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New Lit on the Block :: Saltwater Quarterly

Katie McClendon, Managing Editor and Founder, along with Bridgette Hahn, Poetry Editor, and Jessi Bee, Designer and Prose Editor, have released the first issue of Saltwater Quarterly, a print literary journal “devoted to publishing works of fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction that exemplify the craft of writing while remaining free of oppressive language or themes” with a focus on works by “underrepresented authors, specifically members of oppressed communities.”

The first issue is a simple 31-page, 5.5 x 7, saddle stitch chapbook-style publication, but the layout and design are elegantly done, with attention paid and credited to typography (a basic publishing concept so readily overlooked by new publications these days). Writers featured include Nicholas YB Wong, Bo Schwabacher, Marita Isabel, Luca Penne, David Glen Smith, Michael Lee Rattigan, William Doreski, Edmund Sandoval, Jeremy Halinen Heather C.D. Davis, Teresa Chuc Dowell, and Caroline Picker.

Submissions for fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry are open for issue #3 until July 15. Single copies and subscriptions can be ordered from the site, and some samples from issue #1 are also available for reading.

Prufer Leaves Pleiades

After 14 years with Pleiades: a Journal of New Writing, Kevin Prufer has moved to the creative writing program at the University of Houston. Prufer will continue as Editor-at-Large for Pleiades, with Phong Nguyen and Wayne Miller taking over daily operations. Nguyen will continue as co-editor for fiction along with Matthew Eck and Miller will continue as co-editor of poetry, now with Marc McKee. Issue 31.1 is Prufer’s final issue, so includes his and Miller’s poetry selections for the last time.

Polaris Undergrad Magazine Broadens Submissions

Previously closed submissions for Ohio Northern students only, Polaris magazine is now open to all undergraduate writers nation wide as well as internationally. Issue 54 is the first open issue, publishing works from the “global undergraduate writing community.” Polaris publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry and visual art and has a yearly genre contest with cash award and publication. According to Khaty Xiong,Co-Editor, “Polaris has a yearly submission period from about October/November through February.” Single copies can be obtained by contacting the editors.

New Lit on the Block :: Certain Circuits

Founder Bonnie MacAllister has publicly introduced Certain Circuits, an artists’ collaboration of poetry, experimental prose, art, and new media. CC is especially interested in documenting multimedia collaborative work between artists. The first issue features work from artists in Australia, Brazil, France, Mexico, India, Japan, Oman, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The first issues is laid out online with plans to publish print copies. CC is also curating their first gallery exhibit in Philadelphia featuring a multimedia collaboration between their contributors.

CC is currently accepting proposals for multimedia, audio, and art on a rolling basis, though the reading period for poetics and prose is currently closed.

Issue 1.1 in print features the following contributors – those whose works also appear online have an asterisk:

Art: Alison Altergott* – Kirsten Ashley* – Eleanor Leonne Bennett* – Helene Constant* – Natalie Felix – Joanna Fulginiti* – Amanda Lovelee* – Ana Viviane Minorelli* – Jed Mauger Williams* – Ruth Schanbacher* – Cait Spera* – Rachel Udell* – Nico Vassilikas*

Collaborations: Handmade Philly* – Brian and Ashley Howe* – Horsey* – Radio Eris – Val Broeksmit (Bikini Robot Army) with Burnside Bums – Megan Kelley and Suguna Sridhar – Michelle Wilson* and Mary Tasillo – Jim Tuite and Patrick Morris* – Christopher Gage and Megan Kelley* – Adam Zucker and Jason Maas* – Greg Bem and Linda Thea

Poetry: Joe Amaral – Courtney Bambrick – Beth Boettcher – Zachary Bushnell – Brooke Bailey – Jane Cassady – Stuart Cooke – Iris Jamahl Dunkel – Fernando Flores – Alexander Jorgensen* – Jeff Mark – Monica Pace* – Tanya Perkins – Kathleen Radigan* – William Rodeffer* – Suguna Sridhar* – Hal Sirowitz* – Bill Wolak

Prose: Spencer Carvalho – Stephanie Dickinson* – David Hewitt* – Jeff Siegel*

Multimedia: Jeff Siegel*

Naugatuck River Review Contest Winner

Naugatuck River Review’s 2nd Annual Narrative Poetry Contest winners and finalists all have their works published in Issue 5 of the publication. For a full list of authors, visit the NRR website. The prize winners are:

First Prize of $1000 plus publication: Jon E. Seaman of Portland, OR for his poem, “A Bag of Wasps”

Second Prize of $250 plus publication: Nancy Otter of New Britain, CT for her poem, “Hart Crane”

Third Prize of $100 plus publication: Monica Hand of New York, NY for her poem, “Snuff“

Please for the World

With our thoughts on so much unrest in the world, and on the people of Japan, including our friend Jesse Glass from Ahadada Books – Japan (who is okay!), this week’s American Life in Poetry Column seems perfectly matched.

