Who Are We?

WHO ARE WE? Ten short stories about country, identity, and race. Ten stories covering; the practice of binding girls feet, racism in high school, survival of a woman in 13th Century Bagdad, racism running over the generations, friendship of exiles from Ghana and Ireland, the Uyghur and Han Chinese, ancient and modern Egypt, our connection to myth and omen, the past and anthropology, and love and food in Greece: ten stories revealing who we are. Then The World Changed. A virus, Covid-19, shattered the planet, causing a global lockdown, thousands of deaths, and widespread anxiety and fear. We will not be the same as we were.The World also Stayed the Same. The murder of George Floyd is a reminder that racism is as present and insidious as it ever was; his death forced the recognition of both overt and systemic racism. We must not be the same as we were.The World Begins Anew: A vaccine to Covid-19 will be developed; the human race will survive; Globally, systemic racism is finally being addressed; we hope ; The shutdown of industry has led to global pollution levels plummeting, could this be out chance for a green planet? We can be kind, we can be equal, and we can be humane.WHO ARE WE? Featuring the winners of The Cunningham Short Story Competition 2020•Michael J Keely (UK), born in Glasgow, but from age of six to ten years old he lived in Cairo; this has left him with a fascination for all things Egyptian. This is his first published story.•Geraldine Moorkens Byrne (IRELAND), poet and writer from Dublin, her first poetry collection Dreams of Reality is available on Amazon, and she has a children's book coming out in 2021.•John Pietaro (USA), writer, performance poet, musician from Brooklyn NY. Columnist/critic of "NYC Jazz Record" and curator of West Village Word series at Café Bohemia NYC.•Brianca Hadnot (USA) is a writer and graduate of the MA English Literature program at Texas Southern University. Her work has been published in National Council of Black Studies, TheCore94, and Pink Prods.•Ching Ching Tan (USA) is currently a lecturer at San José State University, where she is also pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing. She is the nonfiction lead editor for Reed Magazine's 153rd issue.•Joyce Ker (USA) is a freshman at Johns Hopkins University, alumna of Iowa Young Writers' Studio, her work has appeared in Boxcar Poetry Review, TAB Journal of Poetry & Poetics, Tule Review, Louisville Review, and she has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. •Judith Mikesch McKenzie (USA) is the child of working-class parents, she left home early, and has traveled to many parts of the world, but is always drawn to the mountains and valleys of the Rockies as one of the places on the planet that feeds her soul.•Mary Ellen Chatwin (GEORGIA); born in San Francisco, moved to Trieste, Italy, grew up in south Alabama during some of key years of racial de-segregation, graduated the University of Alabama; married, moved to Switzerland, and now works in the country of Georgia, in the Caucuses, as an anthropologist, writing fiction and supporting social programmes.•Kenneth D Stephens (USA), originally from India; came to the US to study at a seminary, after which he did his PhD in philosophy. He served as a pastor and professor for forty years or so and is now retired in Los Angeles County. He is the author of the epic novel, Blaze Pascal and the Courage of Being (Adelaide Press, New York).•Nick Sweeney (UK) is a freelance writer and musician, who lives on the UK coast in Kent. His novella A Blue Coast Mystery, Almost Solved, on the swinging sixties and genocide, will be published in November by Addison and Highsmith. Laikonik Express, his novel about friendship, Poland, vodka, snow and getting the train for the snow and getting the train for the hell of it, was published by UK independent publisher Unthank Books in 2011. Edited by Trevor Maynard www.trevormaynard.com