An Interview with Author Richard Chavez

Author Richard Chavez is a former Marine who retired from a 35-year career in Air Traffic Control. His debut novel, Hijo Del Barrio: Son of the Barrio (Palmetto Publishing, January 2026), depicts “a young Hispanic’s life in the barrio” and offers a “hard-hitting description of Marines and the atrocities and agony that they experienced in the Vietnam War.” Look for Rick on his SouthWest Writers’




An Interview with Authors Chris Allen and Paul J. Knight

SouthWest Writers’ member Chris Allen and her husband Paul J. Knight are both award-winning authors whose individual work can be found in a variety of publications. Chris holds a master’s degree in archaeology and began her writing career as a technical writer before expanding into more creative storytelling.




An Interview with Author N. J. Schrock

Author, artist, and teacher Nancy Schrock (writing as N. J. Schrock) is a retired corporate researcher with degrees in chemistry and English who has published across genres. Her newest release, Morning of a Crescent Moon (Indigo River Publishing,




An Interview with Author Diana Lee

Author and artist Diana Lee comes from a “wordy clan” of writers. Though she has always written, it wasn’t until retirement that she found the time to pursue a career in storytelling. Her newest novel is Blood on the Ball (October 2025),




An Interview with Author Kathleen A. Hessler

Kathleen A. Hessler is an attorney, retired registered nurse, and author. She spent most of her legal career representing long-term care providers while navigating her own mother’s journey with early-onset Alzheimer’s. Her dual careers and specialized knowledge have earned her national recognition as a speaker at premier healthcare and legal conferences.




2026 Call for Submissions: SWW Annual Writing Contest

The SouthWest Writers (SWW) annual writing competition is now open for submissions.

All writers, new and experienced, are welcome to enter the contest.

Contestants don’t have to be members of SWW or live in the Southwest to participate.




An Interview with Linda Bairstow

Linda Bairstow is an educator, a retired preschool teacher, and an author whose writing is a hybrid of verse and poetic essays. Her 2025 release from Sunstone Press, Catch a Twinkle: A Foreverness of Life in Verse,




Author Update: Sherri L. Burr

Sherri L. Burr is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, and the Yale Law School. Following her retirement from a decades-long career as a full-time law professor, she became the Dickason Chair and Regents Professor of Law Emerita at the University of New Mexico.




SWW’s 2026 Writing Contest Opens May 1

The annual SouthWest Writers (SWW) writing competition opens for submissions on May 1, 2026.

Hey AI, tell me a story in the style of…STOP! STOP! STOP! No one wants to hear an artificial story imitating the work of someone else,




An Interview with Author James C. Wilson

James C. Wilson is Emeritus Professor of English and Journalism at the University of Cincinnati and a former journalist for two Santa Fe newspapers. He is also the author of more than twenty books, both fiction and nonfiction.




In Archive