Enjoy catching up with the latest News from NewPages.
Have you checked in on your local indie bookstore lately? Contribute to fundraisers, order books for delivery or curbside pick-up, or just send a supportive message to see how they’re doing while they’re closed to the public.
You can use the NewPages Guide to Literary Magazines to find stores in your area in the United States and Canada. The status of what services they’re providing is constantly changing, so it’s good to keep seeing what’s up if you’re able.
Tupelo Press presents two recent releases, Shahr-e-jaanaan: The City of the Beloved by Adeeba Shahid Talukder, and our latest printing of Maggie Smith’s “Good Bones” onto broadsides. Also be sure to check out the Tupelo Press BOGO sale going on at tupelopress.org. View the entire April eLitPak Newsletter here.
Guest Post by Bill Cushing
Okay, we’re all stuck indoors for the duration, so I’ve used the opportunity to get to some books I’ve not read. However, occasionally I like returning to a guilty pleasure—whether it’s a movie or book. Here are two such recommended books.
Although George Fox wrote several novels, Amok remains my favorite; the ride is such fun that I can now breeze through in about two hours. The story isn’t new by any stretch: a Japanese soldier still fights WWII in the Philippines during the 1970s. Hell, even Gilligan’s Island did that one, but it’s the way Fox constructs his story that makes this version so interesting.
For example, he begins by noting that the word “amok” began as a noun. Now, there’s a hook. Additionally, Fox’s story is so cinematic that I was casting it during my first reading some 40 years ago.
When Nicholas Meyer moved from writing scripts and novels (Time After Time and The Seven Percent Solution stand out) to directing films, I felt a sense of loss to the world of letters. Not that I blame the man, and he is actually responsible for two of the better Star Trek films (The Wrath of Khan and Undiscovered Country), so there was an upside.
But his novel Confessions of a Homing Pigeon offers one of the best coming-of-age books around. An orphaned boy of acrobat parents moves to Paris with his paternal uncle. He’s taken from the morally ambiguous relative to Chicago after his mother’s family decides he needs a “proper upbringing.” Quickly tiring of that suburban grind, he decides to return to the beloved uncle and makes his way back to France in a novel quite accurately described as “charming.”
Meyer is a great writer, and this may be his greatest yet least known book.
Amok by George Fox. 1978.
Confessions of a Homing Pigeon by Nicholas Meyer. Dial Press, January 1981.
Reviewer bio: Bill Cushing writes and facilitates a writing group for 9 Bridges. His poetry collection, A Former Life, was released last year by Finishing Line Press.
Shanti Arts, publisher of Still Arts Quarterly, has created a new page on their website just for responses to and thoughts on COVID-19. These pieces of writing and art show how to “choose kindness, generosity, and compassion” during these times.
Right now, readers can find art by MJ Edwards, poetry by Heidi Blankenship, photography by Joseph Murphy, and more. Writers and artists who want to contribute their own work can find out how at the website.
Qu Literary Magazine, published by the MFA Program at Queens University of Charlotte, publishes poetry, prose, and script excerpts from new and established voices. Writers are paid for their contributions: $100 per prose piece and $50 per poem.
For readers, past contributors have included Keija Parssinen and Jon Pineda.
Learn more about their submissions (opening soon) and more at their listing.
Online magazine of the arts and literature Leaping Clear features artists and writers from around the world who work from dedicated meditation and contemplation practices. These include formal meditation, spiritual inquiry, prayer, integrated mind-body spiritual disciplines, dedicated communion with nature, philosophical reflections, and beyond.
Readers can enjoy an ad-free experience, and writers do not have to pay any submission fees to have their work read. Writers, take note: submissions open on May 1 and close at the end of the month, so you have some time to polish your work and send it over.
Hole In The Head Review is a new online literary magazine founded in 2020 “on the perilous coast of Maine” where the “sun rises on the United States and darkness falls first.” Their debut issue, published earlier this year, features new works from Michael Hettich, Larkin Warren, Frankie Soto, Andrew Periale, Amy Young, Julia Wagner, Richard Heckler, Mawi Sonna, and Nancy Jean Hill.
