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At the NewPages Blog readers and writers can catch up with their favorite literary and alternative magazines, independent and university presses, creative writing programs, and writing and literary events. Find new books, new issue announcements, contest winners, and so much more!

Magazine Stand :: Southern Humanities Review – 56.4

January 26, 2024
Magazine Stand

Southern Humanities Review issue 56.4 is full of water. A poem about renaming rivers. The story of a flight that ends in the ocean. An essay following boats full of refugees, landing in different countries, in different years. Themes of motherhood and mothers’ bodies are also woven throughout. This issue features poetry by Abdulkareem Abdulkareem, Terry Belew, Anders Carlson-Wee, Jackie Chicalese, Aliyah Cotton, Brandel France de Bravo, Trey Moody, Robert Okaji, Emily Oliver, Doug Ramspeck, Cheyenne Taylor, Alex Tretbar, Lindsey Wayland, and RL Wheeler. Nonfiction contributors include Chris Campanioni and Jennifer Taylor-Skinner. Fiction by Chaya Bhuvaneswar, Areej Quraishi, M.C. Schmidt, and Rachel Talbot. The abstract cover, Stairway to Heaven, 2023, is from Nora Kelly. Some content can be read online, and individual copies, as well as subscriptions, are available on the Southern Humanities Review website.

Discover loads more great lit mags with our Guide to Literary Magazines, Big List of Literary Magazines, and Big List of Alternative Magazines. If you are a publication looking to be listed in our monthly roundup or featured on our blog and social media, please contact us.

Southern Humanities Review

Where to Submit Roundup: January 26, 2024

January 26, 2024
Where to Submit

47 Submission Opportunities including calls for submissions, writing contests, and book prizes.

From some negative temperatures to balmy 30s, from snow to sleet to rain. January has been quite the month for weather whiplash in the Midwest…and all over the US according to weather reports on the news. But January is almost behind us, isn’t it? In fact, this will be our last roundup of submission opportunities for the month of January 2024. Next week will be our first roundup in February. Here’s hoping for less chaos! If your neck of the woods is still having awful weather, time to stay indoors writing, editing, and submitting.

Since next week does end January, don’t forget there are several January 31 deadlines that you don’t want to miss out on. And with February upon us, it’s always a good idea to check out our Big List of Writing Contests for the upcoming month, too. We have started the new year by doing a huge update to our entire contest list, so please enjoy.

Don’t forget paid newsletter subscribers can get early access to the majority of submission opportunities and upcoming events before they go live on our site, so do consider subscribing or upgrading your subscription today. You also receive our monthly eLitPak Newsletter which features even more opportunities and other literary goodness.

Calls and Contests 2024

Book Review :: Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri

January 25, 2024
Book Reviews

Guest Post by Kevin Brown

On one level, the title of Lahiri’s story collection, Roman Stories, is an obvious description of the work, given that all of the stories take place in Rome. However, in many of the stories, the characters are not actually Roman, or at least not by birth and, sometimes, citizenship.

Instead, they have often come to Rome later in life, and, thus, the retain that outsider status, even if they end up staying in Rome for the remainder of their days. By taking such an approach, Lahiri gives voice to a wide variety of characters, pointing out the multitude of stories found in a city like Rome.

The best example of this approach is the longest story in the collection, and the only one in Part II: “Steps.” The story shifts through six different sections, each focused on a different person/group of people: The Mother, The Widow, The Expat Wife, The Girl, Two Brothers, The Screenwriter. Each character or group has a connection to the same set of steps, a connection that reveals something important about each character or group. Though they come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences, this place in Rome binds them all together, at least on some level.

That serves as a metaphor for the collection itself, as the characters are diverse, but their connection to Rome binds them all together, whether they want to be or not.

Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri. Alfred A. Knopf, October 2023.

Reviewer bio: Kevin Brown has published three books of poetry: Liturgical Calendar: Poems (Wipf and Stock); A Lexicon of Lost Words (winner of the Violet Reed Haas Prize for Poetry, Snake Nation Press); and Exit Lines (Plain View Press). He also has a memoir, Another Way: Finding Faith, Then Finding It Again, and a book of scholarship, They Love to Tell the Stories: Five Contemporary Novelists Take on the Gospels. Twitter @kevinbrownwrite

Alfred A. Knopf, Guest Post, reviews, What I'm Reading

Editor’s Choice :: Unnie by Yun-Yun

January 24, 2024
New Books

Unnie by Yun-Yun
Libre Books, April 2024

On the morning of April 16, 2014, a passenger ferry carrying 476 people was en route from Incheon, South Korea to the island of Jeju. After a dangerous turn against a strong current, the boat began to capsize, with hundreds trapped inside.

The sinking would take the lives of 306 passengers, including 250 schoolchildren and 11 teachers from the outskirts of Seoul onboard for a field trip. The excessive death toll has been largely attributed to the failure of the Korean Coast Guard to mobilize sufficiently, leading to a highly publicized court case and jail time for members of the crew, who abandoned the ship and all aboard.

