Press 53 Spotlight
Literate Yourself! TM
Press 53 Spotlight
Five poets and three short story authors earning recognition through publication and awards.
SOFTCOVER
9 x 6, 156 pages
ISBN 978-0-9825760-4-5
$14.00
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Spotlight Poets
Spotlight Authors
Malaika King Albrecht
Clinton B. Campbell
Austin Segrest
Alexa Selph
Lisa Zerkle
Shaindel Beers
Taylor Brown
Ray Morrison
Press 53 Spotlight is a new annual anthology from Press 53 that will feature works from five poets and three short story authors who come to the attention of Press 53 poetry editor Tom Lombardo and founding editor Kevin Morgan Watson by way of the annual Press 53 Open Awards writing contest, through the standard submissions process, and from reading journals, magazines, and anthologies. These are writers who, individually, in the editors’ opinions, are creating a body of work worthy of consideration for a book of his or her own poetry or short stories.
Malaika King Albrecht’s poems have appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies. Her poetry won awards in the 2009 Salem College International Literary Awards and Second Prize in the 2009 Press 53 Open Awards. Her poems have been translated into several languages, including Farsi and Hindi. She is the founding editor of Redheaded Stepchild, an online magazine that only accepts poems that have been rejected elsewhere.
Clinton B. Campbell originally hails from Ocean City, NJ, and now lives in Beaufort, SC with his wife, photographer/poet Karen M. Peluso. Clinton’s poetry has been published in numerous journals and anthologies, and his poem, “My Veteran’s Day Prayer,” was entered into the Congressional Record on November 14, 2007 by Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina. For Clint’s volunteer work at Ronald McDonald House in Savannah and Beaufort Memorial Hospital, he is known as “The Leftover Gourmet.” His specialties are Orange Slice Cookies, Cinnamon Coffee Cake and the bubbly Reuben Dip.
Austin Segrest earned his MFA from Georgia State University in Atlanta and now teaches writing and Latin at Georgia Southern University. He was a 2008 Tennessee Williams scholar at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and was winner of the Iron Horse Literary Review 2009 Discovered Voices Prize for poetry. He is the former poetry editor of New South, and his poetry has appeared in numerous journals, magazines, and anthologies.
A native Atlantan, Alexa Selph has worked as a freelance editor and indexer for the past twenty years. During that time, she has edited or indexed over two hundred books in a wide range of categories, including biography, business, history, political science, and fiction, for both university presses and commercial publishers. She has an M.A. in English from Georgia State University. For the past several years she has taught classes in poetry in the adult education program at Emory University.
After a career in corporate communications and as an advertising copywriter, Lisa Zerkle turned her attention to poetry. Her work has appeared in numerous journals, magazines, and anthologies, and her poems have earned awards from Press 53, North Carolina Poetry Society, Charlotte Writer’s Club, and Jubilee Literary Arts Festival. In 2008, she served as a community columnist for The Charlotte Observer. She is co-editor of Kakalak: Anthology of Carolina Poets. Lisa currently resides in Charlotte, NC with her husband and their three children.
Shaindel Beers’ poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. She is currently an instructor of English at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton, in Eastern Oregon’s high desert, and serves as Poetry Editor of Contrary. Her first full-length poetry collection, A Brief History of Time, was released by Salt Publishing in 2009. Find her online at http://shaindelbeers.com.
Taylor Brown grew up on the barrier islands of the Georgia coast. After stints in Buenos Aires and San Francisco, he and his girlfriend and their wirehaired pointer are making their home in Asheville, North Carolina. His story “Rider” received the 2009 Montana Prize in Fiction, and his short story “Kingdom Come” won Second Prize in the 2009 Press 53 Open Awards. His website is www.taylorbrownfiction.com.
Ray Morrison’s stories have appeared in numerous journals, magazines, and anthologies. He has twice won Honorable Mention in the Lorian Hemingway Short Fiction Competition, and was a finalist in the 2009 Press 53 Open Awards in Flash Fiction, Short-Short Story, Short Story and Honorable Mention winner in Genre Fiction for his story “Monster.” A practicing veterinarian, he lives, works, and writes in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he shares his home with his wife, three children, and an ever-changing number of animals.
