78: 2025 Passager Winter Issue

Twenty-two memoirists, fiction writers and poets contributed to our winter journal, and something we noticed in their work was the role of courage, both physical and emotional. Kathy Briccetti challenges herself on Mt. Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, and writes about it in “Facing the Beast.” Susan Baur, the author of “In the Company of Turtles,” writes, “I was determined to swim so hard and so often that I would remain strong and self-sufficient.” She gives us a taste of her underwater adventures in the issue cover she created, a mixed media collage.

Some of our writers explore the emotional courage needed to handle life changes. There is the Alaskan widow in “Moose” who has to define herself anew and the father in “Tuner” who navigates the delicate territory of parenting a young adult son finding his way. Perhaps you will see your own journey reflected in one of the stories or poems in this issue.