Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Jon Michaud
‘Among Friends’ captures the joy and danger of intimacy
Men: think of your closest friend, the person who knows you best, with whom you feel the most comfortable. Your pal, your bud, your homie. What is the basis of your friendship? What would it take to rupture the years of trust and confidence between you? What would you be willing to forgive in order to maintain that relationship? Is there a circumstance in which you might choose your friend over a member of your own family?
‘Among Friends’ captures the joy and danger of intimacy
‘Among Friends’ captures the joy and danger of intimacy (washingtonpost.com) ‘Among Friends’ captures the joy and danger of intimacy By Jon Michaud 2025062414004100 Men: think of your closest friend, the person who knows you best, with whom you feel the most comfortable. Your pal, your bud, your homie. What is the basis of your friendship? What would it take to rupture the years of trust and confidence between you? What would you be willing to forgive in order to maintain that relationship?
‘Lucky Night’ is a crafty thriller of adultery and disaster
‘Lucky Night’ is a crafty thriller of adultery and disaster (washingtonpost.com) ‘Lucky Night’ is a crafty thriller of adultery and disaster By Jon Michaud 2025032614003700 "Marriage is … well, it's a challenge. It's an AP course. The most you can hope for is a B. Maybe a B-minus. The semester could last fifty years or more, so you can bomb one test.
Dickson Despommier Wants Our Cities to Be Like Forests
In 2000, Dickson D.
Dickson Despommier Wants Our Cities to Be Like Forests
A leading proponent of vertical farming discusses how urban areas should adapt to a perilous environmental future. By Jon Michaud New Yorker January 14, 2024 Excerpt: Urban farming was a good idea, Despommier thought, but his students hadn’t taken it far enough. “What’s wrong with putting the farmer inside the building?” he asked them, remembering that at the time there were “hundreds to perhaps thousands” of empty buildings in New York City.
The Cassette-Tape Revolution
There was a hitch, though. My father, a serious audiophile, refused to allow his copy of the Carlos album to be ravaged by the school’s record player. He offered to make a recording of “Switched-On Bach” on his reel-to-reel tape recorder. Did the school have one of those? The next day, the teacher confirmed that they did, but she warned that she didn’t know how to operate it. That would be up to me.
Everything You Need to Know About Groundbreaking Queer Feminist Science Fiction Writer Joanna Russ
When she was in high school in the early 1950’s, Joanna Russ (1930–2011) read Mark Twain’s short story “A Medieval Romance,” about a duke without a male heir who brings his daughter up to fill the role, hiding her gender from all. Things get complicated when the duke’s niece falls in love with his “son,” threatening to reveal her true identity and upset the succession.
Drink It In: A List of the Best Books About the Best Bars
Literature is filled with great fictional bars, bartenders, and drunks—and cheers to them all.
Last Call at Coogan's: The Life and Death of a Neighborhood Bar
Last Call at Coogan's: The Life and Death of a Neighborhood Bar About halfway through LAST CALL AT COOGAN’S, I asked myself, Who, outside of the immediate neighborhood, is going to be interested in this story? It seemed hyper-local. I compared it with the Instagram photos and videos that people post about their pets and kids. They might be fascinating, but mainly to those who have a close relationship to the subjects. The construction of the book is a bit unruly.
Jon Michaud’s Playlist for His Book “Last Call at Coogan’s”
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book. Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Roxane Gay, and many others. Jon Michaud’s Last Call at Coogan’s is a remarkable elegy for an iconic uptown Manhattan bar.
Last Call at Coogan's
The uniquely inspiring story of a beloved neighborhood bar that united the communities it served. Coogan’s Bar and Restaurant opened in New York City’s Washington Heights in 1985 and closed its doors for good in the pandemic spring of 2020. Sometimes called Uptown City Hall, it became a staple of neighborhood life during its 35 years in operation―a place of safety and a bulwark against prejudice in a multi-ethnic, majority-immigrant community undergoing rapid change.
