Leah Browning
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leahbrowning.bsky.social
Leah Browning
@leahbrowning.bsky.social
Reader, writer, editor.

https://www.leahbrowninglit.com/
Fall 2025 was the fortieth issue of the Apple Valley Review. I have been so grateful for the support and encouragement I have received from contributors and readers from around the world over the past twenty years. 1/3
December 2, 2025 at 9:21 PM
The new issue of Plumwood Mountain Journal, an Australian and international journal of ecopoetry and ecopoetics, is available now.

Cover image: Kangaroo Grass by Jacob Yugovic

The new issue and more information: plumwoodmountain.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:56 PM
The Fall 2025 issue of the Apple Valley Review features work by Jack Jenkins, Steph Sundermann-Zinger, Timo Teräsahjo, Ekaterina Kostova, Sohana Manzoor, Luis Alberto de Cuenca, Daniel Southwell, Mario dell’Arco, Daniel Choe, Paul Dickey, DS Maolalai, Yi Li, P M F Johnson. Cover: Jacques Dillies.
October 21, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Reposted by Leah Browning
Vestal Review turned 25 this year! Thank you to all the writers, readers, and editors who have made the magazine a success in the last quarter century.

Read us online at vestalreview.net!
October 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
“I felt certain that near me was a portal through which a whole other kind of life, parallel to mine but much richer, was being conducted.”

—“Saint Zinaida’s Day” by Peter Newall, Apple Valley Review, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Spring 2025). Read the full short story: www.applevalleyreview.org/spring-2025/...
September 9, 2025 at 5:06 PM
CLMP's reading list for National Translation Month includes links to three poems by Zhang Zhihao and to "Green Peas," a short story by Anna Gáspár-Singer. The English translations were first published in the Fall 2024 issue of the Apple Valley Review. Find more books, poems, and prose on this list:
September 1, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Reposted by Leah Browning
On the Dance Floor

by Leah Browning (image c/o blogs.bridals.pk) At dinner one night, listening to his girlfriend ramble endlessly about some reality show nonsense, not even bothering to swallow a mouthful of food before she went on about this drivel, he made the decision, as he had many times…
On the Dance Floor
by Leah Browning (image c/o blogs.bridals.pk) At dinner one night, listening to his girlfriend ramble endlessly about some reality show nonsense, not even bothering to swallow a mouthful of food before she went on about this drivel, he made the decision, as he had many times before, to break it off with her. The complication, as usual, was her apartment. If he left, he would have nowhere else to go, and so he went on nodding at her vapid comments, making noises that he hoped were appropriate, aahs and yeses and hmmms, as she droned on about these people he didn’t know and about whose lives he could not have cared less.
newpoplit.com
August 13, 2025 at 3:29 PM
There's still some time to send in your short memoirs, personal essays, and/or creative nonfiction. Flash, micro, and full-length pieces are OK (max ~4,000 words).

Submissions for the Fall 2025 issue of the Apple Valley Review are open through 9/15/25.

Guidelines: applevalleyreview.org/submit
Apple Valley Review | Submission Guidelines
We welcome submissions of poetry, short fiction, and personal essays. Submissions are accepted year-round. All work must be original, previously unpublished, and in English. Translations are welcome i...
applevalleyreview.org
August 12, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by Leah Browning
An Excerpt from “On the Dance Floor” by Leah Browning

NEW FICTION That night in bed, when she placed one leg over his and began sliding her palm over his chest, he put his hand over hers and rose a little, giving her a decisive peck on the cheek before turning over with his back to her and making…
An Excerpt from “On the Dance Floor” by Leah Browning
NEW FICTION That night in bed, when she placed one leg over his and began sliding her palm over his chest, he put his hand over hers and rose a little, giving her a decisive peck on the cheek before turning over with his back to her and making a big show of arranging his pillows just so. He heard her sigh and turn over.
fastpoplit.com
August 6, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Congratulations to Mickie Kennedy, who was a finalist for the 2025 Best of the Net Anthology three times over. His poem “A Good, Long Steep,” which originally appeared in the Fall 2023 issue of the Apple Valley Review, was one of those three selections.

