You may have noticed something’s different about PRISM–something brighter, maybe a little weird, and unlike anything you’ve seen before. I’m talking about our Spring 54.3 cover, of course! Our Creative Non-fiction Contest Issue features Maciek Jasik’s “African Horned Melon” as our cover art and we couldn’t have dreamed of a better cover for this issue. It’s from the series The Secret Lives of Fruits and Vegetables, a project that Jasik says, “aims to reintroduce these mystical, invisible qualities to fruits and vegetables that have been lost amidst the clamor of nutritional statistics. Each offers its own indelible powers beyond our narrow habits of thought.”
The content of 54.3 is just as exciting as our cover! We have the winners of our 2016 creative Non-fiction Contest, the judge’s essay about the winners, and new works from both emerging and established writers.
If Prose Editor Christopher Evans’s interview with our 2016 Non-fiction Contest winner Danny Jacobs piqued your interest, you can check out the rest of the winning story when you get your subscription in the mail or buy one here! And be sure to keep reading on for Liza Porter’s “Reconstructing” (first runner-up) and Victoria Young’s “How to Give A Passive-Aggressive Handjob” (second runner-up).
If you’re looking for more weird and wonderful (note, we consider these two words practically synonymous), Tom Cho’s “Are You There, God? It Is I, Robot” will surely deliver. And if you’re at AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference) next weekend, be sure not to miss the two panels he appears in: “Coming of Age Queer” and “No Place Like Home: Setting in the Contemporary Short Story”. We’ll be there, so be sure to drop by!
We’ve got new fiction by Andrew F. Sullivan, who was named one of The Star’s “five up-and-coming writers of 2016”. Look for his debut novel, WASTE (Dzanc Books, 2016) in your local bookstore. CBC Canada Writers Fiction Long-lister Phedra Deonarine’s “San Fernando, Trinidad: School Year 1995-1996” is a must read and savour. Be sure to check out Danielle Burnette‘s flash fiction piece, “Not Her Husband”.
For poetry, we broke the record for most published poems by an author. Well, I don’t know that, but when you read Adèle Barclay’s six poems, you’ll understand why we had to have them all! Her debut collection of poetry, If I Were in a Cage I’d Reach For You is forthcoming this fall with Nightwood Editions.
We also have three poems by Jacob McArthur Mooney from his book, Don’t Be Interesting (M&S, 2016), poems by Kirya Marchand and Julie Paul, and translation by Nathaniel G. Moore.
Be sure to check out the issue for yourself for all of these incredible pieces and more! And if you’re in the Los Angeles area next weekend, come check out our booth at AWP for prizes, issues, and more!
Happy reading!