My latest short story, “White Pine,” won American Literary Review‘s “Flash Flood” contest.
An excerpt from my novel-in-progress has been published in Ragweed.
New fiction
I have two new short stories in Harpur Palate (vol. 19, no. 1). You can buy a copy of the issue here.
Upcoming events
I’m excited to share two upcoming events where I will be reading. On Oct. 23, I’m joining Room at the Table for a reading of work by local authors. The event is at 7 pm at Mercer County Library (Lawrence Branch). I will read two new stories I have forthcoming in Harpur Palate.
On November 10, I’m participating in the Rosenbach’s Moby-Dick Marathon at the Independence Seaport Museum. Celebrate the 200th anniversary of Herman Melville’s birth by listening to this great American novel! I will read one of my favorite chapters of the book (“The Tail”) at 6:19 am.
Library book sale haul
One of my favorite ways to buy books — besides indie book stores with used sections, of course — is at library book sales. If you go on the last day or two of the sale, you can load up on books for amazing prices. I found some sales where the books were going for $5 a bag and returned with treasures.
Reading in Philadelphia
Last week I read an excerpt from my novel-in-progress at the Philadelphia Stories Winter 2018 issue launch party. I had a great time–I’ve been working on this project for a while, and it was exciting to finally share a little piece of it. It was also wonderful to meet other writers, artists, and literature lovers from the area!
New fiction
I’m excited to share this excerpt from my novel-in-progress, published recently in Philadelphia Stories. Their Winter 2018 music issue is the perfect home for this excerpt–I’m so happy to see it among other art and writing about music.
Updates
This summer Pale Hearts was featured on American Bookfest.
I’m so grateful to all the readers who’ve told me they enjoyed the book! Thank you for taking the time to read it and share your kind words. I always appreciate Amazon or Goodreads reviews too, if you have a few minutes to comment on the book. It helps other readers find the book, and it helps me as I continue to write!
This fall I’m leading another writing workshop at the Lawrence Branch of Mercer County Library. It will be on September 15 at 10 a.m., and the subject will be description. We’ll talk about how to use descriptive language to make your writing vivid.
Upcoming fiction talk
Calling all central NJ writers and readers! Join me for a fiction talk at Mercer Country Library (Lawrence Branch) at 10 am on April 21. I’ll be discussing description: what does it accomplish, and how can you use it to make your own writing more vivid? My focus is on fiction, but similar techniques are applicable to non-fiction as well.
Pale Hearts reviewed by Cellar Door Lit
Sheilah Randall at Cellar Door Lit, a long-running book blog, wrote a wonderful review of Pale Hearts. Head over to her website to check it out!
Writing residency & other updates
A few months ago, I had the great fortune to be a Visiting Artist at New York Mills Regional Cultural Center. The center is located in New York Mills, a tiny, wonderful town in the middle of rural Minnesota. Despite its small size, New York Mills has a vibrant arts scene. The Center hosts concerts, art exhibits, classes, and a gift shop stocked with crafts by local artists. It also has a Visiting Artist program. Each artist is in residency for 2-4 weeks, living alone in a cheerful yellow house near the center of town.
My residency was scheduled for 4 weeks in November and December 2016. I flew from Boston to Minneapolis, rented a car, and drove the three hours to New York Mills. As soon as I set foot in the artist house, I felt a sense of peace and excitement. There was a scrapbook filled with journal entries from the artists who’d stayed there before. The house had a small kitchen, a bedroom, and two work spaces with large desks, perfect for writing. Once I’d stocked up on groceries, I holed up inside (frigid temperatures helped!) and wrote, drafting about 100 pages of my novel-in-progress. I met lots of interesting, friendly people around town–artists, writers, the local baker, a taxidermist. I learned about dark house spear fishing and the local boat factory. I also held a workshop, participated in a reading, and visited 3 English classes at the high school. It was a fruitful and creative month.
I kicked off 2017 as a featured reader in Timothy Gager’s Dire Literary Series in Cambridge, MA. The other readers were poet Michelle Y. Burke and memoirist Rita Zoey Chin. I really enjoyed reading and learning about their work!
Finally, my talented photographer friend Kate Kearns took some lovely photos of me and my book last fall. I’m just getting around to posting them now because I’ve been preoccupied by several life changes, including a move. But, finally, here they are!
Emily Eckart 