Shoofly Literary Magazine hosts poetry and fiction reading for KU students
By Kara Armstrong
KU Professional Writing graduates Nickey Siegerman and Bryce Johle returned to campus on Thursday, March 6 for an alumni reading hosted by Shoofly Literary Magazine. The reading took place at 7 p.m. in the McFarland Student Union (MSU) Formal Dining Room.
Photo Credit: Kara Armstrong
Johle graduated from KU in 2017, and his poetry chapbook, “Airplane Graveyard,” was published by Finishing Line Press in 2024. Johle’s poetry has also appeared in October Hill Magazine, Maudlin House, and Star ’82 Review, among others.
Siegerman graduated from KU in 2018, and she earned her Master of Arts in Creative Writing from West Chester University (WCU) in 2022. Her novel “Whiskey Kind of Love” was published in paperback in 2024 by eGlobal Creative Publishing, Inc.
Johle shared selected poems from “Airplane Graveyard,” as well as two unpublished pieces titled “Glacier in the Basement” and “What’s the Sign for Belated?” Siegerman read Chapter One of “Whiskey Kind of Love.”
A Q&A session followed the reading, during which the authors answered questions about their publishing journeys.
Johle wrote the poems in “Airplane Graveyard” over the course of a year while following a regimen from “The Artist’s Way,” a book designed to help creatives create and follow a routine.
“I recommend [The Artist’s Way] to everybody,” he said. “Everybody’s creative, even if they don’t know it up front. Everybody’s creative in some way. You just have to find it and kickstart your life from there.”
The sequence of events that led Johle to finding a publisher began during his time at KU. He interned with Autumn House Publishing, and at the conclusion of his internship, Autumn House Publishing gifted him “a bunch” of the books they had published.
“They specifically said, ‘We think you’ll really like [George Bilgere],’” Johle said.
Years later, after reading Bilgere’s work, Johle found Bilgere’s email contact and reached out.
“We struck up a pen pal relationship, and over the course of a year or so, he asked me to send him some of my work,” he said. “He gave me feedback on it, and he liked it.”
Johle described his poetry as being similar to Bilgere’s, both utilizing “plain speech.”
“Because we write in a similar way, I thought maybe he would know where I could get some stuff published,” he said.
Finishing Line Press was one of Bilgere’s recommendations. “I sent them my chapbook; a couple months went by, they accepted it, and it’s been good,” Johle said.
It took about a year from Johle’s acceptance for “Airplane Graveyard” to be published.
“I like that [Johle] is very conventional,” Siegerman said. “I’m kind of like, ‘let’s throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks.’”
After graduating from WCU, Siegerman accepted a ghostwriting position at eGlobal Creative Publishing. “They liked my writing, and they liked my voice,” she said. “They said, ‘before you write anything for us, write a book.’”
eGlobal Creative Publishing tasked Siegerman with writing an original novel, which became “Whiskey Kind of Love.”
“It was the fastest I had ever written a book,” she said.
Originally published exclusively online in 2023, “Whiskey Kind of Love” was released in paperback in 2024. Siegerman is currently working on a sequel, entitled “Love on the Rocks.”
Though Siegerman and Johle followed different paths to publication, they agree that the most important thing for aspiring writers to do is write.
“If you want to start doing something, just start it,” Johle said. “Write a sentence. The next day, write two, and then go from there.”“Airplane Graveyard” and “Whiskey Kind of Love” are available for purchase on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.