The Women Who Submit members included in this post published their work in amazing places during August of 2025.ย Four of our committed members heard about an opportunity through WWS programming and/or another member.
Iโve 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 this last stretch of summer. Thank you and happy submitting!
Congratulations to Tanzila Ahmed whose creative nonfiction piece “Eavesdropping as a Solidarity Tactic” was published in the imprint We Are Civic Media by Northwestern University Press.
Big kudos to Donna Spruijt-Metz whose poetry collection Wu Wei Eats an Egg was published with Ben Yehuda Press.
Shoutout to Dinah Berland whose poem “Between the Lines” was featured in Van Spuk Art Books.
I heard Leonard Cohenโs โHallelujahโ sung in Spanish at a funeral last week, twice โ Processional and Communion. Stained glass shook loose & boomeranged rose-gold sharps into tall-boned Jesus till he swayed between stone femurs like a receiver in a phone booth waiting for his last phone call from God. Your last call went to voicemail, then you hung up on yourself.
Kudos to Vibiana Aparicio-Chamberlin whose chapbook As Mexican as a Nopal was selected as a shortlist finalist in Four Feather Press’ Chapbook Prize.
Shoutout to Dรฉsirรฉe Zamorano whose novel The Amado Women was republished with Lee & Low Books.
Congratulations to Lisa Eve Cheby whose poem “Witnessing” appeared in Cultural Daily.
last night I dreamt I was interrogated by I.C.E.
they knew about how I ghosted Esteban after one date, about the small, behind the scenes disputes in our non-profit writersโ group of women who refuse to submit.
I only wanted to imagine a world of liberation and joy, not how to integrate the mundane with the horrific.
on the 4th of July with the day laborers in the Home Depot parking lot we ate mango and piรฑa cream paletas from Salโs cart.
Kudos to Heather Pegas whose creative nonfiction piece “Family Lore: A Semi-History” was featured in The Muleskinner Journal.
Maybe Connie made her special soup at the diner, maybe she saves one bowl to bring home.
Perhaps she intends it for her father, or maybe she was keeping it for herself after shopping, vacuuming, washing, drying and folding the family laundry. My beautiful aunt, the one they only half-jokingly call โthe maid,โ puts her soup in the icebox, I imagine, saving it for later.
It is not to be. Her brothers come home all at once, and they encounter the soup.
I want that, says George, the eldest. Iโm going to eat it.
Not so fast, says Manny, the second son, muscling in. I want it too.
And lastly, shoutout to Dilys Wyndham Thomas whose poem entitled “Titan[ic]” was published in Mslexia Magazine’s 107th Issue.
The Women Who Submit members included in this post published their work in amazing places during July of 2025.One of our committed members heard about an opportunity through WWS programming and/or another member.
Iโve 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 this summer. Thank you and happy submitting!
From his balcony, the night sky is a portal to a pinhole of other livesโsome barely visible. As if what is remembered grows far away. This is the way life is: You are always here on hard soil and what you want is north or south of you. Sometimes I think death is a sky so black we leave all our lives behind.
Shoutout to Mary Camarillo who wrote a book review entitled “Locals Only, The Golden Women of Orange Countyโ in Citric Acid of Women in a Gold State: California Poets at 60 and Beyond, an anthology collection which features many WWS members’ work.
Iโve been an Orange County woman since 1966 when I was fourteen and my fatherโs aerospace job transferred him to Santa Monica from Charlotte, North Carolina. The Beach Boys sang about โCalifornia Girlsโ on the radio as we drove across the country. I couldnโt wait to be one, but when we settled in Fountain Valley, California, I realized I didnโt quite fit the profile. I wasnโt blond, my skin never tanned, and I wasnโt allowed to wear a French bikini.
Iโve never felt like a true California girl, but almost sixty years later, California is still my home. And now, as โa woman of a certain age in youth-obsessed California,โ Iโm delighted to be included in a new anthology from Gunpowder Press, Women in a Golden State, California Poets at 60 and Beyond.
It was boiling hot in Simi Valley on the day I first visited Bottle Village. I was not yet twelve years old and wore cotton, shortie pajamas, the only clothes that didnโt scrape like sandpaper against the sunburn Iโd acquired the day before at Will Rogers State Beach. For close to ten days, weโd been travelling the back roads from Albuquerque, New Mexico to the Golden State with dad at the wheel of a brown Chevy pick-up heโd dubbed โDaedalus.โ My grandmother, Rose, rode shotgun, and, in the back, under the camper shell, me, my brother, and our three best friends from school nestled in sleeping bags, loose as popcorn. Weโd been to Disneyland and Knottโs Berry Farm, but Dad was never content with only the main tourist spots. He ballpoint tattooed the pages of his Rand McNally road atlas with alternate routes, and drew stars to mark roadside attractions, artistsโ homes, and miscellaneous wonders.
Move-in day at UC Santa Barbara in the fall of 1998 was quick. We packed up my momโs gray dodge van. My older sister would drive, my things were in the back and some girls from Latinas Guiding Latinas de UCLA would join us. My stuff fit in a couple cardboard boxes, and we had plenty of room. I would never again have such little stuff to move and pack.
Mom and dad could not come, it was only my sister, like always she was taking care of me. My parents had to hustle and work. But I had my sisters, so that comforted me.
Shoutout to M. Anne Kala’i whose poem “Emancipation” appeared in Hawai’i Pacific Review.
I.
Mother didnโt teach me how to garden. She taught me to pack up a house after the water turned off, then the lights. Well-labeled boxes swallowed our things and spit out new cities. I learned you can change your heart and name after a hand in marriage and divorce, marriage and divorce. I canโt fix cars or build shelves and Iโve never been able to save money, but I run like her and I always get away.
