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NewPages Blog

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!

Amiri Baraka Special Folio

amiri-barakaThe newest issue of Indiana Review includes a special folio, “Understanding Readiness,” which is “meant to present diverse explorations and meditations on the impact of the writing, the figure, and political influence of Amiri Baraka” Poetry Editor Nandi Comer and Editor Britt Ashley write, “The voices in this section share Baraka’s aesthetic bravery – one that grabs its audience, demanding we listen to issues concerning contemporary American life. It also must be noted that the diversity in aesthetic and background of these writers speaks to the span of Baraka’s reach.”

Writers contributing to this folio: francine j. harris, Patricia Smith, Roger Reeves, Tarfiah Faizullah, Toi Derricotte, Matthew Shenoda, and avery r. young. Included with the written works are Amiri Baraka’s original drawings curated from Indiana University’s Lily Library.

Conium Collectible

conium-reviewVolume 3 of Conium Review is one of the most unique collectible editions of a literary magazine I’ve seen to date. “This is a book for book lovers,” say the editors. The “container” is a hand-stamped wooden box, conditioned with linseed, mineral, and orange oils. Inside are eight new stories from Olivia Ciacci, Tom Howard, D. V. Klenak, Jan LaPerle, Zach Powers, Christine Texeira, and Meeah Williams. Each individual micro-chapbook, broadside, and booklet is printed on unique paper, including parchment, linen, and recylced stock. This volume is also available in the standard perfect bound book form for non-collectors simply looking for good reading. Both can be ordered from the publication’s website.

2014 Gulf Coast Prize Winners Featured

The Winter/Spring 2015 issue of Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts features the winners of the 2014 Gulf Coast Prizes:

gulf-coastPoetry
“Engagement Party, Georgia” by Raena Shirali
Selected by Rachel Zucker

Nonfiction
“Love Drones” by Noam Dorr
Selected by John D’Agata

Fiction
“Kansas, America, 1899” by Edward McPherson
Selected by Andrea Barrett

The deadline for this annual prize is March 22, 2015. This year’s judges are Sarah Shun-lien Bynum (Fiction), Maggie Nelson (Nonfiction), and Carl Phillips (Poetry). The contest awards publication and $1500 each to the best poem, essay, and short story, as well as $250 to two honorable mentions in each genre. The winners will appear in Gulf Coast 28.1, due out in Fall 2015, and all entries will be considered for paid publication on the Gulf Coast website as Online Exclusives. The reading fee includes a one-year subscription to Gulf Coast and submissions are accepted both online and via postal mail.

New Lit on the Block :: Bridge Eight

bridge-eightBased out of Jacksonville, Florida, the biannual print Bridge Eight Literary Magazine publishes literary fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction.

The magazine is published by Bridge Eight, a small independent press that seeks to build the literary culture of Northeast Florida, while publishing work from writers all over the world.

Publisher Jared Rypkema is based in Jacksonville, a city known for its seven bridges. He says, “Bridge Eight provides an ‘eighth bridge’ that will take readers to new imaginative destinations, connecting new voices and new readers, and venturing far beyond the boundaries of the city we call home.” Since its inception, Rypkema notes, Bridge Eight Literary Magazine has been wonderfully received both locally and regionally, earning the support of Jacksonville’s cultural council and arts community. Others working to make the publication happen include Managing Editor Coe Douglas, Senior Fiction Editor Melanie Webb, and Senior Poetry Editor Teri Youmans Grimm.

Bridge Eight started as a community-building organization that sought to connect Jacksonville-based writers and create a movement of literary culture within the city. After a year of hosting workshops and community events, the literary magazine concept was born in order to publish outside influences alongside those grown in Jacksonville, FL. Since there were no other independent literary magazines in Jacksonville, Bridge Eight became the only one of its kind when it published its first issue in November 2014.

Rypkema tells me, “As artists and writers first, publishers second, we carry a commitment to bring our readers the best writing we can, presented in the best way possible. We work with amazing artists for our design and the best printers in the country. For readers, this is a magazine that will not only be a great read, but feel and look amazing as well.”

