Pegah Ouji

The World According to My Grandmother Do we need a man? I want to ask her, but her eyes are bright like poppies in summer heat.

“You’re a daughter of a five-hundred-year-old eucalyptus tree, planted by the ancient ruins of Persepolis,” my grandmother tells me"

This is such a brilliant flash from @pegahouji.bsky.social; so deep and rich and layered

aaww.org/the-world-ac...

Working on a story for this book with
@lindzmcleod.bsky.social was an incredible learning experience and now the book is on the longlist for British Science Fiction awards. The project is a testimony to the power of collaboration!

Thank you Matt!

I have to say a big thank you to you Erin. I've watched your webinar on Revision for Alchemists so many times and keep finding ways to use what you shared with us there.

Grateful to have three stories on this list and congratulations to everyone!

The Seventy Percent, by Yiyun Li On minor characters and human possibility

"Thinking through—rather than just thinking—is important. A thought or an idea is never that precious." harpers.org/archive/2024...

The 2026 lit mag rankings are now available from my website! They include an overall ranking, as well as separate rankings for fiction, flash fiction, non-fiction and poetry. If you find these helpful, please show your support by liking & sharing 🙏

Namwali Serpell: "Critical Navel-Gazing" If criticism is in crisis, it’s not the critic’s problem, argues Namwali Serpell.

"These ersatz versions of making and experiencing art are based on satisfying “preferences,” on the idea of art as comfort, tool, or escape—in sum, art as something you buy and sell or that you use in some “productive” way." yalereview.org/article/namw...

It was truly an honor and a privilege to work with @lindzmcleod.bsky.social on a fiction and non-fiction piece for this book and I can't wait to read the other chapters by incredible writers! @stanchion.bsky.social

"I spent a while trying to figure out how to classify An Honour & a Privilege. Viewed through one lens it might not seem an important question: classification is mostly helpful for shelving decisions. But genre also dictates how one reads a thing. Whether you think of this book as an anthology (many authors), a collection (one common author), or a craft book (the reflective duets) may affect your perception of the whole. I struggle to compare this work to any of those three genres. The project in front of you reveals more about its craft than other anthologies. It's more authentically connected to strong exemplar material than other craft books. It's more heteroglossic than any collection I recall. The best way to think of An Honour & a Privilege may be to regard it as a genre all its own, one which depends significantly on its many interconnections, one which marks both an occasion and an invitation, one which offers us both a testimony as to what can be done together and a guide on how to do it." From the Foreword by Dr. Graham Robert Scott. The cover of the book is a vintage, slightly foxy red, with white font beside a large black and white ampersand.

If you have a writer in your life and you'd like them to know that you care about their ambitions, may I suggest ordering a copy of my collaborative craft anthology, An Honour And A Privilege, as a Christmas present? (trust me, you'll get the MOST brownie points)

Thank you to the editors @epochliterary.com not only for giving this story a home but continuing to share it with others!

EPOCH 2025 Pushcart nominations Sandra Dolores Gómez Amador "All of his knives," poetry, issue 72.1 Steve Himmer "The Spider's Share," essay, issue 72.1 Tom McAllister "1993, 2017, and 2022," essay, issue 72.1 Pegah Ouji "Untouchables," fiction, issue 72.2 FM Stringer "Secular Prayer at the End of Daylight Saving Time," poetry, issue 72.2 Justin Taylor "Wild Silence," fiction, issue 72.2

Here are our @pushcartprize.bsky.social noms for 2025! Thanks and congrats to Sandra Dolores Gómez Amador, @fmstringer.bsky.social, @justintaylor.bsky.social, @shimmer.bsky.social, @pegahouji.bsky.social, and @tmcallister.bsky.social for this great work.

thanks Erin!

Thank you!!

Pegah Ouji Named 2025 PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow WritingWorkshops.com alumna Pegah Ouji has been named a 2025 PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow. Celebrating her achievement and literary journey.

Grateful to have been part of Writing Workshops Community. What they say about the value of a writing community has been very true in my experience.
writingworkshops.com/blogs/news/p...

Thank you for reading the story! @lorifontanes.bsky.social

Joan Silber on the Process of Discovery, Fiction About Friendship, and the Meaning of Mercy Joan Silber is a contemporary genius at creating artful stories of a multitude of characters who ricochet in cunning ways, crossing generations and continents. I named her 2017 novel Improvement a …

@janeciab.bsky.social talks to Joan Silber: “I’ve never been a writer who knows what she’s doing before she sets out.”

I am so hyped for all you to see this book, I honestly can't wait

Received my contributor copy of @epochliterary.com latest issue with my story called Untouchables. Thanks to @jrobertlennon.com and other staff!

www.epochliterary.com/featuredfict...

Received my contributor copy of @epochliterary.com latest issue with my story called Untouchables. Thanks to @jrobertlennon.com and other staff!

www.epochliterary.com/featuredfict...

I have a new short story our in EPOCH magazine. Reverse immigration, cemetery lives and reading Harry Potter in Tehran. www.epochliterary.com/featuredfict...

We are open for subs!

I have a new short story our in EPOCH magazine. Reverse immigration, cemetery lives and reading Harry Potter in Tehran. www.epochliterary.com/featuredfict...

Nine Writers Chosen as 2025 Emerging Voices Fellows from Record Applicant Pool  - PEN America For the fourth consecutive year, PEN America's Emerging Voices Fellowship received a record number of applicants.

I'm deeply grateful for the opportunity to benefit from this fellowship with PEN America. pen.org/press-releas...

Read
@pegahouji.bsky.social 's mind-reeling "Hayoula" on our site!
"She reads her daughter’s books twice, running her index finger along the edges, hoarding all the paper cuts for herself. She scours the pages for Hayoula claw prints..."

Art: “Llorando a Rodón en Butoh; 2” by Jorge Luna

I have all that I know about flash from this warm and encouraging community at @smokelong.bsky.social and here you can read some pieces published by people in the workshop in April.

Flash Fiction: Who Can Say? By Pegah Ouji We had been searching, or maybe dreaming, mapping the geography of mailboxes and morning glories that sprawled like nebulas across sidewalks.

I have a new story up @jmwwjournal.bsky.social that was born in @smokelong.bsky.social jmwwblog.wordpress.com/2025/04/30/f...

No Place Like a Kaleidoscope by Pegah Ouji Unlike what neighbors say about ghosts, my brother, Hameed, does not follow me everywhere. I wish he would, his lanky legs tracing the curves of Kerman’s sidewalks, disappearing, when…

"Unlike what neighbors say about ghosts, my brother, Hameed, does not follow me everywhere. I wish he would"

Beautiful capturing of emotion and moment in this flash from @pegahouji.bsky.social in @emergejournal.bsky.social

emergeliteraryjournal.com/no-place-lik...

A fire of her own • Your Impossible Voice By Pegah Ouji — "When Fatimah tugs at the peeling bark of a one-hundred-year-old eucalyptus tree, one jagged edge pierces her supple thumb, one drop of blood, red and round as Tehran’s setting sun str...

"The fire has marked the women’s faces flushed. The girl with the paint spray calls out to Fatemeh, “Take off your Roosari! Join us!” Such a gripping story @pegahouji.bsky.social in @yourimpossiblevoice.com
www.yourimpossiblevoice.com/a-fire-of-he...

I have a new flash story in the wonderful @psmokejournal.bsky.social This story was born in a monster-themed workshop in @smokelong.bsky.social