In a blog post published last month, PRSAโs Los Angeles Chapter President Marisol Barrios Perez, APR, wrote, โI urge our PR community to do what we do best: Raise our voices. Because when we speak together โ with purpose, with clarity and with courage โ we shape the narrative. And we stand on the right side of history.โ
Indeed, these are unprecedented times that call for unprecedented measures. Just a glimpse at the last six months in Los Angeles, where I live, is telling. January started with the deadliest and most destructive wildfires in the stateโs history. In early June, the president sent the National Guard and Marines to our streets, exchanging insults and accusations with California Gov. Newsom in the process. With a softening job market, an uncertain economy and a fragile geopolitical climate, itโs enough to make you want to hide under the covers and wait for calmer days.
Shoutout to Mahru Elahi whose creative nonfiction piece “Summoning” was picked up by Multiplicity Magazine.
In my dreams, I am dressed in loose clothing and rise into the air with only a thought, guided by the warmth in my belly. Usually it is night, but sometimes the sun is out. I am alone and curious, and propel myself high above the landscape, delighting in the patterned streets and rolling hills, the geometry of buildings. When I wake from these dreams, the feeling in my belly is a reminder of where Iโve gone. I replay gauzy snatches of dream-memory throughout the day, the lightness that filled me. I want to return, to live again suspended above the earth.
I have always had dreams of flight. They come less often the older I get, and I am missing something from their absence.
Congratulations to Monica Cure who published a poem entitled “A Reading of the Seagull” in Volume 119 of Poet Lore.
Kudos to Sophie Hamel whose fiction piece “The Pythia” was featured in The Plentitudes.
From the stone bleachers of Delphiโs ancient theater, the view of the Parnassus mountains had a before-civilization-turned-everything-ugly charm we all wanted a slice of. We took pictures, crowding the frame with our friends and defiant smiles.
The cultural field trip had so far taken us from one half-column to the next with the regularity of burning sunshine. Today, we were blessed with a mostly intact theater. Unfortunately, it was about to be a stage once again. We shifted in our seats as Mrs. Perlotti marched to the orchestraโs center.
โQuiet,โ she said, the word harnessing power as it glided up to the seats Justine and I had claimed. โOne of you will read a poem to the rest of the class, who will li-sten,โ she over-articulated as if the concept couldnโt be grasped by our still-growing teenager brains.
Big shoutout to Diana Radovan who published a poetry collection entitled Seasons of Change with Outpost Press.
The Women Who Submit members included in this post published their work in amazing places during April 2025. Five our committed members heard about an opportunity through WWS programming and/or another member.
Iโve 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 a moment to extend congratulations to our members who had their work published this month. Thank you and happy submitting!
Let’s begin by congratulating Amy Raasch who placed two poems โWhy I Am Not a Gravediggerโ and โAshesโ in the anthology Angel City Review: Ten Years of Poetry in L.A. Excerpt of the the former is available below:
I like to go to the diner, drink coffee, and listen to Barbara talk shit. Barbara doesnโt work the graveyard shift. I tell her, church basement flooded so we held the reception at the house. I tell her nobody will sit in my motherโs kitchen chair; the air is too thick with her unanswered questions.
Kudos to Romaine Washington who published a poem in Cholla Needles 100 produced by Cholla Needles Publishing.
Shoutout to Ronna Magy who published a poem entitled “Ode to the Female Body” with Sinister Wisdom 136: Icons.
Congratulations to Natalie Warther whose flash fiction pieces “Four Dads” and “Even the Horses” were featured in Had Journal. She also published fiction piece “Outside Husband” in Xray Literary Magazine (see excerpt of the latter below).
The survivalist stuff started as a hobby for my husband. An attempt to disconnect from the tech-dependent modern world. But quickly, our renovated backyard started looking more like a trash dump than a place to entertain the neighbors. He just kept making โtools.โ Dental floss snares. Crayon candles. Pantyhose fishing nets. Dryer lint tinder. Maple syrup mouse traps. He used every single trash bag in the house for the water collection system.
Huge shoutout to Elizabeth Galoozis whose book Law of the Letter has been published with Inlandia Institute.
Please join me in congratulating Jacqueline Lyons whose hybrid creative nonfiction piece “Dialogic: Except the Rain” appeared in Eastern Iowa Review.
Dear John, ย A new year, and time to dialogueโthe opposite of breaking upโwith the elements. Especially water. The elements speak with such singularity and purpose, ferrying blue glyphs as the crow flies, while human nerve bundles shoulder a mix of fear and longing, more list than image. All of us, most of the time, of at least two minds. Giant Sequoia, Sparrows, and Sharks too. ย Except for the taco truck near the intersection of Los Angeles Avenue and Somis Road that concentrates its powers inward and births an illuminated island,ย anย horchataย oasis, a candle in the window radiant after 9 pm. Committed, they do not offerย combinaciรณnย plates.
But my story differs from others you may have read regarding African American homeowners in Altadena, who were devastated by the Eaton Fire.
Twenty-five years ago, the arms wrapped around mine, which were wrapped around my own shivering frame, belonged to my soon-to-be husband, Phillip. โWhere are we?โ I asked. I hadnโt seen my breath hang in the air since my last camping trip to the Angeles National Forest.
I, too, have known the dark chocolate thrill of a kiss against the wall of a mausoleum. Our hunger pangs caused us
trouble โ the semiotics of leather jackets, animal prints. Night smudges the lines, sexual and otherwise. I know how lonely it is
to grow beside a lover who remains dead inside the narrative he chose. You think I donโt watch
Kudos to Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo whose poem “Motherless Mothers and the Daughters They Bear” was also featured in in Mayday Magazine.
I mother myself gentle because my motherโs hands were rough, cracked, and ruby ringed.
When her mother died, she kept all the jewelry and left me nothing. Maybe when your mother never mothers you,
it makes you a hoarder. Motherโs Day commemorative plates from the 70s to the 90s collect dust on the family piano
that never feels fingers along its keys. A behemoth stand for porcelain plates mocking images of mothering
she never saw.
