new york times best personal essays

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Personal Essays

The Fab Five and Hair That Does the Talking

How I Proposed to My Girlfriend

When Williamsburg Was on the Wrong Side of the River

Mayfield, Before and After

Sunday Reading: Personal Reflections

My Failed Attempts to Hoard Anything at All

Stalking a Rustically Hip Family on Instagram

A Dark Ride

Julius: The Story of a Premature Birth

The Nick Cave Song That Changed My Life

Nearby and Familiar: A Strategy for Picking Restaurants

Two Sister-Poets Gone Too Soon: Ntozake Shange and My Sister

The Sordid Necessity of Living for Others

Memories of V. S. Naipaul

I’ve Quit Writing Personal Essays About Quitting Things: A Personal Essay

My Father and Sandy Koufax

The Personal-Essay Boom Is Over

One child’s life.

Fifteen Excellent Personal Essays to Read this Week...

Welcome to Memoir Land —a newsletter edited by Sari Botton , now featuring three verticals:

Memoir Monday , a weekly curation of the best personal essays from around the web brought to you by  Narratively ,  The Rumpus ,   Granta ,  Guernica , Oldster Magazine ,  Literary Hub , Orion Magazine , The Walrus , and Electric Literature . Below is this week’s curation.

First Person Singular , featuring original personal essays. Recently I published “ On Silence (or, Speak Again) ” by Elissa Bassist . A new essay is coming soon.

*Submissions are currently paused for First Person Singular. I’ll do a limited submission period this fall. Stay tuned…*

The Lit Lab , featuring interviews and essays on craft and publishing. It is primarily for paid subscribers . Recently I published the second installment of “ The Prompt-O-Matic ” series.

Memoir Monday is a reader-supported publication that pays contributors for original essays and interviews. To support this work, become a paid subscriber.

Essays from partner publications…

Maternal vertigo: on chaos, childcare, and civilizational collapse, by molly lynch.

“Sometime in the early weeks after becoming a mother, it occurred to me that by giving birth to a baby I’d also given birth to chaos. I don’t mean that my child embodied chaos. It was more like when the baby exited my body, a dark, swarming force rushed in. By wanting to protect someone, I’d invited into my life all that I could never protect him from. I’ve since thought that part of what changes you when you become a parent has to do with the way you encounter this contradiction: at the very moment that you take on the greatest act of caring, you discover how powerless you are.”

Read more at LitHub

A Boat Ride to the Confluence of the Two Niles

By isma’il kushkush.

“Known as the longest kiss in history, al-Mugran is a place of natural beauty and romantic symbolism where the calm and clear waters of the White Nile from the south meet the muddier, darker and rushing waters of the Blue Nile from the east. Al-Mugran’s name comes from Arabic for ‘the junction’ or ‘the confluence’, where, after ‘kissing’, the differently colored battling currents remain visible before flowing united.”

Read more at Granta

In Defense of Sophie Turner, It’s Nearly Impossible to Be a “Good Mother

By alicia andrzejewski.

“Generations of bad mothers have taught me that, no matter what Turner may or may not have been caught doing on a Ring camera, the dictates of motherhood are painful—violent, even—to bear. Sophie Turner has privileges many mothers cannot even imagine and yet even she cannot escape these narratives, cannot measure up to what patriarchy deems a good, successful mother.”

Read more at Electric Literature

The Forest Clearing

By yomi wrong.

“I feel pulled to a clearing. Now I’m distracted. I have an urgency to explore. When we break to go off wandering, I bolt in the direction that calls me. Rolling up a slope, my wheels struggle to grip the forest floor, and I panic, fearing I’ll get stuck. Keep going.”

Read more at Orion Magazine

Burning it Down

By joy castro.

“Since my late twenties, when my hair began to go silver, I’d colored it assiduously, like all the women in my family—like all the Latinas I knew. Dark hair was a marker of identity, of youth, of femininity, of our culture.” ( Editor’s note: This essay was featured when it first was published in 2022. Re-upping now because it received notable mention in The Best American Essays 2023, edited by Vivian Gornick. )

Read more at Oldster Magazine

What It Took to Write the Personal Essay That’s Setting the Web on Fire

By jesse sposato.

“Every once in a while I start reading a story and know right away that it’s going to be the kind of piece that truly grabs me and allows the rest of the world to fall away while I read. Jenisha Watts’s new essay for The Atlantic , ‘ I Never Called Her Momma: My childhood in a crack house ,’ is one of those stories. And I wasn’t alone — the entire internet has been ablaze with words of adoration since the essay was first published earlier this month.” ( Editor’s note: This is not an essay, but an interview about one, which was featured in this newsletter two weeks ago. )

Read more at Narratively

Essays from around the web…

By cristina olivetti.

“There are so many lasts we don’t remember. I don’t remember the last time Graham drove the S-80...I do know I kept the car for a while after Graham could no longer drive it. You can ask my friends—I drove Ludicrous for all of them. But it wasn’t that fun. People felt nauseous and knocked around. I get it. They weren’t falling apart like we were, so that thin disintegrating feeling wasn’t exactly hilarious for them...”

Read more at KHÔRA

by Sydney Lea

“One event marred the celebration when I was ten. Just before lunch, I climbed a big rock and put my hand on a copperhead snake that had been warming winter out of its system at the flattened top. I remember to this day how intensely painful its bite was. After a rattling trip in Dad’s ’48 Chevy wagon to a doctor’s office in a postage stamp-sized town nearby, I was injected with anti-venin and, the poisonous bite’s only memorable effect, apart from that pain, was a stiff neck for ten hours or so.  I do recall that I’d never loved my father as much as I did each time I woke up; there he’d faithfully be right through till dawn, squinting in the half-light at some magazine, his chair barely rocking.”

Read more at bioStories

Just a Normal Girl, Hiding From the Building Inspector

By micaela macagnone.

