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  • Home
  • Bio
  • Publications
  • Readings
  • Residencies
  • Contact

Essays

"The Color of Heartache" - Northwind Writing Award

"The Color of Heartache" - Northwind Writing Award

"The Color of Heartache" - Northwind Writing Award

My essay won 2nd place in the Northwind Writing Award, published in this anthology.  


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"Outlasting Angie" - Awakenings Anthology

"The Color of Heartache" - Northwind Writing Award

"The Color of Heartache" - Northwind Writing Award

Writers share their hearts, their limbs, their breasts -- even their teeth! -- in this stunning collection ...


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"A Duality Within Me" - The Memoirist Quarterly

"The Color of Heartache" - Northwind Writing Award

"A Duality Within Me" - The Memoirist Quarterly

“Think of it like a raspberry,” he said. It was an odd visual, certainly, yet I followed his lead  …   


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"Soul Holidays" - The Mindful Word

"A Hole in the Head" - Dorothy Parker's Ashes

"A Duality Within Me" - The Memoirist Quarterly

A favorite quote I keep tacked to a bulletin board in my office reads: “One’s destination …   


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"A Calling to Return" - Emerge Magazine

"A Hole in the Head" - Dorothy Parker's Ashes

"A Hole in the Head" - Dorothy Parker's Ashes

I’m not sure why my mind keeps returning to my time on the hill, the remote hill in Vermont …   


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"A Hole in the Head" - Dorothy Parker's Ashes

"A Hole in the Head" - Dorothy Parker's Ashes

"A Hole in the Head" - Dorothy Parker's Ashes

We’d arrived at the ER just after midnight, January 5, 2016—ironically, Mom’s eighty-first birthday.  


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"V Is" - The Sandy River Review

In late winter, 2020, I—and the world—learned that V is for virus. Shapeless, unable to be seen, heard ... 


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"Propped" - Longridge Review

I was a late bloomer, learning to ride a bike. While most kids learn by kindergarten ... 


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"The Price" - Paper Dragon

"The Price" - Paper Dragon

The revolving door conveys people from congested streets into its halls like a major vein into the hospital’s heart. 


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"The Dred of a Shred" - Dorothy Parker's Ashes

I’ve had a headache for thirty days. OK, I’m lying. It’s closer to sixty, but sixty days sounds terribly long.  


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"Frickin' Lion" - Porridge Magazine

The mane streams behind the dog as it tears across gray floorboards.

“Frickin’ lion.”  


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"The Weight of Oars" - Barren Magazine

"The Weight of Oars" - Barren Magazine

My brother Sean and I had a routine the summer we spent in hospital waiting rooms. He’d pull ...


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"Must" - Moxy Magazine

"The Weight of Oars" - Barren Magazine

I was at the final winery I’d be visiting in the Chianti region, seated at a long farm table with ... 


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"Shift" - Under the Gum Tree

A breeze swept off the water and into the car’s window as we crossed the Tobin Bridge toward home. 


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"Singultus" - Bacopa Literary Review

I hiccupped and slid into the booth beside Shelly. Wiggled out of my down coat. It was March, slushy ...


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Flash (< 750 Words)

"Still There" - (mac)ro(mic)

"The Pull" - X-R-A-Y Magazine

"Still There" - (mac)ro(mic)

You were there, not conscious but in body, when they draped you, intubated and hooked you to a ventilator  ...  


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"Tracks" - 433

"The Pull" - X-R-A-Y Magazine

"Still There" - (mac)ro(mic)

Sunshine streams from a cloudless sky through leafless maple branches, winter white bright  ...   


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"The Pull" - X-R-A-Y Magazine

"The Pull" - X-R-A-Y Magazine

"The Pull" - X-R-A-Y Magazine

I’ve felt the pull for years, to see what’s out there, how it differs from what I understand of the world ...


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"Wake Me Up" - Y2K Quarterly

"What Matters" - Plum Recruit

"The Pull" - X-R-A-Y Magazine

Wake me up when September ends, lyrics implore, beneath a lonely chord. Twenty years have gone so fast ...


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"What Matters" - Plum Recruit

"What Matters" - Plum Recruit

"What Matters" - Plum Recruit

Our neighborhood has a sidewalk chalk artist, and I think she’s a girl.  Twelve, maybe thirteen ...


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"Angie" - The Tiny Journal

"What Matters" - Plum Recruit

"What Matters" - Plum Recruit

I called it Angie. It made what I had sound less clinical. Ironically, Angie is close to my given name: Ann. 


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"Birds in a Yard, Men on Horseback" - Openwork

"Birds in a Yard, Men on Horseback" - Openwork

"Birds in a Yard, Men on Horseback" - Openwork

My mother announces on a mild June afternoon, a Sunday, that she wants her birdbath moved. 


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"Unrestricted" - 433

"Birds in a Yard, Men on Horseback" - Openwork

"Birds in a Yard, Men on Horseback" - Openwork

Dispatch, from a May morning. The birds don’t know. They didn’t get the memo. Their songs outside my ...  


