Category: publication

In the Time of Aries

On By Sunra RainzIn Art, flash fiction, Poetry, publication, Writing6 Comments
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Untitled, by Andrea Bogdan (USA) 2025

I fly through stratospheres.  Across seas, serene with constellation. Towards pulsing, morphing orb. It would like to envelop me into its hope chest, winks a promise at me. This terrene wandering star.  
 
It took so long to flee earth, how keenly I’d made my roots there. Our spirits parted like a primal scream. My wound is fresh. Visible only to those who can see.
 
Sometimes you look around you and question your reality. Then have to concede It’s true. The nightmare is real. The quickening doom. Before I left. And yet. I hope the blue planet, my once-home, is not lost. Will remake herself from dust and mourning. Despite warlords, villains, demons, plunderers. Must death be the only way for clearing?
 
Still I pray good things unfurl unseen. Persist in gentle ways. To step out into the light. To bring about a face of earth it always wished to become. How many revolutions will it take?  Still I long for my mother. One day. May she flourish and recover and never perish. I miss you, Earth. I love you.
 
But I have a new assignment now. I am dispatched to a new planet. Whose orange suns beckon me into their orbit. This lone flight, my new form. Stronger and lighter. I have become. Electricity. 

I scent a change in atmosphere. A contortion of woodsmoke, a dream on fire. Something I can’t name. I draw close. What awaits me I do not know. Luminous sparks greet me as I tumble into the new realm…

© N Nazir 2026

*My warmest thanks to The Ekphrastic Review for publishing my micro-fiction for their latest challenge. I went a little sci-fi with this one. Not my usual genre to play with, but I never know where the artwork will take me. If you’d like to take part in their current ekphrastic challenge, the deadline is 27th March.

*They also have two exciting anthology calls for both poetry and dark flash fiction. Definitely worth checking out. Deadlines for both: 1st May.

*In case you haven’t already, you may also wish to check out my Throwback Thursday post over at their site. I was honoured to be asked to pick out and share my favourite pieces by a variety of poets and writers over the years ever since the Ekphrastic Challenges began in 2018. There’s so much great work hidden in the archives, it felt good to dust off a few choice pieces and give them another airing 🌟

*Shared for dVerse Open Link Night.

Throwback Thursday #The Ekphrastic Review

On By Sunra RainzIn Art, Poetry, publication, Writing6 Comments
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The lovely Lorette at The Ekphrastic Review recently asked me to pick some of my favourite TER pieces from their fortnightly challenges over the years for a Throwback Thursday post. Well, of course, I was delighted to be asked! This is the best kind of homework! I thought.

After much careful reading and deliberation, I narrowed it down to 9 pieces that really spoke to me. Yes, yes, one of them is my own, I know. (I was allowed to pick any, okay?). You can find all details on the full post below. Enjoy 🤍

https://www.ekphrastic.net/the-ekphrastic-review/throwback-thursday-with-nina-nazir

© N Nazir 2026

The Other Face of Goddess

On By Sunra RainzIn Art, music, Poetry, publication, Writing31 Comments
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We Are All Eve, © Monica Marks, 2023

She spreads
her navel-gazing self
across sky and plane. Airborne
 
she is elixir
gestating, carnival 
of magenta, seascape
 
and uproarious
femmescape. Come,
she says, Suckle
 
and be nourished
with my goddess milk.
I am the starry lunatic
 
of your yearning
forbidden and correct.
Prowl and lose yourself
 
this uncoiled night
as I enfold you
with all you hold dear,
 
know fear, become 
supernature. Focus –
you cannot cling to air.
 
Sharpen your sights.
Transpose desire –> elevate.
My turbulence 
 
unfetters you,
hurries you on
to a Fool’s discovery.

© N Nazir 2026

*My warmest thanks, always, to The Ekphrastic Review for publishing my poem (no congrats needed, thank you). You can read the rest here. If you’d like to take part in the next Ekphrastic Review Challenge, the deadline is 30th Jan.

*Shared for dVerse Open Link Night.

Under the Radar

On By Sunra RainzIn book recommendations, flash fiction, Poetry, publication, Writing21 Comments
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I’m over the moon to have my work published in Under the Radar magazine! They’re the flagship magazine for Nine Arches Press who I have long admired. It’s a piece of prose written as fiction (even though it’s actually non-fiction but I declined to mention that in case they changed their mind!) called In New York. You can see my little old name at the end there. I must say, I’m really stoked because they get hundreds of submissions and mine was one of three selected so they must have rated it. And the news came on a day when I’d had a few rejections so it was a beam of light in the gloom for me.

Of course, I must plug it. If you’re able to purchase a copy, please do, you will not be disappointed. You will also be supporting a brilliant indie press. If you’re not able to get one and you reside in the UK, then your local library may have a copy, so I’d encourage you to read it. The issue is full of wonderful work, curated under the theme of Flight, with each piece expressing multiple compelling facets of this idea. I’m glad my write happened to complement the collection. Under the Radar is, quite simply, a top quality publication. Did I mention how delighted I am? ☺️

Unfortunately, I can’t share my piece here but in short, it’s about a trip to New York I took back in 2013, which was also the last time I was there (I’ve been a few times). If you do manage to read it, I’d love to know your thoughts. 

Oh, go on then, here’s a cheeky snippet👇🏽

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