SwampPink Literary Journal

GRIEVANCE

L. S. Klatt | Poetry

No Hand to Save Her

Leila Farjami | Poetry

Shit Talk and Bad Luck

KJ Nakazawa-Kern | Flash Fiction

A Family Affair

Abeje Zora Schnake | Fiction

[And perhaps / she of startling sight]

Mary Zhou | Poetry

The Cost of Eggs

Sidney Tilghman | Essays

The Call

Sarah Therio | Flash Fiction

blog

An Interview with Rickey Fayne, author of The Devil Three Times

February 19, 2026 | blog, Interviews

Back in December, I (Ebony Sade, MFA ’27) had the privilege of talking to author Rickey Fayne about his 2025 debut novel, The Devil Three Times. The novel is a deep imagining of enslavement in Tennessee. It brings forth a magical reckoning of ancestry as it spans across eight generations of a Black family whose…

An Interview with Kim Samek

February 19, 2026 | blog, Interviews

Kim Samuel’s debut short story collection I AM THE GHOST HERE (Dial Press, 2026) has been named a most anticipated book by Lit Hub, The Seattle Times, The Millions, and Debutiful. This collection of surrealist stories revolves around issues such as environmental concerns, waste, the integration of technology into our lives, identity, and how these…

Returning to the River: A Review of Peace Like a River

January 13, 2026 | blog, book reviews

Review by Ron Menchaca, MFA ’27Peace Like a River208 pp. Regal House Publishing. $19.95 Scott Gould knows every bank and bend of the Black River—its murky depths and dangerous shallows, its power to dredge up old wounds and mystical ability to heal them. The river is central to Gould’s latest novel, Peace Like a River…

The Escape to Happiness: A Review of Helen of Nowhere

January 20, 2026 | blog, book reviews

Review by Leslie Cox, MFA ‘27Helen of Nowhere141 pp. Coffee House Press. $18.00 Makenna Goodman’s second novel, Helen of Nowhere, presents itself as a story about a disgraced professor, the Man, who leaves behind a forgotten career and a failing marriage where the dog has taken his place upon the bed. Thus, the Man is…