BEMIDJI, Minn. (April 5, 2011) — Sixty-four women from all across the upper Midwest and Canada contributed a total of 83 works to the 2011 edition of “Dust and Fire,” one of four literary publications produced annually by students and faculty at Bemidji State University.

Since 1987, Bemidji State’s “Dust & Fire” anthologies have held the strong voices of many women and each year expands the treasury of their stories. The first volume was published by Bemidji State’s Women’s Resource Center under the editorship of Kristine Cannon. It was called “Women’s Stories Must Be Told,” promising a place where women could share their work with others.

It has kept its promise. For two decades women have sent their words “from the tongue of dust and fire” to be collected and passed around the waiting circle. Over time, “Dust & Fire” has evolved and gained strength. After six years it honored Minnesota writer and activist, Meridel LeSueur, as a mentor to women writers and used her words for a new title, “Dust & Fire.” A new editor, Helen Bonner, guaranteed the original intent of the anthology remained true – to honor women’s expressions of their life experiences. In 1997 the editors expanded this expression to include art by women, and in 2000 they began two new traditions: awards for submissions and the inclusion of students on the editorial board.

Faculty advisors for the 2011 edition of “Dust and Fire” are Lauren Cobb, associate professor of English; Maureen Gibbon, associate professor of English; and Rosalie Benoit Weaver, professor of English.

The University also publishes anthologies of works by men, high-school aged writers and BSU students.

For more information, contact Maureen Gibbon in the Department of English at (218) 755-4021.

Contributors to the 2011 edition of “Dust and Fire” are listed below by hometown.

BEMIDJI | Sarah Bull, photography, “Untitled.”
BEMIDJI | Patricia Conner, poetry, “Our Hands Were Made For Picking.”
BEMIDJI | Cyndi L. Fenske, poetry, “Status Updates.”
BEMIDJI | Destiny Harmoning, photography, “In Full Bloom” and “Shaded Statue” and “Weathered Bridge.”
BEMIDJI | Natalia Himmirska, painting, “Elements of Magic” and “Windy.”
BEMIDJI | Deb DeNio Krueger, photography, “Taking Flight” and “Watchful Bambi.”
BEMIDJI | Lacey LaFromboise, short story, “The Call.”
BEMIDJI | Dawn Loeffler, poetry, “Growing Up.”

