Literature

“Impediments to unity are so common and copious,” write Leah Hunt-Hendrix and Astra Taylor, “they appear as an ordinary, even intractable, aspect of life.” But for the authors of the new book Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea, division is not some spontaneous or natural thing. Rather, it requires the strategic

We’re thrilled to announce that Electric Literature is opening for submissions across all categories on Monday, April 1st. This includes our acclaimed literary magazines, Recommended Reading, and The Commuter, as well as the daily site. Below we’ve posted our handy flow chart to help you find the best fit for your writing. Get your submissions

The Bible and fairytales are the oldest stories we have in the West. They serve as our culture’s myths, providing a familiar, guided path for centuries of writers.  Retellings can breathe a new life into what was once flat and staid. Characters from the Bible and fairytales can feel one-dimensional. With retellings, the writer has

Short stories can do things novels cannot because they’re short. They’re limber and can dart in and out of close-fitting places. They can be weird and daring in ways that novels cannot always sustain. Joy Williams writes in, “8 Essential Attributes of the Short Story (and one way it differs from a novel), “A novel

“AM I A LESBIAN?” by Rachael Marie Walker Well, well, well. Look at you, @teen-w00lf, back again. You’ve taken this quiz sixteen times. How many times can quiz creator @leavebritneyalone696969 tell you what you are? What are you so afraid of?  It’s up to you if you want to continue. Remember: These quizzes are just

I was balancing a plate of honeydew in the green room of a book festival when I walked by a white man bemoaning the state of the publishing industry. The man wore a suit, and he spoke to a white woman; both of them looked to be in their 40s. As the man speared a

Your Body Is a System of Caves Naufragios Does anything really begin. The house, clinking window frame in the last of canyon wind. Does anything begin. * The day a room becomes a field. The day a field fills with water. The day you fall through yourself— this is how you say it— and how

The biting cultural commentary that emanates from the pages of Alexandra Tanner’s debut novel Worry is like the too-bright light of a smartphone screen at night, pulling you closer and keeping you absorbed late into the night. One year following a secret suicide attempt that only Jules, our narrator, knows about, her sister Poppy moves

Putting the words “fun” and “murder” next to each other in a conversation is a great way to give off the impression that you are gleefully maladjusted. But I’d wager if you tried it (the conversation starter, not the murder)—go ahead, show up at a party and say, “Isn’t murder fun?”—people would know just what

All thrill seekers are different. Some need to bungee jump or chase tornadoes to experience a rush of adrenaline but for me, there is nothing more exciting than opening a book and meeting a brand-new fictional character for the very first time. And the best characters are the ones who make me feel…something. Because they’re

Money Can’t Take the Shame Out of Living Rachel Ephraim Share article The Inheritance by Rachel Ephraim When I was seven, my mother asked me to steal a Baby Ruth from CVS. I told her I didn’t want to, but she said I should give it a try just to see how the whole thing

Percival Everett’s new novel James is described as a reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of the enslaved Jim. On some level, that assessment could be true—Everett does borrow the outline of the plot. But it is the characters, not the plot, that truly make up a narrative, showing us

Electric Literature is pleased to reveal the cover for the poetry collection Book of Kin by Darius Atefat-Peckham, which will be published by Autumn House Press on Oct. 25, 2024. Preorder the book here. A debut collection that draws on the poet’s Iranian heritage to process life-altering loss and grief. Darius Atefat-Peckham’s debut poetry collection follows a boy’s coming of age

After reporting on elite athletes for almost a decade, I have one main takeaway: They’re just like us. No, really. For all the physical strength and dominance they display, athletes on the collegiate, Olympic, and professional levels are still susceptible to the vulnerabilities that plague us all. They fret over their identities and legacies, the

In Téa Obreht’s dystopian future, the lights are still on. Cell phones work, online forums breed new conspiracy theories, and the government functions—at least enough to distribute rations of “canned gruel.”  Set in a future of forest fires and submerged cities (the year is unspecified, but eating meat is considered a barbarism of the distant

“I am a lawyer,” I nodded humbly, breath bated for the reaction I wanted—no, needed—to receive.  I said this to most people I met, as opposed to “I work in a law firm.” An innocuous difference at first, but one which belied a deep reliance on my job for my self-worth. I didn’t merely work

Not a whit. We defy augury. Hamlet, V. ii. 233 We were gone for almost all of August. When we got back, we found a rime of black and white bird shit and feathers encrusted on the top few steps of the stoop. Pigeons had been roosting on the pediments atop our windows. Whatever normally

There’s an old Talmudic injunction: “Your friend has a friend, and your friend’s friend has a friend; be discreet.” Living through a primitive age, when gossip was limited by oral transmission, the rabbinical sages feared loose talk—unkind words about neighbors, confessions of forbidden desire. Had those sages laid down one night and dreamed up modern