I'm stunned and so happy that Show Her a Flower, A Bird, A Shadow has been named 2017 Indies Book of the Year for Literature!

So Show Her a Flower, A Bird, A Shadow didn't receive the Eric Hoffer First Horizon Award for which it was a short-list finalist. But now the book is a short-list finalist for the grand award! And that's exciting!

Thrilled and honored to have four short-shorts/hybrids published and featured by Scoundrel Time, one of my favorite newish publications. Many thanks to editors Paula Whyman and Karen E. Bender.  Read "Geniuses," "Pond Water," "Friendliness", and "After Math," here. Let me know your thoughts!

I've had the pleasure of being interviewed by the amazing writer Sonya Chung, Founding Editor of Bloom. In "Hybridity, Compression, and Shimmer" Sonya writes "Show Her a Flower is a gorgeous collection of short prose that lives in that maddening and exciting liminal space between prose, poetry, and something altogether its own.  Each piece is like a crystal—complex, compressed, luminous. As Heather Scott Partington writes at Entropy: 'Pursell keenly and judiciously reveals concrete details of each character’s life so that what transgresses in these fleeting moments is enough to convey a full history; these are stories to be savored and considered one at a time.' Indeed: it took me a few months to read the slim collection, and this, to my mind, is high praise for the book.  I experienced what Joan Silber called its 'long, shimmering after-effect.' "

How glad I am that Sonya took the time. She is an astute and perceptive reader and interviewer, and I'm deeply grateful for her engagement with my book. A good interviewer--and reader--keeps me thinking long after the dialogue, helping me to understand and develop my writing. Please take a read to discover what emerged from this Q & A.

Very happy to see my book, Show Her a Flower, A Bird, A Shadow, listed as a finalist in the literary category for this award, the 2017 Foreword Indies Book of the Year. And proud, too, to see the book of one of my WTAW Press authors a finalist in the short story division. Louise Marburg's The Truth About Me: Stories is such a fine book. If you don't have a copy yet, snag one here, and you'll see what all the hoopla is about!

Thank you to editor Erin Stalcup of Waxwing, a journal I've long admired, for publishing four shorts of mine in the latest issue, February 15. I savor reading each issue of Waxwing, and this latest is just so very good. I'm proud to share pages with writers like Diane Seuss, Brian Komei Dempster, Michael Martone, and oh so many more.  "A Girl Goes Into the Forest" is the title story of my newest manuscript, so naturally, I was very careful about where I'd like the story to appear.

Please read my stories here, and the rest of the publication, too, and you'll understand why I couldn't be happier with this home for all of these pieces.

Very happy to have "Cavern Obscura" published by b(OINK) magazine in the brand new November issue. I'm in great company with Monica Lewis, Kristina Ten, and more. This piece was accepted in less than a record 24 hours and came at such a great time. Huge thanks to the editors at b(OINK).

Since I arrived back home to Sonoma County a few nights ago, I've had to evacuate my home because of the wild fires that are devastating the area. Uncontained, these fires have everyone on edge. Some friends have lost everything. I don't know what the outcome is for my house, for me, yet. The uncertainty is hard.

So I'm happier than ever that this issue of Poets and Writers magazine has come out today. I'm thrilled to be one of the 5 over 50 in this feature. My essay is in the print edition, but you can read an excerpt from the book here.

I had a wonderful afternoon recently visiting the University of Pittsburgh's The Writers' Café and teaching from Show Her a Flower, A Bird, A Shadow. The students were engaged and engaging, and wrote some powerful pieces. Tom McWhorter's lesson, following mine, was insightful and I'm looking forward to returning to the writing I started in class that day. My experiences visiting classrooms and writers' groups have reminded me how much I enjoy teaching and talking writing. Do get in contact if you'd like to invite me to your class or workshop!