Holly Walrath's Blog, page 11

Interview with Stephanie Wytovich

I am stoked that Stephanie Wytovich, Bram Stoker Award-Winning Poet, asked me to interview for her blog! Stephanie was also kind enough to write this blurb about my forthcoming full-length book of poetry, The Smallest of Bones , now available for pre-order from CLASH Books. 

"A striking meditation on the body and its ghosts, this collection is a blossoming of bones and the trauma we hold inside, a gorgeous homage to the fever dreams and nightmares we collect, break, and survive with each and every day." —Stephanie M. Wytovich, author of The Apocalyptic Mannequin

Read the interview here . . . 

New Flash Fiction: Speaker for the Unborn

I stand here today holding the hands of the dead.

How I was given voice I cannot say. The unborn chose me to speak because I alone among us, the unbirthed, have grown. Untamed by the shackles of statuary and gravestones, my spirit roamed free above the Hudson River for the first sixteen years of my unlife. Truly unwanted, as they say, my parents did not get to bury me...

Read the full story at Write Wild . . .

New Poem at Barely South Review - SACRUM

I have a new poem up at Barely South Review. This poem also happens to be part of my new book and debut full-length book of poetry forthcoming from CLASH Books in September of 2021. Stay tuned for more boney weirdness, y'all. 

Read the poem here . . .

New Poetry Series: #SerialKillerSummer

[image error] [image error] Starting in May I’ll be doing a new poetry project on my Instagram.

#SerialKillerSummer is a series of erasure poems using found source text from famous murderers. I’ll be posting blackout poems (hopefully every day) that use the words of the creepiest, darkest, most rotten dirtbags and twist them. Erasure is the art of creating a poem from a found text by removing and cutting away words or blacking them out. What remains is an entirely new and original poem.

Why serial killers? Well, I’m a true crime junkie and I realized there are so many fascinating sources like interviews, court transcripts, manifestos, and other true crime found sources to work with. I got obsessed with how we can cut these killers down and get back at them for the lives they’ve taken. Manipulating their words is the best way I’ve found as an artist. My work is always interrogating the world we live in, shining a light in the darkest crevice.

Follow along on Instagram!

New Poem up at Mithila Review

I have a new poem up today at Mithila Review! "We're Refugees Who Found Love Searching for Atlantis" is a pantoum poem that first appeared in Italian in my chapbook Numinose Lapidi from Kipple Press. I am very honored that Mithila Review agreed to publish the English and Italian version, translated by the late Marco Raimondo. 

Marco was an Italian translator of poetry who died due to complications surrounding his disability. Before he died, we discussed my sending out poems from the book so that they could be read together, and it was a dream of his to be published in magazines. I am honored to fulfill that dream today. 

Also, you can listen to me read the English version aloud in this publication :) 

Read it here . . . 

New Poetry Workshop: A Feminist Poetry Reading Primer

​Dates: March 1-28
Format: Group Workshop (more info)

From Plath to Sexton to Lorde to Walker, women are the backbone of experimental poetics. In this class, we’ll read the work of popular feminist poets and write our own poems inspired by their work. Audre Lorde said, “The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house.” By celebrating the work of the women who came before us, this workshop will explore how to dismantle the patriarchal conventions of poetry by diving into the canon of women poets.

Register at the early-bird price of $275 (regular price: $295) before February 15.

What I Published in 2020

 It's that time of the year again! I'm here to update you with all the things I published last year. It's been a fruitful year despite all the chaos, and I am supremely grateful as always for the editors who read and enjoy my work. Thank you to all the publications on this list! 

This year I have several Rhysling-eligible poems for SFPA members to consider for nomination. "Yes, Antimatter is Real" is eligible for the Dwarf Stars Award. My short story "The Red Shoes" in the Coppice and Brake Anthology from Crone Girls Press is eligible for the HWA Bram Stoker Awards in the anthology category. (If you'd like a copy of the anthology to review, send me an email at hlwalrath at gmail dot com.) Poetry
Download a PDF of all my 2020 poems here

​Short PoemsNow the Patient Recounts the Houses in Her Mind (Eye to the Telescope Issue 36, April 2020, House & Home, edited by Emma J. Gibbon)Acacia (Liminality: A Magazine of Speculative Poetry Issue #24 - Summer 2020)Dear Future (Star*Line Issue 43.3, Summer 2020) We Hold Up Eternity​ (Twisted Moon Mag, Issue 5, August 2020)Divergent and Rotten to the Core​​ (Liminality Issue #25, Autumn 2020)Yes, Antimatter Is Real (Analog Science Fiction and Fact Sep/Oct 2020)So Many Blank Moons (Analog Science Fiction and Fact Nov/Dec 2020)It's Never Going to Stop (Pork Belly Press Love Me, Love My Belly Zine No.5, 2020)  Long Poems Daughters Saving Mothers (Liminality: A Magazine of Speculative Poetry, Issue #23 – Spring 2020) Short FictionThe Red Shoes (Coppice & Brake: A Dark Fiction Anthology by Crone Girls Press) 

Submitting Your Work: For Poets

These days, it might seem superfluous to submit poetry to journals and magazines when you can make a living as an Instapoet instead. But in the world of poetry, having many publications under your belt can be a way to build towards publishing a chapbook or full-length book of poems.
What follows is a step-by-step guide for poets on submitting your work. This is part of a series of articles for new writers who’ve never sent their work out before. While everyone’s process is different, I hope these tips and tricks can be a starting point for you to figure out your submissions process and start getting your work into the world.

Read the full article here . . . 

Recordings from World Fantasy Convention 2020

I had a blast chatting with folks this year at the virtual World Fantasy Convention! It was such an honor to get to answer questions about indie publishing and author marketing, and to get to be on a panel with some of my favorite poets. Here are the recordings for your watching pleasure: 
Poetic Fantasy: 

Simple Steps for Promoting Short Fiction and Poetry

If you’re a writer of short fiction or poetry, it can sometimes feel like you’re shouting into the void to get your work read. But as an editor, I am here to tell you: I am the void! I keep an ear to the ground for new writers to read and I can’t hear you if you’re not loud enough.

Read the full article on Medium . . .