Connecticut Literary Anthology 2020 features stories, poems by 36 local authors
The inaugural Connecticut Literary Festival took place in September 2019 in Hartford. As an extension of that festival, an anthology of work by 36 Connecticut authors and poets has been published, and goes on sale, in hard copy and e-book, on Nov. 10.
Connecticut Literary Anthology 2020 had about 300 submissions, according to Jotham Burrello, assistant professor of English at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, who organized the festival.
Burrello is the editor of the 170-page book, which was financed by a grant from an anonymous donor, through the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.
Lisa Comstock, director for Connecticut Center for the Book, wrote “It feels like we have become unglued from one another since March of 2020; masked strangers passing each other in anonymity. But this anthology glues us back together and helps us find ways to heal and talk with one another.”
Burrello said the book includes “stories of family, economic inequality, sexual violence, social justice, culture wars, lost love, aging and gender.” Several are Connecticut-centric, such as Vivian Shipley’s ode to Mary Johnson of Wethersfield, who was hanged as a witch in 1648. But most have universal themes.
The contributors are Janet L. Bannister, Charles V. Belson, Susan Cinoman, Ginny Lowe Connors, Jason Courtmanche, Catherine DeNunzio, Joanie DiMartino, Meghan Evans, Maura Faulise, Kathryn Fitzpatrick, Beth Gibbs, Cecilia Gigliotti, Nichole Gleisner, Sitara Gnanaguru, Emi Gonzalez, José B. González, Benjamin S. Grossberg, Avery Jenkins, B. Fulton Jennes, Sarah Darer Littman, Kiran Masroor, Melissa McEwen, Claudia McGhee, Nancy McMillan, Jean P. Moore, Steven Ostrowski, Makenzie Ozycz, Aimee Pozorski, Kara Molway Russell, Vivian Shipley, Amy Sisson, Katherine Szpekman, Wendy Tarry, Mika Taylor, Marina Tinone and Jason Wilkins.
It can be purchased for $15 starting on Nov. 10 (hard copy) and soon after that in e-book form at amazon.com. Details about the festival and the anthology are at connecticutliteraryfestival.org.
Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.
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