Voices from the Sky: A Companion Podcast to Sky Island Journal

Welcome back to part two of our six-part series in Season 2 of Voices from the Sky! This week, we welcome Ateeb Gul, who will introduce us to his poem "Portable Cactus," which was originally published in Issue 5 (Summer 2018) of Sky Island Journal.

Ateeb Gul is a Ph.D. candidate in the Islamic Studies specialization. His areas of research are Islam in South Asia, sirah literature (biographies of Prophet Muhammad), gender in Islamic thought, religion and literature, the history of science and philosophy in the Islamic world, and Islam and New Atheism. He studied for a B.Sc. (honours) in Social Sciences at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (L.U.M.S.) and for an M.A. in Editorial Studies at Boston University. He is also a professional editor, author, poet, and translator. His literary work has featured in Literary Imagination, Ink in Thirds, and Sky Island Journal.

In this episode, Ateeb delivers a reading of his poem, "Portable Cactus," and will be back in the next episode to take us inside his head and heart as we explore the piece more deeply.

You can enjoy more incredible works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from writers all over the globe at: https://www.skyislandjournal.com

Welcome to Season 2 of Voices from the Sky! In our last episode we briefly introduced you to Linda Hegland and her creative nonfiction piece, "Dark," which was originally published in Issue 11 (Winter 2020) of Sky Island Journal. She discusses her journey to becoming a published writer, offers advice for aspiring writers, and shares unique insights into this outstanding narrative that reminds us to fully experience our senses, be present, and recognize that darkness does not need to be scary.

Linda H.Y. Hegland is an award-winning poet, lyric essayist and creative non-fiction writer and a writer of the occasional short story. Her work had been published widely in numerous literary journals in Canada, the US, and England. She is the recipient of a third prize in the Cecilia Lamont Literary Prize, the awards of Distinguished Writer, Gold Prize Winner, and an Honorable Mention in various ArtAscent international competitions. She has also had her work nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She is the author of a poetry collection Bird Slips/Moon Glows (2019), a book of lyrics essays Place of the Heart - Life on Fat Hummingbird Farm (2020) and most recently another collection of poetry White Horses (2021) - all with Cyberwit Publishers. Her writing most often reflects the influence of place and sense of place and one’s relationship with it. Linda lives with her husband, a dog, a cat and two chickens on a small farm at the foot of a mountain in Nova Scotia, Canada.

She has also created two Youtube videos of two of her poems "Prairie Prayer: a Paean to Place" and "The Sea for the First Time."

You can view more of her writing at Linda's website: https://www.intothewildwriting.com

Stayed tuned for future episodes of Voices from the Sky as we work to develop Season 2, with expanded content and more frequent episode availability!  You can also enjoy more great works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from Sky Island Journal at https://www.skyislandjournal.com

You can enjoy more incredible works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from writers all over the globe at: https://www.skyislandjournal.com

We are so pleased to launch Season 2 of Voices from the Sky! This week, we welcome Linda Hegland to kick-off this six-part series as she pulls us into the literary world of her creative nonfiction piece, "Dark," which was originally published in Issue 11 (Winter 2020) of Sky Island Journal.

Linda H.Y. Hegland is an award-winning poet, lyric essayist and creative non-fiction writer and a writer of the occasional short story. Her work had been published widely in numerous literary journals in Canada, the US, and England. She is the recipient of a third prize in the Cecilia Lamont Literary Prize, the awards of Distinguished Writer, Gold Prize Winner, and an Honorable Mention in various ArtAscent international competitions. She has also had her work nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She is the author of a poetry collection Bird Slips/Moon Glows (2019), a book of lyrics essays Place of the Heart - Life on Fat Hummingbird Farm (2020) and most recently another collection of poetry White Horses (2021) - all with Cyberwit Publishers. Her writing most often reflects the influence of place and sense of place and one’s relationship with it. Linda lives with her husband, a dog, a cat and two chickens on a small farm at the foot of a mountain in Nova Scotia, Canada.

She has also created two Youtube videos of two of her poems "Prairie Prayer: a Paean to Place" and "The Sea for the First Time."

You can view more of her writing at Linda's website: https://www.intothewildwriting.com

Stayed tuned for future episodes of Voices from the Sky as we work to develop Season 2, with expanded content and more frequent episode availability!  You can also enjoy more great works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from Sky Island Journal at https://www.skyislandjournal.com

You can enjoy more incredible works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from writers all over the globe at: https://www.skyislandjournal.com

In our third episode of Voices from the Sky, we welcome Steve Lambert to close Season 1 as he discusses his poem "Stuck in Traffic on I-95 Southbound," which was originally published in Issue 2 (Fall 2017) of Sky Island Journal. He talks about the variety of ways that creativity has been at the core of his being since childhood, offers advice for aspiring writers, and shares unique insights into this outstanding poem that serves as a reminder that all of us are a work in progress, striving to find our way in this world.

