Intimate, wry and a little sour, Asa Drake’s Beauty Talk addresses the (im)possibility of talking about beauty in America without addressing whiteness. Here is a personal history of who gets to be beautiful.

While Beauty Talk pulls from the autobiographical—a father as the 1970’s Camel cigarette man, correspondences with abandoned siblings, a historic family map—the collection is shaped by the illegibility, omission, and ekphrasis of the personal archive. Embracing a fractal telling, these poems explore an inheritance of mixed aesthetics and what it means to partake in a lineage that is both colonial and immigrant. Drake pulls from sources as varied as Chiwan Choi’s adaptation of the Bechdel test and Viv Chen’s substack The Molehill to index the racial and gendered language of advertisement copy, incident reports, and parental beauty advice. Woven between these coded distinctions of moral and aesthetic utility, Beauty Talk asks if, perhaps, family is the first commodification of the body.

Here is the cover, designed by Alban Fischer:

Asa Drake: In 2022, I had the opportunity to study with Paisley Rekdal at a Tin House (now McCormack Writing Center) Summer Workshop, and during that workshop we joked that I could write a whole book about beauty advice from my father who was a model during the 1970s. I’d never really written about my father because writing about my father meant writing about the body, about whiteness, about abandonment and desirability.

In Beauty Talk and, I think, in life, beauty is euphemistic. Beauty is a kind of cultural adherence that we’re promised will make our lives easier. This collection is filled with moments where I catch myself using beauty in place of whiteness, a substitution/exnomination I learned from my parents. Throughout Beauty Talk, I’m testing the distance between signifier and signified. Even when we talk about the color yellow or the scent of jasmine or peaches or the moon, we can’t separate the symbolism we’ve attached to each word from the thing itself.

I would have never imagined this cover image on my own, and yet I know exactly how Alban Fischer’s design ties into the book. There are two poems that immediately come to mind: one with pearlescent bilo-bilo and another where I compare a peach canned in syrup to the moon. Beauty Talk is a collection filled with spheres, orbits, and ellipses. And the moon at some point becomes the subject of direct address. It’s a heavenly shape that I return to as the site of harm and repair.

When I think about the many substitutions which happen throughout Beauty Talk, Alban’s incredible cover becomes charged with hypergloss and maybe a little sarcasm. I love how this image explores when words mean themselves and when they call to one another. Alban’s visual rhyme (moon in spoon!) gives me hope that despite engaging with questions of whiteness and exnomination, readers will laugh at my jokes.

Alban Fischer: The brief for Beauty Talk was relatively open, and the author was quite helpful in providing possible directions. The image of the moon is a consistent presence in the book, so it seemed to me a solid compass to work with. The question was how best to represent it from among all its permutations and valences throughout the collection. I was initially intrigued by the possibility of using the dumplings in one of the title poems as moon or, better yet, using “The moon is a peach lifted / from syrup” as a stepping-off point. There were almost too many possibilities, and I was briefly concerned about creating something unintentionally zany. Ultimately, it was Asa saying she was “more interested in a cover that is striking and memorable than a cover that is pretty” that gave me license to just let myself be led wherever these poems’ warped poignance took me. The line “it is easier for an American to enter heaven / than to engage with an unfamiliar texture” from “Recipe for Bilo-Bilo” stuck with me; it seemed to encapsulate the book’s themes, and the dumplings in the poem were the moon the cover needed. The rest was mostly getting the color scheme and type choices right. Smoosh’s exaggeratedly condensed contours finish off the cover with the right amount of cheeky refinement. I loved this book. Drake writes into complicated family dynamics and culturally sanctioned standards of how one exteriorizes identity in ways that are thrilling and original. It’s such a pleasure when a project like this comes your way.

The post Exclusive Cover Reveal of BEAUTY TALK by Asa Drake appeared first on Electric Literature.

From the award-winning author of Dearborn, a tragicomic story collection that moves between Lebanon and Michigan, exploring migration, war, family, and the enduring pull of home.

In a village haunted by unexploded cluster bombs, a chorus of matriarchs obsess over a poet-turned-mayor who struggles to lead with a confident hand. While patrolling a public pool in Dearborn, Michigan, a 72-year-old lifeguard reminisces on his youthful days at a Beirut beach club and finds unexpected companionship in a glamorous widow. Driven to the brink by his visiting mother-in-law, a factory worker seeks sanctuary in a rented storage unit—a private world that struggles to stay insulated from the trauma of global conflict.

Spanning the 1970s to the present day, There’s Plenty of Sunshine Where You’re Headed alternates stories set in Lebanon and Dearborn, tracing lives linked by migration, memory, loss, and longing. With his trademark humor and sincerity, Zeineddine offers a resonant portrait of the Arab and Arab American experience and the stubborn, surprising ways people keep building lives, no matter where they land.

Here is the cover, designed by Lucy Kim:

Ghassan Zeineddine: The stories in There’s Plenty of Sunshine Where You’re Headed are set in Lebanon and Dearborn, Michigan. A suburb of Detroit, Dearborn has the highest concentration of Arab Americans in the country. On the east side of town, the Arab side, you’ll find Arabic restaurants and bakeries, grocery stores filled with goods from Lebanon, Yemeni coffeeshops, mosques, and the Arab American National Museum. When we’re in Dearborn, my wife, Rana, and I speak mostly in Arabic with people. It makes us feel in touch with Lebanon. 

I grew up in the Middle East and immigrated to Washington, D.C. in 1990, at the age of 10. I’d go on to spend most of my 20s and part of my 30s in Beirut before Rana and I moved to Dearborn, where we bought our first house and I began to write about the Arab American community. Our children were born in Michigan. Whenever someone asks our eldest daughter, Alma, where she’s originally from, she says, “Michigan.” This summer, we won’t be able to visit Lebanon because of the volatile political situation, but we always have Dearborn, which has become a second home. An American city with an Arab pulse. 

