2023 Oregon Literary Fellowship in Fiction

Well, geez. In all honestly, I did not see this one coming.

When I got the news, my jaw, quite literally, dropped and my mouth fell open. I stared at the email for at least two minutes. Which is a really long time to digest information. That’s how long it took for me to understand and take in the good news.

This fellowship is the first substantial head nod from the universe for the novel I’ve spent the past three years at work on every single day. So, it has an extra special meaning for me.

All that said, having applied for the past 13 years for an OLF and not received one, I’m also viscerally aware of all the writers, also hard at work every day for the past three or more years, on their own projects, also in need of a head nod from the universe, and so I accept the good news as humbly as possibly. And say to all of you, keep applying. Keep applying. Keep applying.

Wishing each of you your own good news somewhere, somehow as soon as possible.

Keep going…

Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference 2023

Happy to share I’ll be the short fiction instructor for the 2023 Mendocino Coast Writers Conference. This insanely gorgeous part of California is very close to my heart, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to bring my love of writing, teaching, and the Northern California coast all together in three-day workshop.

Registration opens March 15. Grab a spot while you can.

There are wildly talented instructors leading all the workshops and it promises to be an incredible experience, including Ariel Gore, Nayomi Munaweera, Daniel B. Summerhill, Sarah McColl, Ploi Pirapokin, Muriel Leung and Carvell Wallace.

Join us if you can.

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Here’s a brief rundown of what a day at the conference (from their website) would be like, more details to follow soon:

LOCATION AND SCHEDULE

All morning workshops and afternoon events will take place in Mendocino, California. Evening events may take place in Mendocino and the surrounding Fort Bragg. Location details will be available in early 2023.

YOUR SAFETY

All eating will be outdoors, and masks will be required at all times indoors. The seating in classrooms for morning workshops and afternoon seminars will be spaced apart, and windows kept open, to promote social distancing and good ventilation.

DAILY SCHEDULE

08:00am-08:45am: Breakfast (included)
09:00am-12:00pm: Morning Workshops
12:00pm-1:00pm: Lunch (included)
2:30pm-4:00pm: Afternoon Seminars
4:10pm-5:00pm: Anonymous Critique (Thursday and Saturday)

EVENING EVENTS

Thursday, August 3 | 5:30pm: Student and Faculty Welcome
A meet-and-greet followed by faculty readings.
Free and open to the public from 6.30pm onwards

Friday, August 4 | 6:30pm: Faculty Reading
A medley of faculty readings.
Free and open to the public

Saturday, August 5 | 5:30pm: Dinner and Keynote Address
Dinner (outside), faculty book signing and the conference keynote address.

Just added 3 spots for new clients in 2023

I have reopened spots for 2023 to add three new clients. If you’re interested, or know someone who wants to deepen their writing practice, focus on accountability, and/or push a project forward, feel free to share this post.

Write with questions anytime to see if this might be a good fit for you or your project.

Check out the “Let’s Work Together” page for more infomation.

Happy to share references and referrals from current and former clients, upon request. Just ask!

hello@margaretmalone.com

KBOO Re-broadcast of Short Story All Stars Interview with

Lucky, lucky me (and you).

KBOO radio’s Ken Jones, longtime fan and advocate of Oregon’s literary community, is going to re-broadcast on his new show the dreamy SHORT STORY ALL STARS Interview from January 2020 when I had the magical experience of being in a roundtable discussion with Karen Russell, Kimberly King Parsons, and Lidia Yuknavitch as we talked with Ken about all things short fiction related.

It was truly an incredible event.

He’ll be airing it again Thursday, January 27 at 11 am on his show Jonesy, if you’re interested in listening live at 90.7 FM in Portland or at kboo.org. (Live? Lively re-broadcast?) And if you missed it on KBOO radio, you can listen whenever you want AT THIS LINK HERE.

Thanks Ken!

Portland Book Festival 2021

I’m delighted to be moderating a conversation with Chris Stuck (GIVE MY LOVE TO THE SAVAGES) and Theodore C. Van Alst, Jr. (SACRED CITY) for the Book Festival this year. Their brand new story collections are sharp, devastating, and, incredibly, miraculously, also often funny.

Join us, why don’t you. Our discussion is titled INTERSECTIONS and will be at 1PM.

It’s on Saturday November 13th at the Portland Book Festival in the Miller Gallery of the Portland Art Museum.

Get your tickets to the Portland Book Festival here.

New story in BOMB

Self Pres

Hi Friends:

Happy to report there is a new (to most of you) story up in the phenomenal BOMB Magazine this week: Self-Preservation.

It’s about motherhood and sex and solar panels. Also, plants (sort of).

Big thanks to the folks at BOMB and especially to Raluca Albu for making this publication into being.

A version of this will be in the second story collection which is waiting patiently for me to revise the last story’s ending (yes, again – for the seventh time).

I miss you. Let’s stay in touch better, okay?

XO

The Steer Podcast Episode

What feels like many moons ago, I was interviewed on The Steer podcast, the coolest idea for a show ever: the hosts bring on writers to talk about music, and musicians to talk about books. It’s like a dream come true if you’re a person like me.

The episode we taped that long ago day on March 2nd is now up and live and the final version of the episode is so, so good.

I never listen to interviews I do. It’s just too weird. But because of its conversational format, I really wanted to hear this one, listen to the conversation I had with writers Jeff Alesandrelli and Joshua James Amberson.

As I suspected, it was a fantastic talk about failed projects, giving up, inspiration, not giving up, and the way success can be confusing for a minute. Also, tons of music. Also, I read the beginning of a new story that took me 15 years to write.

When you have an hour, check it out.

https://the-steer.simplecast.com/episodes/margaret-malone-nQ94B4tw

KBOO Short Story All-Stars Roundtable

Deepest thanks to KBOO’s Ken Jones for dreaming up a short story all-star roundtable of writers for his once a month show Mr. Jones’s Neighborhood, where I had the joy of talking for an hour around the mikes with these luminaries of the literature and the short story – KAREN RUSSELL, LIDIA YUKNAVITCH, & KIMBERLY KING PARSONS.

The conversation could have gone on much longer than the hour we had.

It was an absolute privilege to be in the room with these women and to discuss everything we love about my favorite literary genre.

Link to listen to the full taping is here.

Powell’s 25 Books To Read Before You Die…

Somehow, incredibly, Powell’s Books included PEOPLE LIKE YOU in their 2019 list of 25 Books To Read Before You Die.

The title is alongside works by Ursula K. LeGuin, Raymond Carver, Katherine Dunn, Ken Kesey, Charles D’Ambrosio, Lidia Yuknavitch, Barry Lopez, Brian Doyle, Terese Marie Mailhot, Mitchell Jackson, Joe Sacco, Beverly Cleary, Tom Spanbauer, Pete Rock, Ruth Ozeki, Jim Lynch… It’s really quite an incredible honor.

Thanks so much to the booksellers at Powell’s for supporting Northwest writers and for bringing them to the attention of readers everywhere.