Preorders open for THEY SAID from Black Lawrence Press!

Image courtesy of BlackLawrence.com

Happy National Poetry Month! I am pleased as punch to show you this beautiful-weird new cover for They Said: A Multi-Genre Anthology of Contemporary Collaborative Writing—and more pleased than punch to announce that preorders are now open!! 

Poet-friend Isobel O'Hare and I co-wrote a poem that appears in here. You can read about our process in the back of the book once it makes its way to your hot little hands. The full list of contributors, advanced praise (including from the editors of ZYZZYVA—I swooned), and order link are in today's BLP announcement.

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Image courtesy of younginklings.org

In other Poetry Month news, Society of Young Inklings interviewed me as their resident poet for their monthly newsletter, the Ink Splat. You can read about me writing poems for online communities as a teen, gushing about Matthew Zapruder, and being inspired by young writers here.

Anthologies Launched This Summer

The weather is getting colder (and hopefully bringing rain to put out the outrageous fires raging over my entire state, holy moly), which means Summer is officially over. Before the seasons fast-forward any more, I want to highlight a couple of anthologies that launched this Summer, ones in which I was fortunate to be included! 

Inklings Book 2017

The annual Inklings Book is the culmination of the annual Society of Young Inklings contest for young writers in first through eighth grade. Winners get editorial feedback from a grown-up writer, and share their thoughts on the revision process in interviews included in the book. Each Inklings Book serves as an entertaining anthology of short stories and poems for children and educators, and "Dear Reader" letters from mentors encourage anyone to try revision techniques on their own.

I wrote a letter on "Building toward a Twist" in poetry, and how my delightful young poet turned his already-wonderful poem into something with an extra punch. I also copyedited the anthology and did the interior and cover design (featuring an illustration by Lea Lyon). If you are a writing teacher for K-8, a parent of a writerly child, or simply a children's writing enthusiast, you can grab a copy from the SYI Book Store, or on Amazon. 

PEN America Best Debut Short Stories 2017 

This is a brand-new anthology series by Catapult, featuring the twelve winners of the (also brand-new) annual PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. Prizewinners had their first-ever fiction publication nominated by the editor of the magazine/journal that published it. In my case, I had the honor of nominating Amy Sauber for her hilarious, heartbreaking story, "State Facts for the New Age," and writing an introduction for it in the anthology. Nab it at Catapult's store, or basically anywhere.