Initially, when my wonderful editor, Masie Cochran, and I were brainstorming ideas for the cover, we both wanted something colorful and vibrant. An image that captured the two distinct but connected worlds of my story collection. Lucy Kim’s brilliant design does all of this and more. With Beirut placed on top of the reddish sun and Dearborn below, the cover brings both cities to vivid life. The airplane flying over Beirut and another flying over Dearborn suggest arrival and departure, and circular movement between both places. Moreover, what I appreciate so much about Kim’s representation of Beirut is its religious and architectural diversity—there are traditional Lebanese stone houses and skyscrapers, and mosques and a church. 

I’ve become obsessed with the cover. Every time I look at it, I think of Beirut and Dearborn, two cities that I love and that have shaped me as a person and as a writer. 

Lucy Kim: I really love reading and working on short story collections and this one is no exception—Ghassan’s characters are based in Lebanon as well as in Dearborn, MI. They are connected by their Lebanese Muslim heritage and, as such, they all bear the trauma of a nation that has lived and continues to live with constant war and violence, whether the characters emigrated decades ago or are second generation immigrants who’ve never stepped foot in the Middle East. These characters face threats daily, both physical and emotional. What’s so amazing is how Ghassan is able to capture the resonance of their shared trauma in the face of their surroundings with such pathos and humor. It’s this resonance that I wanted to try to depict on the cover, the two worlds of Dearborn and Lebanon in dialogue with each other. Since Beirut has so many unique buildings in it, I focused on that skyline to be the counterpart for the suburban houses of Dearborn, by using edited bits of stock art. My initial design had fewer buildings, and Ghassan suggested adding more to try and capture the bustling liveliness of modern Beirut. Using very bright, pop-candy colors felt entirely appropriate given the humorous situations some of these characters find themselves in, and Ghassan agreed. The result is a clue to the reader that this is a very unique perspective into the Middle Eastern Muslim experience.

The post Exclusive Cover Reveal of THERE’S PLENTY OF SUNSHINE WHERE YOU’RE HEADED by Ghassan Zeineddine appeared first on Electric Literature.

In this collection of stories exploring the experiences of women—and sometimes men—of all ages, at pivotal moments in their lives, a child spies two women kissing at her mother’s bridge club. A young girl unwittingly contributes to terrible loss as she tries to honor her friend’s deepest wishes. A late-night drowning at a high school graduation party is mired in secrets. An older woman compulsively attends the town’s funerals, believing her presence there to be God’s calling. A retired woman finally harvests insights and breaks old habits through revelations from her daughter’s experiences. The stories in Secrets and Other Hobbies are layered with purposeful deception and poignant, hidden yearnings that cause their characters to stumble before they rise, if they rise at all. Serious and darkly humorous, noble and morally ambiguous, achingly vulnerable and always memorable, Mary Hannah Terzino’s debut lays bare an indelible and realistic Midwest.

Here is the cover, designed by Abby Paulson, with artwork by Juli Balla:

Mary Hannah Terzino: I’m a character-driven writer, and I found inspiration for the characters in Secrets and Other Hobbies in both the people I grew up with in northwestern Indiana and folks I know as an adult living in the upper Midwest. We Midwesterners are polite, simple-appearing folks who often pulse with secrets, obsessions, or eccentricities below the surface. The people in my stories yearn for redemption from loss, disappointment, or their own imperfections and bad habits. These poignant yearnings cause them to stumble before they rise—if they rise at all. In many of the stories, life-changing secrets threaten to inhibit their redemption. This is true especially for the young women in “Bridge Club,” “Wept the River,” “Suitcase Twins,” and the anchor story, “Three Seasons of Judy Mitchell.” Some protagonists live in the present, while others navigate the cultural values of the mid-twentieth century. I write about the mid-century in part to dispel the notion that it was a golden era about which we should feel nostalgic. Those characters led messy lives, too! Their stories explore the effects of hidden sexual identities, abuse, or economic class divisions—dilemmas unresolved in contemporary times. Yet I’m a writer who cannot shed the need for humor to lighten our loads, and I’ve tried to include funny or absurd moments in everything I write, even the heavier stuff. 

When I saw the striking photograph of this young woman with a shadowed hand over her mouth, I was struck instantly by how well she represented the notion of secrets as used in my stories. About a third of the stories in the collection feature young female protagonists, some from the 1960s or ‘70s and some from the present. The solemn look of the young woman in the photo, and her neutral attire, made her an ideal representative for these fictional women. I was excited to see what Abby Paulson, the cover designer, could come up with to amplify the sense of tension I perceived when I looked at her. The designer’s bold font and suggestion of orange for the title sealed the deal. Orange is the color of warning signs, a great amplifier of tension. It was like a shout set against the stillness of the photo. 

Abby Paulson: Working with Mary on the cover was a process of vision. At Cornerstone Press, we work with our authors to develop covers that speak to them and their work, and Mary’s cover is no exception. 

The image Mary wanted worked incredibly well for a cover, and by adding a splash of color with the orange palette, we were able to convey warmth and danger, light and dark, stark and complex. 

Another important move was figuring out text placement, given the standalone strength of the image. Spreading the title out vertically pulls the eye from top to bottom, forcing them to confront the silencing of the woman on the cover. 

Altogether, these elements make for a vibrant, atmospheric, and striking cover.

The post Exclusive Cover Reveal of SECRETS AND OTHER HOBBIES by Mary Hannah Terzino appeared first on Electric Literature.

From the celebrated author of Crossing, a finalist for the National Book Award, a piercing, candid novel about a man haunted by the violence of his past and a family ruptured by the war that ravaged their homeland, for readers of Douglas Stuart, Jenny Erpenbeck, Ocean Vuong, and Garth Greenwell.

