Year: 2021

Happy winter issue of Whale Road Review! “Is it winter / yet?” Yvanna Vien Tica’s poem begins, and inside this issue, it is. Reading these creative pieces—which feature space, trains, fossils, and so much more—feels a lot like unwrapping gifts.

Issue 25 features poetry and short prose by Abra Bertman, Annette C. Boehm, Marisa P. Clark, Joanne Clarkson, Hollie Dugas, Diane D. Gillette, Rick Hollon, Ra’Niqua Lee, Tingyu Liu, Jory Mickelson, Cameron Morse, J. Alan Nelson, Carolyn Oliver, Simon Perchik, Lisa Raatikainen, Gretchen Rockwell, Angeline Schellenberg, Matthew Schultz, Martha Silano, Meg Stout, Claire Sunberg, and Yvanna Vien Tica.

In our pedagogy papers, Melody Heide teaches students to love their darlings while Bupinder Singh teaches descriptive writing with mindfulness.

The reviews in this issue by Jessica Gigot, Meghan Sterling, and K. Andrew Turner take us inside a flash fiction collection by John Brantingham and new poetry collections by Holly J. Hughes and Robin Reagler.

To close the issue, we have two insightful interviews with writers named Sarah: Riley Breitbarth interviewed Sarah Bigham about her experimental memoir, Kind Chemist Wife: Musings at 3 a.m., and Angie Dribben interviewed Sarah J. Sloat about her collection of Stephen King erasure poetry, Hotel Almighty.

Please spread some holiday cheer and tip the authors who have “Tip the Author” links under their bios! If you’re also a writer, please visit our guidelines and send us your work during our December submission window. Thanks for reading!

Katie Manning
Editor-in-Chief

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Thanks for joining us for the Fall 2021 issue of Whale Road Review! This issue provides a full spread of autumn vibes: from a harvest moon, pumpkins, and apple trees to carnivals, cemeteries, and body horror. The creative pieces will invite you in with cup of tea and leave you dreaming with the oldest dog.

Issue 24 features poetry and short prose by Jordi Alonso, Sarah Cavar, Brittney Corrigan, Jesse Curran, Martins Deep, Risa Denenberg, Eleri Denham, Cat Dixon, Samantha Fain, Marc Frazier, Trivarna Hariharan, Karah Kemmerly, Sue Mell, Matt Miller, Julie L. Moore, Diane Payne, Ren Pike, Rachel Pittman, Luci Shaw, Nova Wang, Emma Williams, and Melody Wilson.

For more teaching ideas, check out this issue’s creative writing pedagogy papers: Rebecca Lauren offers craft sheets for building protagonists, Katie Darby Mullins takes inspiration from an Aimee Mann song for an exercise in negation, and Annaleta Nichols makes figurative language more accessible by breaking it down to form and meaning.

The reviews in this issue explore a flash memoir collection by Joanna Penn Cooper and new poetry collections by River Dixon, Daniel Edward Moore, and Merrijane Rice. Thanks to Claire Bateman, Aarik Danielsen, Theric Jepson, and Bojana Stojcic for sharing these books with us.

Finally, this issue closes with two wonderful interviews: Michael Knotts and Hallie Sneed interviewed Alyse Bensel about her new book, Rare Wondrous Things, and Anna Leahy gathered three poets who are also publishers and/or contest judges— Kelli Russell Agodon, Allison Blevins, and Victoria Chang—to talk about reading, writing, and publishing chapbooks.

If you enjoy the work in this issue, please tip the authors who have “Tip the Author” links under their bios. Even a small amount will mean a lot. Thank you for reading!

Katie Manning
Editor-in-Chief

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Welcome to our Summer 2021 issue of Whale Road Review! This issue teems with life—one poem even brings statues to life—but it’s also haunted by loss, the way many of us are now and always. These pieces are also full of longing: some for travel and others for home, some for the past and others for a better future. These pieces remind me to be gentle with myself. “In the here and now, when there are still so many unknowns,” Kaleb Tutt writes in his review, “we need art to let us know we aren’t alone.”

Issue 23 features poetry and short prose by Deborah Bacharach, Valerie Bacharach, Brian Wallace Baker, Ray Ball, Jack B. Bedell, Jacquelyn Bengfort, Lauren Camp, Sarah Carey, Claire Denson, Suzanne Edison, Ben Egerton, CD Eskilson, Kimberly Glanzman, Talia Gordon, Julia Hands, Jessica Kim, Polchate (Jam) Kraprayoon, Aaron LoPatin, Alice Lowe, Amy Miller, and Danielle Rose.

The pedagogy papers in this issue invite students to shake up their craft to get at truth, to calm their inner critic, and to find time to write even in the busiest schedule. These papers will likely be useful reminders for all of us in addition to offering helpful activities for those who teach. Thanks to Jacey de la Torre, Diane Forman, and Beverly Army Williams for sharing their work.

This issue’s reviews delve into new novels by Tara Lynn Marta and Michael Pritchett and a new poetry collection by Preston Smith. Thanks also to Sara Pisak, Robert Stewart, and Kaleb Tutt for these summer reading suggestions!

The closer for this issue is a spectacular interview with Jason Schwartzman (but not that Jason Schwartzman), author of No One You Know: Strangers and the Stories We Tell, conducted by the delightfully detailed interviewer Laura Evers.

If you have the means, please tip the authors who have “Tip the Author” links under their bios. Even small amounts will add up, and you’ll let them know that you value their work. Thank you for reading!

Katie Manning
Editor-in-Chief

P.S. We just reopened for our June reading period, so if you’re also a writer, we’d love to read your poetry and short prose.

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Welcome to our Spring 2021 issue and to the sixth year of Whale Road Review!

We’re in awe of the creative pieces in this issue. They seem to call and respond to each other, especially on the subjects of parents, lovers, and God. Issue 22 features poetry and short prose by Nadia Arioli, Heather Bourbeau, Caroliena Cabada, Kai Coggin, Barbara Crooker, Nicelle Davis, Sheila Dong, Auden Eagerton, Luciana Francis, Katie Karnehm-Esh, Sally Rosen Kindred, Anna Leahy, Courtney LeBlanc, Marjorie Maddox, Fatima Malik, Dayna Patterson, Michele Sharpe, Gail Thomas, Rodd Whelpley, Sunni Brown Wilkinson, Chila Woychik, Sarah Yang, and Wei Zheng.

In the pedagogy papers, Alison Lowenstein offers timely tips for running a virtual drop-in writing workshop, John Gerard Fagan uses letter writing to teach balance in creative nonfiction, and E. K. Taylor borrows the format of speed dating to focus and improve peer critique.

This issue’s reviews take us inside new poetry collections by Grace Carras, Jennifer L. Knox, and Frank Watson and into a new anthology from The Sheddies, a group of poets in Belfast, Maine. Thanks also to Cheryl Caesar, Nate Logan, Thomas R. Moore, and Jim O’Loughlin for their thoughtful work.

As a grand finale, this issue also features a fantastic interview with Caroline Earleywine, author of Lesbian Fashion Struggles, conducted by Risa Denenberg, co-founder Headmistress Press.

If you enjoy this issue and have the means, please tip the authors whose pages have a “Tip the Author” link under the bio. Thank you for reading! We hope you and yours are well and that better days are ahead.

Katie Manning
Editor-in-Chief

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