They are enthusiastic about publishing both new and established poets together on a quarterly basis. In fact, their next issue is slated for release on May Day. They listen for a strong voice and look for a clarity of vision.
“You need another literary journal like you need a hole in the head.” Yes, yes we do.
Want to escape your home for a little while? Pay a visit to Francis House. Founded in 2017, this online literary magazine publishes issues known as “rooms” as well as print anthologies and chapbooks (“houses”). They publish poems of all shapes and sizes and especially love the oddly-proportioned and under-appreciated.
Their latest Room features work by Rose DeLeon, Aaron El Sabrout, Robin Gow, and Ashley Cline.
The Tiger Moth Review brings readers eco-poems in their biannual issues. But if you’re still wanting more, they have it. Partnering with the Centre for Stories, The Tiger Moth Review is working to bring a new, online collection of eco-poems to the journal’s website this year.
Editor Esther Vincent Xueming will mentor a group of Australian poets from the Centre, while the Centre’s creative director Robert Wood will provide workshops. This collaboration connecting the cultural ecologies of Perth and Singapore will introduce readers to new voices and create more understanding about our relationship to the world we live in.
Find out more about this partnership at The Tiger Moth Review’s website, and keep an eye out for these new eco-poems.
Literary magazine Green Mountains Review has partnered with the Vermont School to highlight writers whose book launches have been “snuffed out” by the COVID-19 pandemic.
They post new videos to their Social Distance Reading Series twice a week on Wednesday and Sunday so that authors can read from their newly released collections of poetry. Right now the focus is on writers whose book events were cancelled in the months of January through May.
You can currently find readings by Chard deNiord, Kathryn Nuernberger, Felicia Zamora, Philip Metres, Tommye Blount, Penelope Crazy, and Matthew Lipman.
There is no shortage of creativity in the Spring 2020 issue of Black Warrior Review. Paging through the issue, readers eyes are drawn to the variety of forms and use of images within the pages.
Amy Lee Scott’s “Field Guide to a Common Pregnancy: Notes on Loss and Growth” include field drawings by the author. Each section is introduced to a drawing of a different plant or fruit.
In “the magpie poem,” Jasmine Khaliq’s words come in small spurts across the poem’s seven pages.
“Composite Material // Spirit Willin” by Cherise Morris includes images—snapshots, Instagram posts, slideshow images from news articles, a photo of a framed photo. It’s so visually compelling, it’s difficult to skip by it.
This issue’s featured chapbook—Translator of Soliloquies: Fugues in the Key of Dissociation by Seo-Young Chu is also creatively formatted, each section broken up by a heading, a nice treat at the end of the issue.
If you want to take in some writing that’s out of the box alongside traditional forms, this refreshing issue of Black Warrior Review is a good place to start.
That’s right! This week is the week you can preorder Carve Magazine‘s Spring 2020 issue. From now until April 12, you can reserve your copy of the special print edition and receive automatic free shipping to anywhere on print preorders. You also get 15% off a 1-year print or digital subscription. Need more reasons to preorder this issue? It features four new stories, five new poets, two essays and the winners of the 2019 Prose & Poetry Contest selected by Lydia Kiesling, Analicia Sotelo, and Benjamin Busch.
Leaping Clear offers readers poetry, prose, and so much more.
In the current, Spring 2020 issue, readers can find “Reflections,” by Jon Tho, a light and flowing song on the piano; “Letter to My Mum” by Zangmo Alexander, a video made in response to Alexander’s mother questioning Alexander’s choice to become ordained as a Buddhist nun; mixed media with fabric art by Barbara Parmet; and poetry and prose by writers like Terri Maue, Christien Gholson, Mobi Warren, Stephanie Peek, and others.
The variety found in this issue is refreshing and keeps readers engaged. Now is a great time to check it out as a bit of an escape from what’s going on in the world around us. With calming music, engaging video, and more than a handful of traditionally written pieces, Leaping Clear gives readers a moment to find balance in their lives.
