20 Best New Writers
The twenty writers presented here are by no means all the great new and emerging writers published during the past year in Narrative but well represent the strength and variety of upcoming talent today. Enjoy these twenty, and in the coming months look for more to come from these and other new writers in Narrative.
Chris Abani
War Widow
The phone never rings; those you’ve loved, long dead.
James Arthur
Omnivore
I eat what’s in front of me, as all great men do.
Robert P. Baird
American Idol
Karen was nothing, emptiness. She was oblivion.
Lillian-Yvonne Bertram
I Was a Barking Dog
As a woman I was all reason and my reason was unjust.
Sherwin Bitsui
Four Poems
PEN Open Book Award
Will Boast
Coda
Kate was like a connecting circuit lighting everything up.
Elea Carey
Great Plains
All those feelings—you do not have them, they have you.
Michael Croley
Washed Away
The future was ours to go in any direction we wanted.
Eugene Cross
Harvesters
She looked pretty, but he hadn’t told her so.
Jane Delury
Nothing of Consequence
2011 PEN/O. Henry Prize
Mya Guarnieri
Hills Behind Us
You’re not a soldier. You’re a dog, tail between his legs.
Lisa Ko
Jackpot
Don’t attract attention. Don’t be suspicious.
Anthony Marra
Granddaughters
Our grandmothers were bakers, nurses, and traitors.
Sue Mell
Single Lens Reflex
She imagines his clothes on the floor, arms around her.
Adam Prince
A. Roolette? A. Roolette?
He looks his high school crush full in the face.
Octavia Randolph
The Lamp of Truth
You say this blackened smear is art. We do not see it.
Mattox Roesch
All the Way Rider
All things are part of a good conspiracy.
Evan James Roskos
How We Handle Pain
Lily hated Ray’s cancer. She couldn’t see it or cure it.
Kate Waldman
Afterword
Death is a lack, and love more so. But I will not falter.
Aggie Zivaljevic
Where Is My Boy?
War was about to begin, and the boys were in charge.