“I was 15 the first time it happened…I was staring at the empty apartment and wondering what would happen if the police figured out what my dad had done…For years, my family had been living in a commercial building — illegal for residential use — above my father’s Pilates studio. He had opened it in 1998 at Scheffel Hall, a New York City landmark on Third Avenue dating to 1895.”

Read more at The New York Times

So Fierce Is the World: On Loneliness and Philip Seymour Hoffman

By richard deming.

“The desolation of loneliness, like the connected problems of substance abuse and depression, comes from the feeling that the experience—when one is  in it —will never end. That is why, sometimes, people choose to end it for themselves. If we are to keep going, push through, or slip around it, I believe we must reinvent loneliness in order to survive it. I have been trying to do this my whole life.” (h/t The Small Bow .)

Read more at The Paris Review

SuperBabies Don’t Cry

By heather lanier.

“Here’s the thing. If you buy into a false narrative that the body is controllable, that illness can always be prevented, then by proxy you are left with a disturbing, damaging, erroneous conclusion: the belief that a person’s disability is their fault.”

Read more at Vela Magazine

How to Prepare for A Difficult Conversation

By ethan gilsdorf.

“Conjure the person with whom you need to discuss this urgent matter—the spouse, the sibling, the in-law, the outlaw, the ex-, the coworker, the offspring, the former best friend, the dead parent. It’s simple. Watch their drooping face, age spots, shaky jaw, deliberate way of speaking, how they hide behind their sunglasses and never make eye contact, and let it all enter the crenellations of your agitated brain.”

Read more at Brevity

The Power of the Cookie

By blair glaser.

“I didn’t want any more cookies. They wouldn’t be warm. They wouldn’t include Ava’s ironic presence. What I could take was the mutual hope we had given each other just by living our lives, and the incredible reflection that all that grueling personal work I did to heal had actually inspired someone else without me doing anything except eating one cookie: the cookie that would change my life.”

Read more at HOW Blog

When Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Part

By dr. tamara mc.

“We couldn't learn how to stand up for ourselves, setting us up for a lifetime of abuse. This is what fundamentalist communities teach girls. Because our bodies belonged to our parents, church, and eventually our husbands, they never belonged to us. The title of the Duggar docuseries includes the word "secrets," but I hope by now it's no surprise that fundamentalist religious environments can be the grimiest of all. Despite the Duggars' squeaky-clean appearance and our contrasting grubby one, we both shared dark secrets.”

Read more at Herizons

How We Carry the Weight of It

By will mcmillan.

“We arrive in the raspberry fields when it’s dark. It’s dark when we pile out of our secondhand pickup. My father, my mother. My brother and me. It’s dark when we start walking the rutted, sopping dirt road that cuts through the field, where we meet and melt into a vast sea of bodies, the dozens of families who’ve piled out of their secondhand pickups, their cars. All of us merging, ambling forward, a sleepy, reluctant, unremarkable herd. All of us, in the dark.”

Read more at Craft Literary

🚨Announcements:

📢 submissions for narratively ’s second annual memoir prize are open now..

“From Tuesday, September 26, 2023, through Thursday, November 30, 2023, Narratively is accepting entries for our 2023 Memoir Prize. We’re on the hunt for revealing and emotional first-person nonfiction narratives from unique and overlooked points of view. The winning submission will receive a $3,000 prize and publication on Narratively.”

Learn more at Narratively

📢 Take my Skillshare workshop on blending the individual and the collective in your essays!

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📢 Attention Publications and writers interested in having published essays considered for inclusion in our weekly curation:

By Thursday of each week, please send to [email protected]:

The title of the essay and a link to it.

The name of the author, and the author’s Twitter handle.

A paragraph or a few lines from the piece that will most entice readers.

Because of data limits for many email platforms, going forward we will only include artwork from our partner publications. No need to send art.

*Please be advised, however, that we cannot accept all submissions, nor respond to the overwhelming number of emails received. Also, please note that we don’t accept author submissions from our partner publications.

You can also support Memoir Monday—and indie bookstores!—by browsing  this Bookshop.org list  of every book that’s been featured at the Memoir Monday reading series. It’s a great place to find some new titles to add to your TBR list!

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The New York Times

The learning network.

10 Personal Writing Ideas

Stuck for an idea? Use the suggestions below to spark personal writing with help from New York Times features.

1. If you’re preparing to write a traditional personal essay or creative nonfiction, you might try modeling your piece on a past installment of the Lives or Modern Love columns. Of the Lives columns, you might try Finding That Song , Disco Papa or Forbidden Nonfruit . In Modern Love, you might start with the winning entry in the 2008 Modern Love college essay contest, Want to Be My Boyfriend? Please Define , or the runner-up, Let’s Not Get to Know Each Other Better . You may want to write an entry on a similar topic as one of these columns, or you may just use them as models for such elements as subject matter, length, tone, and so on.

2. One way to write a personal essay is to ground it in a place . The Times has occasionally published installments under the headings “My Manhattan” (like this one on Broadway or this one on Central Park) and “My Brooklyn” (including this one on the Brooklyn AAA baseball team). Similarly, the Real Estate section’s weekly Living In column describes the features and character of various metropolitan-area neighborhoods. And 36 Hours details some of the best things to do in various locales.

Modeled on one of these features, write about your favorite local place or about the qualities of your town or neighborhood. You might compile a book of these essays written by everyone in your class.

3. Narrate a photo : find a picture that intrigues you from the Times, perhaps from the Lens blog, the ongoing feature One in 8 Million or the Multimedia/Photo archive. Then try writing about what the photo reminds you of or makes you feel or think about.

Or, send a postcard to and/or from the subject of a Times photo, add speech and thought bubbles , or write about a photo that captures American culture .

4. A fast and easy way to start writing is to freewrite or craft a response to an article, editorial, column or blog post . Places to look for provocative ideas include the following:

• The Learning Network’s Student Opinion feature
• the Opinion section
• The Choice , a blog on college admissions
• The Moral of the Story , a blog on the moral implications of news stories, and The Ethicist , both written by Randy Cohen
• Social Q’s , questions and answers on awkward or unclear social dilemmas
• The Opinionator , which collects opinion from around the Web
• the Education section
• the Most E-mailed and Most Blogged lists.

