The Writer’s Center welcomes the Ole’ Blue Claw Maryland Anthology for a reading a celebration of a new anthology featuring twenty-three distinctive works, a mix of flash and short fiction, by writers from across Maryland.
Join Maryland writers Preston Ford, Greta Ehrig, Judy Harding, Rhonda Zimlich, Cathy Tsang, and Theodore Carter for a reading of their anthologized work and to meet the editors as we celebrate Maryland storytelling.
Free and Open to the Public.
About Ole’ Blue Claw
An Anthology of Place-Based Fiction
Ole’ Blue Claw is the brainchild of three graduates of the Johns Hopkins University Master of Arts in Writing Program. Our desire was to capture the diversity and little-known wonders of the Old Line State of Maryland, including its crustier side. As long-term residents of the state, we are proud to have filled the pages of Ole’ Blue Claw with engaging, place-infused stories and vibrant, idiosyncratic, memorable characters whose personality quirks and clashes swell the heart of our readers and of course, ole’ blue claw himself, the Old Line State’s most infamous decapod crustacean.
Theodore Carter is the author of several books including Stealing The Scream, Frida Sex Dreams and Other Unnerving Disruptions. His fiction has appeared in The North American Review, Pank, Necessary Fiction, and elsewhere. He’s a staff writer for Daily Art Magazine. You can see his street art out and about in Washington, D.C.
Greta Ehrig earned an MFA in Creative Writing from A.U., where she was Editor of Folio literary journal and a Lannan Fellow. Her poetry has appeared in numerous publications, including: Southern Poetry Review; Beltway Quarterly; and Mid-Atlantic Review. Her songwriting has been recognized by the Bernard-Ebb and Mid-Atlantic Song Contests. She has received support from Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County; Maryland State Arts Council; and National League of American Pen Women. In 2024, Greta was nominated for Best of the Net and a Pushcart Prize for poetry. She teaches piano and songwriting at Montgomery College.
Preston Ford is a teacher with a life-long interest in creative writing. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, he has lived throughout the South and now makes his home near the nation’s capital. Ford is the author of Quarter Moon: A Novel of the American South (A Thousand Candles Press, 2023) and numerous short stories, some of which can be found in the collections Impressions in Half-light (Outskirts Press, 2009) and Days of Unease (A Thousand Candles Press, 2024). He plays chess, writes, and worries about the state of the world in his spare time.
Ritchie Porter lives in Silver Spring, MD, and is the father of two boys, not two girls. After acting in the D.C. region for a number of years, he transitioned to teaching and now instructs theater and directs at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac. In his spare time he plays music, acts and writes short fiction and plays. He would like to thank the editors of the Ole Blue Crab for taking a chance on his story, and for their expert and caring guidance.
Cathy Tsang is a Chinese American who grew up in Florida. She has been published in newspapers and magazines. This is her first time being published in a book. She loves reading cozy murder mysteries, historic fiction and tries to find time to write while taking care of two young children. She resides with her family in Rockville, Maryland.
Rhonda Zimlich teaches creative writing and serves as the Director of the MFA in Creative Writing Program at American University in Washington D.C. She writes about intergenerational trauma and the unbreakable spirit of youth. Her debut novel, Raising Panic, won the Steel Toe Books 2023 Book Award for prose. She was awarded the 2020 Literary Award in Nonfiction from Dogwood, earning an honorable mention in Best American Essays. She received the 2021 Fiction Award from Please See Me, and the 2024 Nonfiction Award from Barely South Review.. Other works have appeared in Brevity, Past-Ten, American Writer’s Review, and more.www.rhondazimlich.com
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