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Pushcart Prize Nominations

Dear 105 Readers and Writers, 

We are proud to announce the following nominations for the Pushcart Prize. We have had so many excellent submissions to the first two issues of 105 Meadowlark Reader, and we are so proud of each and every one of you. Congratulations to the following authors.

Off to See Horses or Disasters at the Rodeo, by Roger Heineken (Issue 2)

The Current, by Jeanette Powers (Issue 1)

Dr. Pumpkin Cutter, by Harland Schuster (Issue 1)

Eastbound, by Karen Stoff (Issue 2)

Balanced in Waiting, by Janet Sunderland (Issue 1)

Winter Guests, by Barbara Waterman-Peters (Issue 1)

 

 More about the Pushcart Prize and Publication can be found here.

Much love and good reading!

Tracy & Cheryl

Next Submission Period Opens November 1, 2021

We are looking forward to reading those bicycle stories! 

Review our guidelines. We start taking entries for Issue #3 on November 1.

 

Where is Issue #2 of 105 Meadowlark Reader going to take you?

 

Dear Reader,

Issue #2 of 105 Meadowlark Reader is centered around Kansas travel stories that cover 45 counties. Whew! That's an awful lot of time on the road. But we love road trips, and we think you are going to love these stories as much as we do. 

Without further ado, let me introduce you to our authors. This issue features 38! How many faces do you recognize here?

Because they are writers, you may recognize their words before you know their faces. We'll help you out.

Thank you to the following individuals for sharing their true Kansas travel stories with us. We look forward to sharing their stories with YOU!

Ann Anderson

Lindsey Bartlett

Curtis Becker

Sheryl Brenn

Rex Buchanan

Annabelle Corrick

AJ Dome

Gretchen Cassel Eick

Mark Esping

Marie Baum Fletcher

Tammy Gilley

Anne Graue

Michael D. Graves

Monica (Osgood) Graves

Carolyn Hall

Roger Heineken

Jerilynn Jones Henrikson

Delphine Holston

Sally Jadlow

Nancy Julien Kopp

Sandee Lee

 LaVern Spencer McCarthy

Angela Muller

James Odrowski

Jim Potter

Robert Rebein

Donald Reichardt

Julie A. Sellers

Mark Scheel

Harland Schuster

Tracy Million Simmons

Betty Stevens

Karen Stoff

Olive L. Sullivan

Victoria Vaughn

Barbara Waterman-Peters

Brenda White

Anne Williams

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Everybody has a bicycle story, right?

 

August is blasting Kansas with everything it's got. 100-degree days and all the humidity you've come to associate with back-to-school month. 

While Tracy Million Simmons and I are putting together issue two (!) of 105 Meadowlark Reader, the road trip issue, we encourage you to be thinking about writing your true Kansas stories for our third issue: bicycle stories. 

Hey, even if you've never owned a bike, surely you have a bike story in your past somewhere. Maybe you wanted a bike but never got one. Maybe a cousin had a hot stingray and crashed it, breaking a leg, and you spent the summer keeping her entertained. 

And if you have owned a bike, ridden a bike, you certainly have bike stories to tell. 

The thing is, you don't have to have had some huge, dramatic event surrounding a bike. Memoir and personal essays can capture one tiny moment and what that moment meant to you, how it affected you, offered insights into life. 

Perhaps you were 8 years-old and you'd just saved up enough money to buy a speedometer for your bike, and with that speedometer you began to grasp the concept of distance and miles and you watched your odometer sync with the mile roads you passed. 

Maybe you clothes-pinned playing cards to your bicycle frame so the cards slapped your spokes as you rode down the sidewalk in your neighborhood. That was cool. Until your dad yelled at you about using his favorite deck of cards. 

Maybe you've recently purchased a mountain bike and you've just taken it on an adventure vacation. 

Maybe you had a lemonade stand as a kid and the main reason you set up that lemonade stand was to draw in the cute redheaded girl on her bright orange bike. 

Maybe you've done the BAK - Biking Across Kansas. What were the good, the bad and the ugly things about the trek? What did you learn about Kansas? What did you learn about yourself? 

Maybe you've participated in a Kansas gravel race. How did that go? Who did you meet? What did you see and experience along the way?

