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Sweet Connections: Sheila Squillante

August 20, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Each week we will be connecting with our contributors showing where they have been, where they are now, and what’s up for the future.

Name: Sheila Squillante
Title of Pieces Published in Sweet: “You Would Become,” “It Takes Strength to Be Gentle and Kind“, & “Meat Ragu”
Issues: 5.1 & 7.2

Find Her:
Instagram
Twitter

You can find Sheila in Pittsburg, PA at Chatham University where she edits The Fourth River, a journal of nature and place-based writing. She also edits  Barrelhouse online.

Check out her website!

What are some major accomplishments you have had since your Sweet publication?

I’ve become the director of Chatham University’s MFA program

Can you tell us about a current/ongoing project that you’re excited about?

My second collection of poetry, MOSTLY HUMAN, won the Wicked Woman Book Prize with Brick House Books and will be out in October, 2020.

Forthcoming October 2020

Who is your favorite author?

Anne Carson, Diane Seuss, Todd Kaneko, Camille Dungy, Natalie Diaz, Paisley Rekdal, Lee Ann Roripaugh, Sei Shonagon

What inspires you to write?

Memory, confusion, disorientation, grief, my children, the unlikely resilience of the natural world

What are you reading right now?

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo, Still Life with Two Dead Peacocks and a Girl, by Diane Seuss, Splinters are Children of Wood, by Leia Wilson.

What is your favorite sweet? We would love for you to share a recipe or link to place that serves it. Pictures are great, too!

Salted caramel gelato.

We found an awesome rescipe from The Spruce Eats tempts our tastebuds!

Sea Salt Caramel Gelato

Thank you, Sheila, for taking the time to reconnect with us. We look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!

Are you a contributor who wants to be a part of Sweet Connections?  Come fill out our form!

Best of Net 2020 Nominations

August 11, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Sweet Lit is proud to have nominated the following for this year’s Best of Net:

Poetry

“And That Darkness” By Douglas Cole

“MS Nocturne with Fuse, Crosshairs, and Irreparable Fissure” by Emily Rose Cole

“Unison” by Justin Runge

“The Taste of Blueberries” by Sandra Yannone

“What do I do about the nightmares” by Janet MacFadyen

“Joy” by Hannah Marshall

Essays

“Brown Girl Learns Her Body” by Loré Yessuff

“Autopsy Report” by Peggy Shumaker

Good luck to you all and congratulations for being Sweet’s Best of Net Nominations!

Sweet Connections: Joy Ladin

August 6, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Each week we will be connecting with our contributors showing where they have been, where they are now, and what’s up for the future.

Name: Joy Ladin
Title of Pieces Published in Sweet: “A Little Bit of Ocean,” “August,” “Afterward,” “Letter to Poetry”
Issues: 6.2

Find Her:
Facebook
Twitter

You can find Joy in Hadley, MA, where she is the David and Ruth Gottesman Chair in English at Stern College of Yeshiva University. She is also a poet and a nationally known speaker on transgendered issues. You can watch her TED talk, “Ain’t I A Woman?” for more.

Check out her website!

What are some major accomplishments you have had since your Sweet publication?

I have published two books of poetry, “The Future is Trying to Tell Us Something: New and Selected Poems” and “Fireworks in the Graveyard,” and one book of creative non-fiction, “The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective,” and was chosen as one of 19 poets commissioned by the Academy of American Poets and the New York Philharmonic to contribute new works to Project 19, a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment and women’s right to vote, among other cool things!

Buy Here
Buy Here

Can you tell us about a current/ongoing project that you’re excited about?

I’m in the midst of a book of poems called Shekhinah Speaks, in the voice of the Shekhinah, who, in Jewish tradition, is the immanent, female aspect of the Divine.

Who is your favorite author?

Emily Dickinson

What is your favorite poem/essay/book?

Too many to choose!

What inspires you to write?

If I don’t write, I start to feel like I’m dead.

What are you reading right now?

Don’t Call Us Dead by Danez Smith

What is your favorite sweet? We would love for you to share a recipe or link to place that serves it. Pictures are great, too!

Alas, I have developed an allergy to sugar, so everyone else, please enjoy for me!

That makes us so sad, but there are lots of alternatives out there these days. Here’s one worth checking out!

Red Velvet Molten Lava Cake

Thank you, Joy, for taking the time to reconnect with us. We look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!

Are you a contributor who wants to be a part of Sweet Connections?  Come fill out our form!

Sweet Connections: Amanda Chiado

July 30, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Each week we will be connecting with our contributors showing where they have been, where they are now, and what’s up for the future.

