iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

"Like a sacked || tomb the oven / yawns— || even girded / with steel || it fails to keep / the dead in or || living out." Today on the site, Quinn Franzen's "The Kiln" renders a familiar act of making into lines of suggestion and vividness.

Excerpt from "The Kiln" by Quinn Franzen that reads, "Like a sacked || tomb the oven / yawns— || even girded / with steel || it fails to keep /
the dead in or || living out"

A light-skin man with short hair, black glasses, and a gray shirt poses with a slight grin in front of a solid-brown background.

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

We're delighted to announce the winners of this year's Robert and Adele Schiff Awards. Join us in celebrating David Joez Villaverde (poetry), Alice Hatcher (nonfiction), and Anna Story (fiction)! Many thanks to all of this year's entrants. Read the full list of finalists on our site! Link in thread:

Light text on a dark background reads: "2026 Robert and Adele Schiff Winners," above circular cropped photos of each of the three winners.

Light text on a dark background reading: "Anna Story, Fiction, Robert and Adele Schiff Award Winner." A circular cropped photo of Anna, a white woman with dark wavy hair, sits on the right.

Light text on a dark background reading: "David Villaverde, Poetry, Robert and Adele Schiff Award Winner." A circular cropped photo of David, a man in a dark shirt in a sunflower field, sits on the right.

Light text on a dark background reading: "Alice Hatcher, Nonfiction, Robert and Adele Schiff Award Winner." A circular cropped photo of Alice, a white woman with short gray hair, sits on the right.

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

"Children are rarely spared from the messes we create, and so it was not hard to imagine child characters imperiled by their circumstances . . ." On the site, Associate Editor Blessing Christopher interviews Uche Okonkwo (@ucheokonkwo.bsky.social), author of A Kind of Madness. Link in thread.

Dark text on a light background reading: "Featured Interview: 'Children are rarely spared from the messes we create, and so it was not hard to imagine child characters imperiled by their circumstances...' --Uche Okonkwo"

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Congratulations to contributor Avia Tadmor on the publication of "Song in Tammuz" with @tupelopress.bsky.social!

CR book release graphic with cover of Avia Tadmor's "Song in Tammuz": pink paper cutouts in an abstract shape laid on top of black paper.

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

"Sustenance is safer entombed in glass jars or in tins shaped like the artillery shell that tore through her twenty-four-year-old son’s pelvis in Indiana while he was serving in the National Guard." In today's miCRo, Dustin M. Hoffman explores a child's unusual inheritance. Link in thread.

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

"I started to distinguish between two kinds of relationships within my family archive: those linked to a version of my identity others easily accepted, and those that reflected an identity I frequently had to prove." Today on the site, @asaldrake.bsky.social walks us through family photos.

Asa Drake, an Asian-American woman with long dark hair wearing a red checked top, rests her head on her hand in front of a window.

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

"They sat across from each other at a long craft table, their fingers still numbed from the cold." In today's miCRo by Wanying Zhang, small moments stand in for something larger.

Centered typographic quote: "They sat across from each other at a long craft table, their fingers still numbed from the cold." — credited to Wanying Zhang, "The Broken Leaf"; white text on a dark gray background.

An Asian woman with shoulder length black hair stands in a white dress against a nighttime city skyline.

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Congratulations to contributor Shara McCallum on the publication of "Behold" with @alicejamesbooks.bsky.social!

CR contributor book release graphic featuring the cover of Shara McCallum's "Behold": a painting of a grassy expanse with what appears to be a hole dug into the ground at bottom.

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

"Editing is a solitary job in many ways (in that it’s generally done by one person at a time, reading one Word document at a time), but it’s also fundamentally an act of community." A (re)introduction from Managing Editor Lily Davenport.

White text on a gray background: "Editors' Dispatches: 'Editing is a solitary job in many ways (in that it's generally done by one person at a time, reading one Word document at a time), but it's also fundamentally an act of community.'"

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

"My granddaughter is nine months old today. In the world for as long as she was in the womb." In today's miCRo by Michael Eyre, a series of dualities and pauses evoke a meditation on infancy and its fragility.

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Congratulations to contributor Jen Siraganian on the release of "Everything Has Been Moved, Even the Dead" with @perugiapress.bsky.social!

Contributor book release graphic featuring the cover of Siraganian's collection, with a Peter Max-style painting depicting abstract shapes and buildings.

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

A few weeks ago, Assistant Editor Arah Ko interviewed UC alum Lisa Low for our site. Today at 5:30, Lisa reads in the Elliston Room alongside grads Afsheen Farhadi and Kathleen Spada. All are welcome!

Featured interview graphic with quote from Lisa Low: "I like to think of poetry as good at complicated feelings, and nonfiction as good at complicated situations."

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

"Outside, the moon hangs like a wax seal above the mountain line, gibbous and brimming, threatening to drip onto the ridges." In today's miCRo, @skoeplin.bsky.social explores faith and belief. Link in thread.

A woman with long hair and red lipstick smiling softly. She is standing in the middle of a garden

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

"I consider the novel to primarily be a character study." Today on the site, UC alum Afsheen Farhadi talks about writing and his new novel, FALSE PROPHET from @melvillehouse.bsky.social. Afsheen joins us this Thursday for our first alumni reading of the year.

