This piece was selected as an Honorable Mention in the First Chapters Contest, hosted in partnership with Penguin Random House and Electric Lit.
Deja Evans and Vivian Wu are thrown into collaboration at summer camp after six months of no contact. Reluctantly, working together is the only option, even as the memories of their time together invade.
Told in a series of chat conversations, “Offline” tells the story of a writer who, fed up with his technology-assisted world, turns to the one thing he’s tried so hard to avoid: AI.
The psych ward is more than a harsh, white, dehumanizing space in some psychological thriller. It is a place that stores life. And with life, beauty.
To my family for showing me that love goes beyond the words we speak.
In momentum: a friend and all the lovely people who sadly aren’t here. This is a piece about the grief and healing that comes with loss.
This short story is about my character, Princess Amantdeiylaia, who has a heart-to-heart with her lady-in-waiting and closest (and only) friend, Rhettna.
A raw letter addressed to my mom: hurtful memories one part of me hopes she still remembers, imperfections still left uncovered, and everything I never said to her.
This piece describes the long journey of how I found acceptance and gained pride in my cultural identity through narration from my six-year-old self to now.
All I want to say is that I’m forever grateful to Nana and Papa, may they rest in peace, for opening up their home to me and allowing me to hold many great memories.
Hair is a huge part of Dominican culture; it is intermingled with unrealistic and suffocating beauty standards. This is a rebellion against standards which categorize textured hair as “pelo malo” (bad hair).
Follow me as I guide you through a night at one of Brooklyn’s hottest venues (and not just because I was wearing a sweater dress).
Bai follows the main character Moyna as she tries to figure out how to stop one of the worst days of her life from repeating.
As the oldest of six kids, writer Chloe Cullen told herself that helping her siblings meant taking it–even if she took it from them herself.
Two friends venture through a flooded Earth, searching for signs of life.
She enters the world of dreams only to find herself running away. Will she make it?
