The Close Reading Series invites our board editors to write about a favorite piece from our Spring 2020 issue. These readings are not intended to be definitive interpretations; when we read, we bring with us our own histories, experiences, and references, all of which guide our relationship to the work before us. It is possible,…
The Close Reading Series invites our board editors to write about a favorite piece from our Spring 2020 issue. These readings are not intended to be definitive interpretations; when we read, we bring with us our own histories, experiences, and references, all of which guide our relationship to the work before us. It is possible,…
Kate Zambreno’s latest work of autofiction, Drifts, is a novel about the process of writing a novel, or, at least, the process of thinking about one. The narrator, a lightly-fictionalized version of Zambreno, ekes out a living as an adjunct professor as she attempts to write a novel, Drifts, “that contains the energy of thought.”…
The Close Reading Series invites our board editors to write about a favorite piece from our Spring 2020 issue. These readings are not intended to be definitive interpretations; when we read, we bring with us our own histories, experiences, and references, all of which guide our relationship to the work before us. It is possible,…
AN INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY MORGAN LEVINE Bryn Evans received our Spring 2020 Poetry Prize for her poem “Thotiana’s interlude, or Barbara Mason reconsiders settling down.” Bryn and I called each other from our respective hometowns of Decatur, Georgia and Houston, Texas for this interview, which has been lightly edited for clarity. I’ve been a fan…
An interview conducted by Sofia Montrone Sara Kachelman received The Columbia Review’s Spring 2020 Prose Prize for her short story “Friends of the Gyre.” Her story, about a group of people who befriend an enigmatic and terrible storm, first crossed our desk in January, but recent events have imbued the narrative about unlikely social relationships and unbalanced power dynamics with new salience. We were impressed by Sara’s humor, her attention to nature, and her sense of the eerie, and our contest judge, Jordan Kisner, was as well. I caught up with Sara over email last week to discuss her short…
The time has come to read our Spring 2020 issue, now available on our “Current Issue” page! Below, you’ll find all of our phenomenal finalists, runners-up, and prizewinners for our 2020 Poetry & Prose Competition, accompanied by links to their pieces in our magazine: WINNER (selected by Jordan Kisner) – Prose Sara Kachelman, Friends of the Gyre WINNER (selected by Robyn Schiff) – Poetry Bryn Evans, Thotiana’s interlude, or Barbara Mason reconsiders settling down RUNNERS-UP (selected by Robyn Schiff) – Poetry Sidney Eberly, The Sidewalk Queen Kirsten Ihns, WATER LENS BAY DOG COUGH BUTTER MOTHER FINALISTS (selected by the editors) – Poetry Sidney Eberly, The Sidewalk Queen & Heliotropism Complex Janelle Effiwatt, Poetry, like…