egyptian queen and Burton portrayed Mark Antony.
What happened next? Their off-screen romance proved every bit as dramatic as the film itself. Both were married when the relationship began, sparking one of Hollywood's most notorious scandals. They divorced their respective spouses and married in 1964.
And then? After a decade together, they divorced in 1974, remarried the following year and divorced again in 1976. Their relationship was defined by passion, volatility and an enduring professional bond. Over the years, they appeared together in more than a 11 films.
What film brought them together? 'The Notebook' (2004), in which they played Noah and Allie, lovers separated by circumstance who eventually reunite in one of the most beloved screen romances of the 21st century.
What happened next? Despite reportedly clashing during filming, complete with arguments and tensions on set, the two eventually grew close. As the saying goes, there's a fine line between love and hate, and they crossed it in the opposite direction.
And then? They began dating in 2005, became one of Hollywood's most popular young couples and ultimately ended their relationship in 2007.
What film brought them together? 'The Place Beyond the Pines' (2012), in which they played former lovers who reconnect after he discovers he is the father of her child.
What happened next? They began dating during filming and, more than a decade later, are still together. They married in secret, have two daughters and have built one of Hollywood's most enduring and private relationships, rarely appearing together in public.
Who are they? Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.
What film brought them together? 'Twilight' (2008), the defining young-adult phenomenon of its generation, in which they played star-crossed teenage lovers Edward Cullen and Bella Swan.
What happened next? They were together for more than four years before photographs emerged of Stewart kissing director Rupert Sanders, triggering a crisis that ultimately ended the relationship. The couple briefly reconciled, but split for good in 2013.
What film brought them together? 'Green Lantern' (2011), a superhero blockbuster that may have disappointed at the box office but proved far more successful as a matchmaker.
What happened next? They began dating shortly after filming, married in 2012 and have since become one of Hollywood's most enduring couples. They have four children and are famous for turning social media into a friendly battleground of marital teasing and one-upmanship.
Who are they? Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander.
What film brought them together? 'The Light Between Oceans,' which began filming in 2014. They played a married couple living in a lighthouse whose lives are transformed after they find a baby.
What happened next? They married in a small, private ceremony in Ibiza in 2017 and have two children. More than a decade after meeting, they are still together and continue to keep their family life largely out of the spotlight.
What film brought them together? 'To Have and Have Not' (1944), which marked Bacall's film debut at the age of 19.
What happened next? Neither their age gap, he was 44, nor Bogart's marriage prevented them from falling in love during filming. Bogart eventually divorced his wife, and the two married in 1945. They remained together until his death in 1957 and had two children.
What series brought them together? 'The Americans,' in which they played Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, a married couple of Soviet spies living undercover in the United States.
What happened next? The chemistry between Philip and Elizabeth did not stay on screen. Rhys and Russell began a relationship in 2013 and have a son together, though they have never married.
What's the twist? Rhys had actually tried to ask Russell out years earlier, but she turned him down the first time around.
What film brought them together? 'Dream House' (2011), in which they played a married couple.
What happened next? The two had known each other for years, but their relationship began during filming. They married later that year in a private ceremony in New York attended by just four guests. They are still together and have a daughter
What series brought them together? 'Game of Thrones,' in which they played Jon Snow and Ygritte, lovers destined for one of the show's most tragic romances.
What happened next? Their on-screen relationship blossomed into a real-life one. They married in Scotland in 2018 at Leslie's family castle and have two children together.
What series brought them together? 'Fargo,' whose second season cast them as a married couple caught up in a criminal conspiracy.
What happened next? They got engaged a year after they started dating and have two children together. They eventually married in 2022 and later reunited on screen in 'The Power of the Dog,' earning Oscar nominations for their performances.
What film brought them together? 'Volunteers' (1985), in which they starred together after first meeting a few years earlier on the television series 'Bosom Buddies.'
What happened next? That second collaboration cemented a relationship that has endured ever since. They married in 1988, have two children and are considered one of Hollywood's longest-lasting and most stable couples.
Who are they? Ewan McGregor and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
What series brought them together? 'Fargo.' In the third season, filmed in 2016, McGregor played twin brothers, while Winstead portrayed the fiancée of one of them.
