We are so excited to bring you Issue 4.1!
We have several exciting announcements to share with you this week.

First of all, we are so excited to announce the six authors/pieces we’ve nominated for the Pushcart Prize!

• Catherine Kapphahn for her essay “The Geology of Grief”
• Linda Trinh for her essay “Sacred Hands”
• Raima Larter for her short story “Laundry Day”
• Laura Pearson for her short story “Not Only Mine”
• Janet Reed for her poem “Our Sister, Mary Magdalene”
• Kelsey May for her poem “Mr. and Mrs.”

Secondly, we are thrilled to welcome a new member to our team here at the Same. You will remember Anusha Srinivasan if you’ve been reading for a while. She is a two-time contributor to the Same. Besides being a talented author, Anusha is now our Book Review Editor. Besides writing book reviews herself, she will also be reading and recommending submitted reviews for publication. You can learn more about Anusha here, and you can read her previous publications with the Same here and here.

Thirdly, I’m personally very excited to share the news that the Same is growing very quickly. We currently have readership in 77 countries around the world, which you know is particularly exciting for me! Not only are we growing in readership, but we are also growing in content. As of this week, we are adding a third day of content. Mondays will remain our biggest day of the week, when our main issue comes out. Every Wednesday we will have a new book review for you—both the review and the reviewed book will be written by women. Serials will be moving from Thursdays to Fridays, just for the sake of spacing. We hope you will enjoy the new content and continue to share the work on social media.

For those of you who have entered our writing competitions . . . thank you! We are so excited to read your submissions. With each entry fee, you’ve supported our mission of advancing and celebrating the voices of women and girls and you’ve also helped us to empower women and girls around the world through Care—12.5% of each entry fee has been donated to Care! Thank you for sharing your work with us! Each entry will be considered both for the contests and for publication in the online journal. Winners will be announced on December 11th in Issue 4.2. Stay tuned!

Finally, I want to let you know that submissions are now open in the Serial category through Submittable. If you’ve been following our current featured serial “Little River” for the last few weeks, you’ll be familiar with the type of format we’re looking for. You can find more information on how to submit here. This will be our first paying category. (We hope to eventually be able to pay for work in each category. The more we grow, the more likely that will be! Paying all contributors is our long-term goal.)

Last but definitely not least, we’re delighted to share with you this week’s authors. Carmen Baca explores the loss of her students in her personal essay “Learning to Let Go”,  Brianna J.L. Smyk paints a painfully poignant picture of living with Alzheimer’s/dementia in her short story “Mind Games”, and Diane de Anda strikes a nerve in her powerful poem “Douchebag.” We also have an interview with author Susan Kite. We know you’re going to enjoy these pieces, and we encourage you to connect with the authors on social media.

Until next time!

Rachel Holbrook

Editor in Chief