NEWSLETTER—August 2026

Let’s celebrate our next top writer along with some news.

August // Calendar Series — Photo by Maddi Bazzocco on Unsplash

Dear readers & writers,

Welcome to August. We are happy to share a new top writer, but first, we want to share a few updates.

From now on, The Lark Publication will not accept non-Medium members. Now that we are open to all submissions, we cannot accept everyone who doesn't want to be a member. So, if you haven’t joined yet and want to write with us, we suggest you join.

Next, we'll address AI-written submissions. We have seriously cut back on those 100% AI-written submissions that we have been receiving. So, please, if you use AI to write your work without adding anything to it, then we will not accept your submission. Please be mindful of this. We are not saying you can't use AI, but please make sure you write it. Stories that are 100% written by AI do not get promoted or distributed broadly by Medium’s recommendation system; therefore, we ask you to follow these rules carefully. We are not asking you not to use AI but to make sure your stories and poetry are human. Therefore, we must ask that you use AI responsibly. AI can assist you, but not by writing 100% of your stories and poems.

Next, we want to announce our new top writer, who is a longtime popular writer with us.

We are pleased to announce that we will be celebrating the work of:

Cappelli, MFA, JD, PhD

Mary Cappelli has been a top writer for a while, and her work has been outstandingly visionary, brilliant, clever, creative, and excellent of late. She regularly writes for The Lark, and her published content with us is top-notch. So, please celebrate her poetry and stories by reading them. Make sure you let her know in the comments how much you enjoyed reading her work, because she is an exceptional writer.