In Winter

Sketches of Newtown will go to press in mid-January. This 92-page monograph comes from an Alabama Bicentennial Commission-funded student project. The book contains ten short student-written, student-edited sketches (essays) about aspects of Newtown and its history, a selected bibliography, a color photo insert, and summaries of the oral histories collected in February 2019. A delivery date in mid- to late February is expected. 

Also in January, the first works will be published in the new online anthology Nobody’s Home: Modern Southern Folklore. The first reading period for submissions lasted from October 1 through December 15. Submitting writers received their responses during the last week of December.

level:deepsouth will continue to accept submissions about growing up Generation X in the Deep South in the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s. 

In early March, Foster will be a presenting author at the Monroeville Literary Festival. The plans for whether that will be in-person or livestreamed is still up in the air.

Right before the spring equinox, on March 15, the winners of the Fitzgerald Museum’s third annual Literary Contest will be announced. This year’s theme has been “The Education of a Personage,” which comes from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1921 debut novel This Side of Paradise. This year’s judges are Ashley M. Jones and Alina Stefanescu.

Then, in Spring

In March, the second batch of works will be published in Nobody’s Home, and the third reading period will begin. May 15 will mark the end of that third reading period. 

March will also mark the one-year anniversary for level:deepsouth, which will continue to accept submissions about growing up Generation X in the Deep South in the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s. 

Later, in Summer

In June, the third batch of works will be published in Nobody’s Home. At that point, the final reading period will have begun, and it will last until August 15.

In July, Foster will deliver the first draft of his book-length manuscript about Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School, formerly St. Mary’s of Loretto School. The project, which got underway in 2019, will commemorate the school’s 150th anniversary in 2023 with a summative account of its history. No release date has been set, as that anniversary is still two years away.

In August, the theme for the Fitzgerald Museum’s fourth annual Literary Contest will be announced. This student contest accepts submission from September 1 until December 31 each year. 

Finally, in early August, Foster will begin his 19th year in the classroom when the 2021 – 2022 school year opens— hopefully in-person!

Finally, in Fall

In September, the fourth and final batch of works will be published in the Nobody’s Home. At that point, the Literary Arts Fellowship will end, as the next round of fellows begin their projects in October. Once the anthology is complete, the project will enter a new phase that will consist of sharing and promoting the works.