Name: Amanda Chiado
Title of Pieces Published in Sweet: “Angels in the Bathtub” and “Fire Breathing Darlings”
Issues: 4.2

Author photo

Find Her:
Twitter

You can find her in Cali, in the rural town of Hollister where she is the Director of Arts Education for the San Benito County Arts Council. She is usually in a poetic state of mind, but the current health crisis has infused her creativity with more anxiety than usual. She continues to write, submit work, and advocate for the arts in any capacity she can. You are ahead of the rest of us, Amanda!

Check out her website for more.

What are some major accomplishments you have had since your Sweet publication?

I published the chapbook Vitiligod: The Ascension of Michael Jackson with Dancing Girl Press, participated in the Visible Poetry Project, attended a Highlights Foundation Children’s Writer’s Workshop, and was nominated for the Pushcart and Best of the Net, and published various pieces short fiction. My daugher Isabella was three years old when I was published, and she will be twelve soon and now I have a son, named Gianluca who will soon be seven years old. 

Vitiligod Book cover
Purchase here

Can you tell us about a current/ongoing project that you’re excited about?

A current project I am excited about is based on Sierra Mulder’s virtual workshop that I am currently taking which focuses on creating a themed collection. An ongoing project that sticks in me is ekphrastic poetry and fiction. I love how language and image speak to one another. I am always thrilled by the surreal and magical. I am also still interested in a lingering project that focuses on “landscapes” where I weave human experiences such as grief/love with land/nature with themes of cultural and personal history.

Who is your favorite author?

Sylvia Plath, and James Tate

What is your favorite poem/essay/book?

Song by Brigit Pegeen Kelly

What inspires you to write?

Questions, observations, nature and the strangeness of people and complex familial relationships inspire me to write. I imagine myself as a tinkering scientist trying to invent language machines that punch you in the guts, make you fly or bury you. I am deeply inspired by writers, art, music, film and dance, with ekphrastic poems being some of my most favorite to read and write. There is true magic in the act of writing and making something from nothing which always brings me back to the blank page. I want to create stories that vibrate and live on their own. 

Some poetic inspiration from Amanda:

What are you reading right now?

Partial Genius by Mary Biddinger

What is your favorite sweet? We would love for you to share a recipe or link to place that serves it. Pictures are great, too!

My favorite sweet is a fruit tart, but I also like a simpler sweet- toast with marscapone, sugar and chocolate chips.

Photo courtesy of Preppy Kitchen

Love it! The best part of summer is the fruit, so this is perfect!

Thank you, Amanda, for taking the time to reconnect with us. We look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!

Are you a contributor who wants to be a part of Sweet Connections?  Come fill out our form!

Sweet Connections: Susan Rich

July 23, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Each week we will be connecting with our contributors showing where they have been, where they are now, and what’s up for the future.

Name: Susan Rich
Title of Pieces Published in Sweet: “Not Monet’s Giverny”
Issues: 7.3

Find Her:
Facebook
Twitter

Susan lives in Seattle and teaches at Highline College where she runs the reading series, Highline Listens: Writers Read Their Work.

Check out her website for more.

What are some major accomplishments you have had since your Sweet publication?

I just accepted a 4Culture grant to investigate intergenerational hauntings through poems.

Can you tell us about a current/ongoing project that you’re excited about?

I’ve two new books coming: Blue Atlas (Red Hen Press) and Gallery of Postcards and Maps: New and Selected (Salmon Press).

Who is your favorite author?

Too many to fit here!

What is your favorite poem/essay/book?

Deaf Republic, Geography III, When My Body was a Cinched Fist, Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin, Human Hours, Chord, Dialogue with Rising Tides

What inspires you to write?

Everything–on a good day!

What are you reading right now?

The Poet and the Princess: Memories of Rainier Maria Rilke by Princess Marie Von Thurn

What is your favorite sweet? We would love for you to share a recipe or link to place that serves it. Pictures are great, too!

Ice cream!

ice cream image
Photo courtesy of kirin_photo

We love ice cream, too!

Thank you, Susan, for taking the time to reconnect with us. We look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!

Are you a contributor who wants to be a part of Sweet Connections?  Come fill out our form!

Sweet Connections: Will McMillan

July 16, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Each week we will be connecting with our contributors showing where they have been, where they are now, and what’s up for the future.

Name: Will McMillan
Title of Pieces Published in Sweet: “Exploded”
Issues: 9.2

Author Photo

Find Him:
You can find Will in Portland, Oregon.

If you want to read more of his work, check out this piece.

What are some major accomplishments you have had since your Sweet publication?

In the past three years, I’ve been fortunate enough to have my work featured in an amazing selection of journals, including The Sun, Hobart, Nailed, Citron Review, Thread, and Pidgeonholes, among others. One of my essays, which was featured in Nailed, was used as the premise for a piece I did for This American Life.

Can you tell us about a current/ongoing project that you’re excited about?

