Rochelle A. Murray — December 14, 1936 – July 31, 2022

Posted on by Ryan Collins

We are heartbroken to announce that our dear friend, Board Emeritus member, and lifelong champion of children’s literacy Rochelle Murray passed away on Sunday, July 31 in her home.

Rochelle served the community her entire life: as a children’s librarian at the Davenport Public Library for 45 years (its children’s library now known as the Rochelle A. Murray Children’s Center), as a radio host, and as a founder and director of the Children’s Literature Festival with her close friend David R. Collins.

Announcing the 2021 Foster-Stahl Chapbook Series Selections

Posted on by Ryan Collins

Thank you to all the terrific poets and writers who shared their manuscripts with us for the second year of the Foster-Stahl Chapbook Series. We are grateful for everyone who gave us the opportunity to read and consider their work. The range, variety, and excellence of the submissions made them thrilling to read, and provided the series editors with an extremely difficult task in selecting a manuscript.

In the end, two manuscripts were selected for publication: one manuscript for the Series, and a second manuscript selected for publication as an Editors’ Choice. Below are the complete results, include the finalists…

Announcing the winner of the 2022 Great River Writers Retreat — Jo Ivy Young!

Posted on by Ryan Collins

Congratulations to this year’s winner of the Great River Writers Retreat, Jo Ivy Young! Young will be in residence August 29-Sept 4, 2022 (along with our 2021 winner Jeffrey Wolf who postponed his retreat due to COVID-19), concentrating on her writing at Benet House Retreat Center in Rock Island, IL. They will both celebrate their experiences in the area, and share some of the writing they worked on during the retreat at a public reading (date and location TBD–stay tuned for more info).