ANNOUNCEMENTS

Via Eben Thomas (Multi-Genre, S’25): On January 12th, 2027, join Stonecoasters and The Green Curtain Roadshow for an evening of story, music, and art. From 5:30–7:00 p.m., celebrate the launch of the Green Curtain Review Anthology at SPACE Gallery. There will be readings, an art gallery, and a talk about the incredible cross-country writing and advocacy trip Stonecoasters took in the summer of 2026. Following the launch, stroll over to State Theatre for a night with the Black Ram Guitar (doors at 7:00, show at 8:00). Poets and climate advocates from Maine and across the country will speak alongside musical performances by Molly Tuttle and several Maine-based musicians! It will be a beautiful night of community and climate advocacy that you won’t want to miss. Stonecoast Submission Extension: Stonecoasters are able to submit pieces for the Green Curtain Review through mid-October. See the previous blog post or greencurtainroadshow.org for submission guidelines! 

ALUMS 

A flash essay that Sarah C. Baldwin (Creative Nonfiction, S’15) started at Penny Guisinger‘s Iota Short Forms Conference in 2016 and worked on over the years was published in New Delta Review. She also wrote two profiles that were published in Colgate Magazine—one on Bob Woodruff and his son Mack and the other on an artisanal brewer in Guatemala. She’s excited to attend a reading soon by Suzanne Strempek Shea!

Peter Adrian Behravesh (Popular Fiction, W’18) appeared on the September 21 episode of Tap Tap Concede, where he discussed the story for Magic: The Gathering | Reality Fracture. The 10-episode story, written by Alison Lührs, is the stirring conclusion to a three-year arc and is available to read for free at mtgstory.com. You can watch Peter talk about what it’s like to bring a serialized narrative of this length to a close here. Reality Fracture releases on October 2 and is available wherever Magic: The Gathering is sold.

This month J Brooke (Poetry, S’19) will be in Rhode Island and New York with their book, I Can Tell You The Version That Will Make You Take My Side. They will be at Riff Raff Bookstore and Bar in Providence, RI, on October 8th at 6:00 p.m. in conversation with Roger Williams College Poetry expert Dr. Cynthia Scheinberg and then on October 29th hosting “Queer Stories” at NY LGBT Network at 35-11 35th Avenue, Astoria (Queens) NYC at 6:00 p.m. Both events are free and fun—if you’re in NYC or Rhode Island, please come! Also, in their role as Book Reviews Editor for The Rumpus, J encourages members of the Stonecoast community with interest in writing a sharp, get-noticed book review for an upcoming small press title to contact them at J.Brooke@therumpus.net 

Linda Buckmaster‘s (Creative Nonfiction, S’11) traveling literary banners, “Of Cod and Communities,” will be showing at the Cynthia Winings Gallery as part of the annual WORD Festival in Blue Hill, Maine October 22–25. The eight 3′ x 5’ fabric banners in the exhibit are adapted from her hybrid book Elemental: A Miscellany of Salt Cod and Islands and reflect cod communities and landscapes on both sides of the Atlantic.

Brenda Cooper‘s (Fiction, S’17) story, “The Dragonbird and the Song,” will be in the GrimOak Press Anthology Foundation, edited by Shawn Speakman. Profits from the anthology benefit the Noah Lee Legacy Foundation, which supports childhood cancer.

Elisha Emerson (Fiction, S’16) was recently fortunate enough to have her essay “My Dwindling, Infinite Mouth” published in the Summer 2026 issue of Bluestem magazine.

Slower Traffic: Life Without a Car in Maine, USA, a non-fiction book by Hank Garfield (Fiction, S’04) is on its way to the design team at 12Willows Press. The book, written over the past ten years, includes chapters on the economic and environmental benefits of renouncing car ownership, Maine’s transportation history, bicycling, buses and trains, the story of building the new Bangor transit center, traffic in California and Bulgaria, and hopeful ideas for the immediate future. Publication is scheduled for March 2027.

