DC3 English Instructor Publishes Works

Published October 21, 2026

English Instructor Daniel Barrios, who is in his first semester at Dodge City Community College (DC3), was recently notified that two of his works have been accepted for publication.

The first work is a short story titled “Maestro, Hold On,” which received the 2025 Kinder/Crump Award for Short Fiction. The second is a poem titled “War on the Poor,” which has been accepted by the Massachusetts Review for inclusion in its winter issue.

Barrios, originally from Staten Island, N.Y., began teaching at DC3 in August. Before relocating to Kansas, he received support through residencies and fellowships with PREE Writing Studio (Kingston, Jamaica), Abode Press (virtual), PERIPLUS (virtual), Under the Volcano (Tepoztlán, Mexico), Sundress Academy for the Arts (Knoxville, Tenn.), and the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing (virtual).

“My work often explores the lives and sacrifices of the people closest to me,” Barrios said. “Growing up between the homes of my mother, father, and grandmother, I came to view what others might call a broken family as a blended one.”

In addition, Barrios said the experiences of his Dominican mother, Puerto Rican father, working-class grandparents, and other family members also influence his writing.

“My short story, ‘Maestro, Hold On,’ was written out of my brother’s migration from the East Coast to the West Coast to work as a farmhand, as I vicariously lived through his experiences,” Barrios said.

“‘War on the Poor’ is a poem that was inspired during my daily commute in New York City while I was taking the ferry boat into Manhattan from Staten Island.”

For “Maestro, Hold On,” Barrios said he submitted it to the annual Kinder/Crump Award for Short Fiction writing contest organized by the Pleiades: Literature in Context magazine, a nationally recognized literary publication produced by the University of Central Missouri.

“I’m always scouting venues for my writing, and this submission was like throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what stuck,” he said. “I had honestly forgotten that I sent them my work well over a year ago.”

For his efforts, Pleiades rewarded him with publication and a $1,000 monetary prize.

Regarding “War on the Poor,” Barrios said it is still forthcoming and will be published by the Massachusetts Review this winter.

Founded in 1959 by a group of professors from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst College, Mount Holyoke, and Smith College, the Massachusetts Review is one of the nation’s leading literary magazines, distinctive in joining the highest level of artistic concern with pressing public issues.

Prior to 2026, Barrios won a fiction prize in 2023 for another one of his short stories that appeared in the Brooklyn Review.

“In an industry that is extremely subjective, it feels wonderful to have my writing recognized,” he said.

By Lance Ziesch
DC3 Director of Marketing and Public Relations