American Life in Poetry: Column 312

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
Ellery Akers is a California poet who here brings all of us under a banner with one simple word on it.

The Word That Is a Prayer

One thing you know when you say it:
all over the earth people are saying it with you;
a child blurting it out as the seizures take her,
a woman reciting it on a cot in a hospital.
What if you take a cab through the Tenderloin:
at a street light, a man in a wool cap,
yarn unraveling across his face, knocks at the window;
he says, Please.
By the time you hear what he’s saying,
the light changes, the cab pulls away,
and you don’t go back, though you know
someone just prayed to you the way you pray.
Please: a word so short
it could get lost in the air
as it floats up to God like the feather it is,
knocking and knocking, and finally
falling back to earth as rain,
as pellets of ice, soaking a black branch,
collecting in drains, leaching into the ground,
and you walk in that weather every day.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©1997 by Ellery Akers, whose most recent book of poetry is Knocking on the Earth, Wesleyan University Press, 1989. Reprinted from The Place That Inhabits Us, Sixteen Rivers Press, 2010, by permission of Ellery Akers and the publishers. Introduction copyright © 2011 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

American Life in Poetry provides newspapers and online publications with a free weekly column featuring contemporary American poems. The sole mission of this project is to promote poetry: American Life in Poetry seeks to create a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. There are no costs for reprinting the columns; we do require that you register your publication here and that the text of the column be reproduced without alteration.

Eat Write Egypt in NYC

Alimentum‘s second Eat These Words Food Tour & Writing Workshop with Editors Paulette Licitra & Esther Cohen features an Egyptian tour of NYC: dine Egyptian, shop Egyptian, visit a Mosque, and write your thoughts and impressions. Sunday, May 1st, 2011, Manhattan & Astoria, Queens from lunchtime through the evening. Includes:lunch, dinner, tour, and workshop.

Toad Suck Review Takes Over The Corpse

Edited by Mark Spitzer, Toad Suck Review is a national/international literary journal published by the Department of Writing in the College of Fine Arts and Communication at the University of Central Arkansas. Its mission is “to publish the most cutting-edge works of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, translations and reviews in the Universe.”

The 2011 debut of issue #1 (the “transitional issue”) marks the transition of the publication from the legendary Exquisite Corpse Annual, which the Writing Department published from 2008 to 2010. “The Toad” now takes the place of “the Corpse” in rebirth of a literary endeavor.

The Toad Suck Review website includes the editorial from this first issue with a discussion of the contributors and future of the publication.

New Lit on the Block :: Rubbertop Review

Being a Michigander, I’ve been raised not to take kindly to the Buckeye state, but there are always exceptions to that, especially for anything outside of college football. Rubbertop Review is worthy of just such an exception. Touting itself as “An Annual Journal of The University of Akron and Greater Ohio,” Rubbertop Review is a print annual in its second issue of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction.

Unique to this publication is that each issue of Rubbertop will feature 1/4 of its content from undergraduate and graduate students at The University of Akron. The remainder of the journal will feature work by writers living in Ohio as well as beyond, with no requirement of university affiliation. Rubbertop Review bases selection solely on “the quality of writing and the passion for the craft.”

I picked up Volume Two at AWP, which contains interviews with writers Joyce Dyer, Nin Andrews and Holly Goddard Jones, and works by Sandra Bannister, Tony Bradford, Curt Brown, Kyle Brown, Ed Buchanan, Noah Falck, Ryan Fletcher, Scott Geisel, Eliese Colette Goldbach, T.M. Gottl, Brian Hohmeier, Michael Krutel, Daryl Largent, Dave Materna, Robert Miltner, Ryan Mohr, Michael Parsons, Sammy Snodgrass, Nick Sturm, and Diane Vogel Ferri.

Submissions for the third issue have just recently closed, but issue four will be open for both new and established writers from September 1 – February 1. Professor Eric Wasserman, Rubbertop‘s faculty advisor can be contacted for copies (e-mail address on website).

