Heartland Review Press to host literary reading, art show
Published on Mar 26, 2026
The Heartland Review Press will host a literary reading and art show from 4 to 6 p.m. April 8 in the Morrison
Gallery at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College. The event is free and open
to the community.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate writers and artists and to develop connections within the local arts community,” said The Heartland Review Press Editor in Chief Amy Fox-Angerer. “We’re looking forward to recognizing talented artists on our college campus, in our community and beyond.”
The Heartland Review Press, with support from sponsors Fleck Law Firm and Life Force Wellness Center, both in Elizabethtown, will unveil the Spring 2026 edition of its literary journal, The Heartland Review. The journal features more student writing and visual art than ever before, including the cover art, a painting by ECTC student Olivea Amos.
ECTC student artwork will be on display as part of a Morrison Gallery exhibition that runs from March 30 to May 1.
Addison Blankenship, a homeschooled high school senior and dual credit student of Bardstown, is among the event’s readers. A former dancer and now a visual artist who enjoys watercolor, gouache and acrylic paint, Blankenship won the ECTC English department’s annual writing contest with her creative nonfiction essay about the role of the arts in her life and community. While shocked and grateful to win, she said, the contest appealed to her immediately.
“The arts have always been a place for me to express myself, and I’ve always been able to turn to the arts to figure things out,” she said.
The Heartland Review also includes the work of the 2026 winners of the Joy Bale Boone Poetry Prize.
First place was awarded to Hollie Dugas for “Frida’s Plaster Corset.” Dugas, a New Mexico poet, has work in numerous literary journals and has won the Lois Cranston Memorial Poetry Prize and the Heartwood Poetry Prize. Her honors include a Pushcart nomination and finalist status in the Atlanta Review's 2022 contest.
Second place was awarded to Garrett Stack for “Postcards.” Stack lives and works in the Midwest, and his poetry books include “Yeoman's Work” and the forthcoming “Advice for the Boys.”
Third place was awarded to Sue Churchill for “Today We are Not at the Hospital.” Churchill raises sheep on Thistle's End Farm in Central Kentucky. Her poems have appeared in Literary Accents, Jelly Bucket and The Appalachian Review. Her chapbook, “Toward the Fold,” was published by Workhorse Writers in 2020.
Stack and Churchill also will be reading at the Heartland Review Press event.
To learn more about The Heartland Review Press, visit ectc.us/heartland-review.
