January 19, 2023

In September of 2022, my husband and I, longtime residents of White Plains, New York, moved north to the town of Catskill. After months spent unpacking, we are now settling into our little ranch house on the edge of the village, where we hope to work on our arts, garden, cook vegan meals, and grow old together. 

For the past few years, maybe more than a few, my writing productivity had slowed, and I had believed there was a chance it was coming to an end. Now, in Catskill, I find myself thinking in terms of poems once again, and I am gathering a tentative courage to begin sending work out, something I had done very sporadically in recent years.

This new house seems lucky to me, and I hope it will prove to be so. I am waiting for the spring, when the lilacs, that are indeed in the dooryard, open, and the bluebirds, who have been with us this autumn and winter, begin to build nests and sing.

October 27, 2020

I feel honored that my manuscript Ever the Rain was included in the list of “Manuscripts of Extraordinary Merit” for Tupelo Press’ July 2020 Open Reading Period. Congratulations to Chee Brossy, Katy Didden, and Kelly Weber, whose books were chosen for publication, and to all the Runners-Up and the other poets like me.

June 24, 2020

Because I haven’t listed news for over two years, I wanted to say a little something
 to let you who are out there know that I am still here in this universe, too. It has been a slow two years for me, but I have been working on finishing up my first novel, tentatively titled Dragonfly Blue. Also, last winter I began sending out poems from what I hope to be my third collection of poetry, tentatively titled Ever the Rain, a collection based on grief and memories from childhood, and some of these poems can be found in the following journals: Tupelo Quarterly, Big Other, and Schlag Magazine. One further poem is forthcoming in The Colorado Review this fall. Another work in progress is a fourth collection of poems inspired by the landscapes of Iceland. So I am not gone from this place I have called home. I have just been in a kind of hibernation, part of it determined by Covid-19, part by my own inner silences. I hope that all of you out there have been safe and well.

April 12, 2018

Thank you to John Yau for selecting The Owl was a Baker’s Daughter as the winner of the 2018 Colorado Prize, and thank you to Stephanie G’Schwind and the staff of The Center for Literary Publishing at Colorado State University! The book is scheduled for release in November 2018. I am deeply grateful and truly joyful to have received this news—April is not always “the cruelest month.” Sometimes it can also be the kindest.

April 6, 2018

Thank you to Kristina Marie Darling and the staff at Tupelo Press for selecting my manuscript Of Rue and Violets as a finalist for the 2018 Dorset Prize! Congratulations to Landon Godfrey, who won the prize, and to the runners-up and the other finalists and semi-finalists!

February 16, 2018

The first poems to be published from my third manuscript of poetry, tentatively titled Hidden People, came out today in Tupelo Quarterly. Thank you to Kristina Marie Darling for selecting them as finalists for the TQ14 Poetry Open Prize and congratulations to D. Gilson, the winner, and all the other finalists and semi-finalists! My two poems can be found here.

April 24, 2017

Today was a day that gave me a little hope. My second poetry manuscript, Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples, was named a semi-finalist for Tupelo Press’s Dorset Prize. Thank you to Jeffrey Levine, Publisher and Editor in Chief, and to Ilya Kaminsky, the contest judge, who said about the manuscript: “There is a kind of timeless longing in the lyricism of these poems, a kind of ‘desire to end / a life and the need to know how: a flower’s simple bliss.’ I admire this, and a kind of second sight, a knowing that ‘some things only speak sorrow by being pierced through.’” Congratulations to Jesse Lee Kercheval, who won the contest, and to all the finalists and semi-finalists!

March 12, 2017

“Amie,” a poem from My Dim Aviary about Fernande’s imagined adolescence, was featured on Verse Daily! Thank you to the editors for choosing it!

April, 2016

The Doll Collection was just published by Terrapin Books! It contains my poem “Because a Matryoshka Doll Is a Nest Made of Eggs,” alongside stellar poems from top-notch poets, all of which deal with aspects of dolls and doll-like life. Thank you, Diane Lockward, Publisher!

March 28, 2016

This was a day I received really good news! My first short story, “Girl Inside a Raindrop” was accepted for publication in the Translucent Issue of the Fairy Tale Review. This story forms the basis of the novel I am working on, a novel which focuses on the relationships a five-year-old girl named Lily has with her grandparents and with a ghost who roams the earth as a religious mystic. The acceptance of the short story by a journal I greatly admire gives me hope for the larger project. Thank you so much, Joel Hans, Prose Editor, and Kate Bernheimer, Founder and Editor!

January 19, 2016

My poem “Because a Matryoshka Doll Is a Nest Made of Eggs” is a lucky poem. It currently appears in the Winter 2016 Issue of The Adroit Journal(thank you to Peter LaBerge, Editor-in Chief!) and it is soon to appear, in slightly amended form, in The Doll Collection, forthcoming from Terrapin Books this spring (thank you to Diane Lockward, Publisher!).

August 26, 2015

So very, very happy! Thank you to Diane Goettel of Black Lawrence Press for choosing My Dim Aviary as the winner of the 2015 Hudson Prize! I am honored and grateful and humbled more than I have words to say! And congratulations to Claudia Cortese, Jenny Irish, and Michelle S. Reed, whose manuscripts were also chosen for publication!

August 26, 2015

Thank you to Kristy Bowen of dancing girl press for selecting my chapbook Ophelia for publication in 2016!

July 11, 2015

I have been retitling My Dim Aviary. It is now sometimes called A Woman of Water. This version of the manuscript was chosen as one of three finalists for the To the Lighthouse Poetry Book Prize from A Room of Her Own Foundation. Thank you to Tracey Cravens-Gras and the other editors! And congratulations to t’ai freedom ford, whose manuscript was selected as the winner.

June 30, 2015

My Dim Aviary was chosen as a finalist for the Hudson Prize at Black Lawrence Press. Thank you to Diane Goettel, Executive Editor! And congratulations to all of the other finalists and semi-finalists.

June 25, 2015

My manuscript titled My Dim Aviary was chosen as a semi-finalist for the Saturnalia Books Poetry Contest. Thank you to Henry Israeli, President of the press! And congratulations to the other semi-finalists and finalists and to Robert Ostrom, whose manuscript won the contest.

January 8, 2015

My Dim Aviary was chosen as a finalist for the St. Lawrence Book Award from Black Lawrence Press. Thank you to Diane Goettel, Executive Editor, and congratulations to the other finalists and semi-finalists.

December 10, 2014

“A Respite from the Ice of Self-rendering,” one of my new sonnets, was selected as a finalist for the Mary C. Mohr Award from The Southern Indiana Review and will be published in fall 2015 or spring 2016. Thank you to Ron Mitchell, Editor, and congratulations to the other finalists and to Mark Wagenaar, who won the prize.

September 28, 2014

My manuscript titled My Dim Aviary was chosen as a finalist for the Crab Orchard Series First Book Award. Thank you to Jon Tribble, the Series Editor, and congratulations to Gregory Kimbrell who won the competition and to all the other finalists and semi-finalists.

September 22, 2014

My manuscript titled My Dim Aviary was chosen as a finalist for the Hudson Prize at Black Lawrence Press. Thank you, Diane Goettel, Executive Editor! And congratulations to all of the other finalists and semi-finalists.

August 22, 2014

Laura Madeline Wiseman interviewed me about my two chapbooks. The interview was posted for the week beginning August 22, 2014 and is available on her website. Thank you, Madeline

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