Megha Sood is a New Jersey-based Pushcart Nominated Award-winning poet, editor, writer and blogger. She earned her Postgraduate Degree in Computer Application (M.C.A)and Bachelors in Computer Sciences (B.Sc.) from India. She is an Assistant Poetry Editor for the UK-based Arts and Literary Journal MookyChick, Literary Partner in the “Life in Quarantine” Project by Stanford University, USA, and Associate Editor with Literary Journal “Life and Legends”. She is the author of a chapbook (“A Potpourri of Emotions”, Local Gems Press, NY). Chapbook ( “My Body is Not An Apology”, Finishing Line Press, 2021) and Full Length ( “My Body Lives Like a Threat”, Flower Song Press,2021).She co-edited anthologies (“The Medusa Project”, Mookychick) and ( “The Kali Project”, Indie Blu(e) Press).

Her 600+ works have been featured internationally in literary journals, magazines, anthologies, newspapers, podcasts like Rising Phoenix Review, SONKU, Better than Starbucks, Poetry Society of New York, WNYC Studios, HUDSON Reporter, LILIPOH, PBS American Portrait, Kissing Dynamite, Adelaide Awards Anthology, American Writers Review, Dime show review, Rainbow Project among others where she received her Pushcart 2020 Nomination.

Her literary partnership “Life in Quarantine” with Stanford University has been presented in the Open Education Global Forum 2020 and received mention in Stanford Daily.Her sonnet publication with Poetry Society of New York has been accepted as a Summer Reading curriculum in University High School, Indiana, USA.  She also has been featured on the PBS American Portrait. Her works has also been selected in the literary publication of various US universities like (Temple University, Philadelphia), Stanford University, University of Albany, Kent State University, Chicago University and Arkansas University.

Megha is a Three-time NAMI NJ State Level Poetry Contest 2018/2019/2020 winner and National Level Spring Robinson Lit Prize 2020 winner. Shortlisted in Pangolin Poetry Prize 2019(USA), Adelaide Literary Award 2019 (USA), Erbacce Prize 2020(UK), iWomanGlobalAwards 2020(India), TWIBB Beyond Black Sakhi Awards 2020(USA), Poetry Super Highway 2020(USA).Nominated for “Publication of the Month” and “Author of the Year 2020” by Spillwords Press Awards 2021,NYC.

Her works have been selected numerous times by the Jersey City Writers Group and the Department of Cultural Affairs for the Arts House Festival. Chosen twice as the international panelist for the Jersey City Theater Center Online Series “Voices Around the World”. and “The Box : Reinvention 2021”. 

She has been a featured poet in Oceanside Library Poetry reading 2020 , NY alongside Brooklyn Poet Laureate and Fellow of Academy of American Poets Maria Lisella. She was also a featured poet in BrownStone Poetry Reading 2020 along side LA Based Joshua Corwin and Chad Parenteau.

Anthologies featuring her works have been mentioned in the Huffington Post and showcased in the Poets House, Manhattan as part of the summer reading 2019. Anthology (“SMITTEN” , Indi(e) Blue Press) has been a Finalist in the Indie Excellence Awards 2020.

I've published novels with major NYC houses and regional presses, along with a number of short stories. Currently I write mostly CNF, with a little short fiction thrown in. I also teach memoir workshops. My idea group would be composed of a few serious writers (as opposed to serious marketers) who can provide valuable critique.

I've been writing poetry for more than three decades and have published four collections and have just completed a fifth that is looking for a publisher. I started writing short fiction, as well, about four years ago, and I'm working on my first short story collection. The topics I'm currently writing about include extinction, climate change, endangered species, and the effects of the Anthropocene age. I would love to connect with folks about how to assemble a first short story collection and the steps toward publication, since most of my knowledge lies in how to do this with poetry as opposed to fiction. Looking forward to connecting!

Hi. I've been a freelance and assignment writer for Christian, educational, and indie publishers for many years so have placed a few dozen books and hundreds of short manuscripts, but my primary focus now is poetry - especially poems that bring insight, musicality, fresh imagery, interesting perspectives, or something new. In judging a recent poetry competition, however, I was dismayed by the numerous rants offering no solutions. Poetry has power! It can be a powerful, beautiful instrument of change simply by moving people and helping them see a view or delight they had not yet noticed.

