Subscriber News: June 2018
Recent Honors
Congratulations to Donna Baier Stein. Her poetry collection Letting Rain Have Its Say was published in February by Kelsay Books. Her historical novel The Silver Baron's Wife (Serving House Books, 2016) won a bronze medal in the 2017 Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Awards. She will be reading with Lisa Romeo, Julie Maloney, and Krista Sital on Wednesday, June 27, at 7:00 pm, at The Book House in Millburn, 281 Essex Street, Millburn, NJ. Visit her website to sign up for her email announcements of future readings and publications.
Congratulations to Sara Etgen-Baker. Her essay "A Book of Magical Spells and Enchantments" won second prize in the memoir vignette category in the 2017 Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition. This annual award series from the National League of American Pen Women gives prizes up to $100 in several poetry and prose categories; the next deadline is November 30. Sara's novel Secrets at Dillehay Crossing won an honorable mention in NLAPW's 2017 Vinnie Ream Award. Her essay "On the Wings of Creativity" will be published in the anthology Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Power of Yes. Her essay "Dinner with the Butterfly Whisperer" took first place and will be printed and featured in the anthology Table4Two (Christina Hamlet, editor). This anthology series gives prizes up to $200 for writing on a selected theme; the most recent deadline was December 10.
Congratulations to K.A. Jagai. They won second prize for poetry in the 2018 Summer Literary Seminars Fiction and Poetry Contest and received a fellowship to study abroad in Tbilisi, Georgia. The most recent deadline for this contest, which has offered programs in Georgia, Russia, Kenya, Lithuania, and Canada, was March 7. They kindly share a sample poem from their winning application here. K.A. found this opportunity in the Winning Writers newsletter, and writes, "Thank you for all the amazing work you are doing on behalf of poets everywhere. "
Congratulations to Donald Dewey. Sunbury Press recently issued a series of his police procedural mysteries. Their titles are The Fantasy League Murders, The Bolivian Sailor, Green Triangles, Who's Killing the Brooklyn Dodgers, Wake Up and Smell the Bess, and Plus and Minus. Dewey is the author of some 40 books of fiction and nonfiction for such other houses as HarperCollins, Little, Brown, and St Martin's Press.
Congratulations to Ray Keifetz. His poetry collection Night Farming in Bosnia won the 2017 Bitter Oleander Press Library of Poetry Book Award. The submission period for this $1,000 prize was May 1-June 15. His title poem won an Honorable Mention in our 2015 Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest. Read it here.
Recent Publications
Sandra Jensen has launched a writer's workshop in Crete, Greece, with co-teacher Robin McLean. Both instructors are award-winning short story writers. Writing on the Edge of the Sea is currently accepting applications for their first session, which will run October 7-12, 2018. Visit Sandra's website to learn more about her multi-genre creative work and teaching career.
Robin Reardon's romantic suspense novel And If I Fall was favorably reviewed in May at The Novel Approach. The book is a reissue of her novel The Revelations of Jude Connor, about a runaway youth's conflict between his sexual identity and the strict church community that has offered him a home.
Edward Ferri, Jr.'s poetry collection, Glassy Air: Poems Kindled in the Long Shadow of a Lone Motorcycle, is now available from BookLocker. The book includes over 70 scenic photographs taken during the author's road trips across America in the 1970s. Ed writes, "I found my first publication successes from contests and calls for submissions listed in The Best Free Literary Contests at Winning Writers almost 10 years ago now. Those successes gave me the confidence to continue with my poetry leading to the publication of my very first book of poetry." He credits the late poet and writing professor Melody Gough for directing him to our website when he took her online poetry course, and recommends her chapbook Ladies Night at the Bluebottle Kiss (Outskirts Press, 2007).
William Luvaas has scripted a 13-minute film, produced by Lucinda Luvaas, to accompany his new novel, Welcome to Saint Angel (Anaphora Literary Press, 2018). Watch it on Vimeo. Environmental activist Doug Peacock says of this book: "In the mildly apocalyptical near future, a community of colorful high desert characters fight off developers and water thieves during CA's worst drought. These decent whackos...transcend their flaws with hilarious courage. SA is a painful, redemptive belly laugh and well worth it."
Mike Tuohy's story "Life on the Death Panel" appears in the May 2018 issue of Inscape Magazine, the literary journal of Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. Mike says that this speculative fiction piece is "the story of a medical ethics dilemma under consideration by a committee and their surprising decision."
Gary Beck's one-act play "Clown Show", directed by the author, will be performed at the Manhattan Repertory Theatre, 17 W. 45th Street, New York City, at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, June 15, and Saturday, June 16. Email manhattanrep@yahoo.com for more information. "Clown Show" is a play about the struggle of two clowns to bring joy, as they worry whether children can still appreciate live performance in the era of smartphones.
R.T. Castleberry had five poems published in the online journal And So Yeah in June: "Another Style of Blue", "In a Glacial Age", "The Lawman Ventures South", "So You Think You Deserve an Elegy", and "A Bright, Guilty World".
Published: June 8, 2018
