In this third collection of short stories we have both fiction and nonfiction! Can you guess which is which? A Letter to Mr. Nobody — Jo Lim — 1 Still Wanderings — Manali Pattnaik — 5 Voting for Earth — May Han Thong — 17 Beyond the Mountain — Lingzhi Li — 29 Shrey’s Corner — Yen-Kheng Lim— 34 Heroes in Plain Sight — Neha G — 52 Sisterhood — Elena M — 60 Aliens Cleansing — Jan Thong — 65 Jalan Kayu Primary School — Rajesh R Parwani — 70 The Glory of Death — May Han Thong — 78 High Fever — Rajesh R Parwani — 88

In this fifth collection of short stories we have more tales for you: some true, some made up, and some in the grey zone! Cry — Thong May Han — 1 About Time — Rajesh R Parwani — 10 The Way We Once Were — Anya Seth — 20 The Folk — Jay Yap — 28 A Place to be Quiet — Jo Lim — 38 39 Michan Road — Renée Abrahams — 43 Power Play — Thong Kim Fook — 48 Subterfuge in Switzerland — Thong May Han — 59 The Five Stages of Unclehood in Singapore — Rajesh R Parwani — 70

In this fourth collection of short stories, we have more real-life tales for you, some fiction too, and some that straddle the two! Ms Delight — Brooke Chew — 1 Ah Moi — H Gill — 8 The Large Medium — May Han Thong — 18 Black Forest — Jo Lim — 31 Cosmic Song — Yen-Kheng Lim — 36 Pandemic — Jan Thong — 56 To Be, Or Not To Be — Rajesh R Parwani — 62 A Marriage Tale — Anya Seth — 72 Fading Years — Jan Thong — 78 I Remember — Rajesh R Parwani — 83

Welcome, dear reader, to the sixth volume of this vibrant anthology series, where fact and fiction interlock in a dance of storytelling! As with the volume before, we offer you a tapestry woven from diverse threads, a kaleidoscope of experiences to ignite your imagination and pique your curiosity. Within these pages, you'll find yourself transported to realms both familiar and fantastical. You'll meet characters who will challenge your perspectives and stay with you long after the final line. Whether you crave the raw honesty of personal narrative or the immersive escapism of fiction, this anthology caters to your every literary desire. This year we also have some experimental results from generative AI: most of this preface, the two haikus and one story in this volume, were generated by AI.

Globe and Mail bestseller, The Boat People is an extraordinary novel about a group of refugees who survive a perilous ocean voyage only to face the threat of deportation amid accusations of terrorism When a rusty cargo ship carrying Mahindan and five hundred fellow refugees from Sri Lanka's bloody civil war reaches Vancouver's shores, the young father thinks he and his six-year-old son can finally start a new life. Instead, the group is thrown into a detention processing center, with government officials and news headlines speculating that among the "boat people" are members of a separatist militant organization responsible for countless suicide attacks—and that these terrorists now pose a threat to Canada's national security. As the refugees become subject to heavy interrogation, Mahindan begins to fear that a desperate act taken in Sri Lanka to fund their escape may now jeopardize his and his son's chance for asylum. Told through the alternating perspectives of Mahindan; his lawyer, Priya, a second-generation Sri Lankan Canadian who reluctantly represents the refugees; and Grace, a third-generation Japanese Canadian adjudicator who must decide Mahindan's fate as evidence mounts against him, The Boat People is a spellbinding and timely novel that provokes a deeply compassionate lens through which to view the current refugee crisis.

Provides up-to-date profiles on the careers of leading and emerging poets.

“[A] splendid collection . . . By turns wry, tender, pointed, and laugh-out-loud funny.” —Publishers Weekly “Untangles the many truths about hair, and the lives we lead underneath it.” —Pamela Druckerman, author of Bringing Up Bébé Ask a woman about her hair, and she just might tell you the story of her life. Ask a whole bunch of women about their hair, and you could get a history of the world. Surprising, insightful, frequently funny, and always forthright, the essays in Me, My Hair, and I are reflections and revelations about every aspect of women’s lives from family, race, religion, and motherhood to culture, health, politics, and sexuality. They take place in African American kitchens, at Hindu Bengali weddings, and inside Hasidic Jewish homes. The conversation is intimate and global at once. Layered into these reminiscences are tributes to influences throughout history: Jackie Kennedy, Lena Horne, Farrah Fawcett, the Grateful Dead, and Botticelli’s Venus. The long and the short of it is that our hair is our glory—and our nemesis, our history, our self-esteem, our joy, our mortality. Every woman knows that many things in life matter more than hair, but few bring as much pleasure as a really great hairdo.

“A delight and highly recommended.” —Booklist “Showcases the truth and fullness of people of color.” —Book Riot In the tradition of Best American Short Stories comes Everyday People: The Color of Life, a dazzling collection of contemporary short fiction. Everyday People is a thoughtfully curated anthology of short stories that presents new and renowned work by established and emerging writers of color. It illustrates the dynamics of character and culture that reflect familial strife, political conflict, and personal turmoil through an array of stories that reveal the depth of the human experience. Representing a wide range of styles, themes, and perspectives, these selected stories depict moments that linger—crossroads to be navigated, relationships, epiphanies, and times of doubt, loss, and discovery. A celebration of writing and expression, Everyday People brings to light the rich tapestry that binds us all. The contributors are an eclectic mix of award-winning and critically lauded writers, including Mia Alvar, Carleigh Baker, Nana Brew-Hammond, Glendaliz Camacho, Alexander Chee, Mitchell S. Jackson, Yiyun Li, Allison Mills, Courttia Newland, Denne Michele Norris, Jason Reynolds, Nelly Rosario, Hasanthika Sirisena, and Brandon Taylor. Some of the proceeds from the sale of Everyday People will benefit the Rhode Island Writers Colony, a nonprofit organization founded by the late Brook Stephenson that provides space for speculation, production, and experimentation by writers of color.