And we finally have things submitted to magazines! Big relief to clear out some brain residue of things left unfinished — hoping to take some of that newly freed energy and put it towards fresh drafts of short fiction.
Can't believe I had LUSTER by Raven Leilani on my shelf for 3+ years without picking it up until now. 7 pages in I turned to gf in bed and said Leilani can WRITE!!! These sentences are a masterclass in rhythm.
Sent off a couple drafts of short stories for feedback and looking at them next to each other is simultaneously delightful and hilarious, because they are both deeply bizarre (and very me!)
One of those all-too rare things; a column about literary translation in a regular writing publication!
City Lights will be closed all day January 30th in support of the national shutdown to abolish ICE.
Like many others, we are horrified by the unmitigated use of force on civilians in Minneapolis, in the United States, and beyond our borders.
Hope to see you in the streets.
Congrats Maia!!
Finally my absurd speculative flashfic about a talking pistachio is ready to see the light of submission.
The cover of middle grade graphic novel OPTING OUT by Maia Kobabe and Swati "Lucky" Srikumar, on sale May 6 2026. The cover shows a smiling Desi kid wearing a yellow t-shirt and green shorts, dumping a collection of eclectic items out of a blue backback including a soccer ball, a sword, a tiny pumpkin, sheets of paper, pens, candy, a ruler, a magazine, a book, tape, eraser, earrings, a sunflower and a nazar amulet.
The cover of middle grade graphic novel OPTING OUT by Maia Kobabe and Swati "Lucky" Srikumar, on sale May 6 2026. The cover shows a smiling Desi kid wearing a yellow t-shirt and green shorts, dumping a collection of eclectic items out of a blue backback including a soccer ball, a sword, a tiny pumpkin, sheets of paper, pens, candy, a ruler, a magazine, a book, tape, eraser, earrings, a sunflower and a nazar amulet. The back cover of the book is mostly orange with a small drawing at the top of a circle of kids sitting in chairs. Below the drawing is the line "Bodies are the worst. I wish I didn't have a body."
An interior spread from OPTING OUT by Maia Kobabe and Swati "Lucky" Srikumar
the front and back cover of OPTING OUT by Maia Kobabe and Swati "Lucky" Srikumar plus one interior spread
@luckyscomix.bsky.social and I received the ARCs of our new book! OPTING OUT, on sale May 5 2026, from Scholastic Graphix. I'm very excited for all of you to read it :D Preorder here: bookshop.org/p/books/opti...
Calling all 2SLGBTQIA+ poets! We have a message for you from our poetry editor Jess Cho: “Dear queer poets, PLEASE FUCK ME UP.” If you have something strange, dark, and unrepentantly queer… send it our way! We’re open to submissions right now and we pay $50/poem!
Some goals for 2026:
📝 amass a LOT of rejections on original work
📝 keep reading things that delight and inspire me
📝 read my writing aloud in front of strangers
📝 participate in a writing workshop
📝 embrace creative fearlessness!
I read this one recently and had every feeling but mostly a deep and abiding tenderness for our two main characters — a beautifully drawn graphic novel that is so deserving of this honor!
Holding up my copy of minor black figures in the theater where the event took place
The page the author signed for me
Had the most wonderful time at last night’s launch event for MINOR BLACK FIGURES! Thank you so much @litquake.org for organizing and hosting such a joyful and intellectually stimulating evening.
this is so charming and insightful!
Inaugurating my little BlueSky account with a published story! Thanks for giving my work a home, Bewildering Stories!
www.bewilderingstories.com/issue1090/bl...