Looking for some good poetry to read during National Poetry Month? Visit Palette Poetry where Associate Editor Benjamin Bartu has put together a list of “Featured Favorites of 2019.” This list includes links to five different poems published on Palette throughout 2019, and he introduces each piece with a little insight on the editors’ feelings about them.
The list includes work by Márton Simon translated by Timea Balogh, Logan February, Julia C. Alter, Jaime Zuckerman, and Dorothy Chan. Visit the Palette website to learn more about each piece and then delve in and enjoy.
April is here, ringing in National Poetry Month. To celebrate the occasion, Poetry Magazine is currently offering a free download of the April 2020.
You can find the free issue in the Poetry Magazine App, available through the Apple App Store, Google Play, and Amazon.
Poets in this issue include Ocean Vuong, Emily Jungmin Yoon, Jeannine Hall Gailey, Gertrude Stein and Bianca Stone, Michael Hoffman, and plenty more. Go snag your free copy and spend the month celebrating the poems and poets you love.
Frontier Poetry’s New Voices Fellowship is for uplifting and supporting “emerging poets from traditionally marginalized communities.” Congratulations to the newly announced Fellow for 2020: Dujie Tahat.
Tahat will receive a $500 grant, editorial guidance, the opportunity to read for Frontier, and publication of his work.
You can learn more about Tahat, listen to his podcast, and read recent work linked from the Frontier Poetry website.
The latest issue of Ruminate features the writers who placed in the 2020 VanderMey Nonfiction Prize.
First Place
“Destiny of Cumin” by Jasmine V. Bailey
Second Place
“A True Prayer is One That You Do Not Understand” by Kelly J. Beard
Honorable Mention
“How To Ruin a Persian Wedding” by Atash Yaghmaian
Finalists include Avra Aron, Kaimana Farris, Dorothy Neagle, Alexandra Loeb, Sally Pearson, Arielle Schussler, Jamie Smith, Shannon Tsonis, and Shannon Yarbrough.
Selections were made by Ruminate’s founder, Brianna Van Dyke and says of her first-place selection: “Jasmine V. Bailey’s ‘Destiny of Cumin’ offers a wide-searching exploration of food and slavery and motherhood and becomes an essay about power and love and what it means to live among the contradictions of our own hearts.”
Last week Internet Archive launched the National Emergency Library which contains 1.4 million digitized books to serve the needs of students, educators, and learners. This means that they have suspended the waitlists, at least through June 30. This allows students to have the access they need to assigned readings and other library materials.
Brewster Kahle, founder of Internet Archive, says, “Think of this as a huge experiment. In one big push, we can improve online learning and its infrastructure in a way that may otherwise have taken years. This crisis encourages universities to be bold, to make investments that ultimately may mean many more students can benefit. Perhaps 500 undergraduates can fill a hall at MIT, but how many millions can take an online MIT course, once the books, materials and lessons are online?”
The library brings together all the books from Phillips Academy Andover and Marygrove College with much of Trent University’s collections. There is also over a million other books donated by other libraries to readers worldwide. Yes, worldwide. The timeline for the waitlist is timed to the crisis in the U.S., but readers all over the world are able to utilize this collection.
This launch has met with much criticism from the publishing community and writers. In a recent NPR article, it has been revealed that many writers and publishers say that the Internet Archive has been sharing full digital copies of books without permission before the establishment of this new library. The Authors Guild, which provides legal assistance to writers, stated the Internet Archive “tramples on authors’ rights by giving away their books to the world” without permission.
They recommend utilizing your own local libraries and their own e-book lending platforms instead.
The winners of the 24th Annual Poet Hunt can be found in the Winter 2020 issue of The MacGuffin. Judge Richard Tillinghast introduces his selections and gives some insight about the winner and the two runners-up in the issue.
Winner
“The Sketchbooks of Hiroshige” by Jane Craven
Honorable Mentions
“Sonnet from the German Front, 1944” by Jill Reid
“Aergia in the Overworld” by John Blair
The 2020 contest opened for submissions today and will run until June 15. Winners receive publication and a $500 grand prize. Visit The MacGuffin’s website to learn more.