You might word your response as a Letter to the Editor . Or, if you want to go further, develop an idea for an Op-Ed , guest blog post or feature article .

5. Had an amusing or frustrating experience lately? Use Metropolitan Diary or Complaint Box as your guide, and write about it! Challenge yourself to write the pithiest, punchiest “diary” entry or complaint possible.

6. Look into the future. Write your own obituary or wedding announcement , based on what you envision for yourself. And who knows? You may become famous and merit your own Times Topics page, like Bill Clinton or Oprah Winfrey . What would the overview on your page say?

7. Food, glorious food … The Dining & Wine section and the blogs Bitten and Diner’s Journal are good places to get inspired to write about a memorable meal, a disastrous dish or just a favorite food .

8. What’s the Matter With College? The Times asked for college students to weigh in on this question after running an article on the subject. Contest winners were published on the Times site. Read the winning entries, and write your own essay answering the same question (or adapting it as necessary: “What’s the Matter With High School?” or “What’s the Matter With Summer Jobs?”).

9. Win a Trip with Nicholas Kristof. That’s what three students have done in the past, traveling to Africa to do reporting with the Times columnist, by writing a winning essay. What would you write about to try to win this trip? Read the 2009 award-winner’s essay and the other finalists’ entries . You may also want to read the guidelines . Then, write your own entry, imagining that it could be your ticket to a life-changing experience.

10. Write as fast as you can , as much as you can , in one time period. Compete against a friend. See what comes up! You might get started by each writing down five topic ideas, one each on a piece of paper, and throwing them into a paper bag. Take turns pulling a topic out and challenging yourselves to write about it for five minutes, then read back to each other what you wrote.

Guide to The NY Times’ Five Best College Essays on Work, Money and Class

So, you might ask, “What can I learn from this year’s crop of college essays about money, work and class? And how can they help me craft my own memorable, standout essays?”  To help get to the bottom of what made the Times ‘ featured essays so exceptional, we made you a guide on  w hat worked, and what you can emulate in your own essays to make them just as memorable for admissions.

• Contradictions are the stuff of great literature . “I belong to the place where opposites merge in a…heap of beautiful contradictions,” muses Tillena Treborn in her lyrical essay on straddling rural and urban life in Flagstaff, AZ, one of the five pieces selected by t he Times this year. Each of the highlighted essays mined contradictions: immigrant versus citizen; service worker versus client; insider versus outsider; urban versus rural; poverty versus wealth; acceptance versus rebellion; individual versus family. Every day, we navigate opposing forces in our lives. These struggles—often rich, and full of tension—make for excellent essay topics. Ask yourself this: Do you straddle the line between ethnicities, religions, generations, languages, or locales? If so, how? In what ways do you feel like you are stuck between two worlds, or like you are an outsider? Examining the essential contradictions in your own life will provide you with fodder for a fascinating, insightful college essay.  
• The magic is in the details — especially the sensory ones. Sensory details bring writing to life by allowing readers to experience how something looks, sounds, smells, tastes, or feels. In his American dream-themed essay about his immigrant mother cleaning the apartment of two professors, Jonathan Ababiy describes “the whir,” “suction,” and “squeal” of her “blue Hoover vacuum” as it leaps across “miles of carpet.” These descriptions allow us to both hear and see the symbolic vacuum in action. The slice-of-life familial essay by Idalia Felipe–the only essay to be published in The Times’ Snapchat Discover feature–opens with a scene: “As I sit facing our thirteen-year old refrigerator, my stomach growls at the scent of handmade tortillas and meat sizzling on the stove.” Immediately, we are brought inside Felipe’s home with its distinctive smells and sounds; our stomach seems to growl alongside hers. Use descriptive, sensory language to engage your reader, bring them into your world, and make your writing shine.
• One-sentence paragraphs are catchy . A one-sentence paragraph, as I’m sure you’ve gleaned, is a paragraph that is only one sentence long. The form has been employed by everyone from Tim O’Brien to Charles Dickens and, now, the writers of this year’s featured Times college essays. “I live on the edge,” Ms. Treborn declares at the beginning of her poetic essay on the differences between her mother and father’s worlds. “The most exciting part was the laptop,” asserts Zoe Sottile, the recipient of the Tang Scholarship at Phillips Academy in her essay about the mutability and complexity of class identity. Starting your essay with a one-sentence paragraph—a line of description, a scene, or a question, for example—is a great way to hook the reader. You could also use a one-sentence paragraph mid-essay to emphasize a point, as Ms. Treborn does, or in your conclusion. A one-sentence paragraph is one of many tricks that you have in your writing toolkit to make your reader pause and take notice.
• The Familiar Can Be Fascinating. The most daring essay this year, a rant on the imbalances of power embedded in the service industry by Caitlin McCormick, delivers us into the world of a family bed and breakfast with its clinking silverware and cantankerous guests demanding twice-a-day room cleanings. In Ms. Felipe’s more atmospheric piece, we enter her home before dinnertime where we see her attempting to study while her sisters giggle and watch Youtube cat videos. These are the environments these students grew up in, and they inspired everything from frustration at glaring class inequalities to gratitude for the dream of a better life. Rather than feeling like you have to write about something monumental, focus on the familiar, and consider how your environment has shaped you. How did you grow up—in the restaurant business, on a farm, in a house full of artists, construction workers, or judges? Bring us into your world, describing it meticulously and thoughtfully. Tease out the connection between your environment and who you are/what you strive for today and you will be embarking on the path of meaningful self-discovery, which is the key to college essay success.

About Nina Bailey

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Written by Nina Bailey

Category: advice , Essay Tips , Essay Writing , New York Times , Uncategorized

Tags: advice , college admissions , college admissions essay , college essay , college essay advisors , common application , tips , writing

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, examples of personal essays that worked.

