npr book review submission guidelines

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Book Review Outlets

Book reviews can be an indispensable asset to writers and their careers. Our Book Review Outlets database is an excellent platform for authors—from self-published independents to household names—to research and discover a spectrum of book review options.

Book Nerdection

Book Nerdection is a website offering services for book reviews, sponsored book listings, author interviews, and an abundance of content for both authors and readers. Reviews are available for both written books and audiobooks.

VIDA Review

The  VIDA Review  is an online literary magazine publishing original fiction, nonfiction, poetry, interviews, and reviews. Reviews must be for full-length or chapbooks of poetry or prose by writers from historically-marginalized...

Established in 1990 at the University of Idaho, Fugue biannually publishes poetry, fiction, essays, hybrid work, and visual art from established and emerging writers and artists. Fugue is managed and edited entirely by...

Adroit Journal

The Adroit Journal  is a registered literary and arts nonprofit organization that was founded in 2010 by poet Peter LaBerge. At its foundation, the journal has its eyes focused ahead, seeking to showcase what its global staff of emerging...

Bone Bouquet

Bone Bouquet is a biannual print journal publishing new writing by female and nonbinary poets, from artists both established and emerging. Work that breaks with tradition, creating new forms by dwelling in thought rather than seeking...

Asymptote  is the premier site for world literature in translation. They take their name from the dotted line on a graph that a mathematical function may tend toward, but never reach. Similarly, a translated text may never fully replicate...

Published since 2009, Big Other is an online arts and culture magazine accepting submissions in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, lyric essay, art, video, short drama, and hybrid work from both established and emerging writers and artists....

Barrelhouse

Barrelhouse is a biannual print journal featuring fiction, poetry, interviews, and essays about music, art, and the detritus of popular culture. Their website regularly posts new short fiction, nonfiction, poetry, interviews, and book...

Another Chicago Magazine

Another Chicago Magazine  is independent of any institution, and has lived on volunteer efforts and grants. Each editor has autonomy and publishes work that ranges from conventional to experimental. They adore writing that is engaged with...

American Poetry Review

The American Poetry Review is dedicated to reaching a worldwide audience with a diverse array of the best contemporary poetry and literary prose. They also aim to expand the audience interested in poetry and literature, and to provide...

Printed twice a year (in July and December) and distributed internationally with subscribers in over twenty countries, each issue includes thirty-two shorter poems. In 2013, 32 Poems expanded to publish regular prose features online....

Self-Publishing Review

Self-Publishing Review has been a leading name in self-publishing services and author advocacy since 2008. Offering professional editorial book reviews across all genres with a number of options for paid reviews, their services also...

Under a Warm Green Linden

Under a Warm Green Linden , launched in 2008, is both a forum on the technical and ineffable qualities of the art of poetry, and a digital poetry journal. Reviews and interviews with established and emerging poets are intended to deepen,...

Vol. 1 Brooklyn

Founded in 2009, Volume 1 Brooklyn engages and connects the literary-minded from Brooklyn and beyond. Their website features short and long content, news, book reviews and more.  Vol. 1 Brooklyn seeks to motivate the community to...

Masters Review

The Masters Review is an online and print publication celebrating new and emerging writers. It is on the lookout for the best new talent with hopes of publishing stories from writers who will continue to produce great work. It offers...

BookLife is a website from  Publishers Weekly  dedicated to indie authors. The site provides a free and easy way to submit self-published books to  Publishers Weekly  for review, and offers editorial content—success stories,...

City Book Review

Since 2009 City Book Review has reviewed more than 20,000 books under the San Francisco, Manhattan, and Seattle Book Review brands, and Kids’ Book Buzz. They review 300 books a month in more than 40 genres.

Books within 90 days of their...

Stirring is a journal with several editors who all contribute their individual input for each issue. The joy of Stirring is a confluence of diverse opinions. Creative work from all genres and a variety of visual art media are...

Newfound is a nonprofit publisher based in Austin, Texas. The work published explores how place shapes identity, imagination, and understanding. The journal is published biannually online and annually in print, and features fiction,...

CALYX Journal

A forum for women’s creative work—including work by women of color, lesbian and queer women, young women, old women— CALYX Journal  breaks new ground. Each issue is packed with new poetry, short stories, full-color artwork, photography,...

American Poets

American Poets , published biannually by the Academy of American Poets, provides readers with a panorama of the contemporary poetic landscape and offers ten to twelve reviews of new poetry books in each issue. The magazine, which publishes...

The Guardian was founded in 1821 and known as the Manchester Guardian until 1959. The Guardian has evolved from a local paper into an international publication that offers publishing industry news, book reviews, and the...

Georgia Review

The Georgia Review  seeks to create a lasting environment for literature by supporting writers at every stage of their careers. Committed to the art of editorial practice, the  Review  collaborates with authors of essays, stories,...

