Twisted Roots by A.G. Parker (Reconnecting Rainbows)
A.G. Parker is a queer disabled writer/performer/editor/disability consultant based in London who’s been published in Mslexia, The F-Word, Financial Times, Human/Kind Press, Arachne Press, and Aeva Magazine. They are a Best of the Net-nominated poet, a workshop facilitator, and the co-founder of Queer Stage Revolution. Parker is also the host of A. G. Parker’s Cabinet of Curiosities podcast and an editor for Angeprangert! Spoken Word, as well as the co-host of Rebel Riot Poetry. In 2022, they were crowned Disabled and Queer Artist of the Year with their comedic-political spoken word drag act, George the Dragon.
This interview focuses on their latest book, 2023’s Twisted Root, published by Reconnecting Rainbows (which was founded in 2017 as an initiative to promote LGBTQIA+ mental well-being by encouraging participation in the arts).…
The Smoke is me, Burning by Constantine Blintzios, is the story of a family surviving on the edge of a pine forest in Harmswood, Arkansas. Crops have been corrupted by an outbreak of parasites in the rye. Livestock and buzzards alike are dying, so decay is left to spread unchecked. Blake and Jamie Ackerman have grown up on the lip of these woods. Raised by an alcoholic mother and a Vietnam-war veteran uncle, they have grown up believing in gods beyond the chicken-wire fence of their backyard, gods that steal children from their beds. When they are little, Jamie sees something in the woods and blinds his brother in one eye to keep him from seeing it, too.…
I met Jessica O’Dwyer when we were both MFA students at Antioch University in Los Angeles. I was immediately taken by her kind and giant heart—and her beautiful writing. I am not alone in my regard for Jessica and her work. Mother Mother: A Novel has received much deserved critical acclaim: it has been named the winner of the 2021 San Diego Book Association Awards in general fiction, a finalist of the 2021 National Indie Excellence Awards in general fiction, a Distinguished Favorite of the 2021 Independent Press Awards in women’s fiction and was awarded third place in the 2021 Feathered Quill Awards in literary fiction.
Mamalita: An Adoption Memoir, JessicaO’Dwyer’s powerful account of her family’s experience with international adoption, was named Winner of Best Memoir San Diego Book Publishing Awards in 2011 and one of the Top 5 Adoption Books by Adoptive Families Magazine in 2011.…
Jenn Bouchard’s debut novel, First Course, was published by TouchPoint Press in 2021. It has been the recipient of nine awards and distinctions, most notably as a finalist in the American Fiction Awards and the Independent Author Network Awards. Her short stories have been published in Litbreak Magazine, the Penmen Review, and the Little Patuxent Review, with an additional story forthcoming in MARY. She has presented at the Fall for the Book Festival, the AWP conference, and the Annapolis Book Festival. She is a high school social studies teacher of twenty-two years and lives with her family in the Boston suburbs. She is seeking representation for her second novel, Palms on the Cape.
Matty Bennett’s debut poetry collection, What Are The Men Writing in the Sugar?, was published by Rebel Satori Press last April. His poems have appeared in Juked, Watershed Review, Cardiff Review, and many other journals. He earned his MFA in poetry from Virginia Tech. Currently, he works as a high school ESL English teacher and coach in Providence, RI.
In this episode of Cover to Cover with . . ., Bennett chats with Editor-in-Chief Jordan Blum about his writing; his life as a student and teacher; and much more.
Brandi Spering is the Assistant CNF Editor at Schuylkill Valley Journal Online. Her first book, This I Can Tell You (Perennial Press, 2021), is a poetic memoir that examines the fragility of memory. Other works can be found in super/natural: art and fiction for the future, Forum Magazine, Superfroot Magazine, Artblog, and more.
In this episode of Cover to Cover with . . ., Editor-in-Chief Jordan Blum chats with Sperling about the creation and publication of her book, reconciling trauma, finding catharsis through creativity, and much more!
Carol Van Den Hende is a speaker and author whose award-winning novel, Goodbye, Orchid (which was named a 2020 Favorite Book by The Write Review), deals with themes of love, loss, and disability. The story is inspired by combat-wounded veterans and centers on a wounded entrepreneur named Phoenix Walker who questions who he is post-accident and how he’ll continue a relationship with a woman named Orchid. A portion of profits is being donated to charities including USA Cares.
In this episode of Cover to Cover with . . ., Editor-in-Chief Jordan Blum speaks with Van Den Hende about the inspirations and processes that went into creating Goodbye, Orchid, as well as her interest in Jack White’s music, her strategies for marketing her work, and much more!…