What happened next? Both were in relationships when they fell in love. Winstead was married to director Riley Stearns, while McGregor had been married to Eve Mavrakis for 22 years and had four daughters with her. They ended their respective marriages, welcomed a son in 2021 and married in 2022.
What film brought them together? 'Brokeback Mountain' (2005). Their co-star Jake Gyllenhaal has said that there were already “sparks” between them during the very first table read.
What happened next? They shared a brief but intense romance. Within months of meeting, they were engaged and expecting their only child together, a daughter named Matilda. After three years, they announced their separation in September 2007, just a few months before the death of Ledger, who would go on to earn acclaim for his portrayal of the Joker in 'The Dark Knight.'
What film brought them together? 'The Oranges' (2011), a largely forgettable comedy that paired two of the biggest stars of 2000s television.
What happened next? Brody was in a relationship at the time, so their connection did not develop immediately. Two years later, they got together, married in 2014 and are now parents of two children.
What film brought them together? 'Gigli,' a film widely regarded as one of Hollywood's most notorious flops and a major box-office failure.
What happened next? Perhaps the better question is: what didn't happen? Lopez divorced her second husband, dancer Cris Judd, to be with Affleck. The media frenzy surrounding the couple was so intense that they became known simply as “Bennifer.” They got engaged, called off their wedding just days before it was due to take place and eventually went their separate ways, moving on with Marc Anthony and Jennifer Garner, respectively.
And then? Nearly two decades later, in 2021, they reunited and finally made it down the aisle. But their second chance lasted less than three years. The question now is whether there will ever be a third.
What film brought them together? 'Daredevil' (2003), although they had first met a couple of years earlier while filming 'Pearl Harbor.'
What happened next? Both were in relationships during the making of 'Daredevil.' Garner was married to actor Scott Foley, while Affleck was engaged to Jennifer Lopez. Their romance began later, and they married in 2005.
And then? They had three children and remained together for a decade before announcing their separation in 2015. Despite the breakup, they have maintained a close friendship, and Garner has publicly supported Affleck through his struggles with alcoholism.
What film brought them together? 'Gattaca' (1997), now considered a classic of 1990s science fiction.
What happened next? They became one of Hollywood's coolest couples and had two children, Maya, now a successful actress in her own right, and Levon.
And then? They announced their separation in 2003 amid persistent rumors that Hawke had been unfaithful with the family's nanny. The actor denied those claims and later described the episode as “humiliating.”
What series brought them together? The psychological thriller 'Gypsy,' which failed to earn a second season renewal from Netflix.
What happened next? The marriage they portrayed on screen eventually became a reality off screen. In 2023, they made their relationship official with an intimate civil wedding in New York, and a year later they said “I do” again in Mexico.
And then? Together they have raised the two children from Watts's previous relationship with actor Liev Schreiber. Their younger child, Kai, 17, took her first steps as a model this autumn, appearing alongside her mother in a campaign for the fashion label Simkhai.
What film brought them together? 'Sweet Girl' (2021), in which they played a married couple.
What happened next? Their relationship appears to have begun during or after filming, although at the time Momoa was coming to the end of his relationship with Lisa Bonet, with whom he had spent nearly 17 years and shares two children.
And then? The split was not made public until 2022, and their divorce was finalized in 2024. That same year, Momoa confirmed his relationship with Arjona.
What film brought them together? 'Changeland,' a low-budget comedy.
What happened next? The former child star and the Disney Channel actress traveled to Thailand to do the film's director a favor, only to stay for weeks as their romance began to blossom.
And then? They are now parents of two sons and have become one of Hollywood's most unexpectedly enduring, beloved and closely watched couples.
What film brought them together? 'The Amazing Spider-Man' (2012). Like the characters they played on screen, Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, they fell in love.
What happened next? They were together for four years and went on to star in a second Spider-Man film before eventually going their separate ways. Today, Stone has a daughter with director Dave McCary, while Garfield is in a relationship with actress Monica Barbaro.
