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.”

Author, writing instructor, podcaster, mom. Represented by Ali Lake of O'Connor Literary and Dana Spector of CAA. MFA from UNO. Host/creator of the podcast THE LONG ROAD TO PUBLISHING. (she/her)

Traveler, creative nonfiction writer, typewriter poet, and creative workshop leader. A few years ago, I quit my job, sold all my belongings, and backpacked around the world. Now I'm writing about it.

Writer. Lifter of heavy shit. Always on the lookout for adventure, usually in the mountains. But not necessarily in that order.

Hi! I'm a New York-based writer and textile designer.

Personal essays on love, appetite, recovery, chronic illness, singledom, daddy issues and modern womanhood. Mostly, writing about longing that survives disappointment—and why some part of us keeps believing anyway.

The Porcelain Heart: A Mother's Memoir of Unexpected Loss, will release in Oct. Her stories have appeared in magazines and collections. including Story of the Week in Narrative Magazine. She won the Producers Guild of America best screenplay award.

Aging isn’t easy, and society says we shouldn’t. I write about embracing aging through the lens of yoga, and applying your practice to your life.

Writer of fiction & essays. Co-owner, Federal Street Books. Candlepin bowler. Language stuff. A lot of crank air. Used to write the dictionary. Western Massachusetts.

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.

My memoir Nine Grudges: The Spiteful Origins of the Happiest Dyke on Earth won the 2023 Quill Prose Award from Red Hen Press, to be published in September 2026.

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

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Gargi Mehra works in IT and moonlights as a creative writer. Her work has appeared in numerous literary magazines, including Crannog, The Forge Literary Magazine, The Writer, and others. She lives in Pune, India with her husband and two children.

Elizabeth Surlin Gordon writes poetry, essays, middle grade/YA fiction, and holistic wellness articles. Over the pandemic she wrote the children’s book, Where Is Everybody? Her work has appeared in Open Secrets, Wordpeace, and more.

I'm a memoirist who lives in the SF Bay Area. I started writing creatively when I turned fifty and faced (for me) the dreaded empty nest. I love reading about the craft of writing and learning from different sources.

Writing about food, family, books, art, and movies, not necessarily in that order. New book--Make Yourself Useful: remembering a life in kitchen essentials--coming in September 2027!

Johanna Gohmann has written for The New Yorker's Daily Shouts, McSweeney’s, and The Wall Street Journal. Her humor book All Toddlers Are Scorpios – An Astrological Guide to Your Adorable Tiny Terror was released in April 2026. www.JohannaGohmann.com

Writer | Boy mom | Homeschool teacher | Singer | Bookworm | Meditator | Line Dancer. Endlessly fascinated by creativity in life's messiest moments

Sara Lavan is a dancer who loves to write, or maybe a writer who got distracted for a while with dance. For a while, she found a way to blend the two. She is in her third act after many life changes, including her kids leaving for college.

I am a poet, writer, musician, mother, activist, educator, gardener, baker, and lover of this planet and her beings. Things that sustain me are creativity, community, and being outdoors.

Emmy Favilla is a New York–based writer and editor. She wants to hear about your pets.

Julia Cohen's latest book is Freak Lip (TRP, 2026), a memoir-in-essays. Julia lives with her family in Colorado and takes care of a xeriscape garden.

Writer of personal essays & memoir, mom, animal lover, obsessed with sewing clothing and quilts, frequently hiking.