#creativewriting

SPOTLIGHT ON OUR CONTRIBUTORS

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Happy New Year! We are welcoming 2026 in today with updates from our amazing contributors. You can find their work published in our current edition of Walloon Writers Review which is available in independent bookstores throughout the region and many area libraries.

MEET STORM AINSELY

Storm Ainsely is a new contributor to Walloon Writers Review and we are so excited to introduce her exceptional talent to our readers. Her poems, Saturday Morning and 708 Miles are included in Walloon Writers Review Ninth Edition. Storm shared with us that she has lived in nine of the United States and will tell you she is from fiction-land. Her work as appeared in Wild Roof Journal, Oakwood, Trace Fossils Review, Exist Otherwise, and West Trade Review, among others.

We caught up with Storm recently…

Since being published in Walloon Writers Review’s Ninth Edition, Storm Ainsely has had work published in Yellow Arrow Journal & Skipjack Review. She has two poems scheduled to come out in October 2025 in Cactifur and Cereal City Review. Other places (not mentioned in her Walloon Writers bio) to find her work include: Sleet Magazine, New Note Poetry, Plumwood Mountain Journal, and Marrow Magazine. Cornerstone Press will be publishing Storm’s first book, a novella, near the end of 2026. Storm can be reached through LinkedIn & links to her publications available online can also be found there. https://www.linkedin.com/in/storm-ainsely-aa513821/details/publications/

Meet MILTON BATES

Milton Bates read his poem Renaming the Pileated Woodpecker published in our Ninth Edition this past summer at the Ishpeming Carnegie Library. He is the author of the book, Stand Still in the Light, and two chapbooks, Always on Fire and As They Were. Milton is a returning contributor and has shared his creative writing and photography with our readers in several editions. We are excited to announce his new book, which has been released!

Much of the poetry in my new collection, Undivided Attention (Kelsay Books, 2025) celebrates my surroundings in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Lately, I’ve also written poems based on entries in Wallace Stevens’s notebooks and have begun submitting them to literary magazines. 

My wife, Elizabeth, and I both turned 80 in 2025, so we’ve officially arrived at elderhood. Fortunately, we still enjoy most of the activities that get us outdoors in all seasons. From these outings come the poems and photos we’ve shared in the pages of Walloon Writers Review.

I live in Marquette, Michigan. My professional profile at Marquette University in Milwaukee, where I taught for many years, serves as my author page: https://www.marquette.edu/english/emeriti-faculty.php.

Meet THOMAS FORD CONLAN

Tom Conlan is a returning contributor to Walloon Writers Review and his poem, Angel Revelry is published in our Ninth Edition. He lives on a small farm in northern Michigan. His prose and poetry have appeared in numerous publications including UP Reader, QU Literary Review, The Avocet, Northwind Treasury, and Michigan Trout Magazine.

I have several projects in the pipeline. My most recent acceptance is inclusion in “The Songs of Summer: Poems about Baseball” from Waters Edge Press. My most recent publication – “Secret Conversation – Reflections in Nature” combines poetry and original artwork.

Tom is writing a weekly column for Charlevoix County News entitled “Readers Corner.” He is also reviewing non-fiction entries for the upcoming 10th Edition of the “UP Reader.”  His new book is available in several bookstores and online.

Find his work at: www.thomasfordconlan.com

Check back again for more about our amazing contributors! For locations on where to by Walloon Writers Review, please click the tab, “Where to Find Walloon Writers Review”. We are honored to share updates from previous and current contributors! Send your headshot, jpeg of your cover if you’ve published, and a brief update to editor@walloonwriters.com

Ninth Edition Updates!

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Walloon Writers Review Ninth Edition is in the hands of our design team!

We are so excited to share this news! More steps are ahead before this edition will be available in bookstores, but the first completion step is done. Watch for updates, including sneak peaks at our Contributors list, our cover reveal, which organization benefits from a portion of our Submission fees from this edition, and how you can pre-order copies! In a few weeks, we will share our expected release date.

We are grateful to everyone who sent in submissions for consideration. Walloon Writers Review carefully reviews each submission multiple times before making our final selections. With such an incredible response to our Call For Submissions this year, the process to select as many outstanding pieces as we could possibly accept was tough. Thank you for sharing your work with us.

