Literature

The earliest essay in this book was published in 1992, when I was 40. Back then, my wife and I had only one child, Samantha, three years old. I am finishing this book at 71. My son Tomo is 28, my son Nikko, 30, and Sam, 35, is a Representative in the Minnesota legislature, and

The Hottest Colony in the Empire Is Literal Hell Robert G Penner Share article An excerpt from Notes on a Colonial Situation in Hell by Robert G Penner The train rattled out of the tunnel just below the place where the mountains stopped being mountains and became instead a sheer wall of pale rock that

The moment I stepped into Deesha Philyaw’s apartment, she pressed four gorgeous golden bracelets into my hand. A gift. Then, we spread plates and napkins on the table and shared a meal punctuated by neck-bending laughter. Deesha went from being a mentor to a friend I look up to. She sure knows a few things

It’s 5:00 AM and I’m writing in a corner of our bedroom that I’ve cordoned off with a curtain. This is now my office. My old office became the baby’s room. Like many aspects of my postpartum life, my new space feels scotch-taped together. My desk, a thrifted school desk, is cute but so small

“I, Roomba,” excerpted from We Radiant Things by Franny Choi We named her Rosie. She was a gift from my parents, who have seemed mildly horrified by the state of every apartment I’ve ever lived in. The day she arrived, I did a little dance; it hardly mattered that she had no face. “Good job,

The Gaping Asshole in My Parents’ Front Yard Julia’s Anus 1. Earth split open on a Tuesday. It happened right as Julia was telling me I was a LACKADAISICAL FUCKING LOSER for the second time. She had to repeat it, because the first time, I roller-coastered my eyebrows and said, “A what? A lack of

Ekin Oklap is perhaps best known for her award-nominated translations, particularly of Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk. But her debut novel, First Summer, showcases her own remarkable talent as a writer. It follows a teenage girl as she forms an intense bond with the enigmatic new girl who moves in across the street. During one hazy,

I first encountered Min Jin Lee’s work in the spring of 2017. I was in the midst of my first writing residency and a writer I was having breakfast with couldn’t stop raving about Lee’s recently published novel, Pachinko. Because I was on a tight budget, I decided to wait until returning home to purchase

My Aunt’s Collection of Miniature Men Is Probably Not Harmless Antoine Volodine Share article “Aunt Yoanna” by Antoine Volodine, translated by Lia Swope Mitchell Aunt Yoanna had a collection of homunculi. This wasn’t a secret, and it seemed like everyone in the family who lived nearby could see it, this collection, by going to visit

Electric Literature is pleased to reveal the cover of Far From Everywhere by Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Allison Markin Powell, which will be published on February 16, 2027 by Algonquin Books/Granta Books. You can pre-order your copy here. From the bestselling, International Booker-shortlisted author of Strange Weather in Tokyo, this polyphonic story of love and

Trauma does not recollect to us whole. Memory is already a ghost of our experience, haunting us from inside our minds and bodies. Put 10 people in a room with a blackbird for an hour and you’ll get at least 13 different descriptions and perspectives. Put 10 people in a room with a blackbird during

By now you might’ve seen the mystifying, callous, and yes—quite racist—opinion essay published two days ago in The New York Times by Bret Stephens. In it, he refers to the National Book Awards as the “literary world’s DEI checklist.” Electric Literature doesn’t link directly to foolishness—if you want to read the essay, you can find

Son Debt by Lucy Zhang Husband swears to me L is out to murder us. Or at least him. Why else does L projectile pee every time Husband opens the diaper, right after he’d finished wiping away jaundice-colored poop? Why else does L scream like the world has caught fire whenever Husband sets him down

Sometimes Grief Comes With Nude Polaroids An excerpt from Bastards Rudy left me his old leather motorcycle jacket, which I took to have the zippers repaired and the lining replaced. On retrieval, the man at the counter slid an envelope to me. “We found these in the lining. Must’ve fallen through the torn pocket or

Camille Acker’s debut novel A Very Special Episode is part sinister satirical thriller, part laugh track. It’s like watching your favorite show and finding yourself inside an episode where every joke suddenly feels like life or death.  Set in Washington, DC, the story follows Nina Johnson, newly elected leader of The Tenth, a prestigious Black social

He’s Less Obnoxious as a Falcon Than a Monk Miljenko Jergović Share article “Zulum” by Miljenko Jergović, co-translated by Ellen Elias-Bursać and Mirza Purić Djevojka sokolu zulum učinila / A maiden did a falcon harm The word “zulum” means injustice and violence. The falcon, which was assailed by terror, its nest burnt, retaliates while keeping

The first known Filipino American memoir, Carlos Bulosan’s America Is in the Heart, was published in 1946. The next wouldn’t appear on the American literary landscape for nearly 60 years. Then, starting around 2018, something shifted: a surge of memoir and hybrid writing by Filipino American writers that hasn’t slowed down since. What connects this

You’re Here Too by Tiffany Huang In Shanghai, I told myself I found my future husband while wandering past the mottled bark of plane trees under spring canopies in the French Concession. He was a Chinese American on vacation from San Diego; I was on a business trip while living in Hong Kong. We had