Abasement / Brian Blanchfield -- Drinking story / Elissa Washuta -- Fire and ice / Debra Gwartney -- Ghosts / Vauhini Vara -- The wild, sublime body / Melissa Febos -- Baby yeah / Anthony Veasna So -- The gye, the no-name hair salon, the coup d'état, and the small dreamers / Jung Hae Chae -- It had to be gold / Justin Torres -- Futurity / Alex Marzano-Lesnevich -- Her kind / Naomi Jackson -- Ghost bread / Angelique Stevens -- The gamble / Lina Mounzer -- The wrong Jason Brown / Jason Brown -- Between these lives, Azeroth / Tanner Akoni Laguatan -- Among men / Calvin Gimpelevich -- China brain / Andrea Long Chu -- What she would always and should always be doing / Kaitlyn Greenidge -- My gentile region / Gary Shteyngart -- Anatomy of a botched assimilation / Jesus Quintero -- Mother country / Elias Rodriques -- At the bend of the road / Aube Rey Lescure -- If you ever find yourself / Erika J. Simpson -- The lost list / Ryan Bradley -- Contributors' notes -- Notable essays and literary nonfiction of 2021 -- Notable special issues of 2021