CURATED TEAMS

TESTIMONIALS

Carol Fischbach, ISSUES 5-8

The essays I published in KHÔRA were pieces I'd already written and workshopped. Amazingly, in contrast, the process of sharing work with my KHÔRA cohort was magical. Working with Leigh and others held a reverence, a valued and sacred container where I was able to reach new levels in the essays. I'm so grateful for the experience!

Sabrina Tom, Issues 5-8

Being a curated writer for KHÔRA and working in collaboration with other radical humans was an experience that birthed new skin, flipped me inside out and landed me deep inside a narrative crack, the definitions of which trace a new language of embodiment, entanglement and belonging. 

Lorena Hernández Leonard, Issues 13-15

KHÔRA was the first literary journal where I had my work published. Not only was having a piece accepted by the remarkable Leigh Hopkins incredibly exciting for me, but being invited to collaborate with other writers for a total of four essays was monumental as a new writer. I got to know the work of three very talented and creative writers; and along with Leigh, they all influenced my work, making it better. What I loved most about this experience and collaboration was Leigh's openness to and belief in my work. Her support led to a nomination and then a Notable mention in The Best American Essays, a tremendous honor for any writer. Since then, I went on to work as Editor in Chief of a literary magazine, was named a finalist for the PEN American Emerging Writer Fellowship and the CRAFT Creative Nonfiction Award and have received support from the Mass Cultural Council, Tin House, and the Juniper Writing Institute. I also signed with an agent and I'm currently working with her on my memoir, "Salsipuedes: Leave if You Can," about growing up during the Colombian drug war and my forced immigration to the U.S. KHÔRA and Leigh Hopkins were instrumental in my writing career and for that I will eternally be grateful. And, of course, I am indebted to the inimitable Lidia Yuknavoth for creating a magnificent and safe space in which I could give voice to my experiences.

Bec Bell-Gurwitz, Issues 22-25

KHÔRA's collaborative team process is how I wish all publishing worked. Out of all of the literary zines and other publications I've been part of, working with KHÔRA felt the most intuitive, and like I was doing something more than sending my work into the void for a few readers—rather, I felt I was co-creating something with other artists working in many genres and modalities and because of that, was much more invested in the process and in our work as living, breathing pieces in conversation with one another and the world. KHÔRA moved me out of stasis and into community. Just today I was telling my creative writing students about the importance of writing in the community, dispelling the myth of the lone-wolf writer. KHÔRA puts that into practice like no other publication I've encountered. Today I am teaching, finishing up my MFA at UMass Amherst, working on a new novel, and finishing up a short story collection, as well as a series of poems paired with deconstructed self-portraits, and it was working with visual artists on KHÔRA's collaborative team which initially inspired me to return to a visual art practice.

Anuradha Prasad, Issues 22-25

The experience as a whole was affirming to me as a writer. Being part of a collaborative team offered me new ways to witness and shape my work. It was also fantastic to see how the work of other writers and artists emerged and spoke to one another's creations. The way KHÔRA works opened up the space to step into a more exploratory realm of creating and it has continued to influence how I approach my writing these days: to play more, trust more, take risks, and write in service to the story, the art. 

Anna Reeser, Issues 22-25

Writing with KHÔRA showed me how transformative revision can be. With the team’s constructive insights and the structured timeframe, I was able to make my drafts more embodied, complex, and whole. In the year since, I forged ahead with the first draft of a novel, knowing the story will deepen and solidify in the revision stage.

Melissa Leto, Issues 32-35

Working with Leigh prismed the crown of my head and art-making into a kaleidoscope. I felt so much permission to reflect the embodied process of my crafting and was met with such delight and wonder from Leigh that it made it very easy to play in the space of KHÔRA, a space where my desire to play was amplified by a collaborative lens on my work. It was the experience I needed to move into the most delicious project I have ever sank my teeth into. 

What i loved about my experience working with KHÔRA is that I feel very seriously now that I know exactly what the fuck I am doing. I mean: the actual process of my art making has been put under a microscope and I get what I need now. I would've never felt this way without Leigh's permissiveness to play in the space of KHÔRA: to pull in paint and lavender berries, to didact Perrault, to show it's all important: to be able to focus on playing during process is invaluable and changes the attachment to the outcome entirely, which I think is how you really get into what you want to conjure: letting go of what's going to come out of you and just figuring out how to make it stir. 

Swati Sudarsan, Issues 32-35

Being on KHÔRA was a surreal and synchronous experience, steeped in equal parts playfulness as seriousness. I not only wrote and published a complete novella manuscript, but got to engage with an ingenious group of artists who consistently and productively pushed my artistry and ethos around literature. This experience has convinced me that the greatest mysteries of life are also the dearest to me, shown me that the literal sweat and tears put into writing meaningful art is a community effort, and has ultimately propelled me into the spirit of longer writing projects.