Congratulations to Tong Ge. Her debut novel, The House Filler (Ronsdale Press, 2023), was selected as one of the editor's choices by the Historical Novel Society in the UK and is among the 10 books recommended by the Miramichi Reader for Asian Heritage Month in May. This book features a young Chinese bride in 1918 contending with limited roles for women and the upheaval of the Japanese invasion.

Congratulations to William Huhn. His debut poetry collection, Bachelor Holiday, will be released this month by BlazeVOX and is available for pre-order. Poet Donald Revell calls Huhn "the Ovid of our present milieu" and says that this book "makes me grateful, and almost glad, to be living in this havoc of a century." He kindly shares a sample poem here. Visit his website for more of his published poems and literary essays. 

Congratulations to Ruth Thompson. Her collection Journey Bread: New & Selected Poems is available for pre-order from Broadstone Books and will be published in August. Upcoming tour dates include a Zoom reading with Broadstone authors Michel Steven Krug and Harry Moore on Sunday, July 20, at 4:00 pm Eastern time (register here); a Zoom reading on Sunday, August 4, at 12:00 pm Pacific time, in the Slow Lightning/Heat Lightning Reading Series; and participation in an in-person group reading on Saturday, September 21, from 2:00-5:00 pm Eastern time, at Poets House NYC to celebrate 21 years of Broadstone Books. Visit her website for details and sample poems.

Congratulations to B.J. Buckley. Her poetry collection Flyover Country was recently released by Pine Row Press. Read "Instructions for Resurrection" online in Pine Row, Issue #9 (Spring 2024), and find more sample poems from all of her poetry books on her website. 

Congratulations to Brooke Herter James. She won first prize in the 2024 Fish Publishing Poetry Prize for her poem "No, I am not a Robot". Other subscribers placing in this contest included Mary K. O'Melveny, who won second prize for "Writing About the Invisible"; and Allen Shadow, whose poem "I Crossed You" was shortlisted. This is his second year in a row on the shortlist. The most recent deadline for this contest, with a top prize of 1,000 euros, was March 31.

Congratulations to Léonie Rosenstiel. Her memoir Protecting Mama: Surviving the Legal Guardianship Swamp (Calumet Editions, 2023) won first prize in the Aging category of the 13th annual IndieReader Discovery Awards for self-published, hybrid, and small press books. This is the sixth literary award for her book, which details her mother's dementia diagnosis and her subsequent 14-year struggle in New Mexico courts.

Congratulations to Alice McVeigh. Her novel Darcy: A Pride and Prejudice Variation won the gold medal in the Romantic Comedy category of the 2024 National Indie Excellence Awards. It was also one of seven finalists for the UK Selfies Book Awards 2024.

Congratulations to Maureen Connolly. Her novel A Million Miles from Yesterday was recently released by New Book Authors Publishing, a small press in Wisconsin. It is the story of a widower in a small Wisconsin town who heals with the aid of a diverse community.

Recent Publications

J Brooke's interview with Morgan Talty, the award-winning author of the story collection Night of the Living Rez (Tin House Books, 2022) and the novel Fire Exit (Tin House Books, 2024), was published in June in The Rumpus. About Fire Exit, the story of a Penobscot man struggling with whether to tell his troubled neighbor that she is really his daughter, Talty says, "Ultimately, each individual forms a sense of self through the stories created about them and told to them. So, I wondered, what if you don’t have a community? What if you haven’t been told your entire story? If pieces of your story are missing from your consciousness, how can you become a complete person?"

Sharon A. Harmon's article "Rock Burning" was published in The Backwoodsman (Spring 2024).

Tamara Kaye Sellman will have a launch party for her new fiction collection, Cul de Sac Stories (Aqueduct Press), on Thursday, July 18, at 3:30 pm Pacific time, at the Port Townsend Writers Conference, in the South Gallery #305 on the Centrum/Fort Worden campus. Read Jane's Stories Press editor Glenda Bailey-Mershon's positive review of the book at The Inspiration Shelf.

Maurya Kerr will be among the poetry readers at RHINO's virtual launch reading for their 2024 issue on Thursday, July 18, at 7:00 pm Central time. Register here.

Rick Lupert's 28th poetry collection, It's Spritz O'Clock Somewhere, is now available from his imprint Ain't Got No Press. The latest in his series of travelogue collections, this book takes a delicious and humorous look at his recent sojourns in Paris and Italy.

John Reinhart's poem "Stargames" will be included in the 2024 Dwarf Stars Anthology, a collection of the best sci-fi/fantasy poetry 10 lines or shorter. The anthology also serves as the ballot for the Dwarf Stars Award, given annually by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association. He also recently launched Poetry Across Maine, a statewide poetry mapping project, part oral history, part place poetry experiment, part self-guided tour of Maine through poetry. Anyone is welcome to enter a poem about a specific location in Maine, which will then appear on the publicly shared map.

