Yellow Arrow Publishing Blog
FREEDOM is here!
Cover art by Amber Sliter
We are delighted to announce the release of the latest issue of the Yellow Arrow Journal, FREEDOM. A talented group of women and identifying writers submitted their creative nonfiction and poetry for Vol. IV, No. 2 of our biannual literary journal. Below is more detailed information about each writer. You can purchase a hand-bound copy here, sign up for an annual subscription here, download a PDF version here, or look for it on your eReader.
Each copy is lovingly hand bound and printed in small batches.
Thank you for supporting independent publishing.
Editor-in-Chief
Kapua Iao
Editors
Meredith Eilola, Eleanor Hade, Alexa Laharty, Mindy Stokes, and Gwen Van Velsor
Contributors
Katherine Anderson Howell is a 2018 Pushcart Prize Nominee from Washington, D.C. A mother of two children and a recovering academic, she currently studies esthetics, skin care, and makeup at the Aveda Institute in Washington, D.C. and is the editor of Fandom as Classroom Practice: A Teaching Guide (2018). Her poems can be found in Stillwater Review, Beltway Poetry Quarterly,e Account, Misfit Magazine, and Mojave He[art] Review among others. Other work is forthcoming in Whale Road Review. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/@genKatieOrgana.
Raga Ayyagari is an emerging poet who is inspired by nature, family history, and identity and enjoys learning from conversations with strangers. Her work has previously appeared in Stanford University’s Leland Quarterly Journal. She works as a public health research analyst in Washington, D.C. and enjoys both technical and creative writing.
Linda M. Crate’s work has been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. She has six published chapbooks: A Mermaid Crashing Into Dawn (Fowlpox Press - June 2013), Less an A Man (The Camel Saloon - 2014), If Tomorrow Never Comes (Scars Publications - 2016), My Wings Were Made to Fly (Flutter Press - 2017), and splintered with terror (Scars Publications - 2018), more than bone music (Clare Songbirds Publishing - 2019), as well as one micro-chapbook Heaven Instead (Origami Poems Project - 2018). She is also the author of the novel Phoenix Tears (2018).
Margie Deeb’s passion for beauty is the heartbeat of the art she creates and writes. She has published five books on color and beading, one of which the Library Journal voted the Best Craft How-To book of 2009. She has published countless print and digital articles on design and color and is a professional art director, graphic designer, illustrator, and color expert. She conducts design, color, and writing workshops for artists online and throughout the United States and Canada. Her art has been featured in galleries across the United States and in many books and publications.
Jenny Fraser is an artist from the east coast of Australia. She has a background in art and media education spanning over two decades. After completing her undergraduate degree, she taught art and film and media in high schools. In 2009, she then completed a Master of Indigenous Wellbeing at Gnibi, Southern Cross University. In 2017, she also graduated with a Creative Research PhD in ‘The Art of Healing and Decolonisation’ through Batchelor Institute in the Northern Territory. Her current focus is in native foods, body work, floral arts, and being able to use their raw energy to benefit healing and to help people to help themselves.
Betsy Housten is a Brooklyn-based queer writer and massage therapist. She earned her MFA at the University of New Orleans where she won three awards and served as Associate Poetry Editor of Bayou Magazine. Her work appears in Rogue Agent, The Hunger,Lunch, Bone & Ink Press, Longleaf Review, and elsewhere, and has been nominated for Best New Poets, Best of the Net, and the Pushcart Prize. Find her at betsyhoustenwrites.com.
M. Kanani Milles is a Native Hawaiian writer who has been living and gardening in Connecticut and New Hampshire since 2003. She shares a small plot of land (stolen from the Quinnipiac) with her husband and two young daughters, a dozen chickens, two goats, and a hive of bees. She is writing her way to healing as her mind–body struggles to come to terms with a stage IV cancer diagnosis.
Ann Quinn is the author of the poetry chapbook Final Deployment (Finishing Line Press - 2018). Her poetry has appeared in a wide variety of publications including Potomac Review, Little Patuxent Review, Broadkill Review, Haibun Today, and Snapdragon, and is included in the anthology Red Sky: Poetry on the Global Epidemic of Violence Against Women. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee and her poem “Three Years after my father’s Final Deployment to the Gulf of Tonkin” won the 2015 Bethesda Literary Arts Festival poetry contest, judged by Stanley Plumly. Ann is a graduate of the Pacific Lutheran University MFA program. She teaches reflective and creative writing and music and lives with her family in Catonsville, Maryland. Please visit online at www.annquinn.net.
Amber Sliter is an artist and activist living and creating in Buffalo, New York. Amber studied painting and art history at the University at Buffalo where she received several awards and scholarships. The Rumsey Scholarship funded participation on a Minoan archaeological dig in Crete, Greece. Her art explores natural and synthetic relationships, relating to her experience as a woman living in the Anthropocene era. Her work ranges between sculptural paintings, installations, and murals to activist prints and performances. Amber is currently apprenticing in a woman run woodworking shop.
