iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Very excited to teach this online class this Nov: "Getting your Hands Dirty: Craft Challenges to Level Up Your Fiction" We'll talk about play and voice and getting unstuck and learning by doing and trying (over and over). writersdigestuniversity.mykajabi.com/getting-your...

Class poster for an online writing class: Getting Your Hands Dirty: Craft Challenges to Level Up Your Fiction (all details included at link in post)

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Look what i found at my writing residency at the porches! @writesloud.bsky.social

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

This Nov you can find me at the Louisiana Book Fest (11/1 in Baton Rouge, @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social annual gala, @bookbanterbooks.bsky.social and Words & Music Fest! Details and links at www.margueritesheffer.com/events

Event poster (info in post) and the cover of The Man in the Banana Trees

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

Excited to be joining the Words and Music Festival this year: "Suspend All Disbelief: Magical Realism and Speculative Fiction" www.eventbrite.com/e/suspend-al... With amazing authors @literarydesiree.bsky.social @bryancamp.bsky.social & @deecherrywriter.bsky.social 2 pm, Nov 21

Poster for the Words and Music Festival 2025 pane (see info in post) showing photos of the 4 authors: Marguerite Sheffer, Danny Cherry Jr, Bryan Camp, and Desiree S. Evans.

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

Weds 9/10 pm: I will be reading a werid horror story from THE MAN IN THE BANANA TREES on @storyhour.bsky.social 9 pm CST / 7 pm Pacific - Free! www.storyhour2020.com With hosts @pronouncedlahra.bsky.social @danmarcus.bsky.social and co-reader @jenniferbrozek.bsky.social ! 🦞

Poster for Story Hour: Livestream Speculative Readings, Hosted by Daniel Marcus and Laura Blackwell: Sept 10, 7:00 PM PDT. Shows pictures of the 2 authors: Jennifer Brozek and Marguerite Sheffer. Link to http://www.storyhour2020.com

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

I'm one of the @gambitweekly.bsky.social 40-under-40 this year! A surreal honor, and a pleasure to highlight the work of @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social Friends and writers @deecherrywriter.bsky.social (Third Lantern lit Prez) and @annelllopez.bsky.social are also in this year's group!

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

Selling books for about the next hour at #readercon, then again tomorrow 1 to 3 👾 @readercon.org

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

Happy Saturday #readercon, here's where I'll be speaking and schmoozing And excited to check out panels, hoping to make time loops, orpheus and eurydice (!) And more @readercon.org

Image schedule for marguerite sheffer at Readercon (all available on the conf site too!)

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

And Aug 20 + 27, virtually teaching with @cecordasco.bsky.social for Write or Die: "Drafting as Play / Revision as Experimentation" writeordiemag.com/workshops/p/...

image for class "Drafting as Play / Revisions as Experimentation" with Write or Die - August 20 + 27. More details at Write or Die

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Then, for 4 weeks, teaching GENRE BOOTCAMP: Cross-Training with Genre Exploration with the incredible Tierney Oberhammer for The Porch (online, Weds nights) www.porchtn.org/class/genre-...

screenshot of class description (available at link in post) for GENRE BOOTCAMP at the Porch

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

A bunch of writerly stuff coming up in July + August. First off, Readercon this weekend! @readercon.org

Marguerite Sheffer's Readercon Schedule (details available here https://schedule.readercon.org/people/305b1bb9-805b-4148-afac-19273768210c)

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Tonight @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social is putting on a free Fantasy and Fairy Tale generative workship, led by @bopgoth.bsky.social ! 6-8 pm, in person at BK Historic House. FREE / NO RSVP - just come through if you like!

Poster for FANTASY WRITING WORKSHOP: "A Page to Stage Event, led by Adrian Van Young" - Tuesday July 1, 6-8 pm, BK Historic House

The poster shows a white unicorn standing in a field of flowers.

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Excited to be heading to my first Readercon July 18-20 (@readercon.org) to talk horror, the weird, flash fiction, climate apocalypse, and writing as therapy with so many amazing writers (below -- too many for one post!)

Marguerite Sheffer's Readercon 2025 Schedule:
Friday 7/18
Horror and the Weird: 3pm, Salon G/H
Meet the Pros(e): 10:15pm, Salon F

Saturday 7/19
Kaffeeklatsch: 10am, Suite 830
What Works in Flash Fiction: 12 pm, Salon G/H

Sunday, 7/20
Fictions of Climate Apocalypse: 10 am, Salon F
The Body (of Work) Keeps the Score: Writing as Therapy (2): 11 am, Salon 1/J

And the cover of THE MAN IN THE BANANA TREES (short story collection) by Marguerite Sheffer

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

New Orleans! Please join me in celebrating @ericarstern.bsky.social 's book release @bluecypressbooks.bsky.social, next Weds, June 18, 6:30 pm! FRONTIER is a beautiful and thrilling ride about birth, the unexpected, and the wild frontiers. I love it. From @barrelhouse.bsky.social books.

