Congratulations to Jacob Tisdale of Martinsburg, Virginia, this year's winner of the $2,000 scholarship. Jacob will be attending University of Virginia to study Media Studies. 

Pamela K. Kinney will be selling and signing her books at Fantasci at Chesapeake Central Library, 298 Cedar Rd., Chesapeake, VA from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on July 24, 2021.

Write By the Rails, a VWC chapter, has released their new anthology, Confetti, available now at www.amazon.com! 

Write By the Rails also began a Summer Reading Book Drive on June 1, 2021. They are donating books to disadvantaged kids in the community. Your purchase can help us reach our goal of donating 100+ new books! Please select from the list found at Amazon.com and ship to their collection address. Your contribution will make a big difference! Questions? Email writebytherails@gmail.com

  J. Stewart Willis:  Requiem for Geraldine Gerbil; Released 5/5/21; Published by Bair Ink Books

Judith Helms:  Grudge Tiger; Released 5/25/21; Published by TouchPoint Press 

Diane M. Finlayson:  Yoga Therapy Foundations, Tools, and Practice: A Comprehensive Textbook; Released 6/21/21; Published by Singing Dragon

Dawn Brotherton:  Eastover Treasures; Released 6/22/21; Published by Blue Dragon Publishing, LLC

 Jenna Harte:  Death of a Coupon Queen: A Sophie Parker Coupon Mystery (book 2); To be released 7/14/2021; Published by Camel Press

The official publication date of Oliver's Travels was May 18 and I was excited to celebrate the launch of the book with a Zoom event. If you weren't able to attend, you might still be able to hear/see me talk about the book in the coming week at one of these events: Big Blend Radio Interview On Sunday, May 23 at 2 pm EDT, I'll be appearing on Big Blend Radio/Champagne Sundays with Lisa and Nancy. I've been on their show before and they're great fun. Their show is all about travel, so this book is a great fit for them. Tune in for the live interview, or check out the recording later. Hidden Timber Books Reading Also on Sunday, May 23, I'll be giving a Zoom reading at 3 pm EDT in the Small Press Author Reading Series with Hidden Timber Books. This is a great series featuring authors from small presses. I'm really looking forward to giving a reading from Oliver's Travels and talking to the hosts. Registration is required, after which you'll receive a Zoom link.   KGB Bar Reading On Wednesday, May 26 at 7 pm EDT, I'll join my friends Kim Coleman Foote and Virginia Pye in a ticketed online reading to support KGB Bar. KGB is a storied NYC venue for author readings and music performances that has been hit hard by the pandemic. We hope to raise a little money for this literary touchstone. Just $10. Purchase tickets here.

More events coming!

I’m busily lining up events for May and beyond in support of my new novel, Oliver’s Travels. Check out the events schedule on my website. And do let me know if you’re aware of a reading series, book club, or festival I might be able to visit. 

The 2021 Navigating Your Writing Life Symposium is right around the corner (August 7 and 8). Like last year it will be held online, but this year, there will be twice as many workshops. Plus, we're very excited to have Jane Friedman back as our keynote! 

The symposium committee is now reaching out for sponsors and advertisers. We have a variety of levels and options to fit every budget. 

Visit the sponsor page to learn more!

Melinda Crocker:  Killing Spring, Released 9/9/2020

R. Morgan Armstrong:  A Serving of Revenge, Released 11/15/2020, Published by Dementi Milestone Publishing, Inc.

David Barudin:  Alternate Routes: Coming of Age in America's Largest Generation, Released 1/15/2021

J. Thomas Brown:  Saint Elmo's Light, Released 1/19/2021, Published by Fenghuang Publishing

Lenette Howard:  Love on the Half-Shell, Released 1/21/2021

Elizabeth Spencer Spragins:  Waltzing with Water: Tempos in Verse, Released 1/24/2021, Published by Shanti Arts Publishing

Jane Harrington:  "Strangers on the Road," an excerpt from upcoming novel In Circling Flight, Released 2/8/2021, Published by New Square literary journal

Kathy Davis:  Passiflora, Released 2/13/2021, Published by Cider Press Review

Richard L. Rose:  PushBack, Released 2/15/2021, Published by Atmosphere Press

Erwin K. Thomas:  A Life of Prayer: Devotions & Pandemic, Released 2/15/2021

Patrice Wilkerson:  "Hellacious Times," Released 2/18/2021, Published by The African Magazine

Steve L. Garay, Jr.:  "Just Passin' Through!," Released 3/1/2021, Published by Senior News

Joanne Liggan:  F.A.C.T.S. Bible Study Guide, Book 3 (Luke, Mark), Released 3/4/2021

J. Elizabeth Vincent (Janell Robisch):  Rise of the Ceo San, Released 3/12/2021, Published by Mistweave Press

Jessie D. Eaker:  Assassin of Curses, Released 3/25/2021

Stephen H. Provost:  Highways of the South, Published 3/28/2021, Published by Dragon Crown Books

Brent Allen Bohn:  Hands Faster Than Lightning - The Stagecoach, Released 4/5/2021

Palmer Smith:  The Butterfly Bruises, To be released 5/15/2021, Published by Press Dionysus of London

Sandra Stosz:  Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass:  Leading in Uncharted Waters, To be released 6/1/2021, Published by Koehler Books

