Huge congratulations to William Pei Shih @williampeishih.bsky.social (and also the Los Angeles Review) for winning an O. Henry Prize this year. Can’t wait to read the story.

I am beyond thrilled to share that my story, “The Masterclass,” has been selected as a winner of the 2026 O. Henry Prize for Short Fiction. I am deeply grateful to Tommy Orange for choosing this story and to Jenny Minton Quigley for her brilliant leadership of the series. lithub.com/announcing-t...

Our new issue is online, with portfolios by Lynn Johnson and Mandy Barker; essays by Sofi Thanhauser and Donovan Hohn; fiction by Bill Cheng, William Pei Shih, and Mimi Lok; poetry by Erin L. McCoy, Leslie Harrison, Sacha Marvin, and Nikki Giovanni. Read it all: www.vqronline.org/summer-2025

Today’s reading.

Happy Book Birthday to this book! 🎊🎉🙌

Excited to read this! New novel by Andrew Porter!

“I’d run into Leslie Epstein in Brookline, and he’d ask me, ‘Are you writing, Jhumpa?’ And I’d say, ‘I have papers to finish—Foucault is expecting me.’ And he’d say, ‘Don’t forget to be a writer.’” —Jhumpa Lahiri buff.ly/fcwTAmz

Two Canadian writers walk into a bar…. 🥰

“The Place Blanche, Paris, Life itself. One realized all sorts of things. The value of an illusion, for instance, and that the shadow can be more important than the substance. All sorts of things.” — Quartet by Jean Rhys

Tonight is a Wuthering Heights night.

incredible playing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc5l...

I'm absolutely delighted to find The Great Believers on Kirkus's list of the 100 Best [fiction] Books of the Century (So Far), along with so many books I love. 😍😭 www.kirkusreviews.com/fiction/best...

Not an April Fools' joke: I'm partnering w/ @legroff.bsky.social & her amazing bookstore The Lynx to give away free books on fighting fascism. FL folks, just stop in and ask for a free copy of the titles below! Not in FL? Order and get 10% off. Read, share, fight the fascist fools. ❤️👊

Happy birthday Vincent van Gogh! 🌻

Lots happening on The White Lotus.

Just remembered Franz Schubert's Octet in F Major has a horn.

Oh god, the boat people.

". . . You would never call me baby If you knew me truly Oh but I waited so long for your love I am scared baby that I can't keep it up for long Boy I wish I grow up the second I first held you in my arms Underneath this hood you kiss I tick like a bomb . . ."

" . . . I wonder why I'm so afraid Of saying something wrong, I never said I was a saint I wonder, when I cry into my hands I'm conditioned to feel like it makes me less of a man And I wonder if someday you'll be by my side And tell me that the world will end up alright I wonder I wonder . . . "

"There are many people at Versailles today."

Thinking about Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys

“The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.” Emily Dickinson.

Giving the music of Antonio Salieri a try.

too soon old, too late smart

If you saw the film Shine, you'll know: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqCI...

" . . . Sometimes I feel like I've never been nothing but tired and I'll be walking Till the day I expire Sometimes I lay down No more can I do But then I go on again Because you ask me to . . ."

" . . . I wouldn't if I were you I know what she can do She's deadly, man, she could really rip your world apart Mind over matter Ooh, the beauty is there, but a beast is in the heart . . . "

I would love another Tori Amos like artist to emerge out of the masses.

“On his birth certificate, ʿIbdis hovers in the white space around the words GAZA STRIP.” An excerpt from Sarah Aziza’s forthcoming memoir.

Why has Friday become anticipating Sunday’s episode of The White Lotus??

Living vicariously through all those at AWP! It looks fun!

“I was the poolboy but it was billiards I got up on the table with a feather duster and did a little dance like the honeybee to get the green felt felt green again I felt it in my stinger.” From “Project Apollo” by @dapowell.bsky.social, which appears in our new Spring issue.

Wonderful night out with these lovelies 😍 HBD week to @christina.j.cooke! 🎉🎊🥳

Great times at Greenlight Bookstore and talking new novels and Top Chef! 😃

Morning read, still morning for me. “The weather was lovely all seven days, the water transparent. We went for long swims, took long walks.” — Ties by Domenico Starnone

“I killed myself. I know I should write, I tried to kill myself, but that would be inaccurate. For all intents and purposes, I died.” — Ties by Domenico Starnone

Incredible to have a chance to work on these wonderful stories for Guernica in the January and February Issues! Check out new fiction by: Zukiswa Wanner, Samia Mehraj, and JP Infante 👏👏 Also shoutout to my fantastic team at Guernica! 😍

The Red Violin is such a great film. The score by John Corigliano, also fantastic. Also Samuel L. Jackson was wonderful in the film. I miss films like this.

Looking forward to teaching this online workshop in May! Two more spots left! 😀

“The ideal circumstances would be to have no responsibilities to anyone or anything. Just to think, just to read. I suspect that I became a writer to support my reading habit.” —Jamaica Kincaid

My story “The Paris of China,” published in @bostonreview.bsky.social www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...

Guernica has a new fiction editor, @williampeishih.bsky.social. Send him stories.

"Caterpillars" by William Pei Shih, Fiction HM, 2016 Tom Howard Contest | http://ow.ly/B1eo30aDfnI @WilliamPeiShih

William Pei Shih teaching at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, May 1 - May 29 mcuw-uiowa.catalog.instructure.com/browse/iswf/...

Submissions are open for Guernica Magazine! Would love to read some amazing fiction! guernicamagazine.submittable.com/submit