The Antioch Review offers visitors to their website a reminder to “Keep Calm and Read On.” During these times, they give some suggestions and encourage: “Reading to family who want a moment and modicum of normalcy” or “Reading to someone who just wants to close their eyes and escape into the lines of literature” or “Reading to appreciate the literary arts as these have uplifted us, offered us sanctuary, filled our minds (and often our hearts), opened our eyes, challenged our souls, and satisfied our spirits for eons.” They give some other ideas of who could use some reading to at their homepage, a reminder that we can find comfort or an escape in the worlds writers create.
Publishing for seventy-five years, The Antioch Review’s archive contains plenty of reading material if you need to stock up on some calming words.
Readers, did you know you get a bonus when you subscribe to The First Line? Each subscription comes with one free issue of The Last Line. For those unfamiliar with the journal, The First Line features stories that all start with the same opening sentence, and The Last Line features stories that end with the same closing sentence.
A subscription to The First Line gets you one free issue of The Last Line per subscribed year. It doesn’t matter if you go for the print or the digital subscription—both offer the free issue. The issues are already very affordably priced, but you should still take advantage of the offer and get yourself another source of great writing.
Gargoyle Magazine has moved over to a new website. The new site still has everything the old one had—the ability to order the current issues and back issues, recommended magazines, reader testimonials, a bit of history, news and announcements, and more. The page is a little easier to navigate and has a nice, clean design.
Go visit the website and see for yourself everything Gargoyle has to offer.
Southeast Missouri State University Press may have their orders closed at the moment, but you can still learn about their forthcoming titles. In October 2020, they’ll publish Weird Pig by Robert Long Foreman, winner of the 2018 Nilsen Prize for a First Novel.
Although it’s his first novel, Foreman has made his mark by winning Pleiades Press’s Robert C. Jones Prize for Short Prize with his collection of essays Among Other Things and by winning a Pushcart Prize for fiction.
Find out more about the 2018 competition at SEMO Press’s website. And if you’re interested at trying your own luck at entering the Nilsen Prize for a First Novel, you have plenty of time—submissions close in November.
The Spring 2020 issue of Witness features the winners of their latest Witness Literary Awards.
Poetry Winner:
“Future Ruins” by Andrew Collard
Poetry Runner-up:
“You Will See It Coming & You Won’t Run” by Emmy Newman
Fiction Winner:
“Delivery” by Emily Greenberg
Poetry Runner-up:
“The Dramatic Haircut” by Kristina Ten
Nonfiction Winner:
“When a Child Offends” by Michele Sharpe
Nonfiction Runner-up:
“Ani-la and Anne-la: On Everything I Knew and Didn’t Know” by Anne Liu Kellor
Poetry was selected by Heather Lang-Cassera, fiction was selected by Kristen Arnett, and nonfiction was selected by José Roach-Orduña. The rest of the issue is “magic” themed, so grab a copy and discover the magic inside.
Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, publisher of online lit mag Sheila-Na-Gig online, is not just celebrating the release of two new titles Robert DeMott’s collection of prose poems, Up Late Reading Birds of America, and Barbara Sabol’s Imagine a Town) but also two new titles in the hopper.
First they have their first-ever fiction title. This will be a re-release of John Bullock’s novel Mark Small: This is Your Life. It was previously titled Making Faces. This is a coming-of-age story set at the British seaside.
The winner of their Spring Poetry Contest, Kari Gunter-Seymour, has agreed to let them publish her forthcoming chapbook A Place So Deep Inside America It Can’t Be Seen. Stay tuned for more information on these titles and grab a copy of their current releases.
Oh, and don’t forget their Poetry Manuscript Contest is open through July 1 annually.
Did you know Zizzle Literary has a blog known as “The Zizzling Pan”? There you can find some great articles about writing and reading…for adults and children.
