Tag: announcements

In a perfect world, there would be order and a trustworthy cadence as a well thought through plan unfolds itself in crisp, equally shaped squares—one step at a time. But it’s not a perfect world and the grand universe of literary-ness (and life in general) is chaos more often than not. 

Like most people, I want to appear as if I have my shit together even when things get crazy so admitting that the cart didn’t just come before the horse but came completely unhitched altogether, is not easy. That, my friends, is kinda what happens in life—happened with the release of our Winter issue—and this little confession is both an apology and a means to try and hitch things back together… 

First things first. If you have not yet looked at our most recent issue, #10 ~ Winter 2023, then I’d highly recommend starting with the fantastic artwork which perfectly sets the tone for the collection of stories, poetry, and the ten-minute stage play it accompanies. Then, buckle in for an intense ride with all that wonderful writing. More details about the nature of that ride are available in my very “late to the party” and more personal than usual, editor’s note. 

The delay with the letter is just one of the consequences of the aforementioned chaos. Another casualty was the lovely, full-spread downloadable version of the issue, which I am pleased to report is also now available here and from our home page. 

If the plan had been executed as intended, the issue release would have been officially announced on our blog and quickly followed by a blast of that news on all the socials. Epic fail. Better late than never though. So this is it! Finally. I’m calling it a “re-release” because twice is nice, right?  

I am sorry for the delays and missteps but most of all I’d like to apologize to the authors and artists that contributed to this issue. Many thanks for your patience and kindness. 

If you are still reading this (thank you, too) you might be wondering what flavor of chaos caused these delays. Pulling the curtain back a little further reveals that we might have had a touch too much going on all at once at the start of 2023.

For example, this month we launched a new segment on our blog called Micro Monday. This segment will feature micro prose and short poems that will provide readers with some “punchy” and thought-provoking pieces to jump-start their week. More of an official intro for this segment coming soon! 

Our team is also gearing up for our first appearance at AWP in March. In just two short weeks, seven of our all-volunteer staff of 23 people will be getting in cars and on airplanes to converge on the convention center in Seattle. We are all very excited about attending some amazing talks and connecting with so many cool people! If you are planning to be there, be sure and stop by our table at the book fair, T526, and say hello!

And last, but certainly not least, we’ve been deep in the weeds planning for this year’s contest– The Honeybee Literature prize in poetry, nonfiction, and fiction. Two fabulous people–Rodrigo Toscano and Hugh Reilly–have graciously agreed to work with us as judges and we are diligently working on someone equally as fabulous to select a winner and runner-up for fiction. More about the contest and judges can be found on our submissions/contest page. 

It’s definitely shaping up to be an action packed year and we’re enthusiastic about Issue #10 and all the exciting endeavors and events in the works despite the chaos. Stay tuned for more about all of this plus new interviews and fun updates from our team coming soon! Again.. thanks for reading.

Cheers,
~Shyla & The Good Life Review Team

Today, friends, we are thrilled to present Issue #9 ~ Autumn 2022. We’re grateful for all the writers who sent us work and recognize that our organization could not exist without their dedication, passion for creating, and their courage to share.We’re eager to showcase and celebrate thirteen incredible pieces from eleven writers as well as artwork from a number of talented artists.

This issue marks the start of our 3rd year of publication and with each quarterly issue, it gets more and more difficult to narrow down the bounty of submissions received to just these few. Especially since the number of pieces finding their way to us has increased considerably in such a short time. As a result, we’ve felt the need to expand the team to ensure we maintain the status quo of having multiple people reading and deliberating the merits of each piece. We have also created new roles to aid in operational processes and improve communications. You can read more about some of these changes in the editor’s note that accompanies this issue.

The note also briefly touches on hope for the future of TGLR. At this juncture we are eager and charging, full-speed, into our third year of operations. We have already begun formulating grand plans for 2023 which is just around the corner, and are pleased to announce that we will be increasing payment to contributors this coming spring. Stay tuned for more details on that and other exciting news coming soon!

In the meantime, we hope you will dive into all this autumn issue has to offer. On behalf of our entire team, we thank you for visiting, reading, and supporting the arts!

Cheers,
~The Good Life Review

Today, friends, we are thrilled to present Issue #8 ~ Summer 2022, the Honeybee Prize Issue. We’re grateful for all the writers who sent us work and recognize that our organization could not exist without their dedication, passion for writing, and their courage to share.We’re eager to showcase and celebrate nine incredible pieces from this year’s winners as well as artwork from a number of talented artists!

In releasing this issue, we’d like to acknowledge and express deep gratitude to the judges of this year’s contest: Kwame Dawes for Poetry, Charlene Donaghy for Stage and Screen, Mary Kuryla for Fiction, and Jessica Hendry Nelson for Nonfiction. These fine folks not only volunteered their time and expertise but were also kind, thoughtful with their endorsements of the pieces, and wonderful to work with. 

Thanks also to the members of our editorial team who carefully considered each of the hundreds of submissions we received to narrow the field to a short list of finalists: Annie Barker, Pamela Broadman, Suzanne Guess, Erin Owen, Michelle Pierce Battle, Carina Faz, and Emily Marvin. Special thanks to guest editors Terry Belew and Cid Galicia who collaborated with us on the effort and are officially joining the team as poetry readers for our next issue (welcome!).

In addition to the issue release, full contest results are available here. And stay tuned for news of some exciting changes happening at TGLR coming soon….

