Recently I introduced readers to Beryl Belsky, a writer and editor who for the past two years has generously used her website to publish the works of unknown writers around the world. The multicultural website is titled, “The Writer’s Drawer,” because it elicits stories and poems that many writers hide in a desk drawer, either out of shyness or discouragement .

Belsky , who lives near Tel Aviv, has now taken her website a global step forward. She painstakingly compiled countless submissions and chose the best to publish in an anthology : “A Certain Kind of Freedom Stories and Poems From the Writer’s Drawer.” Contributors hail from varied parts of the planet – Australia, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and North America. Contributors range in age from their eighties down to a 10-year-old American girl, Paige Lederman, who wrote a poem about experiencing Hurricane Sandy.

As is true in many collections, the short stories, personal essays and poems (the three sections of the book) vary in quality. Among the more successful is South African writer Leandre Grobler’s tragic story about an elderly Aboriginal couple. In the essay section, I applaud the true story of a woman trying to get on a boat heading to Canada, to join her husband. Just before boarding she’s forbidden passage because she’s in the late stage of pregnancy. She’s despondent about this, unaware that being kept off the boat probably saved her life and that of her baby – for the boat was the Titanic! British author Carrie King, who wrote the essay, is the woman’s granddaughter.

I’m proud to say the anthology includes my story, “The Maroon Sweater.” However, my pride is darkened by the realization that this story, supposedly representative of American culture, is about a shameful and too-familiar scene in our nation: a school shooting.

I’m writing these words on the anniversary of Sandy Hook, where 20 heartbreakingly young children and six courageous staffers were murdered in their school by an emotionally disturbed man who had no difficulty getting hold of guns. It’s American irony that this anniversary has been marked by another school shooting. (There have been nearly 13,000 deaths and injuries from guns since the Sandy Hook horror.)

My fictitious story about a school massacre tells of a teenage girl who survived. But, as she says, “What does survivor mean?” The story’s meant to show the lasting trauma even for those who “escaped” — for there’s really no escaping the devastating memories.

Is it too much to hope that my story might inspire a few more people to work for gun control? That would be a reward beyond any byline.

(The anthology can be ordered from Amazon.com or CreateSpace.com.)

Website: www. annehosansky.com

Books: “Widow’s Walk” – available through iUniverse.com; “Turning Toward Tomorrow” -xLibris.com; “Ten Women of Valor” -CreateSpace.com and Amazon.com. Also Amazon Kindle.