Janet Ruth Heller read her poem "Losing My Father" at the Kalamazoo Poetry Festival in April. Her numerous recent poetry publications include: "Crocus" and "Black Pipe" in Blithe Spirit 33.1 (February 2023). "College Reunion" in Ribbons 19.1 (Winter 2023). "May Snowfall" in Humana Obscura #6 (Spring/Summer 2023). "Your Angry Words" in Moonbathing #28 (Spring/Summer 2023). "A Former Patient Returns" in One Art (June 2023). "Black Sheep" in The Frameless Sky #18 (June 2023). "Cottonwood Seeds" in Ribbons 19.2 (Spring/Summer 2023). "Sunlight Sifts" in Scarlet Dragonfly Journal #16 (August 2023). "Deer in the Cascades" in One Moment at a Time: Tanka Society of America Members' Anthology edited by Jim Chessing (2023). "Pamela Brown Thomas" in Panoply #25 (2023). "White Locust Petals" in Akitsu Quarterly (Fall/Winter 2023). "Halloween" in Scarlet Dragonfly Journal (November 2023). "Phone Call II" in the art of tanka #1 (fall/winter 2023). "Cedar Waxwings" in Eucalypt #35 (2023). "Coyote" and "Muffin Top" in Cold Moon Journal (December 11, 2023). "Birthday Visitors" in failed haiku Vol. 8, #96 (December 2023). "Mother-in-Law on the Phone", "Snow Woman in Portage", and "Mark's Progress II" in Live Encounters Poetry & Writing (January 2024). "Offerings" in Amethyst Review (January 17, 2024). "Owl" in Time Haiku #59 (February 2024). "Zucchini" in Haiku Canada Review (February 2024). "Empty Nest" in Laurels #1 (February 2024). "Yoga Class" in tsuri-dōrō #20 (March/April 2024). "Sukkot Moon" in Presence #78 (March 2024). "Your Gentle Words" in Ribbons 20.1 (Spring/Summer 2024). "Clouds and Ribs" in Blithe Spirit 34.2 (May 2024).

Congratulations to Charlene Mossman. She won first prize in the 2023 Bardsy First Chapter Contest for the opening of her novel Fireheart. In this high-concept Young Adult fantasy adventure, Sagis, a boy with the gift of fire, must reclaim his stolen magic to save his family and his country from an invading empire. Her winning entry was published in Bardsy Spring Anthology 2024: First Chapters. The most recent deadline for this $1,000 prize was June 20. Charlene found this opportunity in the Winning Writers newsletter. She says, "Thank you for sharing these leads with writers!" Visit her website to learn more about her work. Bardsy's themes change annually. Their 2024 contest, with a $500 prize and June 24 deadline, is for short stories with compelling hooks.

Congratulations to Noah Berlatsky. His poetry collection Not Akmatova: Poems and Adaptations will be published in July by Ben Yehuda Press and is available for pre-order. National Book Award finalist Robert Jones Jr. (The Prophets) says of this collection, "Each poem has its own unique and shattering examination of the human condition and human relations. So many sublime gut punches. So many mouthfuls of truth." Read his essay in Cincinnati Review about the inspiration behind this book. In other news, Noah's chapbook SuperIntelligence: Superior Poetry for Book Haters is now available from LJMcD Communications. He describes it as "a collection of collage poems, including a villanelle of quotes from Dan Brown and a pantoum using bits of the Poetry Foundation website."

Congratulations to Lori D. Johnson. Her essay "Mama Say She Had a Dream" won NELLE Literary Journal's 2024 "Three Sisters Award" for creative nonfiction. The essay appears in Issue #7 of NELLE Literary Journal and is the first chapter of an unpublished work of nonfiction, MaDear's Memories (of Mart Road, Johnson Sub and More). The first chapter of Lori's novel-in-progress Blood Kin received an honorable mention in the 2024 Chapter One Prize of the Gutsy Great Novelist Contest. Lori's chapter is featured on the Gutsy Great Novelist website under Honorable Mentions 2024.

Congratulations to Soma Mei Sheng Frazier. Her debut novel, Off the Books, will be published by Henry Holt & Co. on July 30. Off the Books was named one of "8 New Bay Area Books Perfect to Pore Over" by the San Francisco Chronicle on May 24. It is an American road trip novel about a young woman who drops out of an Ivy League college to become a rideshare driver. It was also included in Bustle Magazine's June 3 article, "This Summer's 40 Most Anticipated Books".

Congratulations to R.J. Eastwood. His novel Megastar! won a gold medal in the 2024 Book Excellence Awards. Learn more about his work on his website. Megastar! is the story of a teen from a troubled home who struggles to cope with sudden success as a pop singer.

Congratulations to Joan Gelfand. Her latest book, Outside Voices: A Memoir of the Berkeley Revolution (Post Hill Press, 2024), won a Literary Titan Gold Award and was also a finalist in the International Book Awards. The review on the Literary Titan website says, "Gelfand's prose is notably rich and evocative, breathing life into her experiences with a flair that goes beyond mere storytelling...Gelfand's story is a blend of the personal and the historical, offering both an intimate look at her life and a broader reflection on a dynamic period of social change."

Congratulations to Lesléa Newman. She won the 2024 Golden Crown Literary Society Trailblazer Award for lifetime achievement in lesbian literature. Her 86 published books for readers of all ages include the groundbreaking picture book Heather Has Two Mommies and the poetry collections I Carry My Mother and I Wish My Father. Her latest picture books celebrating diverse families are Joyful Song: A Naming Story, illustrated by Susan Gal and published by Levine Querido, and Like Father, Like Son, illustrated by AG Ford and published by Abrams Books for young readers. Visit her website to learn more.

