Denver Woman’s Press Club

If you are a writer of fiction, nonfiction or poetry who has not been paid for your work, enter the Denver Woman’s Press Club’s Unknown Writer’s Contest today. Entrants will receive constructive feedback on their work from professional writers and editors. The winners in each category will be honored in a special ceremony. To get started, visit our contest page to download the 2012 rules and entry form. For more information call 303-839-1519. Submission deadline is March 31, 2012.

The Writers Studio at Arapahoe Community College announces its 8th Annual Writers Studio Literary Contest for unpublished work in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. $250 prize, publication in Progenitor, ACCs award-winning literary magazine, and invitation to the Spring Literary Festival will be awarded to first-place winners in each category. Second place winners will be invited guests at the literary festival. The contest is open to all Colorado residents and the deadline to submit work is March 1, 2012.

Final judges for this year’s contest are Harrison Fletcher (creative nonfiction), author of Descanso for My Father: Fragments of a Life, a Bakeless Literary Award finalist, and selection for the University of Nebraska Press American Lives Series edited by Tobias Wolff, Dan Beachy-Quick (poetry), author, most recently, of Circle’s Apprentice (Tupleo 2011) and Wonderful Investigations (Milkweed 2012), a book of poetry and a book of essays, mediations, and tales (respectively). (poetry) and Jennifer Davis (fiction), author of Her Kind of Want, winner of the Iowa Award for Short Fiction and Our Former Lives in Art, selected by Barnes and Noble for their Discover Great New Writers series. The judges will also serve as writing faculty for the 2012 Spring Literary Festival on Saturday, April 21.

New this year: we will be accepting electronic submissions only for art and literary pieces through Submittable, the online submission manager. For submission guidelines or about the Writers Studio, visit the Writers Studio Web site at ACC Writers Studio General Submission Guidelines or e-mail the Writers Studio at writerstudio@arapahoe.edu.

DWPC member Barbara Wright’s new book, Crow (Random House), will be released January 10 at local bookstores. This young adult historical fiction story centers around a black boy growing up in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1898, when his family is devasted by a racist uprising.

“An intensely moving, first-person narrative of a disturbing historical footnote told from the perspective of a very likable, credible young hero.” –Kirkus Starred Review

Barbara Wright has published two other novels, Easy Money and Plain Language. Learn more about Barbara and read an excerpt of Crow here.

Patricia Cox’s memoir about her husband, We Keep Our Potato Chips in the Refrigerator, was the debut book of the Colorado Branch of the Alzheimer’s Association. The book is an honest view of what it is like to live with a victim of Alzheimer’s. By reading this book, caregivers, as well as friends and relatives of dementia sufferers, can find a connection and realize they are not alone in their dire situations. Caring for or even knowing a victim of Alzheimer’s is not an easy path. Patricia’s stories make the unreal seem real, the impossible seem possible.

Learn more about Patricia Cox’s book and other writing here.

On Monday, December 12, DWPC member Lydia Rueger was featured on Channel 7′s 11am news in a segment on creating inexpensive, homemade holiday gifts with your kids: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/video/29978962/index.html. The segment was a result of Lydia’s article in the December issue of Colorado Parent magazine, Home (made) for the Holidays, also available now for free in stores that carry the magazine. Deborah Mock, editor of Colorado Parent, is also a DWPC member.

DWPC member Joey Porcelli produced a new short film titled “The Lunchbox Express” for the Colorado Children’s Campaign. The film, directed by Alexandre Philippe, puts a face on childhood hunger in Colorado. It screened at the Campaign’s annual fundraiser in October to an audience of more than 700. Porcelli is proud to announce that “The Lunchbox Express” has been picked up by Comcast on Demand and will be shown for the next year. View the film here and learn more about The Lunchbox Express program here.

DWPC member Elizabeth Wallace has published her seventh book, Hidden History of Denver, in which she unearthed little-known, unpublished historical facts gleaned from one-on-one interviews with descendants of pioneer families. Elizabeth interviewed descendants of Richens Lacy Wootton, who built the first “skyscraper” in 1858, local rodeo promoter and Chicago hit-man, Leland Varain and Sonny Liston, world heavyweight champion of the world. Her book also includes never-before-published photographs and sketches. Learn more about Elizabeth and her book at: http://evwallace.blogspot.com.

DPWC member Margaret Coel has published yet another novel, The Perfect Suspect, a suspense story set in Denver and featuring investigative reporter, Catherine McLeod. Says Margaret, “The novel follows Blood Memory, the first novel in my new Denver series. Learn more at: www.margaretcoel.com

Milton on My Mind is a short and passionate introduction to the beauty of Paradise Lost by Ida Fasel, a woman who taught Milton for many years. The amazing Ida Fasel began to gather this collection of her commentaries and poems after her 100th birthday, and at 102, she is proudly seeing its first printing. This book is recommended to all who want to understand this extraordinary Puritan poet of the 17th century.

Learn more about the book here.