Editors note

Thank you for taking the time to read our fourth issue. Over the span of this quarter, we’ve grown so much; from adding in our new fiction genre to finding new editors, we’re so proud to see how far Tiger Leaping Review has come. When we came up with the idea two summers ago, we never could have guessed how many people we’ve been able to reach and how many beautiful stories we’ve been able to harbor. And because of this, we thank each and every reader and submitter who has made this journey possible.

We’d like to take a moment to reflect on what an incredible ride this issue has been. After receiving a record-breaking number of submissions in Issue 3, starting Issue 4 seemed like a monumental task. We needed a new system to provide every piece of writing with the attention it needed, and we also wanted to open the space to include a more diverse variety of voices.  While reviewing writing and crafting feedback, we realized that the workload for us three editors was piling up and that editors would be a crucial next step to expanding our journal. Much of this process took longer than expected, but we remained diligent and transparent through these uncharted waters. This quarter has been both a challenge and a milestone for Tiger Leaping Review. As always, we relied on the unwavering support and dedication of the writing community, which we’ve found in all of you.

One of the first fiction submissions we accepted in this issue, “Scenery” by Blanka Pillár, reads, “I believe him because the story paints itself like a vivid oil portrait…and finally, it becomes as if it were a real scene on the canvas of life, but only the immensity of human imagination has made what could never be real.” Pillár’s imagery – like a painting itself – weaves a sense of wistfulness that follows a relationship built on lies. Katherine Zhao’s “Tteokbokki at midnight” focuses more on the relationship the narrator has with herself, writing: “Tteokbokki at midnight…best served to <90 pound Asian girls with dried lips, / greasy hair and self-diagnosed borderline personality disorder / …everything at this hour looks like it crawled out of an urban legend.” A standout trait among the accepted pieces in this issue is the raw, descriptive imagery that invites the reader into the author's world. Each story is unique in its perspective, but we hope that these shared themes of imagination and togetherness can evoke a feeling of wonder in the reader.

Crafting this issue with you all has been such a privilege, and we’re so excited to share the work of our talented contributors – now in both fiction and poetry. We welcome you to Issue 4, the brand new chapter of the story Tiger Leaping Review continues to tell.

Yours truly, 

Claire Wang, Mira Sridharan, and Kenna Zhang

Editors-in-Chief at Tiger Leaping Review