Narrative

“Show me your darkness, your nothing-to-see and everything to touch.”

—Bryce Emley, “Prayer in Rain, Autumn Night”

Cartoon by Jon Adams

Want more cartoons? Check out this month’s collection: www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/narra...

Banned Books Week is almost here.

One week isn’t enough. Censorship happens year-round.

That’s why Narrative’s library of more than 2000 authors will always be free and accessible.

“You should know I romanticize all the wrong things too: songs from a blown back speaker, a bad smoky summer, those disposable gas station sunglasses you use to hide that gorgeous scar beside your left eye.” —excerpt from Lindsay Wilson’s “Letter to Metune from Lahontan Reservoir”

Join us in celebrating A. T. Steel and his Narrative Prize-winning work, “Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell”!

Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell | Narrative Magazine Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell by A. T. Steel — The city shimmered in summertime like gemstone jewelry ...

—excerpt from “Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell” by A. T. Steel (@oldxanadu.bsky.social)

We are over the moon to share this year’s Narrative–Prize winning story, A. T. Steel’s “Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell”:

“In Harlem in 1991, gold was the color of summer, and it peaked in the morning when the light was still stark and directional. Then everyone who lived there could forget for a while that the waters of the river were rising, people were dying, and the city hated them.”

Steel was born in New York City and raised in Bronx homeless shelters, Harlem ghettos, and Brooklyn Brownsville projects.

Join us in celebrating A. T. Steel and his winning work, “Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell”!

@oldxanadu.bsky.social

We are thrilled to announce the winner of the 2025 Narrative Prize . . .

🎉 A. T. Steel! 🎉

Today Steel joins the ranks of #NarrativePrize winners as we shine a light on his extraordinary writing.

Tomorrow is the big day!! Follow us to be the first to see who wins.

“Let’s celebrate those who are extravagantly chivalrous, absurdly romantic, and always striving for the unattainable.”

—Carol Edgarian (@caroledgarian.bsky.social)

www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/narra...

“They burned
All that day and into the next.
They burned until there was no shade,
Nothing but smoking charcoal
And dead trees, then they erased
The maps and renamed the villages.” —excerpt from “They Who Loved the Smell of Burning” by Robert Hedin

“When I don’t know what to do, I sometimes ask myself, ‘What do I think I can’t do?’ and then I try to do it.”

—Ottessa Moshfegh @writtend.bsky.social

We’re celebrating Elizabeth Gaskell’s birthday today with an excerpt from her novel “Captain Brown”: www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/stori...

“I never shall forget the dismay felt when a Captain Brown came to live at Cranford, and openly spoke about his being poor—not in a whisper to an intimate friend, but in the public street!” —excerpt from “Captain Brown” by Elizabeth Gaskell

“And what of my husband,

who talks to birds,
who’s learned the sweetness

where he sets his lips aloft,
and throat flutter” —excerpt from “Gökotta” by Kenzie Allen

Our free Library is where the silenced stay loud.

Read them here: www.narrativemagazine.com/archive/auth...

Banned books are not a relic of history.

Maya Angelou, John Steinbeck, and Kurt Vonnegut have all faced bans.

So have dozens of contemporary authors writing the truths of our time.

The goal is always the same: limit access, narrow perspective, reduce who gets to speak.

www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/narra...

“At the altar, she studies a small devotional painting hung above the lighted candles in a votive stand. The Madonna and Child, specked with wax, paint flaking off the canvas, the gilded frame has been gnawed by flames. A lost cause if ever there was one.” —from Emily Russell’s “Restorations”

“When it’s first thing in the morning, I still have the illusion that I can accomplish anything I want to, and everything I need to. By 10 a.m. that illusion is gone.”

—Will Schwalbe @willschwalbe.bsky.social

“You hope you can be like the river and the music. You want motion to take you to a new place and want even more for the place you just were to be left far behind.” —excerpt from “Finding Absolution in the Flow” by Brent King

Next week we’re announcing the 2025 Narrative Prize winner! To help contain our excitement, we’re rereading last year’s winning piece by Madeleine Cravens: www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/fall-...

“I tell Meg I feel dead and she says
you’re not dead you’re just not in New York.” —excerpt from “October Phone Call and Other Poems” by Madeleine Cravens

Are you familiar with the word “cark”? Join @caroledgarian.bsky.social as she dives into the meaning and history of this temporally appropriate word.

bit.ly/3t85Mqp

“Sure, this happens occasionally, but it’s only occasionally, and it’s not a sustainable approach to a career. I wish someone had told me this sooner.”

—Saïd Sayrafiezadeh