Recent Publications

Jack A. Ori's murder mystery Open Secrets was published this month by his imprint Impactful Words Books. Open Secrets is about a nonbinary college student who is determined to get justice for a murdered classmate despite the school administration’s opposition to the investigation. Jack thanks Winning Writers Managing Editor Anne Mydla for her helpful critique of his manuscript draft. Visit his website for more of his suspense novels with queer and neurodivergent characters, and for his Impactful Words Consulting business serving neurodivergent writers.

Robbie Gamble's poems "Cove" and "Ides" were published in Dialogist. "Sanctus" was published in Cagibi.

Sharon Vardatira's story "Dayan" was published in the Jewish feminist magazine Lilith (May 2024). It is a historical fiction piece reimagining the Passover story from a woman's point of view.

J Brooke's essay "The Name Dropper" was published in May in The Maine Review. This piece juxtaposes the author's gender-related name change and their wife's surname from her famous father, looking at the personal significance and occasional social awkwardness of both situations.

Maria Williams's poetry collection White Doe (Saddle Road Press, 2024) was BookLife's Poetry Spotlight title in the Summer 2024 issue of Foreword Reviews. White Doe will be published in September and is available for pre-order.

Gail Thomas will be reading her poetry on Saturday, July 20 at 6:30 pm at the Dream Away Lodge in Becket, MA. Two of her poems were published in Sheila-Na-Gig and Thimble Literary Magazine.

Duane L. Herrmann's poem "Luna One" was published in Write Bridge: Solitude and Solidarity. His poem "Abandon Houses" was published at Spillwords. The Wise Owl published his poem "Full Surprise" and accompanying audio reading in their April issue, and "One Special Day" with audio in their May issue. Lothlorien Poetry Journal published five of his poems, plus the short story "Felix and Ahmed: Conquaerere and Educare". Masticadores USA published his story "Missing Mother" on May 3. His poem "Delicate Operation" was published in the first issue of Baubles From Bones. "Dad Said" and "Surprise Connection" were published as responses to prompts on the Adirondack Center for Writing website. "Listen To" and "The Way" were reprinted in The Harnisch Acres. 

LindaAnn Lo Schiavo and Angela Yuriko Smith have posted a new poetry reading video on YouTube, featuring dark verse for Walpurgisnicht. The 41-minute video includes work from LindaAnn's collection Always Haunted: Hallowe'en Poems, forthcoming from Wild Ink Publishing.

Our first essay is "Older Writers and Finding Success". Many older writers want us to tell them if their work is good enough to continue with it. Annie writes,

I wonder if there are other questions hidden underneath it: "Does anyone care about my writing?" "Will I find commercial success?" "Does anyone care about me?" "Am I worthwhile?" "Do my thoughts matter?" "Am I creative, or just a fake?" "Have I accomplished anything in life?"

Rather than give simplistic or superficial answers, Annie has some suggestions to find success and satisfaction:

1. Try flash nonfiction
2. Seek out publications that are looking for older writers (we provide a list)
3. Make writing social
4. Get involved with anti-ageist activism in the arts

Read the essay.

Winning Writers contest judge Michal 'MJ' Jones was named a finalist for the 2024 Lambda Literary Awards in Transgender Poetry, for their collection Hood Vacations (Black Lawrence Press, 2023). Winners will be announced in June.

Congratulations to Laurie Klein. Her poetry collection House of 49 Doors: Entries in a Life was released in February by Cascade Books in their Poiema Poetry Series. She kindly shares a sample poem here. Laurie tells Winning Writers, "My ongoing applause for your website, a trove of riches for writers and readers!"

Congratulations to Carlos Andrés Gómez and Sean Nevin. Gómez's poem "Double Golden Shovel Sonnet Found on the Q Train" won the 2024 Yeats Poetry Prize from the W.B. Yeats Society of NYC, and Nevin's "Kapuśniak" won second prize. The most recent submission period for this award, with prizes up to $1,000, was November 1-February 1.

Congratulations to Annie Dawid. Her novel Paradise Undone: A Novel of Jonestown (Inkspot Publishing, 2023) was named a finalist in the Historical Fiction category of the 2024 Colorado Book Awards, sponsored by Colorado Humanities & Center for the Book. The judges called it "an incredibly researched story that gave a voice to people you only heard about in the news." Winners will be announced in late June. Paradise Undone was also favorably reviewed in the International Cultic Studies Association newsletter.

Congratulations to Wendy Adair. Her novel The Broken Hallelujah won the 2024 BookFest Gold Medal for Best Audiobook. This novel centers on a woman's quest to bring home her grandfather, a Vietnam veteran missing in action since 1969.

Congratulations to R. Bremner. His poem "I was a young child, then" tied for third prize in the 2024 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards from Passaic County Community College and will be published in Paterson Literary Review. The most recent deadline for this contest with prizes up to $2,000 was February 1. His poem "360 degrees" was accepted by the literary journal of the American University of Iraq Sulaimani. His poem "Veronica" was accepted for the anthology New Jersey Bards Poetry Review 2024 from Local Gems Press. He tells us, "I wrote it way back in 1983!"

