Upcoming panel for Western Maryland Independent Lit Festival
If you’ve ever sat in a creative writing class, you’ve probably heard the old adage: “Write what you know.” While this may […]
Author: Marlena Chertock
Marlena is a digital storyteller and poetry editor at District Lit. Her first poetry book, On that one-way trip to Mars, is available from Bottlecap Press.
What is #OwnYourOwn?
The #OwnYourOwn hashtag has taken off this week. It’s a space on Twitter to encourage and inspire marginalized writers. It’s a call to #OwnYourOwn voice, #OwnYourOwn dreams, #OwnYourOwn […]
When your book is out in the world
When your book is out in the world you start seeing people actually reading it. One of your old professors rates your […]
‘Forecast: 4015’ in Nebula Rift
What happens to Washington, D.C. in the future? I envision the city’s hovering Metro as nuclear-powered in the year 4015, which gets the […]
‘Aging with the solar system’ in Black Heart Magazine
Another one of my space poems was published this spring! This year has been amazing for my poems — they’re sprouting up […]
The bones that inspired ‘Skeleton Sheriff’
When I first heard StoryCorp’s “A Grave Responsibility” episode, I was immediately heartbroken and inspired. In the episode, forensic scientist Dr. Lori Baker […]
On that one-way trip to Mars is now on Goodreads
On that one-way trip to Mars is now on Goodreads! Goodreads is an online community where you can organize and track your reading […]
Reviews for On that one-way trip to Mars
On that one-way trip to Mars is out in the big wide world! Rachel Adams, the editor of Lines+Stars, just received her copies […]
My poetry collection ‘On that one-way trip to Mars’ is being published!
My first book of poetry, “On that one-way trip to Mars,” is being published by Bottlecap Press! The collection will be launched on May […]
Poetry of the body
The Split This Rock 2016 poetry festival is coming up soon! I’m so excited to be speaking on a panel about the […]
Sharing the love of science 🔬
At Society for Science & the Public, I’ve been telling stories every day. With an alumni base of about 50,000 people, there’s […]
The dreaded reading — and how not to suck at it
D.C. science fiction writer Tara Campbell recently wrote an article in the Washington Independent Review of Books encouraging silent writers to go […]
Writing for niche lit mags
So I wrote a not-safe-for-work story. And I found out that certain markets/lit mags are looking specifically for erotic work. It’s always […]
Climate change as muse
For the past few months, I’ve been working on a series of stories titled ‘Forecast’. Today, the first one I wrote, “Forecast: […]
Dear Robot launch reading 🚀
Six contributors (me included!) to Dear Robot will read at the anthology’s launch on January 13 at Upshur Street Books at 7 […]
I was an awkward teen poet
You never know what will come of your awkward teen poetry. A few weeks ago I called Mortified podcast’s hotline to read some […]
District Lit: Space Issue
District Lit, the literary magazine where I’m the Poetry Editor, is having a Space Issue! We’ve been impressed with some of the […]
Gotta’ have that grit. Gotta’ have that hustle
If you’re trying to get your art or writing published in literary magazines, you should really read Lincoln Michel’s Ultimate Guide to […]
‘Cemetario General’ in Cacti Fur
My poem “Cemetario General” was published in Cacti Fur. I wrote this poem in Chile, while traveling through that beautiful land of […]
‘Wind chimes’ in Cacti Fur
My poem “Wind chimes” was published in Cacti Fur’s second issue. I wrote the first version of this poem in college at […]