Recent contributors include Mark Ari, editor of EAT Poems, Editorial Advisor to Fiction Fix, and author of The Shoemaker’s Tale; Teri Youmans Grimm, author of Dirt Eaters and Becoming Lyla Dore (forthcoming); and Lee Matalone, whose writing has recently appeared in the Noctua Review, Verbaleyze’s Young Writers Anthology, the Eunoia Review and the Stoneslide Corrective.

Bridge Eight continues to host workshops for Jacksonville-based writers and presents the semi-regular reading series, Abridged. Rypkema looks to the future of the publication: “As almost all other independent literary magazines, sustainability was key to our foundation. The decisions we’ve made and people we’ve worked with over the past year have set the magazine up for success in the years to come – where we hope to become a go-to for literary publishing in Northeast Florida. Bridge Eight Literary Magazine will always be on the lookout for excellent work that speaks to the very elements of humanity.”

Bridge Eight Literary Magazine accepts submissions on a rolling basis. Submissions received on or before February 15, 2015 will be considered for Issue 2 (Spring 2015).

Lit Mag Covers :: Picks of the Week

new-letters

Staring out the window at leaf bare trees, snow and ice, and grey skies threatening more accumulation to come, the cover of New Letters brought some much needed warmth of color to my day. “The Books of Common Prayer” by Margaret Brommelsiek is a hand-pieced collage, digitally scanned for archival printing.

transference

Transference is the annual publication of the Department of World Languages and Literatures at Western Michigan University and is available in print and online for free downloading. This year’s cover features Leticia R. Bajuyo’s “Wow and Flutter: Noiseless” – an installment of player piano roll paper, typewriter, metal, and table (2012; photo by Darrell Kincer).

tlr

Stunning for its visual composition, The Literary Review (TLR) fall 2014 issue, “Women’s Studies: Not by the book,” features Achim Thode’s 1972 photograph of German visual artist Rebecca Horn, White Body Fan.

Cool Vermont Poetry Month Poster Idea

poem-cityWhile the submissions for this are limited to Vermont poets, the idea is one that could easily be adapted for your own city or college campus!

The Kellogg Hubbard Library invites Vermont poets – professional or amateur – to submit their original poems for PoemCity 2015, a city-wide event, now in its sixth year, that displays poetry on local business storefronts as a way to celebrate National Poetry Month. Chosen poems will appear throughout the downtown district of Montpelier, Vermont, during April 2015.

“Poetry has an important place in the lives of Vermonters,” said Kellogg-Hubbard Library Program and Development Coordinator Rachel Senechal. “PoemCity collaborates with many organizations, schools, and individuals, to read, hear, write, and discuss poetry, the language soul. With the many poems displayed in our downtown windows, it is our goal to make poetry accessible to our community, and to inspire new readers and writers of poetry,” she said.

Along with displayed poems, PoemCity will also offer poetry workshops, public readings, panel discussions, and visual poetry and art displays throughout downtown. The month-long schedule of events and programming is free and open to the public.

Poets of all ages are welcome to submit up to three poems no longer than 24 lines each for consideration of public display. Each poem should be original work by the author, who must be a Vermont resident or student. Deadline to submit is January 31, 2015. Visit www.kellogghubbardlibrary.submittable.com to submit.

North American Review Bicentennial Conference

Steven-Schwartz-1There’s still time to submit conference papers, panel or roundtable proposals for the North American Review Bicentennial Creative Writing & Literature Conference, to be held June 11-14 at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls. Keynotes: Martín Espada, Patricia Hampl, and Steven Schwartz [pictured]. The conference will look back at the NAR’s long and storied past while also looking to the future of the literary world as organizers bring together a wide range of writers, critics, artists, and teachers from around the country to share their work. You are invited to join the celebration! Deadline for proposals: February 22, 2015. For more information, visit the submissions page here.

My Top Three Reasons to Read This WLT

world-literature-todayI recommend reading World Literature Today cover-to-cover every issue, but if you need some extra incentive for the January-February 2015, here you go:

1. The article by J. Madison Davis: “The Idiotically Criminal Universe of the Brothers Cohen.”

2. The special section of flash nonfiction featuring works by Brian Doyle, Josey Foo, Lia Purpura, Vikram Kapur, and Dmitry Samarov.

