Dzanc Books has just opened submissions for their annual Prize for Fiction, the Short Story Collection, and the Diverse Voices Prize, and I’m delighted to serve as judge for the Prize for Fiction alongside Tina May Hall and Jessie van Eerden. Having won the Short Story Collection Prize in 2012, I’m so excited for this opportunity to read and select a winning novel manuscript. Submissions are open until October 1, 2020 – please send us your most innovative novels!

Thank you to Story for nominating my short story, “Stockholm,” for a Pushcart Prize. The story appeared in Issue 4 and is now also available online, and I’m so grateful to editor Michael Nye for sharp edits on the piece. Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday week!

This past week, The Kenyon Review was kind enough to interview me about novel drafts, the difficulties of self-promotion, and structuring creative work. Enormous thanks to Laura Maylene Walter for such incisive, sharp questions!

This week, I’m honored to be on faculty at the Colgate Writers’ Conference alongside such wonderful writers as CJ Hauser, Jennifer Brice, Naomi Jackson, Angela Palm, Brock Clarke, Jenny Xie, Kyle Bass, Greg Bottoms, Eduardo C. Corral, Carrie Brown, John Gregory Brown and Peter Balakian. I read Monday night with Naomi Jackson and Rachel Dickinson, and yesterday gave a craft talk on constellating images in fiction. I’m leading a novel-writing workshop and am delighted to be part of such a magical week of readings, craft talks and inspiration. Tremendous thanks to directors Jennifer Brice and Alison Fromme for bringing me on board this year!

I’m delighted to have new fiction in the Spring 2019 issue of Crazyhorse, a horror story about ticks called “Tick Season” (right in time for summer). The issue is jam-packed with excellent new poetry, fiction and non-fiction from Traci Brimhall, Alison Stine, Tory Adkisson, Erin Flanagan, Sarah Rose Nordgren and Nicky Beer, among many others. Huge thanks to to editors Anthony Varallo and Jonathan Bohr Heinen for including my work!

Welcome to the world, second novel! The Desert Sky Before Us officially releases today, and tonight I’ll be launching the novel at Left Bank Books, my hometown bookstore in St. Louis. Please join us at 7pm if you are in the area, and many thanks to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for this generous review of the novel!

This week in Literary Hub, I have a new essay on why it’s so difficult to write about music in fiction, especially in a road-trip novel like The Desert Sky Before Us where Billie and Rhiannon presumably listen to hours and hours of driving playlists, and yet there is only brief mention of music throughout the book. Thank you to editor Emily Firetog for featuring this piece, and as a special bonus, there is a giveaway of the novel in the sidebar!

Thank you to InStyle Magazine for including The Desert Sky Before Us on their list of top 10 books for May, “10 Books to Binge Over Memorial Day Weekend.” If you are so inclined, I hope you enjoy reading the book in one sitting over your holiday weekend!

I’m delighted to learn that The Desert Sky Before Us has earned a starred review from Library Journal, which says, “Valente’s superb writing propels us on a most unusual journey filled with unraveling emotions and the breathtaking mysteries of desert river beds, red rock formations, and dinosaur skeletons. Impossible to put down.” Thank you, Library Journal, for this lovely review!