American Writers Review 2021: Turmoil and Recovery

As of this writing, the pandemic continues, killing record numbers of people. Moreover, countries that had enjoyed democratic governments are facing authoritarian attacks. Divisions run through the fabric of our homes, our families, our nations. At the same moment, there are wellsprings of hope, love, and connection.
‘Our 2021 Issue’, from American Writers Review website

A brand new edition of American Writers Review has just been released by San Fedele Press, and once again we’re excited to see the journal featuring original work from our own Elwood Writers Helen McDonald and Barry Lee Thompson.

American Writers Review 2021: Turmoil and Recovery

Helen has three poems in the book: ‘Aftermath’, ‘Covid Lockdown (an Haibun)’, and ‘Restoration’.

From Barry, there are three short stories: ‘Glassy’, ‘Afterdark’, and ‘First Day Of Summer’.

For more information, including how to get hold of a copy of American Writers Review 2021: Turmoil and Recovery, follow the links found here.

Congratulations to everyone involved in this latest issue. We can’t wait to get our hands on it.

Happy reading and writing, as always.

Elwood Writers

EW Member News

Helen’s haibun ‘January’ is published in Issue 9 of Drifting Sands, May 2021. Drifting Sands is a journal of haibun and tanka prose. For more information about the journal, go here. You can read Helen’s beautiful haibun here.

Jennifer’s story ‘The Angel of Gennevilliers’ was recognised in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize 2020/21, making it on to their very competitive long-list. This annual international contest has become an established event on the literary calendar. There were 1631 entries in the 2020/21 competition.

Very well done to both!

Don’t touch that dial

A reminder to stay tuned to 94.9 MAINfm today to hear Elwood Writers’ Helen McDonald read from the group’s anthology, Every Second Tuesday.

Helen will be on The Quiet Carriage with Paul J Laverty from 1:00pm. You can listen on the radio, or online from anywhere in the world.

For listening info, go here.

The Quiet Carriage is MAINfm’s dedicated literature show all about books and authors, hosted by Paul J Laverty. MAINfm comes out of Castlemaine in Victoria.

Happy listening!

The Quiet Carriage | 94.9 MAINfm

Tune in to The Quiet Carriage on Castlemaine’s 94.9 MAINfm at 1:00pm tomorrow to hear Helen McDonald of Elwood Writers reading from our anthology Every Second Tuesday. Helen will be reading stories and poetry including … well, we don’t want to spoil the surprise, so you’ll have to listen in to find out.

Hear the program on the radio, or online, or wait for the podcast to appear on Spotify. We’ll share the podcast on this website as soon as it’s available.

For listening info, program details, and more about the work of MAINfm, check out the following link:
94.9 MAINfm | Castlemaine and Mount Alexander Radio | » The Quiet Carriage

The Quiet Carriage is hosted by Paul J Laverty every Friday from 1 to 2:00pm. All aboard!

Art Inspires Art

Helen McDonald reflects on how art forms enhance each other:

“I’ve always been interested in the way that one creative process influences another. When I was writing my poem ‘Stark against the sky’ the third stanza wasn’t working for me – the words on the page didn’t capture what I was trying to say. I struggled, then left it alone for a while. Sometime after I went to a musical concert and was mesmerized by a beautiful new composition by composer Alice Humphries – Salt. Her work is inspired by her personal connection to and love of the sea. And as I listened my third stanza wrote itself.

‘I want to float on waves
of roiling love and not
be pebble-sucked
and churned beneath the watery depths’

Months later I walked into an art gallery, and there, right in front of me, was the exact twisted tree I had imagined in the first stanza of ‘Stark against the sky’ – a perfect miniature lithograph by artist Robyn Leeder. I bought it on the spot and it hangs in my study above my poem – a visual impression of my written words. Music, poetry and art melded into one.

Give thanks for the artists – without them we would all be soul-starved.”

You can read Helen’s ‘Stark against the sky’ and other works by Elwood Writers in our new anthology Every Second Tuesday, available now in paperback from Readings online bookshop (in Australia), or from Book Depository (for overseas buyers). The ebook is available from all the main ebook platforms, including Kindle.