BOOK LAUNCH: Last Call at Coogan's by Jon Michaud with Peter Walsh
Join Word Up in celebrating the launch of Last Call at Coogan's: The Life and Death of a Neighborhood Bar about the uniquely inspiring story of a beloved neighborhood bar that united the communities it served. Author Jon Michaud will be in conversation with Coogan's former owner Peter Walsh to share stories and images about the Washington Heights staple. The conversation will be held at Recirculation, a project of Word Up, with a Q&A and signing to follow.
'Your Driver Is Waiting' is a rollicking update of 'Taxi Driver'
Novels have long served as source material for movies, but perhaps more aspiring novelists should start looking to classic films for inspiration.
'Your Driver Is Waiting' is a rollicking update of 'Taxi Driver'
- - - Novels have long served as source material for movies, but perhaps more aspiring novelists should start looking to classic films for inspiration.
Last Call at Coogan's: The Life and Death of a Neighborhood Bar|Hardcover
The uniquely inspiring story of a beloved neighborhood bar that united the communities it served. Coogan’s Bar and Restaurant opened in New York City’s Washington Heights in 1985 and closed its doors for good in the pandemic spring of 2020. Sometimes called Uptown City Hall, it became a staple of neighborhood life during its 35 years in operation—a place of safety and a bulwark against prejudice in a multi-ethnic, majority-immigrant community undergoing rapid change.
The Force Is AWOL in 'Andor'
It wasn’t until the sixth episode of the shape-shifting and genre-curious new “Star Wars” series “Andor” that I figured out what had been nagging at me. The episode, titled “The Eye,” centers on rebel fighters as they plan to infiltrate an imperial base. At the outset of this risky operation, the group splits into two teams. “Safe travels,” the leader of one team says to the other. Safe travels? I thought. What am I watching?
The Force Is AWOL in “Andor” Original
I made a quick list of other “Star Wars” staples that the creators of “Andor” have eschewed. There are hardly any cute comic-relief characters speaking in bleeps, grunts, or cringey patois. Despite one quirky, lovable robot, the series is notably short on aliens and droids. All the major characters are human, and none hide their face behind a mask à la Darth Vader.
James Purdy Will Never Be Famous Again
Michael Snyder mentions that missed connection in passing in his new biography, “James Purdy: Life of a Contrarian Writer.” I almost gasped when I read it. Hemingway rarely comes to mind when I read Purdy’s fiction, which I think of as belonging to the weird, gothic lineage of Poe, Melville, and Nathanael West. But comparing the two writers turns out to be instructive. Both grew up in troubled Midwestern families—Hemingway in Illinois, Purdy in Ohio.
Those Who Left Us: Literary Obits of 2021
This highly selective list of literary lights that were extinguished during the past year ranges from brand names to barely-knowns. Feel free to add your own names to the list in the comments section below. Joan Didion, anyone? Scott Donaldson While working as a newspaper reporter in Virginia in 1988, I got sent to the College of William & Mary to interview Scott Donaldson, a professor who had just published a biography of John Cheever.
‘Lean Fall Stand’ opens with a literal cliffhanger you won’t soon forget
Jon McGregor’s inventive 2017 novel, “Reservoir 13,” lacked a traditional protagonist. The book’s central “character” was the collective consciousness of an English village where a teenage girl has gone missing. The rising tension from her disappearance seeped through the book like stain spreading across a tablecloth until it was completely saturated. With sublime assurance, “Reservoir 13” reimagined how a novel could be told.
‘Lean Fall Stand’ opens with a literal cliffhanger you won’t soon forget
After a gripping opening, Jon McGregor's novel turns into a meditation on language and caregiving. BING NEWS: 'Lean Fall Stand' opens with a literal cliffhanger you won't soon forget It opens with a literal cliffhanger. During a sudden Antarctic squall, three members of a British GPS mapping expedition become separated.
Review | ‘Lean Fall Stand’ opens with a literal cliffhanger you won’t soon forget
Jon McGregor’s inventive 2017 novel, “Reservoir 13,” lacked a traditional protagonist. The book’s central “character” was the collective consciousness of an English village where a teenage girl has gone missing. The rising tension from her disappearance seeped through the book like stain spreading across a tablecloth until it was completely saturated. With sublime assurance, “Reservoir 13” reimagined how a novel could be told. McGregor’s latest is more conventional in structure and approach.
