I-70 Review


Writing and Art from the Middle and Beyond

Al Ortolani's newest collection of poems, The Taco Boat, was recently released by NYQ Books. He is a winner of the Rattle Chapbook Prize and has been featured in Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac and Ted Kooser's American Life in Poetry. His first novel, Bull in the Ring, was just published by Meadowlark Press. Ortolani is a two-time recipient of the Kansas Notable Book Award. He's a husband, father, and grandfather who is currently entertaining the idea of becoming a hermit. However, his wife prefers the company of the neighborhood feminists, and his dog Stanley refuses to live without treats.


Price Increase

Because of supply chain issues and the rise of paper costs and a recent increase in postage charges, we have been forced to raise the price of a single issue to $20.00 with postage for extra copies, etc. to $5.00.

Our reading period starts on July 1, 2024 for the 2025 edition of I-70 Review and runs through the end of December 2024.


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I -70 Review Announces Pushcart Nominations for 2023


When My Dentist Tells Me I Need Botox – Lisa Faye Coutley


Mantle of Hair – Dariana Alvarez


Miss York – Geraldine Connolly


Already I Have Forgotten – Daniel Oliveira


Nine Stories That Never Came to Pass – Doug Ramspeck


Tat Tvam Asi – Pragya Vishnoi


The Bill Hickok Humor Award for Poetry


Deadline:  Feb 28, 2024

Entry Fee:  $15.00

Cash Prize:  $1,000





Jan Duncan-O'Neal

Editor Emeritus, I-70 Review

November 29, 1942

October 05, 2022

Details Here

The Winner Of The Bill Hickok Humor Award For Poetry 2024

$1000 to Al Ortolani


                                                                                                             In Memoriam



Cameron Morse


April 1, 1987

October 10, 2023

Matthew J. Spireng's full-length book Good Work won the 2019 Sinclair Poetry Prize and was published in 2020 by Evening Street Press. His book What Focus Is was published by WordTech Communications. His book Out of Body won the 2004 Bluestem Poetry Award and was published by Bluestem Press. His chapbooks are: Clear Cut, Young Farmer, Encounters, Inspiration Point, winner, 2000 Bright Hill Press Poetry Chapbook Competition; and Just This. He won The MacGuffin's 23rd Annual Poet Hunt and the 2015 Common Ground Review poetry contest, and is a twelve-time Pushcart Prize nominee.


Second Place Bill Hickok Humor Award For Poetry 2024:

Michael Mark is the author of Visiting Her in Queens is More Enlightening than a Month in a Monastery in Tibet which won the Rattle Chapbook prize. His poems have appeared in Best American Poetry Blog, Copper Nickel, The New York Times, Pleiades, Ploughshares, Southern Review, The Sun, 32 Poems, The Poetry Foundation's American Life in Poetry. His two books of stories are Toba and At the Hands of a Thief (Atheneum).


Third Place Bill Hickok Humor Award For Poetry 2024:

Honorable Mention Bill Hickok Humor Award For Poetry 2024:

Deanna Kern Ludwin grew up in Iowa and began moving west at age twenty, landing in Fort Collins, Colorado. Before her retirement, she taught literature and creative writing at Colorado State University. Her poetry and micro fictions, many of them humorous, have appeared in a variety of publications, including The Normal School, Green Mountains Review, Cimarron Review, Flash, New Millennium Writings, and Copper Nickel. She serves on the advisory board of The Colorado Review and coordinates the Fort Collins Books for Humanity program. Her twenty-pound ginger cat, Ollie, serves as her muse. Witty humans and the Rocky Mountains sustain her.





Eve Ott



December 24, 1936

March 1, 2024