

Cicada
Spring 2016 MagazinesThis superb literary arts magazine for teens and adults, featuring a feast of work by established and up-and-coming authors, graphic artists, and poets-as well as interviews, recommended zines and comics lists, reader polls, and writings-is one to savor, cover to cover. A sampling: In the 2015 fall issue, novelist Charity Tahmaseb served up a hauntingly original take on "Little Red Riding Hood," while artist Shawn Cheng's comic strip about a snowman romanticist and a canine cynic left lasting resonance. "Esophagus," by Stephanie Niu, a high school senior and published poet, memorably begins: "I want to be swallowed by the night./I want the tongue of 2:13 a.m. to know me/better than I know myself …." In her story, "Controlling the Weather," Rachel Furey, first-place winner of the 2015 Katherine Paterson Prize (for "Tilt-a-Whirl"), wraps a moving account of a teenage girl with anorexia in wintry snow, an Easter rain and the aftermath of a hurricane. Cicada deepens reader involvement with "The Slam," its inclusive, nurturing online writing lab.