Hey guys, I'm working on my personal statement for college apps and I'm feeling a bit lost. Are there any resources or examples of personal essays that got students into top colleges? I think reading some would help me understand what works and what doesn't when writing my own.

Hello! I can understand why you're feeling overwhelmed, but seeing examples of successful personal essays is a great way to gain inspiration and understand what makes a compelling story.

1. CollegeVine has a collection of free essay examples available on their website covering a variety of essay prompts and topics. These essays worked for students who were accepted into top colleges and could serve as inspiration for your own writing. This blog post has those examples: https://blog.collegevine.com/personal-statement-essay-examples/

2. Johns Hopkins University shares some "Essays That Worked" on their admissions website. This collection includes personal essays from students who were accepted into JHU, along with commentary from admissions committee members on what made the essays stand out.

3. The New York Times publishes an annual series called "Standout College Application Essays" featuring a selection of exceptional personal essays written by students. Some of these essays were written by students who gained admission to top-tier colleges, and their stories can provide valuable insights and ideas for your own writing.

When reading these essays, remember that there is no single formula for writing a successful personal essay. But, you can take note of the storytelling techniques and writing styles that resonate with you, and consider incorporating them into your own essay.

One tip to keep in mind is to focus on showing your unique perspective and voice. Admissions committees want to understand who you are as a person, so take the time to reflect on your own experiences, values, and aspirations. Pick a topic that genuinely inspires you and is distinctive to your own life, and then tell your story in a way that highlights your personality and growth.

Good luck with your personal essay, and I hope reading these examples helps you find your own voice and create an essay that reflects who you are!

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

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17 Personal Essays That Will Change Your Life

Think essays are just something boring you write for class? These masterpieces will make you totally reconsider.

BuzzFeed News Reporter

1. "Goodbye To All That" – Joan Didion

The final piece in one of her two most beloved collections, Slouching Towards Bethlehem , this essay contains everything there is to love about Didion — her sharp eye, her unbelievable concision, her expression of emotions that are real and contradictory. It follows her arrival in New York and her departure eight years later, and in so doing discusses the city and youth — and the romantic lies that both are. She writes: "... I was in love with New York. I do not mean 'love' in any colloquial way, I mean that I was in love with the city, the way you love the first person who ever touches you and never love anyone quite that way again."

2. "Mr. Lytle, an Essay" – John Jeremiah Sullivan

Sullivan has become one of the most talked about magazine writers of the last few years. This piece, which you can read online at the Paris Review , and was collected in his highly recommended book, Pulphead , is one of his best. It discusses, with such grace, being mentored in his twenties by once-famous Southern Renaissance writer Andrew Lytle. It's a meditation on art and futility, the Old South, and the sheer strangeness that can be relationships between men.

3. "Once More to the Lake" – E.B. White

Recognized for his children's literature (including Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web ) and popularizing Strunk's The Elements of Style , White was also an accomplished essayist. "Once More to the Lake" follows White and his son to Maine, where they spend a week along the same lake White visited with his father as a boy. It is one of the most moving reflections upon fatherhood, summertime, America, and mortality ever crafted. You can find it in many anthologies and in The Collected Essays of E.B. White .

4. "Ticket to the Fair" – David Foster Wallace

Those who knock Wallace for his verbosity — or associate him merely with a liberal use of footnotes — haven't read one of his classic essays through to the end. This one, which you can read online at Harper's or in his collection A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again , follows him home to Illinois, specifically to the state fair there. Laugh-out-loud hilarious and almost ridiculous in its level of detail, it explores the author's fractured identity, the Midwest versus the East Coast, and the American experience at large.

5. "A Few Words About Breasts" – Nora Ephron

Published in Esquire in 1975, this is the best-known essay by the late, great screenwriter and essayist. While she renders the experience of being flat-chested in the '50s with incredible humor and pathos, it is the essay's ending — the shock of it — that makes this unforgettable.

6. "Self-Reliance" — Ralph Waldo Emerson

One of Emerson's most influential essays, you can read it online or in nearly every collection of his works. While his prose's formality may be a shock at first, what he says he says with great clarity and to the great empowerment of his reader. It is a declaration of the fact that true happiness, in oneself and all relationships, must spurn from self-love and honest expression: "I must be myself. I cannot break myself any longer for you, or you. If you can love me for what I am, we shall be the happier. If you cannot, I will still seek to deserve that you should."

7. "Here Is a Lesson in Creative Writing" – Kurt Vonnegut

Though it's collected in his great and final collection of essays, Man Without a Country , you can read an adaptation online at Lapham's Quarterly . While it's a must-read for aspiring creative writers, it's about more than writing — much, much more — despite its brevity and characteristic Vonnegut wit. It opens with the best slam of the semicolon ever.

8. "Notes of a Native Son" – James Baldwin

The titular essay from this collection — which honestly you should just read — is an ambitious and candid discussion of the passing of his father during a time of great racial turmoil. It opens: "On the twenty-ninth of July, in 1943, my father died. On the same day, a few hours later, his last child was born. Over a month before this, while all our energies were concentrated in waiting for these events, there had been, in Detroit, one of the bloodiest race riots of the century. A few hours after my father's funeral, while he lay in state in the undertaker's chapel, a race riot broke out in Harlem. In the morning of the third of August, we drove my father through the graveyard through a wilderness of smashed glass."

9. "The Invisible Made Visible" – David Rakoff

David Rakoff died a little over a year ago at the too-early age of 47. Just a few months prior, he read this essay about his cancer, his imminent death, and dancing, aloud as part of This American Life 's live show. As always with Rakoff's work, it was funny, painful, and revealed the author's intense love of the English language. Warning: When you watch this video , you will laugh audibly, several times, and you might cry.

10. "The Death of a Moth" – Virginia Woolf

The briefest — and perhaps densest — essay on this list, "The Death of the Moth," on its face, is about exactly that: Woolf notices a moth caught in her window and witnesses its death. Read it online and then read it again, and again.