Thanks goes to Co-Editor Glen Young for all of his dedication and contribution to this publication and to each of you for your support. We are always grateful to all of the amazing independent booksellers in Northern Michigan, the UP, and downstate Michigan for making Walloon Writers Review available for their customers. So many of our readers, visitors, and part-time neighbors travel from all corners of this beautiful state to enjoy Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula and they are a perfect spot to make that connection. Your support of purchasing, gifting, and sharing copies of Walloon Writers Review goes a long way in making this possible. Thank you! – Jennifer Huder

Call For Submissions for Walloon Writers Review Ninth Edition July 15 – August 30, 2024

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Through the first decade since its founding in 2014, Walloon Writers Review has provided a safe harbor where writers and photographers celebrate the sights and sounds of Northern Michigan. Through fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and photography, contributors continue to highlight the river bends and hilltops, as well as all the places in between, that mark this region as eternal.

As Walloon Writers Review embarks on our second decade, we seek both to build on this strong foundation, while also reimagining how the landscape of Northern Michigan continues to inspire and to influence writers and photographers. – Glen Young, Walloon Writers Review

General Guidelines

Walloon Writers Review is intended for a general audience, to be shared at the cottage, at camp, on the deck, or cabin bookshelf for all to enjoy. Our regional focus is on Northern Michigan, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (and the islands in between).

Submissions are accepted through Submittable.com during the above dates. Please visit our Submittable page for guidelines specific to this edition.

Unfortunately, we are unable to offer feedback on submissions. In effort to include as many contributors as possible, only two submissions per person will be accepted for this edition.

Walloon Writers Review charges a reading fee of $6.00 per submission. Funds collected are used to offsets costs of producing this annual print publication and we also make an annual small donation to a regional non-profit organization working to protect the natural beauty of the region.

We include original poetry, short stories, and other creative writing (max: 4,000 words) and nature photography. Nature photography should not include people.

We hope you will share your Northern Michigan and Upper Peninsula inspired original work! Thank you for your support.

Please visit our Submittable page at https://walloonwritersreview.submittable.com/submit to learn more about specific guidelines and to submit your original creative writing and or nature photography for our upcoming edition!
Volume 1 First Edition

Welcoming A New Bookstore to northern Michigan – Hidden Nook Booksellers in Grayling!

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Great News! We are super excited to share the news about a new bookstore in our region! Thank you so much to Higgins Lake-area contributor Melissa Seitz for mentioning our northern Michigan & UP-inspired collection with Hidden Nook Booksellers! Hidden Nook Booksellers will soon have Walloon Writers Review on their shelves!

Located on Main Street in the downtown area of Grayling, Hidden Nook Booksellers will be open weekends-only beginning 10/29/23 – so be sure to stop by while you’re out leaf-peeping! Website is still under construction, but you can find them on Facebook.

Here is a link to an article about this exciting new bookstore from the Up North Voice (Crawford County):

Hidden Nook Booksellers are located at 207 E Michigan Avenue, Grayling.

INTRODUCING WALLOON WRITERS REVIEW EIGHTH EDITION!

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EXCITING NEWS! Walloon Writers Review Eighth Edition is officially released! Congratulations to all of our 59 ( yes, 59!) awesome Contributors! Be sure to scroll down to see who’s included in this impressive 196-page edition! Be sure to read the opening note by Associate Editor Glen Young when you get your copy. It sets the stage for the delightful collection you are about to experience.

We are still independent and that means upon our official Release, we are reaching out to booksellers and libraries across Michigan to let them know this exciting collection of northern Michigan and Upper Peninsula inspired short stories, poetry and nature photography is ready to order for their stores! Keep an eye out at your favorite bookseller! There’s something for everyone in this exploration of our incredible region.

Look at our tab: Where to Find Walloon Writers Review for updated places, like CANTERBURY BOOK STORE in Escanaba! JORDAN RIVER ARTS CENTER in East Jordan! And, since we goofed their name (cue eyeroll) and are blaming our cat, ADAMS MADAMS in Central Lake!

THE MARKETING COVER: Not shown, ISBN barcode!

Questions? Please email us at editor@walloonwriters.com

Booksellers and Gift Shops – please know that we are available on Ingram right now! Our ISBN bar code is printed right on the back. Email editor@walloonwriters.com for a Sell Sheet with pertinent details!!