Steve Lambert’s writing has been published widely in the United States and beyond. He is the recipient of four Pushcart Prize nominations and was a Rash Award in Fiction finalist. He is the author of the poetry collection Heat Seekers (2017), the chapbook In Eynsham (2020) and the fiction collection The Patron Saint of Birds (2020). His novel, Philisteens, became available in May of 2021 and his next poetry collection, The Shamble, will be out in October, both with Close to The Bone Publishing. He lives in Northeast Florida, with his wife and daughter, where he teaches part-time at the University of North Florida.

Stayed tuned for future episodes of Voices from the Sky as we work to develop Season 2, with expanded content and more frequent episode availability!  You can also enjoy more great works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from Sky Island Journal, including  Issue 18 (Fall 2021), on Saturday, October 16, 2021 at https://www.skyislandjournal.com

You can enjoy more incredible works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from writers all over the globe at: https://www.skyislandjournal.com

In our second episode of Voices from the Sky, we welcome Chad Broughman to talk about his fantastic story, "From Under a Porch," which was originally published in Issue 7 (Spring 2019) of Sky Island Journal. He takes us inside the distinct moment when he decided to become a writer of fiction, opens doors to peer into his writing process, and offers unique insights into this flash fiction story about mercy, patience, and much more. 

Chad V. Broughman was the recipient of the Rusty Scythe Prize Book award in 2016 and in 2017 was awarded the Adobe Cottage Writers Retreat honor in New Mexico. As well, Chad was awarded a chapbook contract for his collection of short stories, “the forsaken,” which was published by Etchings Press. His fiction can be found in journals nationwide––such as Carrier Pigeon, East Coast Literary Review, River Poets Journal, Burningword, Pulp Fiction, and From Whispers to Roars––and he is currently anthologized in the Write Michigan Short Story Anthology and On Loss, an anthology. He is a Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize nominee, holds an MFA from Spalding University and served as co-editor for the poetry/fiction blog, Café Aphra, based out of the United Kingdom. Chad teaches English and Creative Writing at the secondary and post-secondary levels but, most importantly, is a husband and the proud father of two feisty young sons.

You can read more of Chad's work here: http://www.chadvbroughman.com

Tune in for future episodes of Voices from the Sky this season!  You can also enjoy more great works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction, including Chad Broughman's most recent flash fiction offering, "Teeth," in Issue 14 (Fall 2020), on Saturday, October 17, at Sky Island Journal.

You can enjoy more incredible works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from writers all over the globe at: https://www.skyislandjournal.com

In our first episode of Voices from the Sky, we explore Sandy Coomer's outstanding poem, "How to Spell America," which was originally published in Issue 4 (Spring 2018) of Sky Island Journal. She takes us inside her journey as a writer, her writing process, and offers unique insights into this poem about the following topics: immigration, language, communication, and seeing beyond.

Sandy Coomer is a poet, artist, Ironman athlete, and social entrepreneur from Nashville, Tennessee. Her poetry has been published in numerous journals. She is the author of three poetry chapbooks and a full-length collection, titled Available Light (from Iris Press). Sandy is a poetry mentor in the AWP Writer to Writer Mentorship Program and the founding editor of the online poetry journal, Rockvale Review. She also is the founder and director of Rockvale Writers’ Colony in College Grove, Tennessee, a not-for-profit organization that exists to support, promote, and educate writers of all genres and backgrounds. Sandy’s favorite word is “believe.”  Readers can find more of Sandy Coomer's great work here: http://www.sandycoomer.com.

Tune in for future episodes this season, and enjoy more great works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction at Sky Island Journal.

You can enjoy more incredible works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from writers all over the globe at: https://www.skyislandjournal.com

VOICES FROM THE SKY is a companion podcast to Sky Island Journal, an independent international literary journal where we discover and publish the finest poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from around the world. Always free to access, we publish accomplished authors—side by side—with emerging voices for over 70,000 of readers in 145 countries. In this program, we delve deep into some of our favorite pieces since our journal’s inception in 2017 and we go inside the heads and hearts of their creators as they help us more fully explore their literary works.  Our first episode goes live on Wednesday, July 29th!

You can enjoy more incredible works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from writers all over the globe at: https://www.skyislandjournal.com