Curses & Prayers

Curses & Prayers is the raw, poetic debut of a queer author of color. This collection tells the story of a grieving soul in distress, seeking out compensation for the emotions that were autonomously inaccessible in the grieving process. Curses & Prayers tells a story of conflicted spiritual, sexual, and emotional processing.

Philip Runia is a writer and editor based in Portland, Oregon. At the University of Iowa, they earned degrees in Journalism and Mass Communication, English and Creative Writing, and a minor degree in Cinema.
While engaging with the vibrant arts community in Iowa City, their work has been published in The Daily Iowan, Little Village Magazine, and Fools Magazine. They have served as Fiction Editor for Earthwords, and currently serve as Associate Fiction Editor for BRINK; both are literary reviews.
As an editor, they find purpose in facilitating the shine of underrepresented and innovative writers, all while growing in their own writing. Philip's writing focuses on ideas of trauma and belonging, affectation, and the awkward balance between planes of existence. Em Gray contributed a cover design and six illustrations for Curses & Prayers.