By Margot Riddle

By The Editors

Quail Bell is an independent arts, culture, and literary magazine—and we need your support to stay that way! Today we found out that we were approved for the Amazon Influencers program. That means that we now have an online storefront where we can curate products we think you'll love. Though we by no means think Amazon is perfect, we accept the reality of the marketplace and plan to use this opportunity to fund our art habit and continue telling stories we value. To echo Tupac, play the game, but don't let it play you. Our founding editor is from Arlington, Virginia and currently lives in New York City, so you can imagine how she feels about all of the Amazon HQ news. (At least the Queens office is no longer happening!) With all that being said, help us keep doing our thing and browse our Amazon shop today. We appreciate every purchase!

By Ren Martinez

By The Editors

While Black History Month is only one month of the year, that's no reason not to continue celebrating past, present, and future innovators in the community. We round up some of our favorite black-owned small businesses our editors personally love and celebrate from our very own cities and towns—Richmond, Virginia where executive editor Gretchen Gales lives and New York City where founding editor Christine Sloan Stoddard lives. Our choices include food, cosmetics, art galleries, bookstores, and more. 
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By The Editors

Our editors and contributors can directly link their obsession with storytelling to books they read during childhood. Our fascination with unique stories and commitment to diverse literature is why we're incredibly stoked to have chatted with Richmond Virginia's own Meg Medina, this year's Newbery Medal winner. 

The Newbery Medal awards the best and most distinguished American children's literature, and we can't think of a more worthy recipient. Medina's book Merci Suárez Changes Gears is a journey into the life of a sixth grader who goes through significant life changes as she transitions from elementary to middle school. What makes this Bildungsroman so compelling is the honest, humorous, and detailed account of growing up in an intergenerational family with a multicultural background. 

Of course, we had some questions about her stunning work and her creative process. Dive in for an award-winning mindset that paved the way to Medina's most recent honor: 
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By The Editors

Once the holidays pass, weekends in the winter tend to be a little tamer. It's cold and plenty of people would rather hibernate than venture out into the ice, wind, and snow. That's true even in New York City, which quiets down in February, though it never falls to an absolute silence. Still, if an event promises to be epic enough, New Yorkers can be convinced to leave their apartments for more than a beer. Luckily for the Boog City 12.5 Arts Festival, that was the case this past weekend. Our founding editor Christine Sloan Stoddard was invited to read with CLASH Books, who will be publishing her poetry and photography collection, Heaven Is a Photograph, later this year. (They also published Tragedy Queens, Cenote City, and Trash Panda, which we recently featured in reviews and author interviews.) 

By The Editors

Craving some literature and art that is unconventional? Have some sillier or weirder pieces that can't find a home? Then FIVE:2:ONE, a literary experience founded by Nathan Alan Schwartz, may have a home for your "weird baby". Both founding editor Christine Sloan Stoddard as well as executive editor Gretchen Gales have both had work in the experimental literary magazine.

So to celebrate Issue 21, their latest release, we wanted to find out more behind the magazine that breaks the rules with great success. Who knows? The next "weird baby" they adopt could be from your own collection. Read on to discover more about Schwartz's vision for the publication: 

By M. Alouette

Social media can make it seem like everyone is happier and more successful than you. That includes writers and their books. According to Facebook and Instagram, everyone in your feed is getting book deals except for you. Of course, that's probably not true. And even if it were, it does not matter. Those people are not you. Their books are not your books. Only you can tell your stories and express your ideas in exactly the way that you are meant to do. There is enough space for your voice.

By Paisley Hibou

You're sparkly on the inside, so you want to advertise your inner sparkle with some outer sparkle. Glitter is here for you. Glitter hair, glitter eyes, glitter cheeks, glitter lips, glitter nails, glitter everything! So how do you know if you're wearing enough? You're probably not, but just to be sure, here are 7 signs you need to pile on more glitter:
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By Christine Sloan Stoddard

Leza Cantoral's collection Trash Panda (CLASH Books) brands itself as a bunch of "rly emo poems"—and at first glance, it's exactly that. An adorable cartoon panda head and bubbly polka-dots grace the book's cover. There are angsty, snarky, and narcissistic poems about crying, selfies, Justin Beiber, and avocado toast. But it would be a mistake to read this whole collection as an Instagram poetry stream packaged for easy, breezy print. As much as Cantoral assumes the voice of a vapid, mentally disturbed goth girl who spends way too much time online, Trash Panda is full of depth, nuance, and texture. Dismissing the narrator in Trash Panda means you fell for the trap. She's smarter and more complex than you think. She is more than her avatar. Stop reducing her to an Internet stereotype or you will miss the whole show.
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