MINNESOTA
ANOKA | Sarah Hayes, poetry, “Musings on Einstein.”
BLOOMINGTON | Harriet Duerre, short story, “English As a Second Language” and poetry, “Lost Love.”
BRAINERD | Charmaine Pappas Donovan, poetry, “Primping Before the Future.”
BRAINERD | Doris Lueth Stengel, poetry, “Roger the Noun” and “Vernon’s White Onions.”
BRAINERD | Sara Ann Swenson, short story, “The Nomad.”
BRAINERD | Suz Anne Wipperling, photography, “Crossings” and “Weathered” and poetry, “Undressing Autumn.” Wipperling won the publication’s Diane Glancy Award for Poetry.
BROOKLYN PARK | Sharon Chmielarz, poetry, “House With a Peony Garden.”
CLOQUET | Jan Chronister, poetry, “Strike Up the Band.”
COON RAPIDS | K.D. Howells, poetry, “Borrowed and Blue.”
CROOKSTON | Hannah Solheim, poetry, “Sobre Portugal.”
CROSSLAKE | Sara Duffield, poetry, “Death Watch.”
DASSEL | Susan Marco, poetry, “Writer’s Workshop.”
DULUTH | Teresa Boyle Falsani, poetry, “I Am Not the Woman I Thought I’d Be.”
DULUTH | Susan Perala-Dewey, poetry, “Crow” and “Wanderlust.”
EDEN PRAIRIE | Catherine Senne Wallace, poetry, “Instinct.”
MAHTOWA | Joy Class, poetry, “Lesson Number One: Who God is Not.”
MINNEAPOLIS | Nona Kennedy Carlson, short story, “Queer.” Carlson won the publication’s Jonis Agee Award for Fiction.
MINNEAPOLIS | Anna Dielschneider, multimedia, “Negative Wheel” and short story, “Unexpected.” Dielschneider won the publication’s Carole Gorney Fisher Award for Art.
MINNEAPOLIS | Norita Dittberner-Jax, poetry, “Duet.”
MINNEAPOLIS | Helen Duff Dowds, poetry, “Silo Man.”
MINNEAPOLIS | Roseann Lloyd, poetry, “Cold Up North.”
MINNEAPOLIS | Amy McCann, poetry, “After the Fact” and short story, “Rink.”
MINNEAPOLIS | Mary Kay Rummel, poetry, “For Lilith: Adam’s First Wife.”
MINNEAPOLIS | Robin Sauerwein, short story, “Shiny Black Shoes.”
MINNEAPOLIS | Airra Saunders, short story, “Columbia Heights.”
MINNEAPOLIS | Francine Marie Tolf, poetry, “My Father in the Kitchen” and “Poem for Helen” and “Wednesday.”
MINNEAPOLIS | Donna Trump, short story, “Beauty School.”
NEVIS | Marion C. Holtey, short story, “The Forbidden Dance.”
PARK RAPIDS | Niomi Rohn Phillips, short story, “Home.”
PLYMOUTH | Gail Milstein, short story, “Scene From an Italian Restaurant.”
PLYMOUTH | Linda Pinnell, short story, “Life Estate.”
RED WING | Michele Meyer, poetry, “Bittersweet.”
RICHVILLE | Sarah Lee, short story, “Yellow.”
ROCHESTER | Danielle C. Allen, short story, “Red.” Allen won the publication’s Carol Bly Award for Nonfiction.
ROCHESTER | Kit Rohrbach, short story, “Pressing Pennies.”
ROCHESTER | Pam Whitfield, poetry, “Poor Man’s Chicken and Bumblebee Stew” and short story, “Raising Up My Man.”
ROSEMOUNT | Mary Ellen Drier, illustration, “Stone House.”
ST. PAUL | Kristin Faye Johnson, poetry, “The Woman Who Wouldn’t Leave.”
ST. PAUL |Marianne McNamara, poetry, “Unforgettable.”
ST. PAUL | Wendy A. Skinner, photography, “Water” and “Wind.”
WABASHA | Nicole Borg, poetry, “Eve Falls: Part II” and “In Search of Ruby Slippers.”

ARIZONA | ORO VALLEY | Audrey Osofsky, poetry, “I Want to Make Poems.”
IOWA | CEDAR RAPIDS | Gretchen Brown Wright, short story, “A Matter of Choice.”
IOWA | SIOUX CITY | Tricia Currans-Sheehan, short story, “The Underground in Naples, 1944.”
IOWA | SUTHERLAND | Carolyn Rohrbaugh, poetry, “Rustic Unpainted Barns.”
SOUTH DAKOTA | ST. LAWRENCE | Rosemary Dunn Moeller, poetry, “Spearfish Canyon Defines Gravity.”
WISCONSIN | BRULE | Peggy Trojan, poetry, “Ironing Skill” and “Partnered.” Trojan won the publication’s Susan Carol Hauser Prize for Writing.
WISCONSIN | DRUMMOND | Diana Randolph, illustration, “Summer Meadow” and “Winter Tree.”
WISCONSIN | HAYWARD | Naomi Cochran, poetry, “Shoveling Snow on the Other Side of the Earthquake.”
WISCONSIN | MIDDLETON | Jean K. Tomasko, poetry, “The Odor of Violets.”
WISCONSIN | NEKOOSA | Lucy Rose Johns, poetry, “Diapers” and “Grandpa’s Ashes.”
WISCONSIN | RIVER FALLS | Carol Pearce Bjorlie, “Round Rock.”

CANADA | MANITOBA | WINNIPEG | Carla Marie Loewen, short story, “On Bannock and Boyfriends.”
CANADA | MANITOBA | WINNIPEG | Margaret Ullrich, short story, “Easter Bread.”
CANADA | ONTARIO | CHRISTIAN ISLAND | Edna H. King, short story, “Dancing with the Autumn Wind.”

UKRAINE | ZHYTOMYR | Olena Tulubinska, short story, “Coke.”

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