Aster Lit: Remembrance
Issue 7—Fall 2022
Starlit Awards in Poetry and Prose
Each issue, we hope to recognize submissions outstanding in mastery of craft or originality of voice. This issue, the winners of the Starlit Award in Poetry and the Starlit Award in Prose each will receive monetary awards of $100. We are proud to present the Fall 2022 Starlit Award to Farai Chaka (Zimbabwe) and Naomi Carr (United States). Honorable mention recipients are Anna Feng (United States) and Joshua Peter (United States).
Scroll down to read the rest of the Fall 2022 Issue.
Farai Chaka—Poetry
Starlit Award Winner
Anna Feng—Poetry
Honorable Mention
Naomi Carr—Prose
Starlit Award Winner
Joshua Peter—Prose
Honorable Mention
remembrance
n.
the state, act, or power of remembering
Theme Winners
Each issue, we recognize two theme winners—one for poetry and one for prose—who we believe demonstrate thoughtful and creative engagement with our theme and sophisticated use of their craft to tell compelling and unique stories. Theme winners for our Fall 2022 Issue are Fray Narte (Philippines) and Reem Khalifa (Egypt).
Read more about the theme here.
Fray Narte—Poetry
Reem Khalifa—Prose
Poetry
Themed Poetry
Abdulrazaq Salihu — Time travel exists — The apocalypse
Amina Akinola — A sujood after fajr as a form of recollection
Anna Feng — burning out
Fray Narte — Apollo and the Yellow Cat
Rue Huang — reflections upon remembrance
Janice Lin — the rebeginning of hangzhou
Jordan Davidson — Parasomnias
Kate Wexell — portraits of home — when you wish you could live in a leonid afremov painting
Kondwani Bwalya — Toby's Mind
Onyedikachi Shaquille Johnson — Dozer Tread Marks Can Last A Lifetime
Xujia Guan — A White Girl Told Me
Unthemed Poetry
Farai Chaka — poem most likely to be burnt
Rania Dawud — immunity
Shailja Bahety — Hope is a butterfly
Prose
Themed Prose
Chengyue Zhang — Ghost Girl
Rue Huang — seashells
Hussameddine Al Attar — Inside the Heart Lies the Hippocampus
Note from the Editors
Place. Time. Tradition and culture. Memory. Reddened leaves drift and sink into a puddle. A ripple disturbs the reflections of past and present. As the winds quiet to a breeze and rain transitions to snow, we remember the people we once were.
This issue, we received 455 fantastic submissions from around the world. We were inspired by the stories of your past—the people, the lives, the memories you treasured. We were so grateful to have the opportunity to read your work and are honored to act as the home to 22 incredible works. To our wonderful global constellation of stars—our readers, our submitters, our Instagram followers, our podcast listeners, and everyone reading this message right now—thank you for making Aster Lit possible. Through the change in this season and the turn into the next, your voices will continue to motivate us.
This issue was extremely selective, and deciding our pieces for publication was especially difficult. We truly wish we could publish every submission we receive. If your piece didn’t make it this time, please consider submitting to our next issue. Our Winter 2022 Issue will be open for submissions starting in mid-October, and we would love to see you submit! We can’t wait to read more of your amazing work. In the meantime, you can follow us on Instagram (@aster.lit) to stay involved with our community and receive updates on issue submissions.
We love you. Your voice matters. Keep telling stories.
Sincerely,
The Aster Lit Team