There Is No Long Distance Now

Forty sudden portraits of young lives reveal how brief, ordinary encounters bridge the deepest divides.

In these forty life-altering, life-affirming, and extremely short short stories, the award-winning poet Naomi Shihab Nye proposes that no matter how great the divide between friends, siblings, life and death, classmates, enemies, happiness and misery, war and peace, breakfast and lunch, parent and child, country and city, there is, in fact, no long distance. Not anymore.

Nye sets these vignettes in Austin, Chicago, and Berlin, following teenagers through sudden crossroads. Her stories trace unexpected bonds between grieving children and distant parents, or young cooks and weary teachers.

The volume gathers moments where a mourning dove strikes a window. Nye leaves her characters on curbsides and bus routes, listening for voices that carry.
Coming of Age: Victor and his best friend Bear debate capital punishment while hauling heavy bags of neighborhood rubbish.Short Stories for Teens: Trapped beside his hypercritical English teacher on a flight to Boston, Jacob impulsively bluffs his way into an unexpected ambition.Family Dynamics: Sarah packs her books to move into her aging grandmother’s vine-covered mansion on Army Boulevard, uncovering hidden loyalties over late-night phone calls.Identity and Self-Discovery: In a Chicago taxi heading to a national poetry competition, Callie confronts a driver’s casual prejudice by introducing the generous spirit of her Syrian father.Also by This Author: Going Going.