3. The “Suite of Contempory Ethiopean Poetry” with Misrak Terefe, Abebaw Melaku, Mihret Kebede, Eric Ellingsen, and David Shook.

And my two runner-ups: “Storytelling, Fake Worlds, and the Internet” by Elif Shafak and “Ping-Pong: or, Writing Together” by Sergio Pitol. And everything else in between. But I did say I would pick three to number.

Does Art Matter?

robert-stewartNew Letters Editor Robert Stewart asks “Does art do much good?”

In his Editor’s Note, “Making What Matters,” Stewart shares, “In my home city recently, a 10-year-old girl named Machole and a 6-year-old girl named Angel, in separate events, were shot dead by gunfire. Machole was in her own living room when someone in a car shot several times into her house; Angel was walking out the door of a convenience store with her father. Other children continue to suffer abuse and violence, yes, but these two events, nine days apart, have caused many people here to examine the kind of landscape—city and country—we have shaped for our children.”

Go to the National Art Education Association News page on any given day, and you’ll see comment after comment from leaders across the nation proclaiming the importance of the arts in education, of turning and keeping the A in STEM for STEAM. It’s not a new struggle among cultures, among communiites, as Stewart notes the Trappist monk Thomas Merton “in a 1962 letter, where he confessed to being disheartened by evil in the world, despite his own writings and art. ‘Tell me,’ Merton wrote to his friend, “am I wasting my time?'”

It’s a question and concern that pervades and surfaces, resurfaces, confronts and confounds wirters, artists, educators, politician and policy makers. While Stewart answers the question in his commentary, an answer found through reading the works of authors in the journal and concluding on the worth and value of their efforts. A worth and value we need to retain and remind others of every chance we get.

The Greensboro Review – Fall 2014

The work in this issue (four short stories and eighteen poems) is representative of the highly competent writing that has been the hallmark of The Greensboro Review for some forty years. Most of the works, as is usual with university-sponsored journals, are by writers studying or teaching in MFA programs, or graduates of such programs. Most contributors have solid writing credentials. Continue reading “The Greensboro Review – Fall 2014”

West Marin Review – 2014

I ended the review I wrote of West Marin Review 3 (2010) by saying I loved everything in it, even the ads, and I still do, so I will spend the first of my 25-or-so sentences here extolling the commercial plugs in Issue 5 as well: “Spirit Matters: [A Store Providing] Oddities and Deities in the Heart of Inverness Park”; the Point Reyes Music Center, where “Your creativity is our business”; “Flower Power Home and Garden,” with its whimsical blossomy heifer logo; Continue reading “West Marin Review – 2014”

Ping•Pong – 2014

If you have ever visited the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur, California, you likely noticed a ping-pong table. This table, nestled amidst towering redwood trees, brings the library’s many visitors together in a single place, with a single purpose: ping-pong. It is appropriate, then, that the Library’s literary journal, Ping•Pong, unites a wide array of voices and works in a single volume, and to common purpose. Continue reading “Ping•Pong – 2014”

National African American Read-In

black-history-monthPlan your events now! The Black Caucus of National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and NCTE are hosting The National African American Read-In, February 1-28, 2015. There goal is to make literacy a significant part of Black History Month by asking groups and organizations, schools, churches, etc. to host an African American Read-In. Their website has lots of information about how to be recognized as a host, suggested readings and activities, and downloads for giveaways like bookmarks. It’s free to participate.

Art :: Mequitta Ahuja

georgia-reviewIn addition to the cover image, the Winter 2014 issue of The Georgia Review features what Editor Stephen Corey rightly refers to as “the striking art portfolio by Mequitta Ahuja” and notes this is the publication’s “second-ever multi-panel foldout.” This is both a generous and gorgeous dedication to artwork for journal readers to enjoy. Corey also footnotes the artwork introduction with this: “Mequitta Ahuja’s Automythography marks The Georgia Review‘s first collaborative project with the University of Georgia’s Lamar Dodd School of Art Galleries. Sponsored by the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, Ahuja will be in residence at the school from late January to early February 2015, and an exhibit of her work will be on display at the Dodd Galleries.”

