The Bluegrass Writers Studio is proud to showcase all past and present student publications and accomplishments. Please refer to the buttons below to see all of our student successes (listed in alphabetical order by student author).
Books & Awards
Sarah Diamond Burroway
Still: The Journal, “Crows” (poem) — Contest Finalist
Keeping Traditions, (play) Produced on “4 From the Bluegrass” program in Lexington, KY. Directed by Tim X. Davis and produced by BCTC Theatre. (June 2018)
Tasha Cotter
Some Churches (Gold Wake Press), book of poetry
That Bird Your Heart (Finishing Line Press), poetry chapbook
Girl in the Cave (TreeLight Books: 2016 anthology) poetry chapbook
Torch (Delphi Poetry Series, Blue Lyra Press 2016) chapbook
Rebecca Daff
“Lactose Intolerance” won the 2013 Licking Valley Writers Contest (short story)
Earl P. Dean
Orschy’s Gift is Five Bright Stars, a spec fic zine
Lindsey S. Frantz
The Upworld (Line by Lion Publications) (Summer 2017) novel
Deana Nantz Hays
Fits of Wrath & Irony (Finishing Line Press), poetry chapbook
Russell Helms
The Ground Catches Everything (2015, Roundfire Books) novel
Famine (2016, forthcoming, Knut House Press) novel
Libby Falk Jones
Above the Eastern Treetops, Blue (Finishing Line Press), poetry chapbook
Markus Jones
How the Butcher Bird Finds Her Voice (Five Oaks Press) (Spring 2017), novel
“Cindy and Jack and the Town Drunks,” semi-finalist for the Tillie Olson Short Story Award (2017)
“The Aftermath of Diagnoses,” semi-finalist for Annual Brittany Nakes Poetry Award, SI Rittenhouse, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2017)
Joey Mau
Subtopian, “Greetings from Haiti” (contest winner)
Jenean McBrearty
Writing Beyond the Self (Vine Leave Press) (nonfiction)
Thomas Miller
Nightrunner (Finalist for the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Award for Socially Engaged Fiction), novel
Bill Mullen
Red Nocturne, Roundfire Books, novel
Laura Nagel
“Planet of One” won 2016 Kentucky Women Writer’s Conference award for fiction
Parker Ashley Owens
Gnome Harvest, (orginially Double Dragon Press) self published, novel
Owner of KY Story, publisher of twenty anthologies and six chapbooks
Eliot Parker
Making Arrangements (Sunstone Press), novel
Breakdown at Clear River (Mid-Atlantic Highlands Press), novel
Fragile Brilliance (Roundfire Books) novel
–2016 finalist for the Lords of Discipline Thriller Prize (part of the Pat Conroy Book Prize)
–Bronze Award from National Literary Habitat Organization for mystery/thriller writing
Recipient of the West Virginia Award for Literary Merit, 2016
Deri Pryor
“Saving Lives, Saving Myself” received 3rd place in MCTC Essay Contest, (essay)
“Rico Suave” recieved 1st Place in MCTC Essay Contest, (essay)
“Dance of the Saturday Father” recieved 1st Place in MCTC Poetry Contest, (poem)
Christopher Rowe
Sandstorm: A Forgotten Realms Novel (Wizards of the Coast), novel
Bittersweet Creek and Other Stories (Small Beer Press), short story collection
Kristen Ruggles
Sagebrush Review, “Honey” (story), Editor’s Choice Contest Winner
Whitnee Thorp
Kintsukuroi, placed 3rd in the South Dakota Poetry Society’s chapbook contest, poetry chapbook
Cicurate, won the South Dakota Poetry Society’s chapbook contest, poetry chapbook
–Director on the board of directors for the South Dakota Poetry Society
Brian Tucker
The Scary, Gray Shark (Black Rose Writing, 2020), children’s book
Beach Poems (Independent printing, 2019), poetry chapbook
Pokeweed: An Illustrated Historical Novella (Black Rose Writing, 2018), novella
Swimming the Echo (eLectio Publishing, 2017), novel
Wheelman (Vox Dei-first printing, 2016, Independent-second printing, 2017), novel
Baptisms & Dogs: Stories (Independent printing, 2014), short story collection
