Mission

Every piece of great literature has weathered storm and season.

Founded in 2026 by poet Talan Tee, Afterbodies believes in the work of promising young writers. The roots of our philosophy trace back to the ocean’s wake—honoring ancestral crossings made with no promise of a shore, the borders we survive, and the vast, intersecting currents of our many homelands.

Like the submerged hull encrusted with sealife, our most freighted inheritances accrete beneath the waterline. The mission of Afterbodies is to share work by high school and undergraduate writers that surfaces what often feels hidden or buried in society and within ourselves. Afterbodies exclusively publishes high school and undergraduate work.