Jhon Sánchez

I learned to read by reading the Bible. For me, the Bible was a giant black book with the engraved image of the Sacred Family on the cover. I used to love the words printed there with straight letters. Gold…

When I started writing this interview with Ilhan Sami Çomak, I imagined a way to escape from prison. If I were in Ilhan’s position, I think I would think about it all the time. Lacking any handyman skills, I wouldn’t…

This is the second part of our conversation with Ilhan Sami Çomak, who has been in prison for the last 27 years. Ilhan has written eight books of poetry. In part I of the interview, describing his situation, Ilhan writes:…

In 2014, After sixteen years in exile, I was able to return to my native Colombia. My mother was dead already, so the last time I saw her was the day in 1998 when I boarded the plane with the…

INTERVIEW         Once I read the short story “Life Sentence” in Lightspeed Magazine, I decided to save it to my collections of short stories I should revisit. It was 2019, and Matthew Baker was on my radar.…

I also was raped. The word ‘also’ shouldn’t need to be written there, but it seems necessary to make my voice heard. The word ‘also’ issues a message: Not only women are raped. I was a soldier, 17 years old,…

  As you probably know, the MFA program (as you knew it) no longer exists at LIU.  The chair, Leah Dilworthm is putting together an archive for the Long Island University Library about the MFA program.  She would like to…

LITERARY EVENT Last March 8th, Pen Norway celebrated Ilhan Sami Çomak’s birthday. His lawyer, Ipek Özel, said that when Ilham was told about his birthday celebration, he said, “Tell them that after 27 years in prison, I’m still 22.” Ilhan…

By Jhon Sánchez For the last three years, Pressenza has supported the International Theater Art Institute (IATI) during the celebration of Women’s History Month. On this occasion, IATI will bring short plays by three Latinx Bilingual women. We had the…

SHORT FICTION         By Jhon Sanchez Thanks to Martha Hughes, Sam Ferri, Nan Fryland, and Emma Komlos-Hrobsky for their editorial comments Without paying attention, Gonzalo heard what the woman in the passenger seat said, “At least you…