What film brought them together? 'The Last Song' (2010), a teen romance that marked Cyrus's bid to move beyond her Hannah Montana image.
What happened next? What followed was a decade-long on-again, off-again relationship, marked by breakups and reconciliations. They eventually married, just days after losing their home in a wildfire.
And then? The marriage did not last. Amid speculation about infidelity and other strains on the relationship, the couple divorced. Cyrus later released the global hit 'Flowers,' a song widely interpreted as containing references to Hemsworth, and one that earned her the first Grammy Award of her career.
What series brought them together? 'Stranger Things,' in which they play Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers, two teenagers who fall in love while trying to protect their younger siblings from the forces of evil.
What happened next? They met while filming the first season, when their characters were not yet a couple, and rumors of a romance began circulating the following year.
And then? They made their relationship red-carpet official in 2017. Nearly a decade later, reports of a possible split have surfaced in several media outlets, though neither actor has confirmed them.
Genre majeur en Iran, la poésie transcende les classes sociales et les niveaux d'instruction. Au fil de cette livraison de « Manière de voir », le lecteur pourra découvrir des auteurs classiques, renommés, reconnus, anciens ou contemporains, et prendre la mesure de ce qui constitue le ciment emblématique d'une nation.
« La gloire de l'Iran a toujours été sa culture », a écrit Richard Nelson Frye (1920-2014) (1). Nul doute que l'éminent philologue américain aurait acquiescé à une variante de cette affirmation : la gloire de l'Iran sera toujours sa poésie. Rares sont, en effet, les pays où la vénération pour cet art est aussi répandue. Il ne s'agit pas ici seulement de goûts littéraires plus ou moins élitistes ou de versifications par amour des joutes orales comme cela est fréquent dans le monde arabe voisin. De Téhéran à Tabriz, dans les grands centres urbains comme dans les villages les plus éloignés, c'est une manière d'être et de vivre. L'ADN d'un peuple fier de son héritage culturel.
Nicolas Bouvier le raconte bien dans son célèbre livre L'Usage du monde (dernière édition : La Découverte, Paris, 2014). En 1953, après la Yougoslavie et la Turquie, il traverse l'Iran en compagnie de son ami, le peintre Thierry Vernet, dont les dessins illustrent l'ouvrage. En chemin, ils demandent à un calligraphe d'inscrire un quatrain du grand poète Hafez sur la portière gauche de leur Fiat Topolino. Des vers que tout voyageur se devrait de connaître : « Même si l'abri de ta nuit est peu sûr / Et ton but encore lointain / Sache qu'il n'existe pas de chemin sans terme. Ne sois pas triste. » L'inscription s'avérera un précieux viatique, comme le raconte l'écrivain voyageur : « Retrouvé, aux étapes, ces meutes de curieux serrés autour de la voiture, et le flic qui déchiffre laborieusement sur notre portière cette inscription qui pourrait être subversive. Dès le second vers, le public enchaîne en chœur, l'exercice se transforme en récitation murmurante, les visages grêlés s'éclairent et les verres de thé qu'il était, tout à l'heure, impossible d'obtenir surgissent comme par enchantement. » Et d'ajouter ceci : « Pendant des mois cette inscription nous servit de sésame et de sauvegarde dans des coins du pays où l'on n'a guère sujet d'aimer l'étranger. »
Quels que soient le milieu social, l'appartenance ethnique et les idées politiques, le she'r e farsi, la poésie iranienne, l'une des plus anciennes du monde, irrigue la vie quotidienne par sa puissance évocatrice. Si le Coran est plutôt sévère avec les poètes, le régime n'a jamais cherché à interdire la poésie, y compris celle de la période antéislamique, et il se dit même que l'ancien Guide Ali Khamenei en était un grand amateur. Aujourd'hui, des applications permettent de recevoir chaque jour sur son téléphone des poèmes que l'on commentera à son gré sur les forums et les réseaux sociaux. Le célèbre Divan de Hafez, que toute famille se doit de posséder, permet, via la pratique du fal-e Hafez, de prendre une décision ou de trouver une réponse à ses questions les plus matérielles ou les plus intimes en ouvrant le recueil au hasard pour s'en inspirer. On peut aussi se rendre à Chiraz pour consulter un falgir, à la fois conteur et oracle, capable de réciter par cœur toute l'œuvre du poète, pour savoir ce que l'avenir réserve grâce à son interprétation de tel ou tel vers choisi au hasard.
