I am so pleased to introduce this portfolio of international writing, loosely bound together by the theme of “crossings.” This theme encompass a multitude of concerns and subjects relevant to our modern times–whether that be diasporic crossings, the intersectional crossings of our identities, or crossings between the world of the living and the dead, among others. “Crossings” reflects the realities of our lives as ones that are in flux, in states of transformation and metamorphoses, and always in medias res. In the following work by Qudsia Akhtar, Tim Tim Cheng, Jay Gao, Aiden Heung, Belle Ling, and Rasak Maliq, these incredible writers interpret what it means to live in a world of crossings in wondrous and dynamic ways.
Wendy Chen (wendychenart.com) is the author of Unearthings (Tavern Books), editor of Figure 1 (thefigureone.com), and poetry editor of Denver Quarterly. Her work has appeared in Crazyhorse, Rattle, A Public Space, and elsewhere. Chen is the recipient of the Academy of American Poets Most Promising Young Poet Prize, and fellowships from the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund. She earned her MFA in poetry from Syracuse University and is currently pursuing a PhD in English at the University of Denver. Her debut novel, Their Divine Fires, is forthcoming from Algonquin winter 2024.