Women* Write the Balkans

As we prepare for hibernation, our minds turn to blooms. Submit 200-word pitches by Dec 20 for essays on growth, fertility, and the Balkans. womenwritethebalkans.com/seasonal-shorts

We are entering the final week of Balkan Ghosts with "Duh" by @AlineCateux: "I realized how much I had cemented Duh into a fictional character, a romantic stereotype of the victim who could not be anything else." womenwritethebalkans.com/essays/duh

We are proud to present the Friday Balkan Ghosts read by @NatKikicWrites: "I study his pieces, his heart and liver, trying to understand the man he was. The grandfather he might have been. I search for parts to keep, but only the worst of him remains." womenwritethebalkans.com/essays/my-gran…

The season has changed, and with it comes the launch of our first Seasonal Shorts series—Balkan Ghosts. Over the next several weeks, we'll be sharing short takes on the things that haunt us, starting with Dijana Mujkanović's Pilgrimage to Ilije Bursaća 51. tinyurl.com/4spx7r6f

Follow Roxani Krystalli as she tells a story of rootedness in place and time, and life that unfolds in bouts of growth and care: “Some plants benefit from light; others, in my mother’s imagination, grew simply out of spite.” tinyurl.com/k47ydm26