The Pushcart Prize represents an incredible opportunity for Yellow Arrow to further showcase and support our authors. Our staff is committed to letting our authors shine. Every writer has a story to tell and every story is worth telling. We are so proud of everyone we publish at Yellow Arrow. Without further ado, let’s meet the Yellow Arrow 2023 Pushcart Prize nominees!
Amanda Baker is a mental health therapist, 200-hour yoga instructor, and poet from Baltimore, Maryland. She attended the University of Maryland School of Social Work as well as James Madison University. She is also the mother of her four-year old son, Dylan. Her self-published poetry collection, ASK: A Collection of Poetry, Lyrics, and Words, features work from her early teens into her 30s. You can find her on Instagram @amandabakerwrites. Amanda’s latest chapbook What is Another Word for Intimacy? can be found in the Yellow Arrow bookstore. We nominated “A coda: Your relationship between you and you is the most important.” from What is Another Word for Intimacy?
Diann Leo-Omine was born and raised in San Francisco, California (Ramaytush Ohlone land), and the colorfully boisterous Toisanese diaspora. Residing now in California’s North Central Valley (Nisenan land), she was awarded a 2022 creative nonfiction fellowship with Rooted and Written at the San Francisco Writers Grotto. She also cocurated and edited the Asian American food zine Lunchbox Moments. Her writing can be found in The Six Fifty, The Universal Asian, Write Now! SF Bay’s Essential Truths, and the BIPOC Writing Party’s forthcoming anthology. You can find her on Instagram @sweetleoomine and Twitter @sweetleoomine, as well as on her website sweetleoomine.com. Her piece “The Hawk” can be found in Yellow Arrow Journal PEREGRINE. “The Hawk” was nominated for the Pushcart.
Darah Schillinger has previously published poetry in the St. Mary’s College of Maryland’s literary journal, AVATAR, on the Spillwords Press website, in Maryland Bards Poetry Review 2022, and in the first edition of Solstice Magazine. Her first poetry chapbook, when the daffodils die, was released in July 2022 by Yellow Arrow Publishing. Darah is currently Editor-in-Chief of Grub Street Literary Magazine and is pursuing her professional writing graduate degree at Towson University. She lives in Perry Hall, Maryland, with her dog, Moby. You can find her on Facebook @darah.schillinger and Instagram @darahschillinger. Darah’s chapbook when the daffodils die can be found in the Yellow Arrow bookstore. Her poem, “i walk home at 10:03 pm,” can be found in Yellow Arrow Journal UpSpring. Darah was the Yellow Arrow 2021 summer publications intern. We nominated her piece “when daffodils die” from when the daffodils die.
Nikita Rimal Sharma currently resides in Baltimore, Maryland, and is originally from Kathmandu, Nepal. Professionally, she works at B’More Clubhouse, a mental health nonprofit that is all about working toward reintegration and finding community for adults living with mental illness. Nikita’s first published poem was in Yellow Arrow Journal (Re)Formation from fall 2020. Her first published chapbook, The most beautiful garden, came out in April 2022. She covers themes such as mental health, immigration, and personal growth with a touch of nostalgia. You can find her on Instagram @nikita.playwithwords. Nikita’s chapbook The most beautiful garden can be found in the Yellow Arrow bookstore. Her poem, “Be You, Beautiful,” can be found in Yellow Arrow Journal (Re)Formation. She also contributed her work to EMERGE: Pandemic Stories and Poetry is Life. You can learn more about Nikita in her May 2021 Yellow Arrow Journal .W.o.W. Her poem “the most beautiful garden” was nominated from her titular chapbook for the Pushcart.
Kay Smith-Blum, named Woman Business Owner (NWWA) of the Year 2013, is a recovering retailer writing in Seattle. She coauthored the “Every Man, Every Woman” series of cards and posters published by Schurman Fine Papers and Portal Publications. Kay is the author of two novels of historical fiction, currently out for agent review. Her humorous essay, “Targets,” was nominated by Heavy Feather Review for Best of the Net 2020. Other essays in her “Virus Days” humor series have been published by Pif Magazine, Quail Bell Magazine, and several other fine journals. Her short fiction can be found now or in the future at Fiction Southeast, Yellow Arrow Journal, Change Seven Magazine, and Minerva Rising, among many others. You can find Kay on Twitter @kaysmithblum, Instagram @discerningksb, and Facebook/Linkedin @kay.smithblum. You can also find her on her website kaysmith-blum.com. You can also find her creative nonfiction piece, “On Edge,” in Yellow Arrow Journal UpSpring. “On Edge” was nominated for the Pushcart.
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