Winter is a good time to tell stories. As the days grow colder, and then shorter, and then slowly longer again, we gather to talk about the things that define the cycles of life. We rehash the past, set intentions for the future, grieve our losses, and prepare to welcome the new life yet to come. These are days to reflect on what stays and what goes, what we want and what we need, where we’ve been and where we’re going, what we’ve lost, what we love, what we dream of, and what responsibilities we will carry forward. 

Many of this issue’s writers immerse us in what winter means and feels like in their homelands or the places they write from. Others reflect on the cyclical rhythms the season invites. Each of them has offered us art that provokes readers to release, reimagine, and (re)cycle—the themes we were considering when we first began to conceptualize this winter’s issue of Chapter House. We hope that as you read the winter issue, you are staying warm, gathering with loved ones, and enjoying the reflection that this season—and these writers—invite.