Mitchell Waldman

Poet, Fiction Writer

Rochester, NY
New York US

Author's Bio

A new edition of Waldman's latest story collection, Brothers, Fathers, and Other Strangers (previously published by Adelaide Books) was released in January, 2023.  Of the work readers have said "Waldman has crafted a nuanced and engaging collection. His stories set us on an emotional tightrope, daring us to forgo a safety net, while seducing us to look down and discover who we are. Sometimes poignantly devastating, and other times savagely funny, he guides us through family trauma, corporate America, and faithful understanding to remind us if we can be less of a stranger to the world, maybe we can be less of a stranger to ourselves." (Josh Penzone, author of The Court of Vintage Woods: Linked Stories). Readers have also said that "Brothers, Fathers, and Other Strangers is remarkable for its scope, honesty, imagination, social sensitivity, and moral concern." (Robert Wexelblatt, author of The Thirteenth Studebaker, Hsi-wei Tales, etc.) And it has been said that "[I]n Brothers, Fathers, and Other Strangers, Waldman explores masculinity, but not stereotypical masculinity. In these stories, you will see men battling their memories and emotions as they attempt to come to grips with their pasts and make a way for their lives. Waldman sets his work in reality with a dash of fantasy and the occasional twist ending. Waldman is doing something special in the short story form, and his stories will entertain, enlighten, and elate." (Hardy Jones, author of Resurrection of Childhood: A Memoir, and Every Bitter Thing). For more information on the book, visit https://mitchwaldman.homestead.com/Broth... .

Waldman is also the author of the short story collection Petty Offenses and Crimes of the Heart (originally published by Wind Publications, August, 2011), and the novel A Face in the Moon (Writer's Club Press, 2000). 

Waldman's short stories, essays, and poems have appeared in numerous publications, including, among others, CommuterLit, The Piker Press, Impspired MagazineThe Opiate, The Chamber Magazine, Northwest Indiana Literary Journal, Short Story Town, Bewildering Stories, Anser Journal, Alien Buddha Press, Brown Bag, X-RAY Literary Magazine, Ariel Chart, Academy of the Heart and MindLitGleam, Potato Soup Journal, The MacGuffin, A Story in 100 Words, Five Fishes Journal, The Fear of Monkeys, Fictive Dream, Adelaide Literary Magazine, The Magnolia Review, Door is a Jar Magazine, Furtive Dalliance, Spelk, Soft Cartel, The Fringe, Blue Ships Magazine, Ginosko Literary Journal, The Flash Fiction Press, Greatest Lakes Review, Kairos Literary Magazine, Midwest Literary Magazine, Whatever Our Souls, Literally Stories, Random Sample, Corvus Review, Scarlet Leaf Review, The Cynic Online, poems2go, The Machinery -- A Literary Collection, Down in the Dirt Magazine, The Bond Street Review, Baby Lawn Literature, Peachfish Magazine, Story Shack, The Avalon Literary Review, Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, Crack the Spine, Danse Macabre, Writing Raw, Alfie Dog Fiction, The Faircloth Review, Wind Magazine, The Waterhouse Review, Eunoia Review, Troubadour 21, Litsnack, Fiction on the Web, The Fine Line, The Greensilk Journal, Red Fez, The Houston Literary Review, Milk Sugar, Wilderness House Literary Review, Connotation Press, new aesthetic, worldwide hippies, Girls with Insurance, Long Story Short, (Short) Fiction Collective, The Legendary, Eclectic Flash, The Battered Suitcase, eFiction Magazine, Shorelines Literary Magazine, HazMat Review, Innisfree, Mobius, Poetpourri, The Advocate, Desperate Act, Poetry Motel, Malcontent, 13th Story, Ink Monkey Magazine, Bracelet Charm QuarterlyRochester Shorts, Unknowns Magazine, and The Rochester Times-Union.

His work has also been anthologized in Beyond Lament: Poets of the World Bearing Witness to the Holocaust (Northwestern University Press, 1998), Messages From the Universe (iUniverse, 2002), America Remembered (Virgogray Press, 2010), Green (MLM, 2010), Looking Beyond (Scars Publications, 2011), The Lighthouse (Scars Publications, 2017),  Lockdown's Over (Scars Publications, 2021), The Alien Buddha Gets a Real Job (Alien Buddha Press, 2021), The Alien Buddha Skips The Party (Alien Buddha Press, 2021), Around the World: Landscapes & Cityscapes: 200 Poems from Poets Around the World (Sweetycat Press, 2021),  Jewels in the Queen's Crown (Sweetycat Press, 2022), and The Gift ( Sweetycat Press, 2022).

Waldman's fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Waldman was also co-editor (with his partner, Diana May-Waldman) of the anthologies Hip Poetry (originally published by Wind Publications, 2012; republished 2019, Blue Lake Review) and Wounds of War: Poets for Peace (originally published in 2006/republished 2019, Blue Lake Review).

He studied fiction writing with Mark Costello and Paul Friedman at the University of Illinois as an undergraduate.

 Mitchell also serves as Fiction Editor for Blue Lake Review (http://bluelakereview.weebly.com).