I recently completed an essay collection, consisting of 30 nonfiction, memoir style essays, of which roughly half have been previously published. It’s been submitted to a publishing house, and seeing the culmination of years of work coming together like this has been extraordinary.

Who is your favorite author?

Stephen King/Ray Bradbury/Barbara Kingsolver

What is your favorite poem/essay/book?

That changes constantly. Which is probably a good thing.

What inspires you to write?

For me, writing is essentially instinctive, something that I’ve always just done. Something tied into my DNA that compels me to write. Wanting to share my perspective, my feelings, my take on what’s happening in life. Wanting to be, in some way, a teacher. To reach out to people and share experiences with them, to connect, to feel less alone.

What are you reading right now?

Right now, I’m reading a short story collection, “If it Bleeds,” by the lovely Stephen King.

What is your favorite sweet? We would love for you to share a recipe or link to place that serves it. Pictures are great, too!

Strawberry rhubarb pie. Always has been, always will be.

strawberry rhubarb pie
Image from foodnetwork.com

Strawberry rhubarb pie always reminds me of my grandmother, so I found this great recipe to share! Grandma’s Strawberry-rhubarb pie.

Thank you, Will, for taking the time to reconnect with us. We look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!

Are you a contributor who wants to be a part of Sweet Connections?  Come fill out our form!

Sweet Connections: Joshua Bernstein

July 9, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Each week we will be connecting with our contributors showing where they have been, where they are now, and what’s up for the future.

Name: Joshua Bernstein
Title of Pieces Published in Sweet: “Lost in the Fog”
Issues: 11.1

Find Him:

Joshua teaches and directs graduate studies in English at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Check out his website for more.

What are some major accomplishments you have had since your Sweet publication?

I was honored to learn that a chapbook, NORTHERN COWBOY, was selected by Jessie van Eerden as the winner of the Wilt Prize for Creative Nonfiction at Lightning Key Review and will come out with Green Rabbit Press. Other pieces have appeared or are forthcoming in Washington Square Review, CutBank, Notre Dame Review, Moon City Review, Hobart, McSweeney’s, Hypertext, Contrary, North Dakota Quarterly, Inkwell, and Red Rock Review. I also have an academic article forthcoming on Joseph Conrad in a volume called Conrad and Ethics.

Buy Here

Can you tell us about a current/ongoing project that you’re excited about?

I’m completing a full-length book of essays, which includes the essay in Sweet. If I can plug another effort here, I’m also trying to bring awareness to and raise funds for a family friend, a girl of sixteen months named Kristina, who lives in Russia and needs an expensive drug to survive.

Who is your favorite author?

Joseph Conrad, without a doubt. While he’s not currently in vogue–Michael Eric Dyson told the New York Times he’d remove Heart of Darkness from the canon, and Robert Zaretsky is even more insistent in The American Scholar–it’s hard to imagine anyone who’s more conscious of race and the evils of oppression than Conrad. Moreover, even if Conrad were complicit in giving voice to the evils he decried–and he wasn’t–to suggest that we should only read works that we find morally tolerable is to ignore the bulk of great literature and fundamentally miss the point of reading.

What is your favorite poem/essay/book?

Forgive me for listing four: the Bible’s Book of Job, Melville’s Moby-Dick, Conrad’s Nostromo, and McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. All four are of a piece and part of what you might call a literary tradition of artistic nihilism. That is, they take on the world, pit man against the elements, and strive for a kind of meaning–literary or aesthetic–in a world that offers none. They’re also astonishingly funny and dark. To me, these four works are the greatest vindication of humanity and miracles in their own right.

What inspires you to write?

The Bible, Melville, Conrad, and Faulkner, along with other writers–Lily Hoang, Teddy Wayne, Amina Gautier.

What are you reading right now?

Jayson Iwen’s Roze & Blud, Becky Hagenston’s Scavengers, and Chris Fink’s Add This to the List of Things That You Are.

What is your favorite sweet? We would love for you to share a recipe or link to place that serves it. Pictures are great, too!

I’ve uploaded a picture of our family friend, Kristina, who needs a drug to survive. If you ask me, she’s pretty sweet.

Donate here

We couldn’t agree more. She is just as sweet as can be. If you would like to give, too, please consider donating to help this little girl.

Thank you, Joshua, for taking the time to reconnect with us. We look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!

Are you a contributor who wants to be a part of Sweet Connections?  Come fill out our form!

Sweet Connections: Ashley Inguanta updated

July 2, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Each week we will be connecting with our contributors showing where they have been, where they are now, and what’s up for the future.

Name: Ashley Inguanta
Title of Pieces Published in Sweet: “Dedication: To the One I Will Marry,” “Seven Ways of Unfolding,” “Peaks”
Issues: 5.3, 6.2, 8.2

Find Her:
Instagram

You can typically find Ashley drinking coffee and watching wild doves. Check out her website for more.

