What a joy it is to crack open a used book and find the thoughts and ideas of another tucked away, hidden in the most secret place of a story: the margin, the inside of the spine. The critical part that contains every word, keeps everything in order and sensible, yet is so rarely appreciated as beautiful in its own right.

Through thoughtful writing and brilliant photography, the duo who comprise Margin Missives collect and share the stories of those who call the margins home. Immigrant, LGBTQ+, AAPI, BIPOC, NHPI, Disabled… Your voice, art, experiences, all of you matters.

This is not your typical arts and culture blog. We’re not here to tell you about a new restaurant in Edgewater, or about the painter whose wealthy parents put him through art school and got him his first gallery exhibition because they know the owner and called in a favor. We’re not looking for sponsorship. We’ll never write an advertisement.

The singer who was brought to the States by her parents at four months old. The guitar player grappling with a degenerative disease. The street artist painting a memorial to their friend, shot in the back by police. The photographer blacklisted for publishing photos of genocide. The author whose publisher didn’t make sure the bookstores they were sent to were wheelchair accessible.

These are the stories from the dusty corners, about those who slipped through the cracks, reflected upon and shared by survivors in their own right. The Writer and The Photographer hope that, through the stories told and collected here, you too will reclaim your voice, your strength, your power.