Finn Cohen

The Best Thing About Fiction

A Q&A With John Holman

“White Folks,” a short story in our September 2020 issue, was written by John Holman, who grew up in Durham, North Carolina, just a few miles from The Sun’s editorial offices in Chapel Hill. Holman was preparing to teach an online class at Georgia State University for the first time due to the pandemic when Sun Associate Editor Finn Cohen caught up with him.

The Most Dangerous Place

Rachel Louise Snyder On The Persistent Problem Of Domestic Violence

Another woman’s husband got a rattlesnake and kept it in a cage at home. He would threaten to put it in the bed or the shower with her. That kind of emotional torture needs no physical violence.

Even Money

Dietrich Vollrath On Repairing America’s Economic Inequality

I think the pandemic is changing people’s idea of what the government should and could do. It’s definitely made them frustrated with what it can’t do.

Devin Murphy on Adventure, Empathy, and Learning to Open Up

Murphy says he has submitted stories to The Sun for about a decade, but this is the first we’ve published. We caught up to discuss his new story, his maritime exploits, and the most valuable lessons he learned from a mentor.

An Imperfect Union

Astra Taylor On The Inherent Conflict Between Capitalism And Democracy

I resist seeing Trump as just a fluke or an aberration, because it’s too flattering to ourselves. When people say, “Trump’s not us,” I think, Maybe we need to see how he is us, so we can prevent this from happening again.