Instagram story viewer> @seventhwavemag> Posts

The Seventh Wave

@seventhwavemag

7K

followers

2119

following

A BIPOC- and queer-led arts and literary nonprofit. We publish people, not just pieces. 🌊❤️‍🔥🎙️

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

Get to know the voices behind our latest Insights, written by members of our community about the topics that mean the most to them. 📝😍✨
.
These eight writers — Yasmine Bolden, Jie Venus Cohen, T. De Los Reyes, Nour Kamel, Terry Nguyen and Rachel Mikita, E.A. Noble, and Stephanie Cohen Xu — were among the finalists for our 2026 Community Anthologies Editors-in-Chief role. We gave them the keys to our Insights column for them to explore their proposed topics a bit more. ❤️‍🔥✨
.
You can get a glimpse into each Insight by swiping through above, but be sure to read the pieces in full at the link in our bio. 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊 by @seventhwavemag

144

3

13 days ago

We are a jumble of emotions today as we say a bittersweet farewell and a heartfelt thank you to our director of programs, Bretty Rawson (@brettyraw), for a truly incredible 10+ years at the Seventh Wave. 🥹🥲🤗
.
As one of our four co-founders, Bretty has dedicated countless hours (and many sleepless nights!) to helping the Seventh Wave grow and flourish, including with the creation of Community Anthologies and Narrative Shifts, our process-based digital residency program. Bretty has also done a lot of behind-the-scenes work over the years: designing graphics, documenting events, cooking and cleaning at our in-person residencies (plus grocery and boba runs!), and tenderly facilitating spaces both virtual and in real life. 📸 🧋😌
.
While this might be news to many in our community — as Bretty has been such an integral part of the org from day one — this shift has actually been three years in-the-making for us. 🙌🏽 In short, back in 2023, Joyce and Bretty set out to build a sustainable business model for Seventh Wave, which we’re happy to report we did, but part of that plan also meant one of us would step fully in and one of us would step fully out. You can read more about the years-long strategic plan that has led us here at our link in bio.
.
As for what’s next, Bretty is at work on a fiction manuscript — a duology, in fact — called Shadow Boys, which we cannot wait for y’all to read, and he is also working on a series of bone maps (check ‘em out at @brettyraw). As for work work, Bretty will be leaning fully into their storytelling studio, Slow Blink (@slowblinkmedia), which helps individuals and organizations shift industries and narratives (did we mention he also builds snazzy author and writer websites through Slow Blink? Just sayin’). 👀😍
.
So please join us in extending some Wavey love and gratitude to Bretty. 🫶🏾 If you’ve ever worked with, attended a residency facilitated by, or had the deep pleasure of knowing this delightful human, drop a favorite memory or some words of encouragement down in the comments below. Bretty, we’re cheering you on, always in your corner, just one pun away. 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊 by @seventhwavemag

306

85

16 days ago

Ready to recommit to your writing practice this fall? 🍂 We gotchu. Check out our upcoming calls, applications, and opportunities in the slides above. 🌊👀🤗
.
Hard to believe that we’re entering the last few months of the year, but we think it’s the perfect time to recalibrate, dig in, and set some goals for the coming months ahead. 🙌🏽
.
So whether you’re wanting to publish more of your work, or you’re looking for spaces to stay accountable toward your creative practice, we’ve got a few great opportunities that might just align with what you’re looking for. Our programming is intentionally built to support writers at every stage of their creative trajectory, so swipe through to see what we’ve got in store. ✍🏽🥰🌟
.
You’ll catch the high-level overview above, but be sure to also visit our website to learn more details about each opportunity. Any questions, just give a shout. We hope to get to know you and your writing in the months ahead! 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊 by @seventhwavemag

190

2

a month ago

We’re sharing glimpses into our latest Insights. Last but not least, @stephaniecohenxu, who shares their thoughts “On Metamorphosis.” 🦋🫶🏾📝
.
“The pollywog can tell you: change is inevitable,” they write. “No matter how much we run from it, it will still find us. And so I find myself drawn to the same questions time and time again, especially in context of a world surrounding us that we cannot control — does change always have to be a negative concept? And is change ever complete, or is it a lifelong journey of discovery?” 🐸😍✨
.
Read Stephanie’s Insights piece in full at the link in bio, and be sure to browse through our previous posts for more glimpses into our seven powerful new pieces, up now on our site. Insights are written by members of our community about the art and craft of writing, and the topics and questions that are on our collective mind. 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊 by @seventhwavemag

3

3

9 days ago

We’re sharing glimpses into our latest Insights. Next up, @eanoble, who shares their thoughts “On Folks.” 🙌🏿🤗❤️‍🔥
.
“In the present day, the histories we have fought so hard to preserve are being threatened again. More than ever, our communities must rely on storytelling, folklore, and folktales,” they write. “We must remember the stories of our kinfolk. … Forgetting is our first death. We must remember.” 🫶🏾💭🙏🏿
.
Read E.A.’s Insights piece in full at the link in bio, and keep an eye out for more glimpses into our seven powerful new pieces, up now on our site. Insights are written by members of our community about the art and craft of writing, and the topics and questions that are on our collective mind. 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊 by @seventhwavemag

