A crush starts in the back of the throat, at the edge of a swallow, attraction meeting a hint of repulsion like a wave rolling forward even as it pulls back, like “uh-oh” and “here we go again,” again being the operative word. Crushes are iterative: with each new one, you’ve been here before, never mind that you’re forty, then fifty, then fifty-five years old and happily partnered; the crushes keep coming on people you know and people you don’t. Read more...
Ninth Letter is excited to announce the winner, honorable mention, and finalist of our 2023 Regeneration Literary Contest. Special thanks to contest sponsor, the Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative, and to our guest judge Dr. Craig Santos Perez. The winning story will be published in print and online in December 2023, and the honorable mention essay will appear online. Thank you to all of our submitters, finalists, and readers.
Featuring new work from Wendy BooydeGraaff, Despy Boutris, Livia Clark, Joan Kwon Glass, Robin Gow, Winshen Liu, Reuben Gelley Newman, Sophie Paquette, Caleb A.P. Parker, Kayla Rutledge, Elena Sichrovsky, Rana Tahir, and Andrew Zubiri
This project is partially supported by the Illinois Arts Council