1996: A boy raised in Finland spends the summer at his grandfather’s house in Kosovo, a time that will mark him for the rest of his life, isolating him from his family and ensconcing him in a life of the mind, the complex escape of imagination.

Decades later, having grown into adulthood and built a career as a celebrated author, he travels with his mother again to Kosovo, a country that has since been savaged by war, where fear still guides people’s everyday lives. The journey forces him to delve into a past both real and imagined, into a mire of trauma and illness. Can memories be trusted? What can be forgiven? And what demands revenge? His questions spiral through his every interaction—with his relatives, with a family in need, with a seemingly duplicitous community leader—until he’s confronted with the ultimate, the most suffocating question of all: What will it take to survive history?

Staggering in both its psychological acuity and tour-de-force prose, A Cow Gives Birth at Night shows us what it is to live a life without safety, to be drawn towards danger, and the haunting truths of what can happen in a family after the lights have been turned off.

Here’s the cover, designed by Linda Huang and Emily Mahon:

Linda Huang and Emily Mahon: The author wanted the cover to reflect the restlessness and claustrophobia of the novel. We felt like there needed to be something human and vulnerable, and the hand in red almost swallowing the calf spoke to his desire for an unexpected and “fleshy” element. The type is set in a simple serif, with the title and author on opposite corners, which nicely reinforces the angle of the hand. A black sky with specks of gold cascades down the top left—a specific request from the author. To us, the painterly cow in the red palm is such a tender, striking image, almost womb-like, evoking the “birth” in the title.

Pajtim Statovci: Sometimes I get asked whether my books have a particular look in my mind, whether there’s a figure, an image, or at least a color present for me while I’m writing. The answer is—a rather unsatisfying—yes and no. 

I draw a lot of inspiration from the work of other artists, from fellow writers to theater professionals and architects, so my artistic space is filled with different voices and visions. I have felt especially grateful and humbled when I have been lucky enough to have my work staged, turned into an adaptation. To be able to provide other artists with something that they have offered me is one of the greatest gifts I’ve received as an author.

There are, of course, the adaptations that are not spoken of enough. Cover artists and graphic designers have an almost impossible task at hand: to create a cover, from scratch, that is supposed to do all of, but not only, the following:

1. capture the essence, the spirit, of a massive amount of text, however abstract it may be;
2. support the story and everything it has to say, however impalpable it may be, through typography, color palette, composition, concept, etc.;
3. meet the possible hopes and needs of the publisher, author, booksellers, reviewers and also readers, however varying those may be;
4. create something distinctive, unique, never-before-seen, surprising, no matter how impossible that may be.

Easy, right?

In my eyes, the color of the world in my novel A Cow Gives Birth at Night is dark green, dark blue, and silvery. It is early in the morning, and somewhere in the distance there’s a cow, living its lonely life, always on the outside, escaping our sight. Yet, she is dependent on the care of a fellow animal, someone as sensitive as she is, a child who is able to see himself as her equal. There are no stars, no sun, no mercy here, and nothing leading to safety. 

When I first saw the US cover of my novel A Cow Gives Birth at Night, a breathtakingly striking, gorgeous design that the magnificent Emily Mahon—one of the most gifted designers I know and have had the privilege to continue working with—created in collaboration with Pantheon’s incredible art director, Linda Huang, I immediately thought: That’s it, that’s my book, all of it, and it’s everything and more, from every direction.

 So much better than in my imagination.

The post Exclusive Cover Reveal of “A Cow Gives Birth at Night” by Pajtim Statovci, Translated by David Hackston appeared first on Electric Literature.

When Halimah Marcus told me earlier this year that she would be stepping down as Executive Director, I was surprised. (There has, perhaps, never been a greater understatement.) It was—in that moment and still now, months later—difficult to imagine EL without Halimah. After 10 years as Executive Director and 16 years on staff, all of the successes I spend so much time writing about are also, unarguably, Halimah’s. Electric Literature would not be what it is today without her. 

But in addition to my gratitude to Halimah for creating the place where I eagerly spend all of my working days, I also feel compelled to thank her for something more. It should be obvious to any writer who has worked with her, or any editor who has sat in an editorial meeting with her, that Halimah has a preternatural ability to see what a story is trying to be—to identify what’s working, to believe in what the writer is trying to do. What is less obvious, I think, is that she does this with people too. As a leader, Halimah had high expectations. She challenged me, every single day, to do my best work—and then she paid me the enormous compliment of believing I could do it. As far as I can tell, she did this for everyone on staff, and for countless other editors and writers. Halimah sees in others what most people miss and she generously uses that insight to cultivate talent. Like the organization she led for so many years, Halimah has had a catalyzing effect on those lucky enough to be near her—and so many of us have been lucky . . . .

– Wynter K. Miller, Director of Operations & Fiction Editor, Electric Literature

As a writer and an editor, I’ve worked with many editors, and many writers, and Halimah, you’re the epitome of excellence in both regards. I simply can’t thank you enough for choosing me, first to be editor-in-chief, and now, to assume full leadership of Electric Literature. I’ve learned so much from you about how to build and lead a team, about patience, about always finding room in a packed schedule to take that little bit of extra time to think something through before coming to a decision. I’ve also learned a lot about commitment, about saying what you mean and standing on business for the people and causes you support. I’ve learned about the unwavering pursuit of excellence, and about taking up space in a chaotic world by providing talented writers with a home for their incredible, and sometimes groundbreaking, work. Their voices are beacons for us all.