Ashley Stimpson is a freelance writer based in Baltimore, Maryland. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Longreads, Johns Hopkins Magazine, Potomac Review, Little Patuxent Review, and elsewhere. See more of her work at www.ashleystimpson.com.
Sarah Van Sciver is a freelance writer, artist, mother, personal chef, and a FEEL practitioner residing in Baltimore, Maryland. Her passion for writing stems from the healing and recovery from PTSD she has experienced through working with horses. She is currently working on a memoir about the healing effects horses have on humans who experience trauma. To find out more about Equine Experiential Learning, to view her artwork, and to read other essays, please visit https://untetheredmare.com/.
Nancy Wade is a Colorado native who has lived in Boulder since 2002. She earned a BA in Communications in 2000 and an MA in Spiritual Memoir in 2009. Her career includes 15 years in legal word processing and 20 years as an employment administrator in the Human Resources Department of a scientific research organization. Retired since 2015, she enjoys spending time with her husband, two grown children, two stepsons, and especially with her two lively grandsons, ages 6 and 9. In retirement, she has more time for reading and writing, mostly in the memoir genre.
Roz Weaver is a spoken word performer and internationally published poet living in England. She has been published in a number of journals, zines, and anthologies, including most recently with Snapdragon, Voice of Eve, and Cultivate. In 2018, her work was displayed at the annual Rape Crisis UK Conference, as well as being displayed and performed at two further exhibitions in London— ‘Th Sunlight Project’ and ‘Testimony,’ the latter as part of a conference hosted by UN Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson. More recently, her work has been on exhibit with London based ‘What You Saying?’ and performed at Leeds International Festival.
Matilda Young is a writer working for a civil rights nonprofit with an MFA in Poetry from the University of Maryland. She lives in Washington, D.C. with a poet, an environmental lawyer, and an angry ginger cat. She has been published in several journals, including Sakura Review, The Golden Key, and District Lit.
Meet the Highlandtown Writers-in-Residence
We are pleased to introduce the inaugural cohort of writers-in-residence for the Highlandtown First Friday Art Walk. The art walk season extends from April until December and these three talented writers will immerse themselves in all things Highlandtown during their three month residencies. Be sure to seek them out while browsing the venues during the art walk.
Kerry Graham, April - June
Kerry Graham lives, teaches, writes and runs in East Baltimore. Her vignettes have appeared, or are forthcoming, in borrowed solace, The Citron Review, Crack the Spine, and Gravel. She is a regular contributor to Role Reboot, and runs a collaborative weekly newsletter called In This Together.
Jessica Gregg, July - September
Jessica Gregg is the editor of Baltimore Style magazine and also oversees Baltimore's Child and Washington Family magazines. She is a Baltimore booster, proud rowhouse dweller, the mother of two teenagers, and an avid poetry reader. Her poetry collection "News from this Lonesome City" will be published this year by Finishing Line Press.
Laura Hazan, October - December
Laura Hazan is a librarian with the Enoch Pratt Free Library where she runs the bimonthly Light Street Writers Exchange. She completed her first novel, Little Boxes, and is seeking representation for publication. She attended the “Your Novel Year” program at Arizona State University’s Piper Writing Center where she was instructed and mentored by best-selling novelists Michael Stackpole and Jean Rabe, among others. In addition, her work has been published in Natural Bridge, Kirkwood Patch, Sauce Magazine, and Not A Pipe Publishing #yearofpublishingwomen anthology Strongly Worded Women available at Amazon.com and other booksellers. Laura is a resident of Baltimore and lives with her son, her husband and their one-eyed dog, Boh.
Highlandtown Writer-in-Residence Opportunity
Writer-in-Residence Opportunity with Highlandtown First Friday Art Walk and Yellow Arrow Publishing
What: Enjoy a three month daytime writing residency in Highlandtown. Get inspired by the First Friday Art Walk and work on your own writing at various venues in Highlandtown. Great opportunity and exposure for Baltimore writers who want to engage with and inspire a passion for the literary arts in the community. Residents will be featured in a reading event on August 2nd during the “Summer Reading” themed art walk as well as in social media promotions with both Yellow Arrow and Highlandtown marketing efforts. Yellow Arrow will also publish a zine featuring residents' work at the end of the 2019 art walk season.
When: We are looking for three writers each year. Each writer will be assigned to either the Spring (April, May, June), Summer (July, August, September), or Fall (October, November, December). During their season, each writer will attend all three Art Walks on the first Friday of each month, and will be provided a minimum of six days to work in various venues in Highlandtown. If more than six work days are desired during the assigned season, we will coordinate this with the venues and writer.
Where: The Highlandtown First Friday Art Walk consists of various art galleries, restaurants, retail locations and other businesses within the Highlandtown neighborhood. Writers-in-residence will become familiar with the venues during their orientation and will be assigned places in the neighborhood where they can work throughout their residency block.
How: Selected writers will create three blog posts in total (minimum 500 words) to be submitted one week after each Art Walk occuring in their designated season. The blog post must be related to the art walk, the participating venues, or Highlandtown in general and will be featured on ihearthighlandtown.com.
