News

Zoom Talk at 1455 Literary Festival

I’ll be participating in the 1455 Literary Festival this year. On July 18, at 4 pm, I’ll be giving a Zoom talk about my essay, “If You Have These Traits, You May Be A Writer,” as well as my 10 Commandments for Becoming a Writer. The festival events are free. Join us! The link is here.

“The Shame Exchange” wins a Pushcart Prize

I’m honored that my story “The Shame Exchange,” which appeared in The Yale Review online, has won a Pushcart prize and will be reprinted in Pushcart Prize XLV: Best of the Small Presses.

Zoom fundraiser class raised $1,361!

Thanks to everyone who participated in my Zoom creative writing class on sensory detail; we raised $1,361 for Feeding Southwest Virginia. Check back for more classes, fundraisers, and regular craft classes and one-month workshops. Updates in the Editorial Services page on the website.

Free Zoom Creative Writing Class to raise money for Feeding Southwest Virginia

I’m running a free 1 hour Zoom class to raise money for Feeding Southwest Virginia. The class will be April 25 at 2 pm. EST. Make a donation to Feeding SW VA, send me a receipt of your donation through a message through my Contact page and I’ll send you the link and materials for the class. We’ll be talking about sensory detail, reading a Cheever story and doing fun in-class exercises. Here’s a link to donate. Message me with any questions! https://www.faswva.org/

My story, “The Cell Phones” was reprinted in Weston Magazine.

My short story, “The Cell Phones,” which appears in my collection “The New Order,” was just reprinted by Weston magazines.

On panel “What to Write (and Read) in the Age of Trump” at Museum of Literature in Dublin

I loved being part of a panel with Aleksander Hemon and Chris Beckett, moderated by Dolores Resano, at the Museum of Literature in Dublin on December 14, discussing “What to Write and Read in the Age of Trump.” I discussed the journal Scoundrel Time, where I’m Fiction Editor, and shared some of our journal’s wonderful work.

Keynote speech at conference at Clinton Institute of American Studies, University of Dublin

I was thrilled to be a Keynote speaker on December 14, 2019, at the Clinton Institute of American Studies at the University of Dublin for the conference, “Alternative Realities: New Challenges for American Literature in the Age of Trump.” My talk was: “Fiction as Warning, Witness and Mirror: Reading from Stories from The New Order.”

My story “Refund” discussed in essay collection, “Neoliberalism and Contemporary American Literature.”

“Refund” was discussed in an essay, “Fictions of Human Capital; Or, Redemption in Neoliberal Times,” by Christian P. Haines, in the essay collection, “Neoliberalism and Contemporary American Literature” edited by Liam Kennedy and Stephen Shapiro.

My story, “Where to Hide in a Synagogue,” noted in Pushcart Prize series

“Where to Hide in the Synagogue,” originally published in Epiphany magazine, and included in The New Order, is a Special Mention in Fiction in Pushcart Prize 2020.

Paperback for The New Order is published!