Narratively

                   

The First Family of Human Cannonballing

David and Jeannie Smith gave up their day jobs for a life of daredevil stunts —with six children in tow. Five decades, thousands of cannon shots and multiple Guinness World Records later, this stupendous family business is still defying gravity and...

Living with a Skinhead, While Living in My Brown Skin

As an Indonesian adoptee in Sweden, I was alarmed when my new stepbrother started dabbling in white supremacy. I didn’t realize how far it had gone until I was lying in a dark field, getting kicked in the chest with a steel-toed boot.

I Have Never Been to the Place Where I am From, But I Will Imagine It For Us

I have learned all the stories my father was too protective of me to share, parsed the conflicting histories and studied the maps. Now I can finally recreate our family’s lost home, in a once small village in Palestine.

Murder to Middle School

I was 13 when my father was killed right before my eyes. Two weeks later, while everyone in our small town obsessed over his grizzly death, I embarked on a new horror: 8th grade.

The Deep South’s Dames of Dildos

In a Bible-belt state where sex toy stores are illegal, a church-going grandma, enterprising mom and sassy granddaughter build a booming business hawking penis pumps and butt plugs—and helping every person find their path to pleasure.

The Cartoonist Whose Parents Were Secretly Spies

In her first graphic novel, Narratively Contributor Sophia Glock documents her teenage unraveling after she figured out what her mom and dad really did for a living.

Diary of a Bachelor Who Suddenly Became a Solo Dad to a Teenage Girl

I was an 18-year-old father who couldn’t be there for his baby. I know, you’ve heard this one before. How about this part? Twelve years later Krystasia’s mom walked away and never came back.

The Single Father Writing Candidly about Parenthood

After suddenly becoming a full-time solo dad, Narratively contributor Kern Carter found creative inspiration in his close-knit relationship with his teenage daughter.

Queen of the S.R.O.

In gritty 1980s New York, one West Village flophouse became a last-chance refuge for addicts, criminals, LGBTQ runaways, and anyone with nowhere left to go. And my mom was their queen.