Category Archives: Blog

Interview with Maggie Smith

Last year, interviews and reviews editor at Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Sarah Ann Winn, invited me to interview poet Maggie Smith for their March issue. A big fan of Maggie Smith’s work, I eagerly agreed. It was such a pleasure to reread her two most recent collections, Good Bones and The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison, and to have anContinue reading “Interview with Maggie Smith”

“Hildegard of Bingen: Daughter of Light” in Faerie Magazine

Last summer, editor-in-chief Carolyn Turgeon invited me to write an article on St. Hildegard of Bingen for the medieval-themed winter issue of Faerie Magazine. Since I’d traveled to Bingen in 2014 to research Hildegard for THE BOOK OF GOTHEL, I was excited about the assignment. St. Hildegard is a fascinating, complicated figure. Over the past four years,Continue reading ““Hildegard of Bingen: Daughter of Light” in Faerie Magazine”

Back to Vermont Studio Center

I’m so grateful to the National Endowment for the Arts, which funded the two-week fellowship and stipend I’ve received to Vermont Studio Center to work on my novel-in-progress, THE BOOK OF GOTHEL And of course, I’m grateful to my husband and daughter, who are always so supportive of me taking time for my work. IContinue reading “Back to Vermont Studio Center”

“Louisiana Disaster Recovery 3.0” in Gulf Coast

My poem, “Louisiana Disaster Recovery 3.0,” appears in the latest issue of Gulf Coast. I’m so grateful that it found a home in a journal so close to my hometown because it’s about the floods my family and friends suffered in the greater Baton Rouge area last fall. The poem was written for a multimedia dance/art/creative writing concertContinue reading ““Louisiana Disaster Recovery 3.0” in Gulf Coast”

SFPA Speculative Poetry Contest Opens Today!

I’m chairing the SFPA’s poetry contest, this year, and it opens today! First, second, and third place prizes will go to the best speculative poems in each of three length categories. All forms and styles of speculative poetry are accepted. You can read more about the contest rules on the official contest website. This year’s judge isContinue reading “SFPA Speculative Poetry Contest Opens Today!”

“Der Froschkönig” and “The Frog Princess [Remix]” in Cimarron Review

I received my contributors’ copies of Cimarron Review in this afternoon’s mail. It’s an honor to have two poems from the full-length poetry manuscript I’m working on appear alongside work by Karen Skolfield, Sidney Wade, and Edmund White.  Highlights for me, in addition to work by the above-mentioned poets, included Katherine Kaufman’s prose poem, “The Foxes,” and Miriam Cohen’s wonderfullyContinue reading ““Der Froschkönig” and “The Frog Princess [Remix]” in Cimarron Review”

Wolf Skin at Baltimore Composers Forum

My prose poem, “Wolf Skin,” had its musical debut this week at the Baltimore Composers Forum concert with the original score by composer Elizabeth Skola Davis.  Watch the video below to see the performance by Joseph Regan, tenor, and Tim McReynolds, piano! The lyrics originally appeared as a prose poem in the Los Angeles Review and asContinue reading “Wolf Skin at Baltimore Composers Forum”

Frostburg, Jackalope-Girl, and Rose Red Review

I’ve been remiss in not writing about my wonderful experience at Frostburg Indie Lit Festival in October, where I was invited to be part of a panel on Fairy Tales Reimagined by Sarah Ann Winn. I stayed with a fabulous group of writers at a beautiful cabin in the mountains outside town, where the view on my morning runsContinue reading “Frostburg, Jackalope-Girl, and Rose Red Review”

New Essay in Southern Humanities Review

I was excited to receive my contributor’s copies of Southern Humanities Review, today, featuring “The Birds,” first in a series of essays I’m working on about my parents’ and brother’s deaths–this one focusing on my father–and one of the most generous personal notes I’ve ever received from an editor. It is a very good feeling,Continue reading “New Essay in Southern Humanities Review”

The Gossamer Pleasures of Faerie Magazine

Last summer, I started editing poetry for Faerie Magazine, the lush quarterly edited by Carolyn Turgeon, which was just profiled in the Style section of the New York Times. If you haven’t heard about Faerie yet, you should check out this article, which examines the magazine’s “gossamer pleasures” and calls it “wonderfully curious and deeply weird.” I have to say, it’s been a delight to read allContinue reading “The Gossamer Pleasures of Faerie Magazine”

Wolf Skin Wins 2015 Elgin Chapbook Award

I received news yesterday that my debut poetry chapbook, Wolf Skin, won the Science Fiction Poetry Association’s 2015 Elgin Chapbook Award! The award honors the best speculative poetry chapbook published in 2013-2014. I was honored to be nominated, and I’m just plain thrilled to win! I’ve been writing speculative poetry since I was a kid, and I’m amazed to haveContinue reading “Wolf Skin Wins 2015 Elgin Chapbook Award”

Two Poems in Phantom Drift

I was excited to find the latest issue of Phantom Drift: A Journal of New Fabulism in the mail today. This issue includes two of my poems, “Instructions for Letting the Stranger into Your Bed” and “Ahab’s Sister-Wives,” along with poems by Ki Russell and Gregg Murray, a story by Stephen Langlois, and more! Phantom Drift is always delightfullyContinue reading “Two Poems in Phantom Drift”

New Review of Wolf Skin in American Book Review

I have been traveling on and off, since early May, so I only just got the chance to be amazed by this wonderful new review of Wolf Skin in the latest issue of American Book Review!  Huge thanks are in order to Saara Myrene Raappana for her insightful close  reading. Here’s an excerpt: Reaching beyond the simple retelling or recastingContinue reading “New Review of Wolf Skin in American Book Review”