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Posts by Pegah Ouji

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Scattered Seeds - Tahoma Literary Review My grandmother plucked seeds wherever she went—tucked them away in her black Mantou pockets like future promises. After a walk through Sadee roundabout,

My new flash non-fiction piece that was published at @tahomareview.bsky.social a big thank you to all the editors. It's about my abiding love for my grandmother and her seeds. tahomaliteraryreview.com/selections/_...

1 month ago 0 1 0 0
Flash contributor Pegah Ouji and poetry contributor Joan Kwon Glass standing in front of the Split Lip Magazine booth.

Flash contributor Pegah Ouji and poetry contributor Joan Kwon Glass standing in front of the Split Lip Magazine booth.

Flash contributor @pegahouji.bsky.social and poetry contributor Joan Kwon Glass stopped by the booth! 👏

1 month ago 12 1 0 0
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The World According to My Grandmother Do we need a man? I want to ask her, but her eyes are bright like poppies in summer heat.

“You’re a daughter of a five-hundred-year-old eucalyptus tree, planted by the ancient ruins of Persepolis,” my grandmother tells me"

This is such a brilliant flash from @pegahouji.bsky.social; so deep and rich and layered

aaww.org/the-world-ac...

2 months ago 6 2 0 0

Working on a story for this book with
@lindzmcleod.bsky.social was an incredible learning experience and now the book is on the longlist for British Science Fiction awards. The project is a testimony to the power of collaboration!

2 months ago 3 1 1 0

Thank you Matt!

2 months ago 1 0 0 0

I have to say a big thank you to you Erin. I've watched your webinar on Revision for Alchemists so many times and keep finding ways to use what you shared with us there.

2 months ago 1 0 1 0

Grateful to have three stories on this list and congratulations to everyone!

2 months ago 12 0 2 0
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The Seventy Percent, by Yiyun Li On minor characters and human possibility

"Thinking through—rather than just thinking—is important. A thought or an idea is never that precious." harpers.org/archive/2024...

3 months ago 0 0 0 0
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The 2026 lit mag rankings are now available from my website! They include an overall ranking, as well as separate rankings for fiction, flash fiction, non-fiction and poetry. If you find these helpful, please show your support by liking & sharing 🙏

5 months ago 142 59 3 9
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Namwali Serpell: "Critical Navel-Gazing" If criticism is in crisis, it’s not the critic’s problem, argues Namwali Serpell.

"These ersatz versions of making and experiencing art are based on satisfying “preferences,” on the idea of art as comfort, tool, or escape—in sum, art as something you buy and sell or that you use in some “productive” way." yalereview.org/article/namw...

5 months ago 2 0 0 0
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It was truly an honor and a privilege to work with @lindzmcleod.bsky.social on a fiction and non-fiction piece for this book and I can't wait to read the other chapters by incredible writers! @stanchion.bsky.social

5 months ago 4 2 0 0
"I spent a while trying to figure out how to classify An Honour & a Privilege. Viewed through one lens it might not seem an important question: classification is mostly helpful for shelving decisions. But genre also dictates how one reads a thing. Whether you think of this book as an anthology (many authors), a collection (one common author), or a craft book (the reflective duets) may affect your perception of the whole. I struggle to compare this work to any of those three genres. The project in front of you reveals more about its craft than other anthologies. It's more authentically connected to strong exemplar material than other craft books. It's more heteroglossic than any collection I recall. The best way to think of An Honour & a Privilege may be to regard it as a genre all its own, one which depends significantly on its many interconnections, one which marks both an occasion and an invitation, one which offers us both a testimony as to what can be done together and a guide on how to do it." From the Foreword by Dr. Graham Robert Scott.

The cover of the book is a vintage, slightly foxy red, with white font beside a large black and white ampersand.

"I spent a while trying to figure out how to classify An Honour & a Privilege. Viewed through one lens it might not seem an important question: classification is mostly helpful for shelving decisions. But genre also dictates how one reads a thing. Whether you think of this book as an anthology (many authors), a collection (one common author), or a craft book (the reflective duets) may affect your perception of the whole. I struggle to compare this work to any of those three genres. The project in front of you reveals more about its craft than other anthologies. It's more authentically connected to strong exemplar material than other craft books. It's more heteroglossic than any collection I recall. The best way to think of An Honour & a Privilege may be to regard it as a genre all its own, one which depends significantly on its many interconnections, one which marks both an occasion and an invitation, one which offers us both a testimony as to what can be done together and a guide on how to do it." From the Foreword by Dr. Graham Robert Scott. The cover of the book is a vintage, slightly foxy red, with white font beside a large black and white ampersand.

If you have a writer in your life and you'd like them to know that you care about their ambitions, may I suggest ordering a copy of my collaborative craft anthology, An Honour And A Privilege, as a Christmas present? (trust me, you'll get the MOST brownie points)

5 months ago 49 31 2 1

Thank you to the editors @epochliterary.com not only for giving this story a home but continuing to share it with others!

