Featured Writing

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Those Who Suffer

by Kelly Sicard May we open our eyes  to those who suffer.  But if we are blind,  may their cries and stories  reach our ears.  And if we are deaf,  may their voices echo  so they quake in our hearts. And if our hearts are hardened,  may memories of grace-filled hands  lifting us crack them open. And if our…

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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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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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