Tag: Displacement

Panel at #AWP26 in Baltimore

Lana Spendl

I was delighted to learn today that I and a few fellow writers have had a panel accepted for the AWP Conference in early March in Baltimore. Titled “Memory as Borderland in Immigrant Narratives: The Refuge & Burden of Remembering,” this conversation will explore how memory shapes identity across geographies in both fiction and creative nonfiction.

I’ll be moderating a group of writers whose work spans Nepal, the Philippines, China, and Russia. Together, we’ll examine memory as both refuge and burden and explore how memory intersects with migration, queerness, and reimagined ways of being.

Guest Edited Issue of Crab Creek Review

Lana Spendl

I was honored to serve as guest fiction editor for the fall/winter issue of Crab Creek Review. The theme for fiction was immigration and displacement, and we’ve curated a moving, complex set of pieces that offers variety in both content and form. Big thanks to Julia Hands for the opportunity! The new issue is available through Crab Creek Review‘s Submittable.

Call for Fiction on Displacement & Immigration

Lana Spendl

We could be reading you in the next issue of Crab Creek Review! Submissions are open for themed fiction on displacement/immigration. I’m honored to serve as guest fiction editor for this issue, and we’ve got a wonderful team waiting to read your subs.

Writers, please submit fiction (up to 3,500 words) or get the word out to others. Submissions are open until April 1. Check out the guidelines!

Poem in Anthology from IU Press

Lana Spendl

I’m grateful my poem “Bare Necessities” is included in A Flame Called Indiana, a new multi-genre anthology from Indiana University Press, alongside the work of a number of phenomenal writers who are also friends. I’m also thrilled to know that the book will be used as a course text for two Indiana University creative writing workshops this fall. The volume contains short fiction, essays, and poetry from writers who, at some point in their lives, had a strong connection to Indiana, and it is available for purchase anywhere books are sold.

Semifinalist for Iron Horse Book Prize

Lana Spendl

I’m honored that my book is included on this list of semifinalists for the 2022 Iron Horse Book Prize! Big thanks to Leslie Jill Patterson and to everyone over at Iron Horse Literary Review—both for this honor and for always pouring such immense care and attention into the process. ❤️ And congrats to all the other semifinalists!!

Review of Anthology

Lana Spendl

Phenomenal writer Alina Stefanescu has reviewed Voices on the Move, the anthology of refugee writing to which I was honored to contribute in 2020. The book, edited by Domnica Radulescu and Roxana Cazan, is filled with impactful and diverse voices and includes a range of creative pieces. Stefanescu’s review, “The Aliens Created by Nation-States,” is available on WorldCityLit.

Reading at Slought

Lana Spendl

It was an honor last week to read my work at Slought in Philadelphia, with the Cheburashka Collective, in solidarity with Ukraine. Such well-being came from being around so many wonderful writers from Eastern Europe. I’m grateful that we had a pre-reading reception where we could connect and share stories. Thank you to the UPenn Comparative Literature, Jewish Studies, and Russian and East European Studies programs for making the evening possible!

Essay in Anthology: Voices on the Move

Lana Spendl
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.”