Hannah Bae

Let’s all go live our Mamma Mia! fantasies in Greece come September. I feel so lucky to share that I’ll be an instructor for Freeing the Muse, a creative retreat on the island of Kefalonia, Greece, organized by @mvicw ’s Alexander Weinstein and @kristina.marie.darling . You can get a peek at the class I’m leading here and find full details at mvicw.com/greece. All are welcome — artists, writers and creative folks of all levels are encouraged! Pro Tip: If you register before April 10, you’ll get a significant discount thanks to a local grant. If you have questions, send them my way! And please spread the word widely with those who might be interested!

Ramona, 4/16/16-12/18/25 See you on the other side, sweet girl. 🖤 Today I said goodbye to Ramona. It was a privilege to be her human and take care of her until she was just past 9 years and 8 months old. There is so much more to say about Ramona, which I’ve been trying to write for years, but she was the sweetest, gentlest Eeyore angel to trot across this planet. She was my childhood dream fulfilled, living proof that I could take good care of another being (and, in turn, myself) despite lacking a blueprint for any of that in my youth. Thank you to the friends, neighbors, dog park people and all of the members of our beautiful community who loved her so much. She made me a better human.

We’re so thrilled to have the talented journalist, nonfiction writer, and illustrator, Hannah Bae (@hannahbae ), returning this summer for the 2026 Martha’s Vineyard Summer Writers’ Conference! To join her creative nonfiction seminars on The Art of Noticing, Writing Deliciously, and Writing the Body, register now for Week One at MVICW.com! Spots are limited, so register early!

We’re thrilled to partner with @kundimanforever Northeast for a free, virtual Publishing AMA! We understand how challenging it is to break into the publishing industry. That's why we want to answer all your questions and share everything we've learned. 📖✍️🏻 Join us! When: Saturday, May 16th 10-11 AM PT / 1-2 PM ET Where: Virtual (Zoom) Panelists:  Lauren Kung Jessen (@laurenkjessen ), author of THE FORTUNE FLIP Samantha Chong (@samjamtimtam ), author of PRODIGAL TIGER Heather Eng (@heatherengwrites ), author of DOUBLE HAPPINESS Yume Kitasei (@yumewrites ), author of SALTCROP Moderated by: Hannah Bae (@hannahbae ) ➡️ Register and submit your questions at bit.ly/publishingama or the link in our bios! We'll send a link to join the virtual event two days beforehand, and on the day of This event is free and open to all! #writingevents #writersofinstagram #writerscommunity

Unmothered daughters. Unmothered daughters. Unmothered daughters. While @hannahbae essay spoke to the devastation of financial abuse and physical abuse and her struggle to distance herself from the perpetrators and I by no way want to imply this is not an important part of this essay — what pulled at my heart strings was her identification as an unmothered daughter, an identity she shared with her mother and an identity I share with mine. I see you Hannah 🫂 Many of us who can identify with this moniker —whether we call it a mother wound or mother hunger or having a narcissistic mother or an emotionally absent mother or a mother who can’t love — know that after all the therapy and gaining an intellectual understanding there remains a deep ache. Something that sticks with us and awakens like an amputated limb on a cold day. Some of us learn to live with that ache and some of us never do. What an historical understanding does I think is help us see our perpetrators as a little more human, a little less than god-like. We need to have a reason because we can’t comprehend how they can claim to love us and hurt us at the same time. Sometimes knowing quiets the ache and sometimes it just doesn’t. Hannah Bae thank you for your moving story. Read the essay in @nocontactbook for yourself. #familyestrangement #estrangement #financialabuse #nocontactbook #unmothered

On Monday, No Contact contributor @hannahbae and I headed to the @wnyc radio studio for an interview. In our segment for @allofitwnyc , we discussed the complexities of family estrangement and answered the calls of a few listeners. The callers’ testimonies were poignant and diverse, and there were countless others who didn’t make it on the air. This experience validated my belief that so many are eager for connection and conversation around family estrangement. ❤️‍🩹 This was my first time on the radio! 😱 You can listen to our segment via the link in my LinkTree. Let me know what you think. Thanks to everyone who’s tuned in already. 😘 Thank you so much to @mfishmann and @lenamschmitt at Catapult for shepherding us through the process, and to Tiffany Hansen and Alison Stewart for having us. And Hannah, my sister in stripes, I want to do every interview with you forever, you brilliant compassionate star. ❤️❤️❤️

Got burning questions about writing or the publishing industry? To celebrate AANHPI Month, we're hosting a free, virtual publishing AMA. We understand how challenging it is to break into the publishing industry. That's why we want to answer all your questions and share everything we've learned. 📖✍️🏻 Join us! When: Saturday, May 16th 10-11 AM PT / 1-2 PM ET Panelists:  Samantha Chong (@samjamtimtam ), author of PRODIGAL TIGER Heather Eng (@heatherengwrites ), author of DOUBLE HAPPINESS Yume Kitasei (@yumewrites ), author of SALTCROP Lauren Kung Jessen (@laurenkjessen ), author of THE FORTUNE FLIP Moderated by: Hannah Bae (@hannahbae ) ➡️ Register and submit your questions in the link in our bios! We'll send a link to join the virtual event two days beforehand.

We have a lot to say on family estrangement, and I hope you’ll come join us at @lizsbookbar in Brooklyn for this conversation. Thank you to editor and writer @jenny.bartoy for bringing us together for this amazing book, NO CONTACT, coming soon from @catapult . I’ll be honored to join fellow contributors @foofoofoo @eminietfeld @endorphinique @lindsey.danis.writer @domenicaruta and writercasslewis for this event. Tickets at the link in my bio!

See you in Baltimore this week, #AWP26! 👋🏼

멕시코, 사랑해~

Seeing is believing. A few months ago, my friend @cerulean.city showed me a snapshot of a page from the 2026 Pushcart Prize anthology: Under Special Mention, my essay “The Girls In The Boat” from Indiana Review was listed! I had no idea! I never would have even thought to check because the Pushcart anthology seems so very selective. It took me months to get my hands on a copy to see for myself, which I did today. I still couldn’t quite believe it until my eyes were on the page, but here it is! Many, many thanks to @yaerimgenkwon , the brilliant editor who shepherded my piece through Indiana Review, and beautiful souls @lreneepoems & @bobbledsoe , who brought me to Indiana University in the first place for the IU Writers Conference, where I met Gen (if you’re looking for a summer workshop + craft/generative classes, go!!). Many thanks, finally, to Pushcart Prize winner @chaejunghae for being a fierce, loving advocate for my work. I don’t think this essay would be listed without the influence of Jung Hae’s keen eye. Community really is everything to me as a writer, and I think you see that in the chain reactions of friendships mentioned in this caption. In this sad, beautiful, imperfect, rough world, how lucky am I?

Snowmona 2025 ❄️🖤