I’m so excited to bring you Issue 6.2 of the Same! I get such a little thrill out of the issues that turn out to be completely international! This week, we are bringing you pieces by authors who hail from Switzerland, South Africa, and the Netherlands!

Before we get to the intros for this week’s pieces, I wanted to remind you about our Poetry Contest. We are now accepting up to six poems per entry, and the deadline is February 28. The winner will receive $50 and print publication in our next anthology. If we receive enough entries, we will also award cash prizes to the second and third place poets.

If you’ve not got your copy of “Raising Her Voice” yet, now is the perfect time to order our first anthology because, for the month of February, we are donating 10% of the profits from all anthology sales to Care.org! It’s a perfect way to treat yourself to an awesome book with work by 21 amazing women writers from around the world AND do some measurable good in the world. Care does amazing work on the global scale to empower women and girls . . . and their families . . . around the world. So be sure to get a copy of “Raising Her Voice” this month for yourself or to give as a gift.

I’m really excited about Issue 6.1! The work in this issue is really powerful. I absolutely love Julie Park’s narrative nonfiction piece “Mycko Trucks”, and I think you are going to love it, too. Zamo Mbhele’s short story “Akua” is a serious gut punch that will stay with you long after you’ve read the last word. Monica Balt’s beautiful poem “The Sound of Hope” is absolutely gorgeous! You’re going to love these pieces, and I hope you’ll consider sharing them with someone else. Don’t forget to connect with these talented women on their websites or through social media and let them know you loved their work!

To all our readers . . . thank you so much for your continued support of our journal. You make it a joy to do what we do!

Until next time!

Rachel Holbrook

Editor in Chief