Congratulations to Michelle Y. Smith who published poems “Windows of My Soul” and “Peace” with Four Feathers Press. Her poem “There is a Sunflower” was also featured in LA Art News’ April Poets Place (excerpt of the latter available below).
His brown coffee Countenance Of disk florets Is framed with maize petals Cheery and happy-go-lucky Spirit pollinates Where he goes He laughter contagious
Happy spring and post-AWP festivities! I greatly enjoyed building community and connecting with so many of you at AWP. It is my honor and pleasure to present this publication roundup featuring so many wonderful writers. The Women Who Submit members included in this post published their work in amazing places during March 2025. One member heard about an opportunity through WWS programming and/or another member. Thank you and happy submitting!
Iโve 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 a moment to extend congratulations to our members who had their work published this month.
Let’s begin by congratulating Danielle Lauren for her fiction piece “Mya Ditches School” being published in Funny Pearls.
โMr. Sinclair, get to class.โ
I still remember Mr. Andersonโs voice that day. High-pitched and dripping with impatience. Uptown rolled his eyes so hard I thought they might stick. I nudged Uptown and he fixed his face before turning around.
โMy bad, Mr. Anderson, we was just trying to find my math book.โ
โAnd what does your math book have to do with Ms. Monroe?โ Mr. Anderson said.
Big kudos to Donna Spruijt-Metz who published her book entitled To Phrase a Prayer for Peace with Wildhouse Publishing.
Congratulations to Sara Ellen Fowler whose poem “Good Mare” appeared in Poetry Daily.
That I was
your simple bit
a bride of pressure and prayer you ground
grinding down
The one who taps your teeth to get you to open
โto be led be led
Shoutout to Anais Godard who published a creative nonfiction piece “How to Cremate your Pet Squirrel” with The Letter Review, which won their prize for nonfiction.
Albert was no ordinary squirrel; he was more like a surrogate child to me, a hairy one who didnโt require a college fund. I had found him at a particularly dark time, right after my first miscarriage and long before the twins came along, at the foot of a giant sequoia. A tiny, shivering ball of fur that looked more like a discarded fetus than a woodland critter. It was love at first sight.ย
Apple TV+โs Spanish language seriesย Las Azulesย (Women in Blue) is set in 1971 and depicts Mexico Cityโs first female police force.1ย Itโs stunning to look at with the delightful โ70s wardrobe, the vintage-inspired color intensity, the midcentury architecture.ย Las Azulesย shares the aesthetic of crรณnica roja, a Latin American branch of contemporary literary journalism. Narratives with blood running through it. The red chronicle searches for ways to express the despair and political frustration of the time, the grittier side of documentarian work. But whereย Las Azulesย really shines is in how it moves beyond prior genres and narrative tropes in its interrogation of intergenerational cycles of violence, how it tries to provide an account of violence against women that is neither sentimental nor noir, but something more like analysis.ย
Kudos to .CHISARAOKWU. whose creative nonfiction piece “A Brief History of Painโ was featured in midnight & indigo.
My origin story begins with pain, or, at the very least, an attempt to avoid it. I was born by cesarean, the doctor believing my size too painful for my mother to push through. Since then, Iโve lived to avoid painโno diving into a lake or pool for fear Iโd hit the bottom and break both legs, quitting volleyball because the ball jammed my piano-playing fingers, staying away from action films because every punch or crash would send intense pain sensations through my body. Avoiding pain was a preoccupation; not wanting to cause pain or discomfort to anyone became a skill.
Shoutout to Jay O’Shea who published a fiction piece entitled “An Unchanged History” with 96th of October: Tales of the Extraordinary.
It doesnโt trouble me when my mother forgets my name. Sheโs 83 and has been in the nursing home for months. A battery of health problems brought her in, but cognitive decline was right up there. The doctors recently switched to calling it dementia.
Her face brightens when I arrive. Then comes a stumble: she calls me Leslie, the name of a cousin long dead. A terrified look crosses her face.
โLorna,โ I offer.
She bounces back, diving into a story Iโve heard dozens of times about a road trip we took when I was in fourth grade, about the locks on the Erie Canal and how I turned cartwheels on the dock. Thatโs not that odd. Old people live in the past. The rest of us live in the future. The present is where none of us want to be.
Big congratulations to Andy Anderegg whose fiction book entitled “Plum” was published with Hub City Writers Project.
Big shoutout to Michelle Smith whose poem “Escalate & Elevate” was published by Four Feathers Press. Her other poem “There’s a Sunflower” was also chosen as their print poetry awards nominee.
Itโs almost time! LA will play host to the iconic writerโs conference, AWP from March 26 – 29th, 2025. So many panels, readings, and off-site gatherings, itโs a lot for a group not especially known as extroverts. Iโm looking at you, fellow writers. But donโt worry, weโve got you covered.
Weโve put together a list to help you connect with other members of Women Who Submit. Itโs a way for you to support old friends and to make new friends. There are a ton of events featuring members. Check them out below. From book signings to readings to moderating, WWS will be representing at AWP.
Here are a few tips to help you get the most out of the conference.
First, we know you want to do all the things. So many sights to be seen, but remember you canโt do it all and to give yourself grace. Plan the events you want to attend and be sure to schedule some downtime in between. If you need to chill out, rooms 506 and 507 in the convention center are designated quiet spaces. Hit up room 511C if you need low lighting.
Second, stay hydrated, bring snacks, and for the love of all things holy, wear comfortable shoes. Bonus points, dress in layers because you never know what the air conditioning temps will be like. The days will be long, so pack a phone charger.
Third, have fun and be inspired! So inspired, maybe, that you will be ready to meet up on Sunday, March 30 for a WWS Submit All party (see below).
Anywho, enjoy and hope to see you at the conference!
