Yellow Arrow Publishing would like to announce the next guest editors (we’ve decided on two!) for Yellow Arrow Journal: Gwen Van Velsor and Annie Marhefka. They are both well known to our community, and we are excited to have both oversee the creation of our Vol. XI, No. 2, issue (fall 2026) during our 10-year anniversary. What better way to celebrate 10 years of Yellow Arrow Publishing than with the founder and current executive director reflecting and illuminating women creatives together!
yellowarrowpublishing.com/news/art-letting-go-guest-editor-yaj-xi-02-vanvelsor-marhefka
Gwen Van Velsor loves writers and writing and finds great value in the act of creating and sharing the written word. She founded Yellow Arrow Publishing in 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland, after publishing her first book. Her work has appeared on various platforms since then, as handbound books, on websites, and on library shelves. Her fulfilling work with Yellow Arrow contributed to the publication of many other writers, of which she is immensely proud. Her current yellow arrows have led to candidacy for rostered ministry in the ELCA Lutheran church while pursuing a MDiv at United Lutheran Seminary. Gwen is from Portland, Oregon, and is proud to call Baltimore home, where she lives with her daughter and enjoys swimming, hiking, and camping.
Annie Marhefka is a writer in Baltimore, Maryland; she is the recipient of the 2024 Eunice Williams Nonfiction Prize, has been featured on The Slowdown Show and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Annie is the executive director at Yellow Arrow Publishing, a Baltimore-based nonprofit empowering women-identifying writers. Annie has received support from the Maryland State Arts Council, Gullkistan Center for the Arts, Martha’s Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing, and Tin House. She has a BA in creative writing and a MBA from Washington College and is a MFA candidate at the University of Baltimore. She has authored two collections: Strangers We Know By Heart with Garden Party Collective and Baltimore, a travelogue memoir, for the Writer in Sites series by Scrawl Place. When Annie is not writing, she is usually trying to find her way back to the water. Follow Annie on Instagram @anniemarhefka and at anniemarhefka.com.
With that in mind, we think the topic of the issue is fitting and can’t wait to see what everyone sends in. Creative practices require a certain letting go, whether it be in the act of writing or in the moment when the writing is shared with others. We don’t know where our creativity will lead, and we don’t know what will become of it. For Yellow Arrow Journal, Vol. XI, No. 2, we are interested in hearing about those moments in life, in the creative process or otherwise, when you let go of the outcome.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
Theme announcement: July 20
Submissions open: August 1
Submissions close: August 31
Issue release: November 10