Narrative Magazine | Writers, Fiction, Poetry, Storytelling, Nonfiction, Art

STORY OF THE WEEK

Weight

By Richard Zabel

They are a different blue—yes, definitely different—than the pale-blue of his father’s eyes, electric with rage the last time she and Sam saw him.

POEM OF THE WEEK

Name-Dropping

By Chris Dombrowski

Head high, an ingot flared. Unmistakably I recognized the gaunt smoker in muted moonlit profile, scented his exhale as he turned.

WINTER STORY CONTEST

Our Winter Contest is open to all fiction and nonfiction writers. We’re looking for short shorts, short stories, essays, memoirs, photo essays, graphic stories, all forms of literary nonfiction, and excerpts from longer works. See the Guidelines.

HIGH SCHOOL WRITING CONTEST

Our 10th Annual High School Writing Contest is open to all US and international students, grades 9–12. We’re looking for stories or essays of no more than 600 words, or else a poem of 10 to 50 lines. See the Guidelines.

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Earth in the Time of Billie Holiday

By Canisia Lubrin

Combat commanded no serious loyalty from me or Siem, though it did have a first taste, a sound.

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Roanoke Rapids

By Ashleigh Bryant Phillips

Sometimes Tchaikovsky can be real sad. And sometimes Tchaikovsky can be scary. But it’s never real scary. Things always turn out in the end.

FICTION

The Lucky Bastard

By N. Jane Kalu

Only now does Grace understand that for her mum, the 1993 election held so much promise that it caused hope to spread like a disease.

FICTION

Natural History

By Natasha Ayaz

The owners of the rental left three gifts on the kitchen table for us to enjoy: a Persian-blue bowl of fresh lemons, three foil-wrapped chocolates, and a bottle of grappa.

POETRY

The Trade-Off

By Chase Twichell

Strange then, strange now, to choose the white loneliness over the gathering next door, the air scented with lilacs and barbecue, with laughing.

POETRY

Some Half-World

By Chelsea B. DesAutels

Distance, I’m discovering, is better in the imagination, though my imagination has been weak lately, caught in some half-world between memory and creation.

NARRATIVE 10

CARTOONS

NARRATIVE 10

Narrative 10

By Tom Jenks

If a story succeeds, its words carry the reader home, back to life outside the story, having received gifts along the way.

CARTOONS

Cartoon Art Volume 2024-12

By Various Artists

New laughs with fleeting friends, over amazing knowledge, and as guests gingerly approach a party.