First Quarter Kudos 2016

BOOK NEWS

Jody Berger workshopped Misdiagnosed in a Lit Fest juried workshop with Cheryl Strayed. In January, it hit the New York Times bestseller list. Jody is thrilled and grateful to everyone who read early pages, came to her readings, and supported and encouraged her. 

Lija Fisher has received a book deal from Macmillan/FSG for her debut middle grade novel, Clivo Wren and the Fall of Phoenix, to be published in the fall of 2017. She previously participated in Michael Catlin's Plotting the Plotted Plot workshop.

Member Justin Marshall Chipman has written and published a book on real estate, The Home Seller's Second Opinion First. The book is designed to teach people how to save money and avoid the hassle of real estate sales.

Member Megan E. Freeman's first book of poetry, Lessons on Sleeping Alone, was published in late December by Liquid Light Press

Madelyn Garner had her manuscript, Hum of Our Blood, selected for publication by the judges of the Tupelo Press July Open Reading Series. It will be designed and published by 3: A Taos Press and distributed by Tupelo Press in 2017. She wishes to thank Seth Brady Tucker and Lighthouse workshop participants for helping her complete the book and encouraging her to submit it.

Member Sandra Windsor has published her debut memoir, The FBI Wife, a story of the 21 years she spent with her special agent husband during the 1960s and '70s. She thanks Lighthouse instructors Shari Caudron and Bill Henderson for their direction.

Lighthouser Marj Hahne's poem, "Neighbor," appears in the book Rabbit Ears: TV Poems

Member Robert Dodge has signed a contract for his sixth nonfiction book, a biography to be released in August. He thanks the students in Rebecca Berg's Work in Progress course for their assistance. Robert will also talk about his latest book, Andrea & Sylvester: Challenging Marriage Taboos and Paving the Road to Same-Sex Marriage, at the Denver Press Club in April. 

Robert Garner McBrearty recently had his novel, The Western Lonesome Society, published by Conundrum Press and was interviewed about it on Colorado Public Radio.

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

Lighthouse member Juliet Hubbell won the 2015 Montana State Prize for Fiction with her short story, "The Owl." The contest was judged by Rick Bass, and the story won a $1,000 prize and publication in the Whitefish Review.

Lighthouse instructor Karen Palmer won Fish Publishing's Young Adult Novel Prize for Flight, which is now headed for publication.

Caleb Pan, a member of Lighthouse's Young Authors Collective, earned a Silver Key, Personal Memoir Award in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards of 2016 from the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers for his essay “Red Envelopes."

Kristin Leclaire's essay, "Portraits," was selected as a semi-finalist for Ruminate Magazine's Vandermey Nonfiction Prize.

Maura Weiler's novel-in-progress, Santa Pimp, honed in Bill Henderson's Novel Bootcamp classes, won first place in the Mainstream/Literary/Historical category and second place in the Romance/Women's Fiction category in the Pikes Peak Writers' 2016 Zebulon Fiction Contest. Book Project participant Susan Knudten took second place in the Mainstream/Literary/Historical category with her novel-in-progress, Flunde.

PUBLICATIONS

Book Project alum Ted McCombs had his piece, "Alice in Guantanamo: Reading Carroll in the Gitmo Age," published on Electric Lit.

Lighthouse instructor Sibyl Gardner has written another episode of the TV show, Nashville. It airs March 30.

Lighthouse member Lisa Marlin had one of her essays, "A Driving Force," published on the website of the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop.

Book Project alum Kelly Thompson had her essay "Underwater," featured in the February edition of the lifestyle magazine Oh Comely

Member Ellen Nordberg's essay, "What Rock Climbing Taught Me About Love," was featured on The Good Men Project. She was also selected to be a co-producer of the Listen To Your Mother show.

Lighthouse instructor Vicki Lindner's essay, "When the Bell Tolls for Coal: Pull Yourself Up by Your WHAT?," was published in Wyofile, Wyoming's alternative online newspaper

Rachel Pater performed her short memoir, "God is a Bowl of Rice and Vegetables," at the Buntport Theater in January. She wrote the first draft in a class with Vicki Lindner.

Aviva Siegel has an essay forthcoming in Brain, Child Magazine.

Book Project alum Susanna Donato's essay, "Fast Food," appeared in the Feb. 1 issue ofElectric Literature's Okey-Panky. Her essay about a Bob Dylan-related epiphany, "It Really Ain't Me, Babe," is included in the flash nonfiction anthology Everything I Need to Know About Love I Learned From Pop Songs, Vol. I.

Lighthouse member R.L.Maizes had her story, "Collections," accepted by Witness. The story was workshopped at Lit Fest with Antonya Nelson and at Bread Loaf with Ursula Hegi. Her story, "Mama Jane's Pizza," was published in Brain, Child Magazine. She also received an honorable mention for her story, "No Shortage of Birds," in Glimmer Train's Fiction Open contest.

Michele Finn Johnson's flash fiction, "Adopting Mercy," was published in Bartleby Snopesin February. Her creative nonfiction piece, "Goose Farm," which was workshopped in Jessica Roeder's online Advanced Fiction course, was accepted for publication by Mid-American Review. She thanks Jessica, Jenny Wortman, and the rest of the class for their help. Michele was also a finalist for SmokeLong Quarterly's 2016 Fellowship. 

Member Anne Serrano had her essay, "Manifesting Merlin," published on the Huffington Post.

Julie Vick had two humor pieces published on The Freelancer: "Six Freelancing Rules That Aren't Confusing at All" and "Do You Speak Journalism?"

Past Lighthouse intern Jordan Prochnow had two pieces published: "Garden," in the Denver Voice (as part of a collaboration with Write Denver) and "Emerging Feminisms, Screws, Servos, and Sexism: How Men Almost Made Me Quit Engineering," on the Feminist Wire

Lighthouse instructor Jenny Shank's satire, "How Did We Do?," appeared in The Toast. Please read it and then fill out her five-part, 45-minute customer satisfaction survey.

Member Lynsie Mae Buteyn had a poem, "My Implanted Intravenous Port," published in issue #72 of Kaleidoscope magazine.

Kristen Brunelli, encouraged by the members of her Lighthouse Advanced Short Story class with Christopher Merkner, submitted her piece, "When the Walls Come Down: Family Forged in a Catholic Worker House," to On Beingand her piece was accepted and published in March.