What are some major accomplishments you have had since your Sweet publication?

I wrote a chapbook of poems, a pocket companion. It’s called The Island, The Mountain, & The Nightblooming Field, and I released it on June 1st. I wrote these poems to honor and celebrate a human connection to the natural world.

Can you tell us about a current/ongoing project that you’re excited about?

I am really excited about my chapbook, Island. It is such a simple book, a simple landscape of a book. I’m inviting each reader to plant their own seeds into it, to grow something from these pages. I hope that this book can spark visual art, music, more poetry, installation work; I hope this book brings the spirit of joining to readers, giving them a starting point to explore all landscape, in their own way–landscapes as big as the everglades and as small as a bird’s wing.

Inguanta Book Cover
Buy Here

Who is your favorite author?

I’ve been appreciating so much writing lately, I can no longer choose one favorite author.

What is your favorite poem/essay/book?

I do not have one favorite, but the novel Orlando by Virginia Woolf will always mean a lot to me.

What inspires you to write?

Over these past few weeks, I’ve been inspired by cold, cold climates. Ptarmigans. The idea of building an ocean. The Mojave Phonebooth. All the wild birds of Florida. 

What are you reading right now?

The latest issue of Image 

What is your favorite sweet? We would love for you to share a recipe or link to place that serves it. Pictures are great, too!

Right now, frozen raspberries in a blender with dairy-free chocolate milk 🙂 

Sounds perfect for a hot, summer day.

Thank you, Ashley, for taking the time to reconnect with us. We look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!

Are you a contributor who wants to be a part of Sweet Connections?  Come fill out our form!

Sweet Connections: Phyllis Klein

June 25, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Each week we will be connecting with our contributors showing where they have been, where they are now, and what’s up for the future.

Name: Phyllis Klein
Title of Pieces Published in Sweet:  “Snow Drifts Through the Living Room” & “Hardware“
Issues: 10.1 & 11.1

Phyllis Klein author photo

Find Her:

Phyllis has been busy sheltering in place, writing poetry, working online, and getting her first book of poetry published. We can’t wait to see it!

She is also getting her website, phyllispoetry.com ready to launch. We will be on the look out to see it first!

 
What are some major accomplishments you have had since your Sweet publication?

The main event is my book, The Full Moon Herald, published by Grayson Books. It’s a newspaper of poetry with chapters corresponding to the sections in a newspaper, such as International News, National News, Health, Book Review, Obituary, and more. Since I love writing about the news, the book gives me a chance to compile some of the “articles” and chronicles my inner and outer journey of recent and past events.

Book Cover for Full Moon Herald
Buy Here

I was also lucky enough to be Fourth finalist in the Fischer Prize, part of the Telluride Poetry Festival, 2019. I wasn’t able to go to the festival, but did get to visit Telluride last September, such a treat, albeit the altitude does make its presence known.

Phyllis was also recently interviewed by Michael Anthony Ingram for Quintessential Listening: Poetry Online Radio. You can listen to the interview here.

Can you tell us about a current/ongoing project that you’re excited about?

I’m in the process of publicizing my book, working on a poetry website for myself, and looking for the new writing projects. In the meantime, I’m keeping up with writing about the news, as depressing as it can be at times, there is power in writing about the difficult things, and then I love the good news when it shows up also. I’m going to take a class and attend an online workshop this summer. And it’s a good time to read poetry to others through an online platform, and I hope to attend some out of town readings while we are still all meeting on Zoom.

Who is your favorite author?

That changes daily. Right now I’d say Ellen Bass, but yesterday it was Naomi Shihab Nye.

What is your favorite poem/essay/book?

Today’s answer: Indigo. Yesterday, California Fire and Water. Tomorrow, infinite possibilities!

What inspires you to write?

I need to tell the truth to myself, and poetry helps me do that in a way that might be surprising to me. I need to chronicle my world, to do something in the face of helplessness or fear. Writing is my tool, the vehicle I drive that puts me on the road towards empowerment.

What are you reading right now?

Indigo by Ellen Bass, Nightingale by Paisley Rekdal, St. Peter and the Goldfinch by Jack Ridl, Dancing on the Edge, The McRedeye Poems by Art Goodtimes.

What is your favorite sweet?

Sweet potatoes. I don’t eat much sugar, but these guys really help with that.

Photo from delish.com

We love sweet potatoes, too.  For dessert or side, you can’t go wrong.  You can find how to make the perfect sweet potato here. 

Thank you, Phyllis, for taking the time to reconnect with us. We look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!

Are you a contributor who wants to be a part of Sweet Connections?  Come fill out our form!

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