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The Anthology
Check out The Literal Latte Anthology — great selections from our first 15 years!
Readers’ Comments
- On "Birding by Ear": Excellent piece. I loved the tension, and the rhythm. As well as the juxtaposition of the ages, both the husband and the teacher, and the... – Christine Nichols
May 15 - On "Birding by Ear": That last line and image is wonderful, as is the entire poem. I like its rhythm, partly gliding, partly flitting. – Amy Holman
May 10 - On "Mistletoe": My dear Mr. Flythe Jr.You won't remember, but back in the late 70s when I was a beginning writer, you sent me personal comments on... – Eve Ott
Apr 24 - On "Kritios Boy": Thank you so much for your comment, Mickie! It really touched me, and made me go back and look at the piece again. I wish... – Nancy Ludmerer
Apr 23 - On "Kritios Boy": This is essay was absolutely beautiful. I got so caught into the rawness, the realness, of your story that I was taken miles and years... – Mickie
Apr 23 - On "Rule of Snowman": Hi Steve its Dave – David Siugzda
Apr 15 - On "Luffing": Your essay is enthralling! The family dynamics are so keenly observed and spread out before the reader, that we understand the crucial relationships. I grew... – Marylin Schultz
Mar 17 - On "Mistaken Identity": .....we are all of a closet, one way, one time or another ..the nature of the beast...how it turns out in life,, depends on one's... – david bates
Mar 04
- On "Birding by Ear": Excellent piece. I loved the tension, and the rhythm. As well as the juxtaposition of the ages, both the husband and the teacher, and the... – Christine Nichols
Leslie Rodd
Latte Contributor
Author Archives: Leslie Rodd
A fiction writer and recently retired public librarian, Leslie Rodd graduated from the San Francisco State University (SFSU) Creative Writing Program in 1990 with an M.A., and holds degrees in English (B.A. 1971) and Library Science (M.A. 1974) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Leslie Rodd spent her professional life promoting books and reading to all manner and ages of people, from children to the elderly, from the Braille-reading blind to the barely literate sharecropper in the library literacy programs and the prostitutes in county jails, and became a writer working on her craft on Saturday mornings. It is only in early retirement that she has had time to devote quality time to fiction writing.
Leslie has won The Wilner Award for Excellence in Fiction from SFSU and The Hackney Award for Short Fiction from Birmingham Southern University, and her novel, Good Mother Lizard, was a quarterfinalist for the 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. She has had fiction published in Transfer Magazine (SFSU), The Sun Magazine, and Cyanosis.
"The Philosophers Club" is part of a work-in-progress, a linked short story collection about a blind jazz musician.
The Philosophers Club
First Prize, 2010 Literal Latte Fiction Award.
In the shadows of early afternoon, on a day of breakthroughs, I’m standing with Smitty and Sonya in front of the Kansas Asylum for the Insane in Topeka, where we’ve come to visit Monica. It’s June, 1940. We graduated from high school last week — our ceremony cancelled because of the tragedy — and already we’re feeling old.