by D.R. James A butterfly’s flapping over Costa Rica,it’s sometimes considered, could initiatethe chain that leads to tornados in Toledo,hopping and ripping the heartfrom every-other quotidian home. Or maybe its deft stretch-and-glidecould instigate the violent Mississippi’ssurprising rise beyond its subtle, stolid realm—the dainty queen behind that vast rebellion. So I…
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….
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…