Tag: Fiction

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.

Short Story in Los Angeles Review

Lana Spendl

My new short story, “Birthday at the Hermitage,” is out now in The Los Angeles Review. It’s set at a hermitage on the outskirts of Ávila, Northern Spain, where I spent many summer afternoons as a child. Writing it gave me the chance to revisit those grounds. I even reached out to the hermitage to confirm some details about the preserved crocodile at the sanctuary entrance, and the keeper sent me a wonderfully thorough description and photos. 🙃

Spring Issue of Crab Creek Review

Lana Spendl

I’m excited to share that the spring issue of Crab Creek Review is out now!

After serving as guest fiction editor last year, I’ve stayed on with the journal as a fiction reader, and it was a joy to reflect on the submissions. 

Our fiction theme, “Embodied Lives,” edited by Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum, invited stories that explore how the body—its desires, limits, autonomy, and entanglement with power—shapes identity, perception, and connection. We were delighted to receive and discuss such thoughtful, compelling pieces.

Find copies of the issue on Submittable, and join our virtual launch on June 9 at 8:30 p.m. EDT.

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.

Workshop at American School of São Paulo

Lana Spendl

Last week, I held a workshop at the American School of São Paulo, with the 10th and 11th graders who are interested in creative writing. I spoke about my writing path and my childhood in Bosnia and Spain and read them a flash essay about my parents’ weekend house just outside of Sarajevo when I was little.

The students were from Brazil, China, S. Korea, and the States, and during the session, they wrote about their own childhood neighborhoods and the people who inhabited them. One wrote about a man who’d come down the street, piled up with boxes, to bring his family their weekly fruit delivery. A couple of others said the exercise brought up memories they didn’t know they had.

It was an energizing, deeply engaged session, and I was left wishing we could have had more time together. I also heard from one of their teachers that a couple of students asked whether “Miss Lana could come back.” ❤️

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!

Flash Fiction in SAND Journal

Lana Spendl

SAND Journal has published my flash fiction piece “Notes on Medical History,” inspired by a visit to the famous wall of skulls in the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia. The piece is a surreal departure for me, and I’m grateful it found such a wonderful home. ❤️ The full issue is available for purchase on the SAND website. Thanks to the editors!

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.

Short Story on Terrain.org

Lana Spendl

I’m thrilled to have my short story “Those Who Point Like Arrows” on Terrain.org this month. The piece takes place in northern Spain, and I grew so attached to this protagonist that I started a novel draft about her life after completing it. Huge thanks to Simmons Buntin and the other editors—they were so wonderful, thorough, and thoughtful to work with! ❤❤

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!!