Anuja Varghese’s Reading Recommendation

Anuja Varghese’s reading recommendation: 

Kink edited by R.O Kwon and Garth Greenwell 

I love short fiction and I read a lot of stories and story collections over the course of the year. Inevitably, there are those I connect with more than others, those I file away to read again, and sometimes, those that change the way I think about the possibilities of short fiction altogether. Kink was one of those gamechanger books for me. It is a bold anthology of literary fiction from some of my favorite contemporary authors, exploring sexuality, power dynamics, desire, pain, and sensual delights (and the connections between them) through the lens of kink. While it is a collection of stories about sex, or sexual encounters, these are not necessarily sexy stories. Kink is used throughout the collection as a frame for portraits of characters at their most vulnerable, or violent, or in some cases, both at the same time. With standout stories from Roxane Gay, Carmen Maria Machado, and Alexander Chee, Kink is a must-read for anyone interested in confrontations of deeply human hungers and unflinching translations of intimacy on the page. 

Anuja Varghese is a QWOC Pushcart-nominated writer based in Hamilton, ON. Her work appears in Hobart, The Malahat Review, Humber Literary Review, Plenitude Magazine, and others. She recently completed a collection of short stories and is working on a debut novel. Find her on Twitter, Instagram, or on the web. Her story "Stories in the Language of the Fist" was published in the The Fiddlehead BIPOC Solidarities issue. Order your copy today!