3

0

10 days ago

We’re sharing glimpses into our latest Insights. Next up, @nguyenterry and @rachelmikita, who share their thoughts “On Witnessing.” 📝❤️‍🔥✨
.
“Writing teaches us to pay attention, becoming a material home for both archives of destruction and the telling presence of frogs,” they write. “When we strive to balance our personal felt truth with the details of the world that surrounds us, we can create projects that are inhabited by a plurality of perspectives and voices, similar to a community. It is possible for writing to not simply be a representation for an experience or an event, but to embody it through language and image.” 🐸🤗✨
.
Read Terry and Rachel’s Insights piece in full at the link in bio, and keep an eye out for more glimpses into our seven powerful new pieces, up now on our site. Insights are written by members of our community about the art and craft of writing, and the topics and questions that are on our collective mind. 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊 by @seventhwavemag

3

0

10 days ago

We’re sharing glimpses into our latest Insights. Next up, @screamlnour, who shares their thoughts “On (Mis)remembering.” 💭✍🏾🌟
.
“Forgetting is positioned as a forgivable human lapse; it happens often and we move on without berating ourselves or others much if the consequences aren’t too dire,” they write. “Misremembering is different. To misremember feels like betrayal, failure. The literature, apps, and games on how to better utilize, hack? And train your memory is testament to this. Memory is painted as a transient, fickle, unreliable thing.” 🌫️🫩📝
.
Read Nour’s Insights piece in full at the link in bio, and keep an eye out for more glimpses into our seven powerful new pieces, up now on our site. Insights are written by members of our community about the art and craft of writing, and the topics and questions that are on our collective mind. 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊 by @seventhwavemag

3

1

11 days ago

We’re sharing glimpses into our latest Insights. Next up, @andhow_, who shares her thoughts “On Mother Tongues.” 👄👂🏽📝
.
“When I say that an untranslatable word is a temporal object, I mean that it arrives from somewhere, whether it’s from my grandmother’s mouth or from a way of being in the world,” she writes. “And while it exists in the present, it is also often under pressure and endangered. What then of a future that hasn’t happened yet, that is, a world that would need to exist for that word to be fully speakable?” ⏳💭🤔
.
Read T.’s Insights piece in full at the link in bio, and keep an eye out for more glimpses into our seven powerful new pieces, up now on our site. Insights are written by members of our community about the art and craft of writing, and the topics and questions that are on our collective mind. 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊 by @seventhwavemag

3

2

11 days ago

We’re sharing glimpses into our latest Insights. Next up, @jievenuscohen, who shares their thoughts “On Independence.” 📝❤️‍🔥✨
.
“While breaking from any empire is something to cheer, we must remain committed to our goal of unity and global cooperation,” they write. “But violently obtaining countries and states under an imperial project is not in the spirit of this goal, and for this, we can celebrate independence and self-autonomy just as we celebrate that among ourselves as individuals. We make. We talk. We write. We listen. We belong to ourselves and to each other on our own terms.” 🙌🏽😌📝
.
Read Jie’s Insights piece in full at the link in bio, and keep an eye out for more glimpses into our seven powerful new pieces, up now on our site. Insights are written by members of our community about the art and craft of writing, and the topics and questions that are on our collective mind. 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊 by @seventhwavemag

3

0

12 days ago

We’re sharing glimpses into our latest Insights. First up, @yasmineboldenpoems, who shares their thoughts “On Refusal.” ✋🏾🫨📝
.
“What are the grammars of refusal and where is it felt in the body?” they write. “How does refusal appear in our critical fabulations and futurisms? What did we refuse yesterday and how does that river into what we will refuse tomorrow?” ✍🏽😍✨
.
Read Yasmine’s Insights piece in full at the link in bio, and keep an eye out for more glimpses into our seven powerful new pieces, up now on our site. Insights are written by members of our community about the art and craft of writing, and the topics and questions that are on our collective mind. 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊 by @seventhwavemag

3

12

12 days ago

We are so thrilled to introduce a new interview series to our Insights column today: Poetry in Praxis, curated by beloved poet, organizer, drag queen, and Seventh Wave alum @isaiahbackgaal. 😍🙌🏾☺️
.
“Poets are often asked to justify the politics of their art, as though politics were a motif, a theme, or a metaphor, and not the material of their lives,” Isaiah writes. “Instead, we might ask, how does poetry shape our political worlds, our movement workers, our radical imaginations?” ✍🏽💌❤️‍🔥
.
“Each installment offers a conversation with an organizer about the poetry they not only love but need, asking: What does the poem teach you about political struggle? How does poetry complement, expand, or contradict your work as an organizer? What might organizers adopt from the forms or methods of poetry?” ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼
.
Visit the link in our bio to learn more about the series, as well as to read (or listen!) to Isaiah’s moving conversation with climate organizer Vicky A., who chose Audre Lorde’s powerful “A Litany for Survival” to kick off this necessary and timely series. 🙂‍↕️✨
.
A huge swell of gratitude to Isaiah for bringing this beautiful idea and series to our community — helping to amplify more urgent voices and art in the space of social issues. 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊 by @seventhwavemag

79

2

2 months ago

Seventh Wave community, we hear you! If you were hoping to submit to one of our 2026 Community Anthologies but just missed the deadline, you’re in luck. 🤩
.
We’re extending the deadline for all four calls to Sunday, Aug. 9, at 11:59 p.m. PST. Swipe through to learn more about each anthology topic, and about the program in general. Any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at submit@seventhwavemag.com. 🤗📝🤓
.
Our inimitable EICs — @helloayotola, @glorifyandenjoy, @ines.bellina, and @nefarioustales — have been eagerly reading through your submissions, and we can’t wait to see what beautiful folios they curate. And huge shoutout to everyone who’s submitted their work to these powerful calls! 🫶🏿🫶🏾🫶🏽🫶🏼 by @seventhwavemag

135

1

2 months ago