Maybe when you were 7, you had a banana seat (silver and sparkly) and your best friend, who didn't have a bike, rode on the back of the seat when you went to the park to play. 

Maybe that scar on your knee is a bicycle-wreck scar. 

Maybe you see, for the first time in 20 years, the exact same shade of teal that was the color of your favorite bike, and seeing that color again brings back a rush of memories. 

True stories are not just about things or events or people - they can also be about how those things, events and people have changed us, how we've grown in our lives because of our experiences. 

Our reading period for true Kansas bike stories is coming up. November 1 - December 31, 2021. Write your stories now and submit them during that time-frame. 

Take a chance! Write a story that means something to you, that will mean something to a reader. Put your heart into your story. When it comes down to choosing stories for the issues, Tracy and I love the ones with heart. 

We look forward to reading your stories! Go. Write. 

Cheryl Unruh

Editor, 105 Meadowlark Reader

Issue #1 of 105 Meadowlark Reader -- Beginnings!

 It's here! It's here! Beautifully printed by POD Print in Wichita, Kansas, the first copies of 105 Meadowlark Reader have been delivered to subscribers and/or are on the way to mailboxes across Kansas and beyond. You can pick up your copy from the Meadowlark online bookstore or by shopping with one of the following independent Kansas bookstores.

Update: 7/01/2021

105 Meadowlark Reader is available at the following Kansas Book Shops:

• Bookends, Hutchinson
• Books & Burrow, Pittsburg
• Claflin Books, Manhattan
• Crow & Co. Books, Hutchinson
• Eighth Day Books, Wichita
• Flint Hills Books, Council Grove
• The Raven Book Store, Lawrence
• Trox Gallery & Gifts, Emporia
• Watermark Books, Wichita

If your favorite independent bookshop does not yet have a copy, give us a shout and we will make sure to connect with them.

Listen to the interview on KPR Presents.

The cover photo of Issue #1 is by Dave Leiker.
An extra special thank you to our cover subject, Piper Hayes.

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105 Meadowlark Reader: Issue #1 "Beginnings"

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Join Cheryl & Tracy (via Zoom) on Friday, April 30

 

ESU Special Collections and Archives presents:

105 Meadowlark Reader

with Cheryl Unruh and Tracy Million Simmons

Emporia authors Cheryl Unruh and Tracy Million Simmons have created a new literary publication for Kansas. Join us as Cheryl and Tracy discuss the inspiration behind 105 Meadowlark Reader: A Kansas Journal of Creative Nonfiction, the process of collecting submissions, writer response to the new project, and read excerpts from the essays that will be featured in Issue #1, with the theme of "Beginnings."

April 30, 7:00pm

emporia.edu/live

Where is Issue #1 of 105 Meadowlark Reader going to take you?

 

Dear Reader,

We have 35 authors in the "Beginnings" issue, aka Issue #1, of 105 Meadowlark Reader. Those authors and their stories represent 25 Kansas counties. That's almost 24% of the state! We're off to a good start.

We know that you are as eager to get your eyes on this issue as we are to get it in the mail to you. Many thanks to our authors, our charter subscribers, and those who have supported our directory and advertising efforts. You have helped to make this project a reality.

If you haven't found us until now, no worries! There is always time to subscribe and to be working on your contribution to 105: Meadowlark Reader. In May, we look forward to reading essays for Issue #2: Kansas Travel Stories. 

Thank you coming along for the ride!

Tracy

 

What's in it for You, Dear Reader?

 

Our upcoming 105 journal is a fantastic way to highlight Kansas writers and to publish their work.

However, this journal of true Kansas stories is primarily for readers. Readers like you. And like me.

Today I’m thinking about what a reader might glean from the stories and

essays in our first issue and in subsequent issues.

You might take away…

*A sense of place. Because these true stories are set in Kansas, you’ll

recognize familiar settings. As you dig into a memoir piece, your own

memories will awaken, perhaps you’ll remember the taste of dust in the

wind, the fishy smell of a farm pond, the crunch of car tires driving

slowly over a sand-covered dirt street.

*You’ll come across storytelling that puts you in the scene with the

writer - hearing a baseball (or tennis ball) smack a glove, or the almost

silent whoosh of a kayak paddle in a Kansas river. When a writer tells

about building a disaster boat with his father and brother, you might

laugh along, but also may remember your own successful or

unsuccessful childhood projects. 

