by WaterStone Review | Sep 15, 2026 | featuredpost
Welcome Assistant Fiction Editor Xander Bilyk Welcome Xander Bilyk as Assistant Editor of Fiction for Volume 29 I know you write poetry, fiction, stand up comedy, and songs. What is it that draws you to each of these genres? Do you have a favorite right now? I talk to...
by WaterStone Review | Aug 29, 2026 | blog: all
Welcome Assistant Poetry Editor Beth Forsyth Welcome Beth Forsyth as the Volume 29 Assistant Editor of Poetry. I know you write poetry almost exclusively. What is it you love about poetry Concision! I’m pretty short-winded and I really admire that in poetry every...
by WaterStone Review | Jul 16, 2026 | blog: all
Welcome Managing Editor Elizabeth Carls Welcome Elizabeth Carls, the new Managing Editor of Water~Stone! Elizabeth has published creative nonfiction and poetry in Split Rock Review, River Teeth, and Under the Sun, among other journals. She has served on the editorial...
by WaterStone Review | May 15, 2026 | blog: all
Water~Stone Farewell from Managing Editor Jenn Sisko It is with many emotions that I reach the end of my time at Water~Stone Review. While I look forward to the future, I will always hold a fond spot in my literary heart for the journal that taught me so much. My...
by WaterStone Review | May 11, 2026 | blog: all
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—mychael zulauf Your poem, “yazoo-mississippi delta” appears in Volume 28. When did you start writing this poem? What inspired it? I wrote the poem in a single day on a recent-ish trip I took with my partner to New...
by WaterStone Review | May 5, 2026 | blog: all
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Jey Ley “Relume” is a beautiful poem that blends this idea of fireflies and relationships. Where did this idea stem from? Inspiration for the poem came from Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha. I first learned about the...
by WaterStone Review | Apr 27, 2026 | blog: all
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—L. A. Johnson Your two poems, “Pine Needles Fall on a Green Snow” and “Asymmetry” appear in Volume 28. Both poems feature father figures and colorful imagery. What inspired these poems? My father died suddenly in 2019....
by WaterStone Review | Apr 23, 2026 | blog: all
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Amy Roa “Red Pine” is a beautifully creative poem in Volume 28 that details the melding of trees and octopus. Where did the inspiration for this poem come from? I wrote “Red Pine” during my time at the Bread Loaf...
by WaterStone Review | Apr 20, 2026 | blog: all
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Anna Molenaar “Transportation Fantasy” in Volume 28 holds such an imaginative liveliness. Where and how did the idea for this nonfiction first spring to life? My first car was a thrice-owned glorious clunker of a...
by WaterStone Review | Apr 16, 2026 | blog: all
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—David Thoreen “Departures” is the final poem in V. 28 of Water~Stone and focuses on a memory of an uncle’s death. When did you begin to write this poem? I’d like to think I began writing this poem when I was thirteen...
by WaterStone Review | Apr 14, 2026 | blog: all
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Bryan Price Where did the first spark of inspiration for ”Unidentified flying object” come from? It’s hard to say now, but I think it has a lot to do with politics and history. I think it has to do with being...
by WaterStone Review | Apr 9, 2026 | blog: all
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Ty Chapman You have two poems in Volume 28: ”They Tried to Bury the Neighborhood” and “My Middle Name is Christian,” both of which deal with colonialism and white-perpetuated violence, but in different ways. Where and...
by WaterStone Review | Apr 2, 2026 | blog: all
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Suqi Karen Sims Your fiction piece, “Fungirl,” takes the idea of mycelium network and puts it in a child-shaped body, telling the story of a chef who uses those mushrooms from this creature to create dishes. This work...
by WaterStone Review | Mar 19, 2026 | blog: all
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors— Kathleen Kimball-Baker Your poem “The Mushers’ Daughter” speaks of a running girl in a picture. What sparked the creation of this poem? Is there an actual picture it was based on? Yes! I saw the picture on...
by WaterStone Review | Mar 12, 2026 | blog: all
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Kim Blaeser When was the moment you realized you needed to write “Wars and Small Wars,” your nonfiction piece in V. 28 of Water~Stone highlights the violence that women face on a daily basis? When did the war...
by WaterStone Review | Mar 5, 2026 | blog: all
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Michaela Chairez Your poem, “On the Eucalyptus Trail” starts off with the powerful sentences, “I tell my friend the city is a whitewashed tomb.” What was the inspiration for this piece? The inspiration behind this...
by WaterStone Review | Feb 27, 2026 | blog: all
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Johnny Cordova Where were you when you first had the idea for “Li Po took a driving test?” What inspired this poem? Where did the impetus to use the title as part of the piece come in? It was the last day of a...
by WaterStone Review | Feb 19, 2026 | blog: all
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Amanda Chiado “The Carrying Kind” is a beautifully descriptive poem. Where did the inspiration for this piece come from? My brother lost his infant daughter, and it is an all-encompassing grief, an unbearable grief,...
by WaterStone Review | Feb 11, 2026 | blog: all
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Felicia Zamora You have two poems in Volume 28 of Water~Stone, “lEcogodliness” and “Always Incomplete.” In “Ecogodliness,” what drew you to use brackets instead of parentheses? In the full...
by WaterStone Review | Feb 5, 2026 | blog: all
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Christopher Citro Your poem, “Why Our Bathtub Sparkles,” is about a couple preparing to have guests over—but deeper than that, about connection and community in a shifting world. What inspired this poem?...
