SNHU Online MFA

Congrats to Online MFA alum Tony Moreira on this creepy little tale appearing in SNHU's online literary journal!

Cover of FIVE YEARS, by Teresa Tennyson, with a silver sticker proclaiming it the grand prize winner of the North Street Book Prize. Cover has an amber background with a cluster of homes above which a solitary honeybee is flying.

Look what came in the mail today! Online MFA alum @teresatennyson.bsky.social's awesome first novel, FIVE YEARS, which was also her thesis novel and recently won the North Street Book Prize grand prize! amzn.to/4bq6KlY

Recognition by Rose Mary Boehm 1 The first time I met death I didn’t crumble under its weight. I was very young but recognized that something important had changed. I hadn’t known her that well, but she had been ...

Happy Thursday! Here's "Recognition," by Rose Mary Boehm. Enjoy! #litmag #poetry
penmenreview.com/recognition/

Woot! Congrats, Joe!

Harper’s Crater by Jeffrey Ronay Forty-year-old Tom Riley climbed into his spacesuit and dialed the helmet ring to the external setting.  Angie, the Suit's reassuring voice, confirmed,

Happy Wednesday! Here's "Harper's Crater," by Jeffrey Ronay. Enjoy! #litmag #shortstory penmenreview.com/harpers-crat...

That by James Sennett chair  was not Bonnie’s. How could it be? None of the telltale  slouching evident in the faded cushions made of crushed  flowers of indiscriminate species. Fitting just so for the vis...

Happy Friday! Here's "That," by James Sennett. Enjoy! #litmag #poetry
penmenreview.com/that/

Mentoring Initiative - SFWA - The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association The SFWA Mentorship Program is an all-volunteer service provided free of charge. We aim to connect writers who have questions, whether they are emerging writers or have expansive career experience, wi...

SFWA looking for mentors and mentees! Application deadline 2/21. Students take note!
www.sfwa.org/mentorship-p...

Tonight!

Water World by John Grey you speak in lakes and dead mothers the universe  nests like water in your head for a swimmer like you there’s no such thing as drowning just prayers  for anything floating on the surface...

Happy Wednesday! Here's "Water World," by John Grey. Enjoy! #litmag #poetry
penmenreview.com/water-world/

photo of Malinda Lo, Chinese-American author with dark hair and black glasses, with the cover of her novel Last Night at the Telegraph Club, and the words Word for Word Welcomes Malinda Lo, Wednesday, 2/18, 8pm EST above the SNHU logo.

Word for Word welcomes bestselling author Malinda Lo on Wed., 2/18, from 8-9 pm ET! Join us as Malinda reads from her work and answers questions about her writing journey!

Register here: events.blackthorn.io/1N1TpJJ7/4a3...

Planctology by Rose Mary Boehm Plankter, a word that’s hardly ever used. You’ll never find just one. Plankter. Any organism living in the water column, says Wikipedia, and incapable of swimming against a current ...

Happy Friday! Here's "Planctology," by Rose Mary Boehm. Enjoy! #litmag #poetry

penmenreview.com/planctology/

Amazing piece from Online MFA student DJ Cooper!

If Only Pulkita Anand We stop deceiving through language  With names and meanings  With sounds and spellings  With dangling sentences and silent letters  With words piling on words  With the mob of vandalised...

Happy Wednesday! Here's "If Only," by Pulkita Anand. Enjoy! #litmag #poetry
penmenreview.com/if-only/

He’s Right Behind You by Kevin B We’d go out around one.  Climbing through bedroom windows, we’d try to land softly on bushes and backyard lawns. Some of us went barefoot. Some hid a spare pair of sneakers under porches or...

Happy Monday! Here's "He's Right Behind You," by Kevin B. Enjoy! #litmag #shortstory
penmenreview.com/hes-right-be...

Innocence is tending to dust bunnies by Menke Hudzinski-Biewenga Innocence is tending to dust bunnies raising them under the bed; watching them hop  refusing to eat your veggies just so you can feed them It is painting a rainbow on the w...

Happy Friday! Here's "Innocence is tending to dust bunnies," by @snhumfa.bsky.social student Menke Hudzinski-Biewenga. Enjoy! #litmag #poetry

penmenreview.com/innocence-is...

Congrats to instructor @bethrevis.bsky.social on receiving an Outstanding Educator Award from SNHU! Woot. Well deserved!

Ailanthus on Patchin Place by Claude Chabot The people know.   I have to be careful—they listen, they hear . . .  . . . and I’m afraid for the little girl. And Charlie.     They keep me here, but I flee often only to return. Th...