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

"I think what draws me to museum after museum is how much power I hold as a museumgoer." Today on the site, contributor Nick Kunze walks with us through a series of museums.

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Congratulations to contributor @cubistoctopus.bsky.social on this week's publication of PYRRHIC SYMPHONY with @univnebpress.bsky.social !

CR book release graphic featuring the cover of "Pyrrhic Symphony" by Adam O. Davis: a blurred street crossing symbol in black on a white background.

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

"How odd, he thinks, for the world to wait till the end to reveal its most magnificent self." Living somewhere between Russian fairy tale and American myth, today's miCRo by Peter Krumbach is both haunting and strangely wry.

Peter Krumbach, a white man with a salt-and-pepper beard, wears a hood over his head and smiles.

Quote centered on a dark gray background: "How odd, he thinks, for the world to wait till the end to reveal its most magnificent self." — Peter Krumbach, "Endgame"

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Wow. We reached our submissions cap--for both the journal and miCRo--within a record 24-ish hours. We appreciate everyone who eagerly submitted this time. If you didn't get a chance to send to us, we open again in December. And keep an eye on our social accounts for special calls for submissions!

Submission period closed for The Cincinnati Review — bold text "submissions are closed" over a large gray crescent moon, scattered autumn maple leaves, and smaller text reading "Try us again Dec 1."

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

"Schizophasia is my natural language; every time I speak cogent English, it is because I have medicated away a natural state in favor of participating in an inaccessible society." Today on our site, volunteer Rose Zinnia interviews contributor Rob Macaisa Colgate. Link in thread.

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

"In hopes of making a living, my eleven-year-old sister takes up the trumpet and stops caring about anything else." In today's miCRo, Theodore Heil sets a snapshot of familial isolation and longing to the tune of B-flat. Link in thread.

Centered serif quote on a dark gray background reading: "In hopes of making a living, my eleven-year-old sister takes up the trumpet and stops caring about anything else." — Theodore Heil, "Luster".

Theodore Heil, a young white person, looking over their shoulder toward a distant bridge at sunset, wearing round glasses, a dark baseball cap, a white T‑shirt and a tote strap, framed by trees and calm water.

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

"I like to think of poetry as good at complicated feelings, and nonfiction as good at complicated situations." @arahko.bsky.social interviews Lisa Low about her debut full-length poetry collection, *Replica* (@uwiscpress.bsky.social ), the ethics of writing about family, and more. Link in thread.

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Outgoing Managing Editor @lisaampleman.bsky.social says goodbye in a hermit-crab essay with proofreading marks. Among her thoughts: Her replacement, Lily Davenport, "knows The Chicago Manual of Style like the back of her proverbial hand." Link in thread.

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

"a leather trunk and handmade pine box, coffin-sized, for holding rice air-tight." In today's miCRo by Alison Lubar, the speaker reaches for an unnameable loss by glancing at everything around the negative space left by a lost family member. Link in thread.

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

We're sorry for that. We're switching servers right now and there are some temporary hiccups as a result.

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

"as soon as the scent lay like a feather onto his waiting cloth inside, he clasped tight, oh the way the poor man hunched and dipped out of the crowd . . ." Today's miCRo by @cherylpappas.bsky.social offers the reader a journey downward and inward on the back of a scent. Link in thread.

Centered typographic quote reading: "as soon as the scent lay like a feather onto his waiting cloth inside, he clasped tight, oh the way the poor man hunched and dipped out of the crowd" — Cheryl Pappas, "What Is Missing"

Head-and-shoulders portrait of Cheryl Pappas, a fair-skinned woman with short blond hair, looking slightly off-camera against a backdrop of leafless trees and tangled branches, framed inside a rounded arch with a dark gray border.

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Today on the site, contributor Gordon Taylor shares "The Moonbeam Elf," a delightful poetry collection written by his grandfather. Link in thread.

CR "from our contributors" graphic with photo of Gordon Taylor, a white bald man with a 5-o-clock shadow, wears a black long-sleeved shirt against a blue background. He smiles, looking up and to the right. Text reads, "From Our Contributors: "The Moonbeam Elf," by Gordon Taylor.

Title "THE MOONBEAM ELF" centered at top above rows of dashed lines that shorten progressively to form an inverted triangle, suggesting a descending beam or spotlight.

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

"The crows lie through their beaks." Today on the site, contributor Megan Callahan shares with us a very pigeon-forward comic to accompany her story, "Pigeon Language." Link in thread.

Three pigeons in a comic panel: one flying and exclaiming, "Ma plume! C'est un miracle!", a second saying, "But—the crows lie through their beaks."

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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

"I am a cat, always running away on instinct. Since graduating high school in 2010 I have tried to put as much physical distance between us as possible." Our latest online web exclusive is by Ismael Rodriguez on how the shortcomings of family members can shape us. Link in thread.

Red polygon over a gray background. Small circular black-and-white photo of a bearded, smiling Latino man. Text above the photo reads: "Special Feature." Text below reads: "And where does that put me? I am a cat, always running away on instinct. since graduating high school in 2010 I have tried to put as much physical distance between us as possible, sometimes at the expense of others." Ismael Rodriguez, "Specs"

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