Featured Writing

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Starfield

by Redde Michaels Did you see Aurora take flight? I overheard there was no Southern coy, so long as you had a camera to capture her streaking. Such a hasty raving from the harbinger of dawn, though her escapade was largely unnoticed here, where the vibrancy was lost against the…

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Word for Word Graduate Spotlight, Wednesday, June 11, 2025, with photos of the five readers: Ashleigh Worley, Nikki White, Jessica Matson, Bethany Willard, and Kayleigh Michael

Word for Word Graduate Spotlight, Spring 2025

Each spring, SNHU’s online literary salon, Word for Word, honors recent graduates of the online BA, MA, and MFA creative writing programs in a special Graduate Spotlight event. Recommended by instructors and selected by Associate Deans Jacob Powers and Paul Witcover for their high literary achievement, these outstanding writers read…

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Black and white photo of literary agent Lucienne Diver, a smiling white woman with long blond hair

Word for Word, Agents and Agenting Panel, with Joshua Bilmes and Lucienne Diver

On Wednesday, May 14, the Word for Word Literary Series welcomed literary agents Joshua Bilmes and Lucienne Diver for a wide-ranging discussion about literary agents and their role in the publishing industry. Joshua Bilmes is the president and founder of JABberwocky Literary Agency, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2024….

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Photo of Tananarive Due, a smiling Black woman with big gold hoop earrings in a leather dress leaning toward the camera and smiling.

Word for Word, Featuring Special Guest Tananarive Due

On Wednesday, April 23, the Word for Word Literary Series welcomed award-winning author Tananarive Due. A leading voice in Black speculative fiction, Due has won an American Book Award, an NAACP Image Award, and a British Fantasy Award. Her books include The Reformatory (winner of a Los Angeles Times Book…

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Word for Word, Featuring Special Guest Jeffrey Ford

On Wednesday, February 19, the Word for Word Literary Series welcomed award-winning author Jeffrey Ford. He is the author of the novels The Physiognomy, Memoranda, The Beyond, The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque, The Girl in the Glass, The Cosmology of the Wider World, The Shadow Year, The Twilight Pariah, Ahab’s…

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Word for Word Celebrates SNHU’s Fall Fiction Contest Winners

On Wednesday, January 15, 2025, the Word for Word Reading Series at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) featured the winners of the Penmen Review’s tenth annual Fall Fiction Contest. This year’s contest had more than 750 submissions, from which five winners were chosen: First place, “Train a Comin’,” by N….

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A typewriter showing the words "Stories matter" typed onto a white page

Meet the Winners of the 2024 Fall Fiction Contest

The 10th annual Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) Fall Fiction Contest brought writers from across the country together for a chance to win a scholarship to SNHU and publication in The Penmen Review. After receiving more than 750 submissions, a panel of creative writing experts considered several factors during their…

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Instructor Spotlight: Adrienne Kisner and Melissa Marr

Each year, the Word for Word Literary Series dedicates an event to instructors from Southern New Hampshire University’s (SNHU) online creative writing programs. This year, the spotlight was on young adult literature, with instructors Adrienne Kisner and Melissa Marr reading and discussing their work. Adrienne Kisner is the author of three…

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Word for Word, Featuring Special Guest Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

On Wednesday, October 16, the Word for Word Literary Series welcomed award-winning author Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. His debut collection, Friday Black, was a New York Times bestseller, won the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s…

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Silhouette of people in graduation gowns holding up their caps

6 Creative Writing Grads Discuss Creative Inspiration and Next Steps

On Wednesday, June 26th, 2024, Word for Word, Southern New Hampshire University’s (SNHU) online literary series, proudly welcomed recent graduates from the BA, MA and online MFA creative writing programs.   Six readers were selected by capstone and thesis instructors for their exceptional storytelling skills and high literary achievement: Kori Elise Chamberlin and…

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Paul LeBlanc

Dr. Paul LeBlanc Discusses Liberal Arts and the Future of AI

On Wednesday, May 22, Word for Word, Southern New Hampshire University’s (SNHU) online literary series, was honored to welcome Dr. Paul J. LeBlanc as our special guest. LeBlanc served as president of SNHU and is the author of two nonfiction books: “Students First: Equity, Access, and Opportunity in Higher Education”…

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