The Linden Review congratulates authors Summer Hammond and Jeff Jones on earning “Notable Essays” in the 2026 edition of Best American Essays.

“The Girls,” by Summer Hammond was published in Issue 7. Hammond grew up in rural Iowa, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. After parting ways with the faith, she went on to achieve a BA in Literature, teach ninth grade reading in Austin, Texas, and later, earn her MFA from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. Her writing appears in Sonora Review, StoryQuarterly, Moon City Review, and Tahoma Review, among others. She won the 2023 New Letters Conger Beasley Jr. Award for Nonfiction. Supported by the Wilmington Arts Council, Summer is currently at work on a memoir in Granta’s Memoir Writing Workshop. Instagram: @summerdhammond Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/summer.d.hammond.

“The Way My Grandmother Sank,” by Jeff Jones was published in Issue 8. Jones was born on October 20, 1992, and raised in the heartbeat of Chicago. As a queer, nonbinary Black writer rooted in oral traditions and Southern folklore, Jones uses creative nonfiction to honor the voices buried by shame, erasure, or assimilation. Now in their thirties, Jones continues to nurture their craft with intention and wonder. Each piece they write is an offering — to their family, their community, and the countless unnamed ancestors who made room for their voice. Through language, they seek not just to tell stories, but to keep them alive.