The Independent

Founded in 1986, the Independent, nicknamed the Indy , is a major newspaper in the United Kingdom. The Indy —which launched an online version in 2008—covers the publishing industry, literary news, and all things books.

Compulsive Reader

Compulsive Reader features reviews of books by contemporary writers, as well as exclusive author interviews and literary news and criticism. Compulsive Reader works with an eclectic and extensive team of book reviewers who are...

Update: Submitting Your Book For A Book Review

by Jeniffer Thompson | Dec 5, 2019 | Author Marketing , Digital Marketing , Selling Your Book | 2 comments

Book Reviews Are Essential To Your Marketing Strategy

Congratulations! You’ve put in the time, energy and research into writing and publishing your very first book! But now what? Well, getting a few book reviews is a good start.

When the time rolls around to start marketing your book, you may feel like there’s too much to do that may be outside your experience or comfort zone—like getting book reviews, for example. But that’s why I’ve written this handy guide for you, dear Authors. Whether your goal is establishing credibility, creating a passive income stream, or just getting your work out there in the world, you’ll need to do quite a bit of marketing for your book to land in the hands of your intended audience. And book reviews are a great way to do that!  You should be putting as much, if not more, time, energy, and dedication into marketing your book as you did writing and publishing it. After all, what’s the point of writing a book if no one ever reads it? 

A Good Book Review is a Boon for Indie Authors!

One of the best ways to market your book is by getting reviews. In fact, good reviews are essential. They increase your visibility and establish trust with your potential audience.  Places like Amazon and Good Reads are excellent platforms for receiving reviews from your audience, your followers, and readers—which translates to more visibility and possibly more book sales. Readers trust the opinions of other readers! But when it comes to industry clout and exposure, you’ll want to submit your book to dedicated book review journals and organizations.  Many of these book review platforms offer your book exposure to distributors, libraries, and book stores, as well as readers. 

Here Are Nine of the Best Places to Submit Your Book for Review

Foreword Indie Reviews

The Foreword Indie offers free reviews, but those are somewhat limited(to 150 per issue) and depend on the quality of the book. They also offer a few paid options, if your book doesn’t make the cut. This is a prestigious and trusted publication, and a favorable review here can really do a lot to boost your book!

Readers’ Favorite

A review from Readers’ Favorite offers authors a lot of value. And they’re free! Your review will not only be published on their website, their social media along with trade sites, but will be indexed by search engines. I definitely suggest you check out this review platform and see the other benefits and resources Readers’ Favorite has to offer.

Reader Views

Reader Views publishes reviews by readers with a variety of interests and backgrounds, which means a good cross section of people that are like your potential audience will be reviewing your book. Reviews are posted on their site and you have rights to use the reviews as part of your book promotion. Reviews are totally free and they also offer affordable publicity packages!

Book List is a biweekly publication put out by the American Library Association. This is an invaluable source if you want to get your book into the hands of librarians, and into libraries, so it can reach library patrons and students. 

Book Reporter  

Book Reporter is a bi-monthly online publication that offers reviews as well as author profiles, book excerpts, and contests. They do not review every book, though they consider every pitch. They usually publish reviews within three months. Pssst…It’s a great space to check out what your peers and competitors are up to as well. It’s worth noting that they don’t review Self Help, Health, Religion, or Travel Guides. 

Blue Ink Review

Blue Ink Review not only publishes daily, but it’s a user-friendly online resource aimed at increasing distribution. This review was founded by a literary agent and a book review editor. These ladies are in the business and know their stuff, so I say if it’s in your budget, give Blue Ink a shot! 

Rain Taxi Review of Books  

Rain Taxi is published online and in print quarterly. Its aim is to support writers in all stages of their careers and to give attention to books outside the mainstream. It stands out because it reviews art books and graphic novels as well. So if that’s your thing, then this a good place for you! 

Book Life is the website from Publishers Weekly dedicated to indie and self-published authors. It’s a fabulous resource for writers and offers author profiles, and interviews which can increase exposure as well. I highly recommend you check this out and submit your book for review here. 

LibraryThing

LibraryThing offers an online community for book lovers. They offer a space for readers to catalog their books in one easy spot. Plus, its a social space where other readers can check out your collection and read your reviews (similar to Goodreads). Plus, you’ll find like-readers and get recommendations on what to read next. A review from a LibraryThing member can go along way to getting more visibility for your book. (Thanks to John Tuteur for recommending that I add this great resource to my list).

Well, there you have it!

So follow the links, and submit your book for review! I’ve already done the searching for you, so all you have to do is take a few minutes to fill out their submission forms. It will be minutes well spent, trust me! Oh, and if you’re wanting to submit your book for an award, go to my updated book award submission list.

