Dear Dolores
Pushcart nominated, 2025
Winner, ACEP Best Short Prose 2025
Winner, ACEP Best Short Prose 2025
Rachel Kowalsky, MD, MPH
I am a Guatemalan American author, essayist and pediatric emergency physician. I write about human connection, identity, and health equity, and teach health humanities at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. My work in the ER constantly demonstrates the tenacity and vulnerability of human life.
Fiction
Burn
The Book of Names
Pushcart nominated, 2024
The Delivery Boy
Pushcart nominated, 2023
God’s Green Earth
Your First Pediatric Intubation
Pushcart nominated, 2022
The Pianist
Winner, ACEP Best Short Prose 2022
The Lion’s Tooth
Pushcart nominated, 2021
The Billboard
Winner, NEJM Short Fiction Contest 2021
Everybody Slept
Essays
Halloween Blood
Fabulous book of essays edited by Kimberly Greene-Liebowitz and Dana Corriel. My essay is "Halloween Blood."
The Wedding
On Brian Ascalon Roley’s "Caregiving"
On "Where Are You, Mary Oliver?"
The Kiss of the Bat
Dying of loneliness: the COVID-19 epidemic in children and adolescents
Princes and Princesses
Great collection of essays, edited by Lauren A. Walter. My essay is "Princes and Princesses."
The Lawnmower
Time Enough
The Care of Strangers
I love this anthology edited by my idol, Perri Klass. My essay is "The Care of Strangers."