Aster Lit: Apricity
Issue 4—Winter 2021
Starlit Awards in Poetry and Prose
Each issue, we specially 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 will receive monetary awards of $100. Our three runner-ups will receive monetary awards of $50. We are proud to grant the Winter 2021 Starlit Award to Chinedu Gospel (Nigeria) and Ryan Wong (Malaysia). Honorable mention recipients include Polina Tumanskaya (Russia), Ukata Edwardson (Nigeria), and Aribah Ali (Canada).
Scroll down to read the rest of the Winter 2021 Issue.
Chinedu Gospel—Poetry
Starlit Award Winner
Polina Tumanskaya—Poetry
Honorable Mention
Ukata Edwardson—Poetry
Honorable Mention
Ryan Wong— Prose
Starlit Award Winner
Aribah Ali—Prose
Honorable Mention
apricity
n.
the warmth of the sun in winter
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 Winter 2021 Issue are Ziqra Zarook (Sri Lanka) and Kateryna Darchyk (Ukraine).
Read more about the theme here.
Ziqra Zarook—Poetry
Kateryna Darchyk—Prose
Poetry
Themed Poetry
Ziqra Zarook — the waning sun
Siya Gusain — inside
Savindri Ferdinando — Pandora
Paridhi Puri — In Which I Eulogise the Winter
Natasha Bredle — In Another World, You Are Named For Your Strength
Murtaza Jawadwala — When You Fled
L. Y. Rinn — for the broken and the bruised
Hope Milo — let me call myself icarus — ways in which i love you
Gabrielle Beck — The Bard of Michigan Avenue
Fray Narte — Sol
Evan Violets — on sun-kissed winter, by a boy who’s never experienced it
Chinedu Gospel — Threnody for hope — Winter speaks of Bloom
Ananya Aneja — Anatomy of a newborn winter
Amna Rashid — All for you
Riel Sherbatov — glow
Unthemed Poetry
Hebe Kearney — starbear
Falon Willow — driving in my first snow
Abdulkareem Abdulkareem — Self-portrait with the IPA chart — War, glory and grief
Prose
Gabrielle Beck — Vertigo
Aribah Ali — Sit At My Table
Ainsley Kennedy — I will always hold my ghosts close
Note from the Editors
Snow, sunlight, and other gifts from the sky—winter may be a cold season, but she is generous too. Apricity is the warmth of the sun in winter, and indeed, sometimes the sun shares its brightest, clearest smiles when the air around us is most bitter and chilled.
Like sunshine in winter, stories have the power to warm us, melt us, and replenish our souls when all else seems dark. This issue, we were grateful to receive 543 stellar submissions from 43 countries. To every member of our global literary community—our submitters, our readers, our Instagram followers, our podcast listeners, and everyone else reading this message—we thank you for making Aster Lit possible. Whether through laughter in shared joy or solace in shared sorrow, we hope this issue—a quilt of so many unique and beautiful voices—brings you warmth and comfort the way it did for us as we put it together.
Choosing our pieces for publication was incredibly difficult, and we wish we could’ve shared every submission we received. If your piece didn’t make it in this time, please consider submitting to our Spring 2022 Issue starting in January! We’d love to read more of your amazing work. 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