Unsolicited Press Announces the Release of CLOISTERED, a Surreal and Sensual Short Story Collection by Award-Winning Author Liz Kellebrew

There are books that arrive quietly, and then there are books that feel like a shift in gravity. Today, we are so proud to welcome Cloistered into the world, a new short story collection from award-winning writer Liz Kellebrew, publishing February 17, 2026.

Liz has always been a writer who refuses to move in straight lines. Her stories fold in on themselves, double back, and ask readers to step into spaces where the uncanny lives right beside the deeply human. Cloistered is full of those moments where reality tilts just enough that you start to see yourself differently inside it.

Inside these pages, you will meet a tiger born from self-destruction moving through time and television, a man split by desire and disaster, a woman who outgrows the limits placed on her mind and body, and a prophetic eye that opens a boy to the hidden architecture of the universe. Each story feels like a quiet detonation. The language is precise, intimate, and cinematic, but it is also tender. These are stories about isolation, transformation, and the strange ways connection finds us even when we think we are alone.

Many of you already know Liz from her earlier books with us, Water Signs and The River People. Her work has been recognized with the Miracle Monocle Award for Innovative Writing and a Calvino Prize shortlist, and has appeared in Room, The Conium Review, and Under the Sun. She holds an MFA from Goddard College, but what matters most to us is the way her writing continues to challenge what stories can do.

Publishing a book like Cloistered is exactly why we built Unsolicited Press. We believe in work that is daring, sensual, and a little unruly. We believe in stories that do not ask permission to exist.

Cloistered is available now for preorder, with the official release today. If you want to support boundary-pushing fiction and help us keep bringing books like this into the world, you can learn more and order directly through our site.

Thank you for reading, for supporting small press work, and for showing up for books that take risks.