** Newsletter Feb 25, 2025
**Final Call for Submissions!
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Our submissions portal is closing on March 1st. We are ecstatic about the many submissions we’ve received so far and we certainly welcome more! Please review our guideline (https://quabbinquills.org/submission-guidelines/) s (https://quabbinquills.org/submission-guidelines/)  and be sure to complete your upload by the deadline. You will receive an email confirmation after we have begun our editorial process. If you encounter any problems submitting, please email us at info@quabbinquills.org (mailto:info@quabbinquills.org)


** Building Up Our Next Anthology
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Rock Walls and Open Pastures will be our 8th anthology. Each year has brought a level of success that has fortified our organization for every anthology we create. We are proud to continue this tradition and look forward to creating more New England inspired creations. We welcome suggestions as well. As we move forward, consider sending us an idea or concept. The Quabbin Quills Executive Board thrives on the debate and conversation we have each fall as we decide our overarching theme!


** Our Wandering Roots Are Still Growing!
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Our previous anthology took a deep look at the lives and heritage of many of our authors. Exploration of a tree theme also brought about ideas on growth, solitude, resilience, and meditation. Such wonderful poems, essays, and stories felt grounded and meaningful as well as naturally interconnected much like an actual system of roots. We hope you enjoyed it and we encourage you to buy more copies for friends and family. Click here (https://a.co/d/gUPZozY) to make your purchase from Amazon or here (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/quabbin%20quills) to purchase from Barnes and Noble; you can ask your local bookstore to carry it as well.


** Scholarship Winner Spotlight
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Olly Lefsyk received our top award in 2023 and has been featured in Our Wild Winds anthology.  She currently attends Athol High School as a sophomore. She is interested in studying business and/or law. Olly was also named student of the month in February by her law teacher. For writing, she spends lots of time working on her big project; a book she has been crafting for the last year or so. It’s a psychological drama about a man who, after the death of his daughter, later meets a child in need of care. He takes the child under his wing, and in desperate attempts to keep her safe and replace his daughter, he ends up wanted and on the run with her. Olly is about 220 pages in so far. We’re very excited to see where that goes as well as the rest of her writing journey.


** UPCOMING EVENT
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Calling ALL Writers! FREE Networking Event!
When: Tuesday, April 29th, 5:00-9:00 pm
Where: New Dawn Arts Center Art Gallery, 84 Main Street, Ashburnham, MA
Who: ANY writers! Published or not. Experienced or not. Young or old. Poet or essayist. Novelist or someone who privately journals. Anyone--the more diverse, the better!
What: a night of networking and mingling with the New Dawn Writers Group: published poets, authors, bloggers, memoirists, etc., as well as a mix of other writers groups and writers from all over.

Writers who commit to attending this event will be able to:
* Read their work aloud to the audience.
* Sell and promote their books/chapbooks, etc.
* Submit a short piece of their writing (of any kind, length/word count TBD) to be selected by Abigail Abbott, the Art Director and founder of New Dawn and to be printed and hung in the New Dawn Art Gallery.

All are welcome to attend, including friends and family. Food and drinks will be available.
The event will take place if a minimum of 10 writers sign up. If we cannot make our minimum, the event will be canceled. Please avoid writing that is hateful, harmful, violent, antisemitic, racist, anti-LGBTQIA+, anti-women, etc. Writing of this kind will not be allowed or accepted. While New Dawn believes in free speech, it also must maintain a safe and welcoming space for all.

Email Melissa Dorval MsMelissaDorval@gmail.com to reserve your spot or if you have any questions.

AUTHOR SHOUTOUT
Sharon Harmon recently had a two-page spread about her story "Egg On Her Face" published along with a picture in March/April issue of the Good Old Days Magazine.
Petersham resident and Quabbin Quills contributor, Annette Ermini, will perform her popular harp music with descriptive commentary to usher in the new season after a long, cold winter. Come celebrate the Spring in true Celtic fashion March 13 at the Athol Public Library from 6 to 7 PM. Register for the event here (https://athol.librarycalendar.com/event/celebrate-spring-celtic-harp-concert-14590) .
You can also join author J.A. McIntosh for an Author Discussion on March 16 from 12 to 1 PM at the Erving Public Library. She