Autumn 2024 News From DWW Members

A Message from the President
Autumn 2024

P.S. One last call to action for 2024…if you haven’t renewed your membership by
paying your dues, please do so! We’d be sorry if we lose touch with you.
Many thanks to the DWW members who have renewed for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
Visit DWW’s home page and pay through the PayPal link, or send a check payable to
“Detroit Working Writers” and send it to Detroit Working Writers, P.O. Box 1105,
Royal Oak, Michigan 48068. Annual dues are $35.

The DWW Board Meeting is slated for Tuesday, November 26th, at 7 p.m. online.
DWW members are encouraged to attend. RSVP to Theresa if you’d like to receive
the Zoom link to the meeting (president@detworkingwriters.org).

The Annual DWW Holiday Gathering will take place on Sunday, December 8th,
at 1:00 p.m., in Shield’s Pizzeria, 1476 W Maple Rd, Troy, MI 48084.
Please RSVP by December 5th to Maureen McGerty. Theresa will need an accurate head count, so please show her the courtesy!!

Looking ahead to 2025 – a popular event “Hats Off & Hurrahs!” is being planned.
Here’s an opportunity for DWW members to read their works published during the
last year. Stay tuned for details!

Carl Anthony will moderate a panel discussion from Reuters Events from Reuters Events on December 5th titled “Maintain Market Competitiveness Through In-Vehicle Entertainment.” The panel will examine how automakers are improving driver experiences through over-the-air updates (OTA) to enhance certain aspects of vehicle ownership after the original date of sale. Carl’s podcast AutoVision News Radio (https://www.bianchipr.com/carl-anthony-authautovision-news-radio-podcast/) was featured by Bianchi PR, a prominent Detroit-based automotive public relations firm. AutoVision New Radio, which focuses on future vehicle technology, is heard by automotive industry professionals globally, including in the United States, the United Kingdom, India, Sweden, Japan, Israel, Australia, and South Korea.

Veronica Dale says that the belief that people don’t read anymore was proved wrong when she and her books met the public at several local craft shows in Macomb County. Lots of shoppers said they “loved to read,” and several admitted to wanting to become writers themselves. Of course, she clued them in on DWW!

Vernie took part in the popular Dakota Art and Craft Show on November 2 and in the Chippewa Valley Holiday Fair on the 12th—both large high schools in Macomb. Next, she’ll have her books at the 40th Annual Santa’s Craft Castle on November 23 in Sterling Heights. This summer, Vernie was at the three-day Lavender Fest at the Eastern Michigan State Fairgrounds in Imlay City. Her business name, Nika Pres LLC, did well, and she had to order more books along the way!

A note from Vernie: “Our son Jesse Dale has written several articles promoting natural body-building, including for the national magazine Fitness and Physique. In June, the National Physique Committee awarded Jesse the title of ‘Mr. Michigan’ in a competition in Ypsilanti. Never dreamed I’d ever become the mom of Mr. Michigan!”

Linda Nemec Foster’s new book (with co-author Anne-Marie Oomen and artist Meridith Ridl) The Lake Huron Mermaid was featured on the websites of PEN America and AWP highlighting recent books by members. It was published by Wayne State University Press in September.

Linda has presented (or will soon present) programs and readings in Grand Rapids, Traverse City, and Bellaire this fall. More events are planned in 2025 at the AWP Conference in Los Angeles and at other venues in Detroit and Chicago. Linda talked about her collaboration on The Lake Huron Mermaid with Shelley Irwin on WGVU (Michigan Public Radio’s station in Grand Rapids) in October.

Also, she recently guest-edited a special issue of an academic journal devoted to the work of Pulitzer Prize winning poet Lisel Mueller. This issue of Midwestern Miscellany will be published in late 2024 by the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature.

Linda was invited to participate in The Summit, an online series of videos about poetry produced by Cervena Barva Press (near Boston), from October 4–6. Her talk was titled “The Prose Poem: An Exploration of the Genre That Defies Boundaries.”

Recently, her poems have been nominated for the Best of the Net (by editors of The Mackinaw) and the Touchstone Award (by the editors of MacQueen’s Quinterly).

In late October, Linda’s book Bone Country (Cornerstone Press) was honored as a Distinguished Favorite in the NYC Big Book Awards for Poetry in 2024. The awards ceremony will take place on May 3, 2025.

Robin Gaines’s essay “The Insect Rager in My Head” was published this fall in Minerva Rising. In September, she led a week-long writing retreat in Sligo, Ireland, for 12 participants through Wide Open Writing.

Terry Hojnacki’s books, including her children’s book I Can See With My Eyes Shut Tight and six editions of Sterling Script are currently featured in the Author section of The Gallery at Brewery Park in Detroit.

She’ll be at the Troy Public Library Local Author Fair Saturday, November 16, with her illustrator and all of her books. The newest edition in the Sterling Script series, Sterling Script: A Local Author Collection 2024, was just published and is available on Amazon at Sterling Script 2024 .

Linda Laderman has poems to be published in Scapegoat Review, Midway Journal, Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality and the Arts, and Vita Poetica. Poems recently published are “Bear With Me Today,” published in New Verse News, “Hunger” in Adanna Literary Review, and “Recital” in Rise Up Review.

In June, Michelle Morouse published a piece of flash fiction in Necessary Fiction.

Annemarie Schiavi Pedersen‘s novel-in-progress, Mask of Fortune, placed second in the Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance pre-published division of the Romance Through the Ages Contest. The contest is sponsored by Hearts Through History Romance Writers.

Linda Sienkiewicz is thrilled to announce that Regal House Publishing, an independent traditional publisher, has acquired her novel Love and Other Incurable Ailments for their fall 2026 frontlist season.

Earlier this fall, Linda was featured on September 12 at the Reading and Open Mic event held in the Westland Public Library, hosted by Denise Sedman; in recognition of National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, Linda took part in “Voices of Resilience: A Reading & Panel Discussion” with Meg Chorzempa and Therapist Anitra L. Rice, PLLC, at Next Chapter Books in Detroit on September 18; and on October 19, she presented a fiction workshop on point-of-view for the Rochester Writers Conference held at OU’s Oakland Center in Rochester.

Aline Soules received 2nd place and $200 in the 2024 “Matter” Poetry Contest. You can read the poem at https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0434/7822/0960/files/matter_24_2.pdf?v=1720699092.

The first 50 pages of Sandy White’s unpublished novel won the Killer Nashville Claymore Award for Best Comedy at the Killer Nashville Writers Conference in August.

Stay in Touch!

Recent publication or award? Delivered a presentation?
Led a workshop? Visited a school? Gave an interview?
Please send your news to Maureen McGherty and copy your Social Media Chair Richard Stiennon.

Let’s Communicate!

If your contact information has changed,please notify Membership Chair Michelle Morouse. You can find her contact details in the emailed version of this newsletter or in the DWW directory.

Speaking of which: Notify Michelle if you would like a copy of the offline membership directory or if you need the password for the online directory.