#northernmichigan

2023: Strange Start to the New Year

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2023 is an odd one for sure. You may have heard that we’re missing the snow that piled up to the top of the mailbox and brought all the thrills of deep drifts to region in November and into December, and then, just as quickly, disappeared. Up in the UP, however, that magical part of our region is full throttle into winter…they’re deep into it with more snow to fall this week! Need a fix? Head up over da bridge and go play in it! For those of us who troll under the Big Mac, as we all say, stick around…it’s sure to change again in 10 minutes or so. Skiers: thank goodness for snowmaking machines!

Our literary magazine is off to a strange start, as well. Our 2023 planning schedule has been tossed and we start planning sessions all over due to the Clobber 19 virus that apparently takes 19 days off you’re life, disrupts your brain and obliterates deadlines, plans and just costs a lot money. We all share this awful chapter one way or another. It’s a good reminder to get outside, get fresh air, breathe in the pines, look for some stars, and wave to the deer just for kicks.

Today is an important observance of Martin Luther King, Junior, who delivered one of the most passionate and incredible speeches to all Americans. While he didn’t write the speech alone, his goals and insights shaped a draft to a final powerful impassioned call to action. Ample opportunities to learn more about diversity, equality and inclusion are finally bursting through mainstream outlets. Outstanding articles and books are readily available at all at our delightful book stores and online as well. It’s a good time to peruse a different perspective. Walloon Writers Review strives to be inclusive to all who interact with our publication and our company and we are learning how to do this in a more meaningful and comprehensive manner.

Also for readers, today marks another important date: Don Quixote was published over 400 years ago on January 16, 1605 and is listed as one of the first complete novels ever. #amwriting fans will be inspired – over 500 million copies have been sold to date. Think of how many languages!

Here at Walloon Writers Review, we are using our time to get rolling. While we are not presently tilting at windmills, we are aiming for an exciting Eighth edition of this collection of northern Michigan stories, poetry and nature photography. We are so honored that poet and writer Glen Young will continue his role for this upcoming edition!

So, eventually, you can expect to hear a Call For Submissions alert —ummm – soon-ish. Our theme for this upcoming edition is Exploration. While intentionally vague, we think this theme may serve as one that opens the door to new perspectives on the amazing northern Michigan and Upper Peninsula region. Explore for yourself and /or share your exploration with our readers.

Our theme is optional – a guidepost for where you may let your creativity take you. Let’s examine Exploration as the theme for this upcoming edition: Maybe you would like to get started already. Maybe the theme doesn’t really work for you or you already prepared your selection for this upcoming edition. Not to worry. Our collection will not be limited or organized around this theme but, it seems to apply. There are so many things to explore in this great part of the world!

We will update you on timeline and you’ll hear the Call For Submissions in the first quarter with plenty of time to decide your course of action. We do not anticipate publishing or distributing before summer.

To keep our community up to date, we would like to ramp up Updates from Contributors! What a great way to let others know what you’ve been up to since we last read or saw your piece! Please feel free to email book covers and release dates, inclusion in other publications, news and exciting awards you would like to share with everyone to editor@walloonwriters.com.

Thanks to everyone for your interest and support of Walloon Writers Review. Have a question? Suggestion? Feel free to reach out to editor@walloonwriters.com.

Be well –

Jennifer Huder, Founding Editor

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Inside Walloon Writers Review Seventh Edition: A Celebration of northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula

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Autumn Palette by Jennifer Uehlein Reynolds Copyright 2021

Inside Walloon Writers Review Seventh Edition, you’ll find a celebration of the amazing experiences only found in this part of the world. Our collection shares the seasons, the adventures, the interactions with nature and with others in a special region from just above the middle of the lower peninsula to the outreaches of the Upper Peninsula.

One of the outstanding photography submissions this edition is by photographer Jennifer Uehlein Reynolds. We are honored to include with amazing photograph that has already been recognized by an area art gallery for its beauty. You’ll find more of Jennifer’s photography interspersed with outstanding short stories, poetry and musings in writing and in even more nature photography.

