So thrilled to have my CNF essay ‘Rise’ published in Washington Square Review: www.washingtonsquarereview.com/sarah-southern

Sarah Southern — Washington Square Review

Issue 54 Fall 2025

washingtonsquarereview.com

So excited that my dear friend Liz will be tomorrow’s @plnuwritingma.bsky.social visiting writer!

PLNU MA in Writing@plnuwritingma.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Our next guest for our Fall 2025 Visiting Writers series is @lizcharlottegrant.bsky.social who will be here tomorrow (10/29), leading an afternoon workshop at 3, and an evening lecture at 7! Purchase your tickets here! plnu.universitytickets.com/w/event.aspx...

Join us this afternoon at 3:00 in Latter 101 on PLNU's Campus for a Q&A event with R.F. Kuang! Virtual tickets are also available for $5 for those who can't attend the event in person! plnu.universitytickets.com/w/default.as...

Check out graduate student @sarahbsouthern.bsky.social's review of Christina Rivera's 2025 book 'My Oceans' for @terrainorg.bsky.social! www.terrain.org/2025/reviews...

My Oceans: Essays of Water, Whales, and Women by Christina Rivera - Terrain.org

Sarah Southern reviews Christina Rivera's My Oceans: Essays of Water, Whales, and Women, finding "ocean isn’t so much the theme of this book as its essence."

terrain.org

Goodness, I’m pretty terrible at @bsky.app 🫣

The best decision I made (so about #AWP2025 (so far) was opting to take the train instead of driving up from San Diego 😍

@byjeffchu.com’s stunning new book ‘Good Soil’ releases today! I had the opportunity to read an ARC and ask Jeff a few questions—check out our conversation here: open.substack.com/pub/sarahsou...

A Conversation With Jeff Chu on the Good News of Good Soil

“To name the soils that you come from is to acknowledge that you were not self-made, because there is no such thing as a self-made human.

open.substack.com

Saturday in OB!

Robbie Maakestad@robbiemaakestad.bsky.social · 2y ago

Join us tomorrow at OB Beans featuring Ari Honarvar and @katiemanningpoet.bsky.social, as well as readings from @itmebugail.bsky.social, @annawangyuan.bsky.social, @sarahbsouthern.bsky.social, @allisinez.bsky.social, and @nocturnalxlight.bsky.social.

It’s wild how a bishop’s *Christian* plea for mercy elicit outrage while an unelected billionaire’s takeover is met with…silence.

Just got my first rejection slip from a big time lit mag. I’m committing to holding Sylvia Plath’s words close: “rejection reminds me that I tried.”

Blessed are the women who would not be silenced.

This excerpt in @thecut.com from Christina Rivera’s forthcoming ‘My Oceans’ is a stunning reflection on the parallels of the horrors of orca captivity and human subjugation in a world in crisis. Sobering + stunning: www.thecut.com/article/cork...

Screaming for Freedom

Corky the Orca’s cries from captivity have shattered glass. I know the feeling.

thecut.com

Nearing the end of the first 24 hours of the new sub manager, and 11 of the 15 submitted pieces are in Fiction. The rest are poems. So if you're a poet or CNF writer, the odds are generally never better than this to get a quick response/acceptance! duotrope.com/duosuma/subm...

JAKE: The Anti Literary Magazine Submission Manager

Submit to JAKE: The Anti Literary Magazine. Powered by Duosuma: Duotrope's Submission Manager.

duotrope.com

The best thing I did for my mental health last night was slip my phone onto airplane mode. I spent the entirety of last weekend doomscrolling instead of the legion of actual productive things I needed to accomplish 😭 But I refuse to let my anxiety ruin this semester 💪🏻

Just deactivated Twitter and I feel so free.

a woman says i 'm so relieved in a sequined top

ALT: a woman says i 'm so relieved in a sequined top

media.tenor.com

May we all remember St. Madeleine’s words: “Stay angry, little Meg. You will need all your anger now.”

Maya Angelou said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.”

Rebecca Solnit@rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 2y ago

Guardian vs. NYT. You know who's going to call things by their true names and who's not even gonna give you syrup with that waffle. Guardian: "Elon Musk waded into controversy on Monday when he gave back-to-back fascist-style salutes....

I wanted this space to be my literary refuge where I’d encounter other writers, publications, and books, share my own work, discover abundant craft + beauty. I thought Bluesky could be an oasis against the loudness of every other app, the dreadful, depressive news permeating every digital turn.

Same 😭

Morgan@morganstrehlow.bsky.social · 2y ago

Thinking about Xanga tonight

I think what makes me saddest about whatever is happening with social media (not just TikTok even) is that I still don’t have consistent IRL community. Social media has helped me survive long swaths of loneliness, months when my husband was deployed and I had no one.

I am genuinely intrigued by the phenomenon of consuming a dozen cookies or the entire Wingstop menu on camera. I think I want to write an essay about this because it’s just wild 🤯

a ground squirrel is holding a piece of food in its mouth and the word mukbang is on the bottom of the picture .

ALT: a ground squirrel is holding a piece of food in its mouth and the word mukbang is on the bottom of the picture .

media.tenor.com

Unintentionally triggered some exvangelical folks when I said I wanted to “submit” more this year (to clarify: I want to submit more to lit mags, not to men [not ever])

My goals for Christmas break were simple: submit to lit mags and attempt homemade croissants. Only one was successful 🤣🤦🏻‍♀️

“When is the world ever not ending? What if it’s always the end of the world?” Emily St. John Mandel

Anyone else feel more productive when writing in cozy mountain coffee shops? This spot in Silver Plume, CO, is one of my favorites.

Craving winter and the Rockies are calling (aren’t they always?). Relocating from Denver to San Diego was grievous but I relish in the goodness of Southwest deals and direct flights there + back ❄️

Read widely. Read beyond what’s “allowed.” Read work that makes you squirm. Read perspectives that challenge your assumptions. As someone raised in fundamentalism, I didn’t read widely until far too late. It’s never too late and still, I wish I’d started sooner. I wish I’d known better.

I never want to take for granted the beauty that exists just miles beyond my front door:

Distanced myself from an essay for a few weeks. Returned to it thinking I’d hate it after time away. Read it again and wept because I think it’s the best thing I’ve written at this point in my writing life. As someone who rarely trusts her voice, it feels good to finally say: “this is good work” 😭

I had great expectations for holiday writing but I was a bit burnt out and honestly, I think resting and reading is writing too. Cheers to easing back into over these next few days.

Taco Bell Quarterly@tacobellquarterly.org · 2y ago

Back in the shit again. You were supposed to be writing this whole time and now it's January 2nd. What are you doing here