Winston was trying to cross the road at a busy six lane highway in the big city. He looked left and right, but there didn’t seem to be a pause long enough for him to get across. He waited calmly, but after a while he became impatient. He began to calculate how he could dodge … More Pieces of Winston, by Debra Stewart
In upper part of my body
A cognitive bell rings
From a dial-up connection of live wires;
The modem is working JUST … More Five Poems by Sandeep Kumar Mishra
Hon. Alexander P. HemmingsFounder and Executive DirectorHemmings Institute for Advanced Applied Astrophysics1493 South Benham RoadBaltimore, Maryland 21206 Re: The Last List Dear Alexander: I finally compiled the list. It has taken too long but, looking back now, I believe the time spent was well worth the sacrifice. But I can’t … More The Last List, by Arthur Davis
i/
i sprint
through dusk,
evading
the neon
pink pistol
by Mark Alvarez
My old San Francisco neighborhood has two hearts: Portsmouth Square and Washington Square. While the former is something whose name is unrecognized even by many San Franciscans, part of the vagueness they thrust upon Chinatown–despite being the spot where the state of California was founded–the latter is one of the most well-loved public spaces in the City, a tree-lined green slope decompressing North Beach density, perfect for absorbing the between-fog sun.
… More Requiem for a Kool-Aid Wino: Why is Richard Brautigan, the Original George Saunders, Still Ignored?
Dear Anger, I have been staring for months at the blank word documentthat should be my next writing piece. Once a week I tap out a few bitter wordson my keyboard before deleting them once more. My problem: I am still not overyou. For more than a year I drowned myself if you, drowned my … More Dear Anger, What is Next? by Mekenzie Dyer
by Courtney Brooks
Author Dana Diehl has a complicated obsession with reality TV shows, particularly those one can find on TLC. Diehl’s fascination with the lives and struggles of the characters she watches on shows such as Dance Moms, Cake Boss, Sister Wives, The Bachelor, and House Hunters made way for the stories in her new chapbook, TV Girls. … More Dana Diehl Talks About TV Girls and What She Loves in Reality TV
NonfictionNOW featured a slew of diverse writers and panels this year. During the panel “Decolonizing Nonfiction,” four Southeast Asian authors brought a perspective to nonfiction that I had not yet seen as a young, Latina woman growing up in the Southwestern United States. They began the panel by introducing which parts of Southeast Asia they had come from so that the audience could understand the circumstances that had informed their writing. I found it interesting as writers Daryll Delgado, Lawrence LacambraYpil, Wilfredo Pascual, and Ruihe Zhang sat before an audience of predominantly white writers and explained their journey into the world of nonfiction–an “American invention,” as Zhang calls is. … More Decolonizing Nonfiction: What it Means to Write in an ‘American Invention’
Sub/urban environmental writing is not simply blurry-eyed nostalgia for a greener past, spewing anger for a potentially bleak future, or ruminating guiltily over our less-than-conscientious, human activities. It can be humorous, charming, and contemporary. And these five, accomplished authors and activists are calling all writers to action. … More NFN2018: “Sub/urban Environmental Writing”
A hermit crab essay is one that imitates a non-literary text—recipe, obituary, rejection letter—using the found form in novel ways, but retaining the semantic resonance of the original. … More The Hermit Crab Essay: Brenda Miller Unshells her Own