NewPages Updates :: March 13, 2011

The following have been added to The NewPages Big List of Literary Magazines:

Saltwater Quarterly – fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry
inter|rupture – poetry, fiction, art
Anak Sastra – fiction, creative non-fiction
Draft – first and final drafts with author interviews
Polaris – undergraduate poetry, fiction, visual art, and nonfiction
Kugelmass – humor stories and essays
12th Street – fiction, non-fiction, poetry, interviews, visual art, photography
Poetry South – poetry
The Emerson Review- fiction, poetry, nonfiction, visual art
Haigaonline – haiga

The following have been added to The NewPages Big List of Alternative Magazines:
Obit – a forum for ideas and opinions about life, death, and transition

Writing Conferences, Workshops, Retreats, Centers, Residencies & Book & Literary Festivals
E-POETRY 2011 (New York) – International Digital Language Arts Festival, May 18-21

Conversations and Connections: Practical Advice on Writing

From Dave Housley (Barrelhouse magazine):

“Get the real scoop directly from the people who are making decisions about publishing every day. Conversations and Connections is held in downtown Washington, DC, and features editors from a mix of established and cutting-edge literary magazines and small presses. Our panels and craft workshops are led by writers and editors from a wide variety of styles and genres, all speaking to issues that will help you take your writing to the next level. Our keynote this year is Steve Almond. Your registration fee of $65 includes the full day conference, a book of your choice, a year subscription to a participating literary magazine, and one ticket to ‘speed dating with editors,’ where you’ll get immediate feedback on your work. This conference sells out every year.”

Date: April 16, 2011

Lost & Found Chapbook Series

Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative features extra-poetic work – correspondence, journals, critical prose, and transcripts of talks – of New American Poets, their precursors and followers. These primary documents are uncovered in archival research and edited by students and scholars at The Graduate Center, CUNY, as well as visiting fellows and guest editors, and prepared by Ammiel Alcalay, General Editor. Lost & Found puts into wider circulation essential but virtually unknown texts to expand our knowledge of literary, cultural, social, and political history.

Subscription prices vary by level of support, but all include the chapbook series for the year. The 2011 Lost & Found Series II (ISBN: 978-0-615-43350-9) includes:

Selections from El Corno Emplumado/ The Plumed Horn
ed. Margaret Randall

Diane di Prima: The Mysteries of Vision: Some Notes on H.D.
ed. Ana Božičević

Diane di Prima: R.D.’s H.D.
ed. Ammiel Alcalay

Barcelona, 1936: Selections from Muriel Rukeyser’s Spanish Civil War Archive
ed. Rowena Kennedy-Epstein

Jack Spicer’s Translation of Beowulf:Selections
eds. David Hadbawnik and Sean Reynolds

Robert Duncan: Olson Memorial Lecture #4
eds. Erica Kaufman, Meira Levinson, Bradley Lubin, Megan Paslawski, Kyle Waugh, Rachael Wilson, and Ammiel Alcalay

Crow Arts Manor to Open in Portland

Crow Arts Manor is a 500-square-foot space in Northeast Portland, Oregon that will be home to classes (writing, fine and graphic arts), music, readings, and gallery space.

Crow Arts Manor means to offer affordable, six-week classes from a roster of instructors known as some of Portland’s most talented writers and artists. Currently scheduled is Emily Kendal Frey: Poetry Workshop; Jesse Reklaw: Elements of Cartooning; Zachary Schomburg: The Narrative Prose Poem.

Crow Arts Manor has access to the original Baptist chapel in the building and will be hosting a number of musical performances and literary readings. The gallery will host 8-10 visual artists, with work rotating every three months. They are also in the process of building one of the largest libraries of independently produced books and journals in the country with the goal to have the space open six hours a day, inviting the public to come and read.

The grand opening is April 8-10.

[Logo image by Jennifer Parks.]

Video-Poetry Magazine Jupiter 88

With an endearingly low-budget production style, Jupiter 88 is an enjoyable way to take in contemporary poetry read by the poets. Hosted and published by poet CA Conrad, episodes thus far include video-poem readings by Joanna Fuhrman, Stacy Szymaszek, Laura Spagnoli, Ryan Eckes, Paul Legault, Janet Mason, Joshua Beckman, Robert Dewhurst, Michelle Taransky, Anne-Adele Wight, Eileen Myles & Leopoldine Core, Erica Kaufman, Filip Marinovich, Rod Smith, Mel Nichols, Ryan Walker, Frank Sherlock, and Debrah Morkun.

Sampsonia Way

Sampsonia Way is an online magazine sponsored by City of Asylum/Pittsburgh celebrating literary free expression and supporting persecuted poets and novelists worldwide.

Previous issues of the magazine have focused on Burma, China, Cuba, Haiti, and Iran. The current issue of the magazine includes:

“Soandry del Rio: Can’t Stop. Won’t Stop.” by Joshua Barnes
“You Must Face the Consequences: The Price of Committing Journalism in Zimbabwe” by Elizabeth Hoover
“Under the Shadow of Drug Trafficking” by Silvia Duarte
“Aaron Jenkins: Getting Stuff Off His Chest” by Jen Lue
“Women Who Don’t Bite their Tongues: Writing Workshop Celebrates More Than Thirty Year” by Elizabeth Hoover

Pudding Magazine New Editor

Connie Everett has taken over the editorial role for Pudding Magazine, one of the longest-running print journals in the U.S. Printed by Pudding House Press, Pudding Magazine continues its quarterly tradition with a look to updating guidelines, subscriptions, and submissions online. Welcome aboard Connie – great to see PM continue onward and e-ward!

Flying House Writer-Artist Collaboration

Flying House is an annual collaboration project that kicks off in May with the announcement of five artist-writer pairs. Once the pairs are picked, they have a good month to swap ideas back and forth. After six months, with deadlines and check-ins along the way, Flying House culminates in a visual and written representation of the collaborations in a gallery space with a reading and celebration.

On Saturday, December 11, five writers met their five artist partners at the Maes Studio in downtown Chicago, IL, for a night of artistic revelry. The participants were:

Megan Fink and Chris Annen
AB Gorham and Michael Maes/Jillian McDaniel
BJ Hollars and Jenae Neeson
Daniel Letz and J Paonessa
Danilo Thomas and Jason Watts

Applications for the 2011 Flying House are open until April 25. Artists and writers need not apply together, in fact, Flying House discourages that.

Welcome :: BRICKrhetoric

Sarah Khan is the editor of BRICKrhetoric, an online literary & visual arts journal based in Chicago. “BRICKrhetoric was established in 2009 to provide a canvas for emerging and established artists alike to share their work, illuminating topics in the humanities for the discovery and enjoyment of its readers. BRICKrhetoric features original poetry, prose, artwork and photography with a multicultural and urban focus.”

BRICKrhetoric was founded in November 2009, on the campus of East-West University in Chicago, IL, and initially invited submissions from students, faculty, staff & friends of the university for the first three issues. In December 2010, BRICKrhetoric became independently-run by a small group of volunteers, and shifted its focus to include students from across Chicagoland (and beyond) with a mission to support literacy, promote cross-cultural perspective, celebrate the literary/visual arts, and provide a canvas for writers/artists (of any age) to share their work.

[Pictured: “Love Joy Faith Destiny Unity” by Alfred Phillips from the June 2010 issue]

River Styx Poetry Contest Winners

Issue 84 of River Styx includes poems by the winners of the 2010 River Styx International Poetry Contest:

1st Place Stephen Gibson, “Megapixels”
2nd Place Diana Arterian, “The Albatross, Golden Mollymawk”
3rd Place Will Greenway, “Annunciation”
Honorable Mention Susan Cohen, “Pantoum of The Blue Virgin”

The 2011 contest is currently open until May 31, 2011; Judge B. H. Fairchild.. Entrance fee includes a one-year subscription to the magazine, all entrants are considered for publication, and the winners are published with the first place winner receiving $1500.

New Lit on the Block :: Parcel

Edited by Kate Lorenz with Designer Justin Runge, Parcel is a biannual print publication, sent to subscribers with limited edition broadsides and postcards. Publisher Heidi Raak is also owner of The Raven Book Store, in Lawrence, KS.

The first issue of Parcel (Spring 2011) includes works by Kate Bernheimer, Brooklyn Copeland, Daniel Coudriet, Nick Courtright, Jenny Gropp Hess, Daniel A. Hoyt, Friedrich Kerksieck, Jeffry Koterba, Kristy Logan, Peter Longofono, BJ Love, Anthony Luebbert, Michael Martone, Susan McCarty, Jaclyn Mednicov, Matt Moore, Matthew Nienow, Brian Oliu, Pamela Ryder, Christopher Salerno, and J.A. Tyler.

Parcel is available for subscription ($20/yr) and is open for online submissions using Submishmash.

Alimentum Wants Your Menupoems

For the 5th year in a row Alimentum celebrates National Poetry Month with menupoems – broadsides placed in area restaurants for the month of April.

From Esther Cohen, Alimentum‘s menupoems editor:

We’ve been wondering
What menu of words
What words would make you
Really happy to see
On your menu
Words to replace
The ordinary army
Appetizer
Entr

Music on Burner

The newest issue of Burner Magazine online is The Music Issue, with editorials and features of Yoko Ono, Saul Williams, Broken Social Scene, Chromeo, Pendulum, Russ Chimes, Peaches, Seefeel, Humans, Bikini, and Canadian media personalities, Jian Ghomeshi and Kate Carraway. All selected poetry, prose, photography and visual art revolve around the theme of music.

NewPages Updates :: March 07, 2011

The following have been added to The NewPages Big List of Literary Magazines:

ottawater – poetry
New Mirage Journal – poetry, reviews
Cats with Thumbs – poetry, fiction
Muse India – poetry, literary criticism, essays, interviews, reviews short fiction
Bat Shat Magazine – prose, poems, and flash fiction
Lingerpost – poetry
The Caterpillar Chronicles – poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, mixed genre, video, art, photography, mixed media
SPLIT – poetry, fiction, art, photography
Dear Navigator – fiction, essay, poetry, audio, video, hybrid, collaboration
Pakistaniaat: A Journal of Pakistan Studies – scholarly and creative engagement with various aspects of Pakistani history, culture, literature, and politics
Blue Lotus Review – poetry, short fiction, flash fiction, art, photography, music, film
Ontologica – nonfiction, fiction, poetry, art
Sliver of Stone – fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, poetry, visual art
BRICKrhetoric – poetry, prose, photography, artwork
Oklahoma Review – fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry
Red River Review – poetry

Coach House Books Sales

Three great sale opportunities coming up at Coach House Books: 20% off on all books by women authors in celebration of International Women’s Day (Tuesday, March 8); to observe Pi Day (Monday, March 14, or 3-14), every single title or item in the Coach House online catalogue will be discounted $3.14; and for St. Patrick’s Day (Thursday, March 17), all books with greenish covers are 20% off.

New Lit on the Block :: Blue Lotus Review

Blue Lotus Review is a literature, art, and multi-media online journal. Editor Amy Willoughby-Burle says she’s “been rolling this idea around in my mind for some time. What makes a person with too much on her plate already desire to start a journal? My best answer: to see what’s out there. To be a part of it.” Blue Lotus Review is a nice addition to this fray of what’s out there, taking advantage of the online medium to provide high quality visual artwork as well as easily accessed, quality recordings from musicians. While there’s no film as yet, BLR submission guidelines include this.

The Summer 2010 premier issue features Paintings by Jim Fuess, Chuck Bruursema, Ernest Williamson III, Audrey White; Poetry by James H. Duncan, P.D. Lyons, Heather Burt, Corey Mesler, and Alicia Valbuena; Fiction by Adam Moorad; Music by Tyler Boone and Freddy Bradburn.

The Winter 2010 current issue features Poetry by John Middlebrook, Kenneth P. Gurney, Andrea Janov, John Grey; Fiction by Erik Berg, John Sharp, and James Devitt, Jr.; Paintings by Ira Joel Haber; Photography by Jeffrey Douglas DeCristofaro; Music by Night’s Bright Colors (Jason Smith, James Richards, Mariya Potapova, and Bryan Morissey).

Blue Lotus Review is published quarterly and is open year-round for submissions of poetry, short fiction, flash fiction, art, photography, music, and film (via YouTube hosting).

Happy 50th Another Chicago Magazine

ACM – Another Chicago Magazine celebrates its 50 issue with this year’s first volume.

“To be perfectly honest,” the Statement of Purpose in 50.1 reads, “we never thought we’d make it to a 50th issue. ACM has never been known for fundraising skills, financial acumen, or an airtight organizational structure. Mostly we’ve just been known for being independent since 1977 and for publishing young and exciting writers as frequently as we can manage it on a shoestring budget.”

