A young woman transforms after an unspeakable loss. A recent divorcee discovers a new life. An aging mother fears losing everything she loves, while another abandons her children at Starbucks. First Kicking, Then Not introduces these women and many more, all of whom are hungry to know who they are outside the expectations of others.

Hannah Grieco‘s debut short story collection First Kicking, Then Not is out now from Stanchion. She teaches writing at Marymount University and writes a literary column for Washington City Paper. Read more of her work in The Washington Post, The Independent, Al Jazeera, Brevity, Wigleaf, Poet Lore, Shenandoah, Fairy Tale Review, and more. Find her online at www.hgrieco.com and on most social media @writesloud.

Rhonda Zimlich is the Director of the MFA in Creative Writing program at American University in Washington, DC. Her debut novel, Raising Panic, won the 2023 Book Award from Steel Toe Books. Her other writing received the 2024 Nonfiction Award from Barely South Review, the 2021 Mental Health Award for Fiction from Please See Me, the 2020 Literary Award in Nonfiction from Dogwood Journal at Fairfield University and was noted in Best American Essays 2021.

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