Featured Writing

Image by Roman Kogomachenko from Pixabay

Cigarette Breaks

by Sam Hendrian Needed to cut her nails  For three weeks now  But also needed a new clipper And didn’t want to waste the dough.   Sat on the curb outside of Ralph’s  Dreaming of the afterlife Not caring if it was heaven or hell Since either way she wouldn’t have to dream anymore.  Rebuilt her social…

read more...

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…

read more...

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….

read more...

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…

read more...

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…

read more...

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….

read more...

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…

read more...