Read the winning piece of our 2025 Nonfiction Contest “Through the Mirror” by Jessie Cato selected by Lucy Ives.

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Photo of Qiaorui Zhang

Qiaorui Zhang

Qiaorui (Sherry) Zhang is a first-generation immigrant living in Massachusetts. She is a Scholastic Art and Writing Awards medalist, and her work has been recognized by The New York Times. Outside of writing, Sherry plays the flute and enjoys eating ramen.

2025 Patrica Grodd Poetry Prize for Young Writers

Fall 2025

Tiger Mom

By Qiaorui Zhang

Pay attention,Her stripes meld into celestia,brushstrokes of a forgotten god—She sprints with precision;bloodsong tincts the marrow of dusk. Hurry,harvest the sacred offal tosate the nascent fangs,purge the shadows of maliceas […]