Melissa Ostrom contributed “One Measure at a Time” to this last June and this would be something great to do to help channel your children’s energy into something creative and possibly fun. Flash fiction is a genre that has definitely seen a rise in recent years. I think the shortest pieces I ever read or studied in school were honest short stories. It was more so after college that I came around myself to see flash fiction.
This is something Ostrom also recalls in her article: “Though I write flash fiction regularly these days, a decade ago, I didn’t even know the form existed. I regret this. Had I been familiar with flash when I was still teaching high school English, I would have incorporated the reading and writing of it into my instruction.” I especially like how Ostrom says she used to believe more was better in terms of writing, but how flash could have suited her teaching purposes just as well.
Ostrom talks about 500 words being an average length for flash fiction. How about setting that as a challenge for your child? Read some great flash pieces for inspiration and have them try their own hand at writing and editing their own attempt down. A fun exercise to do over time to help them learn and grow “measure by measure.”
Looking for something to do with the kids while you are stuck at home? Literary magazine Zizzle has a discounted bundle of their first 3 issues. These hardcover volumes are illustrated and feature fiction both parents and children can enjoy together. These are great keepsakes for families and meant to help bring parents and children together.
You can also subscribe to their newsletter to get free access to their new audio editions.
Zizzle is also transitioning into a press and hopes to be offering fiction for teens soon, too.
Mark your calendars! The Best Microfiction 2020 anthology is slated for release this April from Pelekinesis Press. The series is edited by Meg Pokrass and Gary Fincke. The guest editor this year was Michael Martone.
Featured in this edition is work originally published in Cherry Tree, E. Kristin Anderson’s “Ted Cruz Attends a Goldfish Funeral” and Catherine Edmunds’ “Her Wing”; Apple Valley Review, “Teeth” by Tim Fitts; Kenyon Review Online, “Thaddeus Gunn’s “An inventory of the possessions of William Kevin Thompson, Jr., age 19, upon his expulsion from the family residence on October 20, 1971”; Anomaly, “This Is A Comb” by Leila Ortiz; Into the Void, JJ Peña’s “the summer heat feels just like love”; The Sonder Review, CC Russell’s “Caught”; and much more.
Pre-order yourcopy today and support the awesome journals these pieces were originally published in.
Need something to keep your mind busy? Try a literary magazine. Our Guide to Literary Magazines includes hundreds of options for you to delve into.
Subscribe or order an issue of your favorite print magazine, or filter by online magazines to get quick and easy access to quality writing right on your phone or computer. This is a great way to familiarize yourself with what their editors are looking for, so see who’s currently open for submissions, or make a note of reading periods for those who aren’t accepting work currently.
And if you read something you loved, let the writer know! Drop a note on social media or send them an appreciative email. Stay connected and show support while the world feels a little wild at the moment.
Pembroke Magazine is a literary journal from the University of North Carolina Pembroke. They publish new issues annually. Grab a copy of their 2019 issue featuring poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction by writers living in eighteen states and abroad while you still can. You can also subscribe today to get your hands on the 2020 issue when it is officially released.
Muhammad Ali’s greatness dances across the page, witnessed from multiple perspectives; a frustrated writer begins receiving mysterious bars of chocolate that may or may not be driving him crazy; a long-separated couple makes love as the Twin Towers fall on TV; a vulture does its terrible and necessary work; a young man and woman enjoy the romantic machinations of fate—or something else—in Venice; a man considers the many useless skills he’s accumulated in life; a college student risks her safety by hitchhiking back to campus with a mysterious trucker; and much more. Cover art by Alexander Grigoriev.
They are currently open to submissions of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry through April 30. You even have the option of purchasing their latest issue when you submit.
Online literary magazine Blood Orange Review hosts an annual literary contest. The winners for the 2019 contest were Benjamin Bartu for his poem “Do You Love Her”; Austin Maas for his nonfiction piece “Trigger Finger”; and Joel Streicker for his story “For the Bounty Provided Us.” Read these and more in their latest issue.
Submissions are currently open through April 30 for the 2020 contest.
