Subscriber News: June 2016
Recent Honors
Congratulations to Winning Writers contest judge Ellen LaFleche. Her poem "Before the sickness, when" won first prize in the 2016 Robinson Jeffers Tor House Prize for Poetry. The most recent deadline for this $2,000 award was March 15. This poem and her poem "Because the dead cannot tell us what it's like to die" were published on their website, along with poems by the four honorable mention winners: Adele Ne Jame and Winning Writers subscribers Joan Baranow, Sally Clark, and Joyce Schmid.
Congratulations to Laura Foley, Charles Atkinson, and Dean Rader. They won grand prizes of $1,000 apiece in the 2016 Common Good Books Poetry Contest, sponsored by public radio personality Garrison Keillor. Their poems were read on Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" broadcast on May 21. The most recent submission period for this free contest was March 1-April 15. Themes change annually; 2016 theme was "Gratitude".
Congratulations to Gina Marie Mammano. Her book Camino Divina: Walking the Divine Way was recently published by SkyLight Paths Publishing, a religious and inspirational press. The book gives guidance on developing a practice of walking meditation, enhanced with spiritual exercises and reflections from classic and contemporary writers. Fr. Richard Rohr, a renowned author and teacher of contemplative spirituality, writes, "I wish I could make this lovely book required reading for all my students." In other news, Gina's poem "You Became My Father" won first prize in the adult category of the Poetry Matters Literary Prizes from P.R.A. Publishing. This free contest, with prizes up to $75 in adult, youth, and senior divisions, had a February 29 deadline. Watch her read the poem at the award ceremony here.
Congratulations to Mike Tuohy. His story "Stamping His Get" won an honorable mention in the 2015 Scribes Valley Short Story Writing Contest. The current contest is open through November 30. The top three winners share a percentage of fees received, and the top 10-15 entries are published in the annual anthology.
Congratulations to Zara West. Her romantic suspense novel Beneath the Skin will be released June 17 by The Wild Rose Press. Pre-order and watch the book trailer on her website, Zara West Suspense. This is the first book in the Skin Quartet series.
Congratulations to Tricia Cerrone. Her novel Glimmer, an honorable mention in the 2015 Winning Writers North Street Book Prize, won a gold medal in the Best Young Adult E-Book Category of the 2016 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPYs).
Congratulations to Roberta Beary. Her poetry chapbook Deflection (Accents Publishing, 2015) won an honorable mention in the 2015 Touchstone Distinguished Books Awards from the Haiku Foundation. Read samples from the winners on their website. The book was also a finalist for the 2016 Eric Hoffer Book Award from Hopewell Publications. This contest for published books in a variety of categories gives a top prize of $2,000. Entries are accepted year-round; January 21 is the official registration cutoff date for all books either published or copyrighted in the prior two years. Read a review of Deflection at Winning Writers Editor Jendi Reiter's blog.
Congratulations to Ellaraine Lockie. Three of her previously published poems won $850 in prizes in the 2016 San Mateo County Exposition Literary Arts Contest. The most recent deadline was April 1. Winners received publication in a journal, public display of the poems at the fair, a reading, book signing and awards ceremony. Ellaraine recommends researching county fairs in your area to find writing contest opportunities: "Call the county fair phone numbers and get on mailing lists for their catalogs or online entry information."
Recent Publications
Valerie Ihsan's novel The Scent of Apple Tea will be published in June. From the book cover blurb: "Kathryn Gordon's cozy rural life falls apart when her adult daughter, Heather, is diagnosed with ovarian cancer. While Kathryn researches alternative cures, including communicating with a dead Scottish ancestor, Heather Gordon makes a heroic journey to Scotland with an ex-boyfriend she still loves." Visit the author's website to join her Advanced Reading Team for an early review copy.
Thelma T. Reyna's publishing imprint, Golden Foothills Press, recently released the Altadena Poetry Review: Anthology 2016. The compilation, edited by Reyna, features 86 distinguished poets from Southern California and their 134 poems. The poets include 8 Poet Laureates, 17 Pushcart Prize Nominees, 22 literary award-winners, and many other distinguished writers.
Annie Dawid's story "Instinct: Ernst, Estelle, Buffy, the Birds, and the Rat" was published in Tikkun in May.
Beth Coetzee's first poetry collection, No Electronics!, is available from Amazon.com under the pen name "Pot Luck Mama". This book of humorous and inspirational poems is aimed at readers of all ages.
Joan Kantor's has released her memoir, Holding It Together: Surviving a Legacy of Mental Illness, as well as The Magic of Moments: From Mindfulness to Reflection, a book of poems about nature and healing.
Eleanor Gamarsh's article "Some presents really grow on you", about why gift cards can be a good Mother's Day present, was published in the Gardner News, the daily newspaper of Gardner, MA, on May 7.
J. Paul Cooper's e-book What If? A Collection of Short Fiction is available from Smashwords.
R.T. Castleberry's personal essay "Gone, Always Gone" was published in Heartwood Literary Magazine. His poems "Salvation Days", "Late, the Beauty", and "Triptych" appeared in Ray's Road Review (Spring 2016). His poems "All I Had Was Gone", "Better Call My Supervisor", and "Call It Peace" were published in April in 'Merica Magazine.
Diane Lockward, editor of The Doll Collection (Terrapin Books, 2016), and selected contributors to this doll-themed poetry anthology will be reading at the book launch on Sunday, July 17, at 2:00 p.m. at West Caldwell Public Library, 30 Clinton Road, West Caldwell, NJ.
R. Bremner's Beat/Dada poem "Terracotta Cobwebs" appeared in the March 2016 issue of Yellow Chair Review (see p.62). Another poem in this style, "Put on the bark's nun-black", was accepted for the 2015-16 issue of The Oleander Review. Bremner's metrical poem "Zika" appeared in Poets Online. "With your black beetle eyes" appeared in In-flight Literary Magazine #7 (April 2016). His poem "Brushstroked rouge swaggers" was published in Panoply #3 (Spring 2016). "Hazy, Dazy" appeared in The Quarterday Review (May 2016). "Cloud formations over Carolina" was selected for the Poetry Leaves Exhibition at the Waterford Civic Center in Michigan; a copy of the poem was hung from a tree on the campus during the month of May. He kindly shares it with us here.
Guy Williams's alternative hip-hop/electronica band, The Bilderberg Group, recently released their debut music and spoken word album, "Conspiracy Theory Sells". Download it for free on their website.
Madeleine McDonald's third book, A Shackled Inheritance, has received 4- and 5-star Amazon.com reviews praising its blend of history and romance.
Published: June 8, 2016
