Summer Wood
Aug01

Summer Wood

Summer Wood, 4th Gift of Freedom recipient, is the author of the novels Arroyo(Chronicle Books) and the forthcomingWrecker (Bloomsbury, 2011). Her non-fiction work has appeared in National Geographic Traveler and other venues. Wood teaches for the University of New Mexico at the Taos Summer Writers’ Conference, and offers workshops, in Taos and elsewhere, on the craft of narrative.www.summerwoodwrites.com. 4th Gift of Freedom...

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Barbara Yoder
Aug01

Barbara Yoder

Barbara Yoder writes and edits fiction and nonfiction and leads writing groups for women. Currently she is writing a book of healing stories and exercises to help women writers connect with their personal imagery and midwife their creative pieces. Her fiction has appeared in Natural Bridge and The Worcester Review, and she is the author of The Recovery Resource Book (Simon and Schuster, 1990). Barbara has served as executive director...

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“How to Become a Dyke, Step Three, Birds,” by Nickole Brown
Jul01

“How to Become a Dyke, Step Three, Birds,” by Nickole Brown

A book of birds. A story in birds. Each breath a bird, each dream slipped from your ear to your pillow out the window a song: cardinals laughing at you—birdie birdie birdie— on a lonely Valentines, then robins swarming the last bits of red another February day, so many of them on the holly tree the branches tick with their picking and you stop the car. But you are so cold, you have to get to the store, and in the florescent buzz of...

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“Heart of a Locust,” by Nahal Suzanne Jamir
Jul01

“Heart of a Locust,” by Nahal Suzanne Jamir

My son runs into the wind, and his shirt billows out behind him. He says he will sail away. I grab his arm, hard, and pull him away from the wind, from the street, from the cars in the street. “That hurt,” Jake says. “Too hard.” “I told you about running,” I say. “You can’t run. It’s dangerous. Only on the playground.” “There aren’t any cars. I looked.” “It’s always the car you don’t see.” He squirms and squiggles, using his body...

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“Mouth,” by Malene Kai Bell
Jul01

“Mouth,” by Malene Kai Bell

The girl sat at the table with a twisted mouth. The brussel sprouts, cold knobs on her plate; the baked chicken, cooled, from her refusal to open up. Her mother, having had enough of the girls ways, barked at her across the table; her mouth moving like a cow, her tone , a shrill blow horn. “Eat the food, Hen.” The girl earned the name after she’d dug up two juicy earthworms and shared them with the dog, Pluto. Her mother, when she...

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