Indie bookstores give back to their communities in numerous ways: hosting events, providing safe spaces, offering places to gather with like-minded people, introducing readers to writers. With pandemic-caused closures and lock-downs across the country, bookstores and the authors they support could currently use some help from the community in return.
Visit our Guide to Independent Bookstores to see the stores in your area and check in on how they’re doing. Some have shortened hours or have limited the amount of people allowed in the store at one time, some have completely transitioned to online sales, some will package up a book and run it out to you at the curb.
If you’re able, pick up or order a book to keep you company while you’re holed up at home. And don’t forget to keep washing your hands!
The March eLitPak was mailed to our newsletter subscribers yesterday afternoon. Not a subscriber yet? Sign up today to get not only our monthly eLitPak, but also our weekly newsletter full of updates on great lit mags, books, events, and more. Plus, you get early access to calls for submissions and writing contests before they are posted to our site.
View the March 2020 eLitPak Newsletter. Continue reading “NewPages March 2020 Digital eLitPak”
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, The Writer’s Hotel has decided to postpone its annual summer NYC All-Fiction Writers Conference. The event was originally going to take place June 3-9, but is now slated for October 14-20. The application deadline is now August 9. Follow The Writer’s Hotel on social media for updates on their events.
American Life in Poetry: Column 782
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
I’ve mentioned the anthology, Local News: Poetry About Small Towns from MWPH Books, P.O. Box 8, in Fairwater, Wisconsin. Here’s one of the many poems I’ve enjoyed, by Scott Wiggerman, who lives in New Mexico. His latest book is Leaf and Beak: Sonnets, published by purple flag, 2015.
Johnsburg
At the top of the hill, a towering
Catholic church with Gothic spires,
below, a one-pump gas station,
a beauty parlor with a picture window,
at the town’s only four-way stop sign,
a convenience store with a bike stand,
and three smoke-drenched taverns,
their bars of the same solid wood
as the church’s hard benches,
only more polished, more worn down.
We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2019 by Scott Wiggerman, “Johnsburg,” from Local News: Poetry About Small Towns, (MWPH Books, 2019). Poem reprinted by permission of Scott Wiggerman and the publisher. Introduction copyright @2020 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.
The Winter/Spring 2020 issue of Alaska Quarterly Review ends with a special feature—”Carrying the Fire: Celebrating Indigenous Voices of Canada.” This literary anthology is co-edited by Sophie McCall, Deanna Reder, Sarah Henzi, Sam McKegney, and Warren Cariou, who are interviewed as an introduction to their selections.
The selected winners and finalists of the Indigenous Voices Awards featured in this issue are: Mika Lafond, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Elaine McArthur, Treena Chambers, Joshua Whitehead, Nazbah Tom, Amanda Peters, Marie-Andrée Gill, Smokii Sumac, Tenille K. Campbell, Francine Merasty, J.D. Kurtness, Naomi Fontaine, Aviaq Johnston, Brandi Bird, David Agecoutay, Dawawn Dumont, and Carleigh Baker. Their work includes both poetry and prose.
Grab a copy of the latest issue of AQR to listen to the varied indigenous voices of Canada.
The January/February 2020 issue of The Kenyon Review featured the winners of their 2019 Short Fiction Contest, and now the March/April 2020 issue features the winners of the 2019 Kenyon Review Short Nonfiction Contest.
Winner
“Hello, Fridge” by Anna Hartford
Runners-Up
“Saving Luna” by KT Sparks
“The Great Glass Closet” by Benjamin Garcia
Check out the introduction to these selections, written by Nonfiction Editor Geeta Kothari, who shares her thoughts on each piece.
Cold Mountain Review, celebrating more than 40 years of continuous publication, has launched the Reaching Inside Project.
In an effort to be socially conscious members of the literary world, we began the Reaching Inside Project to provide boxes of ten archived copies of the journal (a total cover value of $80) to organizations with an identifiable need.
The first recipients of this project will be prison libraries across the US. People can choose to help them in this effort by sponsoring boxes. The cost is $20 which covers packaging and shipping. You can even choose a specific prison where you want the box sent. Please note that they do not guarantee the specified prison will accept the box, but will try their best.
