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Ask anyone on our editorial team “what makes a Ninth Letter story, poem, or essay?,” and we will all have a different answer. The connecting thread, though, is a desire for something unique. A need to champion experiments. A craving for a constellation of voices. Above all, we want to publish great work from across the ever-growing spectrum of “contemporary literature.” A huge goal, and now as much as ever, a necessary one. In Ninth Letter 21.2, we are proud to present a sweeping issue with work from 35 writers across 320 pages.

In this issue, writers flex their skills in (and out of) form, respond to art ranging from Leonardo da Vinci to Yoko Ono, embody the metropolitan and bucolic, captivate us with characters ranging from motorcycle stunt performers to a playground clairvoyant. We have two stories about showers that couldn’t be more different. We have a Doberman, Gerald Ford, a wolf, Bethenny Frankel, an octopus, and a guest appearance from Samuel Beckett. We have, for you, published this vibrant writing in full, rich color, and we invite you to immerse yourself in the world created here. Come in. Stay awhile. We’re happy you’re here.

Available now for preorder. Estimated shipping date May 27, 2025.

Ninth Letter Literary Awards

Baird Harper
Victim of Circumstance

Michelle Phương Hồ
«Facing It»

Daniel Uncapher
Promiscuous Young Men
Mementos Mori
Lies of Me and Mine (Wrongfully Cut from the Public Domain)

“Regeneration” Contest

Meghan O’Toole
Sundogs

 

The Regeneration Literary Contest is generously sponsored by I-Regen at the University of Illinois.

Poetry

Shay Alexi
Above Me, Bethenny Frankel

Orion Allen
Alessandra

Amy Ash
Apologia for St. Thomas

Christine Byrne
Curd

Alex Chertok
Alzheimer’s translation: Golden Shovel
Alzheimer’s translation: Silence

Libby Croce
Hero’s Journey

Carlina Duan
Relearning Radicals

Mag Gabbert
Salvator Mundi
The Rondanini Pietà

Benjamin S. Grossberg
Through Tentacle Semaphore, My Octopus

John James
Shadow and Exposure, Beargrass Creek, July 2014

Becca Klaver
Half-A-Room (1967)

Kristen Renee Miller
Fear Not, for Your Names are Written in the Eternal Scroll

Christopher Brean Murray
The Wind

Skyler Osborne
4/06

Tyler Raso
gay. mean dad. hard for me.

Georgia San Li
Letter to the Grimm Fairy Tale in My Head

Amanda Smeltz
He Wants That Sky on Fire

Jacob Sunderlin
Improvisation at the Scene of a Crime
Great American Sharks
Exit Interview

David Villaverde
Vostoros

Erika Walsh
The Future

Staff

Editor
Liz Harms

Creative Nonfiction Editor
Christopher Kempf

Fiction Editor
Amy Hassinger

Poetry Editor
Corey Van Landingham

Associate Editors
Matthew Fash, Nina Sannes, Andrea Sielicki

Senior Editorial Assistants
Isabella Escamilla, Callan Latham, Tyler R. Moore

Editorial Assistants
David Foley, Erin Stoodley

Readers
Paz Hoggatt, Carrie Johnson, Justine Lynelle Mercado, David Miller, Jason Pfister, Zach Simon, Garrett Stack, Hannah Lee Thorpe, Chris Vanjonack

Assistant Editors
Weston Morrow
Michael Hurley

Editors at Large
Philip Graham
Jodee Stanley

Advisory Board
Amy Sayre Baptista, Traci Brimhall, James Brunton, Lindsey Drager, Matthew Minicucci, Marus Wicker

Ninth Letter is published semi-annually in June and December by the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Copies are available for $14.95. A one-year subscription may be purchased for $21.95; a two-year subscription may be purchased for $37.95.

Subscriptions and single-copy orders may be sent with check or credit card information to Ninth Letter, Dept. of English, University of Illinois, 608 S. Wright St., Urbana, Illinois, 61801. Credit card orders may also be placed securely placed here.

Ninth Letter accepts submissions of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction from September 1 to February 28 (postmark dates). For complete guidelines and to submit online, visit our print submissions guidelines page.

Ninth Letter operates without an endowment, so all printing, shipping, and operational costs are heavily dependent on subscriptions and charitable donations. If you would like to support our mission to print literary writing alongside cutting-edge graphic design, please consider making a donation.

Ninth Letter is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council.