Hello! Is it okay to shamelessly plug my own essay? I'm so proud of this piece! <3 Thank you Sari for giving us this space to share some of our favorite essays! https://www.hobartpulp.com/web_features/meet-cute
This was so moving. I loved how the story evolved from a sweet family legend into such an honest reflection on trauma, love, and compassion. The ending really stayed with me. Thank you for sharing such a vulnerable and beautifully written piece. Wishing you all the best with your memoir. Carried with care!
Such a great read. I subscribed to The Sun print magazine so I will savor this in both formats. Glad you highlighted it since I'm a little behind in my TBR essay list atm.
For a full length book, earlier this year I finally read Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey, former US Poet Laureate writing about her mother's murder by an abusive husband. It is harrowing. Link to author's site: https://natashatrethewey.com/books/memorial-drive/
One of my favorite corners of the Internet is the "No Equivalent" section of Off Assignment, which offers personal reflections about foreign concepts that have no English translation.
In 2018, Welsh-Sri Lankan writer Kumari Tilakawardane explored "Hiraeth," the Welsh idea for "homesickness," and what home means for a third-culture person who is often caught between worlds.
She learns to fly fish to stay close to a restless man in Montana, and the learning itself turns out to be the love story. Worth your time. Reminds me of things I tried to learn to stay close to a man.
amazing essay, Lisa, so glad you shared it. I've published with HuffPost before and—you probably already know this—but don't read the comments! Your writing is fantastic and you don't deserve what may be lurking there...
By far one of the most powerful, moving essays I have read which still resonates, is the author James Baldwin's "Fifth Avenue Uptown," first published by Esquire magazine in 1960 and later as part of the memorable book, "Nobody Knows my Name," https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a3638/fifth-avenue-uptown/
I am also including my own essay, published in LitHub: "Marching the Streets of San Francisco With Novelist and Activist, Kay Boyle :
Marianne Goldsmith on the Hero Whose Name We Should All Know " May 7, 2021
Easy! "Now You Are a Missing Person," a hybrid memoir by Susan Hayden told in poems, stories, essays and fragments, a deeply involving and creatively written book of a life from childhood, coming of age to marriage, motherhood, loss, grief and renewal. https://booksoup.com/book/9781957799100
One I really enjoyed this week: Haley Nahman’s “The trick of ‘revealed values’” in Maybe Baby. I loved the idea that the choices we keep making can sometimes tell us what matters to us before we’ve consciously named it.
And one of my own: “The Person You Want to Tell First,” a short essay about the person who quietly becomes the place you send the ordinary parts of your day.
Hello! Is it okay to shamelessly plug my own essay? I'm so proud of this piece! <3 Thank you Sari for giving us this space to share some of our favorite essays! https://www.hobartpulp.com/web_features/meet-cute
This was so moving. I loved how the story evolved from a sweet family legend into such an honest reflection on trauma, love, and compassion. The ending really stayed with me. Thank you for sharing such a vulnerable and beautifully written piece. Wishing you all the best with your memoir. Carried with care!
Omgoodness thank you so much for this sweet and insightful comment. Your feedback makes my heart feel full ❣️
You are welcome!
This was so immersive. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Looking forward to your finished memoir!
Thank you so much Rose for taking your time to read and leave such a lovely comment! <3
So glad you did, Parker. I'm going to add this to my TBR right now!
Thanks so much Jerry, hope you enjoy!
I just read it and liked it very much. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you Kimberly for taking the time to read, appreciate it so much! <3
Debra Gwartney's essay in The Sun this month. 🔥
https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/608-believe-me
Love her! Can't wait to read. I'm teaching one of my favorite of her essays in a class of mine this week, "My Long Journey to Bring My Daughter Home From Skid Row," which you can find here: https://www.narratively.com/p/my-long-journey-to-bring-my-daughter-home
Loved her memoir LIVE THROUGH THIS. But truly, I love all her writings - "Fire and Ice" is a fave. https://granta.com/fire-and-ice-debra-gwartney/
Such a great read. I subscribed to The Sun print magazine so I will savor this in both formats. Glad you highlighted it since I'm a little behind in my TBR essay list atm.
Oh wow! So good. Thanks for highlighting it.
I continue to teach Kiese Laymon's brilliant essay, How To Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America. It's a timeless portrait of gun violence and racism in America. https://www.kieselaymon.com/how-to-slowly-kill-yourself-and-others-in-america
Love this one so much. Recently cried my way through it for the first time!
A classic and I'm so glad you reminded me about it. I'm going to share it with my students tonight!
For a full length book, earlier this year I finally read Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey, former US Poet Laureate writing about her mother's murder by an abusive husband. It is harrowing. Link to author's site: https://natashatrethewey.com/books/memorial-drive/
One of my favorite corners of the Internet is the "No Equivalent" section of Off Assignment, which offers personal reflections about foreign concepts that have no English translation.
In 2018, Welsh-Sri Lankan writer Kumari Tilakawardane explored "Hiraeth," the Welsh idea for "homesickness," and what home means for a third-culture person who is often caught between worlds.
https://offassignment.com/noequivalent/kumari-tilakawardane
I love everything OFF ASSIGNMENT publishes and it's my #1 goal to submit and publish something with them as well! Great piece to nominate, Elisa.
my favorite essay ever, which i periodically reread:
https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/my-name-is-roger-and-im-an-alcoholic
Man with Fish by Rebecca Swanberg, at Electric Literature.
https://electricliterature.com/i-didnt-want-to-fly-fish-but-i-loved-him-enough-to-learn/
She learns to fly fish to stay close to a restless man in Montana, and the learning itself turns out to be the love story. Worth your time. Reminds me of things I tried to learn to stay close to a man.
