New Anthology Published, Edited by Kathy Curto Creative Writing Professor and includes two MSU alum!

From the press release: We’re all familiar with waiting for something, whether it’s the results of a diagnostic test or simply for the workday to end. What makes waiting at once universal and wholly unique? Is waiting a skill worth the effort of developing? Is waiting an experience with its own lessons? What does it mean to wait?

Writer and teacher Kathy Curto began pondering such questions in the throes of grief after she found herself waiting for her dead mother to walk inside the house they had once shared. Bewildered and searching, she seized on the idea of asking other writers along with poets and artists to join her in exploring the peculiar agony of waiting.

The result is What Are You Waiting For? An Anthology (Motina Books; July 21, 2026). Compiled and edited by Kathy Curto, this thoughtful collection features a diverse group of voices—twenty-nine men and women of various ages, races, ethnicities, gender identities, backgrounds, lifestyles, and credentials—on the topic of waiting. Some are well-known, award-winning writers and artists; others are emerging talents, never before published. Their contributions include deeply personal essays, poems, artwork, stories, including a few in graphic form, and even a playlist. While eclectic in scope and perspective, the selections all capture the essence of waiting in a way that will resonate with readers and perhaps make them feel less alone as they wait for… whatever.

“Waiting is murky business, fraught with emotional ups and downs and twists and turns,” observes contributor Kate Sweeny, a professor of psychology who has done extensive research on the stressful experience of awaiting important news. Yet, as other contributors convey, waiting can also take the form of eager anticipation, such as waiting for a long-planned vacation or a holiday to unwrap presents. Drawing on what she has learned about waiting over the nearly three years she invested in creating this anthology.

About the Editor
Kathy Curto is the author of Not for Nothing—Glimpses into a Jersey Girlhood (Bordighera Press, 2018). She teaches writing at Montclair State University, The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College, and various public libraries and community centers in the New York metropolitan area. She is co-founder of Key to the Castle Workshop and serves on the board of the Italian American Writers Association. She lives in the Hudson Valley.

Contact Information:
Diane Windsor, Publisher, Motina Books, LLC
303-668-0440
www.MotinaBooks.com
Diane@MotinaBooks.com