bestofthenetanthology.com
The 2025 Best of the Net Anthology is now live! Read work from this year's winners and see the full list of finalists here! bestofthenetanthology.com
August 6, 2025 at 5:46 PM
This reading list from CLMP for Women in Translation Month includes a link to three poems by Miriam Van hee—"words," "the courtyard," and "antwerp street"—translated from the Dutch by Judith Wilkinson. The English translations were first published in the Spring 2025 issue of the Apple Valley Review.
August 1, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Congratulations to everyone on the Wigleaf Top 50! The list includes fiction by Mary Grimm ("Open the Door," Apple Valley Review, Fall 2024) and K. A. Polzin ("Sales," Spring 2024). Andrew Siegrist ("Patchwork," Spring 2024) is on the Longlist.

Find the lists here:
wigleaf.com/25top50main....
July 1, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Leah Browning
How to handle a drunk mom, take 2.
Read "Just a Few Drinks," by Leah Browning. @leahbrowning.bsky.social

vestalreview.net/just-a-few-drinks
June 24, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Leah Browning
Issue 66 of Vestal Review comes out just after the summer solstice, when the days start growing shorter, though as any flash fiction aficionado knows, brevity isn’t always a bad thing.

Read now at vestalreview.net/issue-66.

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June 23, 2025 at 12:31 PM
This reading list from CLMP includes a short excerpt from "Mom could have been a dancer," a poem by Lulu Liu from the Fall 2024 issue of the Apple Valley Review, with links to this and many other suggestions in honor of Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month.
May 2, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Reposted by Leah Browning
Congratulations to the CLMP members publishing new issues this month! Spend some time this week reading new works from Adroit Journal, AGNI, Baffling Magazine, Chestnut Review, Ploughshares, and more lit mags:
April 2025 Roundup of Member Magazines - Community of Literary Magazines and Presses
We’re proud to share this list of literary journals—all members of CLMP—publishing new poetry, fiction, nonfiction, artwork, and more in April 2025.   The Adroit Journal | Issue 53 Featuring poetry…
www.clmp.org
April 29, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Reposted by Leah Browning
Today's listing of the day is: The Apple Valley Review #WritingCommunity
Listing of the Day
Today's listing of the day is: The Apple Valley Review #WritingCommunity
duotrope.com
April 27, 2025 at 1:37 PM
The Spring 2025 issue of the Apple Valley Review features writing by Madison Ellingsworth, Miriam Van hee, Peter Newall, Athena Kildegaard, Zehra Habib, Mark Lilley, Luke Rolfes, Mickie Kennedy, Tony Rauch, and David Armand. Cover artwork by John Singer Sargent.

www.applevalleyreview.org
April 8, 2025 at 6:23 PM
The winners of Best Microfiction 2025 are live! Congratulations to Mary Grimm, whose story "Open the Door" (from the Fall 2024 issue of the Apple Valley Review) was one of two chosen by final judge Dawn Raffel to appear in the anthology.

For more: bestmicrofiction.com

@bestmicrofiction.bsky.social
January 18, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Reposted by Leah Browning
Dear friends, the winners of Best Microfiction 2025 are live! A huge thanks to 2025 judge Dawn Raffel! BM 2025 will be released in the Spring! If you're on this list, expect an email and contract from us in the next 2 weeks. www.bestmicrofiction.com? #flashfiction #microfiction #writingcommunity
Best Microfiction
The Best Microfiction anthology series provides recognition for outstanding literary stories of 400 words or fewer.
www.bestmicrofiction.com
January 18, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Reposted by Leah Browning
I have lost other plants in the past, but I feel good about this one. The following summer, we marry in a small ceremony on the beach.
Love! @leahbrowning.bsky.social @passagesnorth.bsky.social
November 16, 2024 at 5:39 PM
Reposted by Leah Browning
"Books that amplify the voices of women from diverse backgrounds contribute to a more nuanced understanding of women’s experiences."
Delighted to see this article about Betty, WTAW’s imprint, by Elizabeth Casillas at Alta Journal.
#bettybooks #womenwriters #smallpress
July 3, 2024 at 4:01 PM
Reposted by Leah Browning
Betty, an imprint of WTAW dedicated to publishing books by women for everyone, opens the door for submissions tomorrow December 1! Find the guidelines and learn all the details at www.wtawpress.org/betty
November 30, 2023 at 9:31 PM