Lit Mag Covers :: Picks of the Week

cimarron-review-cover

“100 Days of Summer” by poet and photographer Steve Lautermilch graces the cover of Cimarron Review‘s Fall 2014 issue. Images of summer are the perfect antidote to these remaining 100 days of winter.

fourteen-hillsBecause this cover made me look twice and then keep looking to really get the full sense of the image, Fourteen Hills 20.1-2015 makes the post. “Don Pepe” by Camilo Restrepo from the series Los Caprichos (2014) is ink, water-soluble wax pastel, tape, glue, newspaper clippings and saliva on paper. Yup. Saliva.

cahoodaloodalingFrom the online magazine, Cahoodaloodaling: “Our cover artist, Jenny Schukin, is a 20-year-old artist, born in Moscow, Russia, and currently residing in Israel. Mainly inspired by nature, mythology, and folk-tales, Jenny enjoys surreal, fantasy and animal themed artwork. Her preferred media is traditional and her tools of choice are watercolors, inks, and pencils. Jenny’s plans for the near future include attending an art academy in the field of illustration.” In a word: Gorgeous. More of her work is featured in the online issue.

Salamander Contest Winners

salamander1Salamander #39 features the 2014 fiction prize winner judged by Jennifer Haigh: “Dimension” by Barrett Warner. Of his work, Haigh says it is a “coming-of-age tale turned inside out, the hit-and-run love story of an unlikely couple on the skids. Their ill-fated affair is sketched with marvelous economy, style , and verve. Wise, playful, startling in its insight, this is a story made of remarkable sentences laid end to end.’

 “When Desire Can’t Find Its Object” by Margaret Osburn earned an honorable mention. Haigh writes that this work “depicts a meeting between old friends: a young draft dodger on a vision quest, and Iris, his best friend’s mother, who is not long for this world. In supple, elastic prose, it telegraphs – in seven short pages – a curious love story, a brief interlude that illumines an entire life.”

[Cover Art: “WC4173, 2010” by Ann Ropp]

Some Literary Links

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to be a nicer person who is more sensitive and aware of other people’s feelings, read more novels. Really. (Psychology Today)

The Symbiotic Relationship Between Movies and Books: “While it’s hardly novel to suggest that Hollywood is out of ideas, 2014 hasn’t done much to prove otherwise. Of the top 10 grossing films released last year, every single one was inspired by a pre-existing media property like a novel, a comic book, or—in two cases—a line of toys.” (The Atlantic)

“The man hired to smuggle Ulysses into New York City was sweating. . . The smuggler was following very specific instructions. He’d obtained the text, just like he’d been told. He stuffed the book into his suitcase. Then he boarded the luxurious Aquitania in Europe, with orders to disembark at this very port. But as he waited in line eying the customs officials, things weren’t going to plan. In fact, it looked like the officer was just going to wave him through. This was not what the smuggler was being paid to do; he was under strict orders to get caught!” The Worst (And Most Important) Smuggling Job in the History of Literature. (Mental Floss)

Don’t like your personality? Try reading a novel. Reasearchers “propose that there are specific ways in which fiction can engage readers in ways that enhance important personality qualities.. . . all other things being equal, people who read more fiction are also better at reading other people’s emotions. It’s not just that empathic people read more, but that reading promotes empathy.” (Psychology Today)

Satre told the Nobel Committee he would say no, only they didn’t get the memo. History shows he was true to his (late-arriving) word. (The Guardian)

Nerve Lantern Performance Literature

nerve-laternNerve Lantern: Axon of Performance Literature is a truly unique publication. Published by Pyriform Press and edited by Ellen Redbird, Nerve Lantern is “a journal of experimental performance texts and texts about performance, supporting a range of forms, including poets’ theatre and page-as-stage.” Some examples from Winter 2014 Issue 7: “Un/Conventional Chorus: A Spoken Choral Work for Ten Voices” by Mary Burger & Yedda Morrison; “A Song about the Moon in the Middle of the Night” by Hannah Rodabaugh; “Xylene Radiator Anxiety Mask: Experimental Sonnet Map for Five Voices” by Gary Sloboda; “Pig of Angels of the Americlypse: An anti-masque for four players” by Rodrigo Toscano.