11. "Total Eclipse " – Annie Dillard

This much-anthologized meditation follows Dillard and her husband as they drive to a mountaintop in Washington to witness a total eclipse — that rare event when the sun becomes entirely obscured, turning day briefly into night. Dillard's rendering of this experience showcases her enviable abilities to both observe and describe. It's collected in Teaching a Stone to Talk .

12. "Sliver of Sky" – Barry Lopez

Well-known nature writer Barry Lopez shocked many when he published this essay in January, in which he confessed being raped throughout his adolescence by his mother's sometime boyfriend. It is an affecting and horrifying portrait of what it is to be a victim of sexual abuse. Unfortunately you do have to be a Harper's subscriber to read it (for now).

13. "Shooting an Elephant" — George Orwell

Prior to penning 1984 and Animal Farm , Orwell was posted as a policeman in Burma, where he once had to shoot a rampaging elephant. The resultant essay, published in 1936, is a condemnation of imperialism — and his own selfish desire to not be implicated by it. Read it online or find it in the collection of the same title .

14. "Shipping Out" — David Foster Wallace

Yes, Wallace deserves two on this list. Also collected in A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again and originally published in Harper's , this is another travelogue turned existential rumination that shows unabashedly and hilariously the horrors of society (this time via a cruise ship) and really says more about the author himself.

15. "The Braindead Megaphone" – George Saunders

Saunders is more famous for his fiction (like many of the folks on this list) but that doesn't mean his essays are not fantastic. The first in the eponymous collection , "The Braindead Megaphone" takes on the current political and media climate in America that will make you shake your head in a I've-always-thought-that-but-never-really-put-it-that-way-myself way.

16. "We Do Abortions Here" — Sallie Tisdale

Tisdale was a nurse at an abortion clinic when she published this essay in 1987. She writes honestly and movingly about something she knows few want to think let alone read about. "There is a numbing sameness lurking in this job," she says, "the same questions, the same answers, even the same trembling tone in the voices. The worst is the sameness of human failure, of inadequacy in the face of each day’s dull demands." Read it for free online .

17. "The White Album" — Joan Didion

Of course Didion also gets two on this list. If you have not read this classic, do so now. It tracks our culture's — and the author's — transition out of the cataclysmic era that was the late '60s into something else much darker. It also contains an unforgettable image of Jim Morrison wearing black vinyl pants. Find it in the collection of the same name.

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15 Inspiring Personal Narrative Examples for Writers

Reveal a part of yourself in your essay.

Students start writing personal narratives at a young age, learning to use descriptive language to tell a story about their own experiences. Try sharing these personal narrative examples for elementary, middle, and high school to help them understand this essay form.

What is a personal narrative?

Think of a narrative essay like telling a story. Use descriptive language, and be sure you have a beginning, middle, and end. The essay should recount your personal experiences, including your thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Learn more about personal narrative essays here:

• What Is Narrative Writing, and How Do I Teach It in the Classroom?
• Engaging Personal Narrative Ideas for Kids and Teens
• Best Mentor Texts for Narrative Writing in Elementary School

Elementary School Personal Narrative Examples

In elementary school, personal narratives might be quite short, just a paragraph or two. The key is to encourage kids to embrace a personal style of writing, one that speaks in their own voice. Take a look at these elementary school personal narrative essay examples for inspiration.

The Horrible Day

“next i fell asleep in my cereal and my brother stole my toast”—anonymous student.

In this short personal narrative written by a 2nd grader, the author describes a bad day with lots of details and an informal tone. It’s a great model for your youngest writers.

Read the full essay: The Horrible Day at Thoughtful Learning

Keep an Eye on the Sky!

“as we made our way out to the field, my stomach slowly turned into a giant knot of fear.” —anonymous student.

Any student who dreads gym class will connect with this essay, which turns a challenge into a triumph. This narrative from Time for Kids is annotated, with highlighted details and tips to help kids write their own essay.

Read the full essay: Keep an Eye on the Sky! at Time for Kids

Grandpa, Chaz, and Me

“i really miss grandpa, and so does my brother, even though he never met him.” —cody, 4th grade student.

Written by a 4th grader, this essay relates the author’s loss of a grandfather at a very young age. Using simple, personal language, they tell a compelling story in a few short paragraphs.

Read the full essay: Grandpa, Chaz, and Me at Thoughtful Learning

Surviving an Embarrassing Situation

“i had made the shot in the wrong basket, giving the green shirts the win” —anonymous student.

Personal narratives tell a story, with a beginning, middle, and end. This annotated essay outlines those parts, making it easier for young writers to do the same in their own writing.

Read the full essay: Surviving an Embarrassing Situation at Sopris West Educational Services

“Do you have a friend who loves you?” —Kendra, 4th grade student

Writing about friends gives writers the chance to describe someone’s physical characteristics and personality. This 4th grade essay uses personal details to bring a beloved friend to life.

Read the full essay: Ann at Thoughtful Learning

Middle School Personal Narrative Examples

By middle school, personal narratives are longer and more involved, telling more detailed stories and experiences. These middle school personal narrative essay examples model strong writing skills for this age group.

“As thoughts of certain death run through my mind, the world appears a precious, treasured place.” —Amy, student

Describing an opportunity to overcome your worst fears makes an excellent personal narrative topic. The vivid descriptions of the landscape and the author’s feelings help the reader make a strong connection to the author.

Read the full essay: The Climb at Thoughtful Learning

The Best Friend Question

“i’ve often wondered, does not having a best friend make me defective” —blanche li, age 13, diablo vista middle school, danville, california.

When her Spanish teacher asked students for an essay describing their best friend, 13-year-old Blanche Li fell back on her standard story: that of a made-up person. Here, she explains why she made up “Haley” and wonders what having an imaginary best friend says about her.

Read the full essay: The Best Friend Question at The New York Times

The Racist Warehouse

“i didn’t know racism was still around; i thought that situation had died along with dr. king.” —alicia, 8th grade student.