In a recent article in The Writer, the future of literary magazines was a hot topic and current editors of journals responded with how the literary magazine publishing landscape is evolving. One thing that was clear was that change and adaptation is needed in order for journals to survive.
Southeast Review created an online component to its print publication known as SER TWO: This Week Online in which they published fresh content on a weekly basis. They are now taking things one step further as they hope to transition to fully online.
Beginning with their Spring 2020 issue, they will offer their biannual issues not only in print format, but also entirely online. Read up on this change in Editor-in-Chief Zach Linge’s Letter from the Editor.
Zizzle Literary launched as a flash fiction literary magazine for families in 2018. Since its inception, it has morphed into a short story anthology series for readers young and old.
Zizzle is now evolving into a small press and hopes to begin to offer novels, graphic novels, and short story collections in the near future. The first of their new offerings, Zizzle Selects, will be released in June 2020. This anthology for teens features flash fiction stories from previous issues of Zizzle Literary and includes a discussion guide.
Qu, the literary magazine from Queens University of Charlotte, features regular articles on The Writing Life.
Patricia Powell, author of Me Dying Trial, A Small Gathering of Bones, The Pagoda, and The Fullness of Everything, dives into how listening is purposeful, and sometimes down right difficult, not only in workshops and writing, but in our everyday lives and our relationships.
When we write we are listening. We often choose a quiet place free from noise and interruptions and close the door. We still the thinking, chattering mind and slowly tune inward. We sit, our bodies like giant ears, waiting for the sound under all things to burp into consciousness. This kind of full-bodied listening provides spaciousness for the work to show up without pressure, for the work to be.
[ . . . ]
Deep Listening can often lead to right speech and right action. We must listen before we act. We must not slouch in our efforts to fight for climate and food and housing justice. We must not slouch in our efforts to fight for racial and gender and wage justice.
Read Powell’s full article in Qu‘s Winter 2020 issue.
Online literary magazine Blood Orange Review released Volume 11.2 in January 2020. This issue was delayed a bit as they worked hard on relaunching their site with a new design.
The majority of artwork featured in this issue was gathered from visual art MFA students at Washington University: Siri Margaret Stensberg, Stephanie Broussard, and Kelsey Baker. Also featured in this issue is art from Sarah Hussein who hales from Egypt.
Besides art, find poetry by Hussain Ahmed, Benjamin Bartu, John Byrne, Isiah Fish, Joseph Gunho Jang, Maya Marshall, and Kim Young; nonfiction by Sarah Rose Cadorette, Kelly Hill, and Austin Maas; and fiction by Wandeka Gayle, Arielle Jones, Sakae Manning, Lois Melina, and Joel Streicker.
Blood Orange Review is currently open to general and contest submissions.
Online literary magazine CRAFT published the winners of its 2019 First Chapters Contest over the course of February.
The contest was judged by Naomi Huffman of MCDxFSG and FSG Originals.
In first place is “Paradise Pawn” by Meg Richardson.
In second place is “Little Squirrel” by Tim Hickey.
In third place is “Empire of Dirt” by Jonathan Bohr Heinen.
See the full list of finalists, honorable mentions, and read the first chapters at their website.
In December of 2019, Seneca Review announced the winner of its annual Deborah Tall Lyric Essay Book Prize.
Final judge Jenny Boully selected Living Room Horses by Minnesota-based essayist and playwright Jessica Lind Peterson. The book will be published in November 2020.
Finalists:
Vanessa Saunders, The Flat Woman
Dennis James Sweeney, You’re the Woods Too
Nance Van Winckel, Sister Zero
The Problem of Money and Access at AWP. By Alison Stine, Lit Hub.
Is it possible to attend AWP if you’re poor? If you’re not going to be reimbursed by a university, should you even bother? The short answer is: I did it, and many others do too—but it can be a lonely and difficult experience.