Description: Join us for an unforgettable evening of powerful words and vibrant voices, a celebration of Los Angeles-based Latine poets who carry the legacy of resilience, identity, and cultural renaissance. This event brings together poets from the city that inspires them with resistance, justice, and action.
Poets: Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Luivette Resto, Matt Sedillo, Jose Hernandez Diaz, William Archila, Angelina Sรกenz, Melinda Palacio, Vickie Vรฉrtiz, Antonieta Villamil, Luis J. Rodriguez, Hosts: Rey M. Rodrรญguez and Jorge H. Rodrรญguez
Location: Location: 1642, 1642 West Temple Street Los Angeles, CA 90026
Description: Seven literary luminaries perform their creative nonfiction work, at this benefit reading for LA fire relief. Audience donations on the night will go towards six local authors from the literary organization Women Who Submit, who lost their homes in the recent fires.
Speakers: Vanessa Angรฉlica Villarreal (Magical Realism), Annie Liontas (Sex With a Brain Injury), Shze-Hui Tjoa (The Story Game), Grace Loh Prasad (The Translatorโs Daughter), Jackson Bliss (Dream Pop Origami), and Minelle Mahtani (May It Have a Happy Ending). Hosted by Katie Lee Ellison, organizer of the Nonfiction for No Reason Series.
Location: Room 408B, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: How can creative writers bring their expertise to the composition classroom? This panel will discuss how women of color/genderqueer creative writers challenge โtraditionalโ white supremacist frameworks in college-level composition courses.
Location: Booth T3358 Cรญrculo de poetas and Writers Booth, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description:Conversaciones con los difuntos / Conversations with the Dead is Diosa Xochiquetzacรณatlโs 5th poetry collection, her first fully bilingual book, and first collection to be published and artisanally handcrafted in Mexico by Editorial Desierto Mayor.
Location: Room 408A, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: This multigenre, intergenerational panel focuses on a working-class literary Los Angeles that makes the glint possible, tasking us to rewrite our cityโs imaginings or get written out. Through fiction, poetry, screenwriting, and nonfiction, these writers craft a diverse, gritty, tangled city, capturing the complex interchanges of Los Angelesโs cultural and social history.
Panelists: Moderator: Vickie Vertiz Presenter: Steve Gutierrez Presenter: Joelle Mendoza Presenter: Jenise Miller Presenter: Tanzila Ahmed
Location: Room 402AB, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: This panel will discuss how emerging TV writers and screenwriters can establish a community of writers, producers, development executives, managers, and agents who can support and mentor them throughout their careers.
Location: Room 515A, Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two
Description: How can writers cultivate a sustainable creative practice while paying the bills, growing a career, and accounting for domestic responsibilities? Award-winning authors with multiple books and diverse lived experiences discuss their ongoing journeys to do soโwhile also taking into consideration the roles of culture and institutionsโas well as their best advice for tending to the mental, physical, and spiritual aspects of the writing life.
Panelists: Presenter: Amanda Churchill Moderator: Lorinda Toledo Presenter: Karen Connelly Presenter: Janet Fitch Presenter: Reyna Grande
11:00 am – 12:30 pm
BOOK SIGNING: West of the Santa Ana and Other Sacred Placesby Diosa Xochiquetzalcรณatl
Location: Concourse Hall 153 ABC, Level One, Convention Center
Description: What do a queer undocumented immigrant, a former packinghouse worker, an organizer around issues of extrajudicial killings of Black people, a Korean adoptee, and a lawyer by training have in common? They are all poets laureate from various parts of California. These poets celebrate California but also challenge positions of power and privilege. The laureates will discuss their roles, read from their books, and engage in a Q&A with the audience.
Speakers: Moderator: Lee Herrick Presenter: Tongo Eisen-Martin Presenter: Yosimar Reyes Presenter: Joseph Rios Presenter: Lynne Thompson
Location: Room 408A, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: This panel explores aspects of erasure, evanescence, and loss, as in the erasure of oneโs identity and subjectivity through racial and historical lenses, as in the extinction of 150 species in an average day, and how poets can โknock on silence,โ in the words of Chinese poet Lu Ji, so as to give voice to those rubbed out by ideology, history, and time, to reach across the void instead of staring into it and becoming monsters.
Panelists: Moderator: Tony Barnstone Presenter: Angie Estes Presenter: Mark Irwin Presenter: Douglas Manuel Presenter: Lynne Thompson
Location: LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, 501 N Main St, Los Angeles 90012
Description: Come celebrate the launch of our 30รฑera: Thirty Years of the Macondo Writers Workshop in Los Angeles! The night will be filled with poetry, stories, and the spirit of Macondo, accompanied by light refreshments and snacks. Bring your friends and celebrate with us as we honor 30 years of the workshop LA style! Speakers: Monica Palacios, Pat Alderete, Camilo Loaiza Bonilla, Ofelia Montelongo, Lori Anaya, Amelia Montes, Jonathan Ayala, Melissa Hidalgo, Natalia Treviรฑo, Denise Tolan, Renรฉ Colato Lainez, Lesley Tรฉllez, Mona Alvarado Frazier, Adela Najarro, Sebha Sanwar, Karina Muรฑiz-Pagรกn, Jennifer Nguyen, Alex Espinoza
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm FUNDRAISER: The Offing’s 10th Birthday and LA Fire Recovery Fundraiser Location: The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA-LA), 1717 East 7th Street Los Angeles, CA 90021 Description: Come celebrate a decade of creativity, community, and culture. Join us for birthday cake, a toast, and the release of The Offing’s anniversary anthology! We will donate all proceeds from our $5 ticket sales to rebuilding the Palisades Public Library and repopulating books burned in Pasadena Unified School District libraries. Cost $5 – $20
Location: Truly LA, 216 S. Alameda St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Description: Exposition Review is turning 10! You are officially invited to Expoโs in-person, off-site, literary citizenship extravaganza. Letโs party, seltzer-style!