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"See" - Rubbertop Review

"Birds in a Yard, Men on Horseback" - Openwork

"At Waking" - Dream Journal

It snuck up on us, most of us. We see this now. Outside of a handful of specialists ...


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"At Waking" - Dream Journal

"At Waking" - Dream Journal

"At Waking" - Dream Journal

It’s the news, it must be the news. Why else would I dream something so horrific?   


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"Land Grab" - Dream Journal

"At Waking" - Dream Journal

"Land Grab" - Dream Journal

The buildings flow as one attached with lumber and nail and stories of conjoined life across two centuries.  


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Micro (< 250 Words) and Prose Poems

"Lash Waltz" - Five Minutes

"Buoyant" - The Basilisk Tree

"Lash Waltz" - Five Minutes

A feathery kiss brushes my skin. Tingly, in the best possible way. Fleeting, as it melts and trickles ... 


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"Germie" - Five Minutes

"Buoyant" - The Basilisk Tree

"Lash Waltz" - Five Minutes

Kindergarten “show-and-tell” day. I trailed my brothers to school, clutching my Hanna-Barbera ...


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"Buoyant" - The Basilisk Tree

"Buoyant" - The Basilisk Tree

As spring springs and buds bud, soon petals push open and bees bumble. Everywhere, breezes.


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"Resistance, in Yellow" - Unstamatic

"Resistance, in Yellow" - Unstamatic

Yellow rose topiary, big blooms billowing atop ball, ruffled roses commanding attention. Admiration.


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"Struggle, in Orange" - Gastropoda

"Resistance, in Yellow" - Unstamatic

"Struggle, in Orange" - Gastropoda

Orange, the color of sunsets missed all summer as I retreated to a bedroom, shades drawn ...  


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"Release, in Blue" - Gastropoda

"Resistance, in Yellow" - Unstamatic

"Struggle, in Orange" - Gastropoda

Pinwheels of pain, blue and bursting, radiate from my shoulder, furious fireworks lit and launching off  …  


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"Mirth, in Terra Cotta" - Duck Duck Mongoose

"Mirth, in Terra Cotta" - Duck Duck Mongoose

"Mirth, in Terra Cotta" - Duck Duck Mongoose

Mounded moonbeam tickseed tickles your torso among day lilies that disco-dance in a breeze …  


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"Bands of Honey" - Welter

"Mirth, in Terra Cotta" - Duck Duck Mongoose

"Mirth, in Terra Cotta" - Duck Duck Mongoose

We plod in silence through slices of the Sahara the color of honey: wavy and warm  ...


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"Puff" - Olit

"Mirth, in Terra Cotta" - Duck Duck Mongoose

"Puff" - Olit

She puffs and the flame, bending and swaying at the top of the solitary birthday candle  ...


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Poetry

"Irish Green" - Backstory

"Kingdom Come" - Sledgehammer Lit

"Kingdom Come" - Sledgehammer Lit

I am from an Irish Clan’s love,

strong as bedrock, deep as ocean. I am from a surgeon's scalpel ...


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"Kingdom Come" - Sledgehammer Lit

"Kingdom Come" - Sledgehammer Lit

"Kingdom Come" - Sledgehammer Lit

Garden gargoyle, rumpled of brow, drowsy of eye, pointy of ear, peeks at me as I work the earth ...


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"Abode" - Eucalyptus & Rose

"Kingdom Come" - Sledgehammer Lit

"Abode" - Eucalyptus & Rose

She feels January in her joints,

her bones a built-in bellwether to barometric bounces  ...


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Recent Craft Interviews

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - April 2025

WOW! Women on Writing Interview- September 2024

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - January 2025

I dive deep with Atticus Review on all things tech and art, and the (somewhat?) controversial intersection. 


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WOW! Women on Writing Interview - January 2025

WOW! Women on Writing Interview- September 2024

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - January 2025

Melinda Wyers, Editor-in-Chief of Y2K Quarterly, invites writers to revisit memories from the Y2K era. 


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WOW! Women on Writing Interview- September 2024

WOW! Women on Writing Interview- September 2024

WOW! Women on Writing Interview- September 2024

Susanna Baird, Editor-in-Chief of Five Minutes, discusses the micro-memoir form with me ... and more!


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WOW! Women on Writing Interview - June 2024

WOW! Women on Writing Interview- November 2023

WOW! Women on Writing Interview- September 2024

Dr. Megan Pillow - award-winning writer, teacher, and author - discusses her new book with me ... and more!


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WOW! Women on Writing Interview- November 2023

WOW! Women on Writing Interview- November 2023

WOW! Women on Writing Interview- November 2023

Diane Gottlieb, Prose and CNF Editor with ELJ, discusses with me the new anthology she edited ... and more!


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WOW! Women on Writing Interview - July 2023

WOW! Women on Writing Interview- November 2023

WOW! Women on Writing Interview- November 2023

Joy Clark, Managing Editor with eMerge, highlights the magazine from Dairy Hollow Writers Colony.


