All posts tagged: 2023

Moving Beyond the Trappings of Multilingualism: Farah Ali interviews Dur e Aziz Amna

 

DUR e AZIZ AMNA is the author of American Fever, a coming-of-age story replete with warmth, poeticism, and wit. It is a story about home and homeland and refuses to settle for easy definitions of either. The Guardian calls American Fever “a subversive debut” and the Los Angeles Review of Books calls it “a quiet triumph.” Over a series of emails, FARAH ALI and Dur e discussed how Dur e avoided sketching reductive pictures of Pakistan and America, illness as a vehicle for revealing uncomfortable truths, and the ways certain ideas are shattered after leaving home.

Moving Beyond the Trappings of Multilingualism: Farah Ali interviews Dur e Aziz Amna
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August 2023 Poetry Feature

New poems by LESLIE SAINZ, L.S. KLATT, and MICHELLE LEWIS

 

Table of Contents:

  • L.S. Klatt, “The Alchemist”
  • Michelle Lewis, “Vain Tenderness” and “The Land of Rape and Honey”
  • Leslie Sainz, “At the Center of the Story and Utterly Left Out”

 

***

The Alchemist
By L.S. KLATT

My neighbor really has nothing to do
but mow his grass & watch television.
It’s the quiet life for him. The adhesive

August 2023 Poetry Feature
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Review: Every Drop Is a Man’s Nightmare

By MEGAN KAMALEI KAKIMOTO
Reviewed by MARIAH RIGG

Cover of Every Drop Is a Man’s Nightmare

A mentor once told me, “you write to the places you are not,” and I think that is true for not only what I write, but also what I read. Since moving to the Southeast U.S., with its millennia-old forests and rolling thunderstorms, I’ve taken to reading about the places I’ve come from: Oregon, Southern California, and the islands upon which I was born and raised, the place where my family has lived as settlers for over three generations—Hawaiʻi.

Review: Every Drop Is a Man’s Nightmare
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Ala Fox on “Ramadan in Saint-Denis”

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Listen on Spotify.

Transcript: Ala Fox Podcast

Ala Fox speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her essay “Ramadan in Saint-Denis,” which appears in The Common’s most recent issue. Ala talks about weaving together the threads of her experiences living in Paris into an essay that explores a lot of questions but doesn’t try to answer them. The piece dives into the dynamics between neighborhoods, and between native Parisians and immigrant communities, and explores the possibility of creating and sustaining love across language barriers and distance. Ala also discusses why she was nervous about publishing the essay, and how it would be received in the Muslim community.

headshot of ala fox with cover of issue 25 next to her

Ala Fox on “Ramadan in Saint-Denis”
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Into the Woods

By ANNE P. BEATTY

person with an orange bag walking through the dirt paths in a sun-spotted forest

Stone Mountain, North Carolina

A mile into the woods, I am always slightly afraid. Fear’s lace knots the cuff of an otherwise lovely afternoon. Nights, when I peek out of the tent, the moon is a bright friend too far away to help.

Into the Woods
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The Magnetic Pull of Place: An Interview with Rosanna Young Oh

Jane satterfield headshot Headshot of Rosanna young oh

JANE SATTERFIELD and ROSANNA YOUNG OH—poets who met at the 2023 Poetry by the Sea Global conference in Madison, CT—connected via email between Baltimore and New York City, and reflected on the power of inherited narratives, their shared fandom of Jane Eyre, sustaining creativity, and Rosanna’s newest collection, The Corrected Version.

The Magnetic Pull of Place: An Interview with Rosanna Young Oh
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Two Poems by Michael Mercurio

By MICHAEL MERCURIO

 

Trees and Field

Providence, RI

Existential Field Notes: Diner

            If secrets are transmitted here
            no neon will say, just the same
            on-unless-it’s-off messages of
            abundance. Bottomless coffee,
            sure, and five pages of menu —

Two Poems by Michael Mercurio
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The Common Magazine Announces Fourth Literary Editorial Fellow

(Amherst, Mass. August 4, 2023)— The Common, the award-winning, international literary journal based at Amherst College, has announced its fourth Literary Editorial Fellow: Olive Amdur ’23. The fellowship launched in 2020 with support from the Whiting Foundation and is sustained by the generosity of Amherst College alumni donors. 

The Literary Editorial Fellowship (LEF) was introduced with three goals in mind: to strengthen the bridge between The Common’s existing Literary Publishing Internship (LPI) for undergraduates and the professional publishing world; to provide real-world experience for an Amherst graduate, transferable to a wide range of fields; and to increase the capacity of The Common’s publishing and programming operations.

The full-time, postgraduate fellow writes, edits, and proofreads prose and poetry; creates multimedia web features; writes and designs publicity materials; manages print and digital production; and develops, organizes and staffs innovative events on campus and across the country. The fellow also helps to mentor and train current interns.

The Common Magazine Announces Fourth Literary Editorial Fellow
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The Common Magazine Announces 2023-24 Thomas E. Wood ’61 Fellow

Award-winning, international literary journal The Common has announced Sarah Wu ’25 as its 2023-24 Thomas E. Wood ’61 Fellow. The fellowship was created in 2018 with a $50,000 gift from Sally Wood, whose daughter and late husband, Thomas E. Wood, an avid reader and gifted poet, attended Amherst College. The fund annually supports one student intern who possesses exceptional editorial promise and leadership skills.

The Common Magazine Announces 2023-24 Thomas E. Wood ’61 Fellow
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