Les poèmes pour forger des slogans
Ce rapport « quasi hystérique » à la poésie, selon l'essayiste Daryush Shayegan (2), est aussi un fait politique (3). Depuis des siècles, et plus encore depuis l'avènement de la République islamique, les poèmes sont une matière pour forger des slogans, imaginer des graffitis ou concevoir des métaphores engagées. Le Livre des rois de Ferdowsi (934-1020), les quatrains d'Omar Khayyam (1048-1131), les envolées mystiques de Jalal Ad-Din Rumi (1207-1273) et l'humanisme de Sadi (1213-1292), sans oublier les œuvres de poètes contemporains — dont un certain nombre sont passés par la case prison —, sont autant de matériaux dont la contestation s'empare — en les renouvelant ou en les adaptant au besoin — afin de défier l'ordre et de contourner la censure. Les mots « nuit », « feu », « lumière », « hiver » et même « floraison » ont leurs significations politiques, et chaque vers peut présenter plusieurs sens. « Souviens-toi de la bougie éteinte, souviens-toi », écrivit le grand linguiste Ali Akbar Dehkhoda (1879-1959) en hommage à un ami journaliste exécuté en 1908, quand la monarchie réprimait les partisans d'une modernisation politique du pays (4). La référence à la bougie demeure une constante dans les marches contestatrices ou durant les obsèques des victimes tombées sous les balles de la répression. Nul ne sait quel sort attend l'Iran mais une chose est certaine, la poésie y règnera toujours.
(1). Richard Nelson Frye, Greater Iran : A 20th-Century Odyssey, Mazda Publisher, Costa Mesa (Californie, États-Unis), 2005.
(2). Daryush Shayegan, L'Âme poétique persane, Albin Michel, Paris, 2017.
(3). Cf. Nasim Vahabi, « Iran. La poésie, bande originale des révoltes populaires », Orient XXI, 28 décembre 2023.
(4). Cité par Nasim Vahabi, ibid.
Pooya Aryanpour. À travers de gigantesques sculptures ornées de fragments de miroirs, cet artiste et professeur d'art, né en 1971 à Téhéran, explore notre rapport à l'espace et à notre image. Il utilise l'aïneh kari, la composition de mosaïques de morceaux de verre réfléchissants colorés et finement ciselés. Cette technique ancienne se retrouve notamment dans les lieux saints, où le morcellement des représentations prend un sens spirituel.
Hoda Kashiha. Née en 1986 à Téhéran, elle étudie la peinture à l'université de Téhéran avant de poursuivre sa formation à Boston et revenir dans son pays. À travers une peinture colorée, mêlant humour noir, références mythologiques et images contemporaines, elle aborde des questions sociales : manifestations, violence, identité, féminité et genre. En 2022, elle présente sa première exposition monographique institutionnelle à Passerelle Centre d'art contemporain (Brest), ainsi qu'une première exposition personnelle dans une galerie en Europe à la Galerie Nathalie Obadia (Paris).
Newsha Tavakolian. Originaire de Téhéran, où elle vit toujours, cette photographe née en 1981 commence à travailler à 16 ans pour le magazine Zan. En 1999, elle couvre la révolte étudiante de Téhéran, puis débute en 2002 une carrière internationale de photojournaliste. Son travail, entre photographie documentaire et approche artistique, porte notamment sur les femmes et les transformations sociales et politiques du Proche-Orient. Elle a reçu plusieurs distinctions, dont le prix Carmignac de photojournalisme pour un travail réalisé en 2013 sur le sentiment de claustrophobie qui frappe la jeune génération, et le prix de la Fondation Prince-Claus en 2015.
