The author's new essay collection, "Dead and Alive," addresses debates on representation in literature, feminism, and how our phones have radicalized us. Since Zadie Smith published her début novel, " White Teeth," twenty-five years ago, she has been a bold and original voice in literature. But those who aren't familiar with Smith's work outside of fiction are missing out. As an essayist, in and other publications, Smith writes with great nuance about culture, technology, gentrification, politics. "There's really not a topic that wouldn't benefit from her insight," David Remnick says. He spoke with Smith about her new collection of essays, " Dead and Alive ."

In my experience, every kind of writing requires some kind of self-soothing Jedi mind trick, and, when it comes to essay composition, the rectangle is mine. What had seemed an impossible task transformed into a practical matter of six little arrows. The first essay anybody writes is for school. But the only examples I remember are the ones I wrote at the end, in my A-level exams. One compared Hitler to Stalin. I was proudest of the essay that considered whether the poet John Milton--pace William Blake--was "of the devil's party without knowing it." I did well on those standardized tests, but even passing was far from a foregone conclusion. I'd screwed up my mocks, the year before, smoking too much weed and studying rarely. Since then, I'd cleaned up my act--a bit--but was still overwhelmed by the task before me. My rested on a few essays written in the school hall under a three-hour time constraint?

Claire Denis is a filmmaker's filmmaker. Though the French writer-director has never had a commercial breakthrough in the U.S., she has been a steady presence in international cinema circles from her debut feature "Chocolat" in 1988 through such titles as 1999's "Beau Travail," 2010's "White Material," starring Isabelle Huppert, and "Let the Sunshine In," which starred Juliette Binoche and was released in the U.S. last year. In part, Denis is so well-regarded because she remains so unpredictable. There is no signature style to her work and it remains surprising with each and every film. Her latest, "High Life," which opens in New York and Los Angeles this week via A24, arrives with higher than usual commercial expectations.