Success Stories

Meredith Z. Avakian, PWN’s director of community outreach & engagement

Meredith wrote a 10-minute play titled “Surrendering” as part of the Community Playmaking program in partnership with Two River Theater and Asbury Park Public Library. Professional actors from Two River Theater did a staged reading of “Surrendering,” as well as the other eight short plays, at Parlor Gallery in Asbury Park.

Sukhreet Bhatia, PWN Teen ambassador

Sukhreet participates in Ink You Inspiration competition organized by THE TIMES OF INDIA, which is the biggest Indian newspaper. She also spoke at Model United Nation (MUN), organized at her school, and submitted multiple poems and stories to her school magazine.

Michele Cantos Garcia, PWN writing instructor + book inc co-PAL

Michele had two pieces published in Brevity Blog—“Are You Too Young to Teach Memoir?” & “My Writer’s Statement, Then and Now.”

Jeffrey Davis, PWN program participant

Jeff’s experimental short digital writing piece GuerniWHA (a surreal piece exploring fractured identity and digital distortion) has been getting strong traction on Twitter. Jeff said, “Engagement’s been solid and people seem to really connect with its tone and visual energy.”

Liz deBeer, PWN writing instructor

Liz had pieces accepted for publication—“Unleashed” July 4 in Suddenly, And Without Warning, “Impatient Room” September 1 in Wild Greens Magazine, “Smudged Reflections” September 28 in Fictive Dream, “Cafeteria Rebel” October 22 in Sudden Flash, “One Nighter” October 31 in BULL, and “Cappy’s Crabs” November 5 in Sudden Flash. Her story “Party Favors” is a runner-up for the WOW Women On Writing Contest.

Gay Edelman, PWN writing instructor

Gay said, “For my 75th birthday, I held a zoom party and open mic, which was attended by 25 relatives and friends, many of whom were writers and read their work. A couple days later, Friends Journal asked to publish another of my poems, and of course I said yes.”

Becky Jo Gesteland, PWN program participant

Becky had her piece “Platitudes” published by 50 Give or Take as Story No. 1770.

Lisa Gochman, PWN program participant

Lisa had her essay “At the Library of the Appellate Gods” published in The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process, Vol. 25, issue 2 (University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law).

Robert Goodman, PWN program participant

Robert had an acceptance of two poems (“The Poet’s Pen at Sunnyside” and “Still Moment Afore the Hudson”) into the new literary magazine Tarry, based in Tarrytown, New York.

Penny Guisinger, PWN program participant

Memoir Incubator writer Penny’s flash essay “Raptor” was nominated for Best of the Net 2025 by Short Reads.

Lisa Hartsgrove, PWN’s program coordinator

Lisa won first place in the pen & ink category for her artwork at the Monmouth County Fair.

Tina Hudak, PWN program participant

Tina had her piece “No One at Home” published in Feed the Holy, her piece “Thinking while Shuffling” published in LatinosUSA —English edition, and her piece “Somber Spectres” published in Spillwords Press. She also had her art accepted into the 2025 Juried Exhibition, “WOMEN ARTISTS OF THE DMV: A Survey of Contemporary Female Artists in the Greater Washington, DC Capital Area,” at The University of Maryland where more than 4,000 applied and just 500 were juried in.

Tiffanie Kim, PWN program participant

Tiffanie had her piece “Schrödinger’s Father” published in Tahoma Literary Review.

Sonali Kolhatkar, PWN program participant

Sonali wrote two full length novel manuscripts in one year. She said, “I began writing my first novel in June 2024 and finished it in August while holding down a full time job and taking care of two kids and my elderly parents. I got one hybrid offer from a publisher in September 2024, turned it down, spent three months revising the manuscript about 20 times, then got a traditional offer from a small publisher in February 2025. That gave me the confidence to start my second novel, which I started and finished in 41 days, writing 2000-3000 words a day. I used the small publisher offer on my first novel to leverage an offer from the indie publisher of my dreams, Red Hen Press. Meanwhile, I revised my second novel three times, started the Book Revision Lab, and revised it again based on the story consultant’s feedback. I am hoping to have it polished and publication-ready by the end of this year … so I can start working on my third novel. I signed a contract with Red Hen Press in June 2025 for my first novel, just about a year after I began writing novels.”

Mark McDevitt, PWN writing instructor

Mark said, “I finished a draft of my historical novel in early summer. After taking some classes with Amy Impellizzeri and Sofia Lesko, I began querying it in August. So far, the response has been encouraging. I’ve had four agents request the manuscript (3 full, one partial), as well as a ton of form rejection (‘Not for us’). So now it’s ‘wait and see’ while I plan the next one, and work on a short story to keep myself distracted. A small win maybe, but one I will try to celebrate all the same!”

Jenny Morelli, PWN writing instructor

Jenny’s latest chapbook, An Arc of Almost, is now available on Amazon. Her poem “The Convenience Store” was published by Scars TV as well as forthcoming pieces “Words Live On,” “The Reverse Side,” and “Bitter Oblivion.” Her poem “My Universe” was published by Spillwords Press in October. She had five poems published in Red Rose Thorns—“Triumph,” “Feral Female,” “Apple Juice,” “Crazy Eights,” and “Living Together” (in print). In August, her flash piece “Crushed” was published by Suddenly, And Without Warning. Her flash pieces “Drift Away,” “The Murder,” and “After” were published by Sudden Flash. Her flash piece “Ketchup” was published in The Mersey Review. Her poem “Pressure” was published in cc&d’s Enlightened Mind and her poem “Try Again” was published in cc&d’s The Chorus of Silence.

Dee Slattery, PWN program participant

Dee said, “After taking the Stories on Stage course earlier this year, I had the opportunity to read the story I had developed at Firefly: Stories Out Loud on August 5. It was the first time I had written about a deeply personal and emotional family tragedy. It was cathartic writing the story and even more so when I read it out loud in front of a full house. The positive reaction that followed overwhelmed me—so many people acknowledged the vulnerability and courage it took to tell my story, some expressed how they had lost an older brother, one was a grief counselor who shared a book I should read. It was a transformative experience. I am most grateful to Meredith Avakian for encouraging me to share my story out loud.”

Lou Storey, PWN program participant, past instructor

Lou was one of ten writers selected for induction into the 2025 Flannery O’Connor Peacock Guild of Writers. This June, he gave a public reading from his current novel-in-progress, “Jersey Shorts,” at the Flannery O’Conner House in Savannah, Georgia. He hopes to complete the novel as a current member in PWN’s Book Revision Lab.

Eileen Toomey, PWN writing instructor

Eileen’s Hybrid piece “How to Make an Espresso Martini” was published in Does It Have Pockets in October. Eileen also has another hybrid piece coming out in November with Flash the Court.

Bob Varettoni, PWN program participant

Bob was invited to read at Paterson Poetry Festival: Words Around the World at the Great Falls Amphitheater.