Since 2006, Sundress Publications has released an annual Best of the Net anthology, which recognizes work in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Journals are invited to submit up to two nominations in each category. Hippocampus Magazine publishes exclusively nonfiction, which means we select two pieces each year.
Congratulations to our 2019 Best of the Net nominees:
“Steps to Becoming Fine: As Lived By My Mother”
Raksha Vasudevan
January/February 2019 edition
“How to Leave Home”
Lorraine Avila
March/April 2019 edition
It didn’t dawn on us until we listed the two titles side-by-side in our nomination letter: These two stories share a common thread, a “how-to” and a “steps to.” Both offer a road map of sorts, a way to get from A to B. You could say the “B” here stands for “better.” In times like these, when so many of us are looking for direction, it’s clear why these are among the stories that stuck with us the most in 2019.
These stories resonate because they are stories of hope.
About our Nominees
Lorraine Avila
Lorraine Avila is a lover of sweets, platanos, and storytelling. She is an emerging, Dominican-American writer from the Bronx. At the moment, she resides in Oakland and teaches literacy in San Francisco. Her writing has been featured in La Galeria magazine and Blavity.
Raksha Vasudevan
Raksha Vasudevan lives in Colorado. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Threepenny Review, Electric Literature, The Millions, High Country News, Roads & Kingdoms and Entropy. Find her on Twitter at @RakshaVasudevan.
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Hippocampus Magazine contributor Brian Broome was named on of five in Best of the Net for creative nonfiction in 2018 for his gripping essay, “God Don’t Like Ugly.”