Congratulations to Tamara Kaye Sellman. Her speculative fiction collection Cul de Sac Stories is now available for pre-order from Aqueduct Press. These tales critique patriarchy through the experiences of suburban women in surreal situations. Signed copies can be ordered directly from the author.

Recent Publications

Winning Writers Editor Jendi Reiter's poem "Subtext" was published in Impossible Archetype, Issue 15.2 (March 2024). Their poem "Suicide Squad" was published in the Spring 2024 issue of Solstice Lit Mag. Their poems "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Mother" and "I'm a Laura Ashley Man, Myself" were published in Beneath the Soil: A Queer Survivors' E-Zine, Vol. III (2024). Their poem "Father of Two" made it to the final round of the 2024 Plentitudes Prize.

Diana Goetsch's article "This trans author toured red-state libraries. What she found might surprise you" was published in the L.A. Times on April 17. Her most recent book is the award-winning memoir This Body I Wore (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2022).

CB Anderson's flash fiction about the composer Clara Schumann, "River, Love", was published at Electric Literature and featured in their e-newsletter The Commuter. Visit her website for news of her award-winning fiction chapbook, Blue Lion Days, forthcoming this month from The Florida Review.

R.T. Castleberry's poem "A Whiskey Intermission" was published in Sangam Literary Magazine, Vol. 3, Issue 2 (Winter 2023). Literary Yard published five of his poems in April: "The World Is Not Renewed", "Turning Back", "Never More Beautiful", "A Wariness in Eden", and "Everyone Has Some Kind of Death".

Shobana Gomes's story "Charles & the Lady of the Manor", a historical fiction piece about Versailles painter Charles Le Brun, is available to read at Reedsy.

Patricia Olson's book launch reading for her poetry collection Reflections (Conflux Press, 2024) is now available for viewing on Vimeo.

Congratulations to Tawanda Mulalu. His debut poetry collection, Please make me pretty, I don't want to die (Princeton University Press, 2022), won the 2023 Luschei Prize for African Poetry. This award from the African Poetry Book Fund gives $1,000 to a debut book by an African writer published in the previous year. The next submission period, for books published in 2023, will be May 1-October 1. Contest judge John Keene said, "As if in lucid dreams, these poems' speakers—teachers, students, thinkers, readers, lovers, sons—explore their contemporary reality as diasporic Black Africans in White spaces throughout America, utilizing deadpan irony, rhetoric, humor, pathos, a great deal of literary and musical reference, and a range of poetic forms (songs, elegies, prayers, film studies, arias, near-sestinas, and more) Mulalu has invented or remade. Mulalu, originally from Gaborone, Botswana, does so in part with the aim of a world-making that, even when in conversation with prior poets and poems, when tackling personal issues such his isolation and exile or public events such as the police murder of Philando Castile, or when riffing on Shakespeare or Pokémon, feels distinctly his own." Read Tawanda's poem "Aria", which won an Honorable Mention in our 2021 Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest.

Congratulations to Roberta Beary. Her poem "After Long Absence", first published in Contemporary Haibun Online 18.3, won the 2022 Touchstone Award for Individual Haibun from The Haiku Foundation. "Sonnet #1: My Way" was a finalist for the 2023 Rattle Poetry Prize and was published in their Winter 2023 issue. The most recent deadline for this $15,000 award was July 15. She received an Award for Excellence in the 32nd ITO EN Oi Ocha Shinhaiku contest. The winners of this contest, which received over 29,000 English-language entries, will have their haiku published on a bottle of ITO EN iced tea. She was also the Grand Prize winner of the 28th annual Kusamakura Haiku Competition, her second time winning this award.

Congratulations to Maurya Kerr. Her poetry chapbook tommy noun. was recently published by C&R Press as the winner of their 2022 Winter Soup Bowl Chapbook Awards. Her poem "give" won the 2024 RHINO Editors' Prize. Her poem "Banjo Be" was first runner-up for the 2023 Resistance & Resilience Prize from Palette Poetry. The deadline for this prize was October 15.

Congratulations to Gary Beck. His novel Until the Bell is now out from Cyberwit. It follows a Puerto Rican boy from the Bronx who escapes gang life by becoming a boxer and a film actor, until COVID-19 changes everything. In other news, his novel Rescue Me is available on Amazon. In this thriller, a teen runaway is recruited to join a team of special law enforcement operatives. Purple Unicorn Media recently released Agamemnon: The Play by Aeschylus, translated by Gary Beck and Dr. Carl Caravana.

Congratulations to Alice McVeigh. Her novel Darcy: A Pride and Prejudice Variation was shortlisted for the Adult Fiction category of the 2024 Selfies Book Awards, a self-published book contest sponsored by BookBrunch. Category winners receive 750 pounds. Visit Alice's website for all the books in her Jane Austen series.

Congratulations to Tong Ge. Her debut novel, The House Filler, published by Ronsdale Press, won the New Fiction category of the 2024 Independent Press Award. The House Filler is a family saga set in China during the mid-20th century, a period beset by the turmoil of the Japanese invasion and the Communist takeover. The next deadline for this award series for self-published and small press books is April 30.

Congratulations to Terri Kirby Erickson. Her poem "Rainy Day, New Orleans" won the poetry category of the Key West Art and Historical Society's 2024 Tennessee Williams Writing Contest. The deadline was March 10 for this contest with prizes up to $300 for poetry and short fiction. In other news, Terri's poem "Drag King" was published in One Art.

