Prairie Schooner

@prairie-schooner

Literary Journal of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln: 100 years of poetry, essays, fiction, & reviews. Posts by staff & interns

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Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· 7d

"Dorothea Tanning—Hôtel du Pavot, Chambre 202 (1970-73)" by @rochellehurt.bsky.social appears in our latest issue, Summer 2026: On the Body. See the full table of contents, read excerpts, and order your copy: prairieschooner.unl.edu/issue/summer...

when i was born, there was a door in my heart that closed. this is not a metaphor. you had one too. from right to left, it let blood through. foramen ovale, a self-sealing hole open only in utero, before the lungs are used. two empty pink rooms. i want to know what it looked like in there, before breath moved in. birth as interruption. it was someone else's desire that put me here, across a boundary.

—Rochelle Hurt, Dorothea Tanning—Hôtel du Pavot, Chambre 202 (1970-73)"

Summer 2026
On the Body
Prairie Schooner
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Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· 9d

Jordan Bolden Majewski's essay "Crown" appears in our latest issue, Summer 2026: On the Body. See the full table of contents, read excerpts, and order your copy: prairieschooner.unl.edu/issue/summer...

I'm going to tell this fast, or rather, I'm going to attempt to trace the small beads of pain that built over eight years until l found myself on the other side of a gulf I cannot come back from.

—Jordan Bolden Majewski, "Crown"

Summer 2026
On the Body
Prairie Schooner
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Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· 12d

N.T. Arévalo's story "The Quiet Is" appears in our latest issue, Summer 2026: On the Body. See the full table of contents, read excerpts, and order your copy: prairieschooner.unl.edu/issue/summer...

The people here leave me alone in the night. My body relaxes enough to go into the catheter, pass tension and pain they pricked all day and, finally, ease, slump, nap, laugh. Warmth as a solitary peace covers my chest, like a soft touch. My antennae nap. It is light, what the nerves do, to make up for pain and potholes from limb to limb, but I feel held, gripped gently, and it's enough. In their tiny currents, I am connected to something I cannot see, but l name it love.
—N.T. Arévalo, "The Quiet Is"

Summer 2026
On the Body
Prairie Schooner
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Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· 13d

Submissions to our 2026 Summer Creative Nonfiction Contest close in just two days! Submit your essays by 11:59 pm CDT on August 1 for a chance to win $1000 and publication in our Spring 2027 issue. Submit your work now: prairieschooner.submittable.com/submit/12826...

Contest Submissions Closing
Prairie Schooner Summer Creative Nonfiction Contest
Deadline: August 1
Winner receives $1000 + publication
Guest Judge: Orenda Fink

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· 14d

"The First Mermaid Speaks of Fish and Men" by Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné appears in our latest issue, Summer 2026: On the Body. See the full table of contents, read excerpts, and order your copy: prairieschooner.unl.edu/issue/summer...

I have been buried broken in shallow mud.
I have slept for lifetimes but I am not done here.
No boning knife, no spear, no motor blade
can cut out my memory.

The first scars are older than limestone,
older than the island,
older than all your dull words for pain.
I have healed and healed
until I am a rough faceless thing.
It is true what they say.

—Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné, "The First Mermaid Speaks of Fish and Men"

Summer 2026
On the Body

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Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· 26d

Allison C. Macy-Steines's essay "Ampersand, Revisited" appears in our newest issue, Summer 2026: On the Body. See the full table of contents, read excerpts, and order a copy: prairieschooner.unl.edu/issue/summer...

Nowadays what's gone is gone before I can remember it. I want a snare for catching care, attention, presence, and tenderness, so can fold inside of them again in the future like folded notes or the hollows of a tree or the lumpy cushion in the corner of the couch.
—Allison C. Macy-Steines, "Ampersand, Revisited"

Summer 2026
On the Body
Prairie Schooner
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Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Jul 10

Liz Breazeale's short story "Model Woman" appears in our new Summer 2026 issue. See the full table of contents, read excerpts, and order a copy: prairieschooner.unl.edu/digital-scho...

Her first doctor's appointment was in a skyscraper she walked past every morning, the lobby all clean, pale stone, cool and well lit.
She had to scan a pass at security, walk past a water feature topped by a woman on a pile of rocks, smiling and pulling a man up the side. Chills shivered down Claire's spine; that woman was her now.
Pulling the world up.
—Liz Breazeale, "Model Woman"

Summer 2026
On the Body
Prairie Schooner
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Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Jul 6

Contributors include Ifeona Fulani, Kimberly Ann Priest, Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné, Rochelle Hurt, Jordan Bolden Majewski, and Dante Di Stefano, among many others.

