Dear Reader,
Last year’s edition of Essay Magazine saw the continuation of what we lovingly termed Pocket Essay, a shorter print version of our magazine featuring the winner and two runners up of the Erik Kirkland Memorial Prize, along with an essay written by the judge. We also continued to revamp our website to showcase several additional essays in a versatile online environment that bridges the gap between the physical and digital worlds, and redesigned the Essay Magazine logo. We are beyond thrilled to share with you our newest version of Essay, featuring the winner’s, finalists’, and judge’s essays, alongside seven other essays and a selection of artwork and photography, highlighting how diverse and varied creative nonfiction can be. Our goals this year were to expand upon the vast world of creative nonfiction while bringing back more of Essay’s traditional appearance and style.
These incredible essays explore identity and the journey of coming into one’s own, as “Split in Two” delves deep into the complexities and heartache that comes with self-discovery and “Murmoros del Alma en un Suspiro” reminds us of the ever-evolving nature of personal truth. Each piece in this edition of Essay offers a window into the struggles of identity, the reconciliation of memory as a catalyst for personal change, and the grief that allows us to create. We are incredibly honored to publish these writers and showcase their talents to the world.
This edition of Essay would not exist without the unwavering support of our community. We would like to extend a thank you to our fantastic advisor, Hasanthika Sirisena, for all of their guidance and encouragement throughout this process. We would like to thank the incredibly talented Patrick Madden for being our 2025 Cunningham Essayist and for his beautifully vulnerable and poignant essay, “An Open Letter to My Late Friend Brian Doyle.” We also thank him for his assistance in judging the 2025 Erik Kirkland Memorial Prize. We thank our junior editor Sydney Greiner, junior design editor Emma Ritter, and website manager Haley Seitz for the fantastic work they’ve done for this magazine.
Thank you to our reading board members and each of our wonderful contributors. Our peers on our fellow Susquehanna University magazines—thank you for your support and encouragement as we each take part in the incredibly creative community our campus has to offer; we are beyond honored to stand by your side and collaborate to foster the ever-evolving literary ecosystem. And lastly, we thank you, our reader. Thank you for sticking with us through various iterations and joining us in the endless search for creativity, truth, and belonging.
The tides of change and journey of self-discovery can be challenging to navigate, but we hope that these stories and writers within will encourage you to never stop pursuing your personal truth.
With all of our love,
Megan Emerick and Emi Harris
Essay Editors