Another year, another Literary LEO.
This year, the entries brought something that we havent seen enough of in recent years: a tilt toward the feminine, in tone, submissions, and the deep tenderness in the entries. It was a kind year for choosing winners and honorable mentions, as we were highly impressed with the quality of the work.
We hope that youll agree and make plans to send your own voice to the magazine for the next Literary LEO.
As usual, there are the categories were all used to: Poems, Short Fiction, Cartoons, and Photography, both Black & White and Color.
The stories span experiences, settings, and tone, but they all share something that were all looking for: a way to connect to our experiences. We look for meaning, feeling, and understanding in so many places, and one of the ways literature helps us is by putting that experience into words and giving our humanity form.
The poems, likewise, speak to a world where we are trying to make sense. Sometimes its making sense of loss, and at other times we are seeking to understand the experience of existence.
The writers in this years Literary LEO have beautifully captured a span of these moments, and were exceptionally proud to share them with our readers.
Likewise, in our Photography categories, we saw a range of artists keen on deeply observing the objects, life, and world around them. Photography is art created to look. It feeds our voyeuristic nature. We see the world in a particular way, in light or darkness, shadows or shade, and the photography entries this year gave us all of those things. In the Cartoon category, were seeing growth in the number of entries, but we definitely would like to see more next year. Louisville has an amazing number of artists, and perhaps, instead of only cartoons, we might need to broaden our category to 2-D visual art. At the same time, Louisville has an amazing number of cartoon, webtoon, and comics creators that wed love to see in this category. We chose winners, and were happy that they chose to share their work with us. We want more of you next year.
With that said, here are the winners!
Color Photography:
Black and White Photography:
Cartoons:
This article appears in March 1, 2023.