The Coachella Review

We're continuing to celebrate the inaugural You Write Like a Teen lit festival this weekend by publishing poetry by members of the festival's two organizing groups.

Today, Alissar Nahhas infuses unrequited love with color in "Love Language: VI."
http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/07/24/poetry-love-language-vi-by-alissar-nahhas/

Don't forget to check out the teen writers of Riverside County's Imperfect Poets and LA's 309 Collective this Saturday at You Write Like a Teen
Located at Art Share L.A.
801 East 4th Place
Los Angeles, CA 90013
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/you-write-like-a-teen-literary-festival-by-teens-for-teens-tickets-952008572267

Eco-horror, the realities of climate change, and all the birds a multi-genred California writer could fit into a novel. Today on the blog, we chat with Nicholas Belardes about his new book, The Deading, and how birding informs his work. Just don't call it a hobby.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/07/23/tcr-talks-with-nicholas-belardes-author-of-the-deading/

To celebrate this weekend's You Write Like a Teen literary festival, we invited the event coordinators—the teen poets of LA's 309 Collective and Riverside County's Imperfect Poets—to send us their work.

Up first, Riverside's teen poet laureate Bibinaz Nami hits us hard with the short poem "When the Dog Learned to Bathe."

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/07/22/poetry-when-the-dog-learned-to-bathe-by-bibinaz-nami/

Learn more about the You Write Like a Teen festival here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/you-write-like-a-teen-literary-festival-by-teens-for-teens-tickets-952008572267

You've read our latest issue, but are you ready to submit? We're looking for our next favorite short stories, essays, poetry, and scripts for the stage and screen. Submissions for our next issue are open now and close September 2.

http://thecoachellareview.com/submissions/

Closing out our featured pieces from the Summer 22024 issue, Ann Levin's essay "My Life in Nine Obituaries" is a journey—a master class in lighthearted comedy and introspection through the morbidity of celebrity deaths.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/my-life-in-nine-obituaries-by-ann-levin/

Anna Da Silva's short story "Plums" has a little bit of everything: bantering family, a reference to Andy Weir, a touch of the seemingly impossible, and a shot of empathy right in the gut. Come see yourself though another person's eyes.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/plums-by-anna-da-silva/

With today's short comedic screenplay, Shot Through the Heart by Aaron Cullers, we can guarantee that it's love itself that gives love a bad name. Play hard to get with us in our final drama piece of Summer 2024.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/shot-through-the-heart-by-aaron-cullers/

You know that famous flash fic of a mother telling her daughter how to be a girl? Think of these three poems by Beate Sigriddaughter as an adult's response—a reminder that women can decide for themselves who they want to be and how they want to live.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/three-poems-by-beate-sigriddaughter/

In today's featured essay, Jennifer Lang weighs reason versus emotion as she travels the world with the man she loves, contemplating food, faith, and marriage. Forget Eat, Pray, Love; here's "Head, heart, belly."

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/head-heart-belly-by-jennifer-lang/

For everyone who has ever been in a relationship no one else could understand, we give you today's poem, "Eulogy for King Kong by Anne Darrow" by Hollie Dugas.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/eulogy-for-king-kong-by-anne-darrow-by-hollie-dugas/

Like a fairy tale with an undercurrent of violence, think of today's featured short story, "Birdish" by Elizabeth Cohen, as a flight out of darkness.

Trigger warning: domestic violence

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/birdish-by-elizabeth-cohen/

In three poems, Abigail Dembo seduces us with sugary charm and the acidic allure of gossip, then takes pleasure in leading us happily astray. Come get lost with us.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/three-poems-by-abigail-dembo/

Today's three featured poems by Kai Cruz are bold and insistent, meant to prise the surface to uncover something sweet and beautiful underneath. Dig in with us.

link in bio

Alyssa Kagel's short story "This Is Supposed to Be an Apology" has us thinking about good guys, bad guys, and all the well-meaning but ill-considered mistakes we make to screw up a good thing.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/this-is-supposed-to-be-an-apology-by-alyssa-kagel/

