Author Panel: Publication Journeys

Interested in getting published but do not know where to start? Have questions about getting published and want first-hand accounts of the industry? This event is just for you!

Join Indy Reads and a panel of four authors, Wes Blake, Robin Lee Lovelace, Brian Muriel, and Robert Okaji, from the University of Indianapolis's Etchings Press as they share and discuss their publication journeys on October 6th at 5pm.

Meet the Panelists

Wes Blake

Wes Blake’s fiction and essays have appeared in Louisiana Literature Journal, Blood & Bourbon, Book of Matches, Jelly Bucket, White Wall Review, and elsewhere. His novella, Pineville Trace, won the Etchings Press Book Prize at the University of Indianapolis. Lee Martin, author of the Pulitzer Prize Finalist, The Bright Forever, described him as "a writer to watch." His novel, Antenna, was a semifinalist for the UNO Press Lab Prize. He holds an MFA from the Bluegrass Writers Studio. He lives in Kentucky.

Pineville Trace

After being sentenced to a minimum-security Pr*son in eastern Kentucky, former southern revival preacher and confidence man, Frank Russet, escapes. Taking only a cat named Buffalo and a desire to outrun his former life, he journeys to the fringes of society. As he struggles to survive, Frank confronts his past, seeking redemption amidst the wilderness. As Frank traverses the shadowy edges of society, he encounters remnants of his former self, forcing him to confront his deepest regrets and desires. In Pineville Trace, Blake’s haunting prose captures the essence of a man on the brink of transformation, urging readers to ponder the thin line between redemption and damnation. 

Robin Lee Lovelace

Robin Lee Lovelace is a mixed-race African-American writer who usually writes short fiction. In 2019, she won the Etchings Press annual competition for her novella Savonne, Not Vonny. She was named as an honoree in the Emerging Author category for the 2020 Indiana Author’s Awards. In 2021, she was one of the three finalists for the Don Belton Fiction Prize for her collection of stories A Wild Region, a Stowe Story Labs SAG Indie Finalist for Savonne, Not Vonny, and the winner of the Marguerite McGlinn short fiction prize for her story "Uncle," awarded by Rosemont College and Philadelphia Stories. Robin was a Wildacres Retreat Diversity Scholarship winner in July 2023. Her nonfiction essay "Different Times, Different Degrees, Same Shit" appeared in the 2023 summer edition of the Indiana Review. Robin’s latest book is a collection of short stories titled A Wild Region. In 2024, Robin was named one of ten finalists for the ScreenCraft Cinematic Book Competition for Savonne, Not Vonny.

Savonne, Not Vonny

From her Indianapolis home, upstairs from the whorehouse where her mother works, young Savonne is taken deep into the bayous of New Orleans. There she learns about Voodoo magic from her aged great-grandfather and meets the dangerous Diamond John, who is out to steal her family's powerful conjuring book. With its mix of rural magic and urban realism, Savonne, Not Vonny invites readers to reimagine the cultural traditions of New Orleans, pushing the boundaries of reality, and redefining home. 

Brian Muriel

Brian Muriel is a high school English teacher and poet from Naperville, Illinois, where he lives with his wife and young family. His work has appeared in West Trade Review, La Piccioletta Barca, The Ekphrastic Review, and others

Elliott
Elliott, a poetry chapbook, contains interrelated poems that reanimate the experience of being a caregiver to a child with special needs. The collection surrounds a father teetering on the brink of both hope and heartache—triumph and tragedy. Ultimately, all caregivers will resonate with Elliott. The sheer act of giving care to a loved one enmeshes a person into the profound contradictions found in life and loss.  

Robert Okaji

Robert Okaji holds a BA in history, served without distinction in the U.S. Navy, toiled as a university administrator, and no longer owns a bookstore. His honors include the 2022 Slipstream Press Annual Chapbook Prize, the 2021 riverSedge Poetry Prize, the 2021 Etchings Press Poetry Chapbook Prize, and, at the age of nine, the Bar-K Ranch Goat-Catching Championship. He was recently diagnosed with late-stage metastatic lung cancer, and lives, for the time being, in Indianapolis with his wife—poet Stephanie L. Harper—stepson, and cat. His first full-length collection, Our Loveliest Bruises, will be published by 3: A Taos Press in fall 2024 (not posthumously, he hopes), and his seventh chapbook, Scarecrow Sees, will be published by River Glass Books in early 2025. His poems may be found in Book of Matches, Threepenny Review, Only Poems, Vox Populi, Evergreen Review, Boston Review, Verse Daily, The Big Windows Review, The Night Heron Barks, Indianapolis Review, and other venues.

My Mother's Ghost Scrubs the Floor at 2 a.m. 

Robert Okaji's chapbook, My Mother's Ghost Scrubs the Floor at 2 a.m. is a beautiful collection of poetry that grapples with the theme of loss. In this book, Okaji uses imagery in his poems to describe his mother and the void she left behind. This gorgeous, heart-wrenching collection takes us on a journey of learning how to keep the memories of the people we love close to our hearts and helps us remember that they never truly leave us even after they're gone. Okaji creates a feeling of familiarity that lets anyone who's experienced a loss relate to this book. 

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