Submissions for the publication are open, but the editorial advice is to understand why you want to be a part of the Nerve Lantern community and what you feel “akin” to or what “new” you will add to it before submitting. The community can be better understood not just by reading past issues of the publication, but viewing one of the many performance videos shot during the publication’s performance venue: “An Afternoon of Sparking Poetry.” The most recent of these have been hosted by the Medicine Show Theatre in New York.

Redbird offers further “Thoughts to Nerve Lantern Newcomers” on the submissions page, asking questions to have writers consider the performance aspects of their work, not only how it might be performed “on stage” but also on the page. A helpful guide for readers and writers alike to help in our understanding and appreciation for this literary form.

Kudos to Ellen Redbird and contributors to Nerve Lantern for providing, not just a place for this genre, but a community in which it can be fostered.

American Women Writers Society & Conference

The Society for the Study of American Women Writers (SSAWW) was established to promote the study of American women writers through research, teaching, and publication. It is the goal of the Society to strengthen relations among persons and institutions in this country and internationally who are devoted to such studies, and to broaden knowledge among the general public about American women writers. The Society is committed to diversity in the study of American women writers — racial, ethnic, gender, class, sexual orientation, region, and era — as well as of scholars participating in the Society.

The SSAWW 2015 Conference in Philadelphia takes place November. 4 – 8, 2015; Ana Castillo is the keynote speaker. The conference organizers welcome proposals on any topic related to the study of American women writers, broadly conceived, including those on this year’s theme: “Liminal Spaces, Hybrid Lives.” Due date for all proposals: Friday, February 13, 2015.

Suspended Sentences

Literary Nobel Laureates are not known for readability and popularity, yet the novels of 2014 winner Patrick Modiano (also winner of Prix Concourt and Prix MondialCino Del Duca for lifetime achievement) are easy to read and popular. His novels are short with short prose pages. Plus he recreates atmospheric noir settings, such as eerie dark abandoned castles or noble estates, and the characters he introduces are ever mysterious. His narrator, mostly unnamed and a persona for him, is constantly reminded of the past and wants to go back to understand it. Continue reading “Suspended Sentences”

A Little Lumpen Novelita

Deceased Chilean novelist Roberto Bolaño is known for experimental fiction like By Night in Chile, which is told without paragraphing, but this work, A Little Lumpen Novelita, is written chronologically, with standard punctuation and paragraphing. It is a story told from the perspective of an older sister (19 years old) named Bianca, about herself and her unnamed younger brother after their parents’ fatal auto accident. As she tells us in the opening sentence, Bianca is now married with children, Continue reading “A Little Lumpen Novelita”

Wait Your Turn and The Stability of Large Systems

The best movie monsters come back to life in sequels or remakes that can be masterpieces (Aliens) or miscalculations (the two American Godzillas). The late Friday night TV marathons or Saturday afternoon matinees that influenced at least three generations of movie makers and goers are a regular part of Turner Classic Movie Channel’s schedule. Like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (his monster played by Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, and Benedict Cumberbatch to name a few), classic movie monsters endear because they are more human than their creators or tormentors. Continue reading “Wait Your Turn and The Stability of Large Systems”

The Tribute Horse

The Tribute Horse, Brandon Som’s debut full collection, is a surprising title once you wade into the first few pages of this beautiful mediation on migration, cultural memory, and the great mitigating force of both, language. The title image is almost like a piece of statuary, a trophy or memorial object, and to be sure, this collection does feel like a tribute, but it spends far more time at sea and among the heights of birdsong and other utterances than would seem to warrant that powerfully terrestrial and corporeal image of the horse. Continue reading “The Tribute Horse”

True Stories, Well Told

The twenty-two selections in this nonfiction collection are culled from twenty years of Creative Nonfiction Magazine. I was worried it would inevitably suffer from aesthetic myopia. But the selections are eclectic enough to avoid this. I learned about the history of sign language, the particulars of Finnish baseball, and about the difficulties and rewards of teaching a university course on the philosophy of death. This whirlwind collection features an exceptionally talented stable of writers, all of whom are present as characters in their essays. Continue reading “True Stories, Well Told”

