original perspective

Story·Linden Grace Koshland, age 11 — A small hut on a hill weathers a fierce storm, then settles into sleep as the sun emerges, its empty interior somehow full of the warmth of home.

Story·Benjamin Mitchell, age 13 — In a post-apocalyptic Nevada compound, Oswald attends a mandatory festival where the High Chancellor reveals the entire climate disaster was an elaborate government hoax to test survival protocols.

Poetry·Kieran O'Donnell, age 11 — A philosophical meditation on how cold is merely the absence of heat, exploring the nature of opposites and what truly exists versus what we perceive.

Story·Thomas Faulhaber, age 13 — In a world where middlenames determine destiny, a boy named Robin Burke struggles with his musical heritage until riots against the naming system expose its fundamental flaw.

Poetry·Yutia Li, age 9 — A playful cosmic origin story traces from a tiny speck's explosion through the Big Bang to Earth's formation and the first single-celled life.

Poetry·Sterling Waterfield, age 11 — A young philosopher questions why things are named what they are, why humans dominate, and ultimately decides to accept the world's strange design.

Story·Elisabeth Baer, age 10 — A magical clock that regulates emotions is thrown away by its bitter owner, journeys through the ocean depths, meets the empress of the sea, and finds a new home with...

Poetry·Rebecca Beaver, age 13 — A speaker confronts the loss of their heart to the moon, becoming a whisper of their former self in this surreal exploration of identity and emptiness.

Poetry·Ari Martinez, age 9 — A playful exploration of mistakes through wordplay, comparing them to tissues on cake and balloons on garbage cans, then deconstructing the word itself.

Story·Sydney Burr, age 11 — A girl who writes by a mountain stream is transported into her own story about an Egyptian pyramid, where she meets her protagonist and must find a way out.