…Though AWP was funded to serve writers teaching at the college level, more and more writers just can’t get those jobs, especially not writers of color, women writers, or writers who are disabled. There just aren’t that many jobs anymore to get. More and more, it’s writers outside of academia who participate in AWP—not just to attend, but to present and give readings—and who shoulder expenses themselves.
…It’s not illegal to discriminate against the poor. But when 60 percent of college students face food insecurity every month; when academia runs on the exploitation of adjuncts’ labor; when tenure track professors give lectures to hordes of students, only a fraction of whom will ever obtain jobs in the profession in which they trained (and often paid dearly for), it seems glaringly insensitive not to directly address the deep and systematic income inequalities of the field.
The people behind literary magazine Gold Man Review started SMOLDR back in 2018 with the launch of a writing contest for romance stories based around fictional characters living in Lake Covington.
They released Lake Covington on Valentine’s Day this year and are now accepting votes through March 14 for readers to choose their favorite couple. The top three writers whose couples are chosen will receive cash prizes. Grab your copy of the anthology today and vote for your couple.
Oh, and don’t forget that Gold Man Review is currently open to submissions from West Coast writers for their annual issue through May 1.
Rattle’s special features always help spice up an issue. It’s fun to see what has been included in each issue’s theme and how the writers fit inside it. In the Spring 2020 issue, readers can find a “special tribute section of poems written by students of Kim Addonizio’s poetry workshops (as well as one poem by Kim herself).” An interview with Addonizio is also included after the poetry selections. In addition to her poems, there are pieces by sixteen of her students covering a wide array of topics. Parenthood, love for pets, politics, sex, and suicide just scratch the surface of what these poets focus on in this feature. Grab yourself a copy of this issue of Rattle to discover the full selection Addonizio and her students offer us.
The Spring 2020 issue of Raleigh Review features the winner and two runners-up of the 2020 Flash Fiction Contest. The winner received $500 and publication, and the runners-up received Raleigh Review’s standard $15 payment as well as publication. The pieces are set apart in the latest issue with pages bordered in blue for the winner and purple for the runners-up.
Winner
“The Museum of Forgotten Emotions” by Alexander Weinstein
Runners-up
“Cezanne” by Alexander Steele
“The Year of Transformation” by Sarah Hardy
The Raleigh Review Fiction Team served as this year’s judges. The 2020 contest opened on July 1, 2019, so check back this summer for details on the 2021 contest.
Prism Review has announced their 2020 contest winners!
Short Fiction: Alan Sincic, “Porter Must Be Stopped”
Judge Aurelie Sheehan: ” “Porter Must Be Stopped” could not be stopped. The language tumbles and collides and crests and takes a breath and rolls in again, and somehow all the world is poised and spinning on the fingertip of a storyteller for our pleasure. The story relies on and is in service to beauty—it conjures beauty out of thin air.”
Poetry: Anna Sandy-Elrod, “Only Two”
Judge Michelle Brittan Rosado: “In “Only Two,” the speaker transforms the difficulty of communicating into a charmingly awkward dance of pairs. These (mis)matchings include the Spanish and Portuguese spoken respectively by the customer and shopkeeper; the unnamed city’s buildings appearing “blue against blue, pink against cream”; and the imagined “two small cups on a plate” as metaphor for the speaker and their lover. This poet reminds us of the inadequacy of language to capture the true experience, even as it assures us that we can be both “failed and triumphant.” ”
Both winners receive $250 and will be published in the next issue. The editors thank all the entrants—the decisions were not easy!
Tennessee Becomes Second State to Propose ‘Parental Review Boards’ for Public Libraries. Publishers Weekly.
The controversial bills propose to give elected “parental review boards” the power to decide which “age-appropriate” materials can be accessible to minors within a public library, with librarians who don’t comply with the board’s decisions subject to prison time.
“Public librarians around the country are often put in the uncomfortable position of standing up for free speech in their own institutions, and refusing to take down a book simply become some members of the community object,” Tager said. “Apparently the sponsors of this Act feel that this should be treated as criminal conduct when it’s actually librarians simply doing their jobs.”
