“The Suit,” published in the Spring 2019 issue of American Literary Review, is an essay by Julie Marie Wade in which Wade questions, but never resolves, what it means for her to be born in a female body.
Much of the essay is set in scene and centered around a tight-fitting suit that Wade’s mother is committed to squeezing her husband—Wade’s father—into. When Wade’s image-obsessed mother is not home, her father splurges on James Bond films and hotdogs and explains to Wade that “every man wants to be James Bond,” even though he doesn’t believe he will ever be similar to the handsome agent.
Meanwhile, Wade’s mother encourages Wade to nominate her as “Most Inspirational Mother,” via a department store writing contest. Between scenes, Wade gives us drafts of her contest submission where she wrestles with representing her mother in “equal parts nice and true.” Wade tries to define her mother as a woman who “can see through who people appear to be and identify who they might be.” In these drafts, we understand that although Wade praises her mother, she also examines how her family relationships influence the way she approaches her own identity.
Through metaphor, shopping with her parents, and contest drafts, this coming-of-age essay is a story that explores gender identity in a home that explicitly encourages traditional roles.
Review by Alyssa Witbeck Alexander
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In the Fall 2019 issue of 
Today we’re bringing you a tall stack of award-winning fiction and poetry books published this past month. Click Read More to find the full list.
The Fall 2019 issue of Carve Magazine features the winners of the 2019 Raymond Carver Contest, guest-judged by Claire Fuller. These can be found online, as well as in the print issue. An interview with each writer can be found after their stories in the print edition.
Do you ever find yourself feeling out of sorts, unable to tell if you’re still human? 
Between October 2016 and February 2017, 
Each quarter, 3Elements Review presents three elements, and all three must be used in the story or poem in order to be considered for publication. 
Understorey Magazine
Poetry Winner
I have a friend who likes to order items on a menu that are sound fun to say when we go out to eat. That’s how I first came to try calamari and bibimbap. It’s also a way to discover great new lit mags, like 
Dogwood Literary Award in Fiction
In the latest issue, 
Cutting, strange, and daring are the words 
The editorial team draws from the vast experience of three co-editors and founders, Caroline Chavatel [pictured], Emma DePanise and John A. Nieves, and one interview editor, Ellery Beck. Caroline, a PhD candidate at Georgia State University won The Laurel Review Midwest Chapbook Contest for her first chapbook, White Noises. Emma is an MFA candidate at Purdue University who recently won an AWP Intro Journal Award and the Pablo Neruda Prize in Poetry. John A. Nieves is Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in English at Salisbury University. His first book, Curio, won the Elixir Press Annual Judges Prize, and Ellery Beck is an undergraduate at Salisbury University and was a winner of the Portland Review AWP Flash prize.
With so much of their own work to focus on, the editors explain their generous desire to start up a journal: “We all deeply believe in contemporary poetry and love the idea of getting poems into the world that stretch the way we understand it. We want to help share daring and finely crafted work with the literary world. We also deeply admire many literary magazines and we wanted to become a part of that important community.” [Emma DePanise pictured]
The editors have a clear intention for readers, “We want poems that try to understand the world anew. We want poems that make us have to go back to them, to read them aloud, to tell others about them.” Isn’t that the best kind of poetry? Among those who meet the criteria for the first two issues: JK Anowe, Jack B. Bedell, Ryan Clark, Charlotte Covey, Satya Dash, Alejandro Ruiz del Sol, Jordan Durham, Sneha Subramanian Kanta, Nancy Mitchell, Anand Prahlad, Nicole Rollender, Christine Spillson, Bob Sykora, Alexandra Teague, and Matthew Woodman. Chelsea Dingman and Matty Layne Glasgow are poets featured in interviews, and Maggie Delaney and Katie Chavatel have been featured artists. [John A. Nieves pictured]
Published by the Black Earth Institute, dedicated to re-forging the links between art, spirit, and society, the May 2019 issue of 
Adding an interview almost every month, 
Cutthroat: A Journal of the Arts
Ashley Morrow Hermsmeier
First Prize $1000
The Winner of the 2018 Orison Poetry Prize was published earlier this month, and readers can now find As One Fire Consumes Another by John Sibley Williams at the 
Jason Splichal, Founder and Co-Editor-in-Chief of 
In January, Anhinga Press released the winner of their 
There was a lot going on at the end of 2018, so maybe you missed out on some of the award-winning books published toward the tail end of the year. Don’t worry—we’ve got you covered.
Subscribers to 
Since there is always a lag time created between contemporary news issues and publications of poetry, 
1st place goes to Marian Palaia [pictured] of San Francisco, California, who wins $2500 for “Wild Things.” Her story will be published in Issue 106, the final issue of Glimmer Train Stories.
Poetry
Anette Gendler
The Fall/Winter 2018 issue of