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Hi Robert! Thanks for the suggestion of Reader’s Favorite! Kirkus wasn’t included simply because it isn’t a free source. I guess I should have added, “For Free” in my title! I appreciate your feedback.

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We hope this page provides the information you need to submit titles for review consideration

Library Journal  reviews new general trade books, original paperbacks, e-originals, graphic novels, reference books, and professional development titles for librarians and educators prior to their first U.S. publication. We also review audiobooks, DVDs/Blu-rays, databases, and subscription services of interest to libraries. LJ reviews are available online, and select reviews appear in our monthly print magazine.  LJ  reviews are also licensed to book distributors and vendors.

Works are selected for their potential interest to a broad spectrum of libraries. Only a few areas of publishing fall outside  LJ ’s scope: textbooks, children’s and Young Adult books (handled by our sister publication, School Library Journal ;  see SLJ submission guidelines here ), and very technical or specialized titles (particularly those directed at a professional audience). Books previously published abroad are eligible if they are being released in the United States for the first time and have a U.S. distributor.

To be considered for review, books must be of national interest. Review copies should be received  six months prior to publication . If that is not possible, please alert editors as to when the book will become available. Review coverage is not automatic; many books submitted are not reviewed.

Submissions

*new galley submission process*.

Library Journal has a new galley submission process. 

Our improved method of submission offers publishers email receipt of titles submitted to LJ , email notification of any issues with submissions, and email notification when a title is assigned to a reviewer.

To submit titles, you need to be added to our system.  Please use this link to access the sign-up form and create an account . You will receive an email from [email protected] with a link in the email body. It can take up to two business days for our system to send you the email, but you may receive it much sooner. Click the link and follow the instructions. Once set, you will be redirected to a personal folder where you will be able to securely upload PDF files to our book room. Please bookmark this site.

You can then begin using the new book room. We have made a quick-start guide and a more detailed set of instructions on how to use and navigate the book room. If you encounter any issues, please reach out to us at [email protected] .  

LJ Edelweiss Community

If you are active on Edelweiss, please auto-approve the Library Journal Reviewers community. This community is accessible only to LJ review editors and active LJ reviewers who read e-galleys.

This is a one-time process in which you approve the community rather than individually approving each reviewer. Edelweiss has made this document outlining the steps to approve a community . If you have questions on approving the Library Journal Reviewers community, please reach out to Deidre Dumpson: [email protected] .

Physical Copies

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Physical copies are our preferred format for works of a highly visual nature.

Submission Terms & Conditions

Before you submit .

Library Journal ’s reviews are both positive and negative, and make recommendations both for and against purchase. Our reviewers are encouraged to compare new titles to other materials that are already held in most library collections. Each title is evaluated on its literary and illustrative quality, its clarity and accuracy of presentation, and its appeal to the intended audience.

• Submission does not guarantee review.  Due to space limitations and the great volume of material submitted to LJ , we cannot review every work sent to us. The editors decide which books and multimedia materials to review based on potential interest to  LJ  readers. All submissions of books and multimedia materials become the sole property of Media Source Inc.; requests for return of materials or other restrictions cannot be honored.
• All reviews are final and not subject to change. We will correct factual errors but not the editorial substance of reviews.

Formats Reviewed and Contacts at Library Journal

We will accept digital galleys, bound galleys, bound page proofs, or bound manuscripts (only one copy is necessary). Those publishers that cannot supply advance bound galleys may submit finished books, but these should be sent as early as possible with the words “in lieu of galleys” and the publication date affixed to the cover.

We generally avoid reviewing books later than date of publication, though we do make exceptions for reference and heavily illustrated works. Books that fall into the following categories may be reviewed several months after their publication date:

• Coffee-table books, art books, and other works that are heavily illustrated

Graphic Novels

• Crafts and DIY
• Library Science

For review consideration, advance copies are appreciated, but not necessary; we prefer to review from the finished copy when available (unless the galley is very high quality). We do not review single-issue comics, only hardback or paperback compilations. Please send titles for review consideration as close to the publishing date as possible. Bibliographic information and promotional materials should be included in your email. If advance copies of a title with color illustrations are in black and white, please send or make available sample color pages or a color PDF. Please submit these materials to Melissa DeWild:  [email protected] .

Audio Recordings

Please submit lists of upcoming releases, noting publication date, running time, narrator, subject/genre, ISBN, and price. An editor will reach out to request review files for selected titles. Please send these lists to Sarah Hashimoto:  [email protected] .

DVDs and Streaming Film Files

Please submit lists of forthcoming DVD/Blu-ray releases, foreign films, indies, and documentaries, noting publication date, running time, director, studio, DVD UPC, rating, subject/genre, and price. A columnist will reach out to request review copies for selected titles. Please send these lists to Liz French: [email protected] .