Walloon Writers Review On The Air at WNMU-FM90 Northern Arts & Culture with Hans Ahlström

https://www.wnmufm.org/northern-arts-culture/2022-08-24/northern-arts-culture-interview-with-poet-and-author-milt-bates

This fall, WNMU-FM 90 included a reading and interview with Milton Bates, one of our returning poetry contributors. His readings are from his poetry included in this edition of Walloon Writers Review. We would like to thank Hans Ahlström, host of Northern Arts & Culture, as well as several other programs on the Marquette-based public radio station for sharing a little bit about the contributors who make Walloon Writers Review special!

What makes Walloon Writers Review so special? Contributors like you!

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

It’s already that time….Walloon Writers Review is now accepting submissions for our next edition, due out in Spring, 2022! This is such an exciting time for the magazine and we have a lot to share.

Welcome everyone interested in learning more about the magazine and especially those interested in contributing to our annual collection! Here you will find out a bit more about us and if you are returning, it’s always good to see you!

Between our pages is a sense of camaraderie around the deep passion for this part of the country, for this very special part of the state of Michigan. This place calls to some -beckoning them to get out and explore it, see it and experience it. For many of us, it’s a place where the best memories are made and treasured, where excitement and adventure are ready to share and so many find creative inspiration. At Walloon Writers Review, we gather around our creative community campfire, telling stories, reading something that captures the feeling we left with or lean in to see the really cool picture someone captured while here.

This shared collection is printed annually to share with others and it’s so important to call out the incredible bookstores who have a special corner or table or shelf just for Michigan writers and photographers. Their support of independent publications, such as Walloon Writers Review is greatly appreciated. We hope you will explore them in person or online, or choose them as beneficiaries of your online book buying on Bookshop.org! See the list of great places at the end of this post.

Please consider sharing your writing or photography with Walloon Writers Review during our Call For Submissions! All of the information and a welcoming note from our Associate Editor Glen Young can be found on our Submissions tab, including a theme for this upcoming Edition 7. Know that if you have never submitted a piece to us or anyone else before, we publish first time in print right alongside established, even award-winning, nationally recognized writers and photographers. It’s a level playing field. It’s about up north and the UP – it’s about what makes this place special.

Thank you and thanks to the following bookstores across Michigan where you can find great books and collections of poetry, national best sellers and locally scribed books, chapbooks and literary magazines like ours:

Bay Books Suttons Bay

Between The Covers  Harbor Springs

Island Books Mackinac Island

Horizon Books  Traverse City and Cadillac

McLean & Eakin  Petoskey

Reader’s World  Holland

Saturn Booksellers  Gaylord

Snowbound Books  Marquette

The Bookman  Grand Haven

Walloon Writers Review is published by Mission Point Press and distributed by Ingram. Our current edition, Walloon Writers Review “edition 6” is available now at the above listed booksellers, and online at Bookshop.org or BarnesandNoble.com. Have a question? Please email us at editor@walloonwriters.com.

We can’t wait to see what you’ve submitted! You will be contacted as an acknowledgement for your submission and you will hear our determination, as well. Each published contributor receives one courtesy copy of the magazine shipped to them directly. With the ever changing landscape, we hope to return to in person events in 2022.

Summer At It’s Best

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Kitch iti kipi – Simply amazing

Diving into cool water, dropping a line in to catch a fish, hopping on bikes and discovering new pathways, flying across the water as sails snap in strong winds, zinging along dirt trails on ATV’s, walking along the shoreline – inland, island, Great Lake or river – exploring the endless treasures and sites we always hoped we would find time to see, this summer has been amazing up here.

We feel the shift in the sunlight this week, noted by the golden color of the sand in the afternoon, wildflowers and cattails towering over the mailboxes, earlier sunsets and slightly shorter days. The meteor shower has ended but the night sky continues to send shooting stars across the black silk of space, constellations ever present and stars so bright, they look like they are ripe for picking.

This moment, the last few weeks of the season, offer time for reflection, fun, focus on getting that last trip in or sharing time with family and friends before the harvest, work, school, and endless schedules begin… time to savor the taste of an ice cream cone, s’mores, fresh whitefish and salmon dinners or a charred hot dog off the campfire.

