ALUMS 

J Brooke (Poetry, S’19; They/e) neglected to put a link to the poetry of theirs The Rumpus published this month—here it is. J also has a long essay on recycling and re-use (sort of) titled “What Goes Around” in the summer issue of EAST Magazine, which is a cool glossy print magazine, but if you can’t find a copy near you, there’s an online link. J graduated Stonecoast Summer 2019 and was guest faculty there this past winter.

Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, Maine, has agreed to be a co-sponsor of Linda Buckmaster‘s (Creative Nonfiction, S’11) traveling literary banners, “Of Cod and Community.” The exhibit is adapted from her hybrid book, Elemental: A Miscellany of Salt Cod and Islands, and is partially funded by the Maine Arts Commission. The eight 3′ x 5′ banners will be hung in Maine libraries with the first exhibit at the Belfast Free Library in October. Linda sends out a monthly e-newsletter about books, travel, fish, and whatever. If you would like to be on the mailing list, contact her at lsbuck1@gmail.com.

Terri Glass (Poetry/Creative Nonfiction, S’13) is happy to announce she was awarded an Upstate California Creative Corp grant for a project called Plea for Wildlife, a series of poems she will create about the endangered wildlife in Del Norte and put it on public display in several venues throughout the county. Her hope is to create public awareness of the most fragile wildlife in the area so people take action to preserve the incredible biodiversity that Del Norte County offers. #upstatecreativecorps #upstatecaliforniacreativecorps #upstateartists #californiaartscouncil #ArtsCA #nevadacountyarts

Gail Hovey (Creative Nonfiction, S’11) co-authored with her partner Pat Hickman “A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes.” The article in Antiques and the Arts Weekly is a review of the exhibition of Liebes’ work at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, New York City, which runs until February 2024.

Veda Boyd Jones (Fiction, S’17) will be the keynote speaker at the Missouri Writers Guild annual conference, September 23rd, in Columbia, MO. The Guild, with membership across the state, was formed 98 years ago at the University of Missouri’s prestigious journalism school in Columbia.

Alan King (Poetry, W’13) recently posted a video discussing the incredible potential of poetry videos and book trailers. He shares how these videos helped him find a publisher and get reviews. He also talks about some unexpected benefits from book trailers! Check out the video here. 

Nina B. Lichtenstein (Creative Nonfiction, S’20) has launched a bi-monthly literary salon & open mic and hopes to see some fellow Stonecoasters and other word- and story-lovers join. 

Catharine H. Murray (Creative Nonfiction, S’17) will officially begin her belated book tour for her memoir Now You See the Sky this month. Leaving home husked and stuff in storage, she is embracing the traveling writer’s life, scheduling talks and workshops along her cross-country trek. She expects that this connection with new audiences and freedom from place will feed her creative spirit as she continues the work of writing her second memoir while speaking about her first. Her goal is to get her book into the hands of those who can benefit from it and to inspire others to use writing as a tool for healing.

Autumn Newman (Poetry, S’09) has new online and print publications. Her poem “Safety Planning” is online at Rise Up Review. And her poems “Lure,” “Trying to Call 9-1-1,” “Shedding Skin,” “Canzone for Divina,” and “Fences” appear in the latest issue of Pratik: A Magazine for Contemporary Writing as part of a special feature on metrical poets. You can connect with Autumn on Instagram at @autumnnewman36.

Lisa Panepinto (Poetry, W ’13) has new poems and photography in Honoring Our Ancestors: An Anthology by Spell Jar Press, and a hybrid/visual poem in Maintenant: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing & Art.

Marisca Pichette (Popular Fiction, S’21) had the pleasure of attending Readercon 32 in July, where she reconnected with fellow Stonecoasters and read her poem “As the witch burns” with a panel of authors published in Fantasy Magazine. In July, her story “All Hallowed Tides Break Upon These Shores” was published in Shakespeare Unleashed, an anthology of horror takes on Shakespeare’s works. Her flash piece “The Rhododendrons Stop, and Wait,” selected by Amal El-Mohtar as the winner of the F(r)iction spring 2022 literary contest, was also published online this summer!

Bruce Pratt (Fiction, S’04) will be teaching “Inhabit Your Characters,” a two-day in-person workshop for Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, at the Belfast Free Library on Saturday, August 26, and Saturday, September 2. Full details for this all-levels workshop are available here. Bruce’s poem “New Year’s Eve Brewer Maine” appears in the newly published Spring 2023 print issue of Pinyon.

Linda K. Sienkiewicz (Fiction, S’09) is honored to have a review of her poetry chapbook Sleepwalker in this issue of MER: “In nineteen poems, we get a novel where the two most distinct characters, the lost son and the grief-torn mother, live braided before and after the tragedy… We follow along with this mother, who knows the internal truth of her son, and of herself, more than the outside world possibly can. From ‘The Second Worst Thing’: ‘on the day/ we found you/ the police made us leave // your apartment / Crime scene, they said // though it wasn’t.'” Linda also appeared in Rochester Media and the Writing and Wellness Blog. 

Rhiannon J. Taylor’s (writing as R. J. Howell; Popular Fiction, S’19) science fiction short story “Heart Amongst the Heather” was published in Neon Hemlock’s Luminescent Machinations: Queer Tales of Monumental Invention. The anthology is available in ebook and print through the publisher’s website and from most distributors.

Erin Underwood (Popular Fiction, S’09) has started a new YouTube channel dedicated to reviews for movies and television, interviews, and general commentary. You can find her on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@ErinUnderwood for new videos and social commentary. She has also been nominated for a Hugo Award in the category of Fanzine with her co-editors at Journey Planet.

Eugenio Volpe’s (Fiction, W’05) novel I, Caravaggio was released by Clash Books on July 25. He also has an essay published in the Summer issue of Gulf Coast. 

FACULTY  

Aaron Hamburger’s (Creative Nonfiction, Fiction) novel Hotel Cuba went into a second printing! Aaron is presenting Hotel Cuba at the Museum of Jewish Heritage on Thursday, August 10, at 7:00 p.m. He’ll also be reading from Hotel Cuba and in conversation with Stonecoast alum and author Linda Sienkiewicz (Fiction, S’09) at Sidetrack Books in Royal Oak, MI, on Friday, August 25 at 7:00 p.m. Finally, if you love the stories of Lorrie Moore, here’s a chance to study them with Aaron online via Politics and Prose Bookstore, in a three-session class beginning August 29.

Alex Jennings (Popular Fiction) will have the title story in the forthcoming 40th anniversary Return of the Jedi anthology, From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi. His debut novel, The Ballad of Perilous Graves, has been nominated for a World Fantasy Award. 

Elizabeth Searle (Fiction, Popular Fiction, Scriptwriting) has movie news: I’ll Show You Mine (the Duplass Brothers feature film she co-wrote with David Shields and Tiffany Louquet) has been released by Gravitas Ventures this summer in select theaters in NYC, LA, San Francisco, Orlando, and more, as well as nationally on home screens. It is now widely available via VOD, including on AppleTV, Amazon Prime, Xfinity On Demand, Vudu, XBox, Google Play, Dish, Direct TV, and more. The film received a positive review in The New York Times and in Eye on Film (“a riveting watch”), Capital Times (“two nervy lead performances and a very well-written script”) and more. It was featured in stories in Cinema Femme, Talkhouse, Film School Radio, and The Moveable Fest, and others. The New York Times featured the film on its ‘What to Read and Watch’ list. For info and the trailer, click here. For updates, check out http://www.elizabethsearle.net/