Jean Gaumy « Prendre des photos, c'est comme pêcher ou écrire. C'est faire émerger de l'inconnu ce qui résiste et refuse de se révéler. » Né en 1948 à Pontaillac, « peintre officiel de la marine », membre de l'Académie des beaux-arts et de l'agence Magnum, ce photographe défend une approche à la fois documentaire et profondément humaine. Il a réalisé plusieurs films et mené des projets photographiques au long cours, notamment sur le milieu de la pêche, l'Arctique ou l'Iran des années 1980 et 1990.
Christian Bromberger. Né en 1946, cet ethnologue fut directeur de l'Institut français de recherche en Iran. Il a mené de nombreux travaux dans le Guilan, au bord de la mer Caspienne. Un fonds de documents collectés sur place rassemble des enregistrements sonores, des photographies, des affiches culturelles liés à l'islam chiite et à la révolution iranienne. Il est accessible sur la plate-forme MédiHAL et stocké à la bibliothèque La Contemporaine à Nanterre, après un don de la Maison méditerranéenne des sciences humaines et sociales.
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center. Situé dans l'université de Chicago, ce centre conserve un fonds d'affiches produites principalement en Iran et en Afghanistan.
In the 1930s, the German Nazi regime launched an ambitious archaeological research program with a clear goal: to prove that Germanic culture was the oldest and most superior in the world. To achieve this, the organization known as Ahnenerbe (Ancestral Heritage) sent two expeditions to Scandinavia with the mission of making plaster casts of the […]
There are ancient monuments that impress with their size and others that impress with their precision. The Sacred Well of Santa Cristina, in the municipality of Paulilatino, province of Oristano in Sardinia, belongs to the second group. Its basalt stones are carved and assembled with such geometric precision that, according to the site management center […]
It is very common to find images of birds in the art of Ancient Egypt. We see them in paintings and sculptures with species of all kinds, from the ducks hunted on the Nile to the ibis that lent its head to the god Thoth, to the vulture that topped the white crown of Upper […]
For decades, experts in ancient art have relied on techniques such as infrared spectroscopy or chromatography to determine what colors and adhesives the Egyptians used. But these tools only offer partial clues: they indicate that a protein is present, but do not reveal which animal or plant it comes from, nor whether it is original […]
Excavations led by the Mehmet Akif Ersoy University of Burdur (MAKÜ) at the archaeological site of the ancient Greek Kibyra, in southwestern Turkey, have brought to light fragments of four marble sculptures from the Roman era, including a complete representation of Emperor Hadrian, 2.14 meters tall, and another of his wife, Empress Sabina. The work, […]
The Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, has announced the discovery of an archaeological piece of singular value during the excavation work being carried out at the Karahantepe site, corresponding to the 2026 campaign. It is a composite sculpture, 70 centimeters in height, depicting a human figure seated on the back of […]
A study published in the journal Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies proposes a radically new reading of the Parthenon frieze, the famous 160-meter-long sculpture that surrounded the temple dedicated to Athena on the Acropolis of Athens. According to its author, Ellie Mackin Roberts, of the universities of Bristol and Leeds, the frieze was […]
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At one time, Rachel Hartigan edited The Washington Post’s Book World. During a 12-year stint as a writer, reporter, and editor with National Geographic, she covered everything from the genetics of persimmon trees to the long road to women’s suffrage.
She spoke with Brendan O’Meara, host of The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, about being a self-taught writer, how being open to opportunity can change your career, and how editing others can help you improve your own writing.
This conversation has been edited for pacing and flow.
—Krista Stevens
Brendan: What did your career look like in your head at the start, and how did that change?
Rachel: I was not a kid with a clear version of what I wanted to do. I really like to read, to write, and to learn things. My parents were quite aggravated with me because they had spent a lot of money to educate me. I tried being a paralegal at a legal publishing company and then at the Nevada State Legislature. I was probably lounging on the sofa when my dad came in and slapped a Harper’s Magazine on me and said, “There are internships there. You should apply to that.” OK, it’s in New York. I have friends in New York, so that’s what I did, and somehow I got it. My career has not been a straight path; it’s been a lot of happenstance where I somehow get a job and figure out how to do it once I’m there. People come to me with plans and say, “I’m going to do this, this, and this,” but that’s not my mindset. I wish I was more like that. My career is always a surprise to me.
