Let's be honest: 2021 wasn't easy. In a year of continued challenges we needed our writing community more than ever—to support each other during the tough times and to celebrate one another's successes.
That's why in this final week of the year we are championing the good news of our amazing local writers in The Lit Cleveland Celebration of Northeast Ohio Writers!
Below are the publications, awards, and other accomplishments of our local writing. Although we tried to be as comprehensive as possible, the list below is just the tip of the literary iceberg. We encourage everyone to read these local writers and celebrate their successes.
Books
Fiction
The Invincible Girls Club (Books 1-3) by Rachele Alpine (Children's Chapter Book Series | Simon & Schuster)
Book of Ruth: A Tale of Great Loves by Mary Kathleen Glavich, SND (Historical Biblical | Self Published)
Valley of Sages; House of the Wild Fox by Susan Kynett (Historical Fantasy | Page Publishing)
Offered Magic: My Life Among the Unicorns by Holly Maholm (LGBTQ+ | More Time Products)
Stories for the (Urban) Soul by Nicole D. Miller (Black Christian Fiction | Self Published)
The Gulch Jumpers (2nd Edition release) by Catherine Pomeroy (Women’s Fiction | No Bad Books Press)
Pinholes: Traveling Through the Curtain of the Night by Cat Russell (Humorous Science Fiction | Writing Knights Press)
Galactic Hellcats by Marie Vibbert (Science Fiction | Vernacular Press)
Body of Stars by Laura Maylene Walter (Literary Fiction | Dutton)
The Munchkins by Candice Zee (Middle-Grade Fantasy | Candice Zee)
Nonfiction
Blood in the Water:America's Assault on Innovation by Kip Azzoni Doyle with Scott Burr (Engineering| Self Published)
Suture: Trauma and Trans Becoming by KJ Cerankowski ( Memoir | Punctum Books)
The Flying Sabuki by E.S. Curry (Family | Cognition.Media)
I Have Not Loved You With My Whole Heart by Cris Harris (Memoir | Oregon State University Press)
Duran Duran 'Rio' by Annie Zaleski (Music and Cultural Criticism | Bloomsbury 33 1/3 Series)
Poetry
The Enemy of My Enemy is Me by Conor Bracken (Diode Editions)
The Improper Use of Plates by Angelo Maneage (Ghost City Press)
Do Us a Favor by Kevin A. Risner (Variant Literature)
Cloudland: the secret land that only I can see by Regan Noelle Smith (Self)
Train of Thoughts by Veronica D Thornton (Vee's Consulting Llc)
Writing
Short Stories
“Creatures of Habit, Habits of Creatures” by Lisa Ferranti (Gordon Square Review)
“Girl Scouts in Exile” by Julie Innis (The Greensboro Review)
“an ear, a heart, a life a life a life” by Rachel Abbey McCafferty (Emerge Literary Journal)
“Rule 49” by Maureen McGuirk Alternative Deathiness Anthology / B Cubed Press
“Danny Called” by Grant Segall (Marathon Literary Review, Arcadia University)
“Polish Dragon P. I. (The Lineage Sword)” by Steve Zimcosky (Self-published)
Essays & Articles
“May 29, 1921: Jack Graney's Grand Slam, Two Home Runs Help Cleveland Beat Browns in St. Louis” by Ray Danner (Society of American Baseball Research)
“All You Need is Love…and Research: A Mother-Son Team Navigate a Non-Aggressive Approach to Breast Cancer” by Debra Rex George and Daniel R. George (Breast Cancer Inside Out)
“When the Salve Stopped the Bleeding” by Amy London (The Nasiona)
“On Beauty Interrupted” by Marsha McGregor (A Harp in the Stars: An Anthology ofLyric Essays | University of Nebraska Press)
“Burst young people’s bubbles by exposing them to diverse viewpoints, experiences” by Raquel Santiago (Plain Dealer Op-Ed)
"The MOVE bombing was a Philadelphia tragedy — and an American one" by Mistinguette Smith (Philadelphia Inquirer OpEd)
Poems
“Once” by Cathy Barber (The Hopper)
“Upstairs & Downstairs Teachers” by Laura Evers (Overheard Literary Magazine)
“Aesthetic for Today: Celebration of People” by Nina Gibans (Self Published)
"Haiku" by Jill Lange (The Awakened One)
"Two poems" by Cora McCann Liderbach (The Broadkill Review)
“Why We Fished” by Michael Loderstedt (NC Literary Review)
“Senior Pressure”by Jean Ann Owens (Former People Journal)
“Only in the movies” by Ken Tomaro (The Poet Heroic podcast)
“Ancestry” by Tracey Wiley (The Black Experience: Poetry & Other Writings)
Awards
Cathy Barber was named Literary Artist of the Month by Heights Arts
Lisa Ferranti made The Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions 2021 Longlist for “When Plan A Goes Awry”
Joe Kapitan was nominated for Best of the Net by Pithead Chapel for “The Blizzard of ‘78”
Jill Lange was named Literary Artist of the Month by Heights Arts
Michael Loderstedt won the James Applewhite Poetry Prize for the poem “Why We Fished”
Amy London was a finalist in the Nasiona Micro-Nonfiction / Poetry Writing Prompts Series, Tournament #6
Kelly Boyer Sagert is a finalist for Best Documentary Award at the Erie International Film Festival for “This is for Trail Magic: The Grandma Gatewood Story
Robin Beth Schaer was awarded a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts
Ken Schneck received the Sarah Pettit Memorial Award for the LGBTQ Journalist of the Year by the National LGBTQ+ Journalism Association
Tracey Wiley was the winner of The Process Poetry Contest for the poem “Enough”
Steve Zimcosky was awarded a Literary Titan Silver Award for “Polish Dragon, P.I.”
Performances
Lisa Chiu read “Hungry Ghost” at the Taiwanese American Cultural Festival - Kòo-sū: A Storytelling Experience
Angela Gartner was selected to read at Noir: Writing Inspired by Odilon Redon by the Cleveland Museum of Art and Literary Cleveland
Forthcoming
The Invincible Girls Club (Books 4 & 5) by Rachele Alpine (Coming July 2022 and September 2022)
“In Another Closet” by Gail Arnoff (Coming Winter 2022)
We Drove Out to the Desert by Scott Burr (Coming Spring 2022)
No Way In the Skin Without This Bloody Embrace by Jean D’Amérique, translated by Conor Bracken (Coming May 2022)
“Where the Fixer Uppers Run Free” by Hope Houston (Coming early 2022)
Uncultured: A Memoir by Daniella Mestyanek Young with Brandi Larsen (Coming September 2022)
101: Everything You Need to Know from One Author to Another by Nicole Miller (Coming January 2022)
Four and a Half Billion People by Catherine Pomeroy (Coming June 2022)
Love is a steak more gristle than meat by Ken Tomaro (Coming 2022)
“The Domesticated Satan: A Guide” by Laura Maylene Walter (Coming early 2022)
Applause: Lady Gaga by Annie Zaleski (Coming Spring 2022)
Did we miss your 2021 accomplishment? Let us know!