Congratulations to Gloria Mindock. Her poetry collection Grief Touched the Sky at Night (Glass Lyre Press, 2023) won first prize in the Contemporary Poetry category of The BookFest Spring 2024 Book Awards. She will be reading at 7:00 pm on April 25 at the Russian Samovar, 256 W. 52nd St., 2nd Floor, New York City, with Andrey Gritsman, Tim Suermondt, and Pui Ying Wong.

Recent Publications

Robbie Gamble's essay "Marta" was published in Tahoma Literary Review. It is based on his volunteer work with an organization providing humanitarian aid to migrants in the Sonoran Desert along the Arizona/Mexico border.

Lori Jakiela was March's Humor Writer of the Month in the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop newsletter. A 2018 honoree in our Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest, Lori writes the regular column "Let Yourself Go" for Pittsburgh Magazine. 

R. Bremner has several poetry publications to report. His poem "transient" will be published in the Calling All Poets (CAPS) 25th Anniversary Anthology. "Impacts persist" appeared in Open: Journal of Arts & Letters. "Stopping By Whores on a Crowded Street", first published in the Journal of Formal Poetry (Spring 2015), will be reprinted in Rhyme and Punishment, an anthology of comedic verse. "Life Suite in 4 Parts" was published in Hear We Are, an anthology from Rogue Scholars Press. "Maple leaf" appeared in Fregoli, a publication of Between Shadows Press.

Samantha Terrell's poem "Succumbing to Suffocation" was published in Masque & Spectacle. Other poems are forthcoming in publications from Open Shutter Press, 100Subtexts, and Fevers of the Mind.

Koss's poem "Gratitudes" was published in March at Scissors & Spackle. Their essay "Affection" was published in SugarSugarSalt. Three poems appeared in Diode Journal's 17th anniversary issue. Their other recent publications and acceptances include: one poem in Ovation, an anthology edited by Jimmy Broccoli; five poems, two Wuthering Heights erasures, and two photos in Anvil Tongue; two micros in BULL; one poem in Action, Spectacle; one poem ("Three For") in San Pedro River Review's Shapes and Secrets; three poems ("Max Carries Mother [No Wonder]", "Dead People Don't Dream Hamburgers", and "Conversions: I Appeared in Your Suicide Dream") in Querencia Press's Winter 2024 Anthology; two poems ("A Modern Highway Death" and "February") in Dead of Winter III, an anthology from Milk and Cake Press; one poem published in Duets, a visual/written collaborative anthology produced by Amy Marquez; 14 fiction-like pieces in the Mythic Picnic Twitter series; one poem in Bulb Culture Collective's arbor issue; a craft essay in Reckon Review in April; two poems in Hyacinth Review; one flash fiction ("No One Knew") in Midway Journal; a poem in Amethyst Review's anthology, Thin Spaces & Sacred Places, forthcoming in July; and five photos in Anti-Heroin Chic.

Lesléa Newman's flash essay "Horror Films and Poetry Readings", about how she matched with her wife of 36 years, was published in the Tiny Love Stories column of the New York Times style section on March 5. Lesléa was also profiled in the Boston Globe (paywalled link) about Always Matt, her book about Matthew Shepard for middle-grade readers. Her poems "Hell Bent in High School, 1973" and "The Reading of My Life" were published in Pangyrus. Her poem "Little Bird" appeared in SWWIM.

Congratulations to Joan Gelfand. Her memoir Outside Voices: A Memoir of the Berkeley Revolution was published in January by Post Hill Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Outside Voices tells her story of coming of age as a writer and feminist in the 1970s, as she processes the loss of her father and questions her Jewish upbringing. She was interviewed about the inspiration for her book in SF Gate's Bay City Books column in January. Outside Voices also made it onto Amazon's Hot New Releases list on its publication date, as well as hitting bestseller status in several categories, and was reviewed in Publishers Weekly. Visit her website's Events page for upcoming readings in Berkeley, Seattle, Los Angeles and NYC.

Congratulations to AT Hincapie. His poetry manuscript What Survives a Fire was a finalist for the 2023 Helena Whitehill Book Award from Tupelo Press. The most recent submission period for this $1,000 prize for manuscripts of poetry or creative nonfiction was August 15-October 31.

Congratulations to James K. Zimmerman. His poetry collection The Further Adventures of Zen Patriarch Dōgen will be published this month by The Poetry Box. The poems are inspired by the life and teachings of Dōgen Zenji, a thirteenth-century Japanese monk credited with bringing Chan Buddhism to Japan and founding the Sōto school of Zen. He kindly shares a sample poem here.

Congratulations to Sue Fagalde Lick. Her poetry collection Blue Chip Stamp Guitar is forthcoming from The Poetry Box. This collection recounts how a cheap guitar that she owned as a teenager has been her faithful companion through the loves and losses of adulthood.

Congratulations to Emily-Sue Sloane. Her poetry collection Disconnects and Other Broken Threads is forthcoming from The Poetry Box. "The poems’ directness about suffering, loss and injustice tears at our hearts and asks us to recognize what needs healing or that we must grieve bravely what may never be healed. Sloane sees, feels and speaks with honesty that will not accept the glib comfort of pretense," writes poet-activist Scudder Parker about this collection.

