Subscriber News: November 2019
Recent Honors
Congratulations to Erika Dreifus. Her debut poetry collection, Birthright, will be published in November by Kelsay Books. She kindly shares a sample poem here. Poet Matthew Lippman says of this book: "Birthright is a book that explores connectedness and connective tissue. These are poems that embrace faith, family, and the forest of good intention in all of its contradictory forces. It’s about the expensive nature of coloring one’s hair and the expansive nature, which explodes in the beaming colors of the Diaspora." Erika will donate a portion of profits from sales of Birthright to Sefaria.org, "a living library of Jewish texts."
Congratulations to Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé. His "quasi-memoir" The Good Day I Died: The Near-Death Experience of a Harvard Divinity Student was published by Penguin Random House.
Congratulations to Alan King. His poetry audiobook, DRIFT (Willow Books/Aquarius Press), is now available on Audible. It was named one of Split This Rock's "Recommended Titles". From the book blurb: "DRIFT is musical, funny, and serious. It asks questions about identity and fitting in. It’s also about growing up in an unforgiving urban landscape...Pop culture shows up throughout this collection—including in poems in the voices of Pinky and the Brain that explain how they've become who they are and why they act the way that they do." Watch YouTube videos with excerpts here and here.
Congratulations to James Garrison. His comedic legal thriller The Safecracker was published in September by TouchPoint Press, an independent publisher in Arkansas, and is available in print and e-book formats. TouchPoint also published his Vietnam War novel QL 4 in 2017. James says, "I enjoy your newsletter and find the tips and info quite helpful to my writing efforts."
Congratulations to Deborah LeFalle. Her first board book for children, Bitty Brown Babe, was recently published by Beaming Books. Her second poetry chapbook, Little Suites, was published by Prolific Press. From the book blurb: "Little Suites is a collection of poems inspired by the author's reflections on her childhood—delightful and tender moments, as well as trying and sometimes unpleasant moments that helped her develop as a humane being. Each poem individually contains thematic linking characteristics and together they form poetic suites joined by the common threads of memory, appreciation, innocence, curiosity, imagination, kinship, reality and growth."
Congratulations to Ellaraine Lockie. Her poem "Stepping Over Arizona" won the 2019 Poetry Super Highway Contest. She received 50% of entry fees, which this year meant a top prize of $529. The contest submission period was July 18-October 5. Every entrant received a prize from the books and cash donated by the contest sponsors, including Winning Writers. Read the winners here.
Congratulations to Des Mannay. His debut poetry collection, Sod 'em—and tomorrow..., will be published next year by Waterloo Press of Brighton, England. Explaining how he got this publishing opportunity, Des said, "In 2015 I was one of the winners of the Creative Future Literary Awards, which provides opportunities to under-represented and socially excluded artists. As part of the prize I was assigned a mentor for a year. We got on well and kept in touch. Fast forward to 2018: my former mentor tells me about another competition and suggests I send some work. I am now one of the first ten poets to be published via LIT-UP, an Arts Council England funded mentoring and publishing scheme for emerging Poets of Colour." Also this year, Des contributed a spoken word track to the compilation album Imam Sis We See You, which raises awareness for Imam Sis, International Hunger Strikers, supporting Kurdish community members, and the Kurdish Community Centre in Newport, South Wales, UK. Other poems will appear in an anthology published by "Where I’m Coming From", an open mic series to promote Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) writers and voices in Wales, and an as yet untitled anthology to be published by Culture Matters next year. Des also came in eighth out of 8,000 entrants to the 2019 erbacce-prize for poetry this year; he will be interviewed and his work highlighted in the latest edition of the quarterly erbacce journal. See a video of him reading his poem "On the Buses" on the Waterloo Press YouTube channel.
Recent Publications
Winning Writers Editor Jendi Reiter's poem "The Senate Judiciary Committee Calls a Sparrow" will be published in Fireweed: Stories From the Revolution, an anthology of creative writing about our current political moment, forthcoming from Lonely Cryptid Media. The editors said, "We felt the intertwining of the narratives of Dr. [Christine Blasey] Ford's testimony and a stuck sparrow worked very well, and we think this will make an excellent addition to our anthology."
Colleen Eccles Penor's debut novel, the dystopian thriller Daeios: 140 Feet Down, is now available on Amazon in print and Kindle editions.
Edna Ma's bilingual picture books were featured in the October 2019 issue of L.A. Parent magazine. The first book in the series, Travel, Learn and See Your Friends, teaches children Mandarin Chinese by means of a travel story. Visit her Instagram to learn more.
Robert Walton's science fiction story "Abe in Yosemite" was published in the anthology Infinite Lives: Short Tales of Longevity (Third Flatiron Publishing), edited by Juliana Rew.
Jesse James Doty's poem "Hidden Memories" was published in the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Summer 2019). He kindly shares it with us here.
Karin Aurino's flash fiction piece "Cool Party Mix" was published in Bacopa Literary Review, a publication of the Writers' Alliance of Gainesville, in September.
Jennie MacDonald's picture-book play "Where There's Smoke" was staged earlier this month in Denver, CO in PHAMALY Theater Company's first one-act play festival, "Come to Your Senses", featuring the work of six playwrights with disabilities. Her metafictional piece "The Story Club Redux" was published in Eastern Iowa Review, Issue 9 (2019), whose theme was "All Things Anne: The Green Gables Fan Issue".
E. Baker's sonnet "The Sun" was published in Poetry Leaves, Vol. 4 (2019), a project of Waterford Township Public Library in Michigan.
James K. Zimmerman has several poetry publications to report. "Midflight", "Strangers on a Train", "After We Deplane", and "Ten Minutes Before Boarding (Gate C7)" appeared in Adelaide Magazine. "Ode to an Ex" was published in Cider Press Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2 (2018). "Incantation: Felling Ash", "Incantation: Stacking Oak", and "En Una Vida Pasada" appeared in Leaping Clear. "Plaza Hospicia Cabañas (Guadalajara)" was published in Lunch Ticket. "Anasazi" appeared in Sky Island Journal, Issue 10 (Fall 2019). "Radiance" was published in Snapdragon Journal. "Kasyapa" and "Education" appeared in Tipton Poetry Journal (Fall 2018).
Abigail Keam's cozy mystery novel Death by Deceit, the 13th in her Josiah Reynolds series set in Kentucky Bluegrass country, was released in October.
Published: November 6, 2019