Online Resources and Databases

Reference products and online resources, designed for both general and academic users, should be sent to Sarah Hashimoto:  [email protected] .

Collection Development and Readers’ Advisory Columns

In addition to reviews,  LJ  also publishes subject- or genre-specific review columns and articles on collection development and/or readers’ advisory. Publishers may request a list of the planned columns and special roundups on the editorial calendar from their sales representative. To submit materials for potential coverage in a specific column or article, contact Neal Wyatt:  [email protected] .

Author Interviews and Q&As

To pitch an author for special coverage in  LJ , contact the review editor in charge of the relevant section. Editors are listed below.

Review Editors:

Jill Cox-Cordova [email protected]

• Social Science
• Science and Technology
• Biography and Memoir
• Professional Media/Library Science
• Performing Arts/Music
• Careers/Education
• Law/Crime/True Crime
• Interior Design
• Home Economics
• Business/Economics
• Gardening/Farming
• Communications
• Print Reference

Melissa DeWild  [email protected]

• Romance Fiction
• Science Fiction
• Fantasy Fiction
• Horror Fiction
• Christian Fiction
• Graphic Novels/Manga

Liz French [email protected]

• Mystery & Suspense/Crime Fiction
• Historical Fiction
• Women’s Fiction
• Popular Fiction
• Literature & Literary Criticism
• Fine Arts/Photography
• Pets/Animal Husbandry
• Parapsychology

Sarah Hashimoto [email protected]

• Reference Databases
• Library Science/Pro Media

For all other subjects, or any questions, please contact Neal Wyatt, Reviews Editor:  [email protected]

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NPR Peer Review Process

Peer review process.

After submission there is an initial screening of the paper by NPR’s editors, whereby editors decide whether the submission is appropriate to be send to review or not (‘desk reject’). Occasionally, editors may recommend a revision before sending the submission to review. This initial screening usually needs less than one week. Submissions that pass the initial screening will be assigned to at least two reviewers (double-blind peer review). Based on the reviews editors will make a first editor decision. There are four possible editor decisions:

• accept submission without revisions
• accept submission after minor changes have been made (no additional round of review)
• resubmit submission after significant changes have been made (new round of review starts)
• decline submission, the submission will not be published in NPR

The time to reach a final decision (accept/decline submission) depends on the number of review rounds, authors’ responsiveness etc. Usually, the time span from submission to final decision averages 3 to 5 month. The total turnaround time for publishing a manuscript depends (additionally to the factors mentioned above) on the submission date, the journal’s publication schedule, authors’ adherence to the publication guidelines etc. Reviewed and accepted submissions are published with NPR after 5-6 month on average.

Ensuring a Blind Review

To ensure the integrity of the blind peer-review for submission to this journal, every effort should be made to prevent the identities of the authors and reviewers from being known to each other. This involves the authors, editors, and reviewers (who upload documents as part of their review) checking to see if the following steps have been taken with regard to the text and the file properties:

• The authors of the document have deleted their names from the text, with “Author” and year used in the references and footnotes, instead of the authors’ name, article title, etc.
• With Microsoft Office documents, author identification should also be removed from the properties for the file (see under File in Word), by clicking on the following, beginning with File on the main menu of the Microsoft application: File > Save As > Tools (or Options with a Mac) > Security > Remove personal information from file properties on save > Save.
• With PDFs, the authors’ names should also be removed from Document Properties found under File on Adobe Acrobat’s main menu.

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The American Book Review is an award-winning, internationally distributed publication specializing in reviews of published works of fiction, poetry, and literary and cultural criticism from small, regional, university, and avant-garde presses. For over forty years, ABR has been a staple of the literary world.

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From the archives, a deep dive into the american book review.

Archives: Charles Johnson reviews Richard Wright

Charles Johnson reviewed Richard Wright's American Hunger in the inaugural issue of the American Book Review , Volume 1 , No. 1, December 1977.

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American Book Review Volume 27, No. 2, published in 2006, featured a list of 100 best opening lines from novels. 

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SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Harvard Review publishes short fiction, poetry, essays, and book reviews. Writers at all stages of their careers are invited to apply, however, we can only publish a very small fraction of the material we receive. If you are interested in submitting your work for consideration, please refer to the guidelines below. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with Harvard Review before you submit your work. You can find information about the current issue as well as subscription information online.

Do you waive submission fees in case of financial hardship?

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Taylor Swift's 'Tortured Poets' is written in blood

On Taylor Swift's 11th album, The Tortured Poets Department , her artistry is tangled up in the details of her private life and her deployment of celebrity. But Swift's lack of concern about whether these songs speak to and for anyone but herself is audible throughout the album. Beth Garrabrant /Courtesy of the artist hide caption

On Taylor Swift's 11th album, The Tortured Poets Department , her artistry is tangled up in the details of her private life and her deployment of celebrity. But Swift's lack of concern about whether these songs speak to and for anyone but herself is audible throughout the album.