If Not For This

Pete Fromm’s If Not For This was the most moving novel I read in 2014. The main characters are raft guides in the interior west. Fromm worked for many years as a river ranger in Grand Teton National Park. I chose the book based on those two kernels of information. I left the west three years ago. Before beginning my drive east in earnest, I spent a few days camping in the Tetons. Continue reading “If Not For This”

Titulada

Titulada is, without question, one of the best books of poetry I’ve read this year. Formally exploratory, sonically interesting, and rich with meaning, this book offers exactly what I’m hoping to find every time I pick up a new poetry collection: a challenge that rewards the effort put into reading it. Continue reading “Titulada”

Elegy on Kinderklavier

Elegy on Kinderklavier is a debut collection of seven short stories. The driving force across the stories is violence. The characters are forced to the edge of the world, intruded upon by one form of violence or another: war, terminal illness, loss of loved ones before their time, death and mutilation by explosives. Violence, in all its forms, is the hovering, unpredictable specter and Hemenway handles it with innovative, effective techniques. Continue reading “Elegy on Kinderklavier”

Lit Mag Covers :: Picks of the Week

image

This cover of the newest issue of Image (#83) features performance photography by Zhang Huan from his series Breath, 1999, in Miami, Florida. More of his performance and series work can be found on his website.

sugar-house-review

It must just be the time of year, with snow storms and wind chill temperatures in the negative double digits, that makes me appreciate the brightly colored covers. Sugar House Review #10 celebrates their five-year annivesary with this special double issue packed with poetry. I believe credit goes to Natalie Young, editor and graphic designer.

six-by-six

And then, after the talk of bright colors, I pick this one? For good reason. I love 6×6 for their design. Ugly Duckly Press has been putting this magazine out – six pages of poetry by six different poets – since 2000, using offset printing with lovely inks and tactile papers, and each folded and bound with a sturdy, color coordinated rubber band. It’s a production value that merits special appreciation in our digital age.

Contemporary Chinese Short Fiction

chinese-literature-todayModern short fiction highlights the newest issue of Chinese Literature Today (v4 n2). Four award-winning authors were selected to exemplify what editors note is a revival of the short form in Chinese literature: Ai Wei, Fan Xiaoqing, Dong Xi, and Li Shijiang. “Our selection covers different generations of contemporary Chinese writers, both male and female writers, and a wide spectrum of literary styles. The selected stories are some of the most representative pieces that showcase short fiction’s efficacy in re-narrating history and memory, capturing immediate social changes, and aestheticizing fragmented individual experiences.”

Special Issue :: Mediterraneans

marMediterraneans is the subject of The Massachusetts Review special issue for Winter 2014. In their introduction, Editors Anna Botta and Michel Moushabeck write of history of the area, of the many cultures that crisscrossed this busy commerce route, and of the language developed to be shared among them, called lingua franca.

“Another name for this Mediterranean vernacular was sabir,” say Botta and Moushabeck, “a noun that derives from the Latin root sapere, ‘to know.’ This special issue brings into conversation the different dialects, languages, vernaculars of the Mediterranean in order to create a sabir of poetic, fictive, and artistic imagination displaying the plurality of Mediterranean identities. The texts included in the pages that follow do not pretend ‘to know’ the Med, instead they trace the filigree of a sabir which can tell us only indirectly and vaguely what Mediterranean identity is.”

The full text of the introduction can be read on the TMR website along with several works from the issue.

Keep Reading Writer Beware

victoria-straussWriter Beware: The Blog is sponsored by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, with additional support from several other organizations. With author Victoria Strauss [pictured] at the helm, their effort is “Shining a bright light into the dark corners of the shadow-world of literary scams, schemes, and pitfalls. Also providing advice for writers, industry news and commentary, and a focus on the weird and wacky things that happen at the fringes of the publishing world.”