Why: Yellow Arrow Publishing is based in Highlandtown and loves supporting our neighborhood events. A large tenant of our mission is to support other writers by providing opportunities to gain visibility in the community. During this residency you will have the opportunity to meet and engage with writers and supportive community members in the arts. Our hope is that you will be inspired by the arts district here in Highlandtown as well as the diverse community we enjoy.
Who: We are looking for Baltimore writers interested in community building and growing their network in the arts. Emerging to career writers are invited to apply. All genres welcome. Perfect for writers needing a little extra time and inspiration for an ongoing project they are already working on, such as a manuscript. Also great for writers who are looking to get inspired and start working on something new.
Ready to apply?
Residency application due by March 8, 2019
Yellow Arrow Publishing seeks to support, nurture and inspire writers identifying as women. We provide writing related opportunities for writers in the Baltimore community and beyond through publication, workshops, and an interactive reading series.
Yellow Arrow Journal: Winter 2019
The Winter 2019 edition of the Yellow Arrow Journal is now available as a hard copy, PDF, or an ebook on your Kindle.
This season we explored the theme of "Doubt" through creative nonfiction and poetry by T.J. Butler, Jessica Cappelluti, Diane Finlayson, Jessica Gregg, Tami Lauteren, Edele C. Morgan, Ann Quinn, Mindy Stokes, and Roz Weaver.
Thank you to our hard working editorial staff, to the talented writers, and of course to you, our beloved readers.
Support independent publishing through an annual subscription to the journal. Our hard copy editions are printed in small batches and bound by hand.
Submissions open
Submissions open OCTOBER 1st to NOVEMBER 30th 2018 for the winter 2019 issue of the Yellow Arrow JournalGuidelines:-The theme is "Doubt." We leave it up to authors to interpret the theme however they choose.-Submissions of creative nonfiction and poetry by women and identifying authors welcomed.-Submissions for cover art by women and identifying artists welcomed. Must supply a high resolution image. Cover art can be a painting, drawing, print, photo, graphic design or anything else you dream up.-Submissions of creative nonfiction must be no more than 5,000 words, however any piece between 500 and 5,000 words will be considered. You may submit up to 5 poems per author.-Please send your submissions in the body of an email to info(at)yellowarrowpublishing.com. Cover letters are not necessary unless you need to explain how your piece relates to the theme. Attachments are not accepted.-We are seeking pieces of writing with an optimistic or hopeful vibe.-Multiple submissions are fine, but please do let us know if your piece gets published elsewhere in the mean time.-Please no previously published work aside from blogs and personal websites. If you're not sure, just ask.-Accepted submissions may be edited for content and grammar. We will seek your permission before editing.-Submissions are $.99 per piece of creative nonfiction and $.99 for up to 5 poetry submissions. Payment accepted here. If you are unable to pay for your submission, please explain this in your submission email and we will permit scholarships on a case by case basis.-You will hear back from us by December 17th, 2018 regarding your submission.-If your piece is selected, you will receive payment of $10USD and one free hard copy of the journal.Send submissions to: info(at)yellowarrowpublishing.com
Yellow Arrow Journal, Vol. III, Courage
Dear Yellow Arrow Family,Volume III of the Yellow Arrow Journal is here and we couldn't be more excited and proud to share it with all of you. The theme this time around is "Courage." Inside you will find a collection of poetry and essays by writers who identify as women from all over the world.We hope you consider supporting independent publishing by subscribing to the journal, purchasing a single hard copy, downloading a PDF, or reading it on your Kindle.A very special thank you goes out to our volunteer staff Kapua, Leila and Maggie who spent hours and hours sifting through submissions, editing, formatting and looking over many revisions with a close eye. We so appreciate your dedication to this project.If you happen to get a copy of this journal in your hands you'll notice it is hand bound with string. That's right, we sat and stitched them with needle and thread, because we love you. Also because we wanted to produce a product that was entirely in-house. In the past we had printed copies made through Amazon because it was cheap and easy. Cheap and easy isn't a bad thing, but we just really wanted to give you a journal that was touched by our very own hands and made special for each of you.We hope you enjoy this volume,Gwen Van Velsor
Yellow Arrow Journal, Volume II, January 2018
We are proud to present the second volume of our biannual literary journal. The theme is Time.Thank you to all the courageous writers who offered their precious time to this edition.To read the journal as a PDF, please click the link or image below. To purchase a hard copy for $7.00 (including shipping), please email info@yellowarrowpublishing.com with your name, mailing address, and preferred payment method. Or, purchase on Amazon for $10.00. You may download the ebook version for $.99 on your Kindle or ereading device.
Cover art by Marie Hassell Doctorchik
Yellow Arrow Journal: Volume I, July 2017
We are proud to present the first volume of our biannual literary journal. The theme is Journey. Creating this compilation was a journey of its own, and we are very grateful for your support and readership.Thank you to all the talented and brave writers who submitted their hearts and souls to this enterprise.To read the journal as a PDF, please click the link or image below. To purchase a hard copy, please email info@yellowarrowpublishing.com