Review | Kevin Barry’s ‘That Old Country Music’ examines the brutal bliss of romantic love Original
“That Old Country Music,” the title of Kevin Barry’s new book of short stories, refers not to American country and western music but to “old-style” unaccompanied Irish folk singing. At the center of the book is a story about a heartbroken middle-aged song collector from Dublin who goes in search of a folk singer named Timothy Jackson, reputed to know songs “from deep in the 19th century. . . .
Pitch Me Another: Apple’s Ads
Many of the tributes to Steve Jobs, who died on Wednesday, have mentioned Apple’s famous “1984” Super Bowl ad. Apple also created a number of memorable print-ad campaigns, many of which appeared in the pages of The New Yorker. Here is a look back, from the Macintosh Personal Computer to the iMac.
Takes: The Real Purpose of Spring Training
Each year, it becomes clearer to me that my first purpose in touring the spring-training camps is not to deepen my appreciation of the sport, or to report on phenoms and veterans. It is to rid myself of the aftertaste of winter baseball news—the bitter flavor of money, litigation, and failed imagination.
Takes: Happy 75th, “Gone With the Wind”
“Gone with the Wind” continues to bring its author, and many other people, a modest profit, like a field of oil wells. Whenever the Macmillan Company finds itself running out of copies, it prints another ten thousand. This is ten times the size of the average reprint, but, of course, “Gone” is ten times the average novel.
When the Oscars Came to New York
Yesterday, Elizabeth Minkel wrote about New Yorker writers who attended the Oscars in Los Angeles, but there was also a time, half a century ago, when the Oscars came to New York. For several years in the mid-nineteen-fifties, the Academy Awards were split between two venues: the R.K.O. Pantages Theatre in Hollywood and the Center Theatre (formerly the R.K.O. Roxy), in New York’s Rockefeller Center. The split venue accommodated the many nominees who lived in New York or were appearing on Broadway.
Review | ‘The Death of Jesus’ completes J.M. Coetzee’s nativity-inspired trilogy. But what does it all mean?
Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee’s latest work is the third and presumably final novel in a series that freely adapts the Nativity story, relocating it to an unnamed, Spanish-speaking country that may or may not be a vision of the afterlife. Newcomers arrive by ship “washed clean” of their memories and previous lives. They are processed through a resettlement camp where they are assigned names and ages.
Book World: 'The Death of Jesus' completes J.M. Coetzee's nativity-inspired trilogy. But what does it all mean?
Jon Michaud, The Washington Post Published 10:59 am CDT, Saturday, May 30, 2020 The Death of Jesus The Death of Jesus Photo: Viking, Handout Photo: Viking, Handout Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Image 1 of 1 The Death of Jesus The Death of Jesus Photo: Viking, Handout The Death of Jesus By J.M. Coetzee Viking. 208 pp.
The Great Pennant Chase of 1883
There hasn’t been much juice to the rivalry between the New York Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals—most recently renewed in a four-game series that ends today—since Adam Wainwright struck out Carlos Beltrán to end Game Seven of the 2006 National League Championship Series, but it was once as heated as any in baseball. Many fans will recall the passionate animosity between the teams during the nineteen-eighties after Keith Hernandez was traded to New York from St. Louis.
“Dune” Endures
As the temperature in California’s Death Valley climbed toward a hundred and thirty degrees recently, I had a vision of giant sandworms erupting from the desert floor and swallowing up the tourists and news media gathered around the thermometer at the National Park Service ranger station.
A Washington Heights Bar Closes Down, with Echoes for All Small Businesses
On Friday, March 13th—now as remote as the Pliocene—I dropped into Coogan’s, an Irish bar and restaurant in Washington Heights, for an afternoon drink. I wanted to check in with the owners, Dave Hunt, Tess O’Connor McDade, and Peter Walsh. Hunt and Walsh are in their early seventies, McDade a generation younger. They were unavailable, engaged in what McDade described as “an emergency strategy meeting” to deal with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their small business.
