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Sharp Monica

Sharp words. Sharp thinking.

Selected Publications · 1999—2026

Twenty-five years on the page.

Fiction, essays, poetry, translations, and journalism in print and online across four continents.

80+
Pieces Published
8
Countries
6
Genres
25
Years In Print
Published Across
United States· United Kingdom· Italy· Canada· Sweden
Turkey· Netherlands· Ivory Coast
Browse by genre — tap to jump
— I —

Short Fiction

Stories in print and online, from London bedsits to American patriarchies.
Pure Slush Great Cities Series
  • i."The Manhattan Transfer" in Great Cities Vol. III: New YorkForthcoming
  • ii."Statement Skyline" in Great Cities Vol. II: London
  • iii."Parisian Pleasures" in Great Cities Vol. I: Paris
Impspired United Kingdom
Idle Ink United Kingdom
Tiny Molecules Canada
Fiction on the Web United Kingdom

"A writer in the world."

— On The Page, On The Air, In Print
— II —

Essays

On translation, Italy, faith, family, Shakespeare, and the strange shape of American life.
Open Doors Review Issue 8 · In Print
  • i."Of Ancestors and Appetites" in Insatiable Appetites
— III —

Journalism & Culture

Florence on the page: exhibitions, traditions, neighbourhoods, and the quiet pockets tourists miss.
The Florentine Italy
— IV —

Poetry

From Seattle in 1999 to the Mediterranean in 2025: thirty poems across nine journals.
Mediterranean Poetry Goteborg, Sweden
  • i."Clementine," "Limoni," "Tuscan Thunder"
  • ii."Carnevale," "Giurovich and Minni, or the Two Caffès," "Windows," "Florence: Everyman," "Secret Sommelier"
Aayo Magazine Ivory Coast / Hull, UK
Impspired Lincoln, UK
Across the Margin Asheville, NC
Writer's Block Amsterdam · Issue 49
Bosphorus Review of Books Istanbul
Fevers of the Mind Tennessee, USA
  • xii.A Poetry Showcase: "Galen," "Black Shuck," "Global Perambulations," "Ghost Ship," "Keats and I," "Mr. Brown in Pandemic," "The Dream Woods"
  • xiii.Featured in The Empath Dies in the End: Issue 6 and Inspire Me: Issue 8
Synapse Seattle
  • xiv."Explanation"

"The story continues."

— Across Languages, Genres & Borders
— V —

Translations

Bringing voices across centuries and languages into English.
Open Doors Issue 6
— VI —

Interviews

From the other side of the table.
Open Doors Review Issue 5
— VII —

Novels In Progress

Six works of longer fiction in various stages of draft, from colonial America to wartime Florence.
Historical · Book One
A Long Arc

A Scottish family's arduous journey unfolds across continents as indentured servants in colonial America, their legacy etched along the Raritan River and beyond, until the American Revolution bitterly divides them.

Historical · Book Two
Forgotten Son

Disinherited as the worthless youngest son, a tenacious Scottish-American orphan carves his own path to family and belonging amidst prejudice and the harsh realities of the American frontier, finding love where he least expects it.

Contemporary
The Real Muse

Under the love-bombing spell of a famous and whimsical painter, a smitten young artist awakens to his manipulative intent to exploit her talents, forcing her to choose between his version of love and the liberation of her dreams.

Family · Literary
Aunt Bee

An examination of family relationships in detail: how they limit us, nurture us, and ultimately define us.

World War II · Florence
The Kommandant's Palazzo

Set in German-occupied Florence, two assimilated Jewish sisters navigate the treacherous landscape with skill and audacity. Inspired by a historic Florentine apartment rumoured to have sheltered Italian Jews during the war.

Medieval · Europe
The Irish Pilgrim

An intellectually adventurous Irish woman ahead of her time flees Tudor England and embarks on a transformative pilgrimage across fifteenth-century Europe, culminating in the ancient Italian monastery of Bobbio.

— VIII —

Earlier & Agency Work

A quarter-century of commercial writing, journalism, broadcasting, and US immigration commentary.
Santamargherita · Verona, Italy. Culture and lifestyle content for the luxury interiors brand. Read at usa.santamargherita.net/sm-blog.
US Client Roster · Agency assignments including ActiveNetwork, Avocados From Mexico, and Texas Farm Bureau Insurance, including this home-safety quiz.
LexisNexis Bender's Immigration Bulletin · Regular columnist, "Consider the Campus," covering US immigration topics in higher education. Example: "The DREAM Act: A Campus Perspective".
NPR / KGOU "World Views" · 2011–2012. Regular radio panellist on the NPR member station hosted by Dr. Zach Messitte, then Dean of the College of International Studies at the University of Oklahoma.
Op-Ed: "Fighting in Libya Affects Students in Oklahoma" · Originally published in NewsOK, picked up by the Tulsa World, Norman Transcript, and Daily Oklahoman.
Buongiorno Arezzo! · Contributed a chapter on immigration in Italy. University of Oklahoma Press.
Demand Media Studios / Leaf Group · Online content ranging from day-tripping on Capri to guidance for US lawful permanent residents travelling to the Virgin Islands.
Where: Seattle · Late 1990s. Luxury travel publication franchise. Also an active patron of the Richard Hugo House.

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