by Betty Stanton Hands smelled of smoke long before the match was struck. We stacked the wood too high, and it swayed with the weight of grief. The fire took its time choosing which bones to touch. Ash gathered in our throats, and we swallowed without protest. Someone said the word sacrifice, but it tasted…
On Wednesday, February 18, 2026, the Word for Word Literary Series welcomed award-winning writer Malinda Lo! Lo is the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels, including, most recently, A Scatter of Light. Her novel Last Night at the Telegraph Club won the National Book Award, the Stonewall Book Award, the Asian/Pacific…
Michelle Shreeve ’15G ’16G was a child when she lost her mother, and resources were limited for young families coping with the death of a parent. This experience fueled her desire to help others deal with similar grief, and through her love of writing, she addressed what hadn’t been available when…
On Wednesday, January 14, 2026, the Word for Word Reading Series at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) featured the winners of the Penmen Review’s eleventh annual Fall Fiction Contest. This year’s contest had more than 900 submissions, from which five winners were chosen: First place, “How to Eat a Pomegranate,”…
The 11th 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 hundreds of submissions, a panel of creative writing experts considered several factors during their review,…
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….
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…
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…
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…