If you asked me what my first love was, I’d tell you it was tarot. It’s the reflexive answer I’ve given for many years without much thought, as I talk about it so often that it’s all I’m ever known for. But it isn’t actually true. Before I even knew tarot existed, there was a much younger version of me who filled loose-leaf paper with stories that were reminiscent of the Dork Diaries series, fell asleep surrounded by a vibrant Magic Tree House book collection, and wanted nothing more than to become a published author. Tarot came later, but it came on so strong that it eclipsed everything before it.
I’ve always done tarot readings for anyone I meet. There was something satisfying about sitting across from someone and helping them reveal things about themselves they hadn’t quite understood yet. Doing a tarot reading for someone has always been a cherished practice of mine because I get to listen to their story in real time and help them see a way toward something better. To me, it felt like a more personal form of storytelling.
So when I went off to college, I had settled on being an English major because no coursework existed that matched the passion I had for tarot. Idly going through an array of Shakespeare and Romanticism classes, one class had me completely captivated: a course on ghost stories and folklore. I was fascinated by different oral traditions and the preservation of stories because people are compelled to share stories about cultures and histories that might stay hidden otherwise.
That idea rearranged everything I knew about myself. My pull toward tarot and my pull toward literature started to feel like they were colliding. Both came from a need to uncover what goes unheard and a refusal to let it stay that way. It took me a while to trace tarot all the way back to that loose-leaf-paper-filling kid who wanted to be a writer one day. But I think they were always reaching for a way to hold on to stories that might otherwise go missing and to hand them to someone else with care.
My love for storytelling and amplifying voices that would otherwise be left unheard is why I was so drawn to what Sundress Publications does. I don’t come to literature and publishing with the same story that a lot of lifelong readers and writers share, and I thought that made my path unfit for working in publishing. Now I think it just means I found my way here through the belief that every story deserves someone willing to keep telling it.
Emma Flores is an undergraduate student at Binghamton University studying English. They have a particular interest in researching human behavior and society through storytelling, with a focus on cultural narratives and folklore. In their free time, Emma can be found doing tarot readings, wandering bookstores, or hunting down spiritual shops for the next deck to add to their growing collection.