So much of being an editor is about stepping out on faith. We operate behind the writer, quietly by their side in the trenches of art-making. We are tasked with maintaining unwavering belief in our writers and their work. We invest time and energy, and that investment is a labor of love. All of this is centered on our faith: in writers, in readers, in art, and in humanity. Thank you for your faith, your friendship, and for lighting my way. You’ve built a legacy with Electric Lit, and it’s my honor to carry the mantle. I’ll be seeing you real soon, friend.

– Denne Michele Norris, Executive Director & Publisher, Electric Literature

When I first started working for Electric Literature, I was nervous. Not just because it was such a huge opportunity, but because my first week of the job was AWP. I was about to have to hang out with my new bosses at staff dinners and offsite parties, trying to play it cool and not give away how surreal and thrilling it was to be in those spaces. But it turned out I needn’t have worried, because my new boss was Halimah, and she made me feel instantly welcomed: a true part of the team and not, as I’d anticipated, like an outsider who needed to pretend I belonged.

I discovered that weekend that Halimah is kind, knowledgeable, impeccably organized, and just fun to be around. Lucky for me, I’ve also gotten to spend the last four years getting to know her better and finding out just how true that first impression was. I’ve seen how all of those traits have shaped EL both inside and out: creating a work environment where everyone feels heard and respected, always keeping the ship running smoothly, and publishing work that’s as smart as it is fun. I’ve learned so much from Halimah’s leadership over the years, and while it won’t be the same around here without her, it’s thanks to her wisdom and guidance that we’re ready for it. Her influence over EL’s culture, mission, and voice will always be visible—and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

– Katie Henken Robinson, Deputy Editor, Electric Literature

After 11 years of working together, it’s hard to imagine Electric Lit without Halimah’s calm, fair-minded leadership and her belief in both EL’s mission and the people behind it. Hundreds of writers have benefited from her support, her editorial skill, and her vision. And so much of our success and growth, and so much of what we’ll carry forward, exists because of the wisdom, humor, and heart she gave to this work for so many years. If life is a book (and I think we’re all partial to this metaphor) then I’m wishing her the very best next chapter. 

– Kelly Luce, Editor of The Commuter, Electric Literature

There isn’t a day, in my three years working at Electric Literature under Halimah Marcus’s leadership, that I haven’t looked forward to logging into work. Each one is calm, orderly, and rigorous. Each has made me a better writer, editor, and artist. Halimah has a brilliant knack for choosing a staff who work well together and respect one another, who are passionate about literature and good at what we do. She is exacting in her own aesthetic tastes, and it has been a privilege to hone mine under her direction. There is nothing more rewarding than finding a new story the whole team loves, capturing its essential paradoxes in a clever and precisely-honed headline, nailing its vibes with the perfect image pairing; Halimah pushes us in these things always, so that we excel often enough. Lucky all of us, that she has written a debut novel about working at a literary magazine, and we will get to read it soon. I can never thank her enough for making Electric Literature what it is today, and for trusting me to be a part of it. I can’t wait to see what she does next.

– Preety Sidhu, Associate Editor, Electric Literature 

Halimah was an inspiration before I knew Halimah. Like so many, I was reading Recommended Reading on my high school commute, a student figuring out how to connect the dots between stories, novels, the writers writing them, the readers reading them. Halimah opened a door to the nebulous universe of literature in the peculiar way that only brilliant publishers can; and then again, when she hired me to join RR’s editorial team. Now that I know Halimah, she’s even more of an inspiration—a generous, decisive leader, a phenomenal editor everyone should be so lucky to share an editorial meeting with. These adjectives only begin to do her justice. Halimah leaving Electric Literature feels seismic, and yet she is a rising tide that will continue to lift our literary boats. I can’t wait for SLUSH and many more years of being inspired by her.

– Willem Marx, Associate Editor, Electric Literature

For years, I’ve watched Electric Lit grow and evolve from afar, always admiring the expansiveness of its vision and the community it cultivated under Halimah’s leadership. So it has felt especially meaningful to begin first as an intern and now as a member of the team during this moment of transition. In the time under her leadership, I’ve witnessed firsthand the generosity and care she brings to both the magazine and the people around her. I feel very lucky to have experienced it up close. Her influence is deeply woven into Electric Lit’s culture and community, and it’s a legacy that will continue to shape the magazine and everyone it reaches for years to come. 

– Evander James Reyes, Communications Manager, Electric Literature

Halimah and I met at the Brooklyn College MFA program, and we worked together at Electric Literature for several years—I’d call them formative years, but that would make us sound too old. During that time, we made some great decisions, like establishing the organization as a nonprofit, and some questionable ones, like launching a novel with a Valentine’s Day sexting campaign, but we always worked to keep Electric Literature a free, accessible, and essential part of popular culture. A lot has changed since those days, but Halimah remained dedicated to those values as she guided Electric Literature into a new era of innovation, growth, and resiliency. Her work and leadership at EL has left an indelible impression on the literary landscape, one that will deepen and grow as she moves into her next chapter.

– Benjamin Samuel, former Co-Editor of Recommended Reading, Electric Literature

Before I worked at EL I thought literature was a solitary activity, something you did locked alone in a room. And, well, I started at the height of the pandemic, so I was technically locked alone in a room! But Halimah never made it feel that way. She knows how to turn literature into a social event, a space where all of your favorite people, past and future, are working together on a project that is greater than anything you could achieve on your own. I learned from her that being an editor means developing a kind of emotional sensitivity, an intelligence that hasn’t just improved my writing, but also my life. Her stamp on the literary world is indelible, and I’m so grateful to have gotten the chance to work with her. 

– Alyssa Songsiridej, former Managing Editor, Electric Literature

On Recommended Reading editorial calls, we often discussed the difference between a situation and a story. A situation was an idea that hadn’t found its footing in the world yet. But a story—what was it exactly? I spent some of the luckiest hours of my writing life listening to Halimah pinpoint not only where the story was, but how to make each one better. Halimah knows how to make life stories better, too. Through dream editing gigs, sage leather jacket advice, and a weekly conversation about stories I never wanted to end, she helped me find my footing in the world. I’m so grateful she’s part of my story. I can’t wait to see where hers goes next.