I'm interested in a group that would enjoy workshopping written and visual poetry. My preference is for the "descriptive analysis" approach, vs. rewriting other people's work. I currently enjoy participating in a local poetry workshop group, and have been in online (email, videoconference) groups in the past. I primarily write poetry, but am interested in incorporating visual and other media. A few samples are available on my website. Long ago I created a multimedia hyperlinked collection of poetry in Multimedia Toolbook, a challenging and short-lived Windows scripting program. Since then I've stuck to paper. I've published two collections, most recently "Hour of the Green Light," both of which you can also read about on my website. I'm currently seeking publication of my third collection, which reflects on climate - both in domestic relationships and on the planet. I have an MFA from Warren Wilson, and recently co-hosted our second virtual alumni conference. 

• Undergrad degree in English from Oberlin College, where I focused on contemporary poetry and poetics;
• Significant workshop experience, both as participant and facilitator;
• Active in writing communities in North Carolina and in Wisconsin;
• Focus on poetry, though I am experimenting a bit with very short fiction (max 2000 words) and also eastern structures, particularly tanka;
• Publishing is not a priority though, that being said, I have published pieces in several journals over the last three years;
• I am looking for a group that includes dedicated, experienced writers that also take seriously their roles as critics and that will consider a piece word-by-word, line-by-line;
• Not looking for writing prompts or inspiration or accountability—I am looking for people who wish to share the experience of reading others' work and responding to it;
• Given the choice of receiving precise criticism or general praise, I would prefer the former!
• I am employed full-time, so evenings and weekends are most appropriate for my schedule.

Thanks!

Being Fictionist | Poet | Critic | Curator | Editor | Translator | Screenwriter

I am looking for vibrant discussions, sharing of epiphanies, translating poetry, exchanges of critique, sharing new book information, basically sharing our journeys of creative writing. 

My bio note -

Rochelle Potkar is an alumna of Iowa’s International Writing Program (2015) and a Charles Wallace Writer’s fellow, University of Stirling (2017).  She is the author of Four Degrees of Separation and Paper Asylum – shortlisted for the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2020. Her poetry film Skirt showcased on Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland. Her poems To Daraza won the 2018 Norton Girault Literary Prize UK, and The girl from Lal Bazaar was shortlisted at the Gregory O’ Donoghue International Poetry Prize, 2018.  As critic, her reviews have appeared in Wasafiri, Sahitya Akademi’s Indian Literature, Asian Cha, and Chandrabhaga. Widely-anthologized, she has read her poetry in India, Bali, Iowa, Macao, Stirling, Glasgow, Hongkong, Ukraine, Hungary, Bangladesh, and the Gold Coast, Australia. Her short story collection Bombay Hangovers has just released on Amazon. Her first screenplay was a semi-finalist at the Atlanta Film Festival Screenwriting competition 2020. https://rochellepotkar.com

I enjoy writing as a means of experiencing feelings or ideas that come across my mind. In the rare season when my writing discipline is working, I write with some strategy. More often than not I wait for emotional outbursts that drive me to write. 

I've written mostly informal poetry. I say informal to communicate that I did not write the poetry with a style in mind. I've written two short-short stories and have miscelleanous incomplete writings and thoughts that drift from spiritual to political to social in theme. 

My background is in agricultural and environmental sciences and I've no formal training in writing beyond a semester long writing seminar I participated in during college and a technical writing class. I love diverse and global communities, sustainability, nature, games of anykind, daydreaming. 

I enjoy the genres of fantasy and literary fiction, non-fiction that focuses on environmental issues, social justice, or historical narratives, and poetry. I love stories that don't shy away from the difficult things. I love stories that offer hope amidst the difficult. I love expandind my perspective through diverse readings and am still working on developing this. Some of my favorite authors include Brandon Sanderson, Ray Bradbury, Ta-Nehesi Coates, Michelle Alexander, Jack London, Agatha Christie, Norman Maclean, J.R. Tolkien, Tomi Adeyemi, Neil Stephenson, Gary Snyder, Ernest Hemingway, Rick Riordan, and Stephen King. 

I hope to one day organize my poetry into a more cohesive collection, have a short story or two that allows me to explore my upbringing and incomplete ideas that I have as I grow and learn, and a fantasy novel or two with characters that I love and a world that contrasts harsh realities with stubborn hopefulness.