Nikki Volpicelli is a short story writer and graduate of the Bennington Writing Seminars. In 2023, she was shortlisted for The Masters Review Summer Short Story Award for New Writers and longlisted for the Craft Literature Short Story Award.
She was also voted “Best Personality” in her eighth-grade yearbook. It was a tie, which she accepted gracefully because that's what great personalities do.
Stopping follows a woman growing up during the opioid crisis, searching for (and refusing to accept) love, obliteration, and rescue. Years later, she volunteers at a syringe exchange program in the epicenter of the epidemic, the neighborhood where her addiction began. This time, with the hope of bringing her younger sister home.
Some stories take place in the early 2000s at pain clinics, Christmas tree farms, and mall food courts. Others happen today at harm reduction centers, post offices, and in and out of recovery meetings. All maintain a sense of humor and hope beneath the unquenchable desire for a fix.
What is stopping if not starting again?
Excerpts/full manuscript available upon request.
Project
Electric Literature, Vice, Nylon, Glamour, Neutral Spaces, XRAY, Entropy, Consequence of Sound, Paste, Fast Company, Philadelphia magazine, Red Bull, Urban Outfitters, and Expat Press.
Publications
