NONFICTION
Essays by established and emerging voices from around the world.
CODA
“When it happened, I suddenly recalled the expression split in two.
by Sarah Viren
FEMININE NIHILISTIC GOSPEL SONG
“Eventually the pandemic would ease, and I would marry the man I'd grown to love from afar."
by Kimberly Sheridan
LANDSCAPE ANXIETY
“–he has driven down into the wheat and thought of himself as a mouse–"
by Maya Jewell Zeller
A LETTER TO MY FOUR-YEAR-OLD SON...
“We may not live there anymore, but the truth is this: you will always know a wilder home..."
by Elizabeth Bolton
Writers share a Spotify playlist and discuss music’s impact on their creative process.
RIDING THE MUSIC WAVE: Ismet Prcic
[An] exquisitely elven-looking lady opera singer breaking down a live performance of Pearl Jam's 'Black'..."
RIDING THE MUSIC WAVE: Joe Holt
“Boy do I love music, but I can't listen to it when I'm writing creatively."
RIDING THE MUSIC WAVE: Brandon Hobson
“Because serious art is where complex and difficult questions are made human and uncomfortable..."
RIDING THE MUSIC WAVE: Kevin Sampsell
“I always wanted to be a DJ when I was a kid, growing up in Kennewick, Washington."
River Styx editors interview writers published in the magazine.
RS/NF: Rajiv Mohabir
On writing a hybrid text, the power of looking into the eye of a whale, and more
RS/NF: Jane Wong
On the inspiration and construction of her essay "A Slow Process."
RS/NF: Darien Gee
On compression, meandering as process, and family trees in her flash essay “Kin.”
More nonfiction
KIN
“In my family, there was a woman who knew how to fly."
by Darien Gee
COMMON SENSE
“Before I left NYC to live in western South Dakota I did not know how much I did not know—that prairie grass undulates and shines like ocean waves..."
by Lise Balk King
FRACTALS
“Every year on my birthday, my mom tells my birth story. In the middle of labor, she left her body and floated up to the ceiling then looked down..."
by Claire Walla
FROM SUGARCANE TO DIABETES
“At thirty-two an urgent care doctor called and told me that my fasting blood sugar of 397 mg/dL was dangerously high."
by Rajiv Mohabir
FROM WHALE LORE
“In the harbor, moon jellies pushed their smocks through the tide as the steady barking of sea lions tickled the gulls into frenzied screams."
by Rajiv Mohabir
MY UNRELIABLE SOURCE IS A BIRD
“My mother walked. Every day. Five miles. Sometimes ten. Rain never stopped her. Nor 110-degree temps."
by Charlene Logan