Congratulations to Cedar Koons. Her novel Murder at Sleeping Tiger, the first installment of her Sheriff Ulysses Walker series, tied for first prize in the Best Mystery category of the 2023 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Book two in the series, A Thirst for Murder, was released this month. From the book description: "Sheriff Walker of Taos, New Mexico is cruising to re-election when a prominent acequia commissioner is murdered in an apparent dispute over water rights, followed by two other murders also related to water, a contentious issue in arid northern New Mexico. Before long Ulysses is investigating violence and corruption with roots deep in New Mexico politics going back to the bad old days of the notorious Santa Fe Ring." Find all of Cedar's fiction, poetry, and nonfiction books on her website.

Congratulations to P.M. Flynn. His poetry collection Shadows on Moss was released in January by Wipf and Stock. He kindly shares a sample poem here. From the book description: "Shadows on Moss is full of bamboo, toys, churches, road trips, graves, angels, mannequins, shadows, valentines, and trees galore, or where an opera, pool halls, seagulls, storms, divorce, the center of the universe, and new worlds are found." Geoffrey Gatza, publisher of BlazeVOX, says: "Shadows on Moss by P. M. Flynn is as accomplished as it is expansive in its vision of what poetry can be. From a humorous retelling of Eliot's 'The Waste Land,' to heartfelt poems that converge around the center of the universe, Flynn engages the absurdities of life, imagination, relationships, boundaries, and belonging with a unique mythic resonance. At once steely and familiar, these poems invite us to sit with the world in all its beauty and contradictions."

Congratulations to Terri Kirby Erickson. Her poem "Magician, with Parkinson's" won the 2023 Board of Regents Annals Poetry Prize. The poem had been published in Annals of Internal Medicine (June 2023), one of the most widely cited medical journals in the world. The prize is awarded to the best poem published in Annals each year. The editors said, "The Annals Poetry Prize was established and funded by the American College of Physicians' Board of Regents in 2011. This is the first time all three judges selected the same poem as their first choice." Terri will be reading this winning poem and other poems from her most recent collection, Night Talks: New & Selected Poems (Press 53), at The Bookhouse, 120 Reynolda Village, Winston-Salem, NC, on Saturday, April 6, at 6:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Recent Publications

Winning Writers Editor Jendi Reiter's poems "Kill Your Darlings" and "Commendatore", from their series of poems about characters on "The Sopranos", were published in Lammergeier, Issue 16 (Winter 2024). Jendi was interviewed in this issue as their featured poet. In other news, Jendi's poems "Satisfaction" and "Reading 'Sexuality Beyond Consent' with My Cat'" were published in Action, Spectacle (Winter 2023, Part II).

Richard Eric Johnson's literary work will be archived in the Vietnam Veterans Collection at La Salle University's Connelly Library Special Collections. Richard says, "It is a great honor to have my work archived alongside so many wonderful authors who served in Viet Nam and have gone on to write, paint, sing and speak of their experiences in Viet Nam and so much more as well. I am always in awe of all that you do and the incredible track record of Winning Writers."

Gail Thomas will be a panelist on "The Poetry of Aging: A Reading and Discussion" along with fellow poets Owen Lewis, Doug Anderson, and Martha Rhodes, and Dr. Robert Abrams, Professor of Psychiatry in Geriatric Medicine. The event will be held twice: Friday, April 5, at 4:00 pm, at Forbes Library, 20 West Street, Northampton, MA, and Saturday, April 6, at 4:00 pm, at the Stockbridge Library, 46 Main Street, Stockbridge, MA.

R.T. Castleberry's poem "The Current Situation" was published in The Loch Raven Review. "An Inconvenient Destination" and "A Wariness in Eden" appeared in Dissident Voice. "These Things Need to Be Said", "Shedding Mistakes", and "Foraging Sleep" were published in Caveat Lector, Vol. 34, No. 1.

Eva Tortora had a letter to the editor published in the New York Daily News in November.

Samantha Terrell's poem "Communication" was published in Spillwords in January. Her work was also featured in Seasonal Fruits Magazine, Vol. 1 Issue 3 (Winter Solstice 2023).

Annie Dawid was featured on the New Books Network podcast talking about her recently released novel Paradise Undone: A Novel of Jonestown (Inkspot Publishing, 2023). She was interviewed on the Bookable Space podcast by Dr. Yvonne Battle-Felton in November (Episode 14), and interviewed in the Denver Gazette in December. More reviews appeared in Writing to Be Read, Women Writers, Women's Books, and CookieBiscuit. Paradise Undone was the "Book of the Week" for February 16 at 24 Symbols, an e-book subscription service.

Duane L. Herrmann's story "Return Improbable" was published in January at MasticadoresUSA. His poems "Texas Exit", "Verbena", "Prairie Sightings", "Memoirs of Childhood", and "Waiting for Return" were published in the Croatian online journal Zvona i Nari. The journal I Write Her published six pieces of his flash fiction, one of which was partially re-posted by Vixen of Verse (England). His article "Dawning places rising across Africa", about the spread of Bahá'í worship and community centers across the continent, was published in the South African journal Voertaal in English and Afrikaans. Duane was profiled in Kaw Valley Senior Monthly (February 2024) in a cover story with the headline "Duane Herrmann: Documenting the History of the Bahá'í Faith in Kansas".

