I’m thrilled to serve as one of the judges for New Ohio Review’s NORward Prize for Poetry again this year. Deadline to submit is Dec. 15. The prize is $1,000 and publication in New Ohio Review. All submission information can be found on Submittable!
Author: Lana Spendl
I am a writer living in Bloomington, Indiana. My chapbook of flash fiction, We Cradled Each Other in the Air, was published in 2017 by Blue Lyra Press. My short stories, poetry, and personal essays have appeared in The Rumpus, Hobart, The Greensboro Review, The Baltimore Review, New Ohio Review, Zone 3, Notre Dame Review, and other journals. I hold an M.F.A. in creative writing and an M.A. in Hispanic literature from Indiana University Bloomington, where I served as nonfiction editor to Indiana Review.
I am originally from Sarajevo, Bosnia, and my childhood was divided between the Balkans and Spain due to the Bosnian war in the early 90s. I am working on a short story collection that explores pockets of life in southern Europe following the war in the Balkans. Stories from this collection have appeared in The Baltimore Review (Spring 2018), The Cortland Review (2014 Winter Feature), The Greensboro Review (Issue 91), and Epiphany (Women Writing Women series).
Panel at AWP Conference
Writers attending the 2022 AWP Conference in Philadelphia in March: I will be presenting on a panel called “What Kind of Times Are These? Immigrant Poets and the New Politics of Resistance” with poets Olga Livshin, Anna Halberstadt, Mariya Deykute, and Larissa Shmailo. If you attend the conference, I hope to see you there!
Flash essay in Hawai’i Pacific Review
My flash essay, “Women Like Them,” appears today at Hawai’i Pacific Review. It processes an early student experience and features a turkey vulture! Big thanks to the editor, Tyler McMahon, for including it.
Anthology Wins Nonfiction Prize
I’m thrilled to announce that the anthology Voices on the Move, to which I contributed a personal essay last year, has just won first prize in nonfiction in the Oklahoma Writers’ Federation annual writing contest! Congrats to editors Roxana Cazan and Domnica Radulescu, and to all the other contributors!
Poem Republished in Digital Issue of NOR
My prose poem “After the Date,” which appeared in print issue 25 of New Ohio Review, has been republished online. Thanks to the lovely NOR editors! Always such a pleasure to connect with them!
Judge: NORward Prize in Poetry
Writing friends, I’m excited to serve as one of the judges for New Ohio Review’s NORward Prize in poetry! The prize is $1,000 and publication in New Ohio Review 29. Deadline to submit is Nov. 15. Hope I get to see some of your gorgeous writing!
Virtual Reading: October 21
My flash fiction piece, “On the Dalmatian Coast,” appears in the anthology Everywhere Stories: Short Fiction From a Small Planet (Vol. 3) from Press 53. A few of the other authors and I will be having a virtual reading on October 21, moderated by Editor Cliff Garstang. Details are available on Facebook—be sure to check it out!
Essay in Anthology: Voices on the Move
My personal essay, “Geography of Peaks and Dips and Lights,” which appeared online earlier this year in The Rumpus, will be reprinted in the upcoming anthology Voices on the Move: An Anthology by and about Refugees, available for preorder now from Solis Press. This multi-genre anthology explores the nuances of displacement. About the book, novelist Samrat Upadhyay writes:
“Voices on the Move is a moving, must-read artistic exploration of migration and the trauma of displacement. Through diverse modes of expression—poetry, fiction, photography, play—the voices in this collection present the multitudinous ways with which we experience uprooting and belonging. The book is a jewel, a chronicle of our times, an intense awareness of humanity’s suffering and its yearning for home.”
Reading: “As God Intended”
My poem “As God Intended,” about 17th century nun Catalina de Erauso, appeared in Moon City Review last year, and the journal invited me to read it for their new online reading series.
The 2019 issue of Moon City Review is available for order from the University of Arkansas Press.
Flash Essay: “Francisco, from My Class”
My flash essay, “Francisco, from My Class,” detailing an episode from my childhood in Spain, appears in the new issue of Gigantic Sequins, available for pre-order now.
Lana Spendl 