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Emma Garman

Emma Garman has written about books and culture for Lapham’s Quarterly, The Literary Review, and The Paris Review Daily, among other publications.

Oil and wax painting on canvas by Enrique Martínez Celaya. A male figure kneels behind a standing woman, grasping around her midsection. She faces away from him. He seems to cling to her with longing and desperation. The two figures are perched on a stone outcrop in a wide ocean. It’s a moonless night and stars are scattered across the black sky. On top of the oceanic background, but behind the figures, the artist has painted a bird’s eye view of various island formations. These are constructed of blocks of bright colors, as one might see on a map that uses colors to demarcate different regions. The 2D brightly-colored islands — green, red, orange, yellow — stand in striking contrast with the rest of the painting, which appears 3D and is rendered in black, blue, and gray tones.

Essay Online

Feels Like Fate

By Emma Garman

What does it mean when a novelist’s fiction later becomes reality? Is it manifestation or premonition?