– Erin Bartnett, former Senior Editor of Recommended Reading, Electric Literature

How can I ever properly thank Halimah for giving me the opportunity to work alongside her, a fellow cycling fanatic? It must have been the Tour’s legendary Alpe D’Huez that we watched on a summer evening in her Brooklyn home with a chilled glass of French rosé. What an invitation for the new kid on the team! What an honor to spend such time with one of the great literary minds of our era. Halimah’s impact on contemporary literature can’t be overstated. We’re so online now that digital publishing is taken for granted but Halimah saw before many others that top-quality writing could exist in the digital realm, and flourish there. We wouldn’t have the literary discourse and platforms we have today with Halimah’s vision, her Electric Literature. She is one of the most agile thinkers and creative editors that we’ve been lucky enough to have in our lifetime. She is the best mentor, the most loyal friend, the most equanimous leader. Halimah, all I can offer is the deepest gratitude for your work and friendship, and excitement for what’s forthcoming.

– Lucie Shelly, former Senior Editor of Recommended Reading, Electric Literature

Halimah’s deep knowledge of the craft of fiction, her brilliant savvy, her generosity, and her sheer belief in the power of a well-told story made EL/Recommended Reading both a special place to be a young editorial assistant, and what it is today. I’m grateful to have been even briefly in her orbit years ago, and know that whatever she does and makes next will be a tremendous gift to all of us.”

– Peter Kispert, former Editorial Assistant, Electric Literature

I’m part of the Electric Literature family because of Halimah Marcus. It’s because of her outreach and attentiveness to many of the writers/advocates across backgrounds that many of us have been able to call EL home and remain part of a growing community. Electric Literature has always believed in the transformative and galvanizing power of the written word to elevate conversations, call out systemic inequities, and revel in the beauty of work that brings us together on a continuum. And that belief has been held firm by those, like Halimah, who’ve been at the helm of EL over the years. Also, let’s keep it real that Halimah has a great knack for bringing many of us together; encouraging an atmosphere of openness, experimentation, and humility; as well as forging a signature presence in the way Electric Literature shows up in partnership with many brilliant editors, interns, administrators, and creatives. It’s hard to believe that the lynchpin of this publication—no EL is an entity unto itself—is departing. But we all know that her imprint will forever be part of what Electric Literature, and Halimah, means to the literature world at large.

– Jennifer Baker, former Contributing Editor, Electric Literature

Halimah has been my rock this past decade. One Story published her in 2013, but sometime later, after she became the Executive Director of EL, we began meeting (along with the amazing Karen Phillips), to talk about what it was to lead a scrappy nonprofit. The job brings, of course, a lot of joy, but it also comes with dark times and freakishly boring administrative puzzles to solve. Having someone who knew exactly what I was going through—a true peer—was a bit of magic. When things felt grim, when we got a grant or didn’t get a grant, when we faced cash flow challenges, had staffing changes, fundraising questions, or some unexpected bureaucratic nightmare, I knew I could call for a whine session, and Halimah would be there to listen, to laugh, and to help think of a better way to do things. I am so excited to see her shifting into the next phase of her professional life. I’m confident that she’ll remain both a friend and a stellar literary citizen. I know I’ve been lucky to have such a trusted and brilliant peer, and I know this isn’t goodbye, but damn, I’m going to miss her.   

– Maribeth Batcha, Co-Founder & Publisher, One Story

Long ago, I met up with Halimah Marcus and Benjamin Samuel for coffee to discuss the launch of Recommended Reading. At the time I knew Halimah as a student (from Brooklyn’s MFA program) and as an author (we published her fantastic piece “Running Alone” in One Story). The advice I gave that day was: most lit mags only last two to three years. You’ve got to figure out how to exist past the passion project phase if you want to make something that lasts. Issue No. 1 of Recommended Reading launched in 2012. It is now on Issue No. 730(!) and has not only survived but thrived, with dedicated readers around the world. A key ingredient to this success (and longevity) was Halimah. She was promoted to Executive Director of Electric Literature in 2016, and solidified the organization’s role as a leader in the indie publishing world, supporting and mentoring the next generation of writers in creating thoughtful, expressive, and vital literary art. It’s impossible to overemphasize the importance of the work she did while guiding Electric Lit over the past 10 years. I’m honored to call her both a literary colleague and friend, and am looking forward to watching her shift into her most exciting position yet, with the publication of her debut novel, SLUSH, in 2027. This is just the beginning for Halimah Marcus, and lucky us, we get to watch her shine.   

– Hannah Tinti, Co-Founder & Executive Editor, One Story

As someone who has worked at literary organizations, I know all the behind-the-scenes work that goes on to make them run day-to-day and am in awe of what Halimah has built at Electric Literature. I’m grateful, too, for the visibility she’s given me as an author in the pages of Recommended Reading and The Commuter. It’s been such an inspiration to watch her career trajectory and I’m looking forward to cheering her on as she publishes her debut next year.

– Lena Valencia, Director of Educational Programming, One Story

I submitted a risky short story to Halimah back in late 2014. Even though it was an anemic mashup of sentimentality and broken imagery, Halimah somehow divined what I was trying to do, and with signal patience, guided me through a revision. A story started to resolve from the chaos, and it appeared in Recommended Reading in February 2015. Three others followed over 10 years; Halimah performed variable editorial conjures on each, transforming them into real stories. I still don’t know how she does this. I just know I’ll truly miss Halimah’s sage blue-pencil sorcery, not to mention her kindness and affable brilliance. But soon the world will get to see Halimah as a novelist—I, for one, cannot wait for her debut novel, SLUSH, next year.  