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Older Craft Interviews

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - April 2023

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - February 2023

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - February 2023

Claire Oleson, Senior Poetry Editor with Cleaver, deep dives on what makes poetry sing ... and more! 


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WOW! Women on Writing Interview - February 2023

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - February 2023

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - February 2023

Brooke Warner, Publisher of She Writes Press, shares "a third way" to get a manuscript published!


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WOW! Women on Writing Interview- November 2022

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - February 2023

WOW! Women on Writing Interview- November 2022

Kathy Fish, award-winning writer and teacher, shares her expertise on all things flash writing ... and more!


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WOW! Women on Writing Interview - August 2022

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - February 2022

WOW! Women on Writing Interview- November 2022

Tobi Harper, Deputy Director with Red Hen Press, deep dives on what this independent press wants.


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WOW! Women on Writing Interview - April 2022

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - February 2022

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - February 2022

EIC Betsy Boyd and Poetry Editor Micaela Walley share what Welter looks for in writing submissions.


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WOW! Women on Writing Interview - February 2022

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - February 2022

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - February 2022

Christy O'Callaghan, Managing Editor with Barzakh, highlights the journal ... and how she picks a word for the year!


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WOW! Women on Writing Interview - December 2021

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - December 2021

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - December 2021

Amy Giuffrida, Literary Agent with The Jennifer De Chiara Agency, talks trends, querying, and home renovations!  


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WOW! Women on Writing Interview - October 2021

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - December 2021

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - December 2021

Not one, not two, but three Co-Editors-in-Chief with Exposition Review join me for a wide-ranging chat.


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WOW! Women on Writing Interview - August 2021

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - December 2021

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - August 2021

Janna Maron, Editor & Publisher of Under the Gum Tree, shares more about her Nonfiction Bootcamp ... and more!


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WOW! Women on Writing Interview - June 2021

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - March 2021

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - August 2021

Maria Rogers, Literary Agent with The Tobias Agency, talks trends, querying, social media ... and more!


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WOW! Women on Writing Interview - May 2021

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - March 2021

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - March 2021

Lilly Dancyger - author, essayist, and editor - discusses her new memoir, her editorial services ... and more!


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WOW! Women on Writing Interview - March 2021

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - March 2021

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - March 2021

K.B. Carle, Associate Editor with Fractured Lit, talks flash fiction, fables, fairytales ... and more!


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Older Craft Interviews

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - February 2021

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - February 2021

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - February 2021

Marissa Glover, Senior Editor with The Lascaux Review, discusses contests, reprint opportunities ... and more!


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WOW! Women on Writing Interview - January 2021

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - February 2021

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - February 2021

Taylor Byas, Poetry Editor with Flypaper Lit, deep dives on the art of poetry ... and more!


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WOW! Women on Writing Interview- December 2020

WOW! Women on Writing Interview - February 2021

WOW! Women on Writing Interview- December 2020

Jo Varnish, CNF Editor with X-R-A-Y, discusses nonfiction with me in all its wonderful forms! 


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GUEST BLOGS

The Northwind Writing Award - "Author Spotlight"

Brevity Blog - "A Place for AI in Your Writing: Book Proposals"

Brevity Blog - "A Place for AI in Your Writing: Book Proposals"

The prize editors chat with me about my essay that won second place in the CNF category.  


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Brevity Blog - "A Place for AI in Your Writing: Book Proposals"

Brevity Blog - "A Place for AI in Your Writing: Book Proposals"

Brevity Blog - "A Place for AI in Your Writing: Book Proposals"

As the discussion surrounding the use of AI in our creative writing lives rages on, I’m clear on how I want to use it.


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Brevity Blog - "A Village Approach to Removing Roadblocks"

Brevity Blog - "A Place for AI in Your Writing: Book Proposals"

Brevity Blog - "A Village Approach to Removing Roadblocks"

I thought I had written a gripping memoir. (Don’t we all?) My story is about the mysterious ...


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WomanPause - "A Chat with Diane Gottlieb"

Brevity Blog - "A Village Approach to Removing Roadblocks"

Diane and I dig in on my memoir's message, the writing life, and exotic world travel!


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Bacopa Literary Review Blog - "To Catch One's Breath While sobbing"

When I wrote "Singultus" I was enrolled in a six-week writing workshop where we were encouraged to include ...


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WOW! Women on Writing - "Muse and Meaning"

A fiction writer starts with meaning, then manufactures events to represent it. A memoirist starts with events, then ...  


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Pink Pangea - "Tapas, not Turkey"

Pink Pangea - "Tapas, not Turkey"

Pink Pangea - "Tapas, not Turkey"

I spent my 2017 Thanksgiving in Barcelona. It was a departure, in many ways, from how I typically celebrate this U.S. holiday ...


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Pink Pangea - "Trip of Triumph"

Pink Pangea - "Tapas, not Turkey"

Pink Pangea - "Tapas, not Turkey"

There’s no better way for me to remember to appreciate my blessings than to travel, and to begin to understand how the other half ... 


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© 2025 - Ann Kathryn Kelly

All Rights Reserved


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