Curated links. Favorite Essays I Read in the Past Two Weeks: Favorite Flash Fictions I Read in the Past Two Weeks: Favorite Short Story I Read in the Past Two Weeks: Favorite Writing Advice I Read in the Past Two Weeks: Favorite Sentences I Read in the Past Two Weeks: “It’s so fucking exhausting to …
On the Intimate Costs of Becoming an American, AI stole My Name, and the Amharic Alphabet
Curated links. Favorite Essay I Read in the Past Two Weeks: Favorite Flash Fiction I Read in the Past Two Weeks: Favorite Short Stories I Read in the Past Two Weeks: Favorite Writing Advice I Read in the Past Two Weeks: Etcetera Did You Know? If you’re wondering about the meaning of my name—Banchiwosen—and you …
The 100 Best Books of All Time and the Last Place on Earth Any Tourist Should Go
Curated links. Favorite Essays I Read in the Past Two Weeks: Favorite Writing Advice I Read in the Past Two Weeks: Favorite Short Stories I Read in the Past Two Weeks: Favorite Sentences I Read in the Past Two Weeks: “And because Antarctica is different, we should treat it differently: Let the last relatively untouched …
The Depths to Which We Go and Black Women Are Being Erased in Book Publishing
Curated links. Favorite Essays I Read in the Past Two Weeks: I didn’t think I would love reading about absolute darkness in a cave but I’m glad I did. This immersing piece has stunning insights about memory, things we forget, and the relationship between humans and rocks. After I finished reading I wanted to read …
The Weight of Her Grief, the Quality of Mercy, and When Pregnancy Is the Crime
Curated links. Favorite Essays I Read in the Past Two Weeks: Favorite Flash Fictions I Read in the Past Two Weeks: In this flash fiction, dialogue encompasses the whole story, and what a dialogue it is, every sentence spoken by the man and the boy is authentic, is filled with short sentences, sentences where we …
How I Learned To Avoid Storytelling That Is “Performative for a White Readership”
“I never want to inadvertently write something that caters to the white gaze.” —Morgan Talty After writing the first draft for Meleak, my short story, my protagonist woke me up in the middle of the night, disappointed in me. Shaking her head, she paced around my bed, flinging her arms and moaning. Why are you explaining my …
I Could Have Killed Him Twice, the Secret to Winning in Publishing, and Walking While Black
Curated links. An Article I Reread in the Past Two Weeks: I like rereading the works of my favorite writers. Every sentence in this lovely piece is filled with beautiful sentences. Here’s my favorite sentence from this article, “Sometimes you don’t realize even when you lean in for what could be your last hug, and …
Internal Damaging Monuments
A fragmented essay. “Did the law firms you applied to in Dubai call you?” I asked Zema. Teaching Black girls how to build their confidence is part of my job. Zema is a 21-year-old Black girl who lives in Tiya, a small town in the southern part of Ethiopia. Every day, after graduating from Wolkite …
Gone in the Desert and Never Coming Home, and a Gurage Woman Who Fought for Women’s Rights 168 Years ago
Curated links. Favorite Essays Favorite Short Stories Favorite Writing Advice This title is misleading. No one can work on a million drafts at once but I know that when I am working on one of my stories and I’m uninspired or I’m stuck or I can’t seem to move my story forward, I stop working …
I’m Never Fine, Highlighting the History of Black Writers, and Fasika
Curated links. Favorite Essays I Read in the Past Two Weeks: The best profile piece I have read. An absolute delight. This essay doesn’t tiptoe around the edges and corners of the room—it boldly saunters to the center of the room where the story’s heart beats. I had to pause reading because tears blurred my …