Short story about the power of childhood memories — This part of Michigan reminds Sandra of home: East-Flanders, Belgium, a patchwork of grasslands and fields of wheat, potatoes, and sugar beets. Rows of poplars, beech trees, and oaks casting long shadows on country roads. Willow trees that droop near the edges of languid streams. Breweries and church steeples; sleepy…

Portrait of a patient perfectionist — The short story always has been my favorite genre to write and to read. Some years ago, Peter Barlow and I belonged to a Michigan writers’ group that met at a local bookstore. Each participant had a limited time slot to read their latest poems, short story, or novel pages…

Memoir, Creative Nonfiction, Musings and More — A jumble of true stories I recently bundled some of my fiction stories on Medium in a collection, “Elisabeth Khan’s Short Stories,” and today I am doing the same for a jumble of true-to-life stories I published here over the years, presented in no particular order. What they have in common is that they are…

Belgian Author Bob Van Laerhoven talks about his latest US release — Good things come to those who keep writing What struck me most during my first talk with writer Bob Van Laerhoven was his wry, self-deprecating humor. We’d met up in the coffeeshop of a Belgian railway station — about eight years ago — for a short interview. There wasn’t much time; I had to catch a train. He…

This Is Not a Travelogue Time Travel: Sousse, Tunisia, January 1978 We are on our honeymoon, staying at a beach hotel in Sousse, but it’s too cold to do anything on the beach other than walk. …

This Dynamic Publication Is Starting a New Chapter — Regular readers of Literary Impulse on Medium will be aware of LI’s intimate connection with our quarterly lit mag ShabdAaweg Review. Both publications are run by a dynamic, not to mention ambitious, international team. Together we are embarking on a new venture: our publishing branch, “ShabdAaweg Press.” …

Because storytelling is my favorite thing — I’m a Jill of all trades. When asked, “What do you write?” I usually answer: “Everything: Fiction, nonfiction, memoir, travelogue, poetry — oops, almost forgot humor…” I can see the asker zoning out. Most people, it seems, are interested in only one, maybe two, of those genres. As for me…

My Favorite Indian Breakfast And How I Learned to Make It — Many, many years ago, I spent a few months in Jabalpur, a city in Central India, on a travel grant to improve my Hindi skills. I was privileged to study under professor Mahavir Saran Jain, and I was fortunate to be able to stay with my sister-in-law, Nusrat, whose husband…