The tragedy caused public outcry around the world. But none were so bereft as the families left behind, like the main character, Yun-young. As the days turn into weeks and the weeks turn into months, they wait for news of Yun-young’s Unnie (the Korean word for “older sister”), a teacher now missing. As Yun-young embarks on an unfamiliar journey to understand Unnie’s life, she finds herself entangled in a blend of memories and unforeseen revelations, stirring an irresistible yearning. From Korea to America and back again, past and present overlap, as Yun-young tries to piece together the life of her enigmatic older sister.

“I’m a high school teacher in Korea,” writes author Yun-Yun. “At times, when I observe my students immersed in laughter with their peers, I feel a sudden wave of sadness, reminded of all the young lives taken away too soon. I imagine they, too, would have laughed just like that. Writing Unnie, my first novel, I was surprised at how easily the words flowed from me. To this day, I can’t shake the feeling that the lost students were guiding me as I wrote.”

Originally published in 2022, this edition is revised and re-released in honor of the 10-year anniversary of the event.

Editor's Choice

New Book :: Book of Lamentations

January 24, 2024
New Books

Book of Lamentations: Poems by Red Hawk, aka Robert Moore
The Bittler Oleander Press, January 2024

Red Hawk’s Book of Lamentations opens with the poem, “Come Sisters, Let Us Lament,” which begins, “Where do we go, how / shall we make our way / when the Stars go out?” The collection is divided into sections of poems that seek to answer the question – or take readers on a quest of their own: Lamentations of Innocence: What is Lost, What is Gained; Lamentations of the Animals: Whose Cross is to Bear Our Pain; Lamentations of Experience: What it Costs, What Remains; Lamentations of Conscience: The Holy Ghost in Our Brains.

The author shares his experience that guides his writing, “Red Hawk is not an Indian name, nor was it ever intended to be one or pretend to be one; it is an Earth name, given by Mother Earth many years ago after a 4-day water fast at the Buffalo River in an effort to save my life in one of the darkest periods of my life. It was given as answered prayer. It indicates a deep love & reverence for the Earth which named me, and how it has shaped my life. I stand by it. Love of the Earth is my Spiritual path. It honors Her power to direct the course of our lives. I am Her legitimate son. As the illegitimate son of unknown parents, Robert Moore is my adopted name given to me by 2 people who died of alcoholism; I honor them by the way I live my life.”

Red Hawk is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. He is the author of 11 books of poetry and two books on spiritual practice. He is a student and devotee of the Spiritual Teacher Lee Lozowick and of Lozowick’s Master, Yogi Ramsuratkumar, the Godchild of Tiruvanamali, India. He is also a long-time student of the Spiritual Teacher George Gurdjieff. His root-Guru was Osho Rajneesh. He is the winner of numerous national honors for his writing.

To discover more great books from small, independent, and university presses, visit the NewPages Guide to Publishers as well as our Books Received monthly roundup. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay up to date!

The Bitter Oleander Press

The MacGuffin is Looking for Editors

January 23, 2024
Magazines

The MacGuffin is looking to add a couple new editors to their Prose Staff. Staffers are responsible for reading around 10 stories per week (assigned on Submittable) and attending a Zoom discussion every other Thursday to decide what stories to publish. Interested readers can contact Gordon Krupsky, managing editor, at [email protected].

Call for Editors, The MacGuffin

New Lit on the Block :: Where The Meadows Reside

January 23, 2024
Magazine Stand

Where The Meadows Reside greets us this new year with its open-access, online seasonal quarterly publication of poetry, prose, creative nonfiction, hybrid, artwork, and audio. Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief Meadow Sherif is a literary artist whose name you might think was the inspiration for the publication, but its inception is much more than that.

“I’ve always been intrigued by the liminality of the world,” Sherif says, “particularly in Augé’s non-places, though even beyond when I could ever put a name to it. Where The Meadows Reside is endlessness, an inevitability. I find the relationship between humanity and endlessness very enduring.

“We are constantly in our own fields — filled with moments like wildflowers, meadows. Though it seems as though there is a conflict between our external fields — our world in revolution around work, survival. So, in a world that revolves around endlessness and necessity, it seems as though what remains of the world – land – suddenly, endlessness with purpose.

New Lit on the Block, Where The Meadows Reside

Magazine Stand :: Kaleidoscope – Winter/Spring 2024

January 23, 2024
Magazine Stand

Kaleidoscope magazine publishes work that creatively explores the experience of disability through literature and the fine arts. In issue 88 several authors share ways they’re mastering the art of living with disability as an essential element of a creatively crafted life.

In the featured essay, “The Tree That Reminds Me,” author Rhonda Zimlich runs, and with every stride, she pushes her body, clears her mind, and denies the disease within. When she runs in her neighborhood she passes a tree that has been damaged by a lightning strike. MS has ravaged the bark of her nerves, leaving her scarred and exposed, just like the tree, and this kinship with the deciduous maple causes her to reflect on her existence.

