Reed Magazine, Issue 155 reflects the many faces of our world in its pages. “An Incomplete Dictionary of Words That Make Me Think About My Body as I Try Not to Relapse,” by Kristin Reneau, winner of the Gabriele Rico Challenge for Nonfiction, explores themes of body image, mental health, and familial relationships. Issue 155 also features our first-ever short story published in Trinidadian English Creole, “Saga,” which earned Rashad Hosein this year’s John Steinbeck Award for Fiction. Renowned poet and author Kazim Ali served as judge for this edition’s Edwin Markham Prize for Poetry. In his winning poem, “Aphorism 33: Life is a Flame that Burns Itself Out,” John Blair appeals to Buddhist philosophies, pondering the eternal fires of suffering and the slow burn of human existence.
 
An international cadre of artists—including Irina Greciuhina, Jerome Chia-Horng, and Caroline Dejeneffe, winner of this year’s Mary Blair Award for Art—add vibrant imagery, provocative subjects, and a discrete streak of surrealism.
 
Other works included in Issue 155 gives readers multiple perspectives on immigrant experiences , such as the hardships of living and loving freely in Yiru Zhang’s fiction piece “If You Want Another Universe, Lover.” Poetry includes a poignant commentary on loss in Lynn Hoggard’s “Twin Aspens,” as well as the pointed wit and wordplay in Dante Di Stefano’s “Etymology of Gun.”
 
The latest chapter in a 155-year legacy of literary excellence is capped off with an selected excerpt from Ocean Vuong's novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, continuing a tradition of celebrating established artists side-by-side with some of the most promising new voices in the industry.