Contributors
Summer 2026
Volume 100 Number 2

Ifeona Fulani
Angie Romines
Prosper Iféányi
Meg McManama
Shelby Handler
Maggie Queeney
Lo Naylor
Stephanie Horvath
Taneesh Kaur
Mickie Kennedy
Amanda Hadlock
Shane Neilson
Pamela Manasco
JeFF Stumpo
Mariam Meetra
Seth Leeper
Erin Russell
Sabrina Nouri
Rose DeMaris
Gus Peterson
Samantha Cosentino
Han VanderHart
Nozhan Resalati
Rochelle Hurt
Claire Denson
Rahul Mehta
P. Q. R. Anderson
Izzy Casey
Lan Lesmeister
N.T. Arévalo
Dorsey Craft
Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné
Liam Strong
Ranudi Gunawardena
Julia Kolchinsky
Lenna Mendoza
Jenniter Veech
Bill Brymer
Jordan Bolden Majewski
Penelope Song
Courtney DuChene
Dante Di Stefano
Lana Reeves
Genna Gardini
Carlos Andrés Gómez
Claudia Owusu
Amy Miller
Panika M. C. Dillon
Rachel Cochran
Allison C. Macy-Steines
Liz Breazeale
Emily Van Kley
Rosalind Guy
Timothy Schaffert
Sarah Renee Beach
Morgan Hamill
Mary Brinker Post
Kimberly Ann Priest

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Jul 6

Summer 2026: On the Body is now available! Our latest issue features poetry, fiction, and essays on body image, health, beauty, biology, hearts & heartbreak, and more. Read excerpts and order now: prairieschooner.unl.edu/issue/summer...

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Jul 1

Submissions to the 2026 Summer CNF Contest are open for only one more month! Submit by August 1 to be considered for the $1000 prize and publication in the Spring 2027 issue. Read guidelines and submit: prairieschooner.unl.edu/submit/creat...

Prairie Schooner
Summer Creative Nonfiction Contest
Deadline: August 1
Winner receives $1000 and publication

Guest Judge: Orenda Fink

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Jun 15

"Window Seat" by Kelan Nee appears in our Spring 2026 issue on Loneliness. See the full table of contents, read excerpts, and order a copy here: prairieschooner.unl.edu/issue/spring...

In the water, in the heat,
with fields and fields
running beside me, the forgetting

came, easy as a lie: you
and everything else. It was
good to be empty,
and see the thin line

of light edge out along
the water, though
it was just a smudge moon
above.

—Kelan Nee, "Window Seat"

Spring 2026
The Loneliness Issue
Prairie Schooner
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Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Jun 3

With our summer issue now at the printer, we're offering a special deal on our current issue. From now until June 21, any purchase of The Loneliness Issue will include one free back issue. That's $12 for two issues - shipping included! Order from our online store: marketplace.unl.edu/prairieschoo...

Farewell, Spring Sale!
Prairie Schooner
2 issues for $12!

For a limited time, any purchase of our current issue will include one free back issue. Offer expires June 21.

prairieschooner.unl.edu

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· May 18

Submissions are now OPEN for our Summer Creative Nonfiction Contest! One winner receives $1000 & publication in the Spring 2027 issue. All essays are considered for publication. This year's judge is @orendafink.bsky.social. Read guidelines & submit: prairieschooner.submittable.com/submit/12826...

Now Open!

Prairie Schooner
Summer Creative Nonfiction Contest
Winner receives $1000 + publication

Submissions open
May 15 - August 1

Guest judge: Orenda Fink
author of The Witch's Daughter

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· May 5

Adam O. Davis's poem "The States" appears in our latest issue. @cubistoctopus.bsky.social See the full table of contents, read excerpts, and order a copy of the Loneliness issue here: prairieschooner.unl.edu/issue/spring...

How many times? How many? How many goddamned times can a person bloom?
—Adam O. Davis, "The States"

Spring 2026
The Loneliness Issue
Prairie Schooner
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Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· May 4

Opening soon: submissions to the 2026 Summer Creative Nonfiction Contest! One winning essay will receive $1000 & publication. Submit May 15 - August 1. For guidelines and to read previous winning essays, visit prairieschooner.unl.edu/submit/creat...

Opening soon!

