Books / Recent Publications / Anthologies: Where to find/how to purchase:

U.S. and Them: the Re-enchantment of a Cold War Childhood
  memoir--scheduled for release in 2016 by Alamo Bay, Austin

Missouri Review,  "U.S. and Them"
M.R. v.i.Prose, "U.S. and Them"
Prime Numbers Magazine,  "Almost Happy, 1972"
Ceders, Autumn, "A Taste of The Cold War"
Palooka Journal,  "A Countdown for Leaving"
Press 53: Prime Number - Editors' Selections Issue, "Almost Happy"
Sou'Wester Journal: Women Writers Rock Issue,  "Just Like on Television"
2013 JEFFREY E. SMITH EDITORS' PRIZE, FINALIST  "Champs and Chumps"

On the role of writers and readers: The real work of a writer takes audacity. Good writing is tempered by humility. There is no one path to the truth of any story. Form and perspective speak to the art and the soul of the storyteller as well as the reader. As Readers: We should never abdicate our responsibility to asses the truth and the merit of anything we read--and as Whitman says, "dismiss whatever insults our own soul." Above all, we must never lose sight of one's humanity--especially when it's most difficult to see.

Patricia Bjorklund  earned a B.A. and M.S. from Southern Connecticut State University and M.F.A. in Creative Writing from UNC Wilmington. Her memoir U.S. and Them: A Re-enchantment of a Cold War childhood is under contract with Alamo Bay, Austin and scheduled for publication in 2016. The memoir is set in Bridgeport, Connecticut during the tumultuous late 1960’s; it is a red, white and true blue collar story about growing up under constant fear of doomsday. This is where Soul Train meets bomb shelter, one family's struggle to be happy as they measure the time until Apocalypse by their watches.  The essay "Champs and Chumps" was chosen finalist for the 2013 Jeffrey E. Smith Editors' Prize.  A chapter of U.S. and Them earned a spot as finalist for the 2012 Dana Award. The title chapter is published in the Missouri Review; others chapters appear in Press 53: Prime Numbers Magazine, Editors' Selections, Palooka, and Sou'Wester.  Additional publications include Connecticut Review, Post Road and Wilma! Wilmington’s Magazine for Women. She's worked as managing editor of Folio Magazine, prose editor for Aries and Editorial Assistant for Ecotone. She is the director of the Downtown Writer's Workshop in historic Wilmington, North Carolina.

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