Loved this, too!
Great rec, Kay, so glad you shared!
Hey Jerry I checked out your profile. I subscribed to your publication. Looking forward to your articles.
will do the same!
Oh thank you. And I welcome any feedback.
Thanks Jerry!
I'm thrilled to share my published essay in HuffPost Personal.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/grieving-sister-death-cystic-fibrosis-apology-guilt-regret_n_6a343604e4b057a50cec4b16
amazing essay, Lisa, so glad you shared it. I've published with HuffPost before and—you probably already know this—but don't read the comments! Your writing is fantastic and you don't deserve what may be lurking there...
Thank you so much, Jerry, for your kind comments. Yeah, I was well-prepped for what the comments could be like. Thankfully, I wasn't deterred.
I recently edited "I Tried Selling My Body for Money—I Was Surprised By What I Found" by Jerry Portwood over at Narratively, which I love so much. You can check it out here: https://www.narratively.com/p/i-tried-selling-my-body-for-money
I loved this essay, too, Jesse!!!!!
Thanks, Cathy!! Appreciate it.
Thanks for sharing this, Jesse, of course I think it's a great one too!
I really enjoyed this piece!
Sarah Tindal Kareem's essay about being in two places at once in Ploughshares. https://pshares.org/product/summer-2026/ Sadly, it's paywalled.
Thanks for this "open call."
By far one of the most powerful, moving essays I have read which still resonates, is the author James Baldwin's "Fifth Avenue Uptown," first published by Esquire magazine in 1960 and later as part of the memorable book, "Nobody Knows my Name," https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a3638/fifth-avenue-uptown/
I am also including my own essay, published in LitHub: "Marching the Streets of San Francisco With Novelist and Activist, Kay Boyle :
Marianne Goldsmith on the Hero Whose Name We Should All Know " May 7, 2021
https://lithub.com/marching-the-streets-of-san-francisco-with-novelist-and-activist-kay-boyle/
This essay has me reflecting about our Asian parents w/ great historical context...Wonderful read by Tiff Huang. https://substack.com/@bytheophana/p-185918322
Fun! Favorite essays of all time:
--> "The Fourth State of Matter" by Jo Ann Beard: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1996/06/24/the-fourth-state-of-matter
--> "It’s Time to Take California Back from Joan Didion" by Myriam Gurba: https://electricliterature.com/its-time-to-take-california-back-from-joan-didion/
--> "Every Day, Another Language Dies" by Heather Altfeld: https://lithub.com/every-day-another-language-dies/
--> "Ghosts" by Vauhini Vara: https://www.thebeliever.net/contributor/vauhini-vara/
--> "How It Feels" by Jenny Zhang: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/articles/70231/how-it-feels
--> "“How to Name Your Black Son in a Racist Country” by Tyrone Fleurizard: https://audacity.substack.com/p/how-to-name-your-black-son-in-a-racist
--> "Grand Unified Theory of Female Pain" by Leslie Jamison: https://www.vqronline.org/spring-2014/essays/grand-unified-theory-female-pain
--> "Swerve" by Brenda Miller: https://brevitymag.com/nonfiction/swerve/
--> "Time is the Thing A Body Moves Through" by T. Fleischmann (book-length essay): https://coffeehousepress.org/products/time-is-the-thing-a-body-moves-through
--> "Calamities" by Renee Gladman (book-length essay): https://www.wavepoetry.com/products/calamities
Favorite essays lately:
--> "5 Variations on Submissions to the Texas Right to Life Heartbeat Act Anonymous Tip Form" by Coyote Shook: https://hungermtn.netlify.app/issues/hunger-mountain-26/creative-nonfiction/
--> "How Was Your Summer?" by Jo Rzepiejewski: https://riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-things/how-was-your-summer/
--> "Promiscuous Young Men" by Daniel Uncapher: https://ninthletter.com/2025/05/uncapher/
--> "Transformations on a Coordinate Plane" by Court Ludwick: https://www.washingtonsquarereview.com/court-ludwick
--> "How a Dinosaur Jr. Cover Became The Best Dyke Heartbreak Anthem of 1990 and Why You Should Care Even if You’re Straight" by Molly McCloy: https://marchxness.com/the-essays#/thebestdykeheartbreak/
Easy! "Now You Are a Missing Person," a hybrid memoir by Susan Hayden told in poems, stories, essays and fragments, a deeply involving and creatively written book of a life from childhood, coming of age to marriage, motherhood, loss, grief and renewal. https://booksoup.com/book/9781957799100
Thank you so much, Steve! For more info: www.susanhayden.com and susanhayden.substack.com
This brilliant flash by Kristine Langley Mahler
https://inaflashlitmag.substack.com/p/issue-17-tadoussac-by-kristine-langley?r=1fhxt&utm_medium=ios
Oooh! Thanks!
One I really enjoyed this week: Haley Nahman’s “The trick of ‘revealed values’” in Maybe Baby. I loved the idea that the choices we keep making can sometimes tell us what matters to us before we’ve consciously named it.
https://haleynahman.substack.com/p/278-the-trick-of-revealed-values
And one of my own: “The Person You Want to Tell First,” a short essay about the person who quietly becomes the place you send the ordinary parts of your day.
https://loveclearly.substack.com/p/the-person-you-want-to-tell-first