This online journal celebrates the diverse voices from Laguna Writers, Birdland Retreats and workshops.

We are excited to present Place Setting, our lushest issue to date, with seventeen transporting  stories and poems. Travel with us into homes, neighborhoods, the countryside, a castle. Visit a cloister in Umbria; Salinas of past centuries; the scene of a mystery; the avenues of the human heart. One poem will place you right here in Birdland.

Our writers are: Christopher P. DeLorenzo, Daniel Raskin, Ken Linton,  Matthew Abergel, Camilla Newhagen, Chris McClean, David Wakely, Priscilla Jayne, John Estes, Kenneth Caldwell, Katie Cofer, Ann Kim, Sally Elesby, Marilynn Meisenheimer, Dani Cirignano, Kalpa Bhattacharjee.

Readers, we invite and appreciate your comments on the pieces in this issue, and hope you are moved to share them with others via the social media icons below each story or poem. Writers and readers, we thank all of you for your participation and ongoing interest and support.

The next issue, Talk to Me, will be published in the Fall/Winter. We will be looking for pieces rich with dialogue. The submission deadline and publishing date will be announced. Until then, submissions will be accepted at any time. See our submission guidelines.

Birdland Journal archives since October 2014 are available on this page.

Since 2009, Birdland Retreats in West Sonoma, California, has been hosting retreats and workshops. Visit www.savorsmith.com/birdland to see upcoming offerings.

We hope Birdland Journal inspires you to write, and to join our growing community of writers!

— Sharon H. Smith, Editor      Merijane Block, Copy Editor