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

STORY OF THE WEEK

A Dreamer’s Tale

By Jane Lange

For so many years I’d taken part in his waiting that I was thankful he’d departed on a train’s whistle in the silky air of a June night.

POEM OF THE WEEK

Tame External Features Come Birthing Endangered in a Cage

By Mai Der Vang

Nothing survives in a menagerie of glaciers.

FINAL MONTH TO ENTER

Deadline: Tues., Nov. 26, at 11:59 p.m., PST.

We’re looking for short stories, essays, memoirs, photo essays, graphic stories, and excerpts from long fiction and nonfiction.

Please see the Guidelines.

FROM THE LIBRARY

The Lesson of the Master

By Cynthia Ozick

I was like the youthful writer who believed in the Master’s call to live immaculately, unspoiled by what we mean when we say “life.”

NARRATIVE PRIZE WINNER

SPRING CONTEST WINNER

NARRATIVE PRIZE WINNER

October Phone Call and Other Poems

By Madeleine Cravens

My loneliness is not less because I understand it more, or because I have condoned it. Mist and roads in all directions.

SPRING CONTEST WINNER

Something Left Behind

By Madelena Grossmann

She knew you’d gone, that wasn’t what she’d come to hear; on this small island, everyone knows who comes, who goes.

FICTION

NONFICTION

FICTION

Any Good Child

By Tryphena L. Yeboah

I’m convinced that Ma wants me to see, needs me to step into her world and learn its songs but never actually dance to its tune until it’s time.

NONFICTION

The Art of Becoming a Citizen

By Gail Godwin

One of the perks of living a long life is that you get to drop down and look around and see what happened afterward.

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Earth in the Time of Billie Holiday, a story

By Canisia Lubrin
Introduced by Saidiya Hartman

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

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Dead Man’s Run, a story

By Olufunke Ogundimu
Introduced by Tryphena L. Yeboah

One of the ghosts I walk with is me. It lives the life I left and continues to thrive as if I did not leave.

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WRITERS’ RESOURCES

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Pa’ la Calle, a story

By Lily Philpott
Introduced by Morgan Talty

I knew in the dream that I was a condor in the shape of a girl, and I drank in the thin mountain air until my human lungs ached with it.

WRITERS’ RESOURCES

Looking for an MFA program or a writing conference to attend? Seeking sage advice or a good book on writing?

Don’t miss our curated list of Writer’s Resources.

NARRATIVE 10

NARRATIVE OUTLOUD

NARRATIVE 10

Narrative 10

By Tom Jenks

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

NARRATIVE OUTLOUD

The Transit of Venus

By Shirley Hazzard

An exclusive excerpt of actor Juliet Stevenson reading Shirley Hazzard’s The Transit of Venus with an introduction from our own Carol Edgarian.

CARTOONS

Cartoon Art Volume 2024-10

By Various Artists

New laughs with a financially savvy pharaoh, a perfectly regular late-night routine, a tough-lidded interview, and more.

CARTOONS

Cartoon Art Volume 2024-09

By Various Artists

New laughs with an uncertain generation, an unexpected promotion, a revelation at the pearly gates, and more.

POETRY

Anniversary of You

By Mark Kyungsoo Bias

I’ve taken in the highway and the see-through reflection of my own face. It’s funny watching the people pass through it.

POETRY

That

By Chris Dombrowski

That we have tea to drink. That late-winter sunlight streams through the living room windows. That the dog has a bed to sleep on or a couch if he prefers.

POETRY

Hunan Wishes

By Daniel Halpern

With the moon half in shadow we spin these inner moons of the earth on the sprigs of fire focused under the tempered carbon steel of the wok.

POETRY

The Free Tower

By Ted Kooser

Behind her I slowly climbed, passing through a life’s history of all her odors, those years now happening all over again as I climbed through them.

POETRY

Brothel

By Edward Salem

I walked to the olive grove and stood among the trees, trying to memorize my awe. I stood among them as if in a brothel and inhaled the wind.

POETRY

Still Life with a Seashell and Dr. Caligari

By Alex Tretbar

Say I were to say, “Say something.” Or, “It’s blue, the shape of the air unable to escape.”