Testimonials

It’s remarkable that you can write a story in Iowa, and it can be published by a magazine in San Francisco and then read on the other side of the earth in Kashmir and Tehran. I think that the power of story and the way it can transcend many of the borders that we construct around our place in the world is something that is unusual, and Narrative’s reputation and its innovative approach to publishing allows that kind of transcendence.
—Anthony Marra, 2010 Narrative Przie winner

As a teacher, I really appreciate the effort that went into compiling the resources that you have made available to us without subscription. The Library affords us an insight into the culture at Narrative. This is what builds a vibrant and successful community. Thank you for all that you do.
—Teacher, Makuhari Senior High School, Japan

Narrative’s been a remarkable showcase for the form and for young writers as well as classic living writers. The editors have made a special place for the talents they nurture, the ones that will be the literature we will have in years to come.
—Tobias Wolff

Prizes can be silly in that they come and go and they’re always given for past work, so they’re not exactly assessments of who you are in the present. So it’s a dubious thing to believe in their hype; however, as a young writer sometimes those first nods of approval can mean so much, and they can really be the wind in your sail. And I feel like I’m still being blown by that wind, so thank you, thank you. And it’s not just me, you do it for so many young writers every year. So thank you for the work you do, and I’ll never forget that either.
—Ocean Vuong, 2015 Narrative Prize winner

Narrative has made my life easier! I don’t have to subscribe all over the place. I don’t have to search for something good to read. I tell all my students: Here it is.
—Sally S., teacher, Portland, Oregon

Narrative is wise, loyal, diverse, elegant, feral, traditional, avant-garde. It’s urban and it’s rural. It’s global and it’s parochial. It’s young and it’s old. You, its readers, have made it this way. One of my favorite Bible verses is the cryptic “In my father’s house there are many rooms.” One enters each issue of Narrative in similar fashion. We do not high-grade for our favorites; instead, we read it all, devour it all, wolfishly. It all matters.
—Rick Bass

I have developed about twenty lessons based on stories and poems in the Narrative library that represent what I consider core skills: rhetoric, syntax, diction, voice versus style, and so on.
—Kentucky high school teacher

I’m very thrilled to be associated with Narrative, a wonderfully innovative magazine. I was just telling a couple of editors that I’m so excited to be thinking about what I’m going to submit tomorrow: an excerpt from a new novel.
—Joyce Carol Oates

Shortly after Nemecia came out, the story was chosen to be in the Best American and I received an award from the Rona Jaffe Foundation, and it was this momentum, I think, that led to my book eventually being taken by Norton. I blame all this on Narrative. I think all this momentum can be credited to Narrative’s sterling reputation and incredible, incredible reach.
—Kirstin Valdez Quade, 2013 Narrative Prize Winner

I teach low-income students of color in an underperforming school district. If I had to go and buy everything that is on the Narrative site, I would not be able to run my program. Narrative puts the brightest writers at my fingertips. It’s so powerful.
—Executive director, Next Generation Scholars

I will never forget the moment I was able to tell a student she had placed in your contest, a student who had dealt with so much adversity at home. She was open and vulnerable in her writing, and she was rewarded. She has also continued to use this in her writing and is an avid writer and starting pre-med in the fall.
—Teacher, Appomattox Regional Governor’s School

However you like your literature, Narrative has you covered.
—PBS

When I get published someplace, the first thing I do when the edition comes in is I look for my work. But Narrative is one of those places where you know you’re in it, and you start to go through it, and you see so many other names and distractions. And it’s pretty amazing, even to be in the same room with these people.
—Natalie Diaz, 2012 Narrative Prize winner

One thing I love is the word narrative. It’s one of the things that really resonated for me about the magazine, because we’re in such changeful times when it comes to publishing. People worry about that a lot, ebooks and Kindle singles, and do I read online or do I read a blog? What is it, what are they? The funny thing is that the fundamental fact of what we read and what we write has remained absolutely unchanged. It’s just narratives. It’s stories. That is really all that matters.
—Susan Orlean