Prairie Schooner
Summer Creative Nonfiction Contest

Winner receives $1000 and publication

Submissions open May 15 - August 1

Guest judge: Orenda Fink
author of The Witch's Daughter

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Apr 30

David Hernandez's poem "Self-Portrait without a Body" appears in our recent Spring 2026 issue on Loneliness. Read the full poem: prairieschooner.unl.edu/excerpt/self...

It happened to me frequently
there at the farmhouse.
Whenever I brushed her,
the bristles' shush-shush, there
would be such a stillness around us
that I would forget.
You see those bluish white
lines floating between
the tree and ground?

I was going to ask you about that.
It's a wind chime
that was fashioned from
aluminum tubes. They would knock
the wooden clapper and toss these bright notes
which rang across the property.

—David Hernandez, "Self-Portrait without a Body"

Spring 2026
The Loneliness Issue
Prairie Schooner
prairieschooner.unl

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Apr 28

Noticed something on the spine of our most recent issues? That's the Spinal Column, a tiny poem or story that will now appear on the spine of each issue. For our current issue, we're excited to feature Kate Bernheimer's tiny poem "The Hanging Inn."

A stack of book spines with the text "She sighs again. / One White Angel: / Vodka, gin."

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Apr 23

Ciara Alfaro's story "In the Body of Everything" appears in our recent Spring 2026 issue on Loneliness. See the full table of contents, read excerpts, and order a copy: prairieschooner.unl.edu/issue/spring...

Now, the streets were crispy with dirty old snow, and it laid across yards like burnt bacon in a frying pan. It might've been May, but. the winter would not leave us. The weather was a dog bleeding on the frontside of our door. If we'd listened, we might have heard it: moaning.

—Ciara Alfaro, "In the Body of Everything"
Spring 2026
The Loneliness Issue
Prairie Schooner
prairieschooner.unl.edu

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Apr 14

Congratulations to our assistant poetry editor JC Andrews, who has been announced as the winner of the 2026 Yale Series of Younger Poets competition! yalebooks.yale.edu/yale-series-...

Yale Series of Younger Poets Winners

2026 - JC Andrews, Of an Ilk
Youn says: "I'm absolutely exhilarated and truly honored to help bring this fearless, radiant collection to a wider readership. These poems slice effortlessly through the grim malignancies of our present moment, carving out new forms and opening up new spaces for love and survival."

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Apr 9

Robert Brian Mulder's story "Somewhere in Tennessee" appears in our Loneliness issue, available now. See the full table of contents, read excerpts, and order a copy: prairieschooner.unl.edu/issue/spring...

It feels like the world is winding down. Unspooling. Even now, l can hear the slapping sound of the film on my father's old projector when the reel had run its course. A tiny whip, furious. And I can see the ragged white square flickering on the basement wall. Sudden. Trembling. An open window.
—Robert Brian Mulder, "Somewhere in Tennessee"

Spring 2026
The Loneliness Issue
Prairie Schooner
prairieschooner.unl.edu

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Apr 6

Our latest issue includes an excerpt from Teo Rivera-Dundas's novel Slow Guillotine (@univnebpress.bsky.social). See the full TOC, read excerpts, and order a copy: prairieschooner.unl.edu/issue/spring...

Theory: when pain returns, it is the same pain as before. There's only one sweep of pain throughout a lifetime, maybe ever, though this sweep can be interrupted by stretches of nothing, and these
stretches can be long. Pain doesn't always begin at zero and build in intensity as the day goes on. Often, these days, if we-me and the pain-left off at four or five, that's roughly where we will pick up the following morning.

—Teo Rivera-Dundas, from "Slow Guillotine"

Spring 2026
The Loneliness Issue
Prairie Schooner
prairieschooner.unl.edu

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Apr 3

Cozy up with the Loneliness issue. Now available: prairieschooner.unl.edu/issue/spring...

Copy of Prairie Schooner's Loneliness issue beside a cup of coffee with foam. The cover of the journal features a couple sitting on a bench in front of a painting of another couple sitting in a room.

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Apr 2

Our spring 2026 cover features Edward Hopper's Room in New York. In "Solitude ≠ Loneliness," @kurtandersen.bsky.social reflects on the painting. Read the essay: prairieschooner.unl.edu/excerpt/soli... Order the issue: marketplace.unl.edu/prairieschoo...

