This evening at 5:30 pm in the Elliston Room we have the privilege of hosting three very successful UC creative writing alumni: @mariannelchan.bsky.social , @litmagreject.bsky.social , and Emma Hudelson. Assistant Editor Blessing Christopher asked each of them about legacy.

"Clear. Nuclear. Like the Visible Woman in her plexiglass-clear skin once lied to me I wouldn’t grow to be. One button for her heart to light up red. One for the nervy, branching rivers in her head." Alexandra Teague floods nervy, hot branches of language in this week's miCRo.

A very special congratulations today to two friends of the magazine: former Assistant Editor @hollicarrell.bsky.social 's debut, APOSTASIES, releases today from @perugiapress.bsky.social , alongside contributor (& former UC faculty member) Brock Clarke's SPECIAL ELECTION from @acrebooks.bsky.social

"We know that literary journals often come from a deep place of admiration and love, and to see this piece of literary past is akin to napping under a handmade quilt, hearing an old 45 as it spins, taking a sip of localized, antiquated soda."

"She did not try to make each pot unique, did not sign them. This was not that kind of art." This week's miCRo is an ekphrastic prose poem by Matthew Thorburn. Read more at our site; link in thread.

Want to get a behind-the-scenes peek into how we edit? Managing Editor Lisa Ampleman appears on today's episode of the Page Count podcast, courtesy of Cleveland Public Library's Ohio Center for the Book!

Our miCRo submissions are now CLOSED. Stay tuned here for future open calls!

"I’m drawn back to these places, these ruins, because they form the imagistic, psychological core of me, but I also don’t want them to become anyone else’s porn. Take your camera elsewhere, part of me whispers" Now on our site, a craft essay by Maya Jewell Zeller; link in thread

That was fast! Submissions to the print journal are now CLOSED. miCRo submissions (of pieces 500 words or fewer) remain open. Visit our submissions page for more details.

"By the end of class half the goldfish were dead, / and Mr. K had to collect their bodies into a / white plastic bucket used for dirty mop water." This week's miCRo by Ting Lin captures both that back-to-school feeling and the violence of coming-of-age. buff.ly/KZDCJ3j

Congratulations to contributor Teo Shannon on today's publication of A CHRONOLOGY OF BLOOD with University of New Mexico Press!

“Every night we reach that place where we forgo the will to exist. Behind us are the usual strange...” Read Inger Christensen’s “The World Wants to See Itself,” translated by Bradley Harmon, in @cincinnatireview.bsky.social this #NationalTranslationMonth: www.cincinnatireview.com/micro/micro-...

We are once again OPEN for submissions to both our print journal and miCRo! We strongly encourage you to submit to the print journal within the next day or so, as we tend to reach our cap just days after opening up.

An appreciation for a book of nonfiction with a novel's sense of scene, setting, and character: Home of the Happy by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot (@marinerbooks.bsky.social). Read @lisaampleman.bsky.social 's thoughts about it on our site. Link in first comment:

"the thin blank beach is survival, & so we run around the edges playing, building sandcastles, erasing thoughts of what could destroy us..." This week's miCRo is "Fascism," by Mark Strohschein, an ekphrastic prose poem about Kazimir Malevich’s 1915 painting, Black Square. Link in thread:

"What happens when the things we love—whether beings, objects, or places—have lifespans that do not match our expectations?" Today on the site, issue 22.1 contributor Zoe Ballering explores the idea of life spans in fiction. Link in thread.

"I try to picture them all as babies. Whenever my stomach lurches around a man, I remind myself he once toddled around in diapers ..." Today's miCRo is "In Transit" by Bella Gibbs, picked by our summer assistant editor, Jess Silfa. Link in thread.

Keep those August #prose submissions coming! 📚🖊️

A special feature on our site now: an essay by @debraspark.bsky.social in which the "I" speaker doesn't emerge until halfway through. Instead, the piece tells the story of a woman learning the dark secret in her mother's past. Link in first comment:

"Eyeglasses described the stars to Rocketship, who needed no prodding. So Eyeglasses served as navigator, and with Rocketship went exploring other universes." This week's miCRo is "Eyeglasses and Rocketship" by Chris Haven. Link in thread.

"The queer community is my number one most important audience. I never want to put anything in my books that would be alienating or dumbed-down-feeling for a queer reader." Today on the site, former Assistant Editor Lily Davenport interviews author @lydiconklin.bsky.social -- Link in thread.

Poet and Editor #DonBogen on the magic of @marthasilano.bsky.social both in person and on the page. Martha's posthumous volume, TERMINAL SURREAL, is forthcoming from Acre Books this fall. #poetry tinyurl.com/59fst2wu

"Through the erasure of [my mother's] often confessional correspondence to her own parents, I render visible some truths that are difficult for me to speak..." On our site, a visual poem by @brennawomer.bsky.social using collage and erasure of letters to find her own idiom. Link in thread:

Congratulations to miCRo contributor @clairepolders.bsky.social on today's release of WOMAN OF THE HOUR: FIFTY TALES OF LONGING AND REBELLION with @vineleavespress.bsky.social .

🚨🚨🚨Ricky Rozay raps, “put Molly all in her champagne, she don’t even know it”, my poem which was originally published @cincinnatireview.bsky.social is the featured poem for today @versedaily.bsky.social !!

"Running into [Martha] in the bookfairs of various AWP conferences over the years was like catching a jolt of open sky amid the general fog of crowds and schmoozing." Today on the site, Editor-at-Large Don Bogen shares a tribute to frequent CR contributor Martha Silano.

