In Print No. 4

Description

Pen + Brush In Print No. 4 explores connections. They might be the connections of year following year and generation following generation, which we see in the poems by Gwen North Reiss and Diane Schenker, and the excerpt from Sylvia Beaupré’s novel about the children of a small New Hampshire town. It might be the connection of friend to friend: you’ll see that in the tender silences of Guadalupe Rodriguez’s poems and the history of affectionate debauchery in Kristi Gedeon’s short story. There is the connection between spouses, something that is affirming or destructive depending on whether you ask Lyn Stevens or Olga-Maria Cruz. And there is a connection familiar to many New Yorkers: the connection between strangers, which Jessica Ciosek explores in her short story, and how even a brief interaction can change a life.

Pen + Brush has thrived for 125 years on the connections of family, friends, or likeminded individuals who have nothing in common but a motivation to support the fine arts. As we near the end of our anniversary year, we are excited to share with you a magazine issue that focuses on connection, and on how lives touch each other on purpose and by accident.

I / stumble my crude two-step with Time’s / hand on my waist, mine on its shoulder

Contents

Mrs. Tems and Alicia by Jessica Ciosek

Night Land by Diane Schenker

House—Holding by Diane Schenker

Happy Are They Who Are Centripetal by Gwen North Reiss

Knife Slim, Hijinks Under Wraps by Gwen North Reiss

Ebb and Flow by Kristi Gedeon

Extra Salt by Guadalupe Rodriguez

Ghosts in Harmony by Guadalupe Rodriguez

The River by Sylvia Beaupré

Do you often ride in a car with a driver who has been drinking? by Olga-Maria Cruz

Lucky People by Lyn Stevens

About the Authors

Sylvia Beaupré is a NH native who writes in her childhood home. The concept of place and the natural world are themes that reverberate throughout her writing. Her stories and poems have appeared in literary magazines since the 1990s. Her work has been chosen as a finalist or semifinalist in several contests. She is the author of two books written for local historical organizations: Centennial and Tavern Village Tales (Weare Historical Society). Besides stories and poems, she has written two novels, a novella, a poem play, and a musical. Walking and reading are her favorite pastimes.

Jessica Ciosek is a writer living in NYC with her husband and two children. Her work has appeared in Minerva Rising and Adelaide. She is a member of the Pen + Brush Women’s Writing Circle and is currently shopping her first novel.

Olga-Maria Cruz is a poet and essayist who taught at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky from 2003-2016. Her poems have appeared in regional, national, and international journals including Poetry East, Ars Interpres, The Chaffin Journal, and Bellevue Literary Review. Her chapbook of poetry, A Philosopher Speaks of Rivers, was published by Finishing Line Press. Her poetry and creative nonfiction won grant support from the Kentucky Arts Council and Kentucky Foundation for Women. An essay excerpted from her memoir, The Thing I Came In For, appeared in an In Fact Books anthology on mental health, Same Time Next Week, in 2015.

Kristi Gedeon is a Houston-born writer who holds a MFA from Bennington College, where she worked with Amy Hempel. Her first story was published in the Carolina Quarterly, and a year later she won the Tobias Wolff Fiction Contest. That winning story went on to be published in the Bellingham Review. Other work has appeared in City Lights and The Georgetown Review. Her story “Disneyland is a Million Miles Away” was published in the inaugural issue of MEMOIR(and) and “Home Shopping” was recently published in 34^th Parallel Literary Magazine. Gedeon has been shortlisted in several national and international contests, including New Millennium, Carve Magazine, and Fish Publishing.

Gwen North Reiss has published poetry in Rhino, Connecticut Review, Dogwood, Mom Egg Review, and other literary magazines. She is the author of a chapbook, Notes on Metals, and of Paper Aperture a group of poems in the Pen + Brush e-publication series. She was the 2012 winner of the Rachel Wetzsteon Prize at the 92nd Street Y’s Unterberg Poetry Center, where she studied with Sharon Dolin and Jen Bervin. Reiss has a degree in Combined Literature (English and French) from Yale. She writes frequently about modern architecture, works as an Educator at The Glass House, and serves as a consultant for nonprofit organizations with a focus on the arts.

Guadalupe Rodriguez currently resides in Jerome, Idaho and earned a bachelor’s degree in creative writing from Boise State University in December of 2018. While the main focus of her writing is poetry, she has also published a short, personal, narrative piece, entitled Taste, with Brief Wilderness last January.

Diane Schenker‘s poetry has appeared in The Gettysburg Review, Rhino, Subtropics, Gargoyle and The Squaw Valley Review, among others. She is author of the chapbook Relation/Couch/Dreaming and has written reviews for coldfrontmag.com and The Boxcar Poetry Review. Her book has been shortlisted by the Harbor Mountain Press MURA Book Award and awarded Honorable Mention by the Concrete Wolf Louis Poetry Book Award. Schenker has been a fellow at The Gettysburg Review Conference for Writers and is a two-time alum of the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley. She has also worked and taught extensively in theater and directed opera. She was co-creator and performer in the performance pieces Jane Smith Jane Smith and Nannerl: A Speculative Morality.

Lyn Stevens won the 2014 Saturday’s Child Press short story contest. Her stories have also appeared in Prism Review, Greensboro Review, Eclectica Magazine, Wordrunner eChapbooks, Main Street Rag, the American Literary Review and Santa Ana River Review. Lyn lives in the Bronx.