Dear Valued Member,
Just a guess, but maybe you’re in the market for some good news. The Lighthouse community is all about delivering little dopamine hits to help you through the coming days and weeks. Here’s the latest catalog of cheerable feats from members, faculty, and the rest of the writers at Lighthouse.
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LIT FEST VICTORIES
As you polish up those Lit Fest advanced workshop applications to work with Mat Johnson, Katie Kitamura, Eduardo Corral, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, and so many more, here’s some fodder for your inspiration board:
Lit Fest Emerging Fiction Fellow Evanthia Bromily is publishing her debut novel, Crown, with Grove Atlantic Press in June. She’ll return to Lit Fest this year to complete the journey—her Emerging Fiction Fellowship was in Lit Fest 2017, where she took an advanced class with Rebecca Makkai.
Regular Lit Fest advanced workshop attendee Christina Rivera’s debut book, MY OCEANS: Essays of Water, Whales, and Women (Northwestern University Press) is officially available for pre-order at Bookshop and all the other shops. Read an adapted excerpt from the book, “Screaming for Freedom,” published by The Cut. Christina is eternally grateful to all the (countless) Lighthouse and Lit Fest teachers and fellow students who have shaped this collection into existence. She’d like to give a special shoutout to BK Loren for her mentor-ly advice at each step of the publishing path!
Lauren Barbato, 2024 Lit Fest Emerging Fiction Fellow, was selected as the winner of American Literary Review’s 2024 Short Fiction Prize for her short story “The Great Renunciation.” Her short story “Dhamma Talks” was also shortlisted for the The Masters Review 2024 Reprint Prize.
Lit Fest advanced workshop alum R.L. Maizes, already the author of the celebrated collection Other People’s Pets, sold her novel A Complete Fiction to Ig Publishing which is scheduled to come out on November 4th, 2025.
Lit Fest Business Pass participant Matt Baca signed with Bloomsbury for summer 2026 publication of his debut novel, All These Deep, Deep Arroyos, a coming-of-age novel that explores masculinity, class, and the beauty of New Mexico’s rural Hispanic communities.
Want to be a part of our annual Lit Fest event? Learn more about the program and be sure to apply by March 8th if you’d like to take part in our advanced writing workshops.
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BOOK PROJECT AND POETRY COLLECTIVE TRIUMPHS
Our current Book Project and Poetry Collective writers, as well as the alums, have been buffing up their writing props and signing to share their captivating works with the world.
Just last week, the ink dried on Book Project (class of ‘26) member Anna Kodé’s deal with Dutton for Unseen Places, “a love letter to the power of seeing the world with fresh eyes, and an investigation—both practical and philosophical—into what it means to observe, exploring approaches utilized by artists, animals, poets, and scientists.” Yay, Anna!
Likewise Angelique Stevens (BP class of ‘23) is currently working on a collection of essays about poverty and the myth of the American Dream due out from Simon & Schuster. More details coming soon!
Come one, come all to Lit Fest this summer to pick up books from BP alums (and now Lighthouse faculty) Nini Berndt (‘20) and Gloria Browne-Marshall (‘23) whose books come out in May and June. Nini’s There Are Reasons For This, a novel, comes out from Tin House June 3, and Gloria’s A Protest History of the United States (Penguin) comes out April 22.
Jeneé Skinner’s story “Shadow Memories” was published in One Story's December 2024 edition. It's a story about a young woman who grows distant from her religious fanatic mother, then turns to witchcraft and sex for self-discovery. But a dark presence keeps her tethered to her past and inner demons.
Maunica Devi was awarded a core residency at Millay Arts for the month of October 2024, completing a full novel revision during this time. Connect with her on Instagram at @devideviwords.
Former Book Project fellows Karlié Rodríguez and Melissa Alvarado Sierra have collaborated to create the literary magazine Rhizomag, which will be launching soon. Keep an eye out for the inaugural issue on their website or find them on social media at @therhizomag.
A 2017 graduate of the Poetry Collective, Lois Levinson has published her second full length poetry collection, Field Notes from an Illusion.
