Robin Oliveira novel released May 15

My Name is Mary Sutter, a novel by upstreet Fiction Editor Robin Oliveira, was released by Viking Penguin on May 15. Set in the mid-19th century, Robin’s novel follows the aspirations and difficulties of a brilliant, somewhat odd, yet remarkable young midwife from Albany, NY, whose lofty hope of becoming a surgeon far exceeds what her family and the physicians and medical schools of her time are willing to accept. She travels to Washington, DC, to work in the Civil War hospitals, only to find the challenges formidable and the pull of home unavoidable.

“A magnificent Civil War epic, a saga of female liberation, and a gorgeous love story. Mary is indomitable, fearless, and captivating—a riveting read.”—Douglas Glover, author of Elle

“My Name is Mary Sutter is a powerful debut—equally compelling for its portrayal of the horrors of surgery during the Civil War as it is for its human drama. Mary Sutter is unforgettable, not just because she’s quirky, odd, and persistent in her quest to be a surgeon, but also because she is alive inside anyone who knows what it is to dream.—Xu Xi, author of Habit of a Foreign Sky

“The subject matter—medicine and medical conditions during the Civil War—is thoroughly researched and compelling. The plot—the Union’s conduct of the war, intertwined with the wartime love story—moves quickly and inevitably. But, most important, the protagonist, Mary Sutter, takes hold of the readers on the first page and leads us, with confidence and determination, to the last.”—Vivian Dorsel, Editor/Publisher of upstreet

In 2007, Robin won the $10,000 15th annual James Jones First Novel Fellowship, awarded to an American author of a first-novel-in-progress by the James Jones Literary Society and Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, PA. Born in Albany, NY, in 1954, she earned a BA in Russian from the University of Montana and continued to study at the Pushkin Language Institute in Moscow, USSR. She became a Registered Nurse, and then worked as a bone marrow transplant and cardiac care nurse in Seattle before earning an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2006. She has been Fiction Editor for upstreet number three, four, five, and the upcoming six, which will appear in June of this year. Robin lives in Seattle with her husband, Andrew Oliveira, their daughter, Noelle, and their son, Miles.

Robin is represented by agent Marly Rusoff of Marly Rusoff & Associates (NA). For details of Robin’s book tour, go here.

Scholarship offered for Martone workshopat Postgraduate Writers’ Conference

upstreet number four author Michael Martone will join the award-winning faculty at the 15th annual Postgraduate Writers’ Conference, August 9-15, at Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier. Designed for experienced writers with MFAs or equivalent backgrounds, the Conference features workshops limited to six participants, faculty and participant readings, craft classes, issues forums, and individual consultations with faculty, all within a vibrant, inclusive community atmosphere.

For fans of upstreet and Michael Martone, the Conference is pleased to offer a special scholarship opportunity to support participation in Martone’s Short Story workshop group. upstreet Editor/Publisher Vivian Dorsel, who has twice participated in Martone’s workshop, enthusiastically recommends it to fiction writers who would like a unique and inspiring learning experience. Interested writers should contact Conference Director Ellen Lesser at pgconference@vermontcollege.edu.

Visit www.vermontcollege.edu/post-graduate-writers-conference for full details about the conference.

Cooley poetry collection wins Kinereth Gensler Award

Milk Dress, the fourth poetry collection by upstreet poet Nicole Cooley (“Hour of the Pink Flashlight,” upstreet number five) will be published in November by Alice James Books as co-winner of the Kinereth Gensler Award. This award, one of two competitions run by the publisher, is open to poets residing in New York, New Jersey, and New England. In addition to publication, winners of the award receive $2,000 and serve a three-year term on the Alice James Books Editorial Board.

“These are poems of birth and motherhood. They begin with a new life and end in a new self. They probe deep into the places where love extinguishes identity and yet renews awareness. What is so compelling here is that the arc of this journey is described with such music, craft and rigor in this wonderful collection.”—Eavan Boland

Nicole Cooley grew up in New Orleans. Her third book of poems, Breach, about Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf Coast, was published by LSU Press in April. Her first book, Resurrection, won the 1995 Walt Whitman Award and was published by LSU Press in 1996. Her second book, The Afflicted Girls, was chosen as one of the best poetry books of 2004 by Library Journal. She directs the MFA program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation at Queens College, CUNY, and lives outside New York City with her husband and two young daughters.

Nicole was one of the featured readers in the upstreet number five offsite reading party during the April AWP Conference in Denver.

upstreet author Briccetti publishes memoir

Blood Strangers, by Katherine A. Briccetti (“Slow Dancing to a Fast Song,” upstreet number three), was released by Heyday Books on May 1. Kathy describes her new book as “a memoir about searching for my place among the tangles of three generations of adoption and absent fathers in my family.” Excerpts from the memoir have been published in Dos Passos Review, San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Magazine, Hip Mama, flashquake, Unbound Press, and in the anthologies The Maternal Is Political (Seal Press), Herstory (Adams Media) and Who's Your Mama (Soft Skull Press/Counterpoint). One excerpt was nominated for a 2007 Pushcart Prize. To see a video trailer for Blood Strangers, go here.

Kathy, whose work has appeared in literary magazines and anthologies, was awarded a residency at the Vermont Studio Center in 2009. She earned a PhD in clinical psychology from the Wright Institute in Berkeley and an MFA in creative writing from the Stonecoast program of the University of Southern Maine. She works as a school psychologist and writer/editor in the San Francisco Bay Area. She can be reached at kathybriccetti.com.