
Don Mee Choi
Poetry Workshop StaffDon Mee Choi’s latest collection of poetry, Hardly War, was published in April of 2016 by Wave Books.
Welcome to the Community of Writers Omnium Gatherum & Alumni News. We invite you to find out what our community has been up to recently. You may view by date or by program (see left sidebar). Sign up for monthly updates here.
We also invite alumni and staff to submit your news here. Please note that news must be less than 12 months old, brief and to the point, and may be edited for brevity and/or clarity.
Don Mee Choi’s latest collection of poetry, Hardly War, was published in April of 2016 by Wave Books.
KB Ballentine’s poetry collection, The Perfume of Leaving, won the Blue Light Press Book Award and was published in August (2016). Several of the works in this collection are a direct result of working at Squaw Valley with the expertise, wisdom, and direction of both the staff and the other participants.
Vishwas R. Gaitonde’s short story “Pigs is Pigs and Eggs is Eggs” (published in The Iowa Review) has been cited in ‘Best American Short Stories 2016’ [guest editor: Junot Diaz; series editor: Heidi Pitlor] as one of the “Other Distinguished Stories” in the notables list. His story “On Earth As It Is In Heaven” has been published in the Fall 2016 issue of Santa Monica Review.
Cynthia W. Gentry’s first novel, Three Days, was published in France by Bragelonne/Milady as Trois Jours in April 2016, and the first chapter was excerpted in the Unbound online magazine (unboundbox.com/blogs/magazine/tagged/erotica) in June 2016.
Ann Graham recently had two stories published in Panther City Review.
Laurie Ann Doyle’s new book of stories, World Gone Missing, will be released by Regal House press in Fall 2017. She teaches writing at The San Francisco Writers Grotto and UC Berkeley.
Tyler Dilts’ latest novel, Come Twilight, was published in August by Thomas & Mercer. Come Twilight is the fourth book in the Long Beach Homicide series.
Paco’s two poems, “I Know No Country” and “Birds Is”, appear in the print version of Huizache, issue six.
Dylan Brie Ducey’s flash piece, “The Talisman”, was published in Pithead Chapel in September 2016. Also in September, her short story, “Even When You Think I’m Not There,” appeared in Halfway Down the Stairs. Another flash, “I Hate Everyone In This Family,” appeared in Cheap Pop in October, 2016. Dylan attended the workshop with the assistance of the Carlisle Family Scholarship.
https://pitheadchapel.com/the-talisman/
http://www.halfwaydownthestairs.net/index.php?action=view&id=626
http://www.cheappoplit.com/home/2016/7/26/i-hate-everyone-in-this-family-dylan-brie-ducey
Sommer Schafer’s novella, Julie Goes North, recently received publication in the anthology, Brewed Awakenings 2.
Greg Hrbek’s Not on Fire, but Burning, published in 2015 by Melville House, is now out in paperback. It was a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice and an NPR Best Book of 2015.
Jacqueline Doyle’s flash fiction chapbook The Missing Girl (winner of the Black River Chapbook Competition) is forthcoming from Black Lawrence Press. Two of her stories were nominated for Best of the Net this year: “Nola” by Monkeybicycle, and “Winter Afternoon” by Phoebe Journal. She also has recent creative nonfiction in Catamaran Literary Reader, The Pinch, Electric Literature, Full Grown People, and Nothing to Declare: A Guide to the Flash Sequence (White Pine Press, 2016).
Anara Guard’s short creative nonfiction piece “Ripening” appears in the 5th anniversary October 2016 issue of Under the Gum Tree
Diana Wagman‘s new novel, Extraordinary October, was released in October by Ig Publishing. It was recently reviewed by Kirkus: “In an auspicious debut for teens, adult author Wagman (Life #6, 2015, etc.) proves particularly adept at mixing genres and maintains a terrific balance between fantastical (and occasional macabre) happenings and genuine teen perceptions. Offbeat while also incorporating themes of tolerance, October’s tale will have readers rooting for her every step of the way.”
Dedria Humphries Barker’s essay, “The Girl with The Good Hair” has been accepted for publication in the anthology, The Beiging of America: Personal Narratives About Being Mixed Race in the Twenty-first Century. The anthology is being edited by Cathy J. Schlund-Vials and Tara Betts. The publisher is 2Leaf Press, an imprint of The Intercultural Alliance of Artists & Scholars Inc. New York, NY. Dedria’s essay is about how her Detroit neighbors discovered how good her hair was when it was wet.
Jeffrey Kingman’s poem “Sadie” appears in Picaroon Poetry’s issue #4, September 2016.
Arisa White’s newest collection, You’re the Most Beautiful Thing That Happened, was published in October 2016 by Augury Books. Taking its titles from words used internationally as hate speech against gays and lesbians, White reworks, re-envisions, and re-embodies language as a conduit for art, love, and understanding. Cultural critic Roxane Gay calls You’re the Most Beautiful Thing That Happened “an assured and memorable book of poetry that provokes thought as much as it provokes a depth of feeling.” Arisa attended the Community of Writers with the assistance of a Cave Canem Scholarship.
Former Poet Laureate of Marin County (2010-2013), CB Follett’s tenth book, Noah’s Boat, a poetry compendium of beasties large, small and smaller was published by Many Voices Press in 2016, (175 pages, $18, with illustrations). The book is available from Amazon, Many Voices Press and Arctos Press.
Andrew Roe’s short story collection, Where You Live, will be published by Engine Books in May 2017.
Josephine Ensign’s medical memoir, Catching Homelessness: A Nurse’s Story of Falling Through the Safety Net, was reviewed in the New York Times Book Review section, October 16, 2016.
Stella Beratlis’ first collection, Alkali Sink (2015, Sixteen Rivers Press), was a nominee in the Northern California Book Award in poetry this year.
Dani Burlison’s new zine, Lady Parts, was published in September 2016 and is now available through Pioneers Press. Copies can be ordered here.
Elison Alcovendaz’s essay “A Man’s ABCs of Miscarriage” has been published by The Rumpus. Parts of this essay were treated in workshop at the Community of Writers and read by Jason Roberts. The essay can be read here.
Krys Lee’s novel, How I Became a North Korean, was released by Viking in August of 2016. The novel was inspired by her accidental activism and friendships with North Korean defectors.
Jordan Fisher Smith’s latest nonfiction work, Engineering Eden: The True Story of a Violent Death, A Trial, and the Fight Over Controlling Nature, was released in June by Crown.
Sharon McElhone’s new bilingual column now appears monthly in La Oferta and her fiction is forthcoming in the anthology Basta!
Martin J. Smith’s newest book, Combustion, was released in September by Diversion Publishing.
Vanessa Hua’s debut short story collection, Deceit and Other Possibilities, has been getting great advance praise: O, The Oprah Magazine: a “searing debut”; Booklist: “an intriguing collection”; Bustle: “exactly what we need to be reading in this country right now, and probably always”; Nylon: “profoundly moving and impossible to forget.” She’ll be reading throughout the Bay Area, Nevada City, Los Angeles, Washington DC, and New York this fall. For more information, go to www.vanessahua.com
Joe Bardin’s literary nonfiction, “Body Archeology,” will appear in the Louisville Review in the Fall issue 2016.