*Some of the essays show connection with our personal and public

histories. Through these pieces we begin to see the threads that underlie

various aspects of our lives, the unseen ties that connect us all. 

Our first issue will have 35 stories by 35 writers. Thirty-five pieces that

will make you feel at home. 

Jump into this river of stories with us! Our introductory subscription rate is available only through March 12th. A year's subscription is your best deal. Click here to subscribe to 105: Meadowlark Reader today!

Cheryl

Be a Charter Subscriber! Subscribe by March 12 for Reduced Subscription Rate

Update: Charter Subscriber Rate extended to March 12!

Brrrr! It's cold outside, and we are hard at work generating our own special brand of sunshine to share with our fellow Kansans in the pages of 105: Meadowlark Reader. We have more than 30 authors representing a wide range of Kansas faces and places set for our inaugural issue of 105: Meadowlark Reader. We can't wait to share. Take a moment to subscribe at our special, introductory rate. 

Many Thanks,           

Tracy & Cheryl         

Subscribe to 105 today!

Pre-publication Special Subscription Offer 

• 1st issue for $13 + $4 shipping & applicable taxes (shipped April/May 2021)

• 1st year (2 issues) for $25+$4 shipping & applicable taxes (Issue #1 shipped April/May 2021; Issue #2 shipped October/November 2021)

Update: 105 Meadowlark Reader

 Our first deadline for submissions came and went, and Kansas writers came through for us. We were quite pleased by the number of entries received for our inaugural issue and we are busy reading and re-reading stories, working to put together the very first issue of 105 Meadowlark Reader. 

What can you do while you anxiously await the first issue?

• Subscribe! We are offering special, introductory pricing right now. You may purchase just the first issue, or save even more by purchasing issues #1 & #2 together. The price will go up, so don't delay. Subscribe today!

• If you are more than a reader, if you provide services to writers or have a business those in the literary community might need to know about, please enter your details in our free directory. Each issue of 105 Meadowlark Reader will include lists of resources for authors. What are we looking for? Editors and book doctors, artists and photographers who have an interest in working with authors, small presses and printers, bookstores and boutique shops that have a designated space for local writers in their stores, workshop leaders and writing clubs and organizations, publications of all shapes and sizes. We will provide paid advertising options, as well, but we won't contact you about that unless you express interest. It's safe. It's easy. We'd love to have you in our directory. Click here to enter your details now.  

• Work on your entry for the next open reading period! Spend some time studying techniques of creative nonfiction. What is Creative Nonfiction? an answer from creativenonfiction.org - an overview from Purdue Writing Lab - a guide from writingforward.com. And if you are just looking for tips and tricks for improving your writing, check out resources like Writer Granny's World by Nancy Julien Kopp, workshops and classes by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, and grammar books by Hazel Hart. These women all answered our Directory call early. Read local, shop small, support homegrown. 

For those who entered essays and stories for our first call for submissions, we will be reaching out no later than March 1 to let you know where you are in the process. 

Thank you for joining us on this journey. Tell your friends about 105 Meadowlark Reader. This is just the beginning!

Cheryl & Tracy

Countdown to Submission Deadline

It's December! You know what that means. You have a little over 3 weeks left to get your submission in to 105 Meadowlark Reader. Just think. YOU could be in the inaugural issue.  

Prompt: friendship

Tell us about the beginning of a friendship. Perhaps it is one that is lost but well remembered, or perhaps it is one that grows deeper year by year. We are looking for true stories. Theme for our first issue: Beginnings. Submit today. 

Submit. (deadline = December 31)

Subscribe.

Add your details to our directory for writers.

Pull us in; Make us feel something

Are you still trying to decide what to write for 105 Meadowlark Reader? Over the next few weeks, we will be posting prompts to help you brainstorm ideas. 

Prompt: quality time spent

Share a memory of time spent with a special person in your life. Write about an unforgettable event, or perhaps just the way you carry that person with you still today. 

You don't have to be a seasoned writer to submit to 105: Meadowlark Reader. We are looking forward to hearing your true Kansas stories. Spread the word. Share our website link; share our Facebook posts.

Submit. (deadline = December 31)

Subscribe.

Add your details to our directory for writers.