'Tyll' - a future Netflix series - follows a German jester navigating war-torn chaos
“Tyll” By Daniel Kehlmann translated from German by Ross Benjamin Pantheon. 352 pp $26.95 Daniel Kehlmann’s “Tyll” begins with a bravura opening chapter reminiscent of Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery.” The setting is a small village in Central Europe, early in the 17th century. One morning a covered wagon arrives in town carrying a legendary jester, Tyll Ulenspiegel, and his troupe of performers. They put on a play; they dance and sing; and then Tyll walks a high tightrope.
Review | Daniel Kehlmann’s ‘Tyll’ — a future Netflix series — follows a German jester navigating war-torn chaos
Daniel Kehlmann’s “Tyll” begins with a bravura opening chapter reminiscent of Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery.” The setting is a small village in Central Europe, early in the 17th century. One morning a covered wagon arrives in town carrying a legendary jester, Tyll Ulenspiegel, and his troupe of performers. They put on a play; they dance and sing; and then Tyll walks a high tightrope. The show captivates the townsfolk, transporting them from their dreary provincial lives.
Book World: In Michael Crummey's "The Innocents," two orphans in a remote corner of the world learn to survive
The opening scenes of Michael Crummey's engrossing and beautifully written new novel, "The Innocents," are as bleak as any work of fiction I can think of. "They lost their baby sister before the first snowfall. Their mother ... was deathly sick herself by then, coughing up clots of blood into her hands." The "they" here are a pair of siblings, Evered and Ada Best, 11 and 9 years old, respectively. Before the New Year, they will be orphans as both of their parents succumb to the mother's illness.
Review | In Michael Crummey’s ‘The Innocents,’ two orphans in a remote corner of the world learn to survive
The opening scenes of Michael Crummey’s engrossing and beautifully written new novel, “The Innocents,” are as bleak as any work of fiction I can think of. “They lost their baby sister before the first snowfall. Their mother . . . was deathly sick herself by then, coughing up clots of blood into her hands.” The “they” here are a pair of siblings, Evered and Ada Best, 11 and 9 years old, respectively. Before the New Year, they will be orphans as both of their parents succumb to the mother’s illness.
My Life in Smoke
My maternal grandparents kept a pewter-lidded urn on their coffee table which widened from its base, like hands spread in offering. On top was an inlaid white-stone knob for lifting. The interior was filled with neatly lined single cigarettes. A large Chinese bowl in their library was heaped with packs of L&M cigarettes. The packs were red and white, wrapped in cellophane. At dinner, beside lit candles in tall silver holders, sat little crystal cups sprouting cigarettes, like pencils in a jar.
Review | In ‘The Memory Police,’ an authoritarian government tries to erase the past
Books Review Review Interpretation of the news based on evidence, including data, as well as anticipating how events might unfold based on past events August 15 at 12:46 PM Look around. Choose a commonplace object. A toaster, let’s say. Now imagine that object has been eradicated from your life and the lives of everyone you know. All memories of making toast vanish from your consciousness. You’re no longer even sure what “toast” is.
Julius: The Story of a Premature Birth
Illustration by Kyu Tae Lee The first hint that something was going wrong with Zoraida’s pregnancy came on the morning of Thursday, May 20, 2004. I got out of bed early to attend to our eighteen-month-old son, Marcus, who had woken up coughing. A few minutes later, Zoraida emerged from our bedroom. “I’m soaked,” she said, clutching at her pajamas. She called her obstetrician, and I got Marcus, who was still coughing, ready to see the pediatrician.
Gene Wolfe and the Book of Gold
1. Perhaps it’s appropriate that when I found out Richard Matheson was dead, I was watching television; there are few writers, after all, with a more intimate, lengthy relationship with both that living room medium and its bombastic cousin, the feature film.