The team at Narrative has treated me with great kindness, generosity, and faith from the very beginning. I have felt myself to be in the presence of those whose delight and expertise is to seek out, nurture, make space for, and give light to language. When the time comes for me to tell my story, that story will involve, among other stories and people, this kindness and nurturing I have received from you.
—Gbenga Adesina, 2020 Narrative Prize Winner

What I appreciate about Narrative is not just that it’s publishing excellent work by excellent writers, but that it’s doing so in a spirit of great optimism and exuberance and expansiveness. It’s just a great thing to feel.
—Jennifer Egan

I don’t think I had any idea then what doors the publication would open, and even now, three years in, I am still coming to terms with the immensity of such acceptance and recognition—what the Narrative award means for me, for people who look like me, and especially for African writers finding in storytelling a brave voice and the power to shift and claim our tales. I feel seen; I sense an urgent nudge to keep doing the hard work of writing, and I hear a small voice telling me to keep dreaming.
—Tryphena L. Yeboah, 2021 Narrative Prize winner

When you’re in the presence of a great work of art, you’re simply reminded of certain higher registers that exist within us. We’re reminded that we possess nuance, curiosity, patience, kindness, and all of these can actually go towards our enemies. Does that solve the problem? Probably not. But that feeling when that register is reached within you, it somehow gives us a little bit of hope, a little bit of reassurance.
—George Saunders

Tom and Carol really have been such a wonderful guiding principle for all of us in terms of this unique magazine that they put together—and a very necessary one too. I’m not going to go through the usual clichés about publishing in a time of crisis and that sort of thing because immediately our eyes glaze over about that one. And it’s just very hard to think about that when you see the kind of energy and the sincere readers and the people who really care about literature who are here tonight and who are so gratified to be with one another. If the exception proves the rule, then okay, we’re all the exception, but it proves the rule.
—Ann Beattie

The word prize is associated with recognition, money, and achievement, but being awarded the Narrative Prize means more to me than that. I am proud to be part of Narrative’s story and mission. To be part of Narrative is to be part of a shared love for literature and a shared understanding that literature—stories—can change the world. And so the Narrative Prize is not only a great honor I’ll forever cherish but a reminder that the work of mine they have shared is doing something good in the world.
—Morgan Talty, 2021 Narrative Prize Winner

Narrative was one of the first magazines I knew existed. My first poetry teacher introduced me to the site’s beautiful work when I began writing in 2008. I was eighteen. The virtual pages of Narrative automatically became a dream publication because of the quality of the work. But I was still too scared to submit. It wasn’t until after I met Anthony Marra at a conference in Vermont that I had the courage to send my poems. Marra had just won Narrative’s Spring Contest for his story “Chechnya.” Months after, he won the Narrative Prize. I deeply admired his writing, particularly that story, about a war-torn country like El Salvador. After meeting him, I also wanted to replicate his work ethic (he would return to his room every night and edit his novel). In a way, he humanized the process of what it took to be published—constant revision and perseverance. After many tries, two of my poems finally got accepted. I remember celebrating with a solo gin and tonic at French Roast on Eleventh and Sixth Ave., a few blocks away from NYU. That publication was the first time I received a Facebook message from a stranger. It showed me the reach of the magazine. Showed me that my voice mattered in an uncertain time on my writing path. I continued to submit more poems because of the friendly and caring staff at the magazine. Eventually I won the Narrative Prize. I couldn’t help but remember that eighteen-year-old, full of doubt and fear about revealing his immigration status. It has been a long nine years of working on Unaccompanied. During all those revisions, I valued the opinion of the editors and staff at Narrative, who have supported me since the beginning. Thank you so much for believing in my work. For giving that eighteen-year-old hope. For creating a place where I feel comfortable revealing my secrets.
—Javier Zamora, 2017 Narrative Prize winner

When we read a page, when we read a story on screen, we suddenly get to see one another more closely, without shame. And at the risk of sounding romantic or even grandiose, I think that’s the closest thing we have to magic. I feel very blessed to be able to practice this art and to have people surrounded here who care and nurture it.
—Ocean Vuong, 2015 Narrative Prize winner