The Fam Roundup: May 2020
April showers bring May WORDS, apparently. Let’s take a moment to celebrate all the incredible work that our #SplitLipFAM published in May!
Books
Lesley Wheeler’s debut novel Unbecoming is now available from Aqueduct Press
Editorial assistant D. Arthur’s micro-chapbook Cybering is now available from Ghost City Press
Publications, Interviews, and Reviews
Recent flash contest judge Bryan Washington’s story “Community Plot” was published in the latest print issue of ZYZZYVA
Megan Giddings’ novel Lakewood made Glamour’s list of the Best Books to Read in 2020
She was interviewed in Pigeon Pages
Raven Leilani’s novel Luster and Lucie Britsch’s novel Sad Janet made Refinery29’s list of “The 25 Books You’ll Want to Read This Summer”
Davon Loeb’s essay from “The Makings of a Gym Rat” was published in Drunk Monkeys
Diannely Antigua’s poem “Someday I’ll Stop Killing Diannely Antigua” appeared in Redivider
Fractured Lit published work by several of our contributors:
Cathy Ulrich’s story “So Much Closer Now”
Her story “Last Scene” also appeared in Landlocked Magazine
FlashBack Fiction published her story “Something That Can Never Be Held” as well as an interview
Kathy Fish’s story “Talking About Ernie Banks”
Shasta Grant’s piece “Good Enough”
W. Todd Kaneko’s piece “Metalhead’s Pledge”
Two of his poems also appeared in The Adroit Journal
Fiction reader Janelle Bassett’s story “Thanks for this Riot” was published in Superstition Review
Tyler Barton’s piece “Eternal Night at the Nature Museum, a Half-hour Downriver from Three Mile Island” was published in Passages North
Okay Donkey published Michelle Ross’ piece “How I Learned About Evolution”
John Carr Walker’s piece “Valiant: The Airplane on Old Highway 41” found a home in Pithead Chapel
Pithead Chapel also published Tommy Dean’s piece “Knocking”
His flash “The Desire for Predictable Solitude” appeared in Little Fiction
He interviewed contributor Marcelle Heath on his blog
Poetry reader Troy Varvel had two poems published in Up the Staircase
Todd Dillard’s “The Dead” appeared in Golden Walkman Magazine
The Adroit Journal published his poem “Coreopsis”
He was interviewed on Rob McLennan’s blog
Cotton Xenomorph also interviewed him
Jennifer Wortman’s flash “A Person’s Essence Feels the Smallest” found a home in Wigleaf
Memoir reader Sara Ryan’s nonfiction crossword “Body Puzzle” was published in Brevity
Brevity also published Kristine Langley Mahler’s piece “A Knot on the Finger”
Marcelle Heath’s flash “But Do They See You?” appeared in Little Fiction
Little Fiction published Erin Calabria’s piece “Anemochory” as well
Chloe N. Clark’s flash “Even the Night Sky Can Learn to Be a Fist” was also published in Little Fiction
Darren C. Demaree and Alina Stefanescu had work published in the latest print issue of The Chattahoochee Review
Two poems by poetry editor William Fargason appeared in Redivider
His poem “You Dreamed in ICU” was published in the latest print issue of Ellipsis...literature and art
Poetry reader CD Eskilson’s piece “Burning Haibun After Geryon” also appeared in Redivider
Their poem “Portrait with Inconclusive Lab Results” was published in Barren Magazine
Mary South’s collection You Will Never Be Forgotten was reviewed in The Atlantic
Social media/marketing coordinator Becky Robison’s micro “I don’t miss coffee, but…” was published in Atlas and Alice
Courtney Cook’s poem “Cinco de Mayo” was published in Maudlin House
Fiction editor Michele Finn Johnson’s story “How to Survive a Nuclear Meltdown” appeared in Third Point Press
Her micro “Yosemite” was published in 100 Word Story
Third Point Press also published Abigail Oswald’s story “The Remnant”
