Open Secrets Magazine

Open Secrets is a lit mag and community for memorable, revealing personal essays about all the subjects we're taught to keep “secret.”

Filipina-Indian in Amsterdam (she/her). Author of ASK ME: A MEMOIR OF DARING TO LOVE DIFFERENTLY (Viking Books UK), longlisted for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Non-fiction. Also mother, wife, lover, explorer, cat hostage and recovering people pleaser.

Margraf

I’m a professional silly goose that’s done a bunch of fun comedy/TV things. My newsletter is about how losing my boobs made me lose my mind. ✨

Heather Sweeney's work has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, HuffPost, Business Insider, and elsewhere. Her military divorce memoir CAMOUFLAGE: How I Emerged from the Shadows of a Military Marriage is out now!

Writer & Editor | NO CONTACT: WRITERS ON ESTRANGEMENT (Catapult, April 2026) | Developmental editing & manuscript critique | Author interviews, profiles, & book reviews| Reading literary fiction, mystery, memoir | PNW

Alexis Buncich (she/her) is a writer, actor, and producer. She explains Taylor Swift lyrics at Taylor Swift, Explained and runs a weekly NYC/London events newsletter at Overt Consumption. Learn more at alexisbuncich.com.

I write stories that let readers feel and make them think. Latest book: Wrangling the Doubt Monster: Fighting Fears, Finding Inspiration. New novel: Tent City. Author. Book Coach. Creativity Counselor.

Writing about queerness & OCD. Bylines in HuffPost, Querencia Press, Fruitslice, Pangyrus

I am a writer and the owner of Left Bank Books in St. Louis, Missouri. I am interested in a lot of things and write about them when so moved.

Writer living in Detroit. Author of the book, I Can’t Remember if I Cried: Rock Widows on Life, Love, and Legacy.

I'm a Pacific Northwest writer and reader who’s been through some stuff, but still tries to find the light in the dark. Memoir, non-fiction, vulnerable, shame-busting, life-loving, grief-healing, empowered, truth-inspired writing are my favorites.

Lauren W. Westerfield is the author of Woman House and Depth Control. She is a 2022 Idaho Commission on the Arts Literary Fellow, and teaches at Washington State University, where she serves as the editor-in-chief of Blood Orange Review.

Chronic career changer, critical disability studies educator & scholar, survivor of childhood trauma & NPE (not parent expected), menopausal empty-nester, tree-hugger, chocolate snob, new Italian, living with PTSD/ADHD. Writer of it all.

Melanie Cole is a poet and writer from Tacoma, Washington. She has been published in Grit City Magazine, Dandelion Revolution Press, and PHIL LIT Journal, among others. She has held residency at Sou’Wester Arts. She has publications upcoming.

Author of The Loneliness Files and The Incredible Shrinking Woman. Nonfiction Editor at Split/Lip Press. Music Lover. Philly via Ohio.

Creative non-fiction writer because former doctor, four kids, special needs parenting, rebellious teens, move to Germany and midlife happened.

Ask me about interviewing my favorite band for my college newspaper. It’s a long story! Former journalist, current massage therapist. Bylines in The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, Washington Business Journal, and all kinds of publications.

An eternal lover of words and maker of things from RI.

Melissa Meinzer began her writing career in the alt-weekly world in Pittsburgh. She lives and writes in St. Louis and holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. Find her online at @meinzermelissa.

Catherine Cornell writes poetry, essays, and unfinished fantasy novels. She also edits mental health writing and fiction, formats magazine layouts, and entertains people experiencing dementia.