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As writers, we perfect our work and send it out hoping to find a home for our words. Rejection can be discouraging and frustrating, but is also an unavoidable part of the submission process. How can writers and artists increase their odds of acceptance? What happens on the other side of publishing? How do magazines make decisions on what types of work to include in an issue?
In the first of a series of illuminating salons, Fatal Flaw and friends discuss “Acceptance and Rejection.” Moderated by writer Laura Venita Green, a panel of four editors from a spectrum of literary publications will answer questions about editorial decisions and discuss the art of making a magazine. We hope to create a dialogue between writers and the magazines they submit to that will provide artists with the knowledge to better understand the creative process of publishing a magazine and help navigate the submission process.
Please join us for this virtual event this Thursday February 16th at 8:30 EDT.
Founder & Editor-in-Chief of Spoken Black Girl Publishing
Rowana Abbensetts-Dobson (she/her) is a Guyanese-American writer, mom, and entrepreneur. Rowana is the Founder & Editor-In-Chief of Spoken Black Girl Publishing, which publishes Black women and women of color writers from across the diaspora. She is the author of Departure Story, a novel that captures her Caribbean ancestry and the coming-of-age experiences of Black women and girls in the United States. Rowana’s work has been published in Moko Magazine, Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora, Culture Push, Black Freight Press, and Free Verse Magazine. As a freelance mental health and wellness writer, Rowana has written for Insider, GoodRx, Well +Good, Bold Culture by Streamline Media, The Tempest, Insider, and Electric Lit. Rowana is the leader of the Healing Through Writing Workshop, running for 5 years now, which guides Black women and femmes through healing writing prompts with an emphasis on self-care and supportive community. She has spoken about mental health and wellness at NYU Summer Science Program, The August Wilson African American Culture Center, and the Black Women Writers Virtual Summit. In 2022, she became a board member of the International Women's Writers Guild after winning the Living Kindness Art and Activism Award. When she’s not writing, Rowana enjoys painting, visiting art museums, and spending time in nature.
Editor-in-Chief of Susurrus, A Literary Arts Magazine of the American South
Michelle Champagne is the Editor-in-Chief of Susurrus, A Literary Arts Magazine of the American South. She earned her Master’s in English at Wake Forest University, where she was the Graduate Fellow for Fiction Collective 2. Her work has been published in The Pinch, Ligeia, Sledgehammer Lit, and more. Her flash fiction “Honeytrap” won first place in Fatal Flaw’s 2022 Flash Fiction Contest and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Follow her at @susurrusmag on IG, @chellechampagne on Twitter or susurrusthemagazine.com
Fiction & Nonfiction Editor of Fatal Flaw
Shannon Elward is a writer, educator and the Fiction/Nonfiction Editor of Fatal Flaw Literary Magazine. She holds a Master’s in Fine Arts in Fiction from Columbia University. Her work has been published in Waxing and Waning, Sarah Lawrence Review and The Huffington Post.
Managing Editor of The Maine Review
Chelsea Jackson's poetry asks hard questions, interrogates inherited social narratives, and explores what it means to be human. Their work is published in Passengers Journal, Fatal Flaw Literary Magazine, Touchstone Literary Magazine, and Beyond Queer Words, among other publications. They were also a finalist in the 2020 Driftwood Press In-House Poetry Contest and their debut poetry collection All Things Holy and Heathen is forthcoming by April Gloaming. Chelsea has an MFA in Poetry from Drew University and is the Managing Editor of The Maine Review. Currently, Chelsea works as a freelance writer and editor and lives in Richmond, VA with their partner and cuddly pit bull. You can find them on Twitter and Instagram @sea_c_j or at their website chelsea-jackson.com.
Moderator
Laura Venita Green is a writer and translator with an MFA from Columbia University, where she was an undergraduate teaching fellow. Her fiction won the 2021 Story Foundation Prize and appears in Fatal Flaw, Joyland, Story, and The Missouri Review. Originally from Louisiana, she lives with her husband in New York City. She is currently finishing a linked story collection.
