Instagram story viewer> @solumpress> Tagged

Solum Literary Press

@solumpress

undefined

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

I arrived in Greenville this past June carrying deep, suffocating grief. Somewhere between shared meals, conversations, art, worship, laughter, tears, and people who were willing to simply stay, I was reminded of something I desperately needed to remember:
We were never meant to carry our lives alone.
That is part of what my husband @khaled_mosli and I captured in the Cultivate ROOTED virtual experience.
If you couldn’t join us in person, I wish I could somehow recreate the feeling of being in those rooms—but this virtual experience comes close. You’ll get to sit under the keynote teachings, enter the conversations, and experience the wisdom, creativity, theological imagination, and community that made this weekend so special.
You’ll hear @kimberlyphinneywriter remind us that our art is not about us. @ben_palpant call us away from the exhausting pursuit of making a name for ourselves and back to the name we already bear in Christ. You’ll be invited by @ruckusmoped to recover something our hurried world keeps stealing from us: the lost art of attention.
And woven throughout the weekend was an invitation I’m still carrying:
Move at the speed of love.

So if you watched this weekend unfold from afar and thought, I wish I could have been there—
this is your invitation. 💌 Pour something warm. Bring your notebook. Take your time with the sessions. Pause. Rewatch. Let the questions linger. Gather a few friends around your table and experience it together.

There’s still a seat for you. Comment “ROOTED” and I’ll send you the link to join us through the virtual retreat experience. 🌿

ROOTED does not have to remain a weekend we once attended. It can become something we practice.

And if someone you love is creating, grieving, questioning, rebuilding, or simply trying to remain rooted in a hurried world, please send this to them. There is room at this table for them, too. 🤍

54

27

Turns out “we don’t talk about that” has a pattern. 👀📚

#ThePatternLens #MentalHealth #AfricanMentalHealth #IntergenerationalTrauma

3

2

Interviewed my undergrad mentor & dear friend @egstephenspoetry about her debut book NO BILLBOARD GOSPEL (@solumpress 2026) for the @south85journal blog! 💜💛

Would LOVE if you gave us a read! 👇🏽

🔗 south85journal.com/2026/06/godhunger-the-commodification-of-faith-an-interview-with-emma-galloway-stephens

3

2

This weekend, my family and I loaded up our van and parked in a magical little town in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Alongside our called and commissioned friends at @thewayback2ourselves, we prayed expectantly, feasted on the good gifts of God with the people of God, and were encouraged and equipped for the work ahead. It’s a weekend I will always treasure.

25

7

What does it look like to live and create faithfully today?

One of the things I love most about CULTIVATE is that it gathers artists, writers, and creatives who care deeply not only about what we create, but who we are becoming while we create it.

Consider this your invitation to my breakout session, The Well Between Us: Living and Creating in the Tension

Together, we’ll explore a relational theology for cultural engagement shaped by the Woman at the Well story. What a gift (and challenge) we have as artists to enter spaces not as experts, but as people willing to begin with shared thirst, curiosity, and presence.

Because maybe faithful creativity isn’t about mastering the right answers.

Maybe it’s about learning how to remain human, open, and rooted enough to stay at the table.

I’d truly love to gather with you at CULTIVATE 2026 in Greenville, SC next month. Will you join me?

Let me know below:
Where have you felt the tension of trying to create or live faithfully without losing yourself in the process? I’ll select some of the responses to share in my session! 🤍

46

8

Author copies have arrived. It's so wonderful to see them in person!

68

20

There are seasons when you can feel the invitation to come back to yourself.
To your voice.
To your creative work.
To what is steady and true.
To strengthen the root system beneath your creativity and your faith.

This summer, The Way Back to Ourselves community is hosting Cultivate 2026: Rooted, an in-person retreat in Greenville, South Carolina. From Friday, June 19 to Sunday, June 21, we’ll be joined by Stephen Roach, Amanda Held Opelt, Ben Palpant, Solum Press, Clayjar Review, along with a group of thoughtful teachers and guides.

This will be a weekend for writers, artists, and creative leaders to gather, listen more closely, and make room again for what matters so that we can create the kind of soulful, creative fruit that nourishes others and makes a true difference for the kingdom of God. Over the weekend, we’ll share in teaching, writing, prayer, conversation, and the kind of community that reminds you you’re not doing this alone.

Also, we have free space for TWENTY artists, writers, and creatives to share their work at our special Makers’ Market on Friday and Saturday of the retreat. Make sure to register for Cultivate before May 15 to get the artist invite email and claim your spot in the Makers’ Market!

