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Sandra Newman

Writer, Freelance

Sandra Newman is an American author, whose most recent book is The Heavens (2019). She lives in Manhattan.

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Written by Sandra Newman

A smiling man in Elizabethan costume with white face paint, a ruffled collar and red lipstick with candles in the background.

essay

Stories and literature

Queering Shakespeare

So many arguments are given against Shakespeare being gay – yet his sonnets contain their own message, that love is love

Sandra Newman

Black and white photo of a nun in a long corridor holding a swaddled baby with light streaming in from a window on the right.

essay

Anthropology

Infanticide

There is nothing so horrific as child murder, yet it’s ubiquitous in human history. What drives a parent to kill a baby?

Sandra Newman

Photo of two people seen through a window at night, with reflections of lamps, dining at a dimly-lit restaurant table.

essay

Human rights and justice

Why men rape

It’s not a profound mystery, or explained by deep psychosocial complexity. For rapists, rape is easy. And that must stop

Sandra Newman

A photo of two men in body paint holding clay masks. One wears a red hat. Background shows greenery and a wooden structure.

essay

Rituals and celebrations

Possessed by a mask

Every human culture has used masks for ritual disinhibition, shaming and play. Is being online the ultimate masquerade?

Sandra Newman

Black and white photo of an elderly man covering his face with his hands, sitting next to an elderly woman outdoors under trees.

essay

Gender

Man, weeping

History is full of sorrowful knights, sobbing monks and weeping lovers – what happened to the noble art of the manly cry?

Sandra Newman