Executive Career Coach Korie Pelka will discuss her new book, Get Unstuck. Get Clear. Get Going: A Guide to Discovering the Next Stage in Your Career Journey, at the Redwood City Main Library, 1044 Middlefield Road, on Tuesday, September 29, 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. The conversation will include career and life transitions.

Story Coach Eva Barrows hosts character development “Story Momentum Session,” an in-person workshop that explores how character goals, emotions, and plot events create more engaging stories. Leave with practical ways to strengthen your story. Held Saturday, October 10, 10:00–11:30 a.m., Center for Creativity, Redwood City. $20. Register at evabarrows.com/workshops.

Sophia Kaushik won the 2026 Harpur Palate John Gardner Memorial Prize in Fiction for her story “Driving the Edge.” She was invited to read from her story at the Harpur Palate launch event, where she connected with the editorial team and other winning authors.

Dr. Jeanne Powell, poet and essayist, read on September 3 for the Kitchen Table reading series at Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore & Gallery in San Francisco’s Mission District. She will read again on September 20 at 4:00 p.m. at the Usher Gallery, 1 Boulevard North, Petaluma, during the Petaluma Poetry Walk.

The 2026 Global Book Awards honored James Hanna’s novel, The Siege, with a Gold medal in Suspense‑Thrillers and his anthology, A Second, Less-Capable Head, with a Gold medal in Short Stories. His tale “Orville Baumgardner and the Circle of Limbo” also made an encore appearance in Bewildering Stories.

Geri Spieler announced she is offering a wide range of research services to writers and other clients. Drawing on decades of experience as a journalist, author, and research director, she helps clients locate credible sources, verify facts, conduct interviews, and uncover information that may not be readily available online.

Carol Efron’s debut novel, A Hidden Fate, will be published by She Writes Press in October and is available for pre-order. When a hidden genetic history emerges, a newlywed pregnant woman must choose between her husband's demand for testing and her own desire to continue her pregnancy without uncovering her fate.

Story Coach Eva Barrows hosts “Story Momentum Sessions,” an in‑person workshop series for writers revising fiction, memoir, and emotional nonfiction. The August 22 session, 10:00–11:30 a.m. at the Center for Creativity in Redwood City, covers compelling story hooks and page-turning chapter endings. Cost: $20. Register at evabarrows.com/workshops.

Lisa Meltzer Penn's short story, “This is a Piece of Chalk,” was published in “Fiction on the Web,” the longest-running short story website. Alison, an imaginative student, recalls an exercise her teacher led in her sixth-grade Composition class, in which students described a piece of chalk in detail using the five senses.

Host Darlene Frank is thrilled that over 80 people attended the July 20 event celebrating writers in her JOURNEY program. Ten featured readers included CWC members Ed Medley, Alisha Willis, Megan E. McDonald, and Korie Pelka. The audience raved about everyone’s writing! Thanks to fellow CWC members who attended. Replay.

James Hanna’s excerpt “When Porn Hub Isn’t Enough” from his forthcoming book, Beaching the Mermaid and Other Stranded Tales, appears in the August issue of Adelaide Magazine. He also published “Pizza Delivery on Mars” in Across the Margin, a journal known for eclectic, inventive work that embraces the unusual.

Lawrence Sherman Cohn’s 75-word prose piece, “Abby Knows,” was published in The Smalls Too, the California Writers Club publication that showcases the winners of the 2026 statewide writing competition, “Big Contest for Small Poems and Prose.” The entries in this anthology share a quality of compression and deliberate economy.

Megan E. McDonald and Kate Farrell will lead a two-part storytelling workshop on The Heroine’s Journey at the Center for Creativity in Redwood City, July 18 and August 1, 9:30–12:30 p.m. The series features a reading of “Baba Yaga & Vasilisa” and writing prompts exploring the folktale’s themes. Register to join.

Darlene Frank will host a free online celebration featuring 10 writers reading from works in progress—memoir, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Readers include CWC members Megan McDonald, Ed Medley, Korie Pelka, Alisha Willis, and Donna Wocher. Sign up for the Zoom reading scheduled for Monday, July 20, at 5:30 p.m. PST.

Miera Rao’s haiku, “child’s cry”, was selected as a winner in the 8th Annual Basho-an International English Haiku Competition. Hosted by the Basho Memorial Museum in Tokyo, Japan, the competition had 1,307 entries from 38 countries. Held in 2025, winners were announced in Spring 2026.

David Harris' story, "Within the Ruins," was included in The Brussels Review: Entrance and Exits, a short fiction anthology. Olivia flees her marriage and seeks her old boyfriend, Alejandro, now a college professor. He inspires her to move forward, drawing on myth, faith, and a renewed hope in the possibility of love.

James Hanna’sLights Out Lizzie won the 2026 International Book Award for Fiction Novella. The story follows Gertie McDowell, a Kentucky misfit-turned-wrestler after prison. James also published his polemical tale, “Keeping Authors in Their Place,” in The Satirist, an online publication devoted to original satire and parody.

Eva Barrows launches "Story Momentum Sessions," an in-person workshop series for writers developing or revising fiction, memoir, and emotionally driven nonfiction. The first session on Saturday, June 27, 10:00–11:30 a.m., at the Center for Creativity in Redwood City, includes story challenges and plans to advance projects. Cost: $20. Register at evabarrows.com/workshops.

James Hanna published a novella excerpt, “Ruby Busts a Comedian,” from his forthcoming book, Beaching the Mermaid and Other Stranded Tales, in the June 2026 issue of Adelaide Literary Magazine, an international monthly journal that publishes outstanding literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry to help emerging and established authors reach a wider audience.

Colleen Olle’s short story, “The Question of Dinner,” was published in the summer issue of Valparaiso Fiction Review, a publication of Valparaiso University. As a marital couple debates what to eat for dinner, each attempts to conceal a secret while simultaneously endeavoring to discover what the other is hiding.