Yellow Arrow Journal’s issue on KINDLING (Vol. VIII, No. 1), guest edited by Matilda Young, is now available as a paperback and PDF from the Yellow Arrow bookstore. Discounts are also available (here) if you would like to purchase copies for friends and family (minimum purchase of five). You can also search for Yellow Arrow Journal on any e-book device or anywhere you purchase print and electronic books, including Amazon and most other distribution channels.

yellowarrowpublishing.com/news/yaj-kindling-release-healing-world-spark

KINDLING explores the issues of advocacy and community care. The pieces within examine various facets of both through the idea of changemaking. Showcased poems and creative nonfiction speak about our connections to one another, to bearing witness, and to visions for paths to brighter days ahead. Matilda professes, “These are writings steeped in love. These are writings filled with purpose. And in so many ways, they remind us that the kindling can and must start with us.”

“Doña Sedona (a gradual elevation),” a wool, acrylic, and cotton tapestry by Violeta Garza, captures the theme beautifully. Violeta states that she “see[s] kindling as the grouping of individual pieces that, with enough chemistry and action, create an explosion,” like a tapestry. “Doña Sedona” was just featured in an exhibit at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, during Contemporary Art Month. Congratulations Violeta!

Matilda Young (she/they) is a poet with an MFA in poetry from the University of Maryland. She has been published in several journals, including Anatolios Magazine, Angel City Review, and Entropy Magazine’s Blackcackle. She enjoys Edgar Allan Poe jokes, not being in their apartment, and being obnoxious about the benefits of stovetop popcorn. Matilda’s poem “This Yes, This” was part of Yellow Arrow Journal FREEDOM, and Matilda was our .W.o.W. #7. She was also part of the fantastic Yellow Arrow Writers-in-Residence 2022 cohort.

KINDLING features brooklyn baggett, Jessica Berry, Helen Chen, Emily Decker, Zorina Exie Frey, Violeta Garza, Amanda Hayden, Yuemin He, Raychelle Heath, Cori Howard, Nancy Huggett, Tess Kay, Al Kelly, Thomasin LaMay, Michelle Levy, Susan Mack, Annie Marhefka, Sarah McCartt-Jackson, Kathleen McTigue, Sarah Piper, Jude Rittenhouse, Mandy Shunnarah, Psyche North Torok, Janna Wagner, Katharine Weinmann, Kathryn Wieber, and Ellen Zhang.

Cover art by Violeta Garza and cover design by Alexa Laharty.

Editor-in-Chief: Kapua Iao

Guest Editor: Matilda Young

Editorial Associates: Jackie Alvarez-Hernandez, Angela Firman, Siobhan McKenna, Natasha Saar, Beck Snyder, and Rachel Vinyard

Please show Matilda, Violeta, and all of our contributors some love on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Thank you for supporting independent publishing.

We hope you enjoy reading KINDLING as much as we enjoyed creating it. Thank you for your continued encouragement of Yellow Arrow Publishing and the women involved in KINDLING. And on June 1 at 8:00 pm EST, please join Matilda and some of our authors for the live, virtual reading of KINDLING. More information is forthcoming but you can let us know you plan to join us at fb.me/e/RMrS7pvs.