Her View Friday
Yellow Arrow Publishing supports women-identifying writers from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it makes us stronger. Women’s voices have historically been underrepresented in literature, and we aim to elevate those voices and stories through our programs, publications, and support.
Part of our mission in supporting and uplifting women writers is to promote the Yellow Arrow community’s individual accomplishments. We’d like to further expand that support and promotion outside of our Yellow Arrow publications. Twice a month, we’d like to give a shout out to those within the Yellow Arrow community who recently published:
single-author publications
single pieces in journals, anthologies, etc., as well as prizes/awards, book reviews, and podcasts/interviews
You can support our authors by reading this blog and their work, sharing their news, and commenting below or on the blog. Congratulations to all the included authors. We are so proud of you!
Every writer has a story to tell and every story is worth telling.
Author: Susan Ayres
Tell us about yourself: Susan Ayres is a poet, lawyer, and translator. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in a wide variety of literary and scholarly journals including Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, Sycamore Review, Cimarron Review, and Valparaiso Review. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and teaches at Texas A&M University Law School. Visit her website at psusanayres.com.
Her poem “Pimiento Cheese” was included in Yellow Arrow Journal EMBLAZON (Vol. VIII, No. 2).
Where are you from: Fort Worth, Texas
What describes your main writing space: light, horizon of trees, scent of rosemary
Tell us about your publication: The prose poems and lyric verses in Walk Like the Bird Flies (Finishing Line Press, December 2023) invite you to explore identity, history, nature, myth, and art. From Judge Roy Bean to Medea, from Étienne Trouvelot to Princess Di, these poems walk like the bird flies, traveling an emotive journey through love and loss, in imagined and actual landscapes.
Why this book? Why now? How did it happen for you: This collection about journeys to different parts of the world helped me survive the isolation of COVID.
What advice do you have for other writers: Be persistent!
What else are you working on/doing that you’d like to share: A series of poems about the Mexican Revolution.
You can find Susan on Facebook @susan.ayres.589.
Author: Leticia Priebe Rocha
Tell us about yourself: I am a poet and have been writing since I was in high school. I am also a visual artist, focusing primarily on mixed media collages. If I am not creating, then I am experiencing the creations of others by going to readings, museums, shows, and the theater. Creativity and art sustain me! I first joined the Yellow Arrow family when my poem “Lost In” was in the Yellow Arrow Journal PEREGRINE (Vol. VII, No. 2) issue. I was the .W.o.W. #46 (March 2023), served as guest editor for the Yellow Arrow Journal EMBLAZON (Vol. VIII, No. 2) issue, and am currently part of the team as a reader!
Where are you from: Medford, Massachusetts
What describes your main writing space: vibrant, expansive, home
Tell us about your publication: In Lieu of Heartbreak, This is Like (Bottlecap Press, February 2024) untangles the messy, heartrending, and always miraculous experience of love in all of its forms. It is a love letter to feeling, to aliveness, to loneliness, and to the self, ever reaching for radiance.
Why this book? Why now? How did it happen for you: I started writing this book almost two years ago in the aftermath of a heartbreak I resisted labeling as a heartbreak for some time. Poems flowed out of me in my hurt, and I had a manuscript put together fairly quickly. Initially, I thought I was writing to the beloved who hurt me. Slowly, as I explored my pain, the poems changed. I unearthed other forms of heartbreak that I had buried deep. I found a profound appreciation for having experienced the fundamentally human experience of love, no matter the outcome. Above all, I found the well of love within me is not tied to one person—it is abundant and can be turned inward. The book is almost entirely different from the first manuscript I wrote, and I am so grateful for the doors that closed so that this one could open. Above all, I am grateful that I listened to myself and did not give up on this project—it truly feels like it landed where it was meant to because I reached the place I needed to be.
What is your writing goal for the year: To write more consistently, specifically drafting or editing at least one poem every week!
What else are you working on: I’m in the beginning stages of my first full-length collection—seeing where the poems take me!
What advice do you have for other writers: Keep going. The writing life is fraught with rejection at every level of one’s career. Swat the ‘nos’ away like flies and follow your intuition to the next ‘yes.’
For more information, visit Leticia’s website leticiaprieberocha.com or find her on Instagram @letiprieberochapoems, Facebook @leticiaprieberocha, and Twitter @LetiPriebeRocha.
Yellow Arrow (past and present) board, staff, interns, authors, residents, and instructors alike! Got a publication coming out? Let us help celebrate for you in Her View Friday.
Single-author publications: here.
Single pieces as well as prizes/awards, book reviews, and podcasts/interviews: here.
Please read the instructions on each form carefully; we look forward to congratulating you!
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Yellow Arrow Publishing is a nonprofit supporting women-identifying writers through publication and access to the literary arts. You can support us as we AMPLIFY women-identifying creatives this year by purchasing one of our publications or a workshop from the Yellow Arrow bookstore, for yourself or as a gift, joining our newsletter, following us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, or subscribing to our YouTube channel. Donations are appreciated via PayPal (staff@yellowarrowpublishing.com), Venmo (@yellowarrowpublishing), or US mail (PO Box 65185, Baltimore, Maryland 21209). More than anything, messages of support through any one of our channels are greatly appreciated.