Happy Wednesday! Here's "Ailanthus on Patchin Place," by Claude Chabot. Enjoy! #litmag #shortstory
penmenreview.com/ailanthus-on...

Word for Word Celebrates the 2025 Fall Fiction Contest Winners On Wednesday, January 14, 2026, the Word for Word Reading Series at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) featured the winners of the Penmen Review’s eleventh annual Fall Fiction Contest. This year...

Check out this edited transcript of the Q&A portion of last month's Word for Word, Featuring the Winners of the 11th Annual Penmen Review Fall Fiction Contest!
penmenreview.com/spotlight/wo...

A photo collage of authors Mat Johnson, Nicola Griffith, Fonda Lee, Darcie Little Badger, and Pete Rock. It reads "Announcing our 2026 selection panel!" at the top, and has the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction logo at the bottom right.

We're thrilled to announce the panel of authors who will select the recipient of the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction:

Nicola Griffith
Mat Johnson
Fonda Lee
Darcie Little Badger
Peter Rock

Anyone can nominate work for this $25,000 prize; nominations will be open March 1st through 31st.

Cover of "Dig Your Own Grave," by Shanna Germain, showing figures digging in a field at dusk.

Shout out to instructor Melinda Clayton, who has a short story in "Dig Your Own Grave," an anthology set in the universe of the Old Gods of Appalachia RPG, from @montecookgames.com!

Shedding by Rose Mary Boehm I know I have to do some shedding. Can’t go into a long, enfeebling winter with the weight of oceans, moors, beaches, dark woods, and stark horizons. I suppose I ought to shed my li...

Happy Monday! Here's "Shedding," by Rose Mary Boehm. Enjoy! #litmag #poetry
penmenreview.com/shedding/

We fall into bed to make love but write poems instead by Alex Stolis When I was sixteen, Dad almost sold the bar, I crushed  on the buyer’s daughter: nineteen, blond, and way out of my league. I was gone-daddy-gone.  She asked if I knew where we could sc...

Happy Thursday! Here's "We fall into bed to make love but write poems instead," by Alex Stolis. Enjoy! #litmag #poetry
penmenreview.com/we-fall-into...

Toothless in the Dust Bath.

Please write that story.

SNHU Online MFA alum Kendra Vaughan reading from her debut novel, The Plymbury Witch.

Online MFA alum Kendra Vaughan was our guest on Wireside Chat earlier this month. Watch as she reads from her debut novel, The Plymbury Witch, and shares the secrets of her self-publishing success!

The Joys of Paternity by D.S. Stewart As the cancer worms through his body, Simon Weinberg prays the same prayer he’s made hundreds of times, kneeling, arms outstretched, staring upwards into space: “God, if you happen to ...

Happy Wednesday! Here's "The Joys of Paternity," by D. S. Stewart. Enjoy! #litmag #shortstory
penmenreview.com/the-joys-of-...

YouTube video by SNHU Academic Support Word for Word, Featuring the Penmen Review Fall Fiction Contest Winners, 1/14/26

Hot off the presses! The winners of the 11th Annual Penmen Review Fall Fiction Contest read their prize-winning stories at this special Word for Word event. Check it out!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1-P...

Graveyard by Walker Watson You are the sun all flowers seek, Their aching stems bent toward your light— While I, unseen, stay small and weak, A shadow fading out of sight. You cradle beauty none can claim, And ...

Happy Monday! Here's "Graveyard," by Walker Watson. Enjoy! #litmag #poetry
penmenreview.com/graveyard/

Icarus Bells by Jason Bauer The lightbulbs in my kitchen look like little Liberty Bells. It took me 17 years and three hundred something days to see it, but they are. It kinda burns to look at them, but it feels g...

Happy Friday! Here's "Icarus Bells," by Jason Bauer. Enjoy! #litmag #prosepoem
penmenreview.com/icarus-bells/

The cover for Media Showers, the new novel by J. Lloyd Morgan, showing a suburban night sky with an avalanche of falling stars.

Today's weather report calls for Media Showers! Happy book birthday to instructor Jason Morgan, writing as J. Lloyd Morgan. a.co/d/8LJqE2B

Journalism Hard Truths by Matthew Johnson Son, I wish I could let you  Have time off on your birthday, But you know, we even work on Christmas, So if the Son of God walked  Into my office to request time off, I’d even tell ...

Happy Tuesday! Here's "Journalism Hard Truths," by Matthew Johnson. Enjoy! #litmag #poetry
penmenreview.com/journalism-h...