5 months ago 8 2 0 0
EPOCH 2025 Pushcart nominations
Sandra Dolores Gómez Amador
"All of his knives," poetry, issue 72.1
Steve Himmer
"The Spider's Share," essay, issue 72.1
Tom McAllister
"1993, 2017, and 2022," essay, issue 72.1
Pegah Ouji
"Untouchables," fiction, issue 72.2
FM Stringer
"Secular Prayer at the End of Daylight Saving Time,"
poetry, issue 72.2
Justin Taylor
"Wild Silence," fiction, issue 72.2

EPOCH 2025 Pushcart nominations Sandra Dolores Gómez Amador "All of his knives," poetry, issue 72.1 Steve Himmer "The Spider's Share," essay, issue 72.1 Tom McAllister "1993, 2017, and 2022," essay, issue 72.1 Pegah Ouji "Untouchables," fiction, issue 72.2 FM Stringer "Secular Prayer at the End of Daylight Saving Time," poetry, issue 72.2 Justin Taylor "Wild Silence," fiction, issue 72.2

Here are our @pushcartprize.bsky.social noms for 2025! Thanks and congrats to Sandra Dolores Gómez Amador, @fmstringer.bsky.social, @justintaylor.bsky.social, @shimmer.bsky.social, @pegahouji.bsky.social, and @tmcallister.bsky.social for this great work.

5 months ago 7 2 0 5

thanks Erin!

5 months ago 1 0 0 0

Thank you!!

5 months ago 1 0 0 0
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Pegah Ouji Named 2025 PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow WritingWorkshops.com alumna Pegah Ouji has been named a 2025 PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow. Celebrating her achievement and literary journey.

Grateful to have been part of Writing Workshops Community. What they say about the value of a writing community has been very true in my experience.
writingworkshops.com/blogs/news/p...

5 months ago 9 0 3 1
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Thank you for reading the story! @lorifontanes.bsky.social

7 months ago 2 0 0 0
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Joan Silber on the Process of Discovery, Fiction About Friendship, and the Meaning of Mercy Joan Silber is a contemporary genius at creating artful stories of a multitude of characters who ricochet in cunning ways, crossing generations and continents. I named her 2017 novel Improvement a …

@janeciab.bsky.social talks to Joan Silber: “I’ve never been a writer who knows what she’s doing before she sets out.”

7 months ago 5 1 0 0

I am so hyped for all you to see this book, I honestly can't wait

7 months ago 17 5 0 0
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Received my contributor copy of @epochliterary.com latest issue with my story called Untouchables. Thanks to @jrobertlennon.com and other staff!

www.epochliterary.com/featuredfict...

8 months ago 4 2 0 0
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Received my contributor copy of @epochliterary.com latest issue with my story called Untouchables. Thanks to @jrobertlennon.com and other staff!

www.epochliterary.com/featuredfict...

8 months ago 4 2 0 0
Featured Fiction — EPOCH

I have a new short story our in EPOCH magazine. Reverse immigration, cemetery lives and reading Harry Potter in Tehran. www.epochliterary.com/featuredfict...

8 months ago 4 1 0 0

We are open for subs!

8 months ago 11 5 0 0
Featured Fiction — EPOCH

I have a new short story our in EPOCH magazine. Reverse immigration, cemetery lives and reading Harry Potter in Tehran. www.epochliterary.com/featuredfict...

8 months ago 4 1 0 0
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Nine Writers Chosen as 2025 Emerging Voices Fellows from Record Applicant Pool  - PEN America For the fourth consecutive year, PEN America's Emerging Voices Fellowship received a record number of applicants.

I'm deeply grateful for the opportunity to benefit from this fellowship with PEN America. pen.org/press-releas...

8 months ago 2 0 0 0
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Read
@pegahouji.bsky.social 's mind-reeling "Hayoula" on our site!
"She reads her daughter’s books twice, running her index finger along the edges, hoarding all the paper cuts for herself. She scours the pages for Hayoula claw prints..."

Art: “Llorando a Rodón en Butoh; 2” by Jorge Luna

10 months ago 2 1 1 0

I have all that I know about flash from this warm and encouraging community at @smokelong.bsky.social and here you can read some pieces published by people in the workshop in April.

11 months ago 8 3 1 0
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Flash Fiction: Who Can Say? By Pegah Ouji We had been searching, or maybe dreaming, mapping the geography of mailboxes and morning glories that sprawled like nebulas across sidewalks.

I have a new story up @jmwwjournal.bsky.social that was born in @smokelong.bsky.social jmwwblog.wordpress.com/2025/04/30/f...

11 months ago 3 0 0 1
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No Place Like a Kaleidoscope by Pegah Ouji Unlike what neighbors say about ghosts, my brother, Hameed, does not follow me everywhere. I wish he would, his lanky legs tracing the curves of Kerman’s sidewalks, disappearing, when…

"Unlike what neighbors say about ghosts, my brother, Hameed, does not follow me everywhere. I wish he would"

Beautiful capturing of emotion and moment in this flash from @pegahouji.bsky.social in @emergejournal.bsky.social

emergeliteraryjournal.com/no-place-lik...

1 year ago 1 1 0 0