On the first day of class in September 2014, my undergraduate students stared at me, surprised. They were expecting an instructor who looked more conventional, more white, more male. Yet there I was, a butch-of-center Black woman, with a boyish haircut and a men’s button-down shirt, teaching their first English class at New York City […]
When he was a little boy, Jeb Coleman would pick at the scabs on his knees and elbows, imagining how his daddy would suffer before dying. The old man would often get drunk on Four Roses whiskey and start itching to punch everything in sight. Jeb took the brunt of it. His muh, too, when […]
Man of the House by Kim Coleman Foote
Kimbilio Fellows Amina Gautier and Dahlma Llanos Figueroa are among the inaugural cohort of Letras Boricuas Fellows – 20 Puerto Rican writers whose dynamic work spans genres including fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and children’s literature. A first-of-its-kind fellowship, Letras Boricuas was created to identify, elevate, and amplify the voices of emerging and established Puerto Rican writers on […]
Colonial Conditions Brandon Taylor THE ELECTION WAS ON TUESDAY, but first, the Halloween bonfire. When Carson and Roma arrived, Roma discreetly removed her mask and said that she had to find the host, who had spent most of the late summer and fall cycling across the Mountain West. Carson knew this because the host had […]
Behind My Back A story by Lisa Braxton My hairdresser has been talking behind my back. She’s been doing it for years. This might sound strange, but I actually don’t mind. In fact, I welcome it. It all started years ago when I was new to town and visited a salon looking for someone to […]
Dr. Sandman BY DEESHA PHILYAW Dr. B, what’s that called again?” From his hospital bed, Cody pointed his T’Challa action figure toward the monitor behind Reg. Reg laughed. “You just like to hear me say it. This time, I want you to say it with me. Ready?” Together, they enunciated each syllable in “polysomnographic monitor,” […]
Congratulations to the Kimbilio Fellows who are nominees for the 2021 Hurston/Wright Awards! In Debut Fiction: Stephen Wright for his novel The Coyotes of Carthage Deesha Philyaw for her collection The Secret Lives of Church Ladies In Poetry: Rachel Eliza Griffiths for her collection of Seeing the Body: Poems Kimbilio Fellow Amina Gautier served as […]
Kimbilio congratulates Denne Michele Norris on being appointed Editor-in-Chief at Electric Literature. Read more about her appointment at the Electric Lit website.
IN THE CITY OF DRUNK BUTTERFLIES Tara Campbell Our flight was already erratic. You smiled, commenting on our fluttering path, admiring us as beautiful pollinators, but not as someone you would want behind the wheel of a car. So a bunch of us got together and said what the hell, let’s lean into this thing […]