–2012 Linda Bruckheimer Series in Kentucky Literature Finalist
Phillip Wentirine
Recipient of Fulbright Scholarship to Portugal
–Cultural ambassador for the US by teaching humanities and chronicling stories about local customs
Recipient of Bonnie Plummer Scholarship
–To study creative writing in Portugal during residency and the Disquiet Literary Conference
A Search for Cheap Wine, self-published Amazon anthology, mixed genre
Journal Publications
Wes Blake
SHARK REEF, “Pastoral” (short story) (June 2017)
Louisiana Literature, “A Sort of Miracle” (short story)
Route 7 Review, “Antenna” (short story)
Sarah Joyce Bryant
ForHer, “The life inside me: how a flutter on a screen saw me through a lifetime of abuse” (essay)
Sarah Diamond Burroway
Sheila Na-Gig, “Rootbound” (poem)
41st Annual Appalachian Studies Association Conference “Re-stitching the Seams: Appalachia Beyond Its Borders”
–Poems read at event
The Womens Art Blog, “The Women of Appalachia Project Challenges Stereotypes Through Art” (essay)
A Compilation, Women Speak: The Spoken Art of the Women of Appalachia Project, “Dinner Bucket” (short story)
–Edited by Kari Gunter-Seymour, founder and curator of WoAP
–Read to mark the closing of the 7th Annual Proect at The Pump House Arts Center in Chillicothe, OH
The Bitter Southerner, “Morning Milk” (short story)
The Bitter Southerner, “Dinner Bucket” (short story)
Presenting “Where I’m Going, Where I’m From” at the 3rd Annual Tri-State Diversity and Inclusion Conference on Sept. 9, 2016 in Grayson, KY. Theme: APPALACHIAN CROSSROADS: CONVERSATIONS ON DIVERSITY.
The Worchester Journal, “To the Woman at the Food Fair Who Screamed at Her Child,” (essay)
The Worcester Journal, “Cafés” (poem)
Still: The Journal, “TOUCH” (essay) (#25, Fall 2017)
—Judges choice in Creative Nonfiction Contest
Sheila-Na-Gig online, “Crows” (poem) (2.1, Fall 2017)
Sheila-Na-Gig online, “Fried Green Tomatoes” (poem) (2.1, Fall 2017)
Women of Appalachia Project, “Crows” (poem)
Women of Appalachia Project, “Fried Green Tomatoes” (poem)
Joey Burke
Church Health Reader: Summer 2016, “Psalm 98 Revisited” (essay)
Brevity, “An Open Letter to Brian Arundel” (essay)
Tasha Cotter
Contributor (poems) to:
–Poets on Growth Anthology (Math Paper Press)
–Women in Clothes (Blue Rider Press)
—2017 Poet’s Marker (Writers Digest Books)
Superstition Review, “Solar” (poem)
Tahoma Literary Review, “Girl as Infidel” (poem)
Rebecca Daff
Feed Your Monster, “Regifting” (short story) (Dec. 2017)
Cynthia Darling
Schuylkill Valley Journal, “Road Trip” (flash fiction) (Nov. 2017)
Earl P. Dean
Harlan County Horrors, Mari Adkins ed. (Apex Publications), “Hiding Mountain: Our Future in Apples” (short story)
Cecile Dixon
Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel: Appalachia Under Thirty, “How the Parts Fit” (short story)
Fried Chicken and Coffee, “Law of the Whippoorwill” (short story)
Lindsey S. Frantz
Linden Avenue Literary Journal, “Dry Land Fish” (poem) (March 2018)
Young Ravens Literary Journal, “Where My Childhood Lived” (poem)
The Book of Villains: Main Street Rag, “The Flying Pig” (short story)
Paradigm, “Awake” (short story)
Aurora Online, “Eden” (short story)
Aurora Literary Arts Journal, “Hummingbird” (short story)
Aurora Literary Arts Journal, “Sunshowers” (short story)
Kentucky: Her Story 2012, “Breathe Deep” (short story)
Ruminate, “Gas-line Fire, Estill County” (poem)
Emerge Literary Journal, “Cafe” (poem)
Jim Hartman
Gravel Literary Journal, “The End of it All” (short story)
Deana Nantz Hays
Funny in 500, “Giving Back” (short story)
February, “Animal” (poem)
Russell Helms
Temenos, “It Was 9:20 and No One Had Eaten” (short story)
Blue Mountain Review, “Lerned’s Book Collection” (2016) (short story)
GFT Press, “Theme Park” (2016) (short story)
Unbuild Walls, “Killing Seahorses” (2016) (short story)