Strong personal narratives often relate the way the author learned an important life lesson. Here, an 8th grader describes her first experience with racism, in an essay that will sadly ring true with many readers.

Read the full essay: The Racist Warehouse at Thoughtful Teaching

“For the first time, we realized that we didn’t know how to express our voice, and we always suppressed it.” —Jocelyn C., 7th grade student, Texas

Seventh-grader Jocelyn C. describes the unique experience of spending two years living in an RV with her family, traveling the country. She relates the ups and downs of their trip, illustrating the way her family learned to live together in close quarters and embrace the adventure.

Read the full essay: RV Journey at Write From the Heart

An Eight Pound Rival

“i’m trying to accept that he didn’t mean to dominate the center stage all the time, that’s just one of the many lovable assets of his personality.”.

A new sibling can change everything in a family, especially when you’ve always been the baby. This middle schooler explains her challenging relationship with a little brother that she loves, even when he drives her a bit crazy. (Find this essay on page 42 at the link.)

Read the full essay: An Eight Pound Rival at Teaching That Makes Sense

High School Personal Narrative Examples

High school students have more complex stories to tell, though they’re sometimes reluctant to do so. Reading personal narrative essay examples like these can encourage them to open up and get their thoughts, feelings, and ideas down on the page.

Sorry, Wrong Number

“when i received the first text, i was a playful sixth grader, always finding sly ways to be subversive in school and with friends.” —michelle ahn, high school student.

When Michelle Ahn was 11, she started getting texts for a wrong number, a man named Jared. Rather than correcting the error, she spends the next few years occasionally engaging with his texters as “Jared,” learning more about him. Though she finally comes clean, her time as “Jared” exposes her to a way of life very different from her own, and opens her eyes to the inner lives of others.

Read the full essay: Sorry, Wrong Number at The New York Times

Caught in the Net

“little does everyone else know how often i’m not doing school research or paper writing; instead i’m aimlessly writing emails or chatting with internet friends and family hundreds of miles away.” —kim, college student.

Even before social media and smartphones swept the world, internet addiction had become a problem. Here, a student shares her experiences in AOL chat rooms, meeting people from around the globe. Eventually, she realizes she’s sacrificing life in the real world for her digital friends and experiences, and works to find the right balance.

Read the full essay: Caught in the Net at Thoughtful Learning

Nothing Extraordinary

“an uneasy feeling started to settle in my chest. i tried to push it out, but once it took root it refused to be yanked up and tossed away.” —jeniffer kim, high school student.

During an ordinary shopping trip, high schooler Jenniffer Kim suddenly realizes she’s ashamed of her mother. At the same time, she recognizes all the sacrifices her mom has made for her, and gladly takes the chance to make a tiny sacrifice of her own.

Read the full essay: Nothing Extraordinary at The New York Times

The Pot Calling the Kettle Black

“at this point in life, i had not yet learned to be gentle with myself, or others.” —anonymous student.

A teen who lives with bipolar disorder recounts a difficult conversation with her parents, in which her mother dismisses her as “crazy.” A few years later, this same teen finds herself in the emergency room, where her mother has just tried to die by suicide. “Crazy!” the daughter thinks. After her mother also receives a bipolar disorder diagnosis, the author concludes, “‘Crazy’ is a term devised to dismiss people.”

Read the full essay: The Pot Calling the Kettle Black at Pressbooks

What a Black Woman Wishes Her Adoptive White Parents Knew

“i know that i am different, but do not have the words to understand how.” —mariama lockington.

Though not written by a high schooler, this essay by Mariama Lockington makes an excellent mentor text for this age group. Lockington dives deep into her feelings about being adopted by parents of a different race, and shares her challenges in poignant language that speaks directly to the reader.

Read the full essay: What a Black Woman Wishes Her Adoptive White Parents Knew at Buzzfeed News

Do you use personal narrative examples as mentor texts in your classroom? Come share your experiences and ask for advice in the We Are Teachers HELPLINE group on Facebook !

Plus, strong persuasive writing examples (essays, speeches, ads, and more) ..

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65 Engaging Personal Narrative Ideas for Kids and Teens

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Kamala Harris Picks Tim Walz As Running Mate: Here’s What To Know About Him

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Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to serve as her running mate in the 2024 presidential race—as Harris tries to gain ground on former President Donald Trump with just over three months until the November election.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is reportedly a frontrunner to be Vice President Kamala Harris' running ... [+] mate.

Harris announced she asked Walz to be her running mate in an Instagram post Tuesday, shortly after multiple news outlets reported on the decision, praising Walz’ “convictions on fighting for middle class families” and saying what impressed her most was his “deep commitment to his family.”

Walz accepted the offer Tuesday morning, calling it the “honor of a lifetime,” and adding: “Vice President Harris is showing us the politics of what’s possible. It reminds me a bit of the first day of school.”

Walz, the 60-year-old father of two and Nebraska-born governor of Minnesota had emerged as a vice presidential frontrunner, along with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and several others in the weeks leading up to the decision.

Harris’ campaign reportedly vetted about a dozen contenders, and her rumored list was whittled to Walz and Shapiro in the hours leading up to the announcement, which was widely expected to happen Tuesday after Democratic delegates concluded voting for the party’s nominee Monday, with 99% selecting Harris.

While not at the forefront of national politics, Walz established himself as a moderate Democrat in Congress—where he served as a representative for Minnesota from 2007 to 2019—and as the governor of Minnesota, a role he’s held since 2019, where he also serves as chair of the national Democratic Governors Association.

Walz is seen as an appealing option for independents and moderate Democrats as a working-class politician with a rural background, who exudes the appearance of “someone with a lived experience that is so comparable to so many of the people in rural America,” former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., told The New York Times last week.

Before running for office, Walz, a graduate of Chadron State College in Nebraska, served in the Army National Guard, and then worked as a teacher, first on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where he met his wife Gwen, a fellow teacher, and then in China and later as a high school teacher in Mankato, Minnesota, south of Minneapolis.

