Working with Literary Magazines: A Panel Discussion with HotchPotch

About Heather Pagano, Gail Marlene Schwartz, and Pam Tournier

Hotch Potch Literature and Art began in 2020 during the pandemic: five creatives launched the online journal in hopes of building a community of writers and artists. What makes Hotch Potch unique is the group’s collective structure and focus on artistic excellence through collaboration. With each issue, HP invites guest artists to contribute images which guest writers use as story prompts. While this is happening, the art editor blocks out the journal and provides illustrations for each story. At the end of six months, the journal goes live. HP will be launching its eighth issue on October 18th of 2025. Over the past five years, the staff has grown to seven, with over 100 guest writers, 15 guest artists, and more than 2,000 downloads. HP publishes short fiction of all lengths, from drabbles to flash to 10,000-word stories. About Heather Pagano After growing up in small town Iowa, Heather Pagano studied classical trombone in Upstate New York. She then went on to live in Italy and in New York City. She now lives in Silicon Valley, California with her husband and two sons. Her fantasy and science fiction have appeared in publications like Abyss & Apex and Bewildering Stories. Her Analphabecy Chronicles novellas are available on Amazon. She is a contributing editor at Hotch Potch Literature & Art. She writes about books, writing, and parenting on heatherpagano.substack.com. You can also find Heather at heatherpagano.com. About Gail Marlene Schwartz Gail Marlene Schwartz is a queer mom, a dual citizen, and pickleball champion of her household. She is co-editor of the anthology Boyhood Reimagined: Stories of Queer Moms Parenting Sons (Motina Books), a #1 New Release on Amazon, and her adult novel, Falling Through the Night (Demeter Press), which won the National Indie Excellence Award for LGBTQ fiction and was a finalist for an Independent Publishers of New England book award. She is a founding member of the magazine, Hotch Potch Literature and Art, and hosts the Substack Writers in Relationship. You can find Gail at gailmarleneschwartzauthor.com. About Pam Tournier Pam Tournier's affair with words began in the advertising business, later as co-founder of a marketing analytics firm finding stories in Big Data. She lives with her partner and two rescue dogs in Riverside, CT. Writing as Felicia Strangeways, her fiction appears in Hotch Potch Literature & Art, Corporeal, and Dark Horses (co-written with Marco Etheridge). Her story, 1-800-MEAT, was nominated for a Pushcart prize. Current projects include a nonfiction work about the concurrence of NYC’s supernatural phenomena with literary genres, and a dark urban fantasy novel retelling Medusa. She's into reading, art, Tarot, vintage perfume and jewelry.