Shobana Gomes's video "A Prayer for World Peace" can be viewed on YouTube.

• Michael Bracey of Maywood, Illinois, and Ruth Goring of Chicago, Illinois won First Prize in Art Book for Caras Lindas de Colombia/Beautiful Faces of Colombia, a bilingual book of photojournalism celebrating Colombia's African-descendant communities.
• Steve Wolfson of Regina, Saskatchewan won First Prize in Children's Picture Book for Aunty Jane Knits Up a Storm, a dynamic and effective tale about how a community supports one of its beloved elders when she is widowed.
• Karen Glinski of Albuquerque, New Mexico won First Prize in Middle Grade for Badge of Honor, a lively and well-researched adventure story in which a tween boy and his plucky dachshund rescue Navajo cultural treasures from a gang of thieves.
• Dmitri Jackson of Ballwin, Missouri won First Prize in Graphic Novel & Memoir for Blackwax Boulevard Is Listening, the second installment of his comic strip about the staff of an urban record store who contend with unrequited love, addiction, and fallen idols in a compelling storyline inspired by the #MeToo movement. This is Jackson's second win in this category.
• Irene Cooper of Bend, Oregon won First Prize in Genre Fiction for Found, a psychological thriller about a grieving mother with a preternatural ability to help the police find missing children.
• Lucy May Lennox of Seattle, Washington won First Prize in Mainstream/Literary Fiction for Flowers by Night, an immersive historical novel that explores cultural mores around class and gender in early 19th-century Japan through the same-sex love story of a low-ranking samurai and a blind masseur.
• Mark S. Robinson of Ridgefield, Connecticut won First Prize in Creative Nonfiction & Memoir for Black on Madison Avenue, a compendium of high points and anti-discrimination battles from the 40-year career of a trailblazing Black advertising executive.
• Geof Hewitt of Calais, Vermont won First Prize in Poetry for Only What's Imagined, a meditative collection rooted in the rugged landscape and working-class culture of Vermont.

In addition to cash prizes, the top nine authors received a marketing analysis and one-hour phone consultation with Carolyn Howard-Johnson, a $300 credit at BookBaby, three months of Plus service from Book Award Pro (a $207 value), and free advertising in the Winning Writers newsletter. Mr. Victor also received an additional $500 credit at Book Award Pro. $21,000 in cash prizes were awarded in all. We received 1,862 entries from around the world. Jendi Reiter and Ellen LaFleche judged, assisted by Annie Mydla, Sarah Halper, and Briana Grogan. Read the complete release. Read about the winning entries.

Congratulations to D.F. Whibley. His young adult novel One Arctic Night won the Canadian Book Club Award for Best Novel: Children's Early Reader Category. The book also received a Bronze medal in the Global Book Awards: Teen Social and Family Issues Category. It was a finalist for the 2023 Page Turner Awards and the BooksShelf Writing Awards. One Arctic Night is the story of an Inuit teen whose character and survival skills are tested when he works as a tour guide for two bigoted American travelers.

Congratulations to Julie Novak-McSweeney. Her poem "Passeridae" won second prize in the Rhyming Poetry category of the 18th Annual Writer's Digest Poetry Contest. She kindly shares it with us here. The most recent deadline for this contest, with prizes up to $1,000, was November 1.

Congratulations to B. Lynn Goodwin. Her young adult novel Disrupted was published last month by Olympia Publishers. When an earthquake hits their region, the cast of a high school production of Our Town endeavor to pull the community together and raise funds to rebuild.

Congratulations to Maurya Kerr. Her poem "give" won the 2024 RHINO Editors' Prize, a $500 award for work published in the magazine in the past year.

Congratulations to Gifford MacShane. Her historical novel The Winds of Morning, a prequel to her Donovan Family Saga, was named a Top Pick in the 2024 Author Shout Reader Ready Awards. She has just released the fourth book in the Donovan Family Saga, Without the Thunder, a Western romance between an outcast society belle and a Navajo man. Visit her website to learn more about this series of historical novels featuring a family of Irish immigrants who settle in the Arizona Territory in the late 1800s.

Recent Publications

Patricia Olson's new poetry collection, Reflections, is forthcoming from Conflux Press. To purchase it, send a request via the press's contact form. She kindly shares a sample poem here. She will give her launch reading on March 9 at 2:00pm Pacific Time at the Kaufman-Brentwood Branch Library, 11820 San Vicente Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90049.

Celia Chandler's essay "Widowhood: Superpower and Kryptonite" was published on Months to Years, an online journal of writing and art about mortality and terminal illness.

J Brooke's interview with Andrés N. Ordorica, author of the novel How We Named the Stars (Tin House, 2024), was published in January in The Massachusetts Review. Ordorica's debut novel is the coming-of-age story of a queer Mexican-American man dealing with issues of identity and grief.

Ruth Sabath Rosenthal is the editor of the recently released creative nonfiction book Manfred: His Story of Survival, the true story of a Yugoslav youth who escaped from the Holocaust in Operation Safe Haven and was resettled in upstate New York.

Bracha Nechama Bomze's poem "No, I'm Not Moving to Florida" was published in West Side Rag, an online newspaper for New York City's Upper West Side.

