Yellow Arrow Vignette | Luminate 2026

Welcome to the Yellow Arrow Publishing online series, Yellow Arrow Vignette LUMINATE.

https://www.yellowarrowpublishing.com/calendar/release-yellow-arrow-vignette-luminate

For our fifth issue we chose the theme of LUMINATE, our 2026 yearly value. It is a theme both elemental and existential, rooted in the truth that without a light source, there is only darkness. This year, we want to shine a brilliant neon light onto Baltimore creatives—to be shaken and electrified into vivid color, to blare with welcome, and to embrace and celebrate the self that has been contained for too long. To us, to luminate is to buzz with audacity, to seep into the darkness, and to call others like you to finally find their home.

With Vignette LUMINATE, we wanted to return to some of the earliest goals of Yellow Arrow: circulating and augmenting the creative work of voices and themes that aren’t heard loudly enough. And as part of the return to our roots, we wanted to showcase writers who live in or are otherwise connected to our home base of Baltimore. We want our readers to experience the spectrum of voices that Charm City offers. Enjoy the issue!

Listen to the author-curated LUMINATE playlist on Spotify while you read

"Manchada" by Clara Longo de Freitas is an illustration of a nude woman with burning warm colors behind her.

The cover art for Vignette LUMINATE is called “[Cover Art Title]” by [Author]. The artist’s statement follows.

“[Artist’s statement]”

[Insert artist’s bio]

We hope you see the same welcoming light in “[Cover Art Title]” that you see in the poetry and creative nonfiction in LUMINATE. Click on the images below to weave your way through this issue. Thank you to our Yellow Arrow staff and the Yellow Arrow community for support and for helping to share the creative voices on the issue’s pages.

Learn more about the conception of LUMINATE and Yellow Arrow Vignette:

The reading for Vignette LUMINATE is 0:00 p.m., [Day of the week], [Month] [Day #], at [location]. RSVP here. And see all events from Bird in Hand here. We hope to see you there!