Under the bright atrium light of the food court between our buildings, I told Fati about the kiss. In Arabic. This was no time to make my cousin practice English.
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“Stranger Things” first appeared in 805Lit+Art (Volume 4, Issue 2), April 2018, and was also honoured as one of their three annual Pushcart Prize fiction nominations. Enjoy!
Jenn Leiker: Writing fresh fiction, travelogues, and short essays on expat life in Saudi Arabia Posts
The Eastern Emirates Charity Ball is the most important night of Pranav’s year. Moments from now, a hundred of the Gulf’s wealthiest westerners will descend on the ballroom of the Arabia Grande Hotel. The fact that he turns thirty today—his tenth birthday on foreign soil—should be the last thing on his mind, considering. ……………….
“Stitched” first appeared in Cherry Tree: A National Literary Journal @ Washington College (Issue 4), 2018.
Well, how ’bout that? “Woman Wear For Love” was longlisted for Wigleaf’s Top 50 Very Short Fictions of 2017. An honour, and many thanks to Pithead Chapel for the nomination! It’s the first flash fiction piece I’ve sent anywhere. ‘Spose it’s time to submit a few more stories before diving into novel revision…? “Woman Wear For Love” was inspired by…
In the spirit of Raymond Carver, CARVE Magazine is the home for what we call “honest” fiction. I love being a part of these gorgeous pages of literary goodness! In the Summer 2017 issue, I chat with the lovely Jacqueline Guidry about her quietly powerful story, “A Girl Called Penny.” You can buy the Premium edition of CARVE for just $12…
My best friend, in Europe for the first time, wanted to buy a pair of sunglasses at Chanel. We’d have four short days in Paris, a city she had always dreamed of visiting and, arguably, the very Mecca of fashion. Forget the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame: we had a mission. The very first morning, Google informed us that…
Makeup, morals, and men… in the Kingdom. Check out “Women Wear for Love,” a short piece now out in Pithead Chapel (Vol 5, Issue 7). Here’s a teaser! It’s twilight in the parking lot of the Al-Ghosaibi Mall, and in the back of her father’s car, my cousin is making me a woman. Tonight is our last training with you.…
Hey, check it out! I did an author interview for the fabulous CARVE Magazine. In the Winter 2017 edition, I chat with the lovely Miriam Cohen about her MFA life, the strange contest prizes she’s won in another life, and the charming narrator of her latest short story, “Show & Tell.” You can buy the Premium edition of CARVE for just $12…
Washing machines, watching men, and a washroom…? Check out “The Way Things Works Around Here,” now available under fiction in Newfound Journal’s current Winter issue. Here’s a little excerpt: For weeks afterward, we tuned ourselves to the television sets for news of the fat white man, but none came. We knew the airport, and indeed, our island, could not afford…
Cap and I have taken to referring to life here on the compound as ‘our little alternate reality’. This is short for our shared awareness of getting on a plane a fortnight ago, expecting our wheels to set down in a new country… and somehow landing in a whole new universe. It looks, smells, and sounds like small-town Americana, it’s…