The standard take on
Edward Hopper is that he's the great visual chronicler of the loneliness, alienation, and anomie of Americans and America in the rah-rah American Century. That cliché, like most clichés, isn't entirely untrue, but Hopper resisted it. "The loneliness thing," he told an art journalist who interviewed him near the end of his life in the 1960s,
"is overdone."
-Kurt Andersen, "Solitude ≠ Loneliness"

Spring 2026
The Loneliness Issue
Prairie Schooner
prairieschooner.unl.edu

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Apr 1

The Loneliness Issue is here! Our Spring 2026 issue is now shipping. See the full table of contents, read excerpts from the issue, and order your own copy here: prairieschooner.unl.edu/issue/spring...

New Issue

Cover of the Lonelines issue of Prairie Schooner, featuring an image of two people sitting on a bench in front of a painting of a couple in a room (Edward Hopper's Room in New York)

Contributors
Spring 2026
Volume 100 Number 1

Kurt Andersen
Daniel Barnum
David Hernandez
Ross White
Andrew Garvin
Olufunke Ogundimu
Teo Rivera-Dundas
Christtie Jay
L. A. Johnson
Scott Cairns
Alex Tretbar
Robert Brian Mulder
Jeremy Tavares
Warren Woessner
Alexandra Malouf
Tara Mesalik MacMahon
Judith Vollmer
Matt Barrett
Terese Svoboda
Jeannine Hall Gailey
Adam O. Davis
Kelan Nee
Daniel Hales
Milena Nigam
Elizabeth Crane
Edwardson Ukata
Winniebell Xinyu Zong
Bryan Obinna Okwesili
Brad Aaron Modlin
Chisom Okafor
Cynthia Sylvester
Saddiq Dzukogi
Yosra Bouslama
Ervin Krause
Rose McLarney
Jamila Osman
Ciara Altaro
Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Mar 31

Announcing the guest judge for our 2026 Summer Creative Nonfiction Contest! Orenda Fink is a musician, songwriter, performer, writer, and certified Jungian depth coach specializing in shadow work, dream interpretation and narcissistic abuse recovery. (continued...)

Judge announced for the 2026 Summer Creative Nonfiction Contest

Orenda Fink
author of The Witch's Daughter

Submissions open May 15

Prairie Schooner

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Mar 23

A reminder: we are open for submissions of book reviews and interviews year-round! Find our full guidelines and send us your submission at our Submittable page: prairieschooner.submittable.com/submit

Submissions Open
Book Reviews + Interviews

We consider review and interview submissions year-round for both the print journal and the Schooner Blog. Full guidelines are available on Submittable.

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Mar 16

Fayssal Bensalah's story "Your Son Is With Pollen and Dust" appears in our recent Fall 2025 issue (the Desire issue). See the full TOC, read excerpts, and order a copy here: prairieschooner.unl.edu/issue/fall-2...

To completely heal, he'd drive to one of the sandy cities of southern Algeria: Biskra, Ourgala, Djelfa. One of them. He'd submerge his feet deep into its soil, purer than flour, cleaner-as they say there-than mouths. He'd tickle the heart's earth, make her laugh, and to reward him, she'd grant him her remedies.
—Fayssal Bensalah, "Your Son Is With Pollen and Dust"

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Mar 10

There are just 5 days left to submit your manuscript to the 2026 Raz/Shumaker Book Prize! One winner in poetry and one winner in fiction will receive $3000 and publication through @univnebpress.bsky.social. Contest closes March 15. Submit now: prairieschoonerbookprizeseries.submittable.com/submit

Last Call for Manuscripts

2026 Raz/Shumaker Book Prize in Fiction and Poetry

$3000 + publication
Deadline: March 15

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Feb 24

"Indignada" by Kate Shannon Jenkins appears in a portfolio on The Long Short Story in our Winter 2025 issue. See the full TOC, read excerpts from the issue, and order a copy: prairieschooner.unl.edu/issue/winter...

There was once a time when I had a holistic if semiconscious notion of the world's workings, its logic and its possibilities and its eventual justice, and I only became capable of perceiving those beliefs in the moment they were violently disproven. The ground shook beneath me, and I knew that what I had always taken for certain no longer would be.

—Kate Shannon Jenkins, "Indignada"

Prairie Schooner@prairie-schooner· Feb 19

Terese Marie Mailhot's essay "Can We Meet Again?" appears in our Fall 2025 issue (the Desire issue), available now. Read the essay: prairieschooner.unl.edu/excerpt/can-... Order the issue: marketplace.unl.edu/prairieschoo...