Location: Japanese American National Museum, 100 North Central Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Description: Join poets Brynn Saito and traci kato-kiriyama for a reading celebrating the forthcoming April 2025 release of The Gate of Memory: Poems by Descendants of Nikkei Wartime Incarceration. Edited by Saito and Brandon Shimoda, this poetry anthology explores the afterlife of the historical yet enduring injustice of World War IIโera prisons and camps. Featured readers include David Mura, Heather Nagami, Mia Ayumi Malhotra, James Fujinami Moore, and others, with a special tribute to poet, educator, and activist Amy Uyematsu and Claire Kageyama-Ramakrishnan.
Location: Room 404AB, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: This panel represents distinct literary voices of several contemporary essayists from California who are drawn to re-envisioning โthe spirit of a placeโ in ways that challenge and fulfill the literary imagination.
Location: Room 503, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: This session investigates how we can adopt inclusive, socially responsible approaches to creative projects. Presenters steeped in how writing inspires change will explore creative freedom and cultural sensitivity.
Location: Room 411, Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two
Description: Can a handful of established institutions serve the communities of a sprawling desert properly? Should BIPOC talent and labor be used to fight for access to PWI, or are we better served by creating and building our own spaces? Four writers, publishers, teachers, and community builders from the Los Angeles area discuss who benefits from inclusion into historically white spaces and whose work gets co-opted and ultimately wasted when BIPOC communities donโt build their own institutions.
Panelists: Hiram Sims, Peter Woods, Romeo Guzman, Sarah-Rafael Garcia, traci kato-kiriyama, moderated by Chiwan Choi
Location: Concourse Hall 152, Level One, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: This panel features cross-genre authors of color as they examine how to navigate the publishing industry on their own terms while alchemizing a code of belonging.
Location: Room 404AB, Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two
Description: The panelโwhich includes editors, reviewers, professors, and scholarsโoffers insight and advice for those working on or trying to publish story collections; trend observations; and thoughts on how and why reading for the contest altered their own work.
Panelists: Moderator: Lori Ostlund Presenter: Jenny Shank Presenter: Hasanthika Sirisena Presenter: Michael Wang Presenter: Toni Ann Johnson
Location: Room 502A, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center Description: How can hauntings be used to illustrate larger human stories? How can our own personal hauntings create and inspire stories that will haunt readers? From cities haunted by displacement and erasure, to haunted battlefields, to family ghost stories, five writers discuss how hauntings, real and metaphorical, have inspired their poetry and fiction. Panelists: Presenter: Xochitl Bermejo Moderator: Kate Maruyama Presenter: Latoya Jordan Presenter: Tanzila Ahmed Presenter: Chiwan Choi
Location: Los Angeles Convention Center, Hub City Booth #730
5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
READING: House Party, a Tin House Prose Reading Location: Other Books, Comics, and Zines, 2006 East Cesar E Chavez Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90033 Description: Come hear nine authors from Tin House perform โlightning readingsโ in fiction and nonfiction! Author chats and a book-signing session available afterwards. Speakers: Alisa Alering (Smothermoss), Myriam J.A. Chancy (Village Weavers), Talia Lakshmi Kolluri (What We Fed to the Manticore), Cleo Qian (LETโS GO LETโS GO LETโS GO), Shze-Hui Tjoa (The Story Game: A Memoir), Lena Valencia (Mystery Lights), Elissa Washuta (White Magic), Jane Wong (Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City), and Ghassan Zeineddine (Dearborn)
Location: Echo Park Writing Lab, 1714 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Description: This event welcomes all 826LA community members, Angelenos, and visiting writers to engage with us during this pivotal moment. Whether you want to perform or simply listen, all are welcome to be part of this gathering.
Location: The Count’s Den1039 South Olive Street Los Angeles, CA 90015
Description: Poetics of Liberationย is an intersectional feminist reading and community gathering celebrating radical and queer writers whose work inspires social transformation. Hosted at The Count’s Denโa stunning, vampiresque theater in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles.
Speakers: Amanda Johnston, heidi andrea restrepo rhodes, mรณnica teresa ortiz, m. mick powell, Lily Someson, Stephanie Niu, Cloud Delfina Cardona, Jae Nichelle, Tala Khanmalek, Ari Kelly, Em Palughi, andย Anel I. Flores
Location: Pieter Performance Space, 2701 North Broadway Los Angeles, CA 90031
Description: โAll of us live in unruly bodies that weโre all trying to take care of as best we can.” โRoxane Gay Readers will share a story about their relationship with a body that refuses to act โas it should.โ In a world that controls and punishes bodies that are queer, trans, disabled, mad, sick, fat, and/or racialized, how can we begin to celebrate our unruly bodies?
Description: What craft techniques, including storytelling styles from our own culture, can we utilize to write into and around truth(s)? How can nonfiction subvert or defy expectations imposed on us as women and nonbinary people in underrepresented communities? Filipino women and femme nonfiction writers discuss the complexities and nuances of sharing their experiences, while confronting the uncomfortable truths of a culture that hasnโt always looked favorably on the act of public disclosure.
Speakers: Jen Palmares Meadows, Anna Cabe, Melissa Chadburn, Laurel Flores Fantauzzo, and Anna Cabe
Location: Room 405, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: Celebrating titles that feature the color pink on their covers, poets will read work that highlights the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, and identity, and discuss how pink came to be a prominent element of their book, and what the color means to them and their writing.
Location: Room 403B, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: In this panel, five award-winning fiction and nonfiction authors and screenwriters discuss the perils and rewards of writing around family secrets.
Panelists: Moderator: Aimee Liu Presenter: David Francis Presenter: Elle Johnson Presenter: Toni Ann Johnson Presenter: Colette Sartor
Location: Room 411, level 2, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: These five poets representing LAโs diverse identities, including city poet laureates, examine queer community organizing through poetry. This combination discussion panel and reading will pair poems exploring poetryโs ability to hold space where trauma is prevalent and joy and delight are desperately needed.
