St. Michaels, MD - Delmarva Review announced publication of its 15th anniversary literary journal presenting new poetry, short stories, and creative nonfiction from 60 authors in 18 states, the District of Columbia, and six foreign countries. The review publishes the most compelling new writing selected from thousands of submissions during the year.

“Through the author’s voice, we discover qualities and truths about ourselves,” said Wilson Wyatt, executive editor. “Perhaps more than anything else this describes the strength of our connections with literature.”

Since its beginning in 2008, Delmarva Review has published new literary poetry and prose from 490 authors from 42 states, the District of Columbia, and 16 foreign countries. Forty-six percent are from the Chesapeake and Delmarva region. Eighty-four have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Some have attained notable attention in “best of” anthologies or received public acclaim from other literary critics and editors.

As a literary collection, the focus is on outstanding new writing. This year’s topics include dealing with grief, sickness, death, love, human freedoms, aging, and the uncertainty of life, among others. They have one quality in common—change—and the uncomfortable challenges of dealing with change.

This year’s cover photograph, The Fisherman, by Wyatt, tells a visual story. An osprey spreads its wings to exhibit his power, while positioned high above the water on a storm-broken tree. His talons are clutching a partially devoured fish.

“The osprey’s purpose is not so much the fish,” Wyatt said, “as it is his desire to lure a suitable mate for the season’s nest. Thematically, the image exhibits the territorial imperative shared throughout the animal kingdom, including humans.”

     Delmarva Review was created to offer authors a valued home to publish their best writing at a time when many commercial publications were reducing literary content or closing their doors.

The review makes room for new writers, as well. This year’s fiction includes writing from the first recipient of the Delmarva Review Talbot County Youth Writing Scholarship award. In partnership with Talbot County Schools and supported by a grant from Talbot Arts, the review selected “E Duo Unum” from Maxine Poe-Jensen, a high school senior at St. Michaels High School.

While favoring the permanence of the printed word, the review publishes electronic versions to meet the digital preferences of readers. Both paperback and electronic editions are immediately available at Amazon and other online booksellers. The print edition is also available at regional specialty bookstores.

In addition to Wyatt, the journal’s editorial staff for this edition includes Bill Gourgey, the managing editor who designs and publishes the review, poetry editor Anne Colwell, poetry assistant editor Katherine Gekker, fiction senior editor Harold O. Wilson, fiction coeditors Lee Slater and Judy Reveal, and nonfiction editor Ellen Brown.

The submission period for the 16th edition is open to all writers now through March 31, 2023. Delmarva Review does not charge any submission or reading fees. Writers’ guidelines are posted on DelmarvaReview.org.

Published by the Delmarva Review Literary Fund Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the journal receives financial support from individual tax-deductible contributions and a public grant from Talbot Arts, with revenues from the Maryland State Arts Council. For more information, see DelmarvaReview.org.

 

# # #