Brendan: With pursuing something a bit squishy, like writing, how did you deal with the pressure of expectation and the burden to prove yourself to your peers and your parents?
Rachel: My parents weren’t too bad; I was harder on myself because I never went to journalism school. I have always felt like an apprentice, like I’m still figuring it out. It’s only recently that I feel like I know how to do this. I know how to structure something. I know how to get a reader going, but I never felt like I had the right credentials. One reason I’ve gone back and forth with writing and editing—and I feel like each one has helped the other—is because it’s much easier to spot the weaknesses in somebody else’s draft than in mine. Sometimes it’s harder to do with your own prose.
Brendan: An apt metaphor, be it someone else’s work or your own, is looking under the hood like a mechanic to see how things are working, whether everything’s moving as it should. How do you revisit text or analyze work that inspires you, so you can learn from it and apply it to your own work?
Rachel: I have a copy of David Grann’s The Lost City of Z where I wrote down what each paragraph was doing, and what each chapter was doing, trying to figure out how he balanced telling a historical tale—the story of those who were looking for Percy Fawcett—as well as his own story. I used to do that with features I liked, or if I was assigned a feature and I had no idea how to go about it, I would look at similar ones, whether from my colleagues or from other publications, and break down the structure. It gets you over the hump of the blank page because you don’t have to worry about how you start your masterpiece. You’re just like, nope, this is what this paragraph has to do.
Brendan: How have you cultivated that sense of voice over your writing career?
Rachel: I’ve been a journalist for a very long time. Clarity has always been a priority, especially at National Geographic. When I was writing scientific stories, some of them had to be really, really short. It’s front-of-book for the magazine, and it’s almost like writing poetry because every word has to count. If you’re doing something complicated, you have to think about how the reader is taking it in. Is this clear to the reader? Is the reader going to want to read the next paragraph? Where is the momentum? I’m thinking about that a lot. I’m trying to remember that I’m in partnership with a reader, and they need to understand what I’m writing about.
Brendan: How do you approach interviewing as a skill and as a craft?
Rachel: I always have my questions, but I’m not an aggressive interviewer. I like to let people talk, and I like to use people’s own words in my writing. I like to hear people’s voices, so I am probably a minimalist interviewer, though I wouldn’t say a minimalist reporter. But for instance, when I went on expeditions to Nikumaroro—an island where some think Amelia Earhart died as a castaway—I felt like I was a spy and an eavesdropper. I would interview people and ask them what they were doing, but mostly I was trying to watch and listen and see how people were doing, and I hoped they would forget I’m there.
Brendan: I love what you said at the start of your book, about being bored with your job working on tiny morsels for the magazine, bored with your marriage to another deskbound journalist, and most of all, bored of yourself. Take us to that moment, this middle-age malaise, this boredom.
Rachel: I was in my little cubicle writing and editing for the front-of-book, which was fairly routine. I knew what was happening: This week and the next was writing, and the next week was editing. My son was in school, so there was his school routine, and I just didn’t know what I wanted to do next. The writing and editing for the front-of-book had become pretty easy, and I felt somewhat underemployed. But here I am again at my desk, and literally, one of the editors at Nat Geo, Glenn Oeland, stopped me in the hallway and said, “We have a berth on this ship going out to an island in the Pacific. Do you want to go?” And I said yes, and I really had no idea where I was going.
When I started at Nat Geo, I had been a book review editor at the The Washington Post, which is a very desk-bound job. I had no idea what I was doing, so I said yes to things, which up until that point wasn’t anything hugely dramatic. So this was the biggest yes. I realized it wasn’t just a yes that I had to say, but I also had to get buy-in from my then-husband and my son, who was 12 at the time. I had to think about all the details involved in going to a place like this. I had never been on a ship; I had never been anywhere tropical. But once I got on the ship, I focused on doing the story, and it felt like a huge weight fell off my shoulders, even though I was very seasick at first. But once the preparation is over, you immerse yourself in the story and the people, trying to figure out the dynamics of what you need to find out. It’s such a flow state.
