Subscriber News: December 2023
Recent Honors
Congratulations to Jessica Pegis. Her picture book You Made Fun of My Sandwich will be published in January by Free Spirit Press, with illustrations by Harry Briggs. This book for readers aged 6-9 uses humor and empathy to address issues of bullying and food insecurity.
Congratulations to Jeanne Blum Lesinski. Her debut poetry collection, Tethers End, was recently published by Shanti Arts. In this collection, written over several decades, Lesinski grapples with questions of constraint and freedom, the controllable and chaotic in poems that range from traditional forms to lyric prose. She kindly shares a sample poem here.
Congratulations to LindaAnn LoSchiavo. Her poetry collection Apprenticed to the Night is available for pre-order from UniVerse Press, the new poetry imprint from Beacon Books in Oldham, England. A review at Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub says, "Apprenticed to the Night deals with themes of loss, grief, and trauma. The darker parts of life and death merge with that which is beautiful or enduring. It is a striking juxtaposition. I appreciated that, while many of these poems were jarring, nothing was written simply for shock value. Each poem was placed deliberately and with great care." Goodreads reviewer D.P. Davies gives it 5 stars, saying, "The formal structure to a lot of these poems forms the bedrock on which they can tower." Read more positive reviews at Hollies, Happiness, and Healing, Book Review Crew, Roi Fainéant, and poet Nigel Kent's blog. In other news, her horror poetry collection Vampire Ventures was favorably reviewed by Joshua Gage in Cemetery Dance. (The review is not currently online there, but can be read on Goodreads.) She was also featured at Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub with a guest post about the appeal of vampire lore in literature and how it's changed through the years. An excerpt was published at Alien Buddha Press. The book was recommended on the Horror Reads YouTube channel (16-minute video).
Recent Publications
Helen Bar-Lev's book Spirit Captive: Jerusalem in Poetry, Prose and Paintings, featuring her original artwork and writing, is available now on BookBaby. She kindly shares the title poem here.
Cheryl J. Fish was interviewed by Brad Haislip on his podcast The Author's Table about her books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction and the publishing process with indie presses. Cheryl's books include the novel Off the Yoga Mat (Livingston Press) and the poetry collection The Sauna Is Full of Maids (Shanti Arts), both inspired by her travels in Finland. Visit her website to learn more.
Shobana Gomes was interviewed on the Atmosphere Press website about her novel Where the Rain Falls. The Malaysian author says, "I started writing first about the lack of water in downtrodden places, and as I wrote the story, I was led by a higher hand to talk about a family stuck in a desert land, where the duststorm was rampant and the rivers dried up ever so often...Even with the river that dried, the beauty lay in the evolving skies, dawn to dusk, sunrise to sunset, young love, and the constellations."
Beth Ann Fennelly's op-ed "Stop Corporatizing My Students", about the value of an education in the humanities, was published in the New York Times Nov. 15.
Noah Berlatsky's poem "Don't Say" was published in Saint Paul Almanac. Composed of lines from dozens of LGBTQ authors, each containing the word "silence", this found-poem represents a protest against contemporary book bans of queer authors. For more of Noah's found-poetry and hybrid texts, check out his new chapbook Send $19.99 for Supplements and Freedom from above/ground press. The title poem won an Honorable Mention in our 2022 Wergle Flomp Poetry Contest.
Laurel Blossom was the November featured author in Marsh Hawk Press's e-newsletter, discussing the origins of her writing career in their Chapter One Project column.
Alec Solomita's "Up in Smoke", a poem about receiving rejection slips from Winning Writers contests, was published in October in The Galway Review.
Tamara Kaye Sellman's flash fiction "Flat Earth" was published in Quibble Lit.
Duane L. Herrmann was interviewed in November at Fevers of the Mind. The 10th anniversary anthology of Bards Against Hunger includes his poem "Waiting for Return". The 2024 Poetry Review Datebook from Scars Publications includes his poem "Perceptions".
Published: December 11, 2023