Walz initially entered politics as a member of former Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign, a spot he took after he said some of his high school students were questioned for having a Kerry sticker when he took them to a campaign rally for then-president George W. Bush, MinnPost reported.

As governor, some of Walz’ political accomplishments include ensuring tuition-free meals at participating state universities, enshrining abortion rights into state law, banning conversion therapy and providing protections for gender-affirming healthcare—Walz recently defended those measures against right-wing criticism in a CNN interview earlier this month, joking: “What a monster! Kids are eating and having full bellies so they can go learn and women are making their own healthcare decisions.”

Walz also signed a bill last May expanding voting rights in Minnesota for an estimated 55,000 formerly incarcerated residents, and in 2020, oversaw the state’s response to both the COVID-19 pandemic and police brutality protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police, though he faced criticism from state Republicans over his delayed response to protests following Floyd’s killing.

Get Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts: We’re launching text message alerts so you'll always know the biggest stories shaping the day’s headlines. Text “Alerts” to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here .

What To Watch For

Walz and Harris will make their first joint appearance at 5:30 p.m. EDT on Tuesday in Philadelphia.

Chief Critics

Walz has faced backlash from Minnesota Republicans largely over his actions to protect gender-affirming care—a topic that has become central on GOP tickets. John Helmberger, the CEO of Christian conservative group Minnesota Family Council, argued Walz’s executive order to protect gender-affirming care “victimizes vulnerable young people.” In the weeks leading up to the nomination announcement, Walz also sparked Republican outrage after he referred to “weird people on the other side,” and criticized Trump’s laugh and apparent obsession of Hannibal Lecter as “weird.” In response, former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called the “weird” argument “dumb & juvenile,” while Donald Trump. Jr. responded to claims that Trump running mate JD Vance is “weird” with a video posted of Harris with a drag queen.

What Has Trump Said About Walz?

The Trump campaign attacked Walz in a video after Harris announced him as her running mate, labeling him as a “left-wing extremist.” Trump’s campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt also slammed Walz, saying it’s “no surprise that San Francisco Liberal Kamala Harris wants West Coast wannabe Tim Walz as her running mate,” claiming Walz has tried to “reshape Minnesota in the image of the Golden State.”

Who Has Supported Walz As Harris’ Running Mate?

A group of Democratic lawmakers praised Harris’ choice of Walz on Tuesday, including contenders Shapiro and Sen. Mark Kelly , D-Ariz., as well as President Joe Biden , former President Barack Obama , Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer , D-N.Y., and the Congressional Black Caucus PAC .

Will Walz’ Minnesota Connection Help Harris In November?

Presidential candidates have a long history of strategically choosing running mates in swing states or candidates who appeal to certain voters in hopes of gaining ground in the presidential election. This November, Minnesota will be a critical swing state for Harris, one of seven key states Biden won in 2020 that polls have shown to be close matches in 2024, along with Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. A Fox News poll conducted late last month found Harris leading Trump in Minnesota by six points (52%-46%) in a head-to-head match—Harris leads Trump 47%-41% in the poll when including third-party candidates such as independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (7%). That lead marks a turnaround for the Democratic ticket in Minnesota: An Emerson College poll released one week before Biden’s disastrous debate performance found the incumbent tied 45%-45% with Trump (10% undecided). Harris trails behind Trump in the four other swing states (Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Wisconsin), according to recent polls , and the two are tied in Michigan and Pennsylvania, according to Fox News’ poll.

Since launching her campaign, Harris has landed major endorsements from Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. One of her biggest endorsements came last week from former President Barack Obama. Sources close to Obama had said the former president wanted to wait until after Biden’s Oval Office address last week to make the announcement, and wanted his public endorsement to stand on its own, NBC News reported. Another source told The New York Times Obama wanted to wait until Harris was officially named the party nominee, a process that could unfold as early as Aug. 1, following a rules change approved by the Democratic National Convention’s rules panel last week (party nominees are typically chosen by delegates at the Democratic National Convention after the conclusion of the primary cycle).

Key Background

Even before his disastrous performance in a June 27 debate against former President Donald Trump, Biden—the oldest president in U.S. history—had faced questions over his age, perhaps most prominently after the release of a Department of Justice special counsel report in February that found multiple cases of Biden’s memory failing. Those concerns ramped up substantially after CNN’s presidential debate, a 90-minute affair that resparked mounting concerns over Biden’s advanced age and potential cognitive decline. Facing calls from donors, lawmakers and pundits to step down, Biden ultimately announced on Sunday he would end his reelection bid, and quickly endorsed Harris for president. Harris became the presumptive nominee the next day after swiftly amassing the support of enough delegates to clinch the nomination.

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The New York Times Best Sellers - August 11, 2024

Authoritatively ranked lists of books sold in the united states, sorted by format and genre..

This copy is for your personal, noncommercial use only.

• Combined Print & E-Book Fiction

131 weeks on the list

IT ENDS WITH US

by Colleen Hoover

A battered wife raised in a violent home attempts to halt the cycle of abuse.

• Apple Books
• Barnes and Noble
• Books-A-Million
• Bookshop.org

25 weeks on the list

by Kristin Hannah

In 1965, a nursing student follows her brother to serve during the Vietnam War and returns to a divided America.

55 weeks on the list

THE HOUSEMAID

by Freida McFadden

Troubles surface when a woman looking to make a fresh start takes a job in the home of the Winchesters.

16 weeks on the list

A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES

by Sarah J. Maas

After killing a wolf in the woods, Feyre is taken from her home and placed inside the world of the Fae.

5 weeks on the list

THE HOUSEMAID'S SECRET

The second book in the Housemaid series. The sound of crying and the appearance of blood portend misdeeds.

• Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction

91 weeks on the list

HILLBILLY ELEGY

by J.D. Vance

The Yale Law School graduate and 2024 Republican vice presidential nominee looks at the struggles of the white working class through the story of his own childhood.

