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This issue of Ninth Letter is a reminder of the power and strangeness of witnessing. As writers, we are always observing, noting. Whether it is talking to regenerative farmers who care for the land, meditating on the suicide risk in The City of Bridges, noticing the number of species whose names are tautonyms, imagining what happened to Judy Winslow who disappeared into the sitcom set, seeing a squid in an icebox while walking a market with your love, or understanding the kindness of a restaurant owner during the pandemic, the writers in this issue set their critical eye on even the smallest details.

The result is an edition full of dimension—lush in imagery and deeply embodied. Writers in these pages are playful with form, pushing the boundaries on and off the page. An essay’s sections shrink across the page only to grow again before our eyes; a poem allows translations of Dante to disappear as we read and be rewritten anew; a story moves through the time surrounding the birthday of an eight-year-old dangerously obsessed with Virgin Martyr Saints.

You’ll be surprised in these pages, but never unsure—the writers assembled here will lead you expertly through the wonder and strangeness. This nearly 180-page issue features the winners of the 2025 Ninth Letter Literary Awards, the winner of 2025 Regeneration Contest, and seventeen more writers. Bold and colorful, this issues design represents and excitement we felt reading these works. We hope you will delight in this issue with us. Order your copy or subscribe to Ninth Letter to get your copy in the mail.

Poetry

Jada Renée Allen
Judy, Youngest Daughter of Carl and Harriette Winslow, Goes Upstairs Never to Come Down Again

Megan J. Arlett
Mercado Central
Long Weekend in Valencia

Rosebud Ben-Oni
On the Measurement Problem

Geffrey Davis
Attachment Theory
Done Breaking, At Last, The Heart Be Like

Cady Favazzo
Well After It Becomes Clear
That Our Separation Will End

Benjamin Gucciardi
Sunday

L. A. Johnson
The End of September

Mickie Kennedy
Aubade Where Nobody Leaves
Honorable Mention, 2025 Literary Award for Poetry

Diana Keren Lee
1984

Jenny Molberg
The Female Gaze
Rephrasis
Finalist, 2025 Literary Award for Poetry

Danielle Pieratti
Purgatorio 5: At the Ferry Crossing

Rob Shapiro
Human Nature

 

Literary Awards

Maeve Barry
Hope Chest
Literary Award in Fiction
Selected by K-Ming Chang

Leah Mensch
Jumpers
Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction
Selected by Jane Wong

Weijia Pan
A Brief History of Cinema
Literary Award in Poetry
Selected by Derrick Austin

 

Regeneration

Austen Camille
Poetic Suite
Selected by Scott Chaskey

Staff

Editor
Liz Harms

Fiction Editor
Ted Sanders

Poetry Editor
Janice N. Harrington

Creative Nonfiction Editor
Christopher Kempf

Associate Fiction Editor
Hannah Lee Thorpe

Associate Poetry Editor
Callan Latham

Associate Creative Nonfiction Editor
Tyler Moore

Editor-at-Large
Philip Graham

Founding Editor
Jodee Stanley

Senior Editorial Assistants
Gabrielle Paz Hoggatt, Malina Infante, Mason McVeigh, Nathan Metz, Jason Pfister

Editorial Assistants
Steven Bergmark, Diana Towner

Readers
Isabella Escamilla, Andrea Giugni, Justine Mercado, David Miller, Weston Morrow, Chris Vanjonack, Isaac Willis