For all of its fetishization of new sounds and stances, pop music was born and still thrives by asking fundamental questions. For example, what do you do with a broken heart? That's an awfully familiar one. Yet romantic failure does feel different every time. Its isolating sting produces a kind of obliterating possessiveness: my pain, my broken delusions, my hope for healing. A broken heart is a screaming baby demanding to be held and coddled and nurtured until it grows up and learns how to function properly. This is as true in the era of the one-percent glitz goddess as it was when blues queens and torch singers organized society's crying sessions. It's true of Taylor Swift , who's equated songwriting with the heart's recovery since she released " Teardrops on my Guitar " 18 years ago, and whose 11th album, The Tortured Poets Department , is as messy and confrontational as a good girl's work can get, blood on her pages in a classic shade of red.

Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and 50 more albums coming out this spring

Turning the Tables

Taylor swift is the 21st century's most disorienting pop star.

Back in her Lemonade days, when her broken heart turned her into a bearer of revolutionary spirit, Swift's counterpart and friendly rival, Beyoncé , got practical, advising her listeners that while feelings do need tending, a secured bank account is what counts. "Your best revenge is your paper," she sang .

For Swift, the best revenge is her pen. One of the first Tortured Poets songs revealed back in February (one of the album's many bonus tracks, it turns out, but a crucial framing device) is called " The Manuscript "; in it, a woman re-reads her own scripted account of a "torrid love affair." Screenwriting is one of a few literary ambitions Swift aligns with this project. At The Grove mall in Los Angeles, Swift partnered with Spotify to create a mini-library where new lyrics were inscribed in weathered books and on sheets of parchment in the days leading up to its release. The scene was a fans' photo op invoking high art and even scripture. In the photographs of the installation that I saw, every bound volume in the library bears Swift's name. The message is clear: When Taylor Swift makes music, she authors everything around her.

For years, Swift has been pop's leading writer of autofiction , her work exploring new dimensions of confessional songwriting, making it the foundation of a highly mediated public-private life. The standard line about her teasing lyrical disclosures (and it's correct on one level) is that they're all about fueling fan interest. But on Tortured Poets , she taps into a much more established and respected tradition. Using autobiography as a sword of justice is a move as ancient as the women saints who smote abusive fathers and priests in the name of an early Christian Jesus; in our own time, just among women, it's been made by confessional poets like Sylvia Plath, memoirists from Maya Angelou to Joyce Maynard and literary stars like the Nobel prize winner Annie Ernaux. And, of course, Swift's reluctant spiritual mother, Joni Mitchell .

Even in today's blather-saturated cultural environment, a woman speaking out after silence can feel revolutionary; that this is an honorable act is a fundamental principle within many writers' circles. "I write out of hurt and how to make hurt okay, how to make myself strong and come home, and it may be the only home I ever have," Natalie Goldberg declares in Writing Down the Bones , the most popular writing manual of the 20th century. When on this album's title track, Swift sings, "I think some things I never say," she's making an offhand joke; but this is the album where she does say all the things she thinks, about love at least, going deeper into the personal zone that is her métier than ever before. Sharing her darkest impulses and most mortifying delusions, she fills in the blank spaces in the story of several much-mediated affairs and declares this an act of liberation that has changed and ultimately strengthened her. She spares no one, including herself; often in these songs, she considers her naiveté and wishfulness through a grown woman's lens and admits she's made a fool of herself. But she owns her heartbreak now. She alone will have the last word on its shape and its effects.

This includes other people's sides of her stories. The songs on Tortured Poets , most of which are mid- or up-tempo ballads spun out in the gossamer style that's defined Swift's confessional mode since Folklore , build a closed universe of private and even stolen moments, inhabited by only two people: Swift and a man. With a few illuminating exceptions that stray from the album's plot, she rarely looks beyond their interactions. The point is not to observe the world, but to disclose the details of one sometimes-shared life, to lay bare what others haven't seen. Tortured Poets is the culmination of a catalog full of songs in which Swift has taken us into the bedrooms where men pleasured or misled her, the bars where they charmed her, the empty playgrounds where they sat on swings with her and promised something they couldn't give. When she sings repeatedly that one of the most suspect characters on the album told her she was the love of her life, she's sharing something nobody else heard. That's the point. She's testifying under her own oath.

