The Women Who Submit members included in this post published their work in amazing places during July of 2026. Two of our committed members heard about their publication opportunity through WWS programming and/or another member.
I’ve included an excerpt from published pieces (if available), along with a link (if available) to where the pieces can be purchased and/or read in their entirety. Please take some time to celebrate yourself and your wonderful accomplishments. Thank you and happy submitting!
Congratulations to Michelle Smith for her publication of the poem “Impression” in LA Arts News’ July 2026 Poet’s Place edition (excerpt available below).
Floundering from the “fix”
He lay supine on
the MacArthur Park grass
Glossy eyed staring into space
God’s sky and oxygen
reeled in a human school of fish
Fed him a second chance meal
called Narcan
Bald head body lean from head to toe
Coughed in oxygen mouthed imaginary
bubble gulps of fresh air
Inhale, exhale
Kudos to Angélica M. Yañez whose poem “Filth Eaters” was featured in Anger is a Gift: An Anthology of Resistance and Response Poems to the 2024 Election, produced by Flowersong Press.
Huge shoutout to Karen Yin whose picture book Nice to Eat You was recently released with Orchard Books.
Congratulations to Norma Mendoza-Denton whose academic article “Improvising through Glitches, Clams, and Deterritorialization in Virtual Reality Games” was published in Signs & Society.
Gaming in virtual reality (VR)Footnote4 represents a unique intersection of embodied experience, digital interaction, and improvisational agency. In these environments, players move through virtual spaces as avatars, creating new dynamics in how we understand embodiment, disembodiment, subjectivity, and intersubjectivity. This article examines the theoretical implications of VR gaming as a site for embodied interaction by drawing on Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of the Body without Organs (BwO) (Deleuze and Guattari Reference Deleuze and Guattari 1987), on Goodwin’s analyses of cooperation and multimodal interaction (2008, 2011), and on Duranti’s theorization of clams in improvisation (Duranti and Burrell Reference Duranti, Burrell, Mantovaglio and Zucchermaglio 2005).
Kudos to Elizabeth Galoozis whose poem “The Longest Monday” appeared in the latest issue of The Louisville Review.
Shoutout to Heather Pegas whose fiction piece “for the birds” was featured in The Bookends Review.
In an old country, long ago, a girl is poor. Awkward, pubescent, alone. And likely bound for the convent, her family lacking means. But first to make sure it will do, a test. The girl must wash for the sisters, and what little she earns will help her family. As she works one day in the hot bright light, she is joined by an old nun. No, up close, she is still of middle age. The girl’s friends have always laughed at this lady—her flighty air, her whiskers. Her pointy beak of a nose! But as the girl works alongside the nun, discolored linens in the mangle, they discuss this girl’s sorry faith, all her doubts, her rage. The nun makes the girl’s questions clear, and they plan to talk more. It is a surprise to the girl, this catechism. On this day, she thinks she sees God.
*Feature image credit to Margaret Gallagher*