Whether selected or nominated for awards, notated on lists of critically acclaimed work, reprinted in anthologies, or other honors, Hippocampus Magazine and its contributors have been recognized for writing and sharing true stories by various organizations and publications.
Awards & Honors
Best of the Net – 2018 Winner for Creative Nonfiction
“God Don’t Like Ugly” by Brian Broome (read the story in Hippocampus | read the republished story on BOTN)
Recognition & Lists
Top 5 Longreads of the Week & Other Longreads Mentions
- Best Personal Essays of 2021: “The Gradual Extinction of Softness” by Chantha Nguon and Kim Green
- “The Gradual Extinction of Softness” by Chantha Nguon and Kim Green; Nov. 8, 2021 (read story | see honor)
- “Me Llamo Theresa” by Theresa Okokon; July 7, 2020 (read story | see honor)
Short Reads
Short Reads, founded in 2023, is a weekly email featuring original and reprinted flash nonfiction essays; we were honored to be part of the first few featured.
- Brian Broome’s “God Don’t Like Ugly” (Short Reads 003; April 12, 2023)
- Sonja Livingston’s “Flinch” (Short Read 034; January, 31 2024)
Creative Nonfiction‘s Sunday Short Reads
While this weekly series is now defunct, a group of previous Creative Nonfiction staff members have since teamed up to launch an email-based literary magazine called Short Reads. We were honored to join as a partner during the final few months of the past iteration, which featured these three Hippocampus Magazine stories:
- “Optimism” by Paul Crenshaw, reprinted in Creative Nonfiction’s Sunday Short Reads newsletter (June 19, 2022)
- “Salisbury Steak Day” by Michelle Strausbaugh, reprinted in Creative Nonfiction’s Sunday Short Reads newsletter (Sept. 25, 2022)
- “Back Seat” by Brian Benson, reprinted in Creative Nonfiction’s Sunday Short Reads newsletter (Dec. 4, 2022)
This Week in Essays Mentions (The Rumpus)
- Sept. 15, 2021 – “Farm Road 1623” by Hannah Smothers (read story | see mention)
- July 14, 2021 – “Sharp” by Vanessa Chan (read story | see mention)
- May 12, 2021 – “Wild Medicine” by Rachel Bunting (read story | see mention)
- March 10, 2021 – “Mysteries” by Lisa Troha (read story | see mention)
- Nov. 18, 2020 – “Scars Fists Watch Kiss” by Jonathan Winston Jones (read story | see mention)
- July 15, 2020 – “Me Llamo Theresa” by Theresa Okokon (read story | see mention)
- Jan. 8, 2020 – “Citrus Trees” by Lucinda Cummings (read story | see mention)
- Sept. 11, 2019 – “Embers” by Kandi Maxwell (read story | see mention)
- May 15, 2019 – “The Power Economy of Dad” by Caleb Coy (read story | see mention)
(This last column appeared in 2021; we’re hopeful it might start up again.)
Other Mentions
- “The Internet is Exploding: 10 Must-Reads of the Week” from BMoreArt Magazine (Nov. 14, 2021) — for “The Gradual Extinction of Softness (read story | see mention)
Work Reprinted in Anthologies & Collections
Essays, memoir excerpts, and flash creative nonfiction that first appeared in Hippocampus Magazine have also caught the attention of anthology editors. We’re excited to share that you can find work that was previously published in Hippocampus in the following anthologies and collections:
- Sarah Kilch Gaffney, “A Geography of Grief” in Grief Becomes You, edited by Mara Stein; appeared in Hippocampus in September 2015
- Kat Moore, “Where Do You Go from Alston Street” in Bodies of Truth: Personal Narratives on Illness, Disability, and Medicine (University of Nebraska Press, 2019); appeared in Hippocampus in April 2016
- Jeanine Pfeiffer, “Until We Have Loved” in Humanity Vol. 1 (Paloma Press, 2018); appeared in Hippocampus in November 2015 – a contest finalist
- More coming soon
Work Re”printed” in Audio Format
Essays, memoir excerpts, and flash creative nonfiction that first appeared in Hippocampus Magazine have also caught the attention of radio and podcast producers:
- Nicole Piasecki’s “Maybe We Can Make a Circle” appeared in audio format on This American Life on Aug. 16, 2024, under the title “Dear Alice.”
Contributor Publications: Anthologies, Essay Collections & Memoirs
Literary magazines have always been a place where writers can send pieces of work that are part of a larger whole — even if they don’t know it at the time. A one-off essay sometimes might inspire a memoir, a piece of flash nonfiction might become the basis for a larger collection. We’d like to recognize the following Hippocampus Magazine contributors who have had work that was first published here and is now part of a book-length project (either in whole, part, or another version of). We’re so proud of you!
| Author & Title | Hippocampus Essay |
| Karen Babine, All the Wild Hungers: A Season of Cooking and Cancer | “On Potatoes” (January 2018) |
| Laurie Easter, All the Leavings | “I Have to Tell You Something” (June 2013) |
| Anika Fajardo, Magical Realism for Nonbelievers: A Memoir of Finding a Family | “Playing Poohsticks” (September 2011) |
| Bernard Grant, Puzzle Pieces (chapbook) | “Bereaved” (January 2015) |
| Sandra Gail Lambert, A Certain Loneliness: A Memoir | “The Laundromat” (June 2016) |
| Lara Lillibridge, The Truth About Ringing Phones: Essays on Yearning | “The Right Tap” (September 2016) |
| Huda Al-Marashi, First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story | “Is This a Date?” (May 2014) |
| Charlotte Maya, Sushi Tuesday: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Resilience | “Grief Math” (March 2022) |
| Anthony J. Mohr, Every Other Weekend: Coming of Age With Two Different Dads | “Blue Eyes at the Wheel” (July 2019) |
| Chantha Nguon (with Kim Green), Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Recipe | “The Gradual Extinction of Softness” (November 2021) |
| Angela Palm, Riverine: A Memoir from Anywhere But Here (winner of the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize) | “Do You Have Anything to Declare?” (December 2014) |
| Kirsten Reneau, Sensitive Creatures: Essays | “An Incredibly Brief History of Sound” (March 2019) and “Bar Bathroom Graffiti in New Orleans: A One Year Catalog” (September 2020) |
| Dorothy Rice, Gray is the New Black | “Body Braille” (July 2019) |
| Lisa Romeo, Starting With Goodbye: A Daughter’s Memoir of Love and Loss | “Going Through Your Things/Superhero” (June 2015) |
| Paul Rousseau, Friendly Fire: A Fractured Memoir | “Curiously Colored & Timely Animals + Other Things Forgotten Post Surgery” (June 2021) |
| Scott Loring Sanders, Surviving Jersey: Danger + Insanity in the Garden State | “4/20” (April 2014) |
| Carol Smith, Crossing the River: Seven Stories that Saved My Life – A Memoir | “Object Lessons” (November 2015 – and winner of our annual contest) |
| Suzanne Farrell Smith, The Memory Sessions | “Another Version of Us” (November 2014 – contest finalist); and “The Rabbit Hole” (May, 2011 – our inaugural issue!) |
| A. A. Weis, Lenin’s Asylum: Two Years in Moldova | “A Gun Story” (August 2014) |
| More coming soon |