– Bill Cotter, writer & author of Recommended Reading’s “The Promise of Hotels,” “Collision,” “The Good Room,” and “The Long Walk North”

As an editor, Halimah has a broad understanding of what makes a “good” story and maintains full-throated and generous support of EL’s vast stable (horse reference) of writers long after they appear in its pages. I’m fortunate to be one of them. EL published my story “North Of” 15 years ago, and they’ve supported me in big and small ways ever since. As a friend, Halimah shows up when you need her prepared with some additive accoutrement I didn’t know the event needed. We sometimes race to the perfect one-liner but she always wins because she runs and bikes like a thousand miles a day. I thank my stars for folks like her, who with their elegant ethics make the publishing industry a better, brighter place.

– Marie-Helene Bertino, writer & author of Recommended Reading’s “Lottie Woodside and the Diamond Dust Cher,” “Beautyland,”“Parakeet,” and “North Of”

Halimah is the kind of thoughtful, assiduous reader every writer hopes for. I think that comes both from her own talents as a writer and her compassion as a person. She sees the emotional life of the story and, with great kindness, great sensitivity tells you how to lift that emotional life into being. And that’s what stories are! Emotional life intensified into a singular moment. Working with her is a joy and a revelation.

– Leigh Newman, writer & author of Recommended Reading’s “Valley of the Moon” and “An Extravaganza in Two Acts”

Halimah served as my editor on two EL stories, most memorably on “Lockdown,” about the response to an active shooter incident at a high school (which is what “lockdown” meant back then). “Lockdown” is preoccupied with fear and uncertainty, but Halimah saw deeper themes at play, particularly in the power dynamics between the group of girls at the center of the story. Her sense of how to use these dynamics to tighten the structure, deepen the tension, and enhance the emotional connection between the girls took the story from good to great, and is just one example of Halimah’s remarkable skill as an editor and guide dragging fragile writerly egos toward their best selves.

– Mark Jacquemain, writer & author of Recommended Reading’s “Lockdown” and “Island”

Thank you, Halimah, for everything.

The post A Meaningful Chapter in a Continuing Story appeared first on Electric Literature.

Mexico City’s water system is the costliest and most absurd on the planet. A series of dams in neighboring states hydro-elevate water past drought-stricken communities before water arrives, polluted and chemically treated, into the drained lakebed that used to be Tenochtitlan, heart of the Aztec Empire, and what is now the overgrown and arid metropolis of Mexico City. From there the water is used before black, residual wastewater finally filters back to the countryside to grow food for the city.

In Diego Gerard Morrison’s darkly funny, picaresque, and hydro-ethnological stories, Upflow follows the path of water in and out of Mexico City. Scarcity, pollution, corruption and even amplified earthquakes rise through the ghostly lakebed of Mexico City’s past to manifest in the present. Through surrealist and historical romps spanning the Spanish conquest, the subsequent desiccation of the lake, as well as modern stories warning of the near future, Upflow’s prescient fictions embody the fluid nature of water and how it often eludes those who need it most.

Here’s the cover, designed by David Wojciechowski:

Diego Gerard Morrison: Upflow is a collection of hydro-ethnological stories that maps the trajectory of water from its source and into the city, a calculated narrative that became a personal story for me as an author as well. Raised in one of the rural communities that houses a dam that feeds the city with water, and then moving to Mexico City, a metropolitan area that houses over 24 million people, I witnessed the chaos that the water supply system creates—including magnified earthquakes as collateral damage—and felt embodied and mirrored in the paradox. Throughout the daily beholding of a parched, thirsty landscape that only contains water which it can’t use, the cover of Upflow provides the ideal sensory experience of the communities that see the water bypass them on the way to the city—thirsty land that yearns for a green that can only arrive with water that is visible but far from grasp, that doesn’t belong to those who live in its midst.

When we talk about water in and around Mexico City, the first idea that comes to mind is scarcity and misuse, but perhaps also the imagined and utopian possibility of abundance as yearning, especially in a location that used to be a basin and a lake system that historically housed water. When it came to developing a cover for Upflow and its complexities, I was thinking about how a flat, bidimensional image could capture this odd dichotomy on paper, how its dry surface could also project the longing for wetness and its myriad manifestations. Split/Lip designer David Wojciechowski subtly, and seemingly telepathically, laid down these conflicting ideas even with the first drafts of his cover design. The shade of anemic green as background provided a subliminal potential for fertility, but at the same time felt reined in, a hue that still portrayed insufficiency, the perennial lack of the vital liquid, the inconvenient feeling of it’s never enough. In addition to color, David underlined the concept of scarcity by adding a texture to the image that mimics the furrows and cracks of soil in times of drought, figures that might be taken as rivers run dry, projecting the vanished water of some past. As a final layer, which anchors the aforementioned ideas, David added the shape of the country of Mexico as a single drop of water, which seems to pop from the page, tilting the visual odds in the favor of scarcity, which runs as the meandering thread throughout the collection. The magic of David’s cover lies in the nuanced and minimalist combination of promise, struggle, the feeling of being forever on the brink of hydric abundance and what it means for those living amidst this zeitgeist.

David Wojciechowski: Diego’s book is all about water (past, present, and future) as it relates to Mexico City, and, while I like the idea of avoiding the obvious, I felt that water needed to be on his cover. I explored a lot of possibilities from photographs to aquifer maps to abstractions. The trick was making sure the connection between water and Mexico was clear. The cover clicked when I stumbled upon the work of 3D modeler Hammad Khan. He had created these 3D maps of countries in different materials, so I approached him about making one of Mexico. What struck me about the finished map was, isolated by itself, it looked so small. The isolation and the lack of rippling on the water made it look like a drop of water in the shape of a country instead of, say, an ocean in the shape of a country. It really helped capture the scarcity aspect that Diego’s book explores. From there, it was a matter of making sure the text maintained that sense of minimalism and scale.

