HeyJaredGhost Stories
For people who think critically about books. An insider perspective on book publishing, writing criticism, and my biography currently in production, THE MANY LIVES OF ANNE FRANK. Also featuring an occasional group read of Israeli and Palestinian authors.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 6
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- Sep 27, 2026
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- Jul 6, 2026
Latest issues
Experience plus magic equals fiction (opens the original)
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Was Shirley Jackson a witch?In the years since Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life was first published, it’s probably the question I’ve been asked most. Jackson’s reputation for having some kind of occult powers was one of the first things I wanted to investigate when I started writing her biography. In her first author bio, she described herself as “perhaps the only contemporary writer who is a practicing amateur witch, specializing in small-scale black magic and fortune-telling with a tarot
Learning to love “Huck Finn” (opens the original)
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My piece about how to teach Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, in the works for the better part of two years, is now out in the New York Times Magazine. (It went online earlier thi
The archive that burned (opens the original)
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I’m bowled over by all the love for my previous post about finding a stack of Shirley Jackson’s letters in an abandoned barn—my greatest coup while researching my biography of Jackson. If you haven’t read it yet, here it is.But not all archive stories have happy endings. Today, I’m going to share one that doesn’t. Or didn’t—until much later.In 1934, Shirley enrolled at the University of Rochester and spent two mostly unhappy years there. She then either dropped or flunked out and spent time regr
Making your own luck (opens the original)
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One afternoon while I was working in Shirley Jackson’s archive at the Library of Congress, I came upon a folder of letters from a woman named Jeanne Beatty. I had flipped past it before—the name didn’t ring any bells—but that day, something made me stop and open it. There were about a dozen letters, chatty and affectionate, starting with a fan letter responding to an essay in which Jackson lamented the current state of children’s literature: magical kingdoms were out; practical, inspirational st
Write like a mother (opens the original)
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I was playing on the floor with my 10-month-old one afternoon when my editor at The New Yorker called. One of my first freelance pieces for the magazine was in the late stages of the production process, and I was both eager to appear professional and anxious that it could be derailed. As my editor began to speak, the baby stood up and started toddling. “My son just took his first step!” I crowed before I could stop myself. There was a silence. “We can continue later if this isn’t a good time for
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