The New Yorker just published its Summer Fiction issue, some of which is available online. It includes stories by Jonathan Franzen, Aleksandar Hemon, Yiyun Li and others.

The issue also features an essay by Louis Menand about a very old question (can creative writing be taught?), taken up with Menand’s usual style and intelligence. It begins:

Creative-writing programs are designed on the theory that students who have never published a poem can teach other students who have never published a poem how to write a publishable poem.