by Jennifer Holden Ward

East of Eden by John Steinbeck A few times a year, perhaps out of sheer guilt, I read a classic or two, and I'm always glad when I do. Right now I am reading East of Eden. From the first sentence I was reminded of Steinbeck's keen sense of place—a trait that I love in writing, whether it be…

by Michael Salcman

I am presently reading Gary Shteyngart's very funny memoir Little Failure about the relocation and dislocation of his younger self and mother and father from Russia to Queens; I can relate to all of it, having made a similar journey from Czechoslovakia to Brooklyn some years before. Within the…

by Dean Smith

The Tide King by Jen Michalski Michalski’s The Tide King is the story of burnette saxifrage, an herb rumored in Polish folklore to provide those who eat it with immortality, and its effects on three generations of a Polish family over two continents beginning in nineteenth-century Poland through…

by Seth Sawyers

Every now and then a story comes in to Baltimore Review containing an element of the supernatural and when I see one, my eyes widen a little. I don’t mean supernatural as in Mars or rocket-ships from 2114 or really any kind of full-on fantasy. What I mean is stories in which one thing is off but…

by Eddie Jeffrey

The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman Andrzej Szczypiorski’s The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman centers around Irma Seidenman, a young Jewish widow living in Nazi-occupied Warsaw in 1943, who lives in constant fear of being discovered: She has blond hair and blue eyes. Passing means life and avoiding what…

by Holly Morse-Ellington

I developed a ritual where every weekend I’d drop by Greg’s Bagels for coffee on my way to The Book Thing of Baltimore. I tried to donate as much as I took from their selection of free books but, for me, books represent an experience that I prefer to hang on to like photographs. One rainy Sunday…

by Barbara Westwood Diehl

Attention Locals:  What better present than a gift of books from Baltimore-area writers. Journals, too. Tie a few up with a big red ribbon. Or put them in a basket with wine and chocolate and one of those little clip-on lights for reading under the covers. Throw in a gorgeous blank journal and…

by Barbara Westwood Diehl

Counting down to the Winter Contest November 30 deadline. Each day, we're posting a writing prompt on the BR Facebook page--and re-posting them here. Hope you enjoy!   BR Winter Contest Theme: The Future. Idea to get you writing #13: Epigraphs. Surf through science websites looking for articles…

by Barbara Westwood Diehl

Told Siri: "Give me a creative writing prompt," and she said, "That may be beyond my abilities at the moment." Asked Siri to read me a poem, and she said, "I'm not sure that's such a good idea, Barbara. I write the fourth-worst poetry in the universe." Another try yielded: "Oh freddled…

by Barbara Westwood Diehl