Breath & Shadow

Breath & Shadow is a monthly journal of disability culture and literature. A project of AbilityMaine, Breath & Shadow is the only online literary journal with a focus on disability. It is also unique in being the sole cross-disability literature and culture magazine written and edited entirely by people with disabilities. While some literary journals may devote one issue in a year — or ten years — to the disability experience, in Breath & Shadow you will find poetry, fiction, essays, interviews, drama, and other writing that examines the human experience of living with disability — in every single issue.

The editors of Breath & Shadow believe that personhood in the land of disability can and should be presented in its multiplicity. Thus, diversity of writing style, content, genre, and category, as well as author demographics, is a goal for each issue. From haiku to slam poem to sestina; from humor essays to memoirs to reviews and commentary; from science fiction to flash fiction to suspense; from interviews with national disability rights leaders to profiles of children's theater companies — our journal showcases writing by people with disabilities in all its power, complexity, and breadth. And because we believe in cross-disability representation — that building a disability culture and aesthetic is enriched by (and indeed, requires) the inclusion of all people with disabilities — we feature writing by children and adults; people with physical, mental, emotional, and sensory disabilities; and new/emergent and established writers.