Headland Journal , “The Latecomer” (2016) (short story)
Sand: Issue 10, “Saudade” (2015, Berlin) (short story)
Tinderbox Magazine, “Dung Beetles” (2014) (short story)
Used Gravitrons: Issue 15, “Charles Manson’s Birthday” (2014) (short story)
Trench Foot Gazette, “You Must Be Born Again” (2013) (short story)
Drunken Boat: Issue 16, “A Painting Hanging in a Giftshop, St. Ansgar, Iowa” (2013) (short story)
Otis Nebula: Issue 6, “An Eye for an Eye” (2012) (short story)
Litro Magazine, “Hairspray” (August 12, 2012, UK) (short story)
Litro Magazine, “Ginger in the Sauce?” (December 15, 2011, UK) (short story)
Bewildering Stories, “What Glenda Wanted” (2011, UK) (short story)
Used Gravitrons, “The Piano Tuner” (Issue 5, 2011) (short story)
Soliloquies Anthology (Issue 15), “The Bulgarian Orthographic Reform of 1945” (2011, Canada) (short story)
Versal, “The Miracle of Mrs. Evelyn Howard” (2011, Netherlands) (short story)
The Moth: Issue 4, “Squircle” (2011, Ireland) (short story)
Hack Writers, “The Trampoline” (2011, England) (short story)
Assembly Journal, “A Short Blessing” (2011, Canada) (short story)
a la carte (anthology from Main Street Rag Publishing, “Cubesteak” (2010) (short story)
Aura Literary Arts Review, “Delivery” (2010, University of Alabama, Birmingham) (short story)
Aura Literary Arts Review, “ta da” (2010, University of Alabama, Birmingham) (short story)
antiTHESIS (the Fear Issue), “The Relic” (2010, University of Melbourne, Australia) (short story)
Sunsets and Silencers, “Valerie’s First Birthday Party” (2009) (short story)
Soliloquies Anthology, “The 21 Virgins of Agate County” (2009, Canada) (short story)
The 2nd Hand, “Breadsticks” (2009) (short story)
Qarrtsiluni (also available in print), “The Bookmark” (2009) (short story)
Willows Wept Review, “Rhea” (2009) (short story)
Chad L. Hutchinson
Word Riot, “Generational Curse” (May 2015) (essay)
Still: The Journal, “Queen of the Hill” (Fall 2015) (short story)
Road Story: KY Story, “Wild Man” (Summer 2016) (short story)
Brandyn Johnson
The Dandelion Farm Review, “Like it Never Happened” (poem)
The Dandelion Farm Review, “Being Taught How to Fish” (poem)
Libby Falk Jones
Contributor (poems) to:
—Bigger Than They Appear: Anthology of Very Short Poems (Katerina Stoykova-Klemer ed.) (Accents Publishing)
—Motif: All the Livelong Day, Writings About Work (Marianne Worthington ed.) (Motes)
—New Growth, Recent Kentucky Writings (Charlie Sweet and Hal Blythe, eds.) (Jesse Stuart Foundation)
Kentucky Monthly Magazine (“Penned,” Kentucky Monthly’s 9th annual writers showcase), “On the Mountain, August” (poem)
Markus Egeler Jones
The Hungry Chimera, “The Tale of Cindy Jack’s Mother” (2017) (short story)
Gehenna & Hinnom Transhuman Anthology, “Neptune Water” (2017) (short story)
Temenos Journal, “Dissolution is that Bent Tree Culled from the Hillside” (2017) (poetry)
Raven’s Perch, “My Pen is Running Out” (2017) (poetry)
Raven’s Perch, “Little Boy” (2017) (poetry)
Raven’s Perch, “I Flicked A Fly Across the Balcony” (2017) (poetry)
Temenos Journal, “Writing Meditation” (2017) (essay)
The Fat Damsel Vol. 11, “Straight Piping” (2017)
New Mexico Review, “How the Butcher Bird Finds her Voice” (2017) (short story)
The Wild Word (online magazine), “The Secret of Old Man Gloom” (2017) (short story)
Ink & Letters, “Creature of the Dark” (2017) (short story)
The Windward Review, “For These are Wells Without Water” (2017) (short story)
Best of Anthoogy 2016-2017 & Crab Fat Magazine, “The Gulf Stream” (2017) (flash fiction)
These Fragile Lilacs Poetry Journal, “The Argument” (2017) (poem)
The Story Shack, “So Long As I Have Yesterday” (2017) (short story)
Festival Anthology, “Why I Write” (2016) (essay)
The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, “Trash” (2016) (short story)
