War-Lit Anthology Launches Today!

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Our Best War Stories, an anthology collection of prize-winning poems, short fiction, and essays spanning the first five years of the Col. Darron L. Wright Memorial Writing Awards launches in trade paperback and Kindle e-book today, Oct. 13, 2020. You can order via Amazon, or via other national and local independent booksellers:

"This anthology is a perfect introduction to both new and established voices who are writing about wars from Vietnam, to Iraq and Afghanistan—while also exemplifying the increasing diversity of life-experiences that should be included under the big-tent definition of "military writing,'" says Christopher Lyke, editor of the anthology and a founding editor of the Chicago-based literary journal Line of Advance.

"Many of our finalists have gone on to create award-winning books and other projects," says Lyke. "We can't wait to see what's next for them, and for our own ever-more-appropriately named 'Line of Advance!'"

Since 2016, the Col. Darron L. Wright Memorial Writing Awards have annually recognized excellence in prose (includes fiction, non-fiction, and hybrid forms) and poetry by U.S. military service members and veterans. In 2020, organizers announced additional prose and poetry categories for immediate family members of U.S. military service members and veterans.

Cash prizes of $250, $150, and $100 are available in each “service member/veteran” and “family” group, for a total of four categories.

This year’s guest judge for all categories was fiction-writer Katey Schultz, author of the short-story collection Flashes of War (2013) and the Afghan War novel Still Come Home. (2019).

Administered by the Line of Advance, and underwritten by the Blake & Bailey Family Fund, the Wright awards commemorate a U.S. Army leader and author who was killed in a September 2013 parachute training accident. Darron L. Wright, 45, had deployed three times to Iraq, and was author of a 2012 memoir Iraq Full Circle: From Shock and Awe to the Last Combat Patrol in Baghdad and Beyond. 

Other project partners included:

Based in Gloucester, England, Battlefield Design offers more than 25 years of graphic design experience and particular expertise in military-themed logos, branding, advertising, brochures, maps, book covers, museum displays, and more. For more information, visit: www.battlefield-design.co.uk 

Middle West Press LLC is a Johnston, Iowa-based editor and publisher of non-fiction, fiction, journalism, and poetry, with projects that feature the unique voices of the American Midwest. As an independent micro-press, it publishes one to four titles annually. The Line of Advance Darron L. Wright Awards anthology is the sixth of its titles involving war and military themes. The publisher also provides content and framework for The Aiming Circle community of practice.

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