The Cincinnati Review

A miniature basset hound stands in front of a miniature bone in the middle of a palm of a hand. A thought bubble with a drawing of a dog reading a book hovers above its head.

You read that right! miCRo submissions are OPEN! Send us your best work of 500 words or fewer.

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A poster, which includes an image of an empty platform on a subway station, and a quoted sentence, "This liminal mood would spill into the house itself, no longer a constrained space, but porous and crackling with dangerous possibilities."

"This liminal mood would spill into the house itself, no longer a constrained space, but porous and crackling with dangerous possibilities."

This week on site, Associate Editor Andy Sia explores eerie and liminal spaces in a Halloween feature.

Link in thread.

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Quote from Talwai--also in caption.

Woman smiling. Her hair is parted to the side, and she is also wearing glasses, red lipstick, and a black top.

"For a decade I carry the rotting mango, its pit humming with maggots. I cannot rid myself of it, I cannot glance away."

What happens when something goes from delicious to sickeningly sweet? Preeti Talwai's miCRo has all the answers! Link in thread.

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Featured Interview graphic with a photo of author Brian Trapp, a white man with brown hair and glasses wearing a yellow-and-black buffalo plaid shirt over a black tee, in front of some greenery. He half-smiles. Quote reads, "We’re taught that disability is tragic, sad, and maybe inspiring. But comedy is the genre of survival."

"We’re taught that disability is tragic, sad, and maybe inspiring. But comedy is the genre of survival."

Today on the site, contributor Anya Groner interviews @btrapperkeeper.bsky.social about his new novel, RANGE OF MOTION.

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Quote from "Ma's Soul": "That damn soul is going to go someplace else. It's going to shrug me off the way we shrug off our raincoats, overcoats, and Ulster coats."

Shikhandin, an older Asian woman with white hair, is elegantly dressed in a vest and scarf in front of a large body of water.

"That damn soul is going to go someplace else. It’s going to shrug me off the way we shrug off our raincoats, overcoats, and Ulster coats."

This week's miCRo by Shikhandin pays mind to possession: what we own, what we do not own, and what we feel owed to.

A Violence A reckoning with psychological and ecological crises from a poet whose work has been praised as “beautiful and riveting” (Los Angeles Review of Books)

Congratulations to contributor Paula Bohince on today's publication of A VIOLENCE with @princetonupress.bsky.social !

Range of Motion A tender, wrenching, and comic novel that follows two twin boys from infancy to the cusp of adulthood. Twin A and Twin B. That’s what Michael and Sal’s neuroscientist father irreverently calls them.…

Congratulations to former CR editor @btrapperkeeper.bsky.social . His much-anticipated debut novel, RANGE OF MOTION, publishes today with our friends at @acrebooks.bsky.social .

Lost in the Forest of Mechanical Birds by Christian Moody — Dzanc Books For fans of George Saunders and Haruki Murakami, Christian Moody delivers his debut speculative short story collection, Lost in the Forest of Mechanical Birds ––tales of the strange beauty and…

Congratulations to former CR editor AND contributor Christian Moody on today's release of LOST IN THE FOREST OF MECHANICAL BIRDS, the winner of the Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize!

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A white quote shape on a red background. Black text on it: "Featured Interview, 'The plays I like, like chris's plays, and the kind of plays I try to write, make people feel contradictory things." Below is a picture of Dan O"Brien, a white man with dark hair, a beard, and blue eyes, wearing a blue shirt.

A white quote shape on a red background. Black text on it says "Featured Interview, 'Part of me misses the whimsical theatricality of my earlier plays. But I just want to be more honest now, you know?'" Below is a picture of christopher oscar peña, a Latinx man wearing a red jacket over dark button-down shirt and resting his hand on his forehead as he leans over and smiles.

Playwrights (and CR contribs!) @bydanobrien.bsky.social and christopher oscar peña in conversation with director and producer @markarmstrong4.bsky.social about the two's recently published play trilogies and more. Link in first comment:

miCRo: "Reconnaissance" by Ellen K. Fee In a fascinating miCRo essay, Fee takes us on a tour of the microwave's unexpected origin story.