Target Audience Magazine, “Nordavind” (2012) (poem)
Target Audience Magazine, “Domestication” (2012) (poem)
Target Audience Magazine, “Shadows of the Dark” (2012) (poem)
The Feline Muse, “Marmalade” (2012) (poem)
The Feline Muse, “Trilling” (2012) (poem)
The Feline Muse, “Kitty-Kitty” (2012) (poem)
Limestone: A Journal of Art and Literature (University of Kentucky), “Ashland” (2008) (poem)
Limestone: A Journal of Art and Literature (University of Kentucky), “Rendezvous” (2007) (poem)
Roger Jones
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, “Clouds” (short story)
–also available on the website Crown City Central and in an EQMM anthology
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, “Social Media” (short story)
Jay McCoy
Small Batch: An Anthology of Bourbon Poetry, (Leigh Anne Hornfeldt ed.) (Two of Cups Press), “Old Wine in New Bottles” (poem)
Katherine McMullen
Parahelion Literary Magazine, “The People Tree: An American Fable” (story) (July 2018)
Parker Owens
TheWildWord.com, (Berlin), “Newport” (2017) (poem)
TheWildWord.com, (Berlin), “Henderson” (2017) (poem)
TheWildWord.com, (Berlin), “Goshen” (2017) (poem)
Young Ravens Literary Review (Issue 6), “Ilmatar” (2017) (short story)
Slink Chunk Press, “Venus” (2017) (short story)
Caesura Journal (Issue 2), “Geese” (Novemeber 2016) (short story)
Five 2 One Magazine, “The Dream” (December 2016) (poem)
Five 2 One Magazine, “Old Telon Rd.” (December 2016) (poem)
The Birds We Piled Loosely!, “Crow” (January 2016) (short story)
Eliot Parker
Appalachian Undead, (Eugene Johnson ed.) (Apex Publications), “Reckless” (short story)
Jen Adamovich Parks
Hot Metal Bridge, “Proof” (poem)
Whitnee Pearce
Pasque Petals, “The Quilt” (2017) (poem)
Pasque Petals, ““Swings Hard” (2017) (poem)
Fantasma: An Anthology of Whispers, “Epiphanies After Divorce Papers” (2018, forthcoming)(poem)
Inscape Literary Journal, “Looking at You Too Long My Eyes Burn” (poem)
Inscape Literary Journal, “Shirtless and Cool” (poem)
Inscape Literary Journal, “I Bit My Lip When There Is Nothing Else To Do” (poem)
ninepatch (online), “Becoming a Dove, on my Wedding Day” (2012) (poem)
poemmemoirstory, “Coal Sweet” (poem)
Emerge Literary Journal, Winter II, “Here are my dying words” (2013) (poem)
South Dakota’s Poetry Society’s Pasque Petals, “Eating Soup in China” (Fall 2015) (poem)
South Dakota’s Poetry Society’s Pasque Petals, “Silver Minnows” (Fall 2015) (poem)
South Dakota’s Poetry Society’s Pasque Petals, “Eating Soup in China” (Fall 2015) (poem)
South Dakota’s Poetry Society’s Pasque Petals, “A French teacher sets herself on fire” (Fall 2015) (poem)
South Dakota’s Poetry Society’s Pasque Petals, “Before Marriage” (Fall 2015) (poem)
South Dakota’s Poetry Society’s Pasque Petals, “his name was samson” (Fall 2015) (poem)
Veils, Halos, Shackles, “Sins Like Mine” (2016) (poem)
Splinter Generation, “Typewriter” (2016) (poem)
Poetry Gymnasium by Tom Hunley, “Your Green Argyle Socks Sag As You Take Off Your Pants” (2011) (poem)
Poetry Gymnasium by Tom Hunley, “Ars Poetica” (2011) (poem)
Poetry Gymnasium by Tom Hunley, “Notes on Preacher” (2011) (poem)
Poets Opposing Evil Trump Anthology, “& He Said” (2016) (poem)
–Poems selected to be featured as “Literary” portion of Brookings, SD Arts Week, 2015
–Selectedto attend Wellstone Writing Residence, Summer 2016
FemMag Literary Magazine, “Kalopsia” (2016) (poem)
Rebecca Potter
The Wax Paper (Volume II, Issue 3), “The Last Time I Saw His Father“ (essay)
bioStories, “The Places They Could Go” (essay)
Deri Ross Pryor
Aurora Online, “Titi” (essay)
Kudzu Literary Magazine, “Leaving Death in the Drawer” (short story)
PLUCK! Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture, “Domesticity” (poem)
