Jennifer Acker's Blog
November 20, 2025
November 2025 Poetry Feature: My Wallonia: Welcoming Dylan Carpenter
DYLAN CARPENTER
I have heard the symptoms play upon world’s corroded lyre, / Pictured my Wallonia and seen the waterfall afire. // I have seen us pitifully surrender, one by one, the Wish, / Frowning at a technocrat who stammers—Hör auf, ich warne dich! // Footless footmen, goatless goatherds, songless sirens, to the last, Privately remark—
I have heard the symptoms play upon world’s corroded lyre, / Pictured my Wallonia and seen the waterfall afire. // I have seen us pitifully surrender, one by one, the Wish, / Frowning at a technocrat who stammers—Hör auf, ich warne dich! // Footless footmen, goatless goatherds, songless sirens, to the last, Privately remark—
November 19, 2025
Nails, Tooth, and Tub
TOLA SYLVAN
And, what’s more, they are painted with tiny small yellow and white dots, which, if you looked closely, invading her intimacy, you might discern to be daffodils, daylilies, daisies, or rose. They are feminine, no matter what. They say: here is the outside of myself, my hardshell exterior, with its wily and yet decipherable messages.
And, what’s more, they are painted with tiny small yellow and white dots, which, if you looked closely, invading her intimacy, you might discern to be daffodils, daylilies, daisies, or rose. They are feminine, no matter what. They say: here is the outside of myself, my hardshell exterior, with its wily and yet decipherable messages.
November 18, 2025
Corazon
ISABEL CRISTINA LEGARDA
The cemetery had inhabitants, and not just those whose descendants had laid them to rest. Two old men were living on the Ordoñez plot. Next to the abandoned Llora mausoleum, a family of four had pitched their makeshift tent. As more squatters crept in, to whom the administrators of the Cementerio de Manila turned a blind eye.
The cemetery had inhabitants, and not just those whose descendants had laid them to rest. Two old men were living on the Ordoñez plot. Next to the abandoned Llora mausoleum, a family of four had pitched their makeshift tent. As more squatters crept in, to whom the administrators of the Cementerio de Manila turned a blind eye.
How to Read Sanskrit in Morningside Heights
STEPHEN NARAIN
Well, my brother, we ain’t better than nobody. My mamma told me that. Daddy. But we must acknowledge—by Grace or accident—we found something. Discovered something. Touch something. You certainly did.
Well, my brother, we ain’t better than nobody. My mamma told me that. Daddy. But we must acknowledge—by Grace or accident—we found something. Discovered something. Touch something. You certainly did.
Yellowed Pages from the Front
ALEXANDRA LYTTON REGALADO
Upon opening the letter and reading its contents, I vomited. Not because of the past months’ meager and unappetizing fare, but because of lines that relayed a desperate, pathetic situation, and spoke of the destitution in which my mother found herself, and the costly medical treatment required to remove the series of tumors thickening her gut like knots along a rope. And I could do nothing to alleviate the situation.
Upon opening the letter and reading its contents, I vomited. Not because of the past months’ meager and unappetizing fare, but because of lines that relayed a desperate, pathetic situation, and spoke of the destitution in which my mother found herself, and the costly medical treatment required to remove the series of tumors thickening her gut like knots along a rope. And I could do nothing to alleviate the situation.
Sandwich
BETO CARADEPIEDRA
It was hard to stand out in the family alone. Benito’s parents, tías and tíos, valued children more than they valued money. They valued mothers more than they did models.
It was hard to stand out in the family alone. Benito’s parents, tías and tíos, valued children more than they valued money. They valued mothers more than they did models.
Read Excerpts by Finalists for the Restless Books Kellman Prize for Immigrant Literature 2025
NEWS AND EVENTS
We are thrilled to announce the finalists chosen for this year’s Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing in fiction. This year, 2025, marks the tenth anniversary of the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing, which supports immigrant writers whose work examines how immigration shapes our lives, our communities, and our world.
We are thrilled to announce the finalists chosen for this year’s Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing in fiction. This year, 2025, marks the tenth anniversary of the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing, which supports immigrant writers whose work examines how immigration shapes our lives, our communities, and our world.
November 14, 2025
What We’re Reading: November 2025
ELSA LYONS
A book-length essay divided in nine parts, it’s a barrage of generalizations—but generalizations rendered in startlingly precise prose. Concepts that explode into cascades of images. El Laberinto is not a prose poem. But Paz, first and foremost a poet, can’t help but see words the way a poet does.
A book-length essay divided in nine parts, it’s a barrage of generalizations—but generalizations rendered in startlingly precise prose. Concepts that explode into cascades of images. El Laberinto is not a prose poem. But Paz, first and foremost a poet, can’t help but see words the way a poet does.
November 13, 2025
The Reading Life: How to Teach Your Introductory Workshop in Fiction the Day After Trump’s Re-election
KAREN SHEPHARD
Lay out how once a nation is defined by its virtue rather than by its potential, politics becomes a discussion of good and evil rather than possible solutions to real problems. And how if you once believed that everything always turns out well in the end, you can be persuaded that nothing turns out well in the end.
Lay out how once a nation is defined by its virtue rather than by its potential, politics becomes a discussion of good and evil rather than possible solutions to real problems. And how if you once believed that everything always turns out well in the end, you can be persuaded that nothing turns out well in the end.
November 10, 2025
Translating Toward Possibility: Sarah Faux Interviews Mariam Rahmani
MARIAM RAHMANI
I have given myself permission to take up more space. For a lot of writers, that is actually the gift that they give themselves. I knew going into Liquid that I was buying time to some extent. There was something about my prior book that wasn't exactly where I wanted it, so that book wasn't shopped around to editors at all. I needed time.
I have given myself permission to take up more space. For a lot of writers, that is actually the gift that they give themselves. I knew going into Liquid that I was buying time to some extent. There was something about my prior book that wasn't exactly where I wanted it, so that book wasn't shopped around to editors at all. I needed time.
