The Best Essays from Narratively
Chosen by Executive Editor Jesse Sposato
Illustration by Julie Benbassat/courtesy of Narratively
Narratively is a diverse and vibrant space that elevates the art of nonfiction storytelling -- helping emerging writers find their voice, and offering them a unique platform to publish their work alongside some of the best in the business. We asked Executive Editor Jesse Sposato to pick her favourite essays from the site:
Homeless at ‘Harvard High School’ by Heather K.M. Lewis - I spent my coming-of-age years in the New York City shelter system while attending an elite private school. Almost no one knew what I was going through, or the toll it was taking, least of all me.
Diary of a Degenerate Gambler Turned Hollywood Writer by James McSherry - The lure of racetrack betting came early and hit hard, but before that, I dreamed of becoming an author. A chance encounter with one of my all-time heroes—and his belief in me—changed my luck forever.
How to Turn a Human Body Into Soil, and Other Things I’ve Learned by Mallory McDuff - After my parents’ tragic, untimely deaths, I began to teach—and learn alongside—my students about how our bodies can nourish the land after we die. What we saw empowered us all.
How a Black-Market IVF Drug Deal Helped Heal My Marriage by Angie Chuang - After failing to get pregnant, our financial and emotional reserves were depleted. An illicit transaction trading meds for cash at a suburban Starbucks was a surprising turning point.
A Freak Accident Brought Me Closer to My Domineering Dad by Ivy Eisenberg - One summer in my early 20s, my dad’s ‘brilliant idea’ quite literally set us both on fire—and changed our relationship forever.
I Was Drowning in My Marriage—An Impossible Crush Helped Save Me by Nikki Campo - It took seeing myself through someone else’s eyes to be able to realize my full potential and make the difficult choice I’d known I needed to make all along.
Black Girl, Blue Leotard: How My Ticket to Belonging Broke My Heart by Lisa Williamson Rosenberg - Lisa’s dance uniform was everything. She cherished it, wore it everywhere. Until, that is, she took a new dance class where she felt inferior and started to see things in a different light.
I Was the World’s Worst Cancer Mom by Elizabeth Austin - The cancer ward (and my Insta feed) were filled with picture-perfect moms moving heaven and earth for their sick kids. Meanwhile, I spiraled into heavy drinking, depression and self-destruction.
Letter to My Teenage Self: An Incarcerated Man Interrogates the Person He Once Was by Hector Ortiz - From his prison cell in Washington state, Hector Ortiz reexamines the traumas, hardships and bad choices that led to his lengthy sentence—and ultimately taught him about the man he needed to be.
Chaos and Noise: One Man’s Harrowing Stint in Solitary Confinement by Christopher Blackwell - Locked in the hole without explanation, Christopher Blackwell tries desperately to hold onto the pride and positivity he’s worked so hard to preserve.
The Paradox of a Fair-Skinned Black Girl in the Segregated South by Wylene Branton Wood - Wylene felt safe despite the burning cross on her lawn and the subtler affronts that colored her Arkansas childhood. She never expected her deepest trauma to be inflicted by someone of her own race.
I Was Taught to Hate My Lesbian Neighbors. They Took Me In Anyway. by Dena Landon - The summer my parents’ marriage was falling apart, my best friend’s two moms saved me—even though my dad said they were going to Hell.
How I Wrote Myself into a Real-life Romantic Comedy – That Turned into a Survivalist Thriller by Melissa Johnson - As a filmmaker, I thought I could write the screenplay for my own love life. When I got lost in a hailstorm at 12,000 feet, searching for my ex, I realized I desperately needed a new ending.
I Professed My Love at Mile 15...But Not to My Husband by Christine Ochs-Naderer - I married my childhood best friend when we were still young...then fell in love with my running partner. Welcome to a love triangle more intense than any marathon.
Queen of the S.R.O. by Ray W. Hayden - In gritty 1980s New York, one West Village flophouse became a last-chance refuge for addicts, criminals, LGBTQ runaways, and anyone with nowhere left to go. And my mom was their queen.
Visit Narratively.com for more great essays, and if you’re a writer looking to ‘hone your craft, and develop all the tools to pursue your writing and publishing dreams’ then check out Narratively Academy.