 

 

Publications & Prizes

Fiction

Anthologies:
Desert Bloom (Scars Publications, 2021)
,
Lockdown's Over (Scars Publications, 2021)
,
The Alien Buddha Gets a Real Job (Alien Buddha Press, 2021)
,
The Light in the Sky (Scars Publications, 2017)
,
The Lighthouse (Scars Publications, 2017)
,
Hip Poetry (Wind Publications, 2011)
,
Looking Beyond (Scars Publications, 2011)
,
Prominent Pen (dirt edition) (Scars Publications, 2011)
,
Green (Midwest Literary Magazine, 2010)
,
Wounds of War: Poets for Peace (Publish America, 2006)
,
Messages from the Universe (iUniverse, 2002)
Books:
Brothers, Fathers, and Other Strangers (Adelaide Books, 2021)
,
Petty Offenses and Crimes of the Heart (Wind Publications, 2011)
,
A Face in the Moon (iUniverse, 2000)
Journals:
(Short) Fiction Collective
,
Academy of the Heart and Mind
,
Adelaide Literary Magazine
,
Ariel Chart
,
Baby Lawn Literature
,
Bewildering Stories
,
Blue Ships Magazine
,
Chamber Magazine
,
CommuterLit.com
,
Connotation Press
,
Corvus Review
, ,
Danse Macabre
,
Down in the Dirt
,
eFiction Magazine
, , ,
Fiction on the Web
, ,
Foliate Oak
,
Fringe Magazine
,
Furtive Dalliance
, ,
Girls with Insurance
,
greatest lakes review
,
Impspired
, ,
Literally Stories
,
Litsnack
,
Long Story Short
, ,
Midwest Literary Magazine
,
Milk Sugar
,
Moronic Ox
,
New Aesthetic
,
Northwest Indiana Literary Journal
,
Potato Soup Journal
, , , ,
Shorelines
,
Short Story Town
,
Spelk
, ,
The Avalon Literary Review
,
The Battered Suitcase
,
The Big Stupid Review
,
The Brooklyn Voice
,
The Cynic Online Magazine
,
The Faircloth Review
,
The Fear of Monkeys
,
The Fine Line
,
The Flash Fiction Press
,
The Foliate Oak Online Literary Magazine
,
The Greensilk Journal
,
The Legendary
,
The Magnolia Review
,
The Piker Press
,
The Poet's Haven
,
trans lit mag
,
Troubadour 21
,
Waterhouse Review
,
Whatever Our Souls
, ,
Wind Magazine
,
Writing Raw
,
X-R-A-Y

Poetry

Anthologies:
The Gift (Sweetycat Press, 2022)
,
 Jewels in the Queen's Crown (Sweetycat Press, 2022)
,
The Alien Buddha Skips the Party (Alien Buddha Press, 2021)
,
America Remembered (Virgogray Press, 2011)
,
Hip Poetry (Wind Publications, 2011)
,
Wounds of War: Poets for Peace (Publish America, 2006)
,
Beyond Lament: Poets of the World Bearing Witness to the Holocaust (Northwestern University Press, 1998)
Journals:
63 Channels
,
Ariel Chart
,
Brown Bag
,
Desperate Act
,
Door is a Jar Magazine
,
Eclectic Flash
,
Five Fishes Journal
,
greatest lakes review
,
Hazmat Review
,
Ink Monkey Magazine
, ,
Malcontent
, ,
Moronic Ox
, ,
Parnassus Literary Journal
,
Poems2go
,
Poet's Page
,
POETALK
,
Poetic Hours
,
Poetpourri
,
Poetry Forum Journal
,
Poetry Motel
, ,
The Advocate
,
The Bond Street Review
,
The Houston Literary Journal
,
The Machinery
,
The Piker Press
,
The Poet's Haven
Prizes won: 

Waldman's fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and has received a First Place award in the 13th Story Fiction Contest.

His short story collection Petty Offenses and Crimes of the Heart was a finalist in the 2015 Bookbzz Prize Writers Competition.

Mitchell's poem "The Cold Swing" was a Pearl Prize winner in Sweetycat Press's Jewels in the Queen's Crown Best of the Best contest, judged as one of the best pieces in the press's prior publications and marked for inclusion in the Press's Jewels in the Queen's Crown anthology, published in 2022.

His story "A Karmic Questioning" was included in the Second Quarterly Review 2023 of Bewildering Stories, highlighting the best stories in the journal for the second quarter of the year.

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors: 
Jonathan Tropper, Sam Lipsyte, Patrick Somerville, Ralph Ellison, T.C. Boyle, Richard Russo, Philip Roth, Larry Brown, Tim O'Brien, Michael Chabon, Joseph Heller, Larry Watson, Steve Yarbrough, Roy Parvin, Lee Clay Johnson, Dave Housely, Sherman Alexie, Don DeLillo, Frederick Barthelme, Victor Ladato, Diana May-Waldman, Perry Glasser, Joyce Carol Oates, Carson McCullers, Paul A. Toth, Lou Gaglia, Hardy Jones, Howard Norman, Mark Costello, Paul Friedman, Ernest Hemingway, Dan Chaon, John Irving, Josh Penzone, Alice Munro

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
Jewish
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Chicago, IL
Illinois
Raised in: 
IL
Illinois
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Feb 29, 2024