Jess Bowers

In a little under two weeks, I’m winging my way back to my old stomping grounds in Baltimore, Maryland for the Association of Writers & Writing Programs’ annual conference and bookfair, held from March 4-7 2026 at the Baltimore Convention Center in the Inner Harbor!

Bookfair attendees can find me at my incredible publisher Santa Fe Writers Project, Booths #527 and #529.

You cannot miss us, in every sense of the phrase. Won’t you stop by and say hi?

Thursday, March 5: 10:00-11:30 AM, EST

Friday, March 6: 1:00-2:30 PM, EST

Saturday, March 7: 10:00-11:00, EST

If you somehow miss me at SFWP’s booth, I’ll also be at Last Syllable‘s booth (#547) from 2:00-3:00 PM on Thursday, March 5 to celebrate my newest short story, “Canis Ex Machina,” which you can read online in the March 2026 issue of Last Syllable, coming out the week of the convention!

But wait, there’s more…!

Thursday night, 7:00 PM at Max’s Taphouse in Fells Point, I’m joining a fabulous lineup of writers for an AWP off-site reading that’s going to knock your socks off!

Mark Jednaszewski! Matthew Pitt! Adam al-Sirgany! Andrew Farkas! William Lessard! Dan Hoyt! Gina Tron! Laura Eppinger! And more, and how! It’s a joint party thrown by SFWP, Whisk(e)y Tit, Alternating Current Press, and KERNPUNKT Press at a brewery–what could be finer?

Anyway, that’s my schedule for the weekend. Hope to see you in Baltimore!

I’m thrilled to announce that the magical Maze Books in Rockford, Illinois has selected HORSE SHOW as their January 2026 book club pick!

To celebrate, I’ll be appearing live (via Zoom) to talk about the book on Thursday, January 29th at 6:30 PM CST.

You should be able to find a link via Maze Books’ website; I’ll post it here as well closer to the date.

Happy New Year!

I’ve been on sabbatical from my day job for the past four months, taking my first real break from teaching in over a decade to write and read and give my cat severe separation anxiety once I have to return to campus on the daily.

This luxury has resulted in some brand-spanking-new short fiction that you’ll be able to read come spring, as my new story “Canis Ex Machina,” which features Edgar Allan Poe, Wonder Woman, and the Brady Bunch (yes, really), has been accepted by Last Syllable for publication in 2026!

In other news, the Associated Writing Programs’ 2026 annual conference is in Baltimore, one of my favorite cities on Earth. I’ll be at the Santa Fe Writers Project/Whisk(e)y Tit/Kernpunkt booth off and on throughout the con, signing/shilling HORSE SHOW.

Stop by, won’t you?

I have things I must tell you about Sigmund Freud and eels.

One of my most-anticipated new books of 2025 is tireless literary champion Adam al-Sirgany’s debut fiction collection, MORE HELL, which will be released by Whisk(e)y Tit Press later this summer!

From the publisher: “In Midwestern flyover country, the stories of More Hell weave a rich and sometimes comic tapestry of longing, addiction, sex, and loss. The wild cast of rural characters navigate a fast-changing world from their vantage point in a place unaccustomed to such change.”

You can pre-order MORE HELL right here, right now!

But I hope that any and all denizens of the Midwest will join us at Maze Books in Rockford, IL at 6:30 PM CST this August 22 to celebrate. I’ll be reading a little something from HORSE SHOW along with Jenna Goldsmith, Don Heneghan, Rachel León, Dave Pedersen, and of course Adam al-Sirgany himself, who will be signing fresh, hot copies of MORE HELL! It’s going to be a blast!

For the latest news on Adam, MORE HELL, and this awesome event, please visit and bookmark https://www.adamalsirgany.com/

Hope to see you there!

I’m thrilled that my undergraduate alma mater, Goucher College, has invited me to be the next guest at the alumni office’s Virtual Author Series, hosted in partnership with the Friends of the Goucher Library!

Held on Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 7:00 PM EST, the program will feature me in conversation with moderator and fellow alum Joey Fink ’15, who is a current Alumnae & Alumni of Goucher College Executive Committee member and a former captain of the Goucher Equestrian Team.

This virtual event is FREE and open to the public, but requires advance registration.

Click here to register and receive the Zoom link that will take you to the event on the day!

A few weeks ago I chatted with fellow author and scholar Amanda Barusch about all things HORSE SHOW! Amanda and I are both fascinated by animal studies, horses, and animal fiction, so she was a fantastic conversation partner!

By way of introduction, Amanda writes: “When I first heard about the book on the radio, I was intrigued. I grew up with horses and have never let go of their fascination. What I discovered in this book was far more than traditional equestrian fiction like Black Beauty. The thirteen stories in this collection unearth forgotten moments of American history and reimagine them with dark humor, deep empathy, and unflinching honesty. Through carnival attractions, crime scenes, and circus acts, Bowers explores the complex relationship between humans and horses—partners who together built the modern world, only for one to be left behind. Some stories break your heart, others make you laugh, and the best somehow manage to do both.”

You can read our wide-ranging conversation right here at Amanda’s blog, Swagger & Ink, where she’s also recently featured interviews with authors Katy Betts Adams and Talia Lakshmi Kolluri!

This week, a glowing review of Horse Show by poet Jenn Blair appeared in Virginia Commonwealth University’s Blackbird: an online journal of literature and the arts!

From the review: “Jess Bowers’s short story collection Horse Show (Santa Fe Writers Project, 2024) invites readers to visit “that little golden age between the horse and the automobile, when we still had wonder” (14), even as its narrators puncture the tableaus they artfully weave by pulling back the curtain on the strings and pulleys continually whirring outside the proffered frame.”

Check out the full review right here at Blackbird, then head over to bookshop.org to snag your copy of Horse Show!