5 Over 50: 2025
Essays by debut authors Jennifer Eli Bowen, Princess Joy L. Perry, Yael Valencia Aldana, Vishwas R. Gaitonde, and Lauren K. Watel as well as excerpts from their books.
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Essays by debut authors Jennifer Eli Bowen, Princess Joy L. Perry, Yael Valencia Aldana, Vishwas R. Gaitonde, and Lauren K. Watel as well as excerpts from their books.
The author of American Harvest: God, Country, and Farming in the Heartland identifies exemplary journals publishing nonfiction, where editors seek “a novel point of view, a voice willing to confront the true uncharted territory of the imagination.”
The Gilded Age, the HBO television series created by Julian Fellowes, chronicles the lives of a cast of characters living in 1880s New York City, including servants and maids living and working in the garden-level quarters of brownstone mansions, wealthy inhabitants of Manhattan from both old and new money, and Black families living in Brooklyn who reach levels of affluence in the post-Reconstruction period. Together, the characters create a layered portrait of a city where diverse classes come into often conflicted interaction. Write a personal essay that examines your own class status, reflecting on how it manifests in your encounters in society with friends, coworkers, family, and others. How have financial matters evolved through past generations in your family to bring you to where you are today?
The O‘ahu Writers Mini-Retreat was held on November 29 and November 30 at a historic vacation property in the town of Waialua, on the North Shore of O‘ahu, Hawai‘i. The retreat featured generative writing workshops, critiques, and arts and crafts breaks for poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers. The faculty included poet Tamara Leiokanoe Moan, fiction writer Tom Gammarino, and creative nonfiction writer Constance Hale. Tuition was $120 for one day and $200 for both days; lodging was not included, but lunch was.
O‘ahu Writers Mini-Retreat, 1040 56th Street, Oakland, CA 94608. (617) 909-1439. Constance Hale, Director.
In this video from the Sage-sponsored “Banned Books From the Big Chair” booth at the American Library Association’s 2025 annual conference, authors and attendees respond to the dangers of book banning and the importance of supporting public libraries and the freedom to read.
In this video, George Takei, honorary chair of Banned Books Week 2025, talks about how “access to books and knowledge is essential to democracy” and how reading provides a way to see ourselves reflected in stories and to discover the stories of others. To learn more, visit the Banned Books Week website.
A prize of $1,000 is given occasionally for a fiction or nonfiction manuscript that has been rejected by a commercial publisher. The award recognizes “worthy manuscripts that have been overlooked by today’s high-pressure, bottom-line publishing conglomerates.” Manuscripts must be submitted with a formal letter of nomination from an editor at a U.S. or Canadian publishing company by November 15. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Publication in The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses is awarded annually for works of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction published by literary magazines or small presses during the current year. Editors may nominate up to six poems, short stories, novel chapters, or essays published, or scheduled to be published, in 2025; submit one copy of each work by December 1. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines.