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New Publication :: Boat Magazine

In the introduction to the inaugural issue of Boat Magazine, Editor Erin Spens writes, “We got a few blank stares when we told people we were picking up our 8-month-old studio and moving it to Sarajevo for a month to make a magazine. We suspected there were a few reasons for the confusion; magazines seem to be a dying art form, moving a brand new business in the middle of a recession is ludicrous, and Sarajevo? Where is Sarajevo? Precisely.”

The concept for Boat Magazine is a fresh one. Travel to “forgotten cities,” dock there for a month and set up a publication studio that pulls together “the most talented people we know; writers, photographers, illustrators, musicians… gave them a blank canvas, and set them loose on the streets” to create a magazine focused on that host city. Sarajevo is their first stop on this new venture.

The magazine features works by Dave Eggers, Jasmin Brutus, Lamija Hadžiosmanović, Ziyah Gafić, Max Knight, Sarah Correia, Jasmin Brutus, Zoë Barker, Davey Spens, Milomir Kovačević, Danis Tanović, Lara Ciarabellini, Bernie Gardner, Enes Zlatar Bure, Jonathan Cherry, Sam Baldwin, Neno Navaković, Agatha A. Nitecka, and Sophie Cooke.

New Lit on the Block :: The 22

If there’s one thing the Internet is good for, it’s publishing visual art. And if there’s one magazine that has shown just how great this can be, it’s The 22, a new online magazine based out of Brooklyn, NY.

Simply titled to reflect its content, The 22 features 22 contributors each issue. The magazine’s mission is to “publish art, music and writing as integrated structures that play off each other and enhance the whole.” Editor and publisher, Cat Gilbert says they’re looking for “intriguing art,” poetry, fiction, non-fiction, video, music, animation and more. “The restrictions are few and the work is chosen by the creators or a visiting guest editor.” Some issues will revolve around themes which will be posted in advance. The inaugural issue editors include Gilbert, Contributing Editors Ansel Elkins and Dolores Alfien, with Guest Editor Laura Grandmaison.

The first issue features works by Adriean Auguste Koleric, Alan Bigelow, Andrew Topel, Ansel Elkins, April Gertler, Brian Dettmer, Dolores Alfieri, Douglas Pierre Baulos, Edgar Oliver, Eric Zboya, Erin Snyder, Jeff Burns, John Jennison, Joseba Eskubi, Kate Javens, Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann, Louise Robinson, Max Evry, Michael Babin, Samantha Kostmayer Sulaiman, Threefifty Duo, and Tobias Stretch.

The 22 is currently accepting submissions for their next volume (no theme or restrictions); deadline July 1st.

The 22 is also holding their first annual Bloomsday Contest. Deadline June 14.

[Artwork by Joseba Eskubi.]

Photographs: Entropy by David Perry

David Perry is an inspirational photographer, a willing teacher, and a captivating storyteller who brings the unique insights and skills garnered in his 30 years of professional photography to each new project he encounters. View 12 photographs (with narratives) of entropy in the garden and beyond on Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built and Natural Environment.

Sinister Wisdom: Dykes in Amerika in the 70s

In the editor’s note to the Spring 2011 issue of Sinister Wisdom, Julie R. Enszer comments on attending the October 2010 conference sponsored by the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS) titled In Amerika They Call Us Dykes: Lesbians in the 70s. This issue is compiled of works from this conference by Agatha Beins, Evelyn Torton Beck, Cheryl Clarke, Madeline Davis, Tucker Pamella Farley, Myriam Fougere, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Patricia A. Gozemba, Jeri Hilderley, Bonnie J. Morris, Amanda Ream, Mimi Iimuro Van Ausdall, Fran Winant, Renee DeLong, Lisa C. Moore and Tiona McClodden.

Enszer writes: “Attending the conference and compiling this issue of Sinister Wisdom, I’ve been thinking about these questions: How do we narrate and share history between generations? How can we pass on traditions, ideas, and values to new generations while still giving younger women the space to experiment and formulate their own traditions, ideas, and values? How do we honor the past and think critically about it as a way to refine our strategies for change? How do we honor the past while still celebrating the current achievements and future dreams of women who have already made extraordinary contributions? Contributors to this issue of Sinister Wisdom grapple with these questions and more.

NewPages Interview with James Engelhardt

Jessica Powers interviews James Engelhardt, [former] editor of Prarie Schooner, in which reveals his enthusiasm for the literary life: “We keep going over the same ground as humans, as writers, the same emotional or intellectual ground — we keep exploring what it means to be human, finding new ways to explore the human condition. You’d think we’d have done that already, that we would know everything there is to know about love, or loss, but we don’t. The world seems to excite the imagination endlessly.”

James also shares the news that he will be leaving Prairie Schooner to take a new position as acquisitions editor with the University of Alaska Press. Kwame Dawes will be the new editor-in-chief with Prairie Schooner beginning this fall.

We wish both the best in their new roles!

On the Freedom to Lit Mag

From Tricia Currans-Sheehan’s Editor’s Note to the 2011 issue of The Briar Cliff Review:

In November I went to Beijing to visit my daughter who was teaching English there. What struck me was the silence about Liu Xiaobo, who had just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. There was a disconnect. Here I was in this city of 18 million, near a shopping mall, which was putting up Christmas decorations, selling KFC, Big Macs, and Gucci bags and yet the people didn’t know what was happening in their own country or if they knew they couldn’t talk about it. I wondered how long those Gucci bags would keep them satisfied.

While in Beijing my daughter couldn’t blog, connect to Facebook, YouTube or Twitter and only had access to a censored Google. In The New York Times on January 23, 2011, Nicholas Kristof wrote, “…the Chinese cyberspace remains a proletarian dictatorship. In November the government sent a young woman, Cheng Jianping to labor camp for a year for posting a single mocking sentence.”

The connection between freedom of speech and the press and my job as editor of The Briar Cliff Review was so clear. As editor I read hundreds of manuscripts that cover all topics and issues. If I lived in China, there wouldn’t be a magazine like this.

High Desert Journal Change of Editor

Formerly the assistant editor of High Desert Journal, issue #13 of the publication brings Charles Finn on as editor, with Elizabeth Quinn moving into the newly developed role of managing editor. Finn writes that Elizabeth is “still very much a part of the High Desert Journal. High Desert Journal is her creation, her ‘baby’ as she sometimes calls it and will continue to be so.” The change in roles will allow Elizabeth to “tackle the difficult and necessary job of keeping the magazine financially afloat, arriving on newsstands and in your mailbox twice a year.” With readership and subscriptions on the rise as well as an increase in submissions, the change is a necessary business decision.

NDQ Looks at Hemingway Then & Now

Volume 76, Numbers 1 & 2 of North Dakota Quarterly is devoted to “Hemingway in His and Our Time” and features the following authors and their works:

H. R. Stoneback
For Whom the Flood Rolls: Ernest Hemingway and Robert Penn Warren—Connections and Echoes, Allusion, and Intertextuality

Ben Stoltzfus
Hemingway’s Iceberg: Camus’ L’Etranger and The Sun Also Rises

Jeffrey Herlihy
The Complications of Exile in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises

Joseph Holt
The Textual Condition of Hemingway’s African Book

Walter Houk
Hemingway’s Cuban Son Looks Back on Life with Papa

Allen Josephs
Confessions of an Animal Lover: Clearing Up a Few Things about Hemingway, Spain, and the Bulls

Allen Josephs
Picasso, Hemingway, and Lorca: or Toreo As a Modernist Principle

Melanie Conroy-Goldman
10,000 Words (story)

Matthew Nickel
Lighthearted Sinners and Pious Puritans, Followers, and Believers: Hemingway’s “Holy War Meat Eaters and Beer Drinkers Happy Hunting Ground and Mountain Religion” in Under Kilimanjaro

Brad McDuffie
Teaching In Our Time to Freshmen (poem)

Donald Junkins
Martha Gellhorn’s Letters

David Raabe
Dempsey over Hemingway in Three Rounds

Robert E. Fleming
The Deaths of the Children in Islands in the Stream

Robert E. Gajdusek
Bimini

Ron McFarland
Three Novels on Hemingway in Cuba

Zak Haselmo
Hemingway: Eight Decades of Criticism

Donald A. Daiker
“Don’t Get Drunk, Jake”: Drinking, Drunkenness, and Sobriety in The Sun Also Rises

Marina Gradoli
Hemingway’s Criteria in Ordering the Sequence of the Vignettes of in our time (1924) and In Our Time (1925)

Phoebe Contest Winners

The newest issue of George Mason University’s Phoebe: A Journal of Literature and Art (Fall 2011 Issue 40.2) features works by the winners of the magazine’s annual contest:

Winter Fiction Contest
Judged by Caitlin Horrocks
Winner: Aja Gabel, “Little Fish”
Honorable Mention: Dwight Holing, “Spines”

Greg Grummer Poetry Award
Judged by Dan Beachy-Quick
Winner: Mark Wagenaar, “Moth Hour Reliquaries”
Honorable Mention: Grace Curtis, “Wordsplay”

Inaugural Nonfiction Contest
Judged by Shauna Cross
Winner: R.B. Moreno, “I’d Like to Talk About the Bigger Stuff”
Honorable Mention: Jessica McCaughey, “On the Music of Distraction”

Aufgabe: French Poetry & Poetics

Along with a full section of poetry and essays, notes, and reviews, French poetry and poetics in translation (English only) are featured in Aufgabe #10, guest edited by Cole Swensen and introduced with her essay “Dossier: Contemporary Poetry in France.”

Authors whose works are translated include Oscarine Bosquet, St

New Lit on the Block :: The Quotable

The Quotable is a quarterly online and print magazine “showcasing tomorrow’s quote-worthy authors.” Each issue will feature short stories, essays, poetry and artwork based on a specific theme and quote. The first issue is available online at no cost, and in print, epub, mobi both for single issue purchase and subscription.

The inaugural issue features works by A.J. Kandathil, Eddie Jones, Brooke Bailey, Jasmon Drain, Chris Wiewiora, Joseph Pravda, Rob McClure Smith, Bruce Bischoff, Alicia Dekker, William Zebulon Peacock, and Don Campbell.

Behind the scenes of The Quotable are Editors Eimile Denizer, Lisa Heins, and Leslye PJ Reaves, Poetry Editor Deborah Preg, Art Editor Michael Reid, Associate Editor Mary Wilt, and Copy Editor Cassie Pinner.

The Quotable accepts submissions during the following reading periods:

December 1 – February 1 : Spring Issue
March 1 – May 1 : Summer Issue
June 1 – August 1 : Fall Issue
September 1 – November 1 : Winter Issue

Unless otherwise noted, each issue will be centered around a theme. The next theme for Issue III is Transformation: “The universe is transformation; our life is what our thoughts make it.” ~Marcus Aurelius

The Quatable accepts flash fiction (under 1,000 words), short fiction (under 3,000 words), creative nonfiction (under 3,000 words), poetry (up to three submissions of one poem per submission), art and photography.

Introducing Southword: A New Multimedia Partnership with NPR

The Oxford American is pleased to announce the launch of Southword, a multimedia partnership with NPR designed to present thoughtful and textured reporting about the people, places, and trends that are shaping the modern American South. The OA’s award-winning filmmaker, Dave Anderson, teams up with NPR’s celebrated journalists to go wherever an important or interesting story is unfolding. Together they produce video and radio pieces that provide timely and artful perspectives on a region that continues to evolve in unexpected ways.

In Southword’s first episode, NPR’s Debbie Elliott and The OA’s Dave Anderson explore issues of appetite and health in Holmes County, the most obese county in Mississippi.

Visit NPR’s website to see the program with additional information and related links.

25 Books for 25 Cents

Unbridled Books is partnering with the American Booksellers Association for a promotion that highlights 25 Unbridled eBooks for 25 cents. The titles, all Google eBooks™, will be available for 25 cents via IndieCommerce websites for three days, June 9 – 11.

The 25 Unbridled eBooks for 25 Cents

Conscience Point by Erica Abeel
The Islands of Divine Music by John Addiego
Panopticon by David Bajo
Shimmer by Eric Barnes
The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish by Elise Blackwell
Green Age of Asher Witherow by M. Allen Cunningham
Breath and Bones by Susann Cokal
The Journal of Antonio Montoya by Rick Collignon
The Good Doctor Guillotine by Marc Estrin
Wolf Point by Edward Falco
Small Acts of Sex and Electricity by Lise Haines
The Distance between Us by Masha Hamilton
Stranger Here Below by Joyce Hinnefeld
Vanishing by Candida Lawrence
Song of the Crow Layne Maheu
The Evolution of Shadows by Jason Quinn Malott
The Singer’s Gun by Emily St. John Mandel
The Pirate’s Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson
Captivity by Deborah Noyes
Hick by Andrea Portes
The Wonder Singer by George Rabasa
Taroko Gorge by Jacob Ritari
Phantom Limbs of the Rollow Sisters by Timothy Schaffert
Rain Village by Carolyn Turgeon
Sometimes We’re Always Real Same-Same by Mattox Roesch

New Lit on the Block :: Chamber Four

The folks at Chamber Four (C4), in addition to their book review and book news website, and on the heels of their fiction anthology of the web’s best stories, have launched their own literary magazine. C4 Magazine features fiction, nonfiction, poetry and artwork and is available in print ($12) and online and in various ebook formats for free: PDF, ePub, and Mobi. You can also get Issue 1 at Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, Diesel eBooks, on Stanza apps on iPhone and iPad, and on the Nook app on Android and other devices (in apps, search for “C4 issue 1”). Coming soon to the Kobo and Sony Reader ebookstores.

Issue 1 includes fiction by Gregory Blake Smith, Bilal Ibne Rasheed, Margaret Finnegan, Kim Henderson, Michael Henson, Anne Leigh Parrish, Ron Koppelberger; nonfiction by Marc Levy, Terra Brigando, M.J. Fievre; poetry by D.H. Sutherland, Gale Acuff, William Doreski, Yaul Perez-Stable Husni, Shannon C. Walsh, Luca Penne, Julian Smith-Newman, Katelyn Kiley, Daniel Lawless, Jenn Monroe, Greg Hewett; artwork by Ganesha Balunsat, Eleanor-Leonne Bennett, Guillermo Esteves, Dennis van Dijk, Christoph Zurbuchen, Sandro Garcia, Christopher Woods, Paivi Salonen, Ivo Berg.

C4 Magazine is open for submissions for its second issue: fiction (short stories, flash fiction); nonfiction (personal essays, memoir excerpts, travel writing); poetry (traditional, experimental); digital visual art (anything 2D and static, i.e. pictures, drawings, etc.). Deadline: July 1, 2011

Audio :: Jesse Glass and Ahadada Authors Featured

Cover to Cover on WKPFA (Berkeley, CA) hosted by Jack Foley features weekly interviews and readings with Jesse Glass and authors from Ahadada Books from June 1 – July 8, 2011. Available online (mp3).

June 1
This is the first of three shows featuring Jesse Glass, American expatriate poet, publisher, artist and folklorist. In 1992, Glass moved to Japan, where he currently lives and teaches. In this show, Jack and Jesse particularly discuss The Passion of Phineas Gage and Selected Poems and Lost Poet: Four Plays by Jesse Glass.

June 8
Jesse Glass interviewed, Part Two.

June 15
Jesse Glass reading from his work.

June 22
A celebration of Ahadada Reader 3, published by Jesse Glass and Ahadada Press. Four chapbooks by four poets are featured in the Reader: Mary-Marcia Casoly, Katherine Hastings, Melanie Moro-Huber and Jack Foley. This show features Mary-Marcia Casoly reading from Australia Dreaming.

June 29
Ahadada Reader 3, Part Two. Katherine Hastings reads from Fog and Light.

July 1
Ahadada Reader 3, Part Three, selections from Melanie Moro-Huber’s The Memory of Paper read by Jack Foley.

July 8
Ahadada Reader 3, Part Four. Jack Foley reads from Disordered City.

Two Bookstore Closings

Village Books in Pacific Palisades, CA
“It was with great regret and sadness that Katie O’Laughlin announced on Thursday, June 2 that Village Books would be closing on June 30, after fourteen years in business. ‘Village Books has struggled financially for the past 10 years,’ says O’Laughlin, ‘but I was able to somehow make it work. Unfortunately, recent changes in the book business have made it impossible to continue operating the store in its present form.’ To read the full story, click here.

The Bookstore in Radcliff, KY
“There are plenty of books on the shelves at The Bookstore in Radcliff. But there are not enough customers. So after 37 years in business, owner Jerry Brown is closing his bookstore. Blame the electronic revolution. ‘With the e-readers, the Nooks, and the Kindles, all of my best customers instead of coming in here and buying books, I think now they are downloading books,’ says Brown.” To read the full story, click here.

Glimmer Train March Fiction Open Winners :: 2011

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their March Fiction Open competition. This competition is held quarterly and is open to all writers for stories with a word count range between 2000 – 20,000. The next Fiction Open will take place in June. Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

First place: Melissa Yancy, of Los Angeles, CA, wins $2000 for “Teeth Apart.” Her story will be published in the Summer 2012 issue of Glimmer Train Stories. [Photo credit: Stacy Clinton.]

Second place: Susan Messer, of Oak Park, IL, wins $1000 for “Angstschweiss.” Her story will also be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories.

Third place: Nellie Hermann, of Brooklyn, NY, wins $600 for “Meanness.” Her story will also be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories, increasing her prize to $700.

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

Deadline soon approaching: Short Story Award for New Writers May 31

This competition is held quarterly and is open to all writers whose fiction has not appeared in a print publication with a circulation over 5000. No theme restrictions. Most submissions to this category run 1500-6000 words, but up to 12,000 is fine. Click here for complete guidelines.

New Lit on the Block :: Crashtest

The first issue of Crashtest, a literary magazine run, edited and published in by high school age writers, is up and running. In addition to featuring work from students across the country, each issue will also showcase a piece by an established adult author looking back in some form or fashion on their teenage years. For their inaugural issue, Crashtest includes a piece of short prose by Michael Martone.

Student writers in Volume 1 Issue 1 are Mollie Cueva-Dabkoski, Jules Cunningham, Meredith Evett, Bobby Gaines, Emily Gaudet, Sophie Gibson, Chloe Gordon, Shady Kievannia, Peter LaBerge, Michael Martone, Julia McCrimlisk, Kathleen Radigan, Abigail Schott-Rosenfield, and Stephen Urchick.

Crashtest publishes poetry, stories and creative non-fiction in the form of personal essays, imaginative investigation, and experimental interviews from students in grades nine through twelve.

New Lit on the Block :: Entasis

Entasis is a new, online literary quarterly based out of Irvine, California. Editors Robert Anasi and Greg McClure accept poetry, with fiction, literary non-fiction, and art at their discretion.

“Badlands” is the theme of the current issue. Anasi writes, “We weren’t thinking about the Civil War when we picked ‘Badlands’ as the theme for this issue but division and darkness were on our minds. In America today, we see a country that seems increasingly at odds with itself and a media that resounds with rage, mendacity and shrill desperation. The artists and writers for this issue all explore these growing divisions, separations, cruelties.”

Entasis contributors include: Michael Barach, Nicelle Davis, Susan Davis, Brandi George, Evan Peterson, Justin Rigamonti, Elizabeth Wyatt, Cynthia Mitchell, Steve Geng, Sara Jimenez, Daniel Kukla, Joe Heaps Nelson, Andrew Lichtenstein, Angela Koh, Beth Raymer, Leah Kaminski, Lena Firestone, Mike Dubisch, Nathan Bishop, Rachel Hinton, Rosemary McGuire, and Travis Lindquist.

Entasis is open for submissions, accepts simultaneous submissions with an approximate one-month response time. The deadline for Fall 2011 is August 10.

Jupiter 88 Allen Ginsberg Edition Complete

CAConrad was invited by HOWL Festival to make videos for a special edition of JUPITER 88 of poets discussing the importance of Allen Ginsberg for the 2011 festivities.

Videos are available of the following 31 poets honoring Allen Ginsberg: Eileen Myles and Hank, Stacy Szymaszek and Ginsberg doll, Nathaniel Siegel, Douglas A. Martin, Paolo Javier, Edwin Torres, Vincent Katz, Sharon Mesmer, Dan Machlin, Ariana Reines, Erica Kaufman, Filip Marinovich, Corrine Fitzpatrick, Elinor Nauen, Stephen Boyer, Marc Nasdor, Sarah Dowling, Julia Bloch, Jason Zuzga, Dorothea Lasky, Trisha Low, Frank Sherlock, David Wolach, Greg Bem, Paul E. Nelson, Michael Hennessey, Nicole Steinberg, Guillermo Parra, Fred Moten, and Mark Nowak.

New Lit on the Block :: The Redwing’s Nest

The Redwing’s Nest is a community partnership between Sabot at Stony Point, New Virginia Revue and Blackbird: an online journal of literature and the arts.

The Redwing’s Nest is an online journal of literary and visual arts for children pre-school through 8th grade. The journal provides a place for children to publish and exhibit their work. The goal of the journal is to give children a venue for their creative voices to be heard, as well as building a community of young artists and writers. The journal’s reach is global and inclusive, accepting submissions from children pre-school through 8th grade from public, independent and homeschool learning communities.

The journal is online only and published quarterly. Each issue has a broad theme that addresses archetypal images of childhood that are prominent in the artistic landscape of young artists and writers. Each themed issue will feature a gallery of artists works, poetry, fiction, non-fiction including memoirs, as well as book reviews that broadly connect to the given theme.

This Alpha issue is themed PLACE. The Spring Beta issue is themed MUSIC and SOUND. The Fall 2011 issue is themed ME. Subsequent themes will be announced in the Beta issue.

Fugue Explores New Forms

Fugue‘s newest issue (#40) has been dubbed the “Play” issue. The introductory note introduces that “Issue #40 of Fugue has been designed to show how writers are beautifully and smartly playing with genre, form, content and idea. Lyric essay, collage, prose poem, micro fiction, the panharmonicon and the experiment are not new terms, but the evolution of these terms, relevant to the evolution of our culture, has caused writers to create new forms of writing that are as inventive as they are accessible.”

Authors include (* authors works available on Fugue’s website): Rebecca McClanahan & Dinty W. Moore, Michael Martone, Anne Panning, Alexandra Ghaly*, Kim Dana Kupperman, Kyle Dargan, Guy Jean, translated by Ilya Kaminsky and Kathryn Farris, Ander Monson, Marvin Bell, Valerie Miner, Brenda Miller, Jennifer Kanke, S.L. Wisenberg, Ely Shipley, Jennifer Campbell, Laurel Bastian, Rachel Yoder, Derek Juntunen*, Joe Wenderoth, E. Shaskan Bumas*, Rebecca McClanahan, Iris Moulton, and Lia Purpura.

New Lit on the Block :: Jackson Hole Review

Twice yearly in print and online (aXmag), The Jackson Hole Review publishes fiction, essays, poetry and visual arts emphasizing themes relative to the West in a broad sense: “Small towns and mountain towns from the Rockies to the Great Smokies share their quest for the American identity with the neighborhoods of the Midwest and the coasts, whether city or suburb.”

The inaugural Spring 2011 issue is themed Connect/Disconnect. Author Kim Barnes has observed, “There are so many ways in which the West – or at least the idea of the West – is a study in contradictions. We are both nomadic and desirous to put down roots… We want both community and isolation.”

Contributors include Diana Smith, Kirk Vandyke, Jacob Routzahn, Patty Somlo, Tricia Louvar, Caroline Treadwell, Jessica S. Tanguay, Sarah Wang, Courtney Gustafson, Dulco Jacobs, Elizabeth Tinker, Nicole Burdick, Linda Hazen, Marcia Casey, Susan Marsh, Devin Murphy, Jennifer Minniti-Shippey, Cal Grayson, Alexandra Rose Kornblum, Thomas Macker, and Mike Bressler.

Behind the scenes, Jackson Hole Review is made up of Editor-in-Chief Matthew Irwin, Managing Editor Amy Early, Art Director Benjamin Carlson, Associate Editors Benjamin Bombard and Robyn Vincent, Contributing Editors Nicole Burdick, Marcia Casey, Robin Early, Linda Hazel, Sarah Kilby, and Publisher Mary Grossman, Planet Jackson Hole, Inc., Jackson, Wyoming.

Hayden’s Ferry on Short Forms

The Spring/Summer 2011 issue of Hayden’s Ferry Review includes a special section on Short Forms and includes works by Kevin McIlvoy, Darryl Joel Berger, Anne Earney, Tara L. Masih, Sally Bellerose, Katie Farris, Chidelia Edochie, Julie Thi Underhill, Michele Ruby, Krista Eastman, Carment Lau, Emma Hine, Jamison Crabtree, Simeon Berry, Michael Brooks Cryer, Michael Meyerhofer, Chad Sweeney, Caroline Clocksiem, Erika eckart, Translator E.C. Belli (“The Prose Poem in France”), and Pierre Peuchmaurd.

New Lit on the Block :: Prime Mincer

Edited by Peter Lucas, Abigail Wheetley and Amy Graziano, Prime Mincer publishes fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry in a print and e-version (Smashwords) three times a year (March, July, November). Free previews are available online.

The first issue includes works by David Cozy, Jared Yates Sexton, Rusty Barnes, Hobie Anthony, Eleanor Levine, Jackson Lassiter, John C. Mannone, JP Dancing Bear, Stephanie Dickinson, Portia Carryer, Dustin Monk, Desiree Dighton, Michael Meyerhofer, Lisbeth Davidow, Bryan Estes, Paul Kavanagh, Shawn Mitchell, Wendy Taylor Carlisle, Grace Koong, Kate Ristow, Jay Boyer, Jon Tribble, and Amy Schreibman Walter.

Prime Mincer accepts fiction and creative nonfiction submissions up to 7500 words and graphic narratives up to 25 pages (print size — 6×9).

For poetry, Prime Mincer‘s 2011 poetry contest with final judge Rodney Jones, is open until October 1. First prize is $300, publication, 10 copies, and runner-up receives $50, publication, and 5 copies. All entries considered for publication.

Inkwell 2011 Competition Winners

Inkwell and he Manhattanville College Master of Arts in Writing Program have announced the 2011 winners of their annual competitions. Winners appear in the Spring 2011 issue.

The 13TH Annual Short Fiction Contest
Grand Prize: $1500 & Publication In Inkwell
Competition Judge: Catherine Lewis
Winner: “Jesus Permit” by Janet Hilliard-Osborn
Notable Finalist: Gregg Cusick

The 14th Annual Poetry Contest
Grand Prize: $1000 & Publication in Inkwell
Competition Judge: Mark Doty
Winner: “My Father Was a Detective” by Jeanne Wagner
Notable Finalists: Sharon Klander, Tara Taylor, Leslie St. John

The Elizabeth McCormack/Inkwell MAW Student & Alumni Contests in Poetry & Fiction
Poetry Winner: Shane Cashman
Fiction Winner: Todd Bowes

Persimmon Tree Regional Poet Feature

Persimmon Tree’s online magazine featuring “the creativity and talent of women over sixty to a wide audience of readers of all ages” includes a special section in their Spring 2011 issue of poems from the East Coast States, guest edited by Hannah Stein. Authors include Sasha Ettinger, Sandra Kohler, Janet Krauss, Diana Pinckney, Marjorie Norris, Susan Roche, Ada Jill Schneider, Dorothy Schiff Shannon, Carole Stone, and Dale Tushman.

Persimmon Tree ordinarily does not accept submissions of poetry. However, two times a year they hold contests and publish the winning poems submitted from poets who live in a specific geographical region. Here is the schedule:

Fall 2011 — WESTERN STATES (WA, OR, CA, AK, HI, NV, ID, AZ, UT, MT, WY, CO, NM). Submissions accepted April 15-June 15, 2011.

Spring 2012 — CENTRAL STATES (TX, OK, KS, NE, SD, ND, MN, IA, MO, AR, LA, MS, AL, TN, KY, IN, MI, WI, IL, OH, WV, PA). Submissions accepted Oct. 15-Dec. 15, 2011.

Fall 2012 — INTERNATIONAL. Submissions accepted April 15-June 15, 2012.

Caliban is Back – Online

Editor Larry Smith has revived Caliban, now Calibanonline:

In the mid-80s, American politics and writing took a turn to the right. The great American tradition of innovative, imaginative writing, from Whitman and Dickinson through the giants of the 20th century, was overshadowed by an obsession with literary formalism. Lawrence R. Smith founded Caliban in 1986 to counter this tendency. Writers who flourished in George Hitchcock’s legendary kayak magazine, which closed in 1984, moved to Caliban: Raymond Carver, Robert Bly, Colette Inez, James Tate, W.S. Merwin, Michael McClure, Charles Simic, Diane Wakoski, Philip Levine, Louis Simpson, Russell Edson, and many others. Writers who had never published in kayak also joined the Caliban scene: William Burroughs, Maxine Hong Kingston, Jim Harrison, Wanda Coleman, Louise Erdrich, William Stafford, among a host of others. Caliban was an instant success, praised by Andrei Codrescu in a review of issues #1 and #2 on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and given a Coordinating Council of Little Magazines award for outstanding new magazine. The original Caliban was also awarded three National Endowment for the Arts grants in support of the publication costs of the magazine. The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley, purchased the Caliban archives in 1997.

In 2010, fourteen years after the physical magazine closed, Smith started an online version. It looks just like the old Caliban: it has the same design, format, and even the same typeface. You hear the sound of turning pages as you move through it in virtual space. As one artist remarked, “This is the way angels read.” In addition to the outstanding contributors that characterized the old magazine, the new Calibanonline features full color, high-resolution art reproductions throughout each issue, short art videos, and recordings of original musical compositions. In that sense, the new online version offers even more than the original.

Pictured: Issue #3 is a celebration of George Hitchcock, who died in August of 2010 at the age of 96, featuring a portfolio of his artwork and late poems, an interview with Marjorie Simon, and contributions from Robert Bly, Wanda Coleman, Ricardo Pau-Llosa, John Digby, Nancy Willard, Charles Bernstein, Ray Gonzalez, Jim Hair, Christine Kuhn, A.A. Hedgecoke, Greg Sipes, Nico Vassilakis, Thomas Lux, Marjorie Simon, Shirley Kaufman, Margaret Atwood, Tim Kahl, Stephen Kessler, William Harmon, Deanne Yorita, Robert Peters, Jack Anderson, Vern Rutsala, Lou Lipsitz, Tom Wayman and Linda Lappin.

Sawtooth Poetry Prize 2011 Winner

Ahsahta Press has announced the winner of the tenth annual Sawtooth Poetry Prize competition: Karen Rigby of Gilbert, Arizona [pictured], whose manuscript Chinoiserie was selected by Paul Hoover. She will receive the $1,500 prize in addition to the publication of her book by Ahsahta Press in January 2011.

Hoover also selected Early Poems by Lucy Ives of Flushing, New York, as the runner-up in the competition; her manuscript will be published by Ahsahta in September 2013.

Full list of semifinalists and finalists available here.

Sawtooth Poetry Prize 2012 Call for Manuscripts: January 1, 2012 through March 1, 2012. Final Judge: Heather McHugh. The winning volume will be published in January 2013 by Ahsahta Press.

New Lit on the Block :: tak′tīl

tak′tīl is a new quarterly online journal of poetry, fiction, non-fiction and art. It’s the aim of tak′tīl to keep the power of ‘touch’ even in an online format: “we look for work with haptic memory: sense-oriented poems and pieces of prose that convey as much through words as our synapses do when we touch and taste and smell. We want work that’s blunt, raw, human, focused. We are less interested in pieces that are cerebral, and more in those that offer a unique sense experience—for instance, writing about food so vivid readers can taste oysters on their tongues, can feel the stretch and give of bread dough in their hands.”

tak′tīl is Kaitlyn Siner, Editor-in-Chief & Non-fiction Editor, Michele Harris, Poetry Editor & Webmaster, Demetra Chornovas, Fiction & Marketing Editor, and Emily Frey, Managing Editor & Art Editor.

The first issue includes poetry by Ana Garza G’z, Cara Kelly, Kit Kennedy, Alan King, Karen Lake, Heather Wyatt; fiction by Louis Bourgeois, James H. Celestino, Andy Cerrone; non-fiction by Joel Coblen, Susan Hodaral, Sheila Squillante; art by Paul Shampine and George Shaw.

new graffiti: Literature on the Streets

new graffiti: Literature on the Streets is the monthly literary broadside published by new graffiti Publishing, pairing poetry, fiction, essays and art to “create a unique story.” new graffiti comes in the form of broadsides, flyers, magazine inserts, post cards, and “anything else that can be thrown into a public space.” Each month new graffiti: Literature on the Streets will publish a new writer and artist with everything published also appearing on the new graffiti Publishing website.

new graffiti is open for submissions twice per year, extending its first biannual call until the end of May.

New Lit on the Block :: Monkey Business

The newest venture by A Public Space is an annual English-language version of the acclaimed literary magazine Monkey Business: New Voices from Japan. The magazine is edited by Motoyuki Shibata (curator, along with Roland Kelts, of the Focus: Japan portfolio in APS 1) and Ted Goossen.

“We offer nothing in the way of a ‘concept’ or ‘lifestyle’ aimed at a particular age bracket or social group, no useful information to help you get ahead,” write the editors. “Our inspiration for the name Monkey Business is the immortal Chuck Berry tune. No other work of art that I know of deals with the aggravations we face every day so straightforwardly and with such liberating humor. That is the guiding star we follow on this journey.”

The first issue includes literary works by Hideo Furukawa, Hiromi Kawakami, Mina Ishikawa, Atsushi Nakajima, Barry Yourgrau, Yoko Ogawa, Inuo Taguchi, Koji Uno, Masayo Koike, Shion Mizuhara, Minoru Ozawa, and Sachiko Kishimoto with translations by Ted Goossen, Jay Rubin, M. Cody Poulton, and Michael Emmerich. Also included is a manga by the Brother and Sister Nishioka, based on the story by Franz Kafka, translated by J. A. Underwood.

Twenty-five percent of all sales of Monkey Business will benefit Japan’s Nippon Foundation/CANPAN Northeastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund.

The Fiddlehead Prize Winners

Winners of the 20th annual Ralph Gustafson Poetry Prize, Susan Steudel, and the Best Short Fiction Prize, Will Johnson, have their winning works published in the spring 2011 (#247) edition of The Fiddlehead: Atlantic Canada’s International Literary Journal. Also included are poetry and fiction honorable metions: Catherine Owen, Tim Bowling, Charmaine Cadeau, and Sandra Jenson. These winning entries can also be read on The Fiddlehead website.

This annual contest awards $1500 to the Ralph Gustafson Prize for Best Poem, $500 each for Two Honourable Mentions and $1500 for the Best Story, $500 each for Two Honourable Mentions. The deadline for entry is December 1, 2011. The winning entries will be published in the Spring 2012 issue of The Fiddlehead (No. 251) and on their web site. The winning authors will be paid for publication in addition to their prizes.

[Cover image: “The Hill” by Glenn Priestley]

Roethke’s 103

Join local poets and lovers of poetry May 20 – 22 (Saginaw, Michigan) in celebration of Theodore Roethke’s 103rd birthday. Also in attendance will be the late poet’s widow, Beatrice Roethke Lushington and Tess Gallagher, contemporary poet and Roethke student. Visit the Friends of Roethke website for more information and a full schedule of events.

New Lit on the Block :: Prime Mincer

Edited by Peter Lucas, Abigail Wheetley and Amy Graziano, Prime Mincer publishes fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry in a print and e-version (Smashwords) three times a year (March, July, November). Free previews are available online.

The first issue includes works by David Cozy, Jared Yates Sexton, Rusty Barnes, Hobie Anthony, Eleanor Levine, Jackson Lassiter, John C. Mannone, JP Dancing Bear, Stephanie Dickinson, Portia Carryer, Dustin Monk, Desiree Dighton, Michael Meyerhofer, Lisbeth Davidow, Bryan Estes, Paul Kavanagh, Shawn Mitchell, Wendy Taylor Carlisle, Grace Koong, Kate Ristow, Jay Boyer, Jon Tribble, and Amy Schreibman Walter.

Prime Mincer accepts fiction and creative nonfiction submissions up to 7500 words and graphic narratives up to 25 pages (print size — 6×9).

For poetry, Prime Mincer‘s 2011 poetry contest with final judge Rodney Jones, is open until October 1. First prize is $300, publication, 10 copies, and runner-up receives $50, publication, and 5 copies. All entries considered for publication.

Books :: Torture of Women by Nancy Spero

From Siglio Press: Torture of Women is Nancy Spero’s fierce and enduring contribution to contemporary art, to feminist thought and action, and to the continuing protest against torture, injustice, and the abuse of power.

This epic artwork, juxtaposing testimony by female victims of torture with startling imagery from the ancient world, is as powerful now as when it was created in 1976. Artistic ingenuity coupled with boldly feminist and political intent, Torture of Women is a public cry of outrage and a nuanced exploration of the continuum of violence and the isolation of pain. It is also a pivotal work by an American artist whose immense impact has yet to be fully examined.

Siglio’s publication, three years in the making, translates the 125 ft. work into nearly 100 pages of detail so that the entirety of Torture of Women—with legible texts and vibrant color reproductions—can be experienced with immediacy and intimacy, providing a unique opportunity to engage this influential but infrequently exhibited work of art. Siglio’s publication of Torture of Women also serves as a centrifuge for conversation, raising provocative questions that cross the borders of art, politics, feminism, and human rights.

With an essay “Fourteen Meditations of Torture of Women by Nancy Spero” by Diana Nemiroff; “Symmetries,” a story by Luisa Valenzuela; and an excerpt from The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World by Elaine Scarry.

$48 Clothbound 156 pages, Illustrated ISBN 978-0-9799562-2-5

Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize Winners

The latest issue of The Missouri Review (v34 n1) includes the winners of the Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize: John Hales for his essay “Helpline”; anna Solomon for her fiction “The Long Net”; and George Looney for his poems “To Account for Such Grace,” “Early Pastoral,” “The Consolation of a Company of Acrobats,” and “A Temporary Delyaing of the Inevitable.”

Richard Hugo House Seeks Writer-in-Residence

SEATTLE — Richard Hugo House is seeking 1-2 accomplished authors/teachers (funding dependent) to become the next writers-in-residence at the nonprofit literary arts center on Capitol Hill.

Applicants for the position should be practicing, published (or produced) writers of poetry, fiction, plays or creative nonfiction and accomplished and dedicated writing teachers with experience working with writers of all levels in a traditional workshop setting and on a one-on-one basis as a mentor offering criticism and professional development advice.

Applicants should have a specific artistic project they are working on during their residency (i.e. developing a manuscript for publication) and should have a special interest in the role of writing as a means of engaging people of all cultures and in all sectors of society.

Applications are due by June 6, 2011 to Richard Hugo House, c/o Writer-in-Residence Search Committee, 1634 11th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122. Full details regarding the application process are on the RHH Website. No phone or e-mail queries please.

Booth Chapter One Contest Winner

Richard Russo has selected Kevin Ducey’s Calamity’s Child as the winner of the Booth Chapter One Contest.

“Ducey is a terrific writer who’s going to do great things,” Russo said. Russo went on to praise the humor and imagination in the opening twenty pages of Calamity’s Child, currently available on Booth’s website.

Booth is a literary journal powered by the MFA program at Butler University. Booth publishes fresh material on their website every Friday, in addition to an annual print collection.

The Chapter One contest asked for novelists to submit up to 25 pages of an unpublished work. Ducey will collect a $500 prize.

Black Lawrence Press Contest Winner

The editors at Black Lawrence Press have announced that Tracy DeBrincat has won The Big Moose Prize for her novel Hollywood Buckaroo. Tracy will receive $1,000 in prize money and a publication contract from BLP. The Big Moose Prize is an annual award for an unpublished novel. The prize is open to new, emerging, and established writers. The deadline is January 31.

New Lit on the Block :: Badlands

Badlands is an annual bilingual literary journal that publishes original creative work in Spanish and English, and original translations from Spanish and Latin American literature. Badlands is published by the students at the Palm Desert Campus of California State University, San Bernardino. The publication is made possible by funds from the Instructionally Related Programs Board.

Issue One includes:

Poetry translations of Pablo Neruda translated by William O’Daly, Lope de Vega translated by Boyd Nielson, and Jan Neruda translated by A. K. Adams.

Poetry by Jay Lewenstein, Maria Elena B. Mahler, Elsa Frausto, Orlando Ramirez, Lois P. Jones, Derek Henderson, Jeff Poggi, Katherine Factor, Monte Landis, Nicole Comstock, Paula Stinson, Günther Bedson, A. N. Teibe, Wendy Silva, Nikia Chaney, Ash Russell, Susan Rogers, Russell Hoberg, Patricia D’Alessandro, Ruth Nolan, Isabel Quintero-Flores, and Kath Abela Wilson.

Fiction by Eileen Chavez, G. Gordon Davis, David Camberos, Mariano Zaro, Celia, Demi Anter, Bruce Chronister, and Tony O’Doherty.

Nonfiction by Diana Holdsworth and Linda Marie Prejean.

Submissions for 2011 have closed, but will reopen for 2012.

[Cover art: Stephen Linsteadt’s “Beyond Words.”]

Response: Japan Earthquake and Tsunami 2011

From Broadsided: Putting Literature and Art on the Streets –

At Broadsided, we believe that art and literature belong in our daily lives. We believe they are not just decoration, but essential communication. They inspire and they demonstrate the vitality and depth of our connection with the world.

Moved by the plight of post-tsunami Japan, Broadsided artist Yuko Adachi sent us the image “Love Heals Japan” (pictured) and asked if we would help her find writing to accompany it. We were inspired by her idea, and decided to ask other Broadsided artists if they had been similarly moved and, if so, if they’d be willing to share their work.

On the site are the visual pieces Broadsided artists created in response to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. We now ask you to respond with words.

We will select one poem/story for each piece and publish them on the Broadsided website in a way similar to last year’s “Attic Inspiration” series with Emily Dickinson.

Yuko will create a high-quality print of her collaboration and sell it on her Etsy site. All proceeds will go to the relief effort in Japan.

Deadline for Writing: May 20, 2011. Complete guidelines on the site.

New Lit on the Block :: Three Coyotes

Three Coyotes publishes the work of our best poets, writers and artists in response to the environment, the American West, current issues, animals, the arts, imagination and survival. The staff behind the publication includes Joan Fox, editor, Judy Eddy, business manager/proofreading & editing, and Peter Schnittman, technical support/design & layout.

Issue One features fiction by Meg Files, Alex Kuo, and Gerald Vizenor, nonfiction by Joan Burbick, BK Loren, Heidi MacDonald, and Steve Pavlik, poetry by Francisco X. Alarcon, janice Gould, David Ignatow, Yaedi Ignatow, Adrian C. Louis, and Afaa Michael Weaver, and photography by Wesley Rothman and a thirteen-photograph portfolio with artist statement by Chuck Fox.

Looking ahead, Issue Two will feature an exclusive essay by Janay Brun about her experience as a whistleblower reporting the roles and actions leading to the killing of Macho B, the last known wild jaguar in the United States; an interview with a wildlife rehabilitator; an essay about rattlesnakes; and, more.

Issue Two will also include a “Subscriber Forum Topic” for essays, poems, short stories, and artwork reflecting upon the difference between hunting and killing.

These and all general submissions are accepted via email only during the months of October, November, April and May.

[Issue One Cover, Cane Creek Branch, Utah, Chuck Fox, photographer]