Founded in 2003, Ninth Letter is the award-winning literary arts journal edited and produced by the Creative Writing Program at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. We aim to publish exceptional literary writing and illuminate it in cutting-edge graphic design.

Work published in Ninth Letter has been selected for awards anthologies such as The Pushcart Prize, The Best American Poetry, The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, The Best American Essays, Best New Poets, Best of the Net, and New Stories from the Midwest. During a decade-plus collaboration with the UIUC School of Art + Design, the journal also received national and international awards for graphic design, and was featured in the design awards annuals of both STEP Inside Design and HOW Magazine. In 2023, Ninth Letter was a finalist for General Magazine Excellence in CLMP's Firecracker Awards.

Ninth Letter maintains a strong commitment to our role in the UIUC Creative Writing curriculum. Graduate and undergraduate students in English and Creative Writing enroll in editing and publishing courses in which they gain hands-on experience in editorial work. Students who have completed the Ninth Letter courses have gone on to career success in commercial, academic, and literary publishing, thanks in part to their experience working with Ninth Letter.

Ninth Letter 21.02 features 35 writers across 320 pages including the winners of the 2024 Literary Awards and the 2024 Regeneration Contest. Featured writers include Baird Harper, Daniel Uncapher, Michelle Phương Hồ, Beth Cleary, Brandon Lewis, Alex Chertok, Carlina Duan, Mag Gabbert, Kristen Renee Miller, Jacob Sunderlin, David Villaverde, and many others!

In this issue, writers flex their skills in (and out of) form, respond to art ranging from Leonardo da Vinci to Yoko Ono, embody the metropolitan and bucolic, captivate us with characters ranging from motorcycle stunt performers to a playground clairvoyant. We have two stories about showers that couldn't be more different. We have sharks, Gerald Ford, a wolf, Bethenny Frankel, an octopus, and a guest appearance from Samuel Beckett. We have, for you, published this vibrant writing in full, rich color, and we invite you to immerse yourself in the world created here. Come in. Stay awhile. We're happy you're here.