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Caption: "I won't call it a detonator. But after pressing the button, I scamper around the refrigerator, taking cover behind layers of sheet metal and white plastic finish from the machine's invisible munitions."

Ellen K. Fee stands smiling in front of a window. She has long brown hair and is wearing earrings, a button-down polo style shirt.

"I won't call it a detonator. But after pressing the button, I scamper around the refrigerator, taking cover behind layers of sheet metal and white plastic finish from the machine's invisible munitions."

In a miCRo essay, @ellenkfee.bsky.social takes us on a tour of the microwave's origin.

Three Metamorphoses: Novellas in Verse & Prose by Amit Majmudar | Orison Books Three Metamorphoses: Novellas in Verse & Proseby Amit Majmudar Orison Bookspaper / 274 pp. / $20.00ISBN: 978-1-949039-62-7Distributed to the trade by Itasca Books952-223-8373 / …

Congratulations to contributor @amitmajmudar.bsky.social -- his new book, THREE METAMORPHOSES: NOVELLAS IN VERSE AND PROSE was released last week by Orison Books!

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Photos of the winners of the Schiff Awards under the heading "2025 Robert and Adele Schiff Award Winners." Each photo gets its own post page, to follow.

White text on a brick-red background: "Robert Sorrell Bynum, fiction, Robert and Adele Schiff Award winner." Photo is A white man with brown hair to his shoulders and tortoiseshell-frame glasses. He's wearing a black jean jacket over a puffer jacket and shirt, and he's standing on a beach in front of a body of water.

White text on a brick-red blackground: "Jessica Cuello, nonfiction, Robert and Adele Schiff Award winner." Photo is a black-and-white photo of a white woman with curly hair. she is wearing a dark sweater and light-colored shirt and sitting oustide.

White text on a black background: "A.D. Lauren-Abunassar, poetry, Robert and Adele Schiff Award winner." Photo is A Palestinian American woman with brown hair and hazel eyes. She's wearing a dark shirt, dangling earrings, and a necklace chain, and standing in front of a white window shade.

The 2025 winners of the Robert and Adele Schiff Awards are:

Robert Sorrell Bynum (fiction) for "Like a Star"
@jessicacuello.bsky.social (literary nonfiction) for "Your Life for Another"
A. D. Lauren-Abunassar (poetry) for "Three Bombardments"

See our site for more! Link in first comment.

A Reading List for National Translation Month 2025 - Community of Literary Magazines and Presses For National Translation Month, observed annually during the month of September, we asked our member magazines and presses to share some of the literature they have published in translation.   Poetry…

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A Reading List for Hispanic Heritage Month 2025 - Community of Literary Magazines and Presses For National Hispanic Heritage Month, observed annually from September 15 to October 15, we asked our members to share with us some of the literature they recommend reading in celebration. (Learn…

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As September draws to a close, we celebrate the inclusion of CR contributors (and a former editor!) in lists from @clmporg.bsky.social. Check out work by @cdonosowriter.bsky.social , @memi-writes.bsky.social , Inger Christensen, and José Angel Araguz!

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In three columns, pictures (from left to right) of Hussain Ahmed, Frances Ogamba, and Kanyin Olorunnisola, three Nigerian writers. The CR logo in red is on the bottom right.

Now on our site, three writers from Nigeria share their experiences of the literary culture there and in the US. Thanks to Frances Ogamba, Hussain Ahmed, and KÁNYIN Olorunnisola! Link in thread.

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"...even if the task is to leap across the aporia or the big vacuous gap, if that is the task that sits before you, then that is your task."

Today on the site, Edgar Garcia discusses research, collaborative listening, and dreams.

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The Art of Editing with The Cincinnati Review Podcast Episode · Page Count · 09/09/2025 · 51m

Excellent interview with @cincinnatireview.bsky.social

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...

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