“The love of his life is a doll made to look exactly like him, down to the asymmetrical fuzz of the upper lip and the strands of long, greasy hair.” Today on the site, we feature one of the wildest stories that's ever come across our desks: "Self-Care" by Brett Hymel Jr. Link in comments.

The Schiff Awards close at 11:59 pm!

Only one day left to polish up your best fiction, nonfiction, and poetry to submit to the Robert and Adele Schiff Awards! Win $1000 and publication in The Cincinnati Review. All submissions are considered for publication! Contest closes tomorrow, July 15. Details here: buff.ly/mDOMzaV

2024 Robert and Adele Schiff Award winner in literary nonfiction Erika Gallion Velasquez on validation in her writing practice. "Paradise is Ours" is featured in our current issue. The 2025 Robert and Adele Schiff Awards are OPEN until next Tuesday, July 15!

"My remote, freelance position works great with a service work life, because I can come up with my own ideas for articles and write them at my own pace..." Our latest in the Writers' Day Jobs series features Gabrielle Grace Hogan, a team writer at Autostraddle, barista, and poet. Link in thread:

Only 5 days left to submit your fiction, poetry, and literary nonfiction to the Robert and Adele Schiff Awards! Winners receive $1000 and publication in CR---and all entries are considered for publication. Contest closes July 15! Details here: buff.ly/mDOMzaV

We're overjoyed that Cincinnati's Mercantile Library has announced the city's new 2025-2027 Poet Laureate--CR contributor Richard Hague! Congratulations to Richard, who will be celebrated TONIGHT at the Mercantile.

Today on the site, contributor @friendlypoet.bsky.social shares a plátano purchasing playlist that celebrates the delicious, and often mispronounced, starch. Link in comments.

"Telling the story of my family, both real and fictional, is also a story of race and the truths this country tells about itself and the secrets it hides . . ." In our Family Secrets Folio, @thejs3.bsky.social discusses writing fiction about family secrets. buff.ly/phs6ePu

Congratulations to miCRo contributor Kelle Groom on the inclusion of her piece, "Murder City," in the @wigleaf.bsky.social Top 50! "Motherlode" by @theresegleason.bsky.social also made it to the longlist!

On this last day of #pridemonth we celebrate the inclusion of miCRos by contributors B. Do and Cassandra Whitaker in the @clmporg.bsky.social Pride Month Reading List! . . . #booksky #amreading #cincinnatireview #literaryjournal

Contributor Jason Gray (@drunkasapoet.bsky.social) reads his poem "First Image of a Black Hole" in a video with images from NASA. Watch on our site! buff.ly/Z8qu3M6

"My sister's unborn baby was as big as a striped skunk that week. Or, romaine lettuce." This week's miCRo, "Benevolent Ruler" by @mardery.bsky.social‬, is an essay that presents the mundane but also demonstrates the complexities of women's health treatment. More on our site:

"Two gorillas crashed a Halloween party in 1975, befuddling their newlywed hosts." In our Family Secrets Folio, @sharalessley.bsky.social talks about writing family secrets.

Thank you to Verse Daily (@versedailypoems.bsky.social) for featuring four poems from our spring issue--by M. Cynthia Cheung, Jason Gray (@drunkasapoet.bsky.social), Suzanne Frischkorn (@suzfrischkorn.bsky.social), and Leah Umansky (@leahumansky.bsky.social‬)--in the past week!

Thank you @versedaily.bsky.social and @jpdancingbear.bsky.social for featuring my poem from @cincinnatireview.bsky.social today!

"The Count looks into the camera and tells me he’s glad I joined him, so close to the witching hour, with all the fellow ghouls and undead. Here’s what we watch..." A watchlist from contributor Shane Joaquin Jimenez to accompany his story in our spring issue. Link in first comment:

2024 winner of the Robert and Adele Schiff Award in poetry Leila Farjami shares what it means to receive acknowledgment of her work. Farjami's poem, "Bombs and Stars," appears in our current issue. The 2025 Robert and Adele Schiff Award is open until July 15!

"On the beach we’d found a giant / Pacific chiton, prehistoric in orange / armor, vulvar foot still pulsing / between its gills ..." This week's miCRo is "The Red Negligee" by @jennymolberg.bsky.social, a love poem with complex emotional sentiments. Link in first comment:

Verse Daily is featuring poems from the CR this week! Today's is from Jason Gray, @drunkasapoet.bsky.social:

"Just as I long for poems that carry the wisdom and surprise of my friends’ verbal play, I hope for novels that are absorbing, like a long conversation with a friend. . ." In our Family Secrets Folio, @jessejohnson.bsky.social reviews Morgan Talty's FIRE EXIT.

On our site, contributor Louise Ling Edwards discusses her relationship to the Mandarin language and shares 3 calligraphy paintings: "Each word felt precious and concrete. If I could remember the word for noodles, I could order them in the cafeteria the next day. . . ." Link in first comment:

What was your gone-speechless-mid-sentence moment? 2024 fiction winner of the Robert and Adele Schiff Awards Patrick J. Zhou tells us about his. This year's awards are OPEN until July 15.

"They pass her skin from one hand to another. A lesson for the wide-eyed children present: Good people share among themselves." In this week's miCRo, A. A. Balaskovits gives us a glimpse into collective cruelty and our age-old fear of, and fascination with, difference. buff.ly/uEryOGQ