The staff behind Saw Palm, USF’s Florida-themed literary magazine run by the Creative Writing Program’s MFA students, hosted a release party at Southern Brewing & Winemaking on Friday, March 1. This party celebrated the completion and release of the 13th issue of Saw Palm. This special postcard issue includes writing from authors such as Judy Blume, Ravi Howard, Patty Yumi Cottrell, Sara Gerard and Michael Martone.
To purchase a copy of the newest issue of Saw Palm (that comes with five specialized postcards), visit www.sawpalm.org/subscribe. The authors’ bios are as follows:
Four of the contributing authors attended the event to publicize and read from their published works – Craig Pittman, M. B. McLatchey, Natalie Gasper, and Ashley Inguanta.
Natalie Gasper graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing from the University of Central Florida. She devotes her time to writing poetry, developing her fantasy book series, and interning at The Nasiona. Her work has been previously featured in Breakwall Magazine, Eleanor: A Zine, The Write Launch, The Hickory Stump, and The Remembered Arts Journal, and is forthcoming in Noon by Arachne Press and Snapdragon: A Journal of Art & Healing.
Ashley Inguanta is a writer, artist, and educator based in Central Florida. She is the author of three collections: “The Way Home” (Dancing Girl Press 2013), “For the Woman Alone” (Ampersand Books 2014), and “Bomb” (Ampersand Books 2016). Her work, which often blends genre, has appeared in publications like The Rumpus, PANK, and SmokeLong Quarterly, where she served as Art Director for five years. Ashley’s forthcoming full-length collection, “The Flower,” is due out next year with Ampersand Books, and she’s currently finishing a chapbook, “Holding the Globe Over the Edge of Something Different,” which introduces readers to concepts explored in The Flower. In 2018 she had the honor of working on both of these projects at the Sundress Academy for the Arts.
M. B. McLatchey is a widely-published poet and the recipient of several literary awards, including the American Poet Prize from the American Poetry Journal. She won the 2013 May Swenson Award for her debut poetry collection “The Lame God” and Finalist in the Women’s Voices Competition for her book “Advantages of Believing.” Recently elected as one of Florida’s Poet Laureates for Volusia County, she is Professor of Classics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida. In 2017, she was featured by the Association of Writers & Writing Programs in their Spotlight for Writers-to-Watch.
Craig Pittman is a native Floridan, born in Pensacola. He graduated from Troy State University in Alabama, where his muckraking work for the student paper prompted an agitated dean to label him “the most destructive force on campus.” Since then he has covered a variety of newspaper beats and quite a few natural disasters. Since 1998, he has covered environmental issues for Florida’s largest newspaper, Tampa Bay Times. He is the author of four books; the most recent, “Oh, Florida! How America’s Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country,” won the gold medal for Florida non-fiction from the Florida Book Awards.