STORY OF THE WEEK

STORY OF THE WEEK

A Dreamer’s Tale By Jane Lange

A Dreamer’s Tale

For so many years I’d taken part in his waiting that I was thankful he’d departed on a train’s whistle in the silky air of a June night.

POEM OF THE WEEK

POEM OF THE WEEK

Transfer of Power By Rosalie Moffett

Transfer of Power

Fetal kick and election season and everywhere flags translate the direction of the wind into arguments about the future.

FINAL WEEKS TO ENTER

FINAL WEEKS TO ENTER

FINAL WEEKS TO ENTER
Deadline: Tues., Nov. 26, at 11:59 p.m., PST.

We’re looking for short stories, essays, memoirs, photo essays, graphic stories, and excerpts from long fiction and nonfiction.

Please see the Guidelines.

FROM THE LIBRARY

FROM THE LIBRARY

Late in the Season By Peter Matthiessen

Late in the Season

It was just at the edge of the late November road. Cici Avery saw it first, a dark giant turtle, as solitary as a misplaced object, or something left behind.

NARRATIVE PRIZE WINNER

SPRING CONTEST WINNER

NARRATIVE PRIZE WINNER

NARRATIVE PRIZE WINNER

October Phone Call and Other Poems By Madeleine Cravens

October Phone Call and Other Poems

My loneliness is not less because I understand it more, or because I have condoned it. Mist and roads in all directions.

SPRING CONTEST WINNER

SPRING CONTEST WINNER

Something Left Behind By Madelena Grossmann

Something Left Behind

She knew you’d gone, that wasn’t what she’d come to hear; on this small island, everyone knows who comes, who goes.

FICTION

NARRATIVE 10

FICTION

FICTION

Any Good Child By Tryphena L. Yeboah

Any Good Child

I’m convinced that Ma wants me to see, needs me to step into her world and learn its songs but never actually dance to its tune until it’s time.

NARRATIVE 10

NARRATIVE 10

Narrative 10 By Tom Jenks

Narrative 10

If a story succeeds, the words carry the reader all the way home, back to life outside the story, having received gifts along the way.

NONFICTION

NONFICTION

NONFICTION

NONFICTION

Antibes 1926: The Torment of Scott Fitzgerald By Bill Barich

Antibes 1926: The Torment of Scott Fitzgerald

I hadn’t intended the trip to be a literary pilgrimage, although it evolved into one without my willing it.

NONFICTION

NONFICTION

The Art of Becoming a Citizen By Gail Godwin

The Art of Becoming a Citizen

One of the perks of living a long life is that you get to drop down and look around and see what happened afterward.

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Earth in the Time of Billie Holiday, a story By Canisia LubrinIntroduced by Saidiya Hartman

Earth in the Time of Billie Holiday, a story

Combat commanded no serious loyalty from me or Siem, though it did have a first taste, a sound.

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Dead Man’s Run, a story By Olufunke OgundimuIntroduced by Tryphena L. Yeboah

Dead Man’s Run, a story

One of the ghosts I walk with is me. It lives the life I left and continues to thrive as if I did not leave.

NARRATIVE OUTLOUD

CARTOONS

NARRATIVE OUTLOUD

NARRATIVE OUTLOUD

The Transit of Venus By Shirley Hazzard

The Transit of Venus

An exclusive excerpt of actor Juliet Stevenson reading Shirley Hazzard’s The Transit of Venus with an introduction from our own Carol Edgarian.

CARTOONS

CARTOONS

Cartoon Art Volume 2024-10 By Various Artists

Cartoon Art Volume 2024-10

New laughs with a financially savvy pharaoh, a perfectly regular late-night routine, a tough-lidded interview, and more.

POETRY

POETRY

POETRY

POETRY

Anniversary of You By Mark Kyungsoo Bias

Anniversary of You

I’ve taken in the highway and the see-through reflection of my own face. It’s funny watching the people pass through it.

POETRY

POETRY

Hunan Wishes By Daniel Halpern

Hunan Wishes

With the moon half in shadow we spin these inner moons of the earth on the sprigs of fire focused under the tempered carbon steel of the wok.

POETRY

POETRY

POETRY

POETRY

The Free Tower By Ted Kooser

The Free Tower

Behind her I slowly climbed, passing through a life’s history of all her odors, those years now happening all over again as I climbed through them.

POETRY

POETRY

Brothel By Edward Salem

Brothel

I walked to the olive grove and stood among the trees, trying to memorize my awe. I stood among them as if in a brothel and inhaled the wind.

POETRY

POETRY

POETRY

POETRY

Still Life with a Seashell and Dr. Caligari By Alex Tretbar

Still Life with a Seashell and Dr. Caligari

Say I were to say, “Say something.” Or, “It’s blue, the shape of the air unable to escape.”

POETRY

POETRY

The Trade-Off By Chase Twichell

The Trade-Off

Strange then, strange now, to choose the white loneliness over the gathering next door, the air scented with lilacs and barbecue, with laughing.