Hola Folkarinos!

I hope you are all finding a little time to relax and enjoy yourselves this summer. Things are going well on my front. I am very grateful to the following badass lit mags for putting my poems out in the world: Poetry Northwest, Hunger Mountain, PANK, Sugar House Review, 45th Parallel, Cumberland River Review and Plume Poetry. I also am so humbled and honored to have two poems appear in Persea Books staggeringly beautiful anthology, The Eloquent Poem, with some of my favorite poets: Kevin Prufer, Kimiko Hahn, Major Jackson, Forrest Gander, Joy Harjo, Kimberly Grey, Martha Collins, Alexandra Teague, Cynthia Marie Hoffman, Susannah Nevison, Molly McCully Brown, Stephanie Wortman, Catherine Pierce and so many others! I had the pleasure of reading with many of them at the launch at AWP Portland. Thanks so much to Gabriel Fried and Elise Paschen for all the hard work they put into the anthology and the event. The poetry world really needed a modal anthology. Also, thank you to Pocomoke High School in Pocomoke, MD (with Emma DePanise) and Greyhound Books in Berlin, MD for hosting me for lovely readings and author signing. That is most of the new from my end. Here is what’s going on with my superstar students:

First, grats to the following students beginning amazing grad programs at the following rockin’ schools:

Talane Bowne: Trinity College-Dublin
Caroline Chavatel: Georgia State University
Emma DePanise: Purdue University
Lilia Dobos: Salisbury University
K.S. Keeney: George Mason University
Kateria Rodriguez: The Ohio State University
Noor Shahzad: University of Massachusetts-Boston
Erin Steiner: Northern Arizona University

Now for publications and other accomplishments:

Ellery Beck had poems accepted by Potomac Review, Portland Review, Arkana , Little Patuxent Review , Prairie Margins and Susquehanna Review. She was one of the three winners of the Portland Review AWP Flash Contest. She also read for the summer issue launch for Little Patuxent Review and did a feature interview! I am also proud to say she is now the Interview Editor for The Shore.

Caroline Chavatel had poems accepted by the DIALOGIST and successfully defended her MFA thesis at New Mexico State University. She also won the Academy of American Poets’ Ruth Scott Poetry Award! She will be pursuing her PhD in the fall. You go, Caroline!

Lisa Compo had poems accepted by Nimrod International Journal, The Shore and Furrow. She was also a semi-finalist for the 2019 Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry! Lisa is also now a reader for Baltimore Review. Excellent work, Lisa.

Charlotte Covey had poems accepted by Poet Lore, Redactions, summerset review, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Steam Ticket, Rappahannock Review, The Shore, Broadkill Review and Gravel. She will have a feature in Glass. She was also interviewed by Rappahannock Review. Charlotte also accepted a faculty position at St. Louis Community College-Meramec. Grats, Charlotte!

Emma DePanise had poems accepted by Quarterly West, The National Poetry Review, Poet Lore, Portland Review, Sugar House Review and Contrary. She was one of the three winners of the Portland Review AWP Flash Contest. She won an AWP Intro Journal Award in poetry and was also an honorable mention in poetry. She was nominated for Best New Poets by two different journals and did a spectacular reading at AWP Portland for Puerto del Sol with readers such as Cole Swensen and Alicia Mountain. She also read and lead workshops at Pocomoke High School in Pocomoke, MD and was interviewed by Arkana. Emma is truly in beast mode!

Lilia Dobos had poems accepted by The Quaker and Red Flag Poetry.

Jordan Durham had poems accepted by The Shore.

Chelsea Fabian had poems accepted by Puerto del Sol. She has also accepted a faculty position at Delaware Tech! You go, Chels!

Taylor Fedorchak is the new Poetry Editor for Puerto del Sol.

Ella Flores had poems accepted by Nimrod International Journal, Radar Poetry and The Shore. She also successfully defended her MFA thesis at Northern Michigan University! Attaway to be!

Melissa Marsh had a poem taken by Asterism.

Kathryn Merwin had poems accepted by Passages North, ANMLY, Quiddity International Journal and Hobart. She was also a finalist for the Linda Hodge Bromberg Literary Award. Katie had her first poems appear on Verse Daily and Poetry Daily!!!!! And her fisrt chapbook, Womanskin, will be published by CutBank Chapbooks! She is also now a reader for Adroit Journal. Grats, Katie!

Caitlin Palmer had stories accepted by DIAGRAM and Gravel. She also successfully defended her MFA thesis at the University of Idaho. Yes!

Melinda Ruth had a poem accepted by The Shore.

Taylor Schaefer had poems accepted by Stonecoast Review and Polaris.

Aarron Sholar had an essay accepted by Polaris. It was awarded the second place Polaris Creative Nonfiction Prize.

Jamie Shrewsbury successfully defended her MFA thesis at Northern Arizona University. Heck yeah!

Kate Steagall is now a reader for Typehouse Literary Review.

Alex Thomas had a poem accepted by DMQ Review. He also has a profile of presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg being published in the summer issue of Playboy.

Tara Ward had a poem accepted by The Quaker.

Adam Weeks had a poems accepted by Prairie Margins and The Shore.

Terin Weinberg had poems accepted by The Normal School, Flyway Magazine, The Shore and Beast.

Lauren Yarnall had poems accepted Yemassee and The Shore. She was a finalist for the Yemassee poetry contest. She read for Yemassee at AWP Portland. She also successfully defended her MFA thesis at the University of Idaho. Way to go, Laureny!

I will continue to update this throughout the summer, so check back occasionally for hot news. Thanks for your continued support. I hope you all have a lovely summer!

High Fives,
John