Get ready to explore the world with the newest issue of The Southern Review! Find out what happens when a young man attempts to protect an endangered cat from poachers at a nature preserve outside of Almaty in Nuraina Satpayeva’s “Qará,” or explore the simmering tension of the Tiananmen Square protests in Nathan Xie’s “May 35, 1989.” You can consider the pitfalls of a new boyfriend’s first visit home in Victor We Kei Yang’s “Chicken,” long for a better and safer apartment in Lincoln Michel’s “The Good Building,” or escape outside and ponder ice in Shane Seely’s “Poem.” Ryan Teitman and Michael Mark, whose speakers both walk alone in the frigid weather, contribute new poems contemplating great losses, while Emily Tuszynska shifts the scene inside to extol the pleasures of a warm blanket during winter in “Nine Nights beneath the Red Blanket.” Along with new poems by Terence Winch, Kevin Prufer, and Dana Isokawa, the issue features the artwork of Xuan-Hui Ng, who with photographs of Japan’s northern wilds hopes to provide a brief reprieve from life’s harsh realities by reminding us of the beauty in all things delicate and fierce. We also proudly announce the winners of our annual James Olney and Oran Robert Perry Burke Awards.