The post Exclusive Cover Reveal of “Upflow” by Diego Gerard Morrison appeared first on Electric Literature.

A knife-sharp, deliciously sexy story about a young actress and the lengths she will go to fulfill her dream, under the guidance of a shadowy and eccentric auteur.

Natalie is prepared to give up acting forever before being abruptly cast as a leading role in maverick director Robert Langford’s secretive new horror film. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, so while Natalie has questions about the actress who mysteriously dropped out of the role before her, as well as how her disability will be portrayed in the film, she brushes them aside. Natalie joins the star-studded production for weeks of rigorous rehearsals that employ strange methods and arcane talismans, leading to dangerously deep bonds between cast members.

Once shooting starts on location at a remote Scottish castle overlooking the sea, a series of unsettling phenomena haunt the set, leading to whispers among the local population that the film is cursed. As filming progresses, Natalie debates whether she is using Robert’s film or it is using her, as well as what must be sacrificed in the service of art.

Hypnotic, disquieting, and surprising, Distortion is a modern gothic tale of seduction and survival.

Here’s the cover, designed by Eric Obenauf:

Kathryn Bromwich: There is a mismatch in the way we see ourselves, the way we wish to appear to the world, and the way the world actually perceives us. In Distortion, I wanted to explore the friction and contradictions between these states, thinking about the limits of perception both in ourselves and others. The world of cinema and acting was a natural setting for these questions: the elevation of reality into something grander and stranger, the often fraught behind-the-scenes underpinning the mirage, film’s seductive appeal speaking to a deep and primal part of us. In the dark of the auditorium, the outside world temporarily ceases to exist and we willingly enter a game of make-believe with the film-maker, whose vision becomes the lens through which we experience the universe they have created, the characters they have breathed life into.

The moment I saw the cover I knew it was right: the uncanny Hitchcockian mood, the delicate crack in the veneer, the reflection that isn’t quite as it appears. I have always been fascinated by artistic representations of doppelgängers: a splintering of the self that threatens to undermine your sense of identity, the aspects of yourself you have kept so carefully hidden rising up and breaking through to the surface. Visually, the cover echoes the book’s preoccupation with doubling, and the lies we tell ourselves in order to survive. Growing up with a disability, mirrors have long been a source of trepidation, lest I catch a glimpse of myself unguarded; to counteract internalized feelings of shame, I choose instead to believe in an idealized version of myself, a futile game of self-deception that distorts reality into a shape of my choosing. There are few books that explore beauty, desire, and disability. I hope Distortion will force readers to contend with preconceptions they may not even realize they have: make them look in the mirror and be honest with themselves about what they see.

Eric Obenauf: I love Kathryn’s work. There’s something both very filmic and very Shirley Jackson about her books, while being completely her own distinctive style. I always thought her first novel, At the Edge of the Woods, would make a tremendous movie. Now the new novel, Distortion, actually takes place on a film set. I designed the hardcover and paperback covers for At the Edge of the Woods, and I believe I wanted them to invoke movie posters. The hardback design wants to convey a timeless, classic story, and a paperback thriller from the mid-20th century, when the book is set, while the paperback wants to be an A24 movie.

For Distortion, much of the design inspiration that Kathryn shared with me felt more contemporary while conveying a sense of the uncanny. There is the doubling in the story that Kathryn mentions, which felt important to represent visually, and while the book is a psychological thriller, it’s also a love story, and about self-perception, and acceptance. I really love the end design. It’s nice when it works out, isn’t it?”

The post Exclusive Cover Reveal of “Distortion” by Kathryn Bromwich appeared first on Electric Literature.

When a volcano suddenly emerges in the middle of his family’s Alabama cattle pasture, young Charlie Melvin is confronted with a promise his grandfather once made—that something extraordinary would rise from the land.

As Charlie comes of age, he wrestles with the meaning of the volcano and the legacy of his family. His story unfolds through evocative vignettes that explore love, loss, responsibility, and faith.

Graceful, tender, and emotionally resonant, Bradley Sides’ The Volcano Keeper is a moving portrait of a young man navigating grief while discovering the quiet miracles woven into the natural world.

Here is the cover, designed by Chiana Royal:

Bradley Sides: When I write, I almost always begin with an image. These images guide so much of my narratives–and, honestly, I’d be in trouble without them.

Not too long ago, I was in a writing workshop, and we were asked to create a scene from childhood. Here’s what I came up with: “I’m on my Alabama family’s back porch. Covering an algae-stained pond, there’s this big, top-heavy tree, full of all kinds of greenness extending from untamed branches, with its roots angled from the dirt and mud. There are mallard ducks flapping about under the shade, obsessively quacking. Leaves and feathers twirl about, like stray clouds. Cows abound at the periphery, and bringing it together, there’s this strange and soothing mix of sounds. Crickets. Tractors. Wind brushing against hay. Bullfrogs splashing.” As you can see, even with something so short, it began with an image. After I had that porch and, then, the pond, I could open up that memory. I could make it come alive, and I could make it real.

Chiana, the designer for my new book, The Volcano Keeper, which mixes the Rural South with magical realism, asked me a few questions about what I might like to see on the cover. I didn’t think I could offer much help, but I approached the process like I do my writing. I thought of images. Specifically, I began to list images that are heavy within The Volcano Keeper. I came up with several things, and I sent her the list.

Not too long later, I received the beautiful cover. It includes many of the images I suggested. The back jacket even features a cow that looks just like one named Rosie that I used to show at fairs across Alabama when I was younger, which makes the cover extra special. There is such vibrancy, too. It pops with life. The Volcano Keeper is, at the end of the day, about love–about how grief comes from a grand form of love. It’s also about how we find healing and peace, again, from love. The bright colors Chiana uses perfectly showcase the heart of this book. To me, it’s perfect.

