It’s Pushcart time! It’s like the Oscars for lit mags and small presses, except our clothes are less expensive and the swag bags are just New Yorker totes that we brought from home.
All joking aside, Pushcart nominations honor the best of what literary magazines and small book presses have offered us in the last year. And so, without further ado, here are our 2017 nominees. We’d say these are our humble offerings, but there is nothing humble about the strong voices of the writers listed below and the important work they shared with us.
Essays:
“Periphery: Exploring Bombs, Boundaries, and Family History” by Tyler Mills
Tyler Mills’s meditative and moving essay is a quiet exploration of family, memory, and the legacy of the atomic bomb.
“Hooters Chicken” by Lizz Huerta
When editor Christine Hyung-Oak Lee told us Lizz Huerta was writing an essay about Hooters for our October theme, we knew it would be good. But it was much better than good—it’s funny, visceral, incisive, and accompanied by awesome animated artwork from Cyrus Finegan.
“The Girl on the Bike” by Katharine Coldiron
Katharine Coldiron’s essay is like if you turned words into liquid gold. Gorgeous and poetic, this exploration of person and place may also having you wanting to watch The Sound of Music once more.
“Multitudes: (Re) Writing Mother” by Christine No
Christine No’s writing bends form and function to reveal new insights into the mother-daughter relationship, and our relationships to our own identities and the identities society puts upon us.
Fiction:
“No Good” by Hala Alyan
This short story will run on Wednesday, December 27 and you will not want to miss it. From a manuscript-in-progress by the author of Salt Houses, Alyan puts her poetic sensibilities to use in this powerfully urgent tale.
Poetry:
“Interrogators of Orchids” by Maggie Smith
Maggie’s poem interrogates the most incessant of interrogators—children—and in their relentless questioning she finds persistent hope and a reason to continue on.