Megan Rich’s essay, “Reproduction,” appeared in issue 21.2 of The Cincinnati Review. She was also awarded a Ragdale Residency for 2025.
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FACULTY WINS
Our faculty never hesitate to impress us and our community of writers.
Erika Krouse’s fourth book, Save Me, Stranger, came out from Flatiron/Macmillan in January 2025. Please join us for her reading on February 22.
Cynthia Swanson’s most recent psychological suspense novel, Anyone But Her, is the winner of the 2024 Indie Author Project Contest for Best Mystery/Thriller. Anyone But Her is Cynthia's third novel and her first independently published title.
Raksha Vasudevan’s first book, Empires Between Us, has been bought by Graywolf Press and Knopf Canada.
Lighthouse nonfiction and podcasting instructor Chris Walker has a new podcast that sounds addictive and quaffable: Blood Vines. Here’s the pitch: “Blood Vines is a dark, true story from California’s wine country, where greed, lies, and murder swirled around one of the largest wine scams in U.S. history.” We’re in!
Shana Kelly’s Peace Corps documentary, A Towering Task, will be celebrated at a Rocky Mountain PBS watch party on Tuesday, February 25. Tickets are free and going fast, so RSVP here.
Writing 101 instructor Joy Roulier Sawyer was shortlisted for the Cassian Elwes Sundance Screenwriting Fellowship. Connect with her at @memorypoet7 on Twitter.
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MEMBER ACCOMPLISHMENTS
But wait, there’s more! We celebrate with our Lighthouse members in their various awards, publications, and creative endeavors.
Robert Garner McBrearty’s new collection of short stories The Problem You Have is scheduled for April publication in University of New Mexico Press.
Kaia Gallagher’s family memoir, Candles for the Defiant, was awarded a bronze medal by the Colorado Independent Publishers Association for being among the best books published in 2024 in the category of biography/memoir.
Kirsten Dahl Collins’ play, Della Doucet, won the Vintage Theater's annual new play competition, beating 105 competitors. The play received a full production that opened in August of 2024 and ran for six weeks, selling out many performances and allowing for an extended run. The bittersweet comedy concerns a Louisiana woman who flees her stifling marriage and reinvents herself in New York's funky 1980s East Village art scene.
Susan V. Walton had a poem published in Passager Journal, September 2024, Issue #77, as an honorable mention in their 2024 Poetry Contest: “Cranes Roosting by the Platte, Sunset, 3/28/23.” In October 2024, Susan won second and third prizes for poems submitted to the Denver Women's Press Club Unknown Poets Contest. “Wintry Mix” won second prize, and “The Gap Between” won third prize.
Robyn Hunt recently published her second collection of poetry, The Fiction of Stillness. These poems evoke the author’s focus on finding respite during breast cancer treatment and recovery, seeking to dispel fear and offer remedy.
Constance Boyle, Brooke Granville, Petra Perkins, and Gail Waldstein are publishing a poetry collection called The Four Faces of Eve from Golden Antelope Press in February 2025.
Scott Schaible had his creative nonfiction piece, “Pigeon-Toed,” published in the literary magazine SHIFT: A Journal of Literary Oddities.
Judith Sara Gelt’s experimental/hybrid nonfiction works have recently been accepted for publication, including “Finding My Fix,” published by Abandon Journal, and “Fruitless,” published by Sad Girl Diaries.
Whitney Egstad’s poems, “An Apology is a Mother's Body” and “The First Time I Swallow a Sword,” appear in Marrow Magazine. Her poem “Sea Glass” also found a home in Months to Years, a journal that explores grief and mortality.
Rick Posner has a regular radio show called The Comfort Table every first Saturday of the month on KYGT FM “The Goat” in Idaho Springs, Colorado at 2:00 PM MST. Join him for some great music and a whole lot of fun! You can stream it at www.clearcreekradio.com.
And finally, Amanda McCracken interviewed Lighthouse instructor Elissa Bassist for her podcast The Longing Lab.
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What a great collection of accomplishments to celebrate! Be sure to give kudos to these amazing Lighthousers. Are you a member with good news that you’d like to share? Fill out our Kudos form here.
Your literary fan,
Andrea
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