The lake is calling

We usually gather in fall to share our stories, our poetry and spectacular photography – all inspired by the magnificence of this region. This year, we will be starting our Call for Submissions later in the season as the brilliance of the leaves turns, and just before the rain or snow! hits. Enjoy every minute…every adventure.

Please keep an eye out for an update sometime in September, with plenty of time to make ready your submissions. Right now, the sun is shining, the water is clear and the best of the summer is in full swing. Enjoy every second of it.

Winter In Northern Michigan

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We have waited for a long time to run straight into a snowbank, slide across snow packed trails on skis, sleds, skates and tires. Joy joy joy! Now the fun can begin! Winter is a stellar season in Northern Michigan and with our restaurants reopening, it feels like a celebration! But someone invited the North wind, so be sure to bundle up accordingly.

Walloon Writers Review edition 6, our first digital version of our regional literary magazine reached hundreds of viewers on issuu.com since we announced it in December! What a great opportunity to reach new audiences and offer the experience of our magazine in an online format. But, tradition calls and we hear you… so, we are excited to meet the many requests for a print version!

Walloon Writers Review Edition 6 in print is in production! Please check back with us for a release date.

Our thanks again to Mitchell Graphics of Petoskey in providing our e-edition design and upload to issuu.com so successfully!

Watch our website, Instagram and Facebook accounts for updates and we will keep you posted on when and where you can get your print copy of our 6th edition of Walloon writers review. Keep warm and have fun!

WALLOON WRITERS REVIEW edition 6 now available!

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We did something special this year. We are so excited to offer a digital edition of Walloon Writers Review to share with readers at no charge this year!

Walloon Writers Review edition 6 features outstanding poetry, short stories and nature photography inspired by Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. We are honored that GLEN YOUNG served as editor for this edition. Titled “edition 6” which references our first e-edition, the collection serves to share an enjoyable experience.

We are excited to once again include the winning selections from the 18th Annual Crooked Tree Arts Center Juried Young Writers Exposition.

Please follow this link and enjoy this wonderful collection – may you find peace and joy in the holiday season, the beautiful setting of Northern Michigan and the UP, and a joyous New Year.

https://issuu.com/walloonwritersreview/docs/wwr_edition6

Wow! Walloon Writers Review Fifth Edition is available right now in stores and online!

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Stunning cover photography by Melissa Seitz

Walloon Writers Review has hit the shelves at McLean & Eakin Booksellers in Petoskey, Between the Covers in Harbor Springs and Saturn Booksellers in Gaylord!

You can shop in person or you can order your copy of Walloon Writers Review Fifth Edition in time for the holidays from our independent bookstore friends! 103 pages of amazing writing and photography about and inspired by Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula!

Out of the area? Order Online!

Please follow this link to McLean & Eakin in Petoskey – shipping is only $.99! https:mcleanandeakin.com/search/author/%Huder%2C%Jennifer%22

You can also order from Saturn Booksellers in Gaylord – where shipping is $1.99 with as many books as you like in your on-line cart! Visit www.saturnbooksellers.com and search for Wallon Writers Review Fifth Edition!

Enjoy incredible poetry, stories, creative writing and beautiful nature photography by Michigan authors and photographers and those outside the area who have ties to the region or make the trek for adventure, family, vacation, or just to see the incredible beauty of this amazing region.

Walloon Writers Review features exceptional creative writing and photography by well-known and first time in print contributors. Available in paperback only – we hope you will share our independent literary magazine with writers, readers, photographers, campers, fishers, boaters, beachers, stone hunters, flyers, skiers, snowboarders, hikers, bikers, fudgies, trolls, yoopers, sailors, skippers, walkers, runners, ferry riders, falls seekers, sunset and sunrise watchers, and anyone you know who loves it up here! The magazine is edited by founder Jennifer Huder and Associate Editor Glen Young and is suitable for a general audience.

Many thanks to our independent booksellers across Michigan for supporting Michigan-made books and literary magazines including Walloon Writers Review! Walloon Writers Review is based in Petoskey, Michigan.

Please stop by back for more places to buy your copy as they become confirmed!