Panelists: Moderator: Brian Sonia-Wallace Presenter: Jireh Deng Presenter: Jose Rios Presenter: Carla Sameth Presenter: Victor Yates
Location: Room 515B, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: Our panelists will offer insights on literary activism, identity complexities, collaboration pitfalls, and best practices. We hope to acknowledge the work of women and femmes and ignite a new cohort of community leaders, hosts, teaching artists, and organizers.
Panelists: Presenter: bridgette bianca Presenter: Danielle Mitchell Moderator: Kelsey Bryan-Zwick Presenter: Natalie Graham Presenter: Jessica Wilson
Location: Room 410, Level Two, LA Convention Center
Descriptions: This multigenre panel of writer-librarians will share their knowledge, strategies, and best practices for how writers can connect with libraries and librarians for research, community, workshops, and book promotions.
Panelists: Moderator: Elizabeth Galoozis Presenter: Lisa Eve Cheby Presenter: Cybele Garcรญa Kohel Presenter: Lauren Salerno
Location: LA Convention Center, Room 405, Level Two
Description: Contemporary writers of the Salvadoran diaspora use the speculativeโthe imaginativeโto parse through the urgent sociopolitical issues affecting the US and El Salvador. If much of El Salvadorโs past was documented by outsiders, its future will be written by these speculative writers and their contemporaries.
Location: LA Convention Center, Level 2, Room 515B
Description: What does it mean to write about and from an unruly body? In a world that controls and punishes bodies that are queer, trans, disabled, mad, sick, fat, and/or racialized, writing about our unruly bodies can be an act of resistanceโbut that act can come at a cost. How do we write about our unruly bodies in a way that supports our flourishing? Is such a practice possible, and if not, what is needed to make it so?
Panelists: Moderator: Margeaux Feldman Presenter: Amanda Choo Quan Presenter: Carolyn Collado Presenter: Fariha Roisin Presenter: Kai Cheng Thom
Location: Espacio 1839, 1839 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90033
Description: Join us for a community reading and discussion across all 15 issues of the New York War Crimes during Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) week.
*Accessibility notes: Masks are required for this event. Masks will be provided for those without one at the event.
Limited metered street parking is available. Espacio is one block away from the A-line. (formerly Gold line) Mariachi Plaza metro station.
Free but (if you can) please bring cash for donations.
Location: Beyond Baroque 681 Venice Blvd. Venice, CA 90291
Description: Close out your stay in L.A. with an event at the iconic Beyond Baroque with the Inlandia Books Road Show! Inlandia Books authors will share their work and you can meet and mingle and pick up signed copies of their books. Doors open at 5:30 pm and the event will begin promptly at 6 pm.
Speakers: Will Barnes, Elizabeth Cantwell, Lewis deSoto, Tiffany Elliott, Ellen Estilai, Elizabeth Galoozis, Stephanie Barbรฉ Hammer, Jennifer MacKenzie, and Angelica Maria Barraza Tran. Emceed by Cati Porter.
Location: Bar Franca,438 Main Street Los Angeles, CA 90013
Description: A star-studded lineup of local poets read their life-giving work, in conjunction with the LA-based literary journal Exposition Review. Audience donations on the night will go towards 3 organizations aiding with fire relief: World Central Kitchen, Octavia’s Bookshelf, and the Tongva Nation Eaton Wildfire Recovery Fund. Author signings and chats afterwards.
Location: Figat7th Food Court, 925 W. 8th St. DTLA
Description: In celebration of the AWP Writers Conference being in Los Angeles, and with support from the California Arts Council, WWS is hosting an in-person submission drive. Join us with your computer, your list of journals and open calls gathered from the AWP Book Fair, and your drive to “hit send”!
WWS CERTIFIED AT THE 2025 AWP LOS ANGELES BOOK FAIR
In 2019, I walked into the book fair at AWP Portland and into complete overwhelm. The enormous convention space held presses big and large, writing programs both esteemed and unheard of and writers, agents, and publicists everywhere. The whole place was so big and white and male. I had no idea where I might feel welcome me, where my stories my find a home.
So, for those of you heading to AWP LA, here are 21 WWS vetted presses tabling at the book fair. They show an appreciation for diverse voices in their spaces by having at least 50% women and 50% POC on their mastheads. Check them out. Chat them up, and then, after AWP, submit your words.
Saturday, September 14, 2024 Women Who Submit (WWS) hosts our 11th annual SUBMIT 1 Submission Drive & Fundraiser. This marks the one day a year we encourage woman-identifying and nonbinary writers across the globe to send one of their most beloved pieces of writing to tier one journals as one community.
As an act of solidarity, SUBMIT 1 dares to connect marginalized writers to top tier editors and publishers, widening the spectrum of voices reaching audiences and influencing arts and culture across the world. And you can help!
HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
1. Before September 14th, study this list of โTop Ranked Journals of 2024โ with current open calls to find a good fit for your work. BE SURE TO READ AND FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES.
2. On September 14th, submit one of your most beloved pieces of writing to at least one tier one magazine from wherever you are in the world at any time of day.
3. Join one of the following SUBMIT 1 Meetups to submit as a community:
WWS-Los Angeles Saturday, September 14, 2024, 11am-2pm Highland Park Brewing: 1220 N Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90012 Bring computers and money for beer and snacks Masks recommended & provided Contact: Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo (admin@womenwhosubmtilit.org)
WWS-Long Beach Saturday, September 14, 2024 10am-12pm The Hangar at LBX: 4150 McGowen St, Long Beach, CA 90808 Contact: Lucy Rodriguez-Hanley (lucy@lulustuff.com)
WWS-West Los Angeles Saturday, September 14, 2024, 2pm-4pmย West Hollywood Library: 625 N. San Vicente Blvd, West Hollywood Contact: Angela Franklin (afrankone@gmail.com)
WWS-Bay Area Saturday, September 14, 2024, 1-3pm Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94104 Contact: wwsl.bay.area@gmail.com
WWS-Austin, TX Saturday, September 14, 2024 at 9:30am Central market Cafe, Austin, TX Contact: Ramona Reeves (ramona.reeves@gmail.com)
4. Tag @WomenWhoSubmit on Twitter (or X) and Instagram and use the hashtag #SUBMIT1, to share when youโve submitted, so we can celebrate with you!