On behalf of our entire team, we thank you for visiting, reading, and supporting the arts!

Cheers,
~The Good Life Review

Today friends and fellow lovers of the arts, we are tickled to announce the finalists for the 2022 Honeybee Prize.

Thank you to all who submitted to this year’s contests in fiction, nonfiction, stage & screen, and poetry. We had an impressive number of submissions to consider which made it tough for our editors to select the pieces that would be sent to the judges (more about the prize and judges here).

After much deliberation, the following finalists were chosen…

Congratulations to all the finalists for their wonderful pieces!! We will be announcing the winners and runners-up very soon. Stay tuned…

Cheers,
~The Good Life Review Team

Today friends, as we open our windows and doors wide to let more light and fresh air in, we are thrilled to present Issue #7 ~ Spring 2022. We appreciate all the patience our contributors have had with us as we’ve worked through compiling their amazing pieces into this wonderful and bold issue. We’re eager to share and celebrate their work!

Though we have not had and did not intend to have a themed issue, it is interesting to note, that as our editors’ selections came in, a theme of death and dying emerged organically. I believe that these themes are not a coincidence, but rather an anomaly created by the upheaval the world has endured these past two years; hardship felt by both writer and reader. 

Emile Estrada’s fiction, “Waiting for Things to Die” sets the tone for the issue as it reveals a young boy’s experiences witnessing his grandfather’s life in rural Venezuela. In Georgia White’s flash fiction her character, Iphigenia, is forever stuck at fourteen and forced to repeatedly remember the sacrifice she had no choice in making. 

Suicidal thoughts are explored by Sola Damon in her short nonfiction, “Under a Calm Wave, Not Killing Myself” and Craig Moeckly’s stage play, “Dakota County,” involves two characters that are dealing not only with death and loss but also with what it means to have lived life according to someone else’s expectations. 

Rounding out this issue are four evocative poems by three new GLR contributing authors, and one returning poet, Stelios Mormoris, sharing his poem, “Mass in Harlem.” Each of these pieces is accompanied by artwork by artists whose work can be found together here.

With this release, available now from our home page, we have crossed the threshold into our second full year of operations. Although we are still working to establish exactly who we are as a literary journal and organization, we believe we have found our stride with the collaboration, curation, and production required for these quarterly issues. Our hope is to provide a positive experience for all and enjoy The Good Life as much as possible as spring turns into summer.

On behalf of our entire team, we thank you for visiting, reading, and supporting the arts!

Cheers,
~The Good Life Review

Today is the day! Our winter issue is now live!! We’ve been eager to celebrate the writers and artists who have shared the fruits of their labor with us and are enthusiastic about presenting their work. There is much to admire about the pieces in this issue and we could not be more pleased with how it turned out.

The poems in this issue are vulnerable, complex, and take risks. Ellen June Wright grabs us with these opening lines: “They carried everything one can bring | when one can bring nothing.” And the poem does not let go even after the last line. Jack Phillips’ poem, Felis Ellipses, makes us contemplate humanity and our place in the natural world, and Christina Legarda’s poem, Imelda, provides an eerie and evocative character profile. 

The absurdist and magical realist flash fiction by Jiahui Wu is sure to entertain and Joe Capello’s play, Sell Bots, is a fast paced piece that will leave you with a sense of outrage by the unfair and often ugly nature of politics in corporate America.

In Cassie Burkheart’s nonfiction essay she writes “… art is born when opposing feelings collide, rub up against each other, start a dialogue. Loneliness can be celebrated, or at least renamed “solitude,” which sounds more romantic. Anger is really fear and my worst fear is losing myself.” 

We feel that and we believe that her struggle to exist and create despite all the “triggers” around us is a common one. This is one of the reasons why we are committed to reading all the pieces that come to us with care and attention and strive to provide a beautiful platform to share them.

Issue #6 is available from our home page or you can download the full copy here. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we do!

Cheers,
~The Good Life Review Team

Today we are honored to present a new collection of wonderful work from a truly stellar line-up of authors and artists in our 5th issue.

This issue features the ten-minute stage play, The Farewell Burn, by Kara Davidson, selected as the winner for our inaugural Honey Bee Prize in the Stage & Screen category by judge Michael Oatman. 

We’re also pleased as punch to present a poem by the Emperor of Ice Cream himself, Todd Robinson, alongside a stellar line-up of other talented writers and artists. Michael Wesner’s story “The Shapiros” will make you laugh and Soo Yeon Chun’s poem “Oath of Assimilation” will roll through you like a heavy freight train. And we would be remiss if we failed to mention the artwork included in the pages of this issue; these pieces are incredible. 

Dive into the issue or download the full copy here.

Cheers,
~The Good Life Review Team

In just a few short weeks our Autumn issue will be released into the wild world. In this issue we are honored to showcase the fourth and final Honey Bee Prize winner Kara Davidson!! Kara’s script, “The Farewell Burn” was chosen as the winner of our Stage & Screen category by the one and only Michael Oatman. 

The other finalists in the contest included:

• Suburbanaut by Alexander Jones
• Parallax by LN Lewis
• Self Flagellating Lily by Claire Natale

We are grateful to all who submitted to our 2021 contest and want to express a big thanks again to the four individuals, Kate Gale, Marco Wilkinson, Douglas Manuel, and Michael Oatman who not only judged the contest, but also helped with guidance and feedback along the way.

Cheers,

~The Good Life Review Team