News & Notes

Sy Safransky on Writing and The Sun

Selections from the Archive

In our December 2023 issue we included a letter from our founder, Sy Safransky, who is stepping down after fifty years at the helm of The Sun. Presenting readers with a representative collection from his long tenure at the magazine is impossible. Any attempt would inevitably obscure more about his body of work than it reveals. Instead we’ve chosen to share some of Sy’s pieces about writing—and about The Sun.

Upcoming Readers Write Deadlines

Shaving, Fuel, and Misunderstandings

There’s still time to submit to Readers Write on “Shaving”! Be sure to get your entry to us by January 1, 2024—we’ve suggested a few potential prompts if you still need to get your creative juices flowing. And it’s never too early to start your first draft for an upcoming topic. . . .

Claus, Inc.

I have often wondered about the man we know as Santa Claus. There is no lack of published material about him, but as far as I can tell there has been no formal interview with the man who has played such a large role in so many lives. Until now. Through a long investigation I was able to locate Santa, and after much negotiation with his public-relations team he agreed to meet with me and talk about his life’s work. When we finally met, it was in a comfortably furnished office in a nondescript cottage with a spectacular view of the ocean. I had envisioned a large man with an ample belly and long white beard, but he was tall and thin with well-trimmed facial hair. He appeared to be in his late fifties and was dressed casually in shorts, flip flops, and a colorful printed shirt that made him look like a tourist.

All Families

Doug Crandell on Writing about Loved Ones

We’ve been publishing Doug Crandell in The Sun for twenty years now. I’ve been his editor that whole time, and I feel like I know him, even though we’ve met face-to-face only once. He writes with such honesty and openness, often about growing up in rural Indiana. I recently talked with Doug about how he navigated his family members’ responses to his essays about them. We also discussed writing as therapy, how Sun readers react to his work, and Halloween costumes in the seventies.

An Update on Israel and Palestine

In recent weeks we have witnessed the ongoing tragedies in the Middle East—the October 7 attack on Israel and the killing and displacement of innocent civilians in Gaza—with a mix of fear, anger, and grief. We want to make our stance clear: we are pro-peace.

Listen to Poems about Departures

We asked the poets in this month’s special poetry section to read their poems about leaving and letting go.

December: This Month in Sun History

A Look Back for Our 50^th Year of Publication

The most important December in Sun history is, well, this one: the month in which Sy Safransky, after fifty years of laboring to put out the magazine he founded, steps away from his desk and becomes, deservingly, editor emeritus.

Upcoming Readers Write Deadlines

Uniforms, Shaving, and Fuel

There’s still time to submit to Readers Write on “Uniforms”! Be sure to get your entry to us by December 1—we’ve suggested a few potential prompts if you still need to get your creative juices flowing. And it’s never too early to start your first draft for an upcoming topic. . . .

An American Disease

Anders Carlson-Wee on Dumpster Diving in a Culture of Waste

For ten years Anders Carlson-Wee got almost everything he needed from the trash: food, clothes, furniture, lamps. He wrote about his experiences in his essay “The Salmonella Special,” which appears in our November issue, and in his new poetry collection, Disease of Kings, released this October by W.W. Norton. When we spoke over Zoom, I asked him to tell me more about this lifestyle. We talked about capitalism, loneliness, freedom, and one of the greatest hauls of his dumpster-diving career.

November: This Month in Sun History

A Look Back for Our 50^th Year of Publication

Forty-four years ago this month, we offered a special holiday rate on gift subscriptions. That was the first time, and it’s a tradition we’ve continued every year since. The announcement of that original offer in 1979 described The Sun as “the ideal gift for friends who’d share your enthusiasm for a totally independent journal, a forum for those who lead lives of intensity and impact” — a description that, happily, has remained true.