And to celebrate these roots and publishing, this issue is indeed “Another Chicago Issue” (split into two issues this year) featuring Chicago writers from “wildly different backgrounds and styles: novelists, experimental poets, writers with agents and book deals, writers who’ve only just begun to place work, editors, publishers, and general roustabouts and hermits alike.”

How can we resist?

NOR Poems Disliked and Poems Loved

The New Ohio Review Symposium for Spring 2011 presents three poets’ discussions on someone’s “bad (weak or shallow or disappointing) poem” and someone’s “good poem.” With six poems “on the table” Wayne Miller, Helena Nelson, and David Rivard conversed via e-mail, and the results appear in this issue.

And the poems? Okay, here they are:

Wayne Miller presented “In America” by Susan Wood, and “The Nurse” by Dana Levin.
Helena Nelson presented “Rapture” by Carol Ann Duffy, and “Offering” by Michael Laskey.
David Rivard presented “The Idea by Mark Strand, and “Kindergarten” by Dennis Schmitz.

For good or bad – you’ll need to read it yourself.

Open City Closes

Open City Magazine has announced it will cease publication after a solid twenty-year run. The final issue of the magazine, Open City #30, was published in December 2010 and is still available in some stores as well as online.

Toni Morrison On Reading

Former professor Morrison speaks on idea of reading: “Invisible ink is what lies under, between, outside the lines, hidden until the right reader discovers it,” Morrison said. “By right reader, I’m suggesting that certain books are not for every reader … Even a reader who loves the book may not be the best or right lover. The reader who has made the book is the one attuned to … discover the invisible ink.”

Like this link? We’ll be doing more like this on the NewPages Facebook Page – “Like” us to follow more cool stories and updates from NewPages.

Vonnegut Rules for Writing on Foliate Oak

You have to love a lit mag that lists “Kurt Vonnegut Writing Tips” in their submissions guidelines. From Foliate Oak – currently accepting submissions for artwork, prose and poems.

In his book Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction, Vonnegut listed eight rules for writing a short story:

Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
Start as close to the end as possible.
Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

TED Digital Imprints

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) one of my favorite stops for GREAT informative, smart, video has recently launched TEDBooks, an imprint of short (less than 20,000 words) nonfiction works designed for digital distribution. Titles include Homo Evolutis by Juan Enriquez & Steve Gullans; The Happiness Manifesto by Nic Marks; and Beware Dangerism! by Gever Tulley

Interview with Farideh Hassanzadeh-Mostafavi

The Winter 2011 online issue of New Mirage Journal includes Georgia Ann Banks-Martin’s interview with Iranian poet Farideh Hassanzadeh-Mostafavi as well as a selection of the poet’s work.

The interview begins: “What inspires you to write?”

FH-M: “Violence. I mean my need to resist against violence. And violence has many manifestations such as fall, disloyalty, darkness, indifference, absence, ignorance, war, censorship, fetters, and many other things, sometimes as simple as a single white hair mid the black curls!”

New Mirage Journal is a quarterly journal publishing poetry from all over the world. “We are interested in high quality work that dares to speak of race, the human condition, the ‘struggle’ in fresh new ways.”

Glimmer Train December Fiction Open Winners :: 2011

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their December 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 March.

Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

First place: Stefanie Freele, of Geyserville, CA, wins $2000 for “While Surrounded by Water.” Her story will be published in the Spring 2012 issue of Glimmer Train Stories.

Second place: Dana Kroos, of Las Cruces, NM, wins $1000 for “Sleepwalkers.” Her story will also be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories.

Third place: Joseph Johns, of Decatur, GA, wins $600 for “Reckoning Day with High Cirrus.”

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

Short Story Award for New Writers: Deadline February 28

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 3000-6000 words, but can go up to 12,000. Click here for complete guidelines.

A Guide to Literary Scotland

Compiled in association with the University of Glasgow’s Department of Literary Studies and the Association of Scottish Literary Studies, VisitScotland.com offers a new guide details 60 places to visit in Scotland associated with writers and their works: writers’ homes, birthplaces, graves, locations vividly described in novels and poems, theatres, writers’ museums and more. The guide can be downloaded from the website and includes full color pictures throughout. Be patient: with 60 pages full-color, it takes several minutes to download.

New Lit on the Block :: The New Guard

Under the guidance of Shanna Miller McNair, Publisher, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, The New Guard is the first “independent multi-genre literary review in the state of Maine” whose aim is to “juxtapose narrative with experiment and create a new dialogue.” TNG is a print annual, available for purchase directly from the publication.

