Vinson Cunningham

New York

GREAT EXPECTATIONS, my debut novel, out from @hogarthbooks on March 12th, 2024. pre-order below. staff writer and theatre critic, @newyorker.

Articles

Mister Lonely, the New TV Hero

1 month ago | newyorker.com | Vinson Cunningham

In the very first shot of the pilot episode of “Paradise”—a recent dystopian political thriller from Hulu—a man played by Sterling K. Brown lies alone, unrestfully, in bed. His eyes are bolted open. A watercolor wash of blue light floods his face. He blinks a bit and looks around the room, then caresses the unused pillow next to his own.
Mister Lonely, the New TV Hero

1 month ago | flipboard.com | Vinson Cunningham

1 day agoOne Word of Truth Shall Outweigh the Whole WorldThe Russian author’s Nobel Prize lecture contains an urgent message for contemporary audiences. In October 1970, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn “for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature.” In his Nobel Prize …NowWho is Juliana Pasquarosa?
Great Expectations: a national US Bestseller

1 month ago | uk.bookshop.org | Promoting Books |Vinson Cunningham

'A phenomenal, transfixing work; Cunningham is a singular, dazzling writer' Bryan Washington'A coming-of-age novel of the richest, most expansive kind, it's a rare debut, one that feels both intimate and revelatory' Megan AbbottA historic presidential campaign changes the trajectory of a young Black man's life in the highly anticipated debut novel from one of The New Yorker's rising stars.
Tom Brady, Armchair Quarterback

2 months ago | newyorker.com | Vinson Cunningham

A few months ago, when Tom Brady was beginning his career as an N.F.L. commentator for Fox Sports, a commercial aired. It begins with Brady, his face all angles, sitting at a desk in a nondescript room, looking at videos on two big monitors in front of him, laptops to his right and left, and a big TV affixed to a wall. Why he needs so much stimulation all at once isn’t totally clear, but it’s got something to do with extreme efficiency.
Tom Brady, Armchair Quarterback

2 months ago | flipboard.com | Vinson Cunningham

After moving on from head coach Mike McCarthy when his contract expired at the end of the 2024 season, the Dallas Cowboys are officially set to begin a new era. According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Cowboys hired Brian Schottenheimer as their next head coach on Friday. The deal is for four years, …
Donald Trump Plays Church

Jan 20, 2025 | newyorker.com | Vinson Cunningham

It’s usually gauche to take pictures in church. But at St. John’s, the Episcopal Church just across a sedate Lafayette Square from the White House, photography is inevitable at least once every four years. Every Inauguration Day, many of the most powerful representatives of the United States government, past and quickly matriculating, go to the so-called Church of the Presidents, notionally to pray.
Donald Trump Plays Church

Jan 20, 2025 | flipboard.com | Vinson Cunningham

3 hours agoDonald Trump has been sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, setting out to reshape the country’s institutions. He signed his first round of executive orders at his rally at the Capital One Arena, including withdrawing from the Paris climate treaty and requiring that federal workers …
The Year in Surprises

Dec 24, 2024 | newyorker.com | Vinson Cunningham

Darkness that, by contrast, makes light all the brighter; bright moments that seem to redeem the dark: that black-and-white opposition is, for me, what makes up the poignant imagery of Christmas. Think of the famous scene: wise men navigating by the stars—flaming constellations against a fathomless sky—searching the dank nooks of Rome’s empire for an incandescent child.
Up from Urkel, World-Famous Nerd

Dec 15, 2024 | newyorker.com | Vinson Cunningham

The name of that chapter is “There Are No Do-Overs,” but the book vibrates with palpable regret. “I’m not bitter,” White says. Then, reversing himself: “Okay . . . maybe a little.” White, who grew up acting, was already on a career path before he’d developed a mechanism to make his own choices. The term “child star,” with its intimations of troubled glamour, doesn’t always convey how much of a grind such kids endure.
The Obama campaign, fictionalized

Nov 5, 2024 | christiancentury.org | Vinson Cunningham |Jack Jenkins |Aleja Hertzler- McCain |Heidi Neumark

To paraphrase an online saying: you’re not nostalgic for Obama’s first campaign, you’re nostalgic for the age you were during Obama’s first campaign. From the very beginning, it was disorienting to watch his sudden rise from unknown to inevitable.