Blog Mary Oliver: Animal Symbolism and Lessons in Belonging LRR, May 14, 2025May 16, 2025 Written by: Ryan Krishna Mary Oliver spent many years of her life exploring the forests, lakes, and salt marshes of New England. For Oliver, animals were never simply background decoration; they were moral companions that guided the lives of the individuals they came into contact with. These animals often represent… Continue Reading
Blog Layers of the Punisher LRR, May 13, 2025May 13, 2025 Written by: Ronnie Prado On September 16, 1979, a group of small-time New Jersey musicians released a song that would usher a whole new era of music into mainstream American culture. The group was called The Sugar Hill Gang, and the song “Rappers Delight” was the first of its kind… Continue Reading
Blog The Dread of Being Read at Writing Workshops LRR, May 12, 2025May 13, 2025 Written by: Fernanda Ieffet I think I speak for everyone in the world when I say that each one of us has experienced the most terrifying of nightmares when we were younger: going to school naked. I can still remember vividly (and trust me I have tried hard to forget… Continue Reading
Blog Emotional Maximalism and the Art of Deftness in Hera Lindsay Bird’s Love Poems LRR, May 9, 2025 Written by: Charlotte Ungar In a poetry landscape often dominated by academic opacity or over-wrought lyricism, Hera Lindsay Bird’s work arrives with an emotional immediacy that will make you rethink the requirements to make a poem matter—not through formal precision or metaphorical restraint, but through the sheer force of unfiltered… Continue Reading
The Untitled Body Project LRR, May 7, 2025May 7, 2025 Written by: Sophie Wallis Buckner Winner of the 2025 Edwin Way Teale Award for Nature Writing The experience of the body as part of the self is a fundamental aspect of self-consciousness. Neuroscientists have recently begun to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying this sense of body ownership. This research…raises fundamental… Continue Reading
Blog Valuable Lessons About Writing Poetry I Wish I Knew Sooner LRR, May 2, 2025May 1, 2025 Written by: Liam Smith For someone who’s studied poetry for 3 years, it seems I can only talk about it through drawn-out idiosyncrasies. Jack Dayton, one of my co-editors at Queer Reviewed (a magazine for UConn’s queer students) recently asked me how to improve as a poet. My mind instantly… Continue Reading
The Days of Saveli: of cats and people, and those who play with the lives of others LRR, May 1, 2025May 1, 2025 Translated by: Catherine Keough A translation of an excerpt from The Days of Saveli: of cats and people, and those who play with the lives of others by Grigory Sluzhitel Winner of the 2025 Aetna Prize for Translation Mama gave birth to me, my brother, and my two sisters in… Continue Reading
Eleven Things You Don’t Do LRR, May 1, 2025 Written by: Jenna Ulizio Winner of The Edward R. and Frances Schreiber Collins Literary Prize When you leave, don’t make a sound. Getting out of the Painted Lady is the test. How do you want to be seen in the city tonight? Or, how do you not want to be… Continue Reading
A Requiem for the Endling LRR, May 1, 2025 Written by: Lucy Lyttle Third Place Winner of the Jennie Hackman Memorial Prize for Short Fiction An endling is the last known individual of a species or subspecies. Once the endling dies, the species becomes extinct. […] Booming Ben, a solitary heath hen (Tympanuchus cupido cupido), was last seen 11… Continue Reading
Letter from 1968 LRR, May 1, 2025 Written by: Karen Lau Second Place Winner of The Jennie Hackman Memorial Prize for Short Fiction “Mom, I’m at the state police barracks in Stafford Springs. I need you to come get me. Please.” My voice wavered on the last word as I held the telephone to my ear. She… Continue Reading