Chiana Royal: Working on The Volcano Keeper by Bradley Sides was just as fun as it looks. The bright colors, detailed motifs, and segmented composition all played into the themes of the novel. . . also ensuring it would stand out on the bookshelf!

My design process is a collaborative one. To gain insight into Bradley’s novel, I sent over a questionnaire. Back came his design preferences and a list of motifs—the tractor, cow, firefly, and of course, the volcano. The “aha moment” came to me while flipping through one of my art history books and landing on Andy Warhol’s famous Campbell’s Soup Cans.

I particularly love the way pop art transforms everyday familiarities into icons. By drawing on the high-contrast palettes and the graphic punch of the mid-century pop art movement, I created a design that evokes The Volcano Keeper’s vibrant setting and magical realism.

The goal was to give a brief glimpse of the story, peeking through at hints of the novel’s world while mirroring the vignette format.

This cover has definitely made it on my list of favorites, and I hope to explore more modern art-inspired designs in the future!

The post Exclusive Cover Reveal of “The Volcano Keeper” by Bradley Sides appeared first on Electric Literature.

Blow Yourself Up is a story of first love across cities, spanning the decade that transformed the internet.

In the halls of an elite East Coast high school, Arjun and Payal fall in love as the world begins to tilt toward the digital. Over the next eight years, their trajectories diverge as sharply as the fractured internet itself. Payal ascends to the dizzying, dopamine-fueled heights of New York’s influencer economy, finding fame on Boost, a looping video app that is as rewarding as it is demanding. Meanwhile, in a cavernous office in Chicago, Arjun, a musician whose dreams have quieted, now cleans up the same platform’s debris, moderating the internet’s darkest videos. When a brutal act of political violence against a beloved musician goes viral, this rip in reality forces the pair to confront the motivations of the platforms they inhabit. A sharp exploration of creative ambition and the multifarious nature of identity, this is a story of love in the time of infinite scroll and a look at what we sacrifice to be seen.

Here is the cover, designed by Matt Avery:

Ankur Thakkar: This novel is a love story (and so, a ghost story), told from both characters’ perspectives, a will-they-won’t-they narrative spanning from the era of the first smartphones to when the internet scrambled our brains. It’s about making a creative life as the internet changed what creativity means. There aren’t obvious visuals for this story—rather, there are, but I wasn’t interested in them. The designer provided several great directions, but this figure immediately stood out. I couldn’t have dreamt it up myself, but it felt so right. There’s the tension between digital and analog life, of identities coming into being, and the undercurrent of yearning that guides both characters. I would have been equally drawn to the figure if it were stenciled on a wall, used as an album cover, or as a posthumous symbol. I’m so grateful to have this horny emo book reflected through Matt Avery’s palette.

Matt Avery: For this cover, we wanted to convey a few themes. The novel has two main characters that are very much online. But we didn’t want any overt references to social media or the internet. Another question was how to channel or play off the main title (without actually illustrating a “blow up”). The author and publisher provided a lot of promising suggestions and I was able to create or find a good number of options that felt like they resonated with the text. During that process, I remembered a couple figures I had drawn previously that I might be able to work with to suggest the characters’s grappling with identity—as well as their online experience. However, an expressed preference at the outset was for “no people/figures.” I understood why—and at the same time felt that by layering the drawings we wouldn’t depict a fixed identity and would provide a sufficiently open-ended reading. Are we seeing two people? One person transmogrifying? Or a digital will-o’-the-wisp? You’ll have to read the novel to (not) find out.

The post Exclusive Cover Reveal of “Blow Yourself Up” by Ankur Thakkar appeared first on Electric Literature.

This is my last fundraising letter to you as Executive Director. In my 10 years in this role, and 16 at Electric Literature, I have seen funding for the arts gutted. In 2025, we received $57,000 in grant funding, compared to $127,000 the previous year. This $70,000 reduction was a result of the Trump Administration dismantling the NEA and attacking artistic expression. As an indirect result, other funders have been spread thin and grant amounts have been broadly reduced. 

I wish we lived in a country where there was more federal, state, and organizational support for the arts. Maybe one day we will. In the meantime, it’s on all of us to step up. Last year, you did. Individual donations to Electric Literature went from $155,000 in 2024 to $215,000 in 2025—a $60,000 increase that nearly covered EL’s grant losses.

One of the hardest lessons I’ve learned as Executive Director is to ask for what EL needs. This sounds simple, but for years I was inclined to ask for less—to ask for the amount that sounded palatable, or seemed achievable—and to make up the difference with debt and sacrifice. It took our community stepping up last year to teach me that getting what we need is possible.

Your support also taught me that caring for Electric Literature is not a responsibility I shouldered alone. As a nonprofit, Electric Literature does not belong to any one person; it belongs to all of us. To the staff, to the thousands of writers we publish and pay, and to the millions of readers who read their work for free every day.

Electric Literature is undergoing an exciting transition as I step away and other staff members take the reins. We’ve set a more ambitious goal for this spring fundraiser so that EL’s new leadership has the security to face whatever challenges lie ahead. Their vision for Electric Literature is fresh and inspiring and worthy of your investment. Together, we are strong, and the future of literature is bright.

I’m asking you, once more, to support this organization we all love before the April 15 deadline. We’re still over $20,000 away from our $35,000 target—maybe this goal is ambitious, but it’s what we need, so it’s what we’re asking for. Time is running out; please give generously.

Gratefully yours, 

Halimah Marcus
Executive Director

The post Electric Literature Belongs to All of Us appeared first on Electric Literature.