As a university literary journal, TCR is constantly changing leadership as our editors graduate with their creative writing MFAs. We couldn't be prouder of them all! Congrats to our managing editor Brian Hooper , drama editor Hailey Schneider , former poetry editor Jesenia Chavez , and former Voice to Books editor Karen Parker .books, pictured here with our fiction editor and incoming managing editor, Sean Belfina

We're tempting the fates by having two pieces in one day that involve car troubles, but we assure you that while these three poems by Radian Hong seem to be steeped in bad days and terrible weather, you'll be glad you read them.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/three-poems-by-radian-hong/

Summer is road trip season, and Daniel Webre's "Crescent City Connection" proves once again that no matter how exciting the destination, the journey is often the most exciting part. Head down to NOLA with us in today's featured short story.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/crescent-city-connection-by-daniel-webre/

In today's featured drama piece, Bethany Leigh Greenman's Recognition gives us hope that true love prevails, even if it needs to cross the borders of time, place, and acceptance.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/recognition-by-bethany-leigh-greenman/

Our featured interview for the Summer 2024 issue is super writerly, as TCR's Breen Nolan Schoen chats with Anna Dorn about her new book, Perfume & Pain; writing about fictional writers; and the influence of Patricia Highsmith on both character and author.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/tcr-talks-with-anna-dorn-author-of-perfume-pain/

In three poems, Ben Murigu exudes anger, defiance, resilience, and a bit of grief. Run through your emotions with us in today's featured poetry: http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/three-poems-by-ben-murigu/

In the script for This Airbnb Will Hold Your Life Together (5 Stars, Superhost) by Christine J. Schmidt, a couple stays in the same Airbnb every year… and while the home may be solid, we still detect a few cracks in the foundation.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/this-airbnb-will-hold-your-life-together-5-stars-superhost-by-christine-j-schmidt/

When a tree falls in the backyard of a writer, they not only hear it but write an essay about it. In Janice Post-White's "Life Uprooted," twin oak trees remind her of her twin brother and her own deteriorating body.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/life-uprooted-by-janice-post-white/

In today's featured poem, "What am I supposed to do with this?" Madeira Miller explores the complicated nature of grieving those who've caused us pain.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/what-am-i-supposed-to-do-with-this-by-madeira-miller/

Peter Pendras's essay "Wolf at the Door" is a story within a story about a dying brother, a camping trip, a shared moment between siblings and among family members that feels both familiar and unsettling.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/wolf-at-the-door-by-peter-pendras/

It's a three-for-one day with Henry Cherry's "Granite Replacing Medical," a series of poems in which the outdated and abandoned, the mostly forgotten and the vividly recalled culminate in an awakening of the senses.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/granite-replacing-medical-by-henry-cherry/

It's over 100 degrees in the desert this week, which is maybe another reason to spend the holidays at a questionable dinner with unpleasant family members in today's featured essay. Heather Campbell eats in "Christmas at Dotty's."

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/christmas-at-dottys-by-heather-campbell/

Whether through the hillsides of the Coachella Valley or the forests of Big Sur, Californians love a good hike through nature. But in our first featured short story, "The Big South," Leanne Phillips shows it's important to plan ahead.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/the-big-south-by-leanne-phillips/

What do you do when you can't shake off a bad day or an underwhelming moment? Or when you feel like you could've done/been more? In two poems, Steven Deutsch gives us a something (and someone) to reflect on.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/two-poems-by-steven-deutsch/

Happy bachelorette partiers are all alike; every unhappy bachelorette partier is unhappy in their own way. In Jacqueline Berkman's short story "The Mechanical Bull," one woman's personal troubles coalesce in a bar that sounds like it may be around the corner from us.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/the-mechanical-bull-by-jacqueline-berkman/

Wait, how did Thomas Boudreau get this dialog from ALL of our Thanksgiving dinners for his short play, No Jacket? Commiserate with this parent/adult child story before your next family gathering. And don't forget to stay warm.

http://thecoachellareview.com/2024/06/07/no-jacket-by-thomas-boudreau/