Terri Glass’s (Poetry/Creative Nonfiction, S’13) poem, “When Poetry Arrived,” appeared in the fall issue of Persimmon Tree, and two of her poems were accepted by Blue Light Press for an anthology called Poems from the Redwoods to be published in 2027.

Veda Boyd Jones (Fiction, S’17) sold a short story to Woman’s World, September 28th issue, which is at checkout stands now.

Brenda LaTorre‘s (Fiction, W’25) debut horror novel, Bruja’s Nest, is out in the world! The lead title for Creature Publishing’s fall season follows a complicated antiheroine who fights for her own safety and comfort in the face of exploitation and abuse by her family, employer, and the supernatural: 

Yolanda is determined to seize control of her future. When she starts work as an indentured servant on the Fernández De la Rosa estate, she realizes she can secure a place as the lady of the house: all she has to do is trick their naive son into getting her pregnant.

The local bruja’s fertility ritual horrifies her, and Yolanda delivers a massive egg under the watchful eye of Santa Muerte, the Mexican folk saint of death.

The book launch will take place on October 1st at the Twisted Spine in Brooklyn, hosting a conversation with Gerardo Sámano Córdova, author of Monstrilio. You can find her here, and her book is available here.

Nina B. Lichtenstein (Creative Nonfiction, S’20) is beyond thrilled to welcome both Suzanne Strempek Shea and Elizabeth Searle to Maine Writers Studio’s October 14th Literary Salon & Open Mic in Brunswick, ME. Let’s get a great crowd of Stonecoasters together for this special duo! More info here. Nina is also teaching another hybrid one-day workshop, “Clichés Begone,” on Sunday, December 6th. Find out more and register here. On October 13, Nina will be at Hummingbird Books in Chestnut Hills, MA, with the editor and fellow contributors to the new anthology, Relative Strangers: Inheritance, Identity, and the Meaning of Kinship (ELJ Editions, June 2026). In the book, 28 writers—adoptees, people who discover siblings later in life, people who find out late in life that their parents who raised them are not their biological parents—share stories about how these unexpected discoveries shaped their lives and sense of self. (Nina discovered she has a half sister who introduced herself to Nina at her memoir launch event in Oslo last year!) More info & tickets to the event here.

Jeanette Lynes’ (Fiction/Poetry, S’05) latest book, Apron Apocalypse: Lyric Essays, will be released on October 13 by Thistledown Press.

Karen (Bovenmyer) Menzel (Popular Fiction, S’13) is writing Dungeons and Dragons Forgotten Realms content with Ed Greenwood’s RealmsBound project. Their first TTRPG sourcebook is now available for purchase on DMsGuild, and future books will be published one per quarter. They’ve started with the Dalelands and will next visit the Moonsea. Karen is also happy to share she’s working as a developmental editor with Brotherwise Game’s Plotweaver TTRPG (publishers of Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive games). Check out their new FREE TTRPG sci-fi hope punk setting Splinterlight.

Miles Meth (Fiction, S’26) has a short story titled “Defend” in the fall issue of the Massachusetts Review that follows a group of climate activists sneaking into a conference for fossil fuels executives. The editor in chief at MR says, “‘Defend’ is a work of fiction that registers the promises and perils of organizing actions right now, along with the tricky gender politics found in many movement spaces.” You can purchase the Massachusetts Review 67.3, in print or online, here.

Jenny O’Connell (Creative Nonfiction, S’17) just launched preorders for her debut memoir, Wildheart—the story of her solo 700-mile journey into Finland’s arctic wilderness in the footsteps of a legendary woman. Edited by Stonecoast alum Alexander Rigby (Fiction, S’23)–whose debut novel, meet Me At The Creek, is also available for preorder!)—Wildheart will be published by DK at Penguin Random House in June 2027. Jenny’s book was the subject of her thesis at Stonecoast. She’s so grateful for the support from her mentors and the Stonecoast community, and also to Wildheart for growing her, over the last 11 years, into the writer and human who could carry this wild story into the world. At long last, you can preorder her book here!

