Unbreaking the Circle: Stories of Service

SouthWest Writers - Unbreaking the Circle: Stories of Service

Book Launch & Reading

SouthWest Writers obtained a grant from New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, to produce a second anthology (the first, Holes in Our Hearts, was published in 2023) of written work that gives military and veteran audiences--including active duty service members, reservists, National Guard members, veterans, their families and caregivers, and others--an opportunity to meaningfully engage with the arts.

The SWW anthology, Unbreaking the Circle: Stories of Service, was released in June of 2025. There are over one hundred short stories, essays, and poems from sixty-seven New Mexican veterans and family members. Within that, we have thirteen authors from Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico who have written pieces that tell their stories. Santa Fe Public Library is honored to host a reading and book launch in celebration of the recently published anthology. 

Unbreaking the Circle

Voices of the Military, their Families & Caregivers

For many in military circles, expressions of their experiences—so deeply seated as to be inseparable from their identities—are made at the risk of having not only their work… but themselves… misunderstood or rejected. But when, instead, those confidences are received and resonate, it helps re-forge the circle of community which was broken by silence born of fear.  The purpose of this anthology is to promote connection through the arts, and healing through those connections. We hope, for the authors, the telling has been cathartic, giving voice to those who might not have been afforded a vehicle, and an opportunity to preserve personal histories. And that for the audience, the reading will be illuminating, offering insights as stepping stones to understanding. And for both, an avenue to foster conversation, and eventual convergence.

As a geometric shape, the circle’s uniformity, its infinite number of infinitesimally small sides, and lack of a definitive starting or end point, make it a natural symbol of the eternal; writ large in the orbits of the planets, small in the wedding bands which grace our fingers. And, like those little crowns of matrimony, a sign of completeness through union.  In contrast, military service often breaks circles; of place, time, relationships (with others and with self), and sometimes of life; breaks borne by family members and caregivers as well.

All of the prose and poetry contained in this anthology were written by members, past and present, of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families or caretakers, who currently reside within the state of New Mexico. Publication of Unbreaking the Circle: Stories of Service was sponsored through a grant from New Mexico Arts, a division of the State of New Mexico Arts Agency and Department of Cultural Affairs.

Unbreaking the Circle: Stories of Service is available at the SouthWest Writers Office or on Amazon. You can also get copies at the Book Reading events scheduled through SWW.