Swift's musical approach has always been enthusiastic and absorbent. She's created her own sounds by blending country's sturdy song structures with R&B's vibes, rap's cadences and pop's glitz; as a personality and a performer, she's all arms, hugging the world. The sound of Tortured Poets offers that familiar embrace, with pop tracks that sparkle with intelligence, and meditative ones that wrap tons of comforting aura around Swift's ruminations. Beyond a virtually undetectable Post Malone appearance and a Florence Welch duet that also serves as an homage to Swift's current exemplar/best friendly rival, Lana Del Rey , the album alternates between co-writes with Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, the producers who have helped Swift find her mature sound, which blends all of her previous approaches without favoring any prevailing trend. There are the rap-like, conversational verses, the reaching choruses, the delicate piano meditations, the swooning synth beats. Antonoff's songs come closest to her post- 1989 chart toppers; Dessner's fulfill her plans to remain an album artist. Swift has also written two songs on her own, a rarity for her; both come as close to ferocity as she gets. As a sustained listen, Tortured Poets harkens back to high points throughout Swift's career, creating a comforting environment that both supports and balances the intensity of her storytelling.

It's with her pen that Swift executes her battle plans. As always, especially when she dwells on the work and play of emotional intimacy, her lyrics are hyper-focused, spilling over with detail, editing the mess of desire, projection, communion and pain that constitutes romance into one sharp perspective: her own. She renders this view so intensely that it goes beyond confession and becomes a form of writing that can't be disputed. Remember that parchment and her quill pen; her songs are her new testaments. It's a power play, but for many fans, especially women, this ambition to be definitive feels like a necessary corrective to the misrepresentations or silence they face from ill-intentioned or cluelessly entitled men.

"A great writer can be a dangerous creature, however gentle and nice in person," the biographer Hermione Lee once wrote . Swift has occasionally taken this idea to heart before, especially on her once-scorned, now revered hip-hop experiment, Reputation . But now she's screaming from the hilltop, sparing no one, including herself as she tries to prop up one man's flagging interest and then falls for others' duplicity. "I know my pain is such an imposition," Swift sang in last year's " You're Losing Me ," a prequel to the explosive confessional mode of Tortured Poets , where that pain grows nearly suicidal, feeds romantic obsession, and drives her to become a "functional alcoholic" and a madwoman who finds strength in chaos in a way that recalls her friend Emma Stone's cathartic performance as Bella in Poor Things . (Bella, remember, comes into self-possession by learning to read and write.) " Who's afraid of little old me? " Swift wails in the album's window-smashing centerpiece bearing that title; in " But Daddy I Love Him ," she runs around screaming with her dress unbuttoned and threatens to burn down her whole world. These accounts of unhinged behavior reinforce the message that everybody had better be scared of this album — especially her exes, but also her business associates, the media and, yes, her fans, who are not spared in her dissection of just who's made her miserable over the past few years.

Listen to the album

I'm not getting into the dirty details; those who crave them can listen to Tortured Poets themselves and easily uncover them. They're laid out so clearly that anyone who's followed Swift's overly documented life will instantly comprehend who's who: the depressive on the heath, the tattooed golden retriever in her dressing room. Here's my reading of her album-as-novel — others' interpretations may vary: Swift's first-person protagonist (let's call her "Taylor") begins in a memory of a long-ago love affair that left her melancholy but on civil terms, then has an early meeting with a tempting rogue, who declares he's the Dylan Thomas to her Patti Smith; no, she says, though she's sorely tempted, we're "modern idiots," and she leaves him behind for a while. Then we get scenes from a stifling marriage to a despondent and distracted child-man. "So long, London," she declares, fleeing that dead end. From then on, it's the rogue on all cylinders. They connect, defy the daddy figures who think they're bad for each other, speak of rings and baby carriages. Those daddies continue to meddle in this newfound freedom.

In this main story arc, Swift writes about erotic desire as she never has before: She's "fresh out the slammer" (ouch, the rhetoric) and her bedsheets are on fire. She cannot stop rhapsodizing about this new love object and her commitment to their outlaw hunger for each other. It's " Love Story ," updated and supersized, with a proper Romeo at its center — a forbidden, tragic soulmate, a perfect match who's also a disastrous one. Swift peppers this section of Tortured Poets with name-drops ("Jack" we know, " Lucy " might be a tricky slap at Romeo, hard to tell) and instantly searchable references; he sends her a song by The Blue Nile and traces hearts on her face but tells revolting jokes in the bar and eventually reveals himself as a cad, a liar, a coward. She recovers, but not really. In the end, she does move on but still dreams of him hearing one of their songs on a jukebox and dolefully realizing the young girl he's now with has never heard it before.

Insert the names yourself. They do matter, because her backstories are key to Swift's appeal; they both keep her human-sized and amplify her fame. Swift's artistry is tied up in her deployment of celebrity, a slippery state in which a real life becomes emblematic. Like no one before, she's turned her spotlit day-to-day into a conceptual project commenting on women's freedom, artistic ambition and the place of the personal in the public sphere. As a celebrity, Swift partners with others: her model and musician friends, her actor/musician/athlete consorts, brands, even (warily) political causes. And with her fans, the co-creators of her stardom.