Please join Clifford Garstang in conversation with Christina Chiu, celebrating the publication of Cliff’s new novel, Oliver’s Travels. Registration is required for the event hosted by The Book Dragon Bookshop of Staunton, Virginia. May 18, 2021, 7:00 pm EDT Register in advance for this event: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIscumhqTkrE9wBgfCeGng5L13VT3yeJSm3 After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Signed copies of the book are available for purchase and pick-up in Staunton from The Book Dragon at 102 W. Beverley Street, 540-712-7941. For buyers outside of Staunton, please support the store by ordering from The Book Dragon on Bookshop.org. You can still pre-order from the publisher or your favorite independent bookstore. Or pre-order from Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon. Clifford Garstang is the author of the novels Oliver’s Travels and The Shaman of Turtle Valley as well as three story collections: House of the Ancients and Other Stories, What the Zhang Boys Know, winner of the Library of Virginia Literary Award for Fiction, and In an Uncharted Country, winner of an Independent Publisher Gold Medal. He is also the editor of the acclaimed anthology series, Everywhere Stories: Short Fiction from a Small Planet. A former international lawyer, he lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Christina Chiu is the grand prize winner of the James Alan McPherson Award for her novel, Beauty. She is also the author of Troublemaker and Other Saints, published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Troublemaker was an alternate selection for BOMC and QPB, a nominee for a BOMC First Fiction Award, and winner of the Asian American Literary Award. Chiu curates and co-hosts the Pen Parentis Literary Salons in New York City. She received her MFA in writing from Columbia University.   About Oliver’s Travels: Ollie Tucker, a recent college graduate and student of philosophy, is obsessed with truth and the source of knowledge, questioning the validity of everything he hears from his parents, his girlfriend, and even the voices inside his head. In pursuit of the truth and life’s deeper meaning, he invents an alter ego, Oliver, who lives the adventurous and exotic existence Ollie cannot. But Ollie has another problem—a repressed memory of his uncle Scotty that threatens to derail his life, his relationships, and his sexuality. But the memory is a blur. And what he thinks he remembers, he knows is unreliable. The uncertainty is paralyzing. What is the truth? What has his subconscious fabricated? When he learns that his uncle, long-presumed dead, is in fact alive and well, Ollie realizes that to move on with his life and find peace, he must confront his uncle. With wry humor and finely wrought prose, Oliver’s Travels is a shimmering coming-of-age story that explores enduring questions: What do we know? How do we know it? Praise for Oliver’s Travels “In Oliver’s Travels, Clifford Garstang deftly explores the fragility of memory. Ollie, an aspiring writer, must navigate the mundane while, at the same time, imagining a life of fulfillment for his alter ego, Oliver. Garstang displays his gift for contemplation and characterization as Ollie moves undauntedly in search of answers to life’s questions and discovers, in this journey marked with wanderlust, how the past and the present will forever share porous boundaries.” -Jon Pineda, author of Let’s No One Get Hurt “One man’s search for the truth about himself — a tour of his own head that winds up taking him on a tour of the world. A witty, humane meditation on the slippery slope of childhood memory.” -Jonathan Dee, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, author of The Locals and The Privileges “This is a novel with an edge and a heart, constantly riveting and always smart, not to mention funny!  Its humor, in part, derives from the keen intelligence and the pitch-perfect nature of the sterling prose. A must read.” -Fred Leebron, author of Six Figures and Welcome to Christiania  “A twisty metafictional and metaphysical tour of the world – and the author’s mind – that examines not only how humans make stories, but how they make us. Fascinating and endlessly surprising.” -Liam Callanan, author of Paris by the Book and Listen & Other Stories

At the VA Festival of the Book this year, the Moseley Critique group is offering a free critique of the first 100 words of fiction.

All the details are here:

The 30th Anniversary Anthology of Blue Ridge Writers 1991-2021: 

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the founding of Blue Ridge Writers, The 30th Anniversary Anthology of Blue Ridge Writers 1919-2021 has been published in three versions: Color ($24); Black & White ($5.25); and Kindle ($0.99). 

Thanks to the 24 author contributors to the anthology and to the Blue Ridge Anthology Committee for your help on this two-year project:  Morgan Armstrong, Carol Cutler, Warren Groeger, Dory Hulse, Brenda Morris, and Lynn Young. (Former members were Pat Alderman, Joy Krystosek, Louise Mitchell, John Nicolay, and Rosanne Vrugtman.)

The 30th Anniversary Anthology of Blue Ridge Writers was released 12/15/2020 and can be purchased at Amazon.com. 

 Cindy L. Freeman:  After Rain to be released 1/15/2021 by High Tide Publications

 J. Thomas Brown:  Driving With Poppi: A Patremoir to be released 1/12/2021 by IngramSpark/Fenghuang Publishing

 Katherine Gotthardt:  D.C. Ekphrastic: Crisis of Faith was released 12/16/2020 by ATW Publishing

 Brenda Gates Spielman:  Lost Sun was released 12/01/2020 by Blue-Eyed Puffer Fish Publishing

 James Kendley:  The Wine Ghost was released 11/30/2020 and is available at Amazon.com

 Pamela K. Kinney:  "Dementia," a horror poem, was published in the 11/16/2020 edition of the Horror Writers Association's Poetry Showcase VII. 

 The 30th Anniversary Anthology of Blue Ridge Writers was released 12/15/2020 and can be purchased at Amazon.com. 

 To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the founding of Blue Ridge Writers, the 30th Anniversary Anthology of Blue Ridge Writers 1919-2021 has been published in three versions: Color ($24); Black & White ($5.25); and Kindle ($0.99). 

Thanks to the 24 author contributors to the anthology and to the Blue Ridge Anthology Committee for your help on this two-year project:  Morgan Armstrong, Carol Cutler, Warren Groeger, Dory Hulse, Brenda Morris, and Lynn Young. (Former members were Pat Alderman, Joy Krystosek, Louise Mitchell, John Nicolay, and Rosanne Vrugtman.)