The New Guard held two contests for their premier issue: William Derge won the contest in fiction judged by Debra Spark, and Payne Ratner won the contest in poetry judged by Donald Hall. Each contest offered a $1,000 prize and publication in this issue along with all the finalists.

This inaugural issue features new essays by Jaed Coffin & Bill Roorbach, and a segment called “Writers to Writers: Fan Letters to the Dead,” a collection written especially for TNG. Contributors to the fan letter segment include Sven Birkerts, Adam Braver, Boman Desai, Annie Finch, John Goldbach, Tom Grimes, Richard Hoffman, Maxine Kumin, Thomas Lynch, Josip Novakovich, Lewis Robinson, Afaa Michael Weaver & Scott Wolven.

The New Guard seeks to publish literary and experimental fiction, narrative and experimental poetry. Submissions for the next issue will begin Spring-Summer 2011.

New Madrid on Water

Editor Ann Neelon writes in her introduction to The New Madrid that the Winter 2011 issue “commemorates the declaration by the General Assembly of the United Nations in July 2010 that access to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a basic human right. It also solemnizes the terrifying fury of the floods that have ravaged the planet this year in Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as in Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Brazil, China, France, Romania, Ukraine, Hungary, Peru, Mexico, Canada, Columbia, Australia, Indonesia, Serbia, Argentina, Kenya, Nigeria, Spain, Guatemala, and Singapore. We’ve all gotten used to images of streets turned into rivers, people with no belongings any more being transported in boats instead of cars. Water, water everywhere, but not a drop for anguished refugees to drink.”

Contributers to this issue include Mario Chard, Teresa Milbrodt, Ruth Goring, Jennifer Atkinson, Scott Gould, Karen Holmberg, Matthew Nienow, Jeff Fearnside, Kristian Ansand Walter, Anthony Opal, Nikki Zielinski, Peter F. Murphy, Randall Horton, Ellen Ann Fentress, Deborah Bauer, and Sant Khalsa (photographer/cover art).

New Lit on the Block :: The Written Wardrobe

The Inaugural Issue of The Written Wardrobe Includes Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry

“ModCloth, an online boutique specializing in women’s apparel, accessories, and decor, has ventured into uncharted territories for a retailer—they’ve launched an online fashion-focused literary anthology, The Written Wardrobe: Where Style and Story Collide. The Written Wardrobe features style and fashion writing in the form of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. It celebrates a diverse range of aesthetics, from an experimental poem to an illustrated children’s book, which appear alongside more traditional short stories, essays, and poems.”

The Written Wardrobe is accepting poetry, fiction, and nonfiction that “explores the way in which fashion influences and affects our lives.” Deadline: August 1, 2011.

Hunger Mountain Bradbury Lists

For Hunger Mountain #15, Editor Michiah Bay Gault offered a challenge to several writers as well as contributors included in the issue. Write a “Bradbury List” – writing practice of word association which Bradbury shares in his Zen and the Art of Writing. Contributors include Bruce Smith, Michael Martone, Angie Estes, Paul Lisicky, Ted Sanders, Jededian Berry, Weston Cutter, Richard Adams Carey, Casey Thayer, David Yost, Deborah Vlock, Gladys Haunton, Stacy Heiney, Jaydn DeWald, J.D. Lewis, Josie Sigler, Lee Wind, Mark Halliday, Melissa Febos, Michael Burkard, and Mojie Crigler. None of these list contributions were “edited or polished,” and so represent a wide variety of free association samples by writers. Fun stuff!

Rape New York

Rape New York is Jana Leo’s forthcoming book from The Feminist Press.

From the publisher: “In the gripping first pages of this true story, Jana Leo relives the moment-by-moment experience of a home invasion and rape in her own apartment in Harlem. After she reports the crime, she waits. Between police disinterest and squabbles from the health insurance company over who’s going to pay for the rape kit, she realizes that the violence of such an experience does not stop with the crime. Increasingly concerned that the rapist will return, she seeks help from her landlord, who refuses to address security issues on the property. She comes to understand that it is precisely these conditions of newly gentrified lower-income areas which lead to vulnerable living spaces, high turnover rates, and ultimately higher profits for slumlords. In this most singular memoir, Leo weaves a psychological journey into an analysis that becomes equally personal: the fault lines of property mismanagement, class vulnerabilities, and a deeply flawed criminal justice system. In a stunning conclusion, Leo has her day in court.”