Featured Writing

Photo by Lhar Capili on Unsplash

By Our Gate

by Kenneth Pobo our white sweet pea  curls up and above   the top. We don’t let  the gate swing open  for fear of breaking it, no longer use the back  door until frost fells   the vine. My cousin  says we’re foolish—why  cater to a vine? Oh well,  we never did much  like her anyway. A vine  offers no opinions,  makes no demands.    Climb.    That’s what it does— and so well….

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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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Alyssa Cole

Word for Word, Featuring Special Guest Alyssa Cole

On Thursday, February 16, 2023, Word for Word, Southern New Hampshire University’s (SNHU) online literary series, proudly welcomed Alyssa Cole, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of romantic thrillers and more. Her debut thriller, “When No One Is Watching,” won the 2021 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best…

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Writers on Writing

In this compilation video from Charlie Rose, Malcolm Gladwell discusses finding the story, Martin Amis talks about the war on clichés, Zadie Smith speaks of her her faith in fiction, Joan Didion about writing novels, Jonathan Franzen addresses the novelist’s charge and Fran Lebowicz addresses her fear of writing.

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Spotlight on Allen Ginsberg

Poet and activist Allen Ginsberg talks about the resurgence of the 50s Beat Generation of artists and poets—and how Bob Dyland was influenced by Kerouac. He talks also about censorship of his work and others.

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Talking Volumes: Stephen King and Audrey Niffenegger

Bestselling authors Stephen King and Audrey Niffenegger discuss how much they reveal and what they leave to the readers’ imagination with Kerri Miller at the Talking Volumes series at the Fitzgerald Theater in 2009. The second video focuses on each writer’s work environment.

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