creative writing

November 10, 2023

Dust Unto Dust. On my 50th birthday, the only sound from the Ferris wheel will be the dirge of rusty gears

Fifty years. A golden anniversary. A mere blink in the timeline. Before me looms the menacing road of another half-century, dotted with metallic towers that rise from the ground

16 year-old Justin Sau pictures the year 2057

December 29, 2022

During a pandemic-haunted summer, I discovered a million-word long story and joined the fanfiction faction

Has finishing a good story ever left you feeling empty? As if nothing could ever come close to the experience of living, however briefly, inside the tale? You sit there, thinking of all the lost possibilities, the plotlines that were not explored, the what-ifs. What if this character survived? What if that character were born into an entirely different world?

18 year-old Zachary Górka explains the phenomenon of fanfiction literature

February 09, 2022

I saw the big, white letters on the top of my phone screen, right next to the Outlook logo. “Application Outcome” I read and took a deep breath in.It’s here, my Cambridge decision.

Mary Stabińska on what it feels like to open a very important letter

January 26, 2022

Darkness, a poem Wisława Szymborska did not write

A pastiche is a work of art that aims to imitate the style of another work or artist. It is a device regularly used in many different mediums, including literature, music, and visual art. For example, Shakespeare’s famous balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet has been a theme for endless pastiches - it was also arguably the inspiration for the happy ending scene in Pretty Woman.

Daria Badger interviews Polish pastiche poetry writer Grzegorz Uzdański - and translates one of his works to English

November 12, 2021

How a Chinese boy Who’d Never Heard of Football Fell in Love with the Sport

During Wolcott’s first possession, we completely locked them up. I was so focused that all of a sudden it was like I knew how to play football. I was breaking ankles the whole first half, and I didn’t drop a single ball.

Dylan Yip reflects on the oddly shaped ball which put the team together at Milton Academy

November 09, 2021

The mass of sharp edges and misty summits / stands cold, gazing at me / I can see it frown ...

A poem by Mary Stabinska

September 09, 2021

Quartz Lamps and Quarantines

The elevator stopped on the third floor, and the nurse led me out into the dark hallway. After a couple of turns we approached a glass door marked with red letters reading “Quarantine Zone!” The letters were reversed. I was inside of the hospital now – I was what the bold red letters warned outsiders about. The nurse stopped and turned to face me.

Ilya Kan on experience of quarantine.

August 17, 2021

Nobody knows how to offend better than the world

Who allowed the consequential “tik-tok” of the futile wrist-watch, which by now engraved itself into your wooden side table?

Mary Stabińska on the toll of isolation

August 16, 2021

Halfway to Neverland

All children, except one, grow up. I always thought I would be the one to remain within the confines of innocence, escaping the inevitability of adulthood. Yet, on the brink of eighteen, I count the days separating me from the rest of my life.

Noemi Elliott on encountering the thought of ageing

creative writing