Book event banner featuring "An Evening with Erica Stern in Conversation with Marguerite Sheffer" at Blue Cypress Books, Weds June 18 6:30 pm New Orleans - and the book cover of her debut memoir FRONTIER

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Lovely time at the Bay Area Book Fest. Thanks to @janeciab.bsky.social for hosting and so great to speak with @anitafelicelli.bsky.social, Hon Lai-Chu, and @jacqlyy.bsky.social about spec fic! Check out their weird and wonderful books, HOW WE KNOW OUR TIME TRAVELERS and MENDING BODIES

Book covers for MENDING BODIES by Hon Lai-Chu (translated by Jacqueline Leung), HOW WE KNOW OUR TIME TRAVELERS by Anita Felicelli, and THE MAN IN THE BANANA TREES by Marguerite Sheffer

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

My notebook is full of big ideas and rabbit holes: thank you @deecherrywriter.bsky.social and @maryannaise.bsky.social for talking with @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social writers about activism, journalism, climate and conspiracies to obscure the truth. For a dark talk, i laughed a lot!

Writers Mary Annaise Heglar and Danny Cherry Jr in animated conversation

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Bay Area! I'm going to be IN you May 30-June 3 for the Bay Area Book Festival On the panel "Stories of Tomorrow: Speculative Fiction" with @anitafelicelli.bsky.social, Hon Lai Chu, @jacqlyy.bsky.social, moderated by @janeciab.bsky.social 12:30 Sunday, June 1 www.baybookfest.org/session/stor...

Poster for the session described in the post: "Stories of Tomorrow: Speculative Fiction" at the Bay Area Book Fest, Hotel Shattuck Plaza, Sunday June 1 at 12:30 pm

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

Back from NYC where we celebrated THE MAN IN THE BANANA TREES as a PEN America 2025 Finalist for Debut Short Story Collection Thanks to the Univ of Iowa Press for this incredible graphic (like, wow!) and congrats to other finalists and @amystuber.com + SAD GROWNUPS for winning the big prize 🥳 !!

Graphic showing the cover of THE MAN IN THE BANANA TREES by Marguerite Sheffer surrounded by characters and images reflecting the short stories within the collection, and announcing the collection as a Finalist for a 2025 PEN AMERICA Literary Award.

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Today is GiveNOLA day and @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social just passed the halfway mark! Thanks to everyone who has been sharing, supporting, and otherwise cheerleading our small-but-mighty collective of New Orleans Writers www.givenola.org/organization...

GiveNOLA graphic showing $1533 of $3000 goal, via 23 donations.

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

Thank you to everyone who has been sharing + supporting @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social for Give NOLA Day! We are nearing halfway to our goal, and the big day is tomorrow. We hope to keep hosting free meetups and peer-peer learning for writers in New Orleans! www.givenola.org/organization...

circle graph showing $1287 raised (of $3000 goal) via 18 donations for GiveNOLA Day 2025

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

And thanks to those who have already donated! www.givenola.org/organization...

donation graph from GiveNOLA Day showing $236 from 5 donations (of $3000 goal)

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

THE MAN IN THE BANANA TREES is a finalist for the @penamerica.bsky.social / Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection. Thank you to the judges and congrats to all the other finalists and their awesome collections!

Screenshot of PEN finalist announcement, including covers of Softie, I'll Give You a Reason, Japa, The Man in the Banana Trees, and Sad Grownups

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Then signing at the University of Iowa Press booth from 2 to 3 (№ 825) #awp2025 . Come chat!

Cover of The Man in the Banana Trees and text from post

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Today at at AWP! "Unapologetically Uncanny & Unsettling: Bending Reality in Short Fiction" with @lenavalencia.bsky.social @crsutton.bsky.social @cleoqian.bsky.social and Anjali Sachdeva. #awp2025 12:10 to 1:25 rm 403A

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

I will be at #AWP2025 talking weird fiction with @cleoqian.bsky.social @lenavalencia.bsky.social @crsutton.bsky.social and Anjali Sachdeva! "Unaplogetically Uncanny & Unsettling: Bending Reality in Short Fiction" - Fri March 28 12:10-1:25 pm Room 403A, Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two

Flyer for AWP 2025 panel: Los Angeles AWP Panel: Unapologetically Uncanny & Unsettling: Bending Reality in Short Fiction with Anjali Sachdeva, Cleo Qian, Chelsea Sutton & Lena Valencia (Friday, 12:10 p.m. – 1:25 p.m. PT, Room 403A, Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two)

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

A week from today I'm reading with @annelllopez.bsky.social and Vanessa Saunders at my beloved New Orleans Public Library! 5:30 at the Latter branch on St. Charles Ave, Weds March 19

Poster advertising the Author Night: Local Women Authors. "Three New Orleans authors read fiction selections from their debut books. Marguerite Sheffer: The Man in the Banana Trees. Annell Lopez: I'll Give You a Reason. Vanessa Saunders : The Flat Woman. Weds, March 19 5:30, Latter Library 5120 St. Charles Ave.

