Essay in THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS 2018;
(cited in BAE 2015, 2016, 2020); PUSHCART poetry finalist

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Summer 2011

Cover photo by William BetcherWelcome to Solstice’s second annual Summer Awards Issue. Many many thanks to our judges, David Huddle for fiction and A. Van Jordan for poetry.

Thomas Benz’s “Casual Impostor,” winner of the $1,000 fiction award, is a story of ironic displacement. Benz brilliantly vacillates between reality and illusion. The fiction runner-up, Wesley Brown’s “Too Young for the Blues,” vividly portrays Harlem in the time of Ella Fitzgerald’s jazz innovations. Read also please our terrific fiction finalists, E.J. Anderson’s moving and sometimes surreal tale of estranged children. And Rochelle Spencer’s account of possibly deluded lovers in NYC. In nonfiction, the finalist, Tracy L. Strauss haunts us with a dentist drugging her into confronting a haunted past. And the Solstice Editor’s Choice goes to Christina McCarroll for her gutsy look at betrayal.

Andrew Nurkin, winner of the $500 poetry prize, impressed the judges with his lyricism and the depth of his insight. The runner-up, Katherine Durham Oldmixon, shows a range of tone and voice as well as rhythmic use of Spanish. And the Solstice Poetry Editor’s Choice, Jendi Reiter, writes with complex musical passion.

Also, we present one of our new poetry editors, Kathleen Aguero, a multi-faceted unpredictable writer of many collections. Please do leave comments on these pieces. The authors often respond. And please read the bios of these fine admirable writers. They are what make this magazine of diverse voices glow! Lee Hope

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Editors' Notes

  • Summer 2011 Editor’s Note
    by Lee Hope

Fiction

  • Editors' Pick
    What If
    by Christine McCarroll
  • Finalist
    Ugly Girls
    by Rochelle Spencer
  • Finalist
    Untitled Portrait, (Brother and Sister, 2009)
    by E.J. Anderson
  • Winner
    Casual Impostor
    by Thomas Benz
  • Runner-up
    Too Young For The Blues
    by Wesley Brown

Nonfiction

  • Finalist
    The Wreck
    by Tracy L. Strauss

Poetry

  • Winner
    I Have
    by Andrew Nurkin
  • Bedside
    by Kathleen Aguero
  • PROSODY
    by Kathleen Aguero
  • Editors' Pick
    Inheriting a House Fire
    by Jendi Reiter
  • Editors' Pick
    touching story
    by Jendi Reiter
  • Runner-up
    Lengua Tejana
    by Katherine Durham Oldmixon
  • Runner-up
    Historias en Hilo
    by Katherine Durham Oldmixon


Contributors

avatar for Andrew NurkinAndrew Nurkin
avatar for Christine McCarrollChristine McCarroll
avatar for E.J. AndersonE.J. Anderson
Avatar photoJendi Reiter
avatar for Katherine Durham OldmixonKatherine Durham Oldmixon
Kathleen AgueroKathleen Aguero
avatar for Rochelle SpencerRochelle Spencer
Avatar photoThomas Benz
Avatar photoTracy L. Strauss
avatar for Wesley BrownWesley Brown

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