Some of flash reader Jules Archer’s stories appeared on Mr. Bear’s Violet Hour Saloon
Meghan Phillips’ story “You Don’t Know What’s Important Yet” was published in Lost Balloon
Erin Slaughter’s poem “Aubade with Finches & New Mattress” was published in Muzzle
Two pieces by Laton Carter appear in the latest issue of Shirley Magazine
Sara Lippmann’s story “Tami Bell at College” was published in F(r)iction
Martha Silano’s poem “I bring you the uncertain music” found a home in Barren Magazine
Emma Roberts and Kara Priess read Helen McClory’s story “Slake,” originally published in The Rupture, on Instagram
Kathryn McMahon’s flash “Keep Shame in a Box and Bury it Under the Others” appeared in matchbook
Flash reader JJ Peña’s piece “Your Body Gets Rid of People” was published in Hobart
New Delta Review also published his piece “lost in the night”
Meg Pokrass’ piece “Fluff” appeared in Wigleaf
Assistant fiction editor Anna Cabe’s essay “Skin Hunger: On Dangerous Touch” was published in Entropy
Her story “How We Coped with the Giant Robots” appeared in Gordon Square Review
Melissa Ragsly’s SLM story “Patti Smith” is featured in Buzzfeed’s “14 Short Stories You Can Read for Free Online Literally Right Now (And Will Actually Want To)” list
Atlas and Alice published Kate Gehan’s piece “The Small Sorrow of This Magnificent Body”
Assistant flash editor Amy Stuber’s story “Thirty” appeared in Gordon Square Review
Kim Magowan’s story “Darkroom” found a home in Monkeybicycle
Eddie Krzeminski’s micro “His Sunday Best” was published in (mac)ro(mic)
Sudha Balagopal’s flash “Learning to Row” appeared in Lunate
CRAFT published Scott Garson’s story “My Cat Gets Loose in the Steakhouse”
Marvin Shackelford’s story “In Confusion and Fear He Comes Late to the House” was published in Spelk
Awards, Honors, and News
Recent flash contest judge Bryan Washington won the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize
Megan Giddings is judging Fractured Lit’s inaugural Flash Fiction Prize
She’s also teaching an online fiction workshop for Catapult starting in July
Contributing editor Tyrese Coleman is the nonfiction judge for OutWrite’s Chapbook Competition
Mark Galarrita’s play Manny Pacquiao Punches the World But the Earth Doesn’t Even Flinch was a finalist for the 2019 Bridge Award from Arts in the Armed Forces
Amrita Chakraborty was a runner-up in 92Y Poetry Center’s Discovery Poetry Contest
In July, Courtney Cook is teaching an online course on writing creative nonfiction about mental illness
Tammy Heejae Lee was a finalist for Passages North’s Waasnode Short Fiction Prize
Stephanie Trott is now assistant fiction editor for Longleaf Review
Flash reader JJ Peña won Mythic Picnic’s Postcard Prize in Wigleaf
JJ Peña’s SLM flash “manguitos, pears, grapefruits” landed on Wigleaf’s annual Top 50 list
SLM stories by flash reader Janelle M. Williams, Pia Ghosh-Roy, John Shakespear, and Jennifer Wortman appeared on the longlist for Wigleaf’s Top 50
Other #SplitLipFAM members who made Wigleaf’s Top 50 list this year: contributing editor Christopher Gonzalez, Roppotucha Greenberg, Sara Lippmann, Kim Magowan, Kristine Langley Mahler, Helen McClory, Meghan Phillips, Ellen Rhudy, Amber Sparks, Kara Vernor, and Jennifer Wortman
Other #SplitLipFAM members who made Wigleaf’s Top 50 longlist: Venita Blackburn, Tyler Barton, fiction reader Exodus Oktavia Brownlow, Tommy Dean, Melissa Goode, Christopher James, Sara Lippmann, Kathryn McMahon, Lynn Mundell, Abigail Oswald, Meg Pokrass, Nicole Rivas, Michelle Ross, assistant flash editor Amy Stuber, assistant flash editor Eshani Surya, Monet P. Thomas and Cathy Ulrich