Narrative Magazine | Writers, Fiction, Poetry, Storytelling, Nonfiction, Art

STORY OF THE WEEK

Why Don’t You?

By Emily Russell

She thinks about their arrival. They'll unlock the door. She panics a little when she can't quite picture the apartment.

POEM OF THE WEEK

Kronos

By Joshua Mehigan

If there are two and if they’re unaware that I am there, they meet each other in the passage, pause as if exchanging news, then go their own ways home.

FINAL DAYS TO ENTER

The $5,000 Narrative Prize is awarded annually for the best short story, novel excerpt, poem, graphic story, or work of literary nonfiction by a new or emerging writer.

Deadline: April 30, at 11:59 p.m., PST.

HIGH SCHOOL CONTEST WINNER

No, but I once got very close

By Michelle Li

That was the year I kept talking to myself: I am good I am good I want to be loved. By you, I mean.

FICTION

PAST NARRATIVE PRIZE WINNER

FICTION

Boulder City

By T. C. Boyle

Four words—Your mother passed away—coming at him from the realm of anonymity, the lips of a stranger speaking through the inert slab of a phone hundreds of miles away.

PAST NARRATIVE PRIZE WINNER

If the Body Makes a Sound

By Tryphena L. Yeboah

How painful is childbirth? Chichi let the words out so easily, as though she were talking about the weather. When her mother finally spoke, she said, As painful as death. I won’t lie to you.

POETRY

That Spring

By Lo Naylor

spring came all the same. announced itself like a woodpecker on bark. my heart barked in my chest. each morning, I didn’t dare go back to sleep—couldn’t bear to wake twice.