The How I Learned Series was a live reading/storytelling/comedy show created by Blaise Allysen Kearsley in 2009. The monthly series ran for a little over a decade with events in the Lower East Side, Brooklyn, and New Orleans, and included benefits for Emily's List and Housing Works.

Featured guests included Mira Jacob, Alexander Chee, Ayo Edebiri, John Fugelsang, Anna Sale, James Hannaham, Hugh Ryan, Sasheer Zamata, John Wray, David Carr, Starlee Kine, Taylor Negron, Issac Fitzgerald, Aparna Nancherla, Emily Flake, Dodai Stewart, Choire Sicha, Jami Attenberg, Maggie Estep, Rosie Schaap, and many others.

How I Learned has been (")on hiatus(") since the Covid shutdown in 2020. Now, it's being resurrected as an online magazine... Launching soon on an internet, somewhere near you.

In the spirit of the eclectic series, we are seeking sharp personal nonfiction stories from diverse perspectives, sensibilities, and voices that offer an evocative spin on existential-leaning themes. The horror and the hilarity of living. The profound and the absurd. The details of discovery that conflict with the old narrative. The little things that challenge a longheld belief. How we change or don't change; how the world changes or fails to change. Heavy stories, humor, stories, what lives in between. Whatever the tone, mood, or situation, your How I Learned story does not resolve neatly with a bow. Make meaning out of chaos, but leave us wondering where the story takes you after it ends.

• Soft deadline: June 16th, 2025 / Hard deadline: June 20th, 2025
• Nonfiction essay: 800 - 1700 words
• Nonfiction flash essay: 500 - 800 words
• Submit your best story. It should be polished and complete.
• One story per writer. You may submit again during another reading period.
• Send your work as a Word or Google attachment.
• Include the word count at the top of the submission.
• In your email, add (1) a story summary in 2 - 4 sentences; and (2) a brief third-person bio.
• Please indicate if this is a simultaneous submission and inform us immediately if it gets accepted elsewhere.
• If you'd like to include how you learned about How I Learned, please do.
• The email subject line should read "Submission - How I Learned."
• Send to: howilearned@gmail.com

Some DON'Ts:

Submissions will not be read if (1) the work is untitled; (2) if the author is "anonymous" (a pen name is fine); (3) if the summary is a chunk of the story copied and pasted into the email; or (4) if the story itself is pasted into the body of the email.

Response time:

You'll usually get a response in 1 - 4 weeks. Please wait a month before following up. If you haven't heard back by then, resend the original email and add "Follow-up" to the subject line.

A note about character pseudonyms:

Choosing to change names, or places, or other identifying characteristics is the responsibility of the author. Changes like these will not be made once the work is published.

Here's a sampling of topics from live shows. You DO NOT have to write to any of these themes, though you're more than welcome to.

How I Learned To Fight Back; How I Learned My Adolescence Was Over; How I Learned What Life is Like; How I Learned About Sex; How I Learned To Lie, Cheat or Steal; How I Learned To Live in New York; How I Learned The Hard Way; How I Learned It's All My Parents Fault; How I Learned It's Not Me, It's You; How I Learned To Say I'm Sorry; How I Learned Nothing is Even Real; How I Learned To Believe; How I Learned There Might Be Some Issues: Stories About Therapy...