Vol. 20 No. 02 is available for purchase and features new work from Marguerite Alley, Ellie Black, Nina Boals, Brittany Cavallaro, Matt Del Busto, Dustin M. Hoffman, Taylor Johnston-Levy, Alonso Llerena, Alexander Lumans, Robert Wood Lynn, Oksana Maksymchuk, Alissa Morgan, Weijia Pan, Rebecca Poynor, Hannah Smith, Gina Alexandra Srmabekian, Avia Tadmor, Matthew Tuckner, Penny Walker, and Felicia Zamora.
This issue also includes a special feature on the Gwendolyn Brooks Archives (including exclusive images of personal writings, notes, and ephemera from Brooks) housed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, plus an interview with the inaugural Gwendolyn Brooks Social Justice Initiative scholar, Roger Reeves, about his experience exploring the archive and his relationship to Brooks’ work.
Poetry
Rebecca Poynor
The Botany of Magnolias
Hannah Smith
Feedlot
Hail Mary
Brittany Cavallaro
Human Things
Weijia Pan
Bereavement
Ellie Black
Slasher
Matt Del Busto
Oratory
Expecting
Avia Tadmor
Oh You Bruised Your Knee
Robert Wood Lynn
Fort Valley Road
Oksana Maksymchuk
Transfer of Knowledge Under the Occupation
Alissa M. Barr
Disarticulation of Carrie Buck after State-Sponsored Sterilization
Felicia Zamora
Sonnet to Break the Crown of Invisibility
Matthew Tuckner
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Fiction
Taylor Johnston-Levy
Exposure and Response
Alexander Lumans
(You Are) the Perfect Drug
Marguerite Alley
Everything Below
Blair Hurley
Are There Holy Places Among the Stars?
Contest Winners
Dustin M. Hoffman
Bicuspid
2023 Literary Award for Fiction
Alonso Llerena
Servants of God
2023 Literary Award for Poetry
Gina Alexandra Srmabekian
Empty Fields
2023 Literary Award for Creative Nonfiction
Penny Walker
From Dust
2023 Regeneration Award
Special Feature
Gwendolyn Brooks Social Justice Initiative
Introduction
Interview with Roger Reeves
Support & Sponsors
Support at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Creative Writing Program, Department of English, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Individual & Community Sponsors
Capital
Anonymous, Surface 51
Patron
Delysa Burnier, Alma Gottlieb & Philip Graham, John Hall, M.D. & Sarah Knox, M.D.
Friend
Anonymous, Rev. Charles Matz
You can support Ninth Letter by donating here. Ninth Letter is a non-profit, and all donations are tax deductible as allowable by law.
Staff
Managing Editors
Liz Harms
Michael Hurley
Creative Nonfiction Editor
Christopher Kempf
Fiction Editor
Amy Hassinger
Poetry Editor
Ángel García
Editorial Assistants
Matthew Fash, Madeline Furlong, Carrie Johnson, Justine Mercado, David Miller, Weston Morrow, Jason Pfister, Deon Robinson, Nina Sannes, Zach Simon, Erin Stoodley, Hannah Thorpe
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 via our secure web site at www.ninthletter.com.
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 is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council.
