Our Fave Interviews & Profiles in 2023

We’ve loved sharing our favourite articles, unhinged Twitter threads and analysis Tik Toks in our Weekend Recommendations every Sunday – it's become a beloved series for both you and us. With so much valuable content shared throughout the year, we want to give each recommendation its well-deserved spotlight.

If you’re looking for some great reading material over the slow summer weeks, scroll down for the links to every Interview & Profile we recommended in 2023. Feel like something different? Why not try our fave pieces on:

• Pop Culture

• Politics

• Big Ideas

• Internet Culture & Tech

• Climate

• Essays & Personal Stories

We’ll continue finding the smartest stuff on the Internet for you in 2024 – subscribe to this newsletter to make sure you don’t miss ‘em.

The Best Essays & Personal Stories from 2023

Sam Kerr and the Dream of an Australian World Cup Title on The New Yorker
“Lloyd, who played with Kerr in Kerr’s first American season, told me, “Some of the things that she would pull off and do, you’re just, like, ‘How did you even do that? Have you ever trained that?’ And she’d be, like, ‘No, I just pulled it off in this game—and I did it for the first time.’”

The Return of Ryan Gosling on GQ
Incredible insight into the Barbie movie, this interview could not be more perfect. ““Ken,” Gosling says, “his job is beach. For 60 years, his job has been beach. What the fuck does that even mean?”

What I’ve Learned Since Getting a Glory Hole in My Home by on Vice
Artist Emil in Melbourne who has a glory hole in his home that (straight) men pay to use. “When I ask these men, what is it about me that they're attracted to… they're like, as masculine men, we're attracted to the opposite energy, which is femininity. That makes a lot of sense. It's not really about just your gender, how you present, but a lot of it is actually this energy that a lot of us emit, which is going beyond face value.”

Read the room, tax the rich on The Monthly
If you voted for or were curious about any of the teal Independents, I am begging you to read this piece by my favourite political columnist, Rachel Withers. She interviewed every Teal candidate about their stance on wealth inequality and it is… revealing.

Pop Culture Is Tefi Pessoa’s Calling on Centennial World
“I feel like pop culture is humanity from maybe a more feminine lens and I think that is important too and it influences the way we talk to each other, how we get to know each other, how we smoke each other out.”

The Algorithm Chose @SubwaySessions. We Asked Her Our Burning Questions on The Cut
Kristina Avakya went viral for wearing crazy, ugly outfits on the subway, so The Cut interviewed her and its… yikes. “Each of Avakyan’s videos seems to unintentionally serve as a rabbit hole of sociopolitical implications… How could the clothes on one person’s body create a multi-platform avenue for discourse?”

Meet Max Chandler-Mather: the man getting under Anthony Albanese's skin on Canberra Times
Insightful profile on the Greens MP by friend of Zee Feed, Justine Landis-Hanley: "Parliament is largely full of two kinds of people – ideologues who want to change the world, and those who run for office because they want power. Perhaps what makes Chandler-Mather so frustrating – and threatening – to some in this building is that he is neither. And both.”

​​Hoda Ashfar: “You Can’t Tell An Entire Story In One Frame” on Instyle Australia
Iranian-Australian photographer talks about her latest exhibition, ‘A Curve is a Broken Line’: “I started seeing these photos that women were making on the streets of Iran plaiting each other's hair and posting it on social media… Across different cultures you've seen women's fight for liberation and the hair symbolises their resilience and resistance. So I use that as a kind of symbol in my work.”

‘Do not be alone in a room with him’: how Australia’s comedy scene deals with its ‘open secrets’ on Guardian Australia
"Guardian Australia spoke to one male comedy professional, under the condition of anonymity, who has booked comedy shows for a decade. In terms of open secrets, ‘there’s one guy in particular who is a fucking monster’, he says, and a handful more who he believes enough about to blacklist."

Nobel prize in economics: Claudia Goldin’s work is a goldmine for understanding the gender pay gap and women’s empowerment on The Conversation
"Goldin coined the term “quiet revolution” to describe the dynamics of the gender gap in the labour market and the increase in labour force participation of married women in the US in the 1970s. She showed that there are two key ingredients to this quiet revolution: investment in education, and postponement of age at first marriage.”

Narges Mohammadi: Iranian woman jailed for rights work wins Nobel Peace prize on the BBC
“Ms Mohammadi's son Ali Rahmani, whom she has not seen in eight years, was in class when he found out. ‘It took a few moments for me to come to terms with it so in the beginning I was just very happy and proud of my mum just like I am always, like yesterday and the day before that. This award belongs to the Iranian people. It is because of the protests.’”

In memory of Dr. Refaat Alareer on Electronic Intifada
“Even under Israel’s savage and relentless bombardment, Refaat never stopped nurturing and mentoring his students and former students, whether it was to write poetry, or reportage for The Electronic Intifada. Although he was not fearless, Refaat was brave. He continued to speak out even knowing that Israel was systematically targeting journalists, doctors and other intellectuals for extermination.”