New this week

AUTOCRACY, INC.

by Anne Applebaum

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author elucidates the structures and technologies that bolster autocracies in the 21st century.

18 weeks on the list

THE ANXIOUS GENERATION

by Jonathan Haidt

A co-author of “The Coddling of the American Mind” looks at the mental health impacts that a phone-based life has on children.

13 weeks on the list

THE DEMON OF UNREST

by Erik Larson

The author of “The Splendid and the Vile” portrays the months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the beginning of the Civil War.

204 weeks on the list

THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE

by Bessel van der Kolk

How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.

• Hardcover Fiction

THE BOOK OF ELSEWHERE

by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville

An immortal soldier known as B strikes a deal with a U.S. black-ops group and encounters a mysterious force.

THE DUKE AND I AND THE VISCOUNT WHO LOVED ME

by Julia Quinn

The first book in the Bridgerton Collector’s Edition series.

64 weeks on the list

FOURTH WING

by Rebecca Yarros

Violet Sorrengail is urged by the commanding general, who also is her mother, to become a candidate for the elite dragon riders.

7 weeks on the list

by Elin Hilderbrand

Nantucket residents are alarmed when a home, recently sold at an exorbitant price, goes up in flames and someone goes missing.

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• Hardcover Nonfiction

75 weeks on the list

8 weeks on the list

THE WAR ON WARRIORS

by Pete Hegseth

The "Fox & Friends Weekend" host shares his experiences serving in the Army and his views on the current state of the American military.

• Paperback Trade Fiction

164 weeks on the list

66 weeks on the list

THE HOUSEMAID IS WATCHING

The third book in the Housemaid series. Dangers lurk in a quiet neighborhood.

IT STARTS WITH US

In the sequel to “It Ends With Us,” Lily deals with her jealous ex-husband as she reconnects with her first boyfriend.

• Paperback Nonfiction

68 weeks on the list

301 weeks on the list

THE ART THIEF

by Michael Finkel

The author of “The Stranger in the Woods” tells the story of Stéphane Breitwieser, who stole art more than 200 times for the sake of admiring it.

by Tom O'Neill and Dan Piepenbring

A reassessment of events surrounding the murders committed by Charles Manson’s followers.

58 weeks on the list

EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT LOVE

by Dolly Alderton

The British journalist shares stories and observations; the basis of the TV series.

• Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous

THE BOOK OF BILL

by Alex Hirsch

244 weeks on the list

ATOMIC HABITS

by James Clear

4 weeks on the list

THE ALGEBRA OF WEALTH

by Scott Galloway

THE NEW MENOPAUSE

by Mary Claire Haver

226 weeks on the list

THE BOY, THE MOLE, THE FOX AND THE HORSE

by Charlie Mackesy

• Children’s Middle Grade Hardcover

453 weeks on the list

by R.J. Palacio

A boy with a facial deformity starts school. (Ages 8 to 12)

by Alan Gratz

The friends Frank and Stanley give a vivid account of the Pearl Harbor attack. (Ages 8 to 12)

267 weeks on the list

Three children in three different conflicts look for safe haven. (Ages 9 to 12)

65 weeks on the list

THE SUN AND THE STAR

by Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro

The demigods Will and Nico embark on a dangerous journey to the Underworld to rescue an old friend. (Ages 10 to 14)

41 weeks on the list

WINGS OF FIRE: A GUIDE TO THE DRAGON WORLD

by Tui T. Sutherland. Illustrated by Joy Ang

A deeper dive into the legends of the 10 dragon tribes. (Ages 8 to 12)

• Children’s Picture Books

by Peter H. Reynolds

A celebration of individuality. (Ages 4 to 8)

403 weeks on the list

THE WONDERFUL THINGS YOU WILL BE

by Emily Winfield Martin

A celebration of future possibilities. (Ages 3 to 7)

452 weeks on the list

DRAGONS LOVE TACOS

by Adam Rubin. Illustrated by Daniel Salmieri

What to serve your dragon-guests. (Ages 3 to 5)

2 weeks on the list

THE YELLOW BUS

by Loren Long

The life span of a yellow school bus. (Ages 3 to 6)

27 weeks on the list

BLUEY: SLEEPYTIME

by Joe Brumm

Bingo wants to do a big girl sleep and wake up in her own bed. (Ages 4 to 8)

• Children’s & Young Adult Series

THE POWERLESS TRILOGY

by Lauren Roberts

A story of forbidden love between Paedyn, an Ordinary, and Kai, an Elite, in the kingdom of Ilya. (Ages 14 and up)

148 weeks on the list

A GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER

by Holly Jackson

Pippa Fitz-Amobi solves murderous crimes. (Ages 14 and up)

THE WILD ROBOT

by Peter Brown

Roz the robot adapts to her surroundings on a remote, wild island. (Ages 7 to 12)

735 weeks on the list

PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS

by Rick Riordan

A boy battles mythological monsters. (Ages 9 to 12)

802 weeks on the list

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID

written and illustrated by Jeff Kinney

The travails and challenges of adolescence. (Ages 9 to 12)

• Young Adult Hardcover

17 weeks on the list

THE REAPPEARANCE OF RACHEL PRICE

Annabel Price's mother was presumed dead, until she reappears during the filming of a documentary about her disappearance. (Ages 14 to 17)

3 weeks on the list

THE DARKNESS WITHIN US

by Tricia Levenseller

When Chrysantha's husband, the Duke of Pholios, dies, she believes she's the sole heir to his fortune. Until Eryx Demos arrives and claims to be the duke's estranged grandson. (Ages 13 to 18)

THE SHADOWS BETWEEN US

Alessandra plots to kill the Shadow King and take his kingdom for herself. (Ages 13 to 18)

DIVINE RIVALS

by Rebecca Ross

Two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection. (Ages 13 to 18)

38 weeks on the list

by Alex Aster

In this sequel to "Lightlark," Isla must chose between her two powerful lovers. (Ages 13 and up)

Weekly Best Sellers Lists

Monthly best sellers lists.