What some of our members have been up to lately:

B. Elizabeth Beck and Jay McCoy: Evening Street Press’s new leadership team is B. Elizabeth Beck, who will serve as publisher/editor, and Jay McCoy, who will act as managing editor. Learn more about the press here.

Jason Sizemore: New board member and owner of Apex Publications Jason Sizemore had a signing for the volume Apex Magazine 2021, edited by Jason and Lesley Conner, in January at Joseph-Beth Booksellers. Find out more about the anthology here. Jason is also running a Kickstarter to fund his next anthology. The anthology is title Robotic Ambitions: Stories of Mechanical Sentience. They open for general submissions in early March and pay 8 cents a word. Kickstarter launches of February 21st and you can support it here.

Christopher Rowe: Board member and treasurer Christopher Rowe started the year off right on January 3rd by selling one story to The Martian, one of the smallest professional science fiction magazines, and another to Asimov's Science Fiction, one of the largest. He also published several short stories. You can listen to one here. A story of his was published as a two-part podcast. It's called "The Contrary Gardener" and it's about robots in the future at the Kentucky Derby.

Part One:

https://escapepod.org/2023/01/05/escape-pod-870-the-contrary-gardener-part-1-of-2/

Part Two:

https://escapepod.org/2023/01/12/escape-pod-871-the-contrary-gardener-part-2-of-2/

Gwenda Bond: Board chair Gwenda Bond’s forthcoming novel Mr. & Mrs. Witch (March 7) picked up a rave review from Library Journal, which called it "an exhilarating, modern paranormal romance," and has been featured on Goodreads and Paste Magazine's Most Anticipated Romances of 2023 lists. Signed preorder campaign through Joseph-Beth Booksellers here or come out to her launch event at Joseph-Beth on March 7 at 7 p.m. More about the book here.

Fiona Young-Brown: Board member Fiona Young-Brown will be taking over as editor of ASJA Confidential, the blog for the American Society of Journalists and Authors. The blog is available to non ASJA members at https://www.asja.org/blog/ and contains various info about the organization but also about the business of writing.

Bobi Conn: Bobi Conn's debut novel, A Woman in Time, was recently featured as a bonus book in the December Prime Reads program, a curated list of editors' picks. Read more about her novel here.

Michael Patrick Smith: Michael Patrick Smith (The Good Hand: A Memoir of Work, Brotherhood, and Transformation in an American Boomtown) was a featured author at the Kentucky Great Writers series on Feb. 7th at the Carnegie Center with Charles Booker and Kiki Petrosino. The event will be available as a recording on 91.3 WUKY at a later date. Learn more about the book here.

Rachel Elliot: Rachel Elliot’s debut middle grade graphic novel The Real Riley Mayes received a Stonewall Honor at the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards. Read about their book on twitter here.

Elizabeth Kilcoyne: Elizabeth Kilcoyne’s debut young adult novel Wake the Bones was selected as a William C. Morris Award finalist at the ALA’s Youth Media Awards. Read about the award here.

Katie Cervenec: Katie recently had a short story published by Orca Literary Journal. Learn more about the journal here.

Samar Johnson: LWR Community manager Samar Johnson’s poem "Blood of the Land" received an Honorable Mention in Kentucky Monthly Magazine's Penned contest. You can read the poem online right here.

Kaitlyn Hill: Her upcoming book, Not Here to Stay Friends, has received great reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus! It's a young adult romantic comedy coming out with Delacorte Press on April 4th. Check out the Publishers Weekly review here and the Kirkus review here.

Z Jackson: Board member Z Jackson was named Adult Programming and Outreach Director for the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

David Arnold: From David — “Cover reveal for my new book, out this October! They all feel personal, but this one cuts deep. There's a character based on my kid, a love based on my love, and original songs I wrote and recorded for the novel. There’s a ton of E.T. and deep friendships and banter and music and birds, and these little vignette short stories about people across time and space who fall in love in supernatural ways. It’s sad and hopeful and (I hope) funny. I basically sobbed my way through writing it. Not saying you’ll sob your way through reading it, but I can’t promise you won’t.” Check our more about this cover here.

Erin Fitzgerald: The author will have a 10-minute play included in the New Play Festival at Highview Arts Center in Louisville. The festival will run March 9-12. Tickets and information can be found here.

We love hearing about and sharing what our members are up to. Stay tuned for more news soon!

Lexington Writer's Room News

Member News (February 2023 Update)