Emergent Literary is an assemblage of black and brown work. To the editors, Emergent refers to urgency, immediacy, inception and birth, beginning, forefront, and now. It also refers to the philosophy of emergence as interreliant entities combine to create a radical new wholeness. The magazine pays homage to the Combahee River Collective and their foundational work in identity politics and radical liberation. The editors are also inspired by the legacies of Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press and Broadside Press.