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Somebody Please Tell Me Who I Am
1The knife came out of nowhere.Ben Bright sprang back. His arm knocked the weapon into the shadows and nearly clocked his best friend, Niko Petropoulos.“Nervous, are we?” Niko said.Ben… More
Top PEN Prize to Honor Nasrin Sotoudeh, Jailed Iranian Lawyer, Writer, Activist
PEN American Center today named Nasrin Sotoudeh, a writer, lawyer, and leader of the women’s and children’s rights movement in Iran, as the recipient of its 2011 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith… More
The Red Room: Stories of Trauma in Contemporary Korea
Two little girls with short hair that’s cut straight across the back sit in the yard, heads touching, peering intently at the ground. They’re trying to catch ants. If… More
War and Peace
In Fall 2000, I was beginning my second year of teaching in South Los Angeles. I was pumped up. Even though I am a White girl who grew up… More
Rob Spillman: Eye of the Outsider
James M. Cain’s Mildred Pierce, set in Southern California at the time when the roaring ’20s was turning into the low, depressed growl of the ’30s, captures an era… More
Ghost in a Red Hat
Ghost in a Red Hat —these cabbages under full sail, these ancient walls smothered in ivy and wisteria with its purple froth: in my middle age and sensible girthI rememberstarving.I… More
Les Etoiles de Sidi Moumen
Quand les vivants pensent à moi, ils m’ouvrent comme un soupirail sur leur monde. Alors je m’y coule en douce, sans faire le moindre bruit. Je me garde de… More
September Fata Morgana
Our storydangles in the air in the nightsister for you do not end it its silken thread holds our life invisibly in the dark he who cuts itneeds not… More
Introduction to 2011 PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories
Every year, after the long process ends of choosing the twenty PEN/O. Henry Prize stories from the many submitted, friends ask me what trends were revealed by all that… More
Please Look After Mom
It’s been one week since Mom went missing.The family is gathered at your eldest brother Hyong-chol’s house, bouncing ideas off each other. You decide to make flyers and hand… More
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