Despite the fact that it takes place in 1871, The Illness Lesson feels eerily contemporary.
Animal Instincts
Everything feels like a death. I climb the tree and my husband hands me the bird.
Delusion: A short story by Ibrahim N. Al-Huraiyes translated from the Arabic
Pointing toward the carousel ride, where the child’s attention was fixed, he asked, “Why don’t you play with the other kids?”
Review: Bird Summons by Leila Aboulela
This novel is at its best in its moments of careful consideration of the anxieties of its main characters.
Womxn’s History Month Special Issue Fiction Runner Up: The Genie Asks For Too Much
The man’s first wish: a job where he could earn promotions without kissing up to his manager or navigating office politics. A job where he needed only hard work, perseverance, and a respectable amount of smarts to achieve society’s definition…
Womxn’s History Month Special Issue: Winners & Honorable Mentions Announced
Columbia Journal is excited to announce the winners and finalists of our inaugural Womxn’s History Month Special Issue, in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art. We want to thank everyone who submitted for creating art and sharing their work with us,…
Womxn’s History Month Special Issue Fiction Winner: Plumtree
There is an old lady in a forest who sells lightning by the bottle. Drop five dollars and you can strike whoever you choose.
Womxn’s History Month Special Issue Fiction Runner Up: Come Disastrous Water/Rise O Deadly Sea
As she collected the fish, her foot slid into the water. Her coral bloomed, lifted off her skin. What had once been neon now glowed and pulsed color, like a cuttlefish.
Review: Writers & Lovers by Lily King
King is able to capture the particular kind of youth Casey is struggling with perfectly: one where she hasn’t lived anywhere with a dishwasher since high school, where she does not want to be infertile yet also does not want…
Important Terminology For Military Age Males
or, Cassinga—as in Operation Reindeer; as in there is no difference between civilians and soldiers when it comes to the kaffirs: “There are only targets and all that matters is whether they’re moving or still,” Pietermaritzburg said when the news…
Review: Track Changes by Sayed Kashua
Kashua explores the ideas of migration, language, and nationality through a perpetual internal monologue that at times, seems to give away too much of the author’s hand.
Flash Fiction: “On Becoming Anti-Depressed” & “Sense/Reference”
I tried micro-dosing mortared pills in squares of toilet paper, and when that didn’t work I bought an expensive machine to re-encapsulate the ground-up chemicals.