Marisca Pichette (Popular Fiction, S’21) had the pleasure of reading at VICFA 5 with Christopher Caldwell and K Angel. In alignment with the theme of “Speculative Visions of Care and Hope,” their three stories meandered through gardens and forests both wild and domestic, tainted by horror while simultaneously uplifted by fairy tales.

Bruce Pratt (Fiction, S’04) has had his chapbook “Sporting: Sports Poems for All Seasons” accepted for publication by Finishing Line Press.

Linda K. Sienkiewicz (Fiction S ’09) has an essay on Midstory: “What If You’re Wrong About Yourself?” about how learned self-doubt often wears the costume of imposter syndrome, but it isn’t always a failure of confidence. Linda’s illustrated blackout poem about the cruelty of ICE, “A Life, Shattered,” is published in Painted Pebble Magazine. Her forthcoming novel, Love and Other Incurable Ailments, releases October 27 from Regal House Publishing and has received media attention, including a terrific review from Foreword Review. The book is included in “Most Anticipated October 2026 New Book Releases” from Book Talk with Lauren on Substack and was reviewed by Five Directions Press for Books We Loved in August 2026. Finally, Linda is featured in her hometown news in an article, “Author Credits Independence with her Success as Author, Writer,” that begins: 

Millions of readers were captivated by Delia Owen’s debut novel Where the Crawdads Sing, set in the Outer Banks marsh territory of North Carolina. This October, an Independence-born author-artist with ties to the same area is presenting her own love letter to the region.

Linda K. Sienkiewicz (Nerva) is the author of Love and Other Incurable Ailments. Its heroine, Serenity, suffering a broken engagement, family tragedy and obsessive health neuroses, finds solace in a random batch of discarded love messages passionately penned by a complete stranger. The discovery leads Serenity to the Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, in search of their origin.

Like her main character, Sienkiewicz lives in Michigan but has found her muse in Ocracoke. 

But Linda actually credits Stonecoast for teaching her much more!

After a successful Wyoming book launch for the new collection by sid sibo (sidney woods; Fiction, W’19), Maine welcomes a return visit in October. On October 3rd at Bunker’s Seafood and Spirits in Birch Harbor, Kathryn Balteff (Fiction, W’19) will be in conversation about her 2026 novel James & Natasha alongside sid’s (un)Familiar: stories. With flash pieces and stories highlighting fellow sentient beings from southern Arizona to northern Minnesota, the wild Rocky Mountains to Dusseldorf city parks, readers will find a variety of emotional connection points. Stonecoasters past and present are invited to be part of the conversation, at Bunker’s or elsewhere—do reach out.

Robin Clifford Wood (Creative Nonfiction, S’15) will be teaching a five-week online class about writing other people’s stories. They’ll meet from 6:00-8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays from October 7 to November 4. Are you working on a short profile of an intriguing person? writing a family history? researching a biography? Come join Robin for ideas, feedback, reading selections, and some motivational boosts. Learn more and register here, through Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance.

FACULTY 

Elizabeth Searle’s new thriller novel Lock Her Up—“A bona fide page-turner,” says Kirkus Reviews—has its book launch October 7th at Newtonville Books; also a reading at Nina Lichtenstein’s salon in Brunswick with Suzanne Strempek Shea October 14th and a virtual interview on A Mighty Blaze October 16th. New events just added include:

• BOSTON BOOK FESTIVAL: October 17; Elizabeth will appear on a Panel, GO GLOBAL; fellow panelists include Stonecoast Alum Amy Alverez.
• *PORTER SQUARE BOOKS/BOSTON; October 27; Elizabeth will read and do Q/A for a special panel on Literary Thrillers

Lock Her Up review from Kirkus Reviews (September 24, 2026): “A progressive woman’s in-laws frame her for murder in this crime thriller… Searle uses simple, effective prose in this gripping story while continually raising the stakes…The novel is a compelling case study in how polarization can fracture family relationships, and perhaps, how these relationships can be rebuilt… A bonafide page-turner.”