by N. Ryan Tucker “Train a Comin’” placed first in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2024 Fall Fiction Contest. I don’t remember makin’ the devil no damn deal. Musta bargained with him when I was a kid. Can’t call to mind much of them times anyway. I knew it weren’t no…
Featured Writing
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…
Word for Word Spotlights Poets Carla Sameth and Stephanie Wytovich
Each year, Southern New Hampshire University’s (SNHU) Word for Word Literary Series dedicates an event to instructors from its online creative writing programs. This year, the spotlight was on poetry for the first time ever, with instructors Carla Rachel Sameth and Stephanie M. Wytovich reading and discussing their work. Stephanie…
Word for Word, Featuring Special Guest Morgan Talty
On October 11, 2023, Word for Word, Southern New Hampshire University’s (SNHU) online literary series, kicked off its 2023-24 season with special guest author, Morgan Talty, a citizen of the Penobscot Indian Nation who lives in Levant, Maine. Talty is the author of the critically acclaimed story collection “Night of…
6 Creative Writing Graduates Discuss Their Next Chapters
On Wednesday, June 14, 2023, Word for Word, Southern New Hampshire University’s (SNHU) online literary series, held its final event of the season, where we spotlighted six recent graduates of the Master of Arts in Creative Writing and Online Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing programs. Because of the…
Indie Publishing Experts Offer Advice on Successful Book Promotion
On Wednesday, May 17, 2023, Word for Word, Southern New Hampshire University’s (SNHU) online literary series, convened a panel of indie-publishing experts to explore nontraditional paths to publication. Hosts Jacob Powers and Paul Witcover, the associate deans of SNHU’s online creative writing programs, welcomed three distinguished panelists: Gavin Grant, Michael…
Indie Publishing Experts Discuss Costs and Scams for Authors to Consider
On Wednesday, May 17, 2023, Word for Word, Southern New Hampshire University’s (SNHU) online literary series, convened a panel of indie-publishing experts to explore nontraditional paths to publication. Hosts Jacob Powers and Paul Witcover, the associate deans of SNHU’s online creative writing programs, welcomed three distinguished panelists: Gavin Grant, Michael…
Word for Word Honors SNHU’s Fall Fiction Contest Winners
On Wednesday, January 18, 2022, the Word for Word Reading Series at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) featured the winners of the annual Fall Fiction Contest. This year’s contest had over six hundred submissions. The five winners — Douglas Goff, Tim Brumbaugh, Michael Cabrera, H. Derek Pursley and Kevin Broccoli…
Announcing the Winners of the 2021 Fall Fiction Contest
The 7th 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 650 submissions, a panel of creative writing experts considered several factors during their review, including originality, structure, character arc, language and whether it was engaging. Once the…
The Penmen Profile: A Q&A with Award-Winning Fiction Writer Caitlin Starling
by Nicholas Patterson Caitlin Starling is an award-winning fiction writer who creates original and unique horror stories that encapsulate speculative fiction’s broad reach. For example, you can probably find “Luminous Dead” on the science fiction shelf of your local bookstore, although this novel is not your typical sci-fi work. Starling…
Announcing the Winners of the 2020 Fall Fiction Contest
The 6th 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 650 submissions, a panel of creative writing experts considered several factors during their review, including originality, structure, character arc, language and whether it was engaging. Cyndle Plaisted Rials, an…