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snow-capped trees

Laura Waterman is the author of a memoir called "Losing the Garden: The Story of A Marriage." The book explores how Laura could have permitted her beloved husband of thirty years to kill himself while suffering a profound depression.

Heart graphic

Poems can hold grief and mark loss. But what about love? Romantic love. Poet Li-Young Lee understands this completely. Because he’s in love.

Cruises suck

David Foster Wallace's essays have their own unique cult following. There’s one, “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again,” which is a hilarious diatribe about cruise ships, which convinced many of us we should never, ever go on a cruise.

water

An excerpt from the commencement speech David Foster Wallace gave at Kenyon College in 2005.

The Pale King

Michael Pietsch was David Foster Wallace's editor since the early 1990s. He also edited Wallace's unfinished novel "The Pale King," published posthumously in 2011. Pietsch, executive vice-president and publisher at Little, Brown and Co., spoke with Anne Strainchamps before the novel was released. 

Journalist DT Max tells Steve Paulson about David Foster Wallace's creative struggles with the novel he left unfinished when he committed suicide in September of 2008. It's called "The Pale King" and explores Wallace's longtime preoccupation with boredom.

David Foster Wallace in 2006

David Lipsky is the journalist portrayed in “The End of the Tour,” a film about Lipsky's 5-day road trip with David Foster Wallace.  The two hit it off, sharing a wide-ranging conversation about fame, depression, pop culture and junk food. Speaking to Jim Fleming for "To The Best of Our Knowledge" in 2009, Lipsky remembers Wallace and traces the evolution of the depression that ultimately claimed his life.

Melissa Joulwan — A.K.A. "Melicious" — didn't know what to expect when she joined a roller derby team. What she found was camaraderie, a new athleticism and personal empowerment.

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