Dear Readers & Authors, 

There is nothing else that I dread more than deciding who gets nominated for an award. It is not an easy job, you see. It is not like I could mark some pieces and decide which one gets the highest score. 

That is why it took me more than two weeks to get to the final nomination list. First, I chose the pieces that pulled at my heart's strings the most. Then, because I could not cull the number down to six, I embraced the coward's way out: I wrote the names on pieces of paper, put them in a hat, and extracted six. 

These six are excellent poets and writers. They deserve congratulations and applauds. You are among the best the literary world could offer. 

However, in my heart, all of you, dear writers and poets, are winners. You deserve this and even more than that. May you have the best chance to win! 

Without further ado, these are Scarlet Leaf's Review Nominations:

Zach Klebaner  with the poem Love's Ledge 
      https://www.scarletleafreview.com/poems30/zach-klebaner-poems

Michael Lee Johnson with the poem Flower Girl
     https://www.scarletleafreview.com/poems43/category/michael-lee-johnson

Thulisile Ngomane with the poem Coffee
      https://www.scarletleafreview.com/poems50/category/thulisile-ngomane

Jamar Jackson with the poem Bloom, Rose
      https://www.scarletleafreview.com/poems20/category/jamar-jackson

Laura Narvaez with the short-story Good Bones
       https://www.scarletleafreview.com/short-stories22/category/laura-narvaez

Robert P. Bishop with the short-story A Home in the Country
      https://www.scarletleafreview.com/short-stories22/category/robert-p-bishop


​Once more: Congratulations!

​Dear Readers and Authors,

I would like to thank you for your patience and your kind words. Many of you have sent encouraging emails, and I appreciated every single one of them. I am very grateful for your kindness and empathy. 

It has been a long wait for you and laborious work for me, but finally, the Aug-Sep issue of Scarlet Leaf Review is live. 

I had a lot of work to do for my full-time job, and it took me even fourteen, sixteen hours per day. I did not have the strength of mental alertness to do anything else. Last night at about one a.m., I finally finished with the documents I had to prepare for my department. Consequently, today, I could work on the magazine. 

The good news is that the issue is filled up with thrilling and captivating stories and poems. You will enjoy a good read.

The bad news is that Weebly has been acting more than usual. Please, don't panic if you notice that your story or poem is not there (or worse, it appears under someone else's name). Write to me, and I will solve the problem. 

I have had the surprise to notice that even photos have been mixed. I changed the ones that I remembered, but I am not sure I remembered every face. So, don't get mad, just let me know. 

 Don't forget: if you hover with your mouse over Aug-Sep, you will see the drop-down menu with poems, short stories, and non-fiction. 

To find an author, look for their name under the categories. It is on the right side of the page. 

We thank all the authors who published with us. We especially thank them for their patience and understanding. 

Dear readers, we do hope that you will enjoy this issue. I know I did. 

Kind regards, 
Roxana Nastase