In the end, honesty isn’t the best policy - Salisbury Post
“Golden State,” by Ben H. Winters. Mullholland. 336 pp. $28. By Jon Michaud Special To The Washington Post Imagine a country so traumatized by deception, lies and gaslighting that it opts to prioritize facts and truth-telling above all else.
In the end, honesty isn't the best policy
Jon Michaud, Special to The Washington Post Saturday Jan 26, 2019 at 10:19 PM Jan 26, 2019 at 10:19 PM "Golden State" by Ben H. Winters, Mullholland. 336 pp. $28. Imagine a country so traumatized by deception, lies and gaslighting that it opts to prioritize facts and truth-telling above all else.
'Golden State,' a new novel by Ben H. Winters, envisions a totalitarian society where truth-telling is prized above all else
Imagine a country so traumatized by deception, lies and gaslighting that it opts to prioritize facts and truth-telling above all else. Golden State by Ben H. Winters is set in a totalitarian society where telling the truth is prized above all else.
Review | 'Golden State,' by Ben Winters book review
Imagine a country so traumatized by deception, lies and gaslighting that it opts to prioritize facts and truth-telling above all else. Here’s what your life would be like: Ubiquitous video cameras would capture your every word and action and feed them into a permanent record of all that is “Objectively So.” Like every other citizen, you would keep a detailed account of your life, gathering diary pages, receipts and annotated conversations, and sealing them in a Mylar bag each night.
Braithwaite’s debut is ‘ideal book for the present moment’
The title of Oyinkan Braithwaite’s debut novel, My Sister, the Serial Killer, is simultaneously accurate and misleading. The book is indeed about a serial killer and her sibling, but it is not at all the pulpy slasher story you might expect. Instead, it is a playful yet affecting examination of sibling rivalry, the legacy of abuse and the shallow sexism of Nigeria’s patriarchal society. Our narrator, Korede, is a nurse at a hospital in Lagos. She is homely, dutiful and lonely.
Sibling enablers and the serial killers to whom they are related
By Jon Michaud | Washington Post The title of Oyinkan Braithwaite’s debut novel, “My Sister, the Serial Killer,” is simultaneously accurate and misleading. The book is indeed about a serial killer and her sibling, but it is not at all the pulpy slasher story you might expect. Instead, it is a playful yet affecting examination of sibling rivalry, the legacy of abuse and the shallow sexism of Nigeria’s patriarchal society. Our narrator, Korede, is a nurse at a hospital in Lagos.
Sibling enablers and the serial killers to whom they are related
By Jon Michaud | Washington Post The title of Oyinkan Braithwaite’s debut novel, “My Sister, the Serial Killer,” is simultaneously accurate and misleading. The book is indeed about a serial killer and her sibling, but it is not at all the pulpy slasher story you might expect. Instead, it is a playful yet affecting examination of sibling rivalry, the legacy of abuse and the shallow sexism of Nigeria’s patriarchal society. Our narrator, Korede, is a nurse at a hospital in Lagos.
This book centers on two sisters. One of them is a serial killer.
Our narrator, Korede, is a nurse at a hospital in Lagos. She is homely, dutiful and lonely. She carries a torch for a doctor named Tade, but her feelings are not reciprocated. Korede’s sole confidant is a man in a coma, to whom she unburdens herself like a patient to a shrink. Most of those confidences have to do with Korede’s younger sister, the beautiful but reckless Ayoola, who has an unfortunate habit of killing her boyfriends.
Review | A woman on a killing spree gets some help from her enabling sister
(Doubleday) The title of Oyinkan Braithwaite’s debut novel, “My Sister, the Serial Killer,” is simultaneously accurate and misleading. The book is indeed about a serial killer and her sibling, but it is not at all the pulpy slasher story you might expect. Instead, it is a playful yet affecting examination of sibling rivalry, the legacy of abuse and the shallow sexism of Nigeria’s patriarchal society. Our narrator, Korede, is a nurse at a hospital in Lagos. She is homely, dutiful and lonely.
Top Ten _New Yorker_ Stories of 2010
Here are the ten most popular stories on our site this year. Read more from The New Yorker’s 2010: The Year in Review.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Jon
Contact Jon, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack