Flock Literary Journal

21/02/2022

We are so thrilled that Catherine Bai's "Writing with Blood" (published in the last issue of Flock) was selected for a PEN AMERICA Robert J. Dau Short Story prize! The story will be anthologized in
Catapult's Best Debut 2022 collection. Read an excerpt at Flocklit.com.

21/02/2022

We are so thrilled that Catherine Bai's "Writing with Blood" (published in the last issue of Flock) was selected for a PEN AMERICA Robert J. Dau Short Story prize! The story will be anthologized in Catapult's Best Debut 2022 collection. Read an excerpt at the link in the comments.

The PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers recognizes 12 emerging fiction writers each year for their debut short story.

01/06/2021

"There was the smell of the rain. (The smell of the chocolate, the warm fabric.)

Even after she died, she could still remember them."

Leah Browning's three haunting, interconnected flash stories round out our web features for Flock 24!

Even after she died, she could still remember them.

26/05/2021

"Remind her of a poem—five characters per line, four lines—and blood will rush to her mouth like a river to sea."

We're so pleased to feature Catherine Bai's "Writing with Blood" from Flock 24! Read an excerpt from the story here and -- through tomorrow -- click through the issue link at the bottom to read it in full in our online version.

Blood will rush to her mouth like a river to sea.

23/05/2021

Flock 24 is live! We are humbled to share this incredible collection. Read it online for free through May 27 and purchase a copy below!

https://flocklit.com/twenty-four/

Flock: Issue 24 Purchase a Copy Purchase a Copy Artwork Read our interview with cover artist Rusudan Khizanishvili here! Creative Nonfiction Sarah Giragosian, A Conspiracy of RavensJennifer Schomburg Kanke, Remove and ImproveJasmine Ledesma, Apocalypse in the SummertimeDenise Tolan, Visiting RenaLis...

14/05/2021

"...I lit all the candles/ felt nocturnal as space/ feasted my eyelashes on the wishes they could make/ with all this eyesight/ all this abundancy of breathing..."

Sarah Uheida's "The Prelude" is live, a featured teaser from Flock 24!

I lit all the candles/ felt nocturnal as space

03/04/2021

"The women sat in a semi-circle around Rena like an unorganized Greek chorus. Chairs of various kinds flanked the bed. ... I went from chair to chair, kissing each woman hello and collecting compliments like candy at Halloween."

Read Denise Tolan's not-to-be-missed essay, "Visiting Rena," from our forthcoming issue!

The family left Rena, who was in a coma, on a bed in their living room like she was some kind of queen lying in state.

21/03/2021

"The morning hen p**p is thick and gooey, and for me, s**t sweeping is my daily reminder, as a rabbi advised centuries ago, to carry a paper in one pocket that says: I am but dust and ashes."

We are so pleased to feature this brief and beautiful essay by Lisa López Smith, a sneak peek of what's to come in our forthcoming issue!

We are both dirt and sacred.

06/02/2021

"Will I fail to know where I came from
if I let the ocean swallow more
of my country’s coastline?"

We're pleased to share this sneak peek from issue 24; read Yasmin Mariam Kloth's "I've Named These Ashes," live at FlockLit.com!

Each year the bones of my ancestors / turn more brittle and gray.

18/01/2021

We are beyond thrilled to announce that Rusudan Khizanishvili is the cover artists for Flock 24! View an online gallery and read our interview with the artist at the link in the comments.

Cover image: “Knitting A Story, Modern Odissea” (2020)

12/11/2020

Listen to Jim Peterson’s poem “The Thing I Want To Say,” read aloud on Spokane Public Radio! Originally published in Issue 21 of Flock.

Tami Haaland is the author ofthree poetry collections, most recently What Does Not Return . Her poems have appeared in many periodicals and anthologies,

02/11/2020

"Alas, alas! hardly above troubles.
Abate. Treat me. Adorn me,
lightly: salt, crimson,
a quarter of the sky"
--
We're celebrating the release of Anna Lena Phillips Bell's chapbook "Smaller Songs" (St Brigid Press) with an online feature of this poem from the chapbook, first published in Flock 22! Spend some time with "Songs of the Inner Room"!

Treat me. Adorn me, / lightly: salt, crimson, / a quarter of the sky

16/10/2020

"At what point do I stop looking back wishing I’d known better?"

Eli Karren's "Portrait of a Small Town with Safe Search Disabled" (from Flock 23) is featured online today!

this is what Shirley warned us about

07/08/2020

“Sleep Quiet” by Iva Troj. Visit FlockLit.com for our web gallery and interview with the Flock 23 cover artist. Iva Troj’s striking work and words are not to be missed!

03/08/2020

"When the interviewer asks if there is any other place you can go, you’ll say no while biting down the excuses your godmother made up for not taking you in."

We have a couple more incredible works from Flock 23 to share with you in our post-launch celebration! Here is the first: this important and resonant essay by Rose Banks. Read "3 Days Notice to Terminate Stability" online here.

YOU ARE HEREBY GIVEN NOTICE to vacate the premises within the next three days.

25/07/2020

BEAM is “a collective of advocates, yoga teachers, artists, therapists, lawyers, religious leaders, teachers, psychologists and activists committed to the emotional/mental health and healing of Black communities.” www.beam.community

23/07/2020

Flock 23 is live!! Read the issue online for free through July 27 and purchase a copy here!

Issue 23: Kith & Kin Purchase a Copy Purchase a Copy Artwork Read our interview with cover artist Iva Troj! Creative Nonfiction Joey Bandru, Survival Guide for A String of FuneralsRose Banks, Three Days Notice to Terminate StabilityCynthia Belmont, Serinus Canaria DomesticaEmily Kenway, eight womenS...