Still: The Journal, “Where I Am” (poem)
Writer’s Digest PAD Challenge Top 25, “The Farmer’s Wife” (poem)
Down the Rabbit Hole, (poetry monologue for Movement Continuum’s dance production) “Who Will Weep for the White Rabbit?” (poem)
Thin Air Magazine, “Never on Tuesdays” (short story)
Christopher Rowe
Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories, (Kelly Link and Hal Blythe, eds) (Candlewick), “Nowhere Fast” (short story)
Kristen Roach
Pif Magazine, “Letter to a Man” (poem)
Gravel Literary Journal, “To the Chimmmney Sweep” (poem)
Lament for the Dead, “Attention” (poem)
Sugar House Review, “Speech Recognition Software Poem” (poem)
Kristen Ruggles
Rat’s Ass Review, “Fortune Teller” (poem)
Rat’s Ass Review, “Favorite Things” (poem)
Rat’s Ass Review, “Against the Shore” (poem)
Zingara Poet (poetry pick of the day: October 25, 2017), “Muggy Night Air” (poem)
Spank the Carp, “Burn” (poem)
Linden Avenue, “Midnight” (poem) (Dec. 2017)
Eric Smith
HCE Review, “Mr. Wills” (fiction) (Nov. 2017)
Rigorous, “Overbooked with Virginia Woolf” (fiction)
Welter, “Mr. Horning” (fiction) (forthcoming Dec. 2017)
Carissa Stevens
Mom Egg Review, “Expatriate” (short story)
West Texas Literary Review, “Slice” (essay)
GFT Press, “The Announcement” (short story)
Brian Tucker
4ink7 Journal (print, Tennessee), “Climbing Above Ground” (short story)
Story Shack Magazine (online, Germany), “Lobster Meat is Sweet” (short story)
Words, Pauses, Noises (online, England), “0 Days Accident-Free” (short story)
Story Shack Magazine (online, Germany), “Nomen Oblitum, or, Forgotten Name” (short story)
Story Shack Magazine (online, Germany), “Lobster Meat is Sweet” (short story)
Poetic Story – An Anthology (print, Kentucky) with Ashley Parker Owens
–“A Campsite Dream” (poem)
–“At Buck Creek” (poem)
–“Buoy” (poem)
–“In the Garden” (poem)
–“Jawbreakers” (poem)
–“Marina (poem)
–“Motherhood in Recession” (poem)
–“The Roman Road” (poem)
–“To John During a Storm” (poem)
Flash – An Anthology (Kindle and print, Kentuck) with Ashley Parker Owens
–“Doctor’s Visit” (flash fiction)
–“Wrestling” (flash fiction)
Burnt Bridge Press (online), “A Bar Fight with Black Hair” (short story)
Fried Chicken & Coffee (online), “Goodman at an Outhouse” (short story)
Dead Mule School of Southern Literature (online), “Psuedoephedrine Served Nightly” (short story)
Gloom Cupboard – Prose 124, “The Morning Shift” (short story)
Trajectory Journal (Volume 2, print), “Flotsam & Jetsam” (short story)
Prick of the Spindle (Volume 5.1), “Muddy Banks” (short story)
The Fringe Magazine, “Occlusions” (short story)
Burnt Bridge Press (#2, The Open Road Issue, Print), “The Coke Man, The Town Mortician, and a Lassie Dog” (short story)
The Camel Saloon (online, Georgia) “The Butcher Rings the Bell” (short story)
Dew on the Kudzu (online) “Dairy Products” (short story)
Southern Grit, “Animal Control” (short story)
James Wells
Conducted field and archival research in the US and Vietnam during Fall 2016/Spring 2017 for his “whistle blowing” research.
Phillip Wentirine
Aurora Magazine, “Hide and Seek” (Spring 2015) (short story)
Aurora Magazine, “Ben Camino” (essay)
Aurora Magazine, “If You Love It, Let It Go” (essay)
Intrinsick Magazine, “Ten Tips for Survival in China” (January 2016) (short story)
The Talon Review, “Voices of the Square Table” (November 2015) (essay)
KY Story: Lavendar Bluegrass Anthology, “Butterflies Thrive on Octane” (April 2016) (essay)
Potluck Magazine, “Things I Wish I Said To You” (February 2016) (essay)
396 Hours (Amazon Anthology, writer and editor), “Amidst the Birds” (essay)
Laura Wooffitt
Accepted a position as Remote Intern for Folio Literary Management beginning Jan. 2014
The Zodiac Review, “Marriage Prospects” (flash fiction)
The Zodiac Review, “Hosea” (flash fiction)