Odet Vol. 2

Safety Harbor Writers & Poets presents the 2018 Edition of Odet, a journal of prose, poetry, and art/photographs written and produced by Florida authors and artists.

For this edition, we chose the theme of discovery, and were thrilled at the multitude of ways writers chose to explore this topic. After entries were reviewed and selected, we asked our editors to submit their own pieces, specifically appealing to them to push the limits of the use of this term. Their works appear at the end of the volume.

The journal includes the winners of the annual Romeo Lemay contest generously funded by Romeo's son Tim and administered by Safety Harbor Writers & Poets under the leadership of the journal's editor in chief, Laura Kepner. All entries to the contest--not only the winners--were considered for inclusion, an expanded association we plan to make permanent. Romeo was a fellow writer and friend who passed away in 2013 at the age of 88, and is dearly missed by all who knew him. Despite writing in his second language, he had a true gift of describing his experiences growing up in a small town in French-speaking Canada many decades ago with humor, poignancy, and grace. We are thrilled to include one of Romeo's previously-unpublished stories in this collection, The Privy, which presents the impact on a young boy of the steady march of technology of a sort.

After growing up in New Jersey, Warren Firschein graduated from the University of Rochester in 1989 with a degree in political science, followed by a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. In addition to being the cofounder of Odet and serving as its managing editor, he is the author of two middle grade novels, The Pirate of Janaconda Island and Out of Synch, as well as the coauthor of A Brief History of Safety Harbor, Florida. When not writing, he is an attorney for the Federal Communications Commission. He lives in Safety Harbor, Florida with his family. Visit him at www.warrenfirschein.com.

Laura Kepner is the founder of Safety Harbor Writers & Poets and facilitates writers groups, open mics, writing conferences, workshops and public art poetry projects. She is co-author of A Brief History of Safety Harbor, FL and is a freelance writer and editor. Laura was a contributor to Destination Tampa Bay and numerous print and online publications.

A former advertising art director and graphic artist, Carrie Font Granato now fulfills her creative needs by writing. She is currently at work on two beach novels, which draw upon her Cuban heritage. She is the art director and an editor of Odet.