Other awesome weekend features include a Friday night community dinner, free headshots, and an accommodation-friendly space (for both visible and invisible disabilities).

There are fewer than 30 overall retreat seats remaining, so if something in you is already leaning toward this, you can learn more at the link in my bio (or go to thewayback2ourselves.com/store).

We can’t wait to share this space with you, because YOU belong here

44

33

I’ve returned home from the Calvin Center’s Festival for Faith and Writing with my heart full of gratitude and my head filled to the brim with ideas! ✨What a joy to spend time with dear friends, meet authors whom I have admired for years, and engage with such a vibrant community of creators. 🫶🏼

Having the chance to both listen to and meet Robin Wall Kimmerer brought me to tears thrice. And Barbara Brown Taylor was every bit as spunky and wise as her books lead us to believe!

I had very little shelf control but who could blame me with titles and publishers like these? 📚

42

6

“Words made flesh-best job in the world.”
-Barbara Brown Taylor.

Thank you @ccfwgr for creating a soul nourishing experience.

Thank you @scottthepainter for your art and teaching me how to say yes.

Thank you @jacobschepers for reminding poets to listen.

Thank you Sarah Perry for commissioning me to trust my intellect.

Thank you @nealshusterman for encouraging me to write the story that scares me.

A very big thank you to @jessray for blessing us with your music.

Writing is not just my duty to create-it is a God-given privilege.

Even though I’m still in the trenches of editing my book, I still have a light to point to.

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭19‬:‭14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

46

6

HEY! @egstephenspoetry has her book launch celebration planned for April 28th. If you're in upstate SC, I hope you'll join us for poetry with Emma!

The event coincides with Emma's birthday! And your presence would be an awesome gift to her. Come celebrate her book.

[This event is different than the poetry conversation with Rick Mulkey that's happening at Hub City on May 5th--the event at Hub City requires free tickets. This one does not.]

See the QR code for the link to where you can buy your own copy.

#Poetry #SouthCarolina #UpstatePoets #YeahThatGreenville #GVL #PoetryMonth #Poet #Poems #PoetryReading #BookLaunch #Chapbook #Debut #Event @poetslive @arbor_institute @greenvilleshakespeareco Book Launch: Poetry Reading. Upcoming celebration. Title: No Billboard Gospel. What: poetry, Q&A, cookies, prizes. Where: 2104 Old Buncombe Rd., Greenville, SC 29609. When: April 28, 2026 from 7-8 pm. Join us to celebrate Emma's book launch. QR code to scan to buy the book.

72

4

☀️Here’s a little behind the scenes peek at my office today. It’s days like these, when I can feel healing happening—both in body & soul—that I sit back and bask in all the God was and is doing on my behalf… and what he will do in the future if I keep the faith and persevere.

✨Today, I GET TO:✨
📖finish the final edits and send off @deborahrutherfordwrites debut poetry collection, PRODIGAL DAUGHTER, with The Way Back Books, out later this month.
📝onboard new consultants for TWBTO to ourselves, work on their announcements, and connect our other outstanding creative consultants & editors, like @allanawalker_writer and @bysarahsteele, with new clients, who we are blessed to come beside and care for
👩🏻‍💻continue to build out our new flagship course, Poetry Cohort 201, with my friend and partner, @heatherlobejohnson, and give poetry critiques for our 25 students
🌳continue to plan out CULTIVATE 26 with @heatherlobejohnson, @chelsea.fraser.writes, & our team with @firstpresgreenville… btw, it’s the last day to get the 10% off with our friends @solumpress & @clayjar.review, so DM them for the discount code 🚨
✍🏼continue to write my book with the lovely @racheljwelcher (my editor) and my dream publisher @readbakerbooks
🎙️produce our podcast with @edwardlee_on_ig
📑grade research papers for my college students
👧🏼and most importantly, pick up my daughter from school and be her mother

🙌🏼 I’m grateful and thankful for better days, even if they might be difficult still… because if I’ve learned anything along this journey, it’s how to hold the holy & hard in an open hand and TRUST GOD for the outcome.

✍🏽✍🏿✍🏻HE’S STILL WRITING OUR STORIES. There’s so much we still GET TO do!✍🏻✍🏿✍🏽

✨✨TELL ME: WHAT DO YOU GET TO DO TODAY?✨✨

You belong here,
♥️me

95

18

Book mail is the best mail. I’m excited to get my copy of NO BILLBOARD GOSPEL by Emma Galloway Stephens. Read more poetry, y’all.

This feral faith that holds
my head under the water,
that rolls me in the mud,
twigs and leaves — makes me a daughter.

68

1