Dostoevsky writes, ‘but how could you live and have no story to tell?’ (White Nights, 1848). In the post-pandemic, economically-challenged arts community, it is heart-warming to discover that the hardships we are collectively facing have not dampened our combined passion, and capacity, for literary output.

For the editors of Meniscus, every new submission period brings a wealth of narratives, images and ideas into our lives, and we really value the senses, and the insights, gained from this global network of authors. Submissions frequently illuminate specific issues that are, we imagine, currently part of the zeitgeist, and are commanding the attention of authors all around the world.

This issue, in particular, showcases a significant body of work with a deep—and ever-growing—focus on our shared environment. There are profoundly moving pieces that attend to the breakdown of the natural world, and the creatures who inhabit it—whether birds, animals or plants. There are wickedly (even bitterly) funny satires on what we humans are doing, or failing to do, as well as writings on the sly ways the human condition continues to snag us.

There are several pieces attending to relationships—many tell of the important roles of companion animals in our lives, and others of the diversity of roles played by other people, with love found, lost and, occasionally, found again. Many of these pieces tell that several of us—too many of us—have lost someone we love over recent months, with both prose and poetry elegies to this effect.

However, as in life, there are also delightful stories, often in the form of memoirs in both prose and poetry; and a surprising number of poems, especially, about pregnancy and childbirth. These perhaps allow a touch of optimism to infuse what might otherwise be a pensive, sometimes sad, collection of writing. 

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This second issue of 2024 has welcomed submissions from both established and emerging writers, with many sending experimental pieces that play with voice, form or layout. We are so pleased to be surprised by your work and, as always, we implore you to keep those cards and letters coming. 

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Camilla Cripps and Jen Webb (for the editors)