My career has not been a straight path; it’s been a lot of happenstance where I somehow get a job and figure out how to do it once I’m there.
Brendan: And as you’re reporting and tackling the project at large, it can be overwhelming to think about the scope of it. Thinking: This is going to be a book. How do I even do that? In what way did this book stretch you?
Rachel: I did two expeditions, one looking for Amelia Earhart’s bones, and the other with Robert Ballard, who is the man who found the Titanic, looking for her plane in the waters around the island. So it was fairly clear what the stories were. But once I got back from the second expedition and started thinking about doing a book on it, I was really struggling. For one thing, we never found anything. We still don’t know what happened to her. So, is there really a book here? And if there is a book, how do I write about all these different things? At least four narratives needed to be tackled. I could have just written a book that theorized what happened to her. I was frustrated when writing news stories because it was mostly about the search for her, not as much about Earhart herself. I didn’t know that much about her beyond what we learn in elementary school: a groundbreaking aviator disappears. I really wanted something that incorporated more of her biography. So that would be one narrative. But then there’s all the theories and the people who pursued them, and it’s all very involved. I had a hard time figuring out how to braid all those strands together.
Brendan: You came up with a three-part structure: captured, castaway, and sank. How did you arrive at three “deaths of Amelia” as the scaffolding to weave these stories around?
Rachel: It was challenging to figure out how to approach each theory, how to lay it out in a way that wouldn’t be utterly baffling to the reader. The first way I tried was utterly baffling to my editor, so I had to have another go. I was trying to do it almost chronologically, which involved all the theories all at once, and it would have been very difficult. So instead, I decided to alternate between the biography chapters and one theory at a time, starting from the least likely to the most likely. I don’t advocate for any one theory in the book, but part of the reason I wanted to start with the least likely is that it’s also the most exciting.
Brendan: You mention that there have been solid biographies written about Earhart. I imagine that as you were looking to sell this book, you were wondering about what can be said that hasn’t already been said? How did you approach selling a new book on Amelia Earhart?
Rachel: In my darkest moments, I’m like, who needs this book? I don’t know. There had been some good biographies, and a lot of the different searchers had written books arguing for what they think happened. There hadn’t really been a book that combined it all, and there hadn’t been a book that contextualized the searches. I think that’s what helped sell the book.
Brendan: I love the first third of the book or so. You write that she wanted a life of purpose and she couldn’t imagine finding it in a purely domestic existence. What do you think she was so, almost at ease, with bucking societal norms of the time?
Rachel: I think she was interested in what was new, in new experiences, in new technology; having a life where things basically stayed the same just would have been the end of her. I just don’t think she would have been able to handle that. She had an unstable childhood, but her parents did well. They had two girls, and when the girls wanted a BB gun, they got a BB gun. Her mom sewed them rompers so that they could actually play rather than being constricted in dresses. She was raised to be herself, basically, and I think she never learned how to shut that down, which is wonderful. She was always looking for what she could do beyond what was expected of her, you know, how can I be what I want to be when society expects me to be a certain way? It’s a question that we all still struggle with. And she was pretty eloquent about wanting people to be able to do what they wanted.
Pat Caldwell is 69 years old and, as Chris Stanton gushes in this uproarious Q&A, “a legend to IMAX nerds.” Caldwell loves Vision3 film stock, hates Joker: Folie à Deux, and has discovered more than one dead body in a movie theater. His decades-long career as a projectionist includes a stint at a Tennessee porn theater with “very good equipment,” and he once spent half a year screening Lawrence of Arabia four times daily. When Stanton reached out to Caldwell on the occasion of The Odyssey, he may have landed the year’s most entertaining interview.
So Sam taught me how to run the projectors, and he got drunk, passed out on the couch. And after the concession stand in the box office closed, I would go up and run the rest of the movies for him. This went very nicely until one night there’s a knock at the door. I opened the door and here’s this old man standing there. And I said, “Well, who are you?” He says, “I could ask the same question. Who are you? I’m the business agent of the local projectionists’ union.” I explained what was going on. He woke up Sam, chewed him out. And the next day they made me an apprentice. I trained for a year with no pay at all the local theaters in Nashville.
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