2024 has seen the publication of two BookEnds novels: Nora Decter’s What’s Not Mine (ECW) was published in April, and you can watch the BookEnds BookClub featuring Nora in conversation with her mentor and program co-founding director Susan Scarf Merrell here. Joselyn Takacs’ Pearce Oysters (Zibby Books) was published in July, and Joselyn was in conversation with her mentor and other program co-founding director, Meg Wolitzer, at the BookEnds BookClub in September. Check out their conversation here.
2022 Fellow Giano Cromley’s BookEnds novel American Mythology is forthcoming with Doubleday in Fall 2025, while 2023 Fellow Miranda Shulman’s BookEnds novel Harmless is forthcoming with Dutton in Spring 2026. Another BookEnds novel is under contract and will be announced soon, while several other BookEnds novels are out on submission, and we expect more happy news to come! Several Fellows from our recent and incoming cohorts have also signed with agents this spring.
Further doings, honors, and publications:
Jeanne Blasberg (2022) published her BookEnds novel Daughter of a Promise with SheWrites Press.
Elisabeth Chaves (2022) received the Nancy Zafris Short Story Fellowship from The Porches.
Sheena Cook (2019) was longlisted for the World of Interiors writing contest.
Sam Corradetti (2024) had a short story published in this summer’s issue of Fourteen Hills.
Vanessa Cuti (2018, author of BookEnds novel The Tip Line, and a BookEnds mentor) has a short story forthcoming in The Harvard Review.
April Darcy (2020) has a short story forthcoming in Water~Stone Review. Another story was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, the Disquiet International Literary Program, and the CRAFT Short Fiction Prize.
Kathleen Gibbons (2019) was longlisted for the Granum Foundation Prize in 2023 with a novel-in-progress, and two stories from her BookEnds linked story collection have received Pushcart Prize nominations. She will be in residence at the Ragdale Foundation in 2025.
Sarah Haufrect (2022) was published in June by West Trade Review, and the story will be coming out this month as an audio exclusive on the magazine’s Youtube channel.
Maggie Hill (2019) published her BookEnds novel Sunday Money with SheWrites Press earlier this year.
Craig Holt (2023) has a short story forthcoming in MicroLit Almanac.
Suzanne LaFetra Collier (2023) attended both Community of Writers and Bread Loaf earlier this year.
Rachel León (2021) is editing an anthology about Rockford, Illinois, with Belt Publishing, and has just been named Managing Editor for The Chicago Review of Books.
Sue Mell (2020, author of the BookEnds novel Provenance) published her short story collection A New Day with SheWrites Press.
O. Edwin Ozoma (2024) published a short story in Harpur Palate.
Melanie Pierce (2021) has a short story forthcoming in Moon City Review.
JP Solheim (2020, BookEnds Associate Director) was in residence at the Ragdale Foundation this summer. They were longlisted for the Granum Foundation Prize in 2023. Their short stories have recently been published at MQR: Mixtape and on the Midwest Weird literary podcast.
Hannah Thaggard (2024) had a short story published in Harpur Palate.
BookEnds alums are also busy and active in their communities, with new works in progress; supporting one another through daily and weekly Zoom writing sessions; giving each other advice, feedback and support on query letters and the query process; and—of course—through our BookEnds blog. Check out this new post from 2024 Fellow Caitlin O’Neil on cutting characters with her mentor Meg Wolitzer (and remember to check out Meg as the host of Selected Shorts!)
We look forward to bringing you more great news soon. To learn more about BookEnds, check out our Fall 2024 Open House!