5. After submitting, log your submissions with THIS FORM to help WWS track how many submissions were sent out as a community.
HOW TO SUPPORT:
In conjunction with SUBMIT 1, WWS is raising $5,000 to support projects like purchasing new technical equipment to ensure our hybrid workshops and panels are offering the best quality of online programming making professional development accessible to any writer in need and growing writers funds to help more writers offset the costs of starting and maintaining a writing career.
By donating to the SUBMIT 1 Submission Drive & Fundraiser, and by sharing the fundraiser link and flier on social media and with your communities, you help spread the word on WWSโs mission to push the needle in publishing toward equity and inclusion as one.
Remote community circles and online discussion boards
WWS HISTORY:
Inspired by the 2009 VIDA Count from VIDA, Women in Literary Arts, which published quantitative evidence illustrating the dearth of womenโs voices in top tier publications, Women Who Submit was founded in 2011 to empower women writers to submit work for publication and help change those numbers. In September 2014, a group of writers gathered at Hermosillo Bar in Highland Park, CA for a day of beers, cheers, and literary submissions. It was the first time we called on our WWS community to submit to tier-one literary journals en masse as a nod to the original VIDA Count. SUBMIT 1 continues today as an annual event and call to action for equity and wider representation in publishing with submission drives hosted at public places across Los Angeles. From 2020-2023, we moved our annual gathering to the @WomenWhoSubmit Instagram, and this year we return to a focus on public meetups with online support.
Women Who Submit is proud to serve woman-identifying and nonbinary writers across the nation and the world through our Chapters program. Started in 2017 by cofounder, Ashaki M. Jackson, WWS Chapters has continued to grow under the leadership of Chapters Director, Ryane Granados with support from Chapters Liaison and WWS-Long Beach Chapter Lead, Lucy Rodriguez-Hanley. We thank Ryane and Lucy for their last four years of service. Together they have been essential in making WWS resources available and accessible to countless writers and community members.
Women Who Submit is excited to share that Ryane Granados’ first book, The Aves, won the 2023 Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize and is slated for publication in fall 2024! As she takes on this new chapter in her writing career, she bids farewell to WWS Chapters. WWS thanks Ryane for her commitment and grace and sends many claps and cheers for what’s to come! As we like to say in orientation, once a WWS member, always a WWS member!
Women Who Submit is proud to welcome our new Chapters Team! We happily announce as Chapters Director, our former Chapters Liaison, Lucy Rodriguez-Hanley, and introduce as Chapters Liaison, WWS member and collaborator, Thea Pueschel.
Please read below for a farewell message from Ryane and an introduction from Lucy and Thea.
Literary Play Cousins: A Farewell Message From Ryane Granados:
Recently my inquisitive middle son asked me why he had so many cousins. I only have one sister, so when I married my husband, I was drawn to his familial bonds that came with multiple siblings through biology and marriage. In addition to the cousins who carry the same surname, my son also has the privilege of play cousins. These enduring connections defined my childhood, and in turn they are enriching his. Play cousins are a mainstay in the Black community and they are bonds born from chosen family. These relationships transcend ancestral ties and date back to slavery when families were often torn apart. In my sonโs case, his play cousins are the kids of our closest friends. The arrangement is best described as a braid with a group of threads crossing over and under each other into one.
This same braided image comes to mind when I think of my role as Chapters Director for Women Who Submit. I accepted the role at a crossroads both professionally and personally. I had stepped down from a tenured teaching position to manage the medical needs of another one of my children, and I found myself in search of an identity that encompassed retired professor, overwhelmed mom, artist, activist, author, and hopeful community builder. This braid had a lot of threads, but what it was missing was the cultural continuity of close-knit networks. This is what I liken the development of our WWS chapters to be. Expanding our organizational reach was a worthy endeavor, but for me, it wasnโt purely altruistic. In all sincerity, I was in search of literary play cousins and as our chapters grew, I found them. In New Chapter Lead Orientations, I would often joke about the idea of meeting chapter leads all across the globe; a kindred connection of cousins with the shared mission of encouraging women and non-binary writers to submit their work for publication.
I am grateful for my time as Chapters Director and after 4 plus years and 35 plus chapters, I find myself at a new crossroads. My gratitude for this journey is matched only by my appreciation for the partnership formed with my longtime Chapters Liaison, Lucy Rodriguez-Hanley. In the ongoing spirit of leadership development, another unexpected byproduct of WWS, I am excited to hand over the role of Chapters Director to Lucy. Additionally, she will be working in collaboration with Thea Pueschel, our new Chapters Liaison. Together they are exceptionally suited to help usher the chapters direction of Women Who Submit into a new and exciting season.
As for me, I am stepping down to focus once again on family, professional commitments, and the launch of my forthcoming novella. I am also stepping out with an identity fortified by my braided connections and my multitude of literary play cousins. In my season as Chapters Director, I was given as much as I gave, and I hope that my interactions will leave a lasting impression on our ground-breaking artistic community.
In Solidarity,
Ryane Nicole Granados
Outgoing WWS Chapters Director
WWS Member
Welcome
Q & A with the Chapters Team: Introducing Chapters Director, Lucy Rodriguez-Hanley and Chapters Liaison, Thea Pueschel
How and when did you first hear about Women Who Submit and how did you first become involved?