Her songs stand apart, though. They remain the main vehicle through which, negotiating unimaginable levels of renown, Swift continually insists on speaking only for herself. A listener has to work to find the "we" in her soliloquies. There are plenty of songs on Tortured Poets in which others will find their own experiences, from the sultry blue eroticism of " Down Bad " to the click of recognition in " I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) ." But Swift's lack of concern about whether these songs speak for and to anyone besides herself is audible throughout the album. It's the sound of her freedom.

Taylor Swift: Tiny Desk Concert

She also confronts the way fame has cost her, fully exploring questions she raised on Reputation and in " Anti-Hero ." There are hints, more than hints, that her romance with the rogue was derailed partly because her business associates found it problematic, a danger to her precious reputation. And when she steps away from the man-woman predicament, Swift ponders the ephemeral reality of the success that has made private decisions nearly impossible. A lovely minuet co-written with Dessner, " Clara Bow " stages a time-lapsed conversation between Swift and the power players who've helped orchestrate her rise even as she knows they won't be concerned with her eventual obsolescence. "You look like Clara Bow ," they say, and later, "You look like Stevie Nicks in '75." Then, a turn: "You look like Taylor Swift," the suits (or is it the public, the audience?) declare. "You've got edge she never did." The song ends abruptly — lights out. This scene, redolent of All About Eve , reveals anxieties that all of Swift's love songs rarely touch upon.

One reason Swift went from being a normal-level pop star to sharing space with Beyoncé as the era's defining spirit is because she is so good at making the personal huge, without fussing over its translation into universals. In two decades of talking back to heartbreakers, Swift has called out gaslighting, belittling, neglect, false promises — all the hidden injuries that lovers inflict on each other, and that a sexist society often overlooks or forgives more easily from men. In "The Manuscript," which calls back to a romantic trauma outside the Tortured Poets frame, she sings of being a young woman with an older man making "coffee in a French press" and then "only eating kids cereal" and sleeping in her mother's bed when he dumps her; any informed Swift fan's mind will race to songs and headlines about cads she's previously called out in fan favorites like "Dear John" and "All Too Well" — the beginnings of the mission Tortured Poets fulfills.

Reviews of more Taylor Swift albums on NPR

In the haze of 'Midnights,' Taylor Swift softens into an expanded sound

Let's Talk About Taylor Swift's 'Folklore'

Show And Tell: On 'Lover,' Taylor Swift Lets Listeners In On Her Own Terms

The Old Taylor's Not Dead

The Many New Voices Of Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift Leaps Into Pop With 'Red'

Swift's pop side (and perhaps her co-writers' influence) shows in the way she balances the claustrophobic referentiality of her writing with sparkly wordplay and well-crafted sentimental gestures. On Tortured Poets , she's less strategic than usual. She lets the details fall the way they would in a confession session among besties, not trying to change them from painful memories into points of connection. She's just sharing. Swift bares every crack in her broken heart as a way of challenging power structures, of arguing that emotional work that men can sidestep is still expected from women who seem to own the world.

Throughout Tortured Poets, Swift is trying to work out how emotional violence occurs: how men inflict it on women and women cultivate it within themselves. It's worth asking how useful such a brutal evisceration of one privileged private life can be in a larger social or political sense; critics, including NPR's Leah Donnella in an excellent 2018 essay on the limits of the songwriter's reach, have posed that question about Swift's work for years. But we should ask why Swift's work feels so powerful to so many — why she has become, in the eyes of millions, a standard-bearer and a freedom fighter. Unlike Beyoncé, who loves a good emblem and is always thinking about history and serving the culture and communities she claims, Swift is making an ongoing argument about smaller stories still making a difference. Her callouts can be viewed as petty, reflecting entitlement or even narcissism. But they're also part of her wrestling with the very notion of significance and challenging hierarchies that have proven to be so stubborn they can feel intractable. That Swift has reached such a peak of influence in the wake of the #MeToo movement isn't an accident; even as that chapter in feminism's history can seem to be closing, she insists on saying, "believe me." That isn't the same as saying "believe all women," but by laying claim to disputed storylines and fighting against silence, she at the very least reminds listeners that such actions matter.

Listening to Tortured Poets , I often thought of "The Last Day of Our Acquaintance," a song that Sinéad O'Connor recorded when she was in her young prime, not yet banished from the mainstream for her insistence on speaking politically. Like Swift's best work, its lyrics are very specific — allegedly about a former manager and lover — yet her directness and conviction expand their reach. In 1990, that a woman in her mid-20s would address a belittling man in this way felt startling and new. Taylor Swift came to prominence in a culture already changing to make room for such testimonies, if not — still — fully able to honor them. She has made it more possible for them to be heard. "I talk and you won't listen to me," O'Connor wailed . "I know your answer already." Swift doesn't have to worry about whether people will listen. But she knows that this could change. That's why she is writing it all down.