Koss's poem "Untitled (Earth)" was published in Secrets in the Garden, an online anthology of queer nature writing from Fifth Wheel Press. "The Girl Shopping Store: Fast Connections at 4 Megabits Per Second" appeared in Action, Spectacle (Winter 2023, Part II). "Alternate Thanksgiving" and "Giving Thanks", are forthcoming in Chiron Review. "Three for" was published in San Pedro River Review’s Shapes and Secrets. "Max Carries Mother [No Wonder]," "Dead People Don't Dream Hamburgers," and  "Conversions: I Appeared in Your Suicide Dream" were published in Querencia Press's Winter '24 Anthology. "A Modern Highway Death" and "February" appeared in Milk and Cake Press's Dead of Winter III Anthology. Artwork is forthcoming in the print edition of Mom Egg Review. Five poems will be published this month in the inaugural issue of Speakeasy Magazine, a BIPOC, queer-led journal. Several poems and Wuthering Heights erasure art are forthcoming in Anvil Tongue in March. A flash prose piece, “No One Knew,” will be published in Midway Journal in May. 

Naila Moreira's collaborative eco-poetry/image project Clearstories, a joint project with photographer Stephen Petegorsky, was exhibited in February at the R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton, MA. They were interviewed along with gallery manager Paul Gulla on WHMP Radio. Clearstories pairs original poems with photos of museum specimens of animals, to explore the ecological threats we are facing.

Congratulations to Christopher Bernard. The first two novels in his middle-grade fantasy series, Otherwise, were recently released by Regent Press. Their titles are If You Ride a Crooked Trolley... and The Judgment of Biestia.

Congratulations to Chelsea Dingman. Her poetry collection I, Divided was recently released by Louisiana State University Press. From the book blurb: "In poems that use the science behind chaos theory as a lens for examining illness and agency, Dingman explores the divide between determination and accident, whereby the body becomes a site of exploration as well as elegy in cases of disease such as traumatic brain injury, cancer, and addiction."

Congratulations to Robert Walton. His novella Quarry, a young adult thriller, was published in September by Alien Buddha Press.

Congratulations to James Dorr. His story collection Avoid Seeing a Mouse: And Other Tales of the Real and Surreal will be published this month by Alien Buddha Press. In other news, his poems "The Worm in the Wood" and "The Westfarer" were included in the anthology Speculative Poetry and the Modern Alliterative Revival, edited by Dennis Wilson Wise and published by Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. Visit Dorr's website for more information about his many books.

Congratulations to Luci Shaw. Her new poetry collection, Reversing Entropy, will be released by Paraclete Press this month, with a public reading and launch in June. This will be her 41st published book. She kindly shares a sample poem here.

Recent Publications

Winning Writers assistant contest judge Dare Williams's poem "What We Thought Was the Sound of Heaven Was Only Just the Coinstar" was published in Split Lip.

Dan Klefstad was invited to give a presentation at the 2024 Imaginarium Convention, which will be held July 19-21 in Louisville, KY. His program will be titled "DIY Book Promo: How to Get Your Book Into Readers' Hands Without Spending Money". Visit Dan's website for his vampire novel Fiona's Guardians and short fiction around the web. For an example of his marketing advice, see his article "Interview Tips from the Other Side of the Mic" at the blog of the Chicago Writers Association.

Michaela Brady's story "Nuala" was published in The Talon Review, Vol. 3, #2 (December 2023). She tells us, "Thanks as always for running the Winning Writers newsletter and (very often) pushing me out of my creative slumps." Read more of her work on her Substack, where she is sharing a speculative fiction novel in installments.

Terri Kirby Erickson's poem "Silent Night" was published on journalist Mick Scott's Substack, Meditations. Her latest book from Press 53 is Night Talks: New and Selected Poems. Press 53 also recently published Mick's book of essays, Stardust and Scar Tissue.

Yvonne's poem "Zip Code" was published in Persimmon Tree in their Winter 2024 "Poets of the Eastern States" feature. "Walking Freedom's Backyard" and "A Forbidden Path" were published in The Hopkins Review, Issue 16.3 (Summer 2023). "Cold Case" appeared in Meetinghouse Magazine, #3 (2023). "2669 Highway 45, Pineville, SC" was published in The Healing Muse, Issue 23.1 (Fall 2023). "En Route" and "Oxford Cloth" appeared in The Chaffin Journal.

Tamara Kaye Sellman's tech horror short story "Lather, Rinse, Repeat" was accepted for the anthology Lurk, the next installment in the Dark Decades series from Disturb Ink Books. Her essay "Outer Limits" is included in True Stories: The Narrative Project, Vol. VI, which came out in December. Tamara says, "My essay recounts an experience I had while solo hiking. Without spoiling it too much, cougars were involved." The anthology launch reading will take place on January 21 at 3 pm Pacific time, at Village Books and Paper Dreams in Bellingham, WA, in-person and live on Zoom. Check out her website and e-newsletter for more of Tamara's writing and art projects.

R. Bremner's poem "abusive abundance" was published in Mayari Literature, Issue #2. Three of his Surrealist poems appeared in Avant Appalachia. Two poems were included in the ANYDSWPE 2024 Anthology from Rogue Scholars, which aims to feature the best poets from New York and New Jersey.