LUCY RODRIGUEZ-HANLEY: In 2013 I took a memoir workshop with writer/editor Seth Fischer. He encouraged the women in the class to join Women Who Submit. At the time, I had no idea the positive impact this community would have in my life. Iโve gotten published by my sheroes; Vanessa Martir, Reyna Grande and Myriam Gurba. I have benefited from mentorship and a myriad of resources that have helped develop my voice as a writer. I have two young children and have found solidarity with other moms in the community. The people Iโve met have become favorite people and/or the most fantastic friends.
THEA PUESCHEL: I first heard about WWS from the Airing out Your Dirty Laundry Workshop I took at the 1888 Center in Orange, CA. The facilitator asked me if I had been submitting my work. I responded maybe once or twice a year just to validate that I am not a literary writer. She told me I needed to join the WWS. This was before the Lockdown times, and so I had to wait 6 months to attend an in-person orientation. The first time I submitted with WWS was May 11, 2019, according to Submittable.
What excites you about working with WWS Chapters?
LRH: I love community building and encouraging women and nonbinary writers to submit their work to publications. I am an optimist, every month I see the change this organization is making when our members get published, even the rejections count. Facilitating opportunities, spreading our mission and sharing resources with our chapters, like our upcoming 2024 Summer Workshops or soliciting submissions to our anthology or grants is very gratifying.
TP: Helping others facilitate the magic of bringing more voices to the literary landscape.
What is something you wish people knew or understood about the WWS Chapters?
LRH: A chapter can be as simple as two writers getting together to submit their work to publications. You donโt need big numbers to be a successful chapter. As a Chapter Lead your sole duty is to host the gathering and cheer submissions on (most of us clap when a submission has gone out). You are not there to read someoneโs work, facilitate a workshop or provide feedback. You can have multiple people leading a chapter, you can also have multiple chapters in the same region (Los Angeles and the Bay area both have multiple chapters).
TP: Each WWS chapter is a support network. A net to catch us when we get those hard-hitting rejections. A cheering squad for when we get those hard-won yeses. An audience to clap when we put our big kid chonies on and submit. For those of us humans that have come up as creative lone wolves for years and decades because we may not have the creative connections or known how to maneuver the literary world the WWS Chapters offer support. A village for us to walk on our two legs, to transform from lone wolf creatives to writers with a community. I think additionally, itโs such an important space particularly for those of us who grew up working class without connections whether we were the first generation to go to college or were bitten by the creative bug without formal education. WWS chapters bring experience, and resources.
Not all WWS Chapters are the same, but they are all worthwhile and community based.
If someone was interested in starting a chapter in their area, how might they begin that process and what does it look like?
LRH: If possible, I suggest attending a meeting to make sure it is something you want to take on. Ask yourself why you want to lead a chapter and what youโd like to gain from the experience. Do you want to lead alone or co-lead with one or two people? The process is simple, after filling out an application, we schedule an orientation where we share information, resources and best practices about the organization and the submission process. We also have a social media manager that can help you spread the word when you are ready to launch your chapter.
TP: Itโs pretty easy peasyโฆ 1. Check the WWS website for orientation dates, 2. Follow the direction and guidelines on the WWS website and submit your packet of interest to start a WWS Chapter, 3. Patiently wait while we analyze the materials, 4. Once you get your invite attend a WWS orientation, 5. Ask us questions!
We’re all writers and creatives first at WWS, what are you working on these days? Do you have any exciting news to share?
LRH: I am writing 500 words per day. The last six months have been hard for me on the creative front. I started a writing challenge this month led by fellow mom and WWS member, LiYun Alvarado. Itโs a lot of shitty first drafts but Iโm writing again! The goal is to get back to my memoir in May. Iโm really happy about this and celebrating every day that I write a new page.
TP: Right now, I am in the process of having rehearsals for two plays that I am directing for the Short + Sweet Hollywood 10-minute play festival. I havenโt directed in a decade, so I am extremely excited about this.
In 2021, I had a solo exhibition of mixed media work at the Center in Orange. I realized that once the triptych of large format paintings stood next to each other I wasnโt pleased with how they looked. Separate I felt that the intention was clear, but when the series was lined up, I realized they just didnโt work. I like the foundation of the original paintings but feel that more is missing than my desired effect which is about displacement. Iโve been in the process of making smaller concept mockups and playing with color and design in my studio.
Monday, June 17th 6pm-7:30pm I am leading a FREE workshop Discovering Your Subconscious Thematic at the Cerritos Library in the Skylight Room. Itโs a journey of personal discovery for writers. It provides a safe space to sift through the stories that attract us and analyze our own work. By discovering our personal theme, we are able to connect on a deeper level with our own work and create more generative flow.
Join Women Who Submit in celebrating the publication of our third anthology, TRANSFORMATION! Thanks to the work of Managing Editors, Ryane Granados and Noriko Nakada, Advising Editor, Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera, eight Genre Editors, Lorinda Toledo, Erin Anadkat, Flint, Laura Sturza, Luivette Resto, Hazel Kight Witham, Aruni Wijesinghe, Lucy Rodriguez-Hanley, and publisher Nikia Chaney and Jamii Publishing, our third anthology features poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and drama from 42 women and nonbinary writers from around the world.
“Given these perilous times of great global and local humanitarian failures, cruel objectives cemented by morally repugnant mindsets, and given the history of violence which has proven all too predictable, I know my words may appear hugely insufficient in protecting the most vulnerable, may prove never to be enough to diminish the sorrow and suffering of others, and yet as a writer, I continue to write.”
Inspired by these words by Helena Maria Viramontes, shared at her AWP 2020 keynote address, Women Who Submitโs third anthology, TRANSFORMATION, centers work that speaks to the ways writers and other artists can promote change in the world.
The WWS members included in this post published their work in amazing places during February 2024. Iโve 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 join me in celebrating our members who published in February 2024!
The WWS members included in this post published their work in amazing places during January 2024. Iโve 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 join me in celebrating our members who published in January 2024!
