When we emerged from the Cedars-Sinai emergency room at 9:30 a.m. this bright morning after a long night aiding a close friend’s painful but ultimately benign condition, the events of a year earlier came into sharp focus. Then, we were in the middle of a similar 27-hour, sleepless, Diet Coke- and anxiety-fueled sprint in a conference room at the historic Hotel Normandie with a goal of editing and posting all the stories of our debut “love/hate” issue on AFLW’s then-untested website. After countless technical issues, AFLWMag.com finally went live on Valentine’s Day afternoon and we sat back and thought, Will anyone really notice?

In the 12 months since that day, it looks like many of you have. Our mission continues both online and offline at our monthly literary salons at Clifton’s Republic to be about featuring and celebrating Los Angeles, its stories and the city’s literary and artistic world.

We’ve been especially proud to join, support and build our own unique history with L.A.’s tight-knit, unified lit community. And we’ll continue to do so through dark days and light as we resist and create together.

Depending on the neighborhood and cross street, Los Angeles is a city full, or devoid, of rich history. What you notice can be all about perspective and observation – also, time spent soaking up the chronology and decades of mysteries, cultural artifacts and traditions. It’s all around us, and to Angelenos, it’s personal and individualistic.

Our new issue, “Time, time, time … see what’s become of me,” delves into how the history of L.A. and our history in it – past, present and destined to be – effects change in our lives. We’ll be sharing these rich stories in poetry, fiction, non-fiction and more over the next month.

We want to thank the amazing AFLW editors we’ve been honored to bring aboard over the last year: Sherilyn Lee, our poetry editor; Seth Fischer, our creative non-fiction editor; Shilpa Agarwal, our fiction editor and Dora Dalton, our copy editor. We are also in debt to our wise and talented advisory board: Eileen Cronin, Dana Johnson, Deanne Stillman, Samantha Dunn and Chris Morris.

(News: We’re growing.)

A special thank you to our partners, Clifton’s Republic, Literary Hub and ROAR, and to Hotel Normandie for its continued hospitality and to author/tech guru Patrick O’Neil for his incredible website support.

As we look back and forward, we hope you’ll continue the journey with us.

Thank you!

– Michele Raphael and David Lott, AFLW co-founders, February 14, 2017