Dave Wisniewski is the featured artist. He is a legally blind painter whose canvases depict larger-than-life characters from the Wild West. In addition to the features mentioned here, Kaleidoscope hopes readers will enjoy the work of these contributors: Aisha Ashraf, Kelsie Bennett, Cynthia Bernard, Tim Campbell, William Cass, Amy DeBellis, Stacie Eirich, Nancy J. Fagan, Connie Harold, Waylon Henggeler, Carrie Hinton, Claire Ibarra, Hareendran Kallinkeel, Danielle Krikorian, Geri Lipschultz, Emmy D. Wells, Jordan Wilson-Dalzell, and Ellen Zhang.

Kaleidoscope

Lit Mag Covers :: Picks of the Week – January 22, 2024

January 22, 2024
Magazine Stand

Lit Mag Covers: Picks of the Week recognizes cover art and designs for literary magazines, whether in print or online. These are chosen solely at the discretion of the Editor. Enjoy!

Ponder Review is a student-run publication of the MFA program at Mississippi University for Women publishes fiction, flash fiction, nonfiction, poetry, short plays, new media, and visual art twice a year. Cover art: “Near Future” by Lila Byrne.

The Ear from Irvine Valley College has been publishing poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art, and photography annually since 1982 and can be read in print or online. This thought-provoking cover image is Synthesis of Man and Nature by Brennan Roach.

Subtropics: The Literary Journal of the University of Florida Summer/Fall 2023 issue cover image is In the Parco Piersanti Mattarella (Giardino inglese), Palermo (2022), photograph by Mark Mitchell.

lit mag covers, Ponder Review, Subtropics, The Ear

Book Review :: How to Read Now by Elaine Castillo

January 22, 2024
Book Reviews

Guest Post by Kevin Brown

How to Read Now, Elaine Castillo’s collection of essays comes from the lineage of Toni Morrison’s Playing in the Dark, a work Castillo references several times. She wants to show readers the assumed whiteness of their reading and writing, the assumed whiteness of their world, essentially.

Castillo analyzes a wide range of writing (and texts in a wider sense), from the controversial Nobel-prize-winning Peter Handke to Jane Austen to the Cinderella story to Homer’s Odyssey, with many stops in between.

Like Morrison, Castillo points out numerous places where writers assume characters are white without any description of their being so and the effects that has on readers and how they see the world. She reminds readers to look for the gaps in texts, the places where authors are silent about the reality of the world in which they write, such as Austen’s father’s involvement in the buying and selling of those who were enslaved.

Her main point, which underlies all others, is that white writers/readers get the benefit of seeing their work as universal, while writers of color are educational material, something one reads to learn about a particular culture, not work that conveys any ideas about simply being human. After reading Castillo’s collection, a reader can’t help but look at the world and their reading differently, high praise for any book.

How to Read Now by Elaine Castillo. Viking, July 2022.

Guest Post, reviews, Viking Press, What I'm Reading

Book Review :: Things in the Basement by Ben Hatke

January 20, 2024
Book Reviews

Things in the Basement by Ben Hatke is the fantastical adventure of young mop-headed Milo who is sent looking for his baby sister’s missing sock in the basement of their new home. Not just any sock, this “special sock” was made by her Tia Maria “with her special yarn.” The pressure is on as Milo reluctantly heads into the strange, gloomy basement to check the laundry.

What ensues is a series of Milo stumbling into and across one breadcrumb to the next, each taking him deeper and deeper into a secret world under his house. For kids who are terrified of basements, so is Milo! He is resistant time and again to continue his pursuit of the missing sock, but as he meets various underground dwellers and becomes entangled in their plight to survive, his inner hero eventually shines through.

Hatke’s use of frameless borders and often organically shaped panels lends to the eerie feeling of the story along with a rich palette of shades to reflect the gloomy atmosphere. Brighter colors emerge as the action ramps up with some pages seeming to burst with energy and excitement. Dialogue is minimal throughout, with some characters communicating in easily interpreted symbols.

Milo’s lack of confidence throughout the story is frustrating at times, but this also makes him a wonderful role model for kids who may fear basements as well as for kids who are fascinated by them. In the end, Milo’s victory saves his newly forged underground friendships and allows him to conquer his own internal struggle, making him the ultimate hero.

Things in the Basement by Ben Hatke. First Second :01, August 2023.

Reviewer bio: NewPages.com Editor Denise Hill reviews books based on personal interest.

First Second, reviews, What I'm Reading

January 2024 eLitPak :: Be a Screenwriter in Malibu!

January 19, 2024
Programs

screenshot of the 2024 Application Deadline flyer for Pepperdine Seaver College's MFA in Writing for Screen & Television — click image to open flyer

Application Deadline: April 30, 2024
Interested in being a screenwriter in Malibu? View our flyer and email [email protected] for more info!

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