Some recent posts that would do ALL writers good to read include:

Evaluating Publishing Contracts: Six Ways You May Be Sabotaging Yourself
Rights Grab: Transferring Copyright
Alert: Questionable Terms of Use in HBO’s Game of Thrones Compendium
Don’t Do This: Wrong Ways to Try and Escape Your Deadbeat Publisher
Scam Warnings For Freelancers
Kindle Scout: The Pros and Cons of Amazon’s New Crowdsourced Publishing Program
How Not to Register Copyright

It is amazing how much Strauss is able to keep up with these days in the changing landscapes of publishing. If you are not already following this blog, do so at once!

Mid-American Review Celebrates

mid-american-reviewThe newest issue of Mid-American Review has much to celebrate. For its 35th Anniversary, Editor-in-Chief Abigail Cloud wanted to recognize the publication’s annual Fineline Competition, unique because it focuses on the short form in poetry and prose, and also because the magazine’s staff cross-read genres to choose the winners. This issue of MAR features 26 works from past Fineline winners in addition to the 2014 Fineline Competition selections: Allison Adair, Winner; Becky Hegenston, Runner-Up; Cherie Hunter Day and Nancy Hewitt, Editor’s Choices. A great issue for those looking to read winning works as well those who may want to enter future Fineline Competitions.

Natural Bridge Special Veterans Selections

john-daltonNatural Bridge Fall 2014 (#32) includes a special selection of veterans-themed poetry and fiction. Guest Editor John Dalton writes that though the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are said to be ending, “These wars, it turns out, have their own afterlife. Perhaps no one understand this better than the men and women who’ve returned to us as veterans.”

Dalton hopes that this feature will help others better understand the “strangeness” in the role of military service: “to be asked to travel across the world and fight and kill and die in a culture you only partially understand, and perhaps a stranger thing to come home and figure out who you are and just what your service has meant.” It is a conundrum with which we all continue to struggle, and for which we continue to turn to writing to help us navigate as individuals and as a society.

Writers featured for this selection: Marilyn Johnston, Wendy Dunmeyer, John Twobey, Jack Vian, Ty Burson, Nandini Dhar, and Arthur Davis.

New Journal :: Found Footage

found-footageFound Footage Magazine is a double-blind peer review publication of theoretical, analytical and informative contents to Found Footage filmmaking. This independent semi-annual publication will be distributed worldwide and printed both in English and Spanish.

Found Footage Magazine is the first journal devoted to Found Footage technique, including all its manifestations: Appropriation Cinema, Compilation Film, Recycled Cinema, Collage Film, Mash-up, Archival Cinema, etc.

The publication will include articles and sections aimed at promoting the culture of recycled cinema from different approaches: monographs, academic essays, interviews, opinion pieces, film reviews, film festival reports and profiles of media products related to the eclectic universe of Found Footage filmmaking.

Submissions for the inaugural issue are being accepted until March 15, 2015.

Special Issue :: Skin

chattahoocheeSkin is the special focus of The Chattahoochee Review Fall/Winter 2014 double issue. Editor Anna Schachner writes that the call for submissions encouraged “literal and figurative explorations of the theme,” and that “the editorial staff couldn’t have predicted the original and varied responses” they would receive.

As with themed calls, there is both the promise and the dread that metaphor will take over, as the editors discovered, “There was race and disease and facade and sexuality and transformation and embodiment and disguise, among others. Who can fight metaphor? So we joined it, ultimately identifying three metaphors that would help us organize, even reinforce, the great work in the issue: Surface, Selves, and Symbiosis.”

Additionally, in her own exploration of the topic, Schachner focused on the idea of where skin and language meet: tattoo. Taking this connection further to the literal tattoo, Schachner interviews Eva Talmadge, co-author of The Word Made Flesh: Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide. The interview can also be found on The Hooch, TCR’s news and events page.

Ruminate Poetry & Art Prize Winners

ruminateRuminate Magazine Winter 2014-15 features poetry by the winners of the 2014 Janet B. McCabe Poetry Prize judged by Jeanne Murray Walker: First Place Emily Rose Cole; Second Place Charity Gingerich; Honorable Mention J. Scott Brownlee (whose poem “Pasture Ode” can be read here on Ruminate). Also featured are visual works in full color by the