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Excited to be reading with local luminaries @annelllopez.bsky.social and @postcardsfrmv.bsky.social at the New Orleans Public Library on March 19 hooray for debut 📚

event poster showing three author photos: Annell Lopez, Vanessa Saunders, and Marguerite Sheffer. Event details: Author Night: Local Women Authors, Weds March 19, 5:30 pm at Norman Mayer Library (New Orleans), 3001 Gentilly Blvd.

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

ENTER GHOST by Isabella Hammad is incredible. A truly mind expanding book, for me.

The book cover of Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad. It shows the shadow of a woman holding a flower (in a black and white photo of what seems to be a wall)

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

Got my copy of @cincinnatireview.bsky.social--My story, "In the Style of Miriam Ackerman," about art, AI, and family, is inside the beautiful issue in great company!

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

I did a "10 questions" interview with the wonderful @themassreview.bsky.social-- my essay "Wire Nanosecond" appears in the most recent issue www.massreview.org/node/12191#o...

Cover of The Massachusetts Review, featuring an illustration of a fire in a woods with two figures and a goat around it.

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

I'll be at the New Orleans Book Fair this Saturday slinging books and talking up @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social With Vanessa Saunders, Annell Lopez, and Kayla Min Andrews...and I should have copies of THE PIKE BOYS by @deecherrywriter.bsky.social too!

poster for the New Orleans Book Fair along with book covers for THE MAN IN THE BANANA TREES, THE FETISHIST, THE FLAT WOMAN, I'LL GIVE YOU A REASON, and THE PIKE BOYS

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

It was an honor to talk to my own ride-or-die writing buddy for Write or Die Magazine. @cecordasco.bsky.social thank you for the conversation! writeordiemag.com/author-inter...

A pull quote from an interview with Marguerite Sheffer (in Write or Die Magazine): "The 'Aha!' is that you don't need a book deal for your writing life to be real or worthwhile. If I had succumbed to those doubts, the book never would've existed."

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

CHICAGO! In one week, I'm celebrating the launch of my short story collection, The Man in the Banana Trees with incredible author @finejuli.bsky.social at The Book Cellar. 7 pm on Dec 3! www.bookcellarinc.com/marguerite-s...

Author photos of Marguerite Sheffer and Julia Fine, alongside the cover of THE MAN IN THE BANANA TREES

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

I had a great time making a playlist for Large Hearted Boy, with the songs behind the stories in my collection THE MAN IN THE BANANA TREES. Very moody stuff. largeheartedboy.com/2024/11/05/m...

The book cover of THE MAN IN THE BANANA TREES by Marguerite Sheffer: pink lighting, a cracked snow globe, a lobster, a yellow ribbon, and a banana blossom in a eerie still-life.

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

NYC - I'm thrilled to be part of a group reading at the Center for Fiction tomorrow (Sunday 11/17) at 5 pm with The Literary Saloon! with @megg-bean.bsky.social, Andrew Wells, and Aida Zilelian; hosted by Wesley Straton! Come through for weird short fiction and writerly and readerly community

Image of four writers and event info (see post)

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

I've been making my way through the Booker nominees, and THE SAFEKEEP blew me away. I'm talking it up to everybody! Have you read it?! Don't read the jacket copy, just go in cold, is my recommendation.

The cover of THE SAFEKEEP on a table next to a breakfast sandwich

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 10/11/2024

And on Sunday 11/17 I'm part of a group reading at the Literary Saloon at the Center for Fiction, 5pm! centerforfiction.org/event/the-li... Hope to see you there

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 10/11/2024

NEW YORK ❤️ Two THE MAN IN THE BANANA TREES events in Brooklyn coming up next week: On Weds night 11/13 I get to talk with Julia Phillips at the Bookmark Shoppe - 7pm! bookmarkshoppe.com/event/2024-1...

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 29/08/2024

Amazing review of THE MAN IN THE BANANA TREES is up at Shelf Awareness shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?i...

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 26/06/2024

I'm not on here much, but wanted to share that my first story collection comes out Nov 5! DM if you are interested in reviewing or interviewing me re: THE MAN IN THE BANANA TREES and I can get you a digital galley

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 25/11/2023

This story was scary to write, and I'm so glad it found a loving home in Epiphany Lit Mag! "Tiger on My Roof" is out in the Fall / Winter issue, and check out the gorgeous cover! epiphanyzine.com

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 02/11/2023

I have a new short short about ice cream and climate out in the beautiful Issue 02 of Small World City - 🍦🔥 Here: smallworldcity.com/Pantheon-of-...

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 23/10/2023

I’ve always dreamed of walking into a bookstore and finding my stories inside, and yesterday I got to stroll into Barnes and Noble and pick up the Nov/Dec issue of @asimovssfmag.bsky.social Thank you to the team there--what an honor to be among so many amazing stories!

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 21/10/2023

Weekend work in progress, and a changing pad

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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 16/10/2023

New flash fiction piece up at The Cosmic Background! This one is about violence and hope. Thank you to Sam Asher and @lpkindred.bsky.social for picking this piece and ushering it into the world! thecosmicbackground.com/stories/marg... And check out this stunning art!

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