“All the boys knew about that rotten spot,” describes the narrator of The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead’s searing novel set in Jim Crow-era Florida. The boys,...
Review: Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok
More than a fast-paced thriller, Searching for Sylvie Lee is a meditation on dislocation, the gulf that separates generations of migrants, and the price of...
An ‘Austere, Whispering Power’: An Interview with Colm Tóibín
This scholarly and writerly interview probes relationships presented by Colm Tóibín between art and living, psychology and fiction, form and national identities, fiction and politics,...
Fall 2019 Contest Now Open for Submissions!
The editors are delighted to officially announce that the Columbia Journal Fall Contest is now open for submissions in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and, for the...
On Mortality and Myth: An Interview with Chaya Bhuvaneswar
Chaya Bhuvaneswar talks about her book White Dancing Elephants, and her writing as it evolves within and beyond myth, time, and self-love.
The Tail by Luigi Malerba Translated from Italian
The following short story comes from Luigi Malerba's posthumous collection Sull’orlo del cratere (2018, On The Edge of the Crater).
Descant
He wasn’t ready to relinquish the life they shared, to believe another human had been made who understood him as well as her.
The Overpowering Urge to Love: An Interview with Joshua Furst
I was looking for a way into the history of the counterculture in America and how it moved—into my generation and beyond.
Nights in Lebanon by Jung Young Su Translated from Korean
This short story by Jung Young Su has been translated from Korean by Anton Hur.
Seafood
“Seafood” by Sophie Ohrn is a Fiction Finalist in Columbia Journal’s 2019 Spring Contest, judged by Alexandra Kleeman.
Evaporations
"Evaporations" by Nicholas Russell is a Finalist in Columbia Journal's 2019 Spring Contest, judged by Alexandra Kleeman.
Striving for the Sublime: An Interview with Abbigail N. Rosewood
Some immigrants lean toward the roots, others toward the flowers, some rest in the stalk. This doubling of self can destroy the person.