• Taylor Swift

NPR suspends senior editor Uri Berliner after essay accusing outlet of liberal bias

Npr suspended senior editor uri berliner a week after he authored an online essay accusing the outlet of allowing liberal bias in its coverage..

NPR has suspended a senior editor who authored an essay published last week on an online news site in which he argued that the network had "lost America's trust" because of a liberal bias in its coverage, the outlet reported.

Uri Berliner was suspended Friday for five days without pay, NPR reported Tuesday . The revelation came exactly a week after Berliner publicly claimed in an essay for The Free Press, an online news publication, that NPR had allowed a "liberal bent" to influence its coverage, causing the outlet to steadily lose credibility with audiences.

The essay reignited the criticism that many prominent conservatives have long leveled against NPR and prompted newsroom leadership to implement monthly internal reviews of the network's coverage, NPR reported. Berliner's essay also angered many of his colleagues and exposed NPR's new chief executive Katherine Maher to a string of attacks from conservatives over her past social media posts.

In a statement Monday to NPR, Maher refuted Berliner's claims by underscoring NPR's commitment to objective coverage of national issues.

"In America everyone is entitled to free speech as a private citizen," Maher said. "What matters is NPR's work and my commitment as its CEO: public service, editorial independence, and the mission to serve all of the American public. NPR is independent, beholden to no party, and without commercial interests."

Heat exposure law: Florida joins Texas in banning local heat protections for outdoor workers

Berliner rails against NPR's coverage of COVID-19, diversity efforts

Berliner, a senior business editor who has worked at NPR for 25 years, argued in the Free Press essay that “people at every level of NPR have comfortably coalesced around the progressive worldview.”

While he claimed that NPR has always had a "liberal bent" ever since he was hired at the outlet, he wrote that it has since lost its "open-minded spirit," and, hence, "an audience that reflects America."

The Peabody Award-winning journalist highlighted what he viewed as examples of the network's partisan coverage of several major news events, including the origins of COVID-19 and the war in Gaza . Berliner also lambasted NPR's diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies – as reflected both within its newsroom and in its coverage – as making race and identity "paramount in nearly every aspect of the workplace.”

"All this reflected a broader movement in the culture of people clustering together based on ideology or a characteristic of birth," he wrote.

Uri Berliner's essay fuels conservative attacks on NPR

In response to the essay, many prominent conservatives and Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, launched renewed attacks at NPR for what they perceive as partisan coverage.

Conservative activist Christopher Rufo in particular targeted Maher for messages she posted to social media years before joining the network – her  first at a news organization . Among the posts singled out were  a 2020 tweet that called Trump racist .

Trump reiterated on his social media platform, Truth Social, his longstanding argument that NPR’s government funding should be rescinded.

NPR issues formal rebuke to Berliner

Berliner provided an NPR reporter with a copy of the formal rebuke for review in which the organization told the editor he had not been approved to write for other news outlets, as is required of NPR journalists.

NPR also said he publicly released confidential proprietary information about audience demographics, the outlet reported.

Leadership said the letter was a "final warning" for Berliner, who would be fired for future violations of NPR's policies, according to NPR's reporting. Berliner, who is a dues-paying member of NPR's newsroom union, told the NPR reporter that he is not appealing the punishment.

A spokeswoman for NPR said the outlet declined to comment on Berliner's essay or the news of his suspension when reached Tuesday by USA TODAY.

"NPR does not comment on individual personnel matters, including discipline," according to the statement. "We expect all of our employees to comply with NPR policies and procedures, which for our editorial staff includes the NPR Ethics Handbook ."

NPR staffer express dismay; leadership puts coverage reviews in place

According to the NPR article, Berliner's essay also invoked the ire of many of his colleagues and the reporters whose stories he would be responsible for editing.

"Newsrooms run on trust," NPR political correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben said in a post last week on social media site X, though he didn't mention Berliner by name. "If you violate everyone's trust by going to another outlet and [expletive] on your colleagues (while doing a bad job journalistically, for that matter), I don't know how you do your job now."

Amid the fallout, NPR reported that NPR's chief news executive Edith Chapin announced to the newsroom late Monday afternoon that Executive Editor Eva Rodriguez would lead monthly meetings to review coverage.

Berliner expressed no regrets about publishing the essay in an interview with NPR, adding that he tried repeatedly to make his concerns over NPR's coverage known to news leaders.

"I love NPR and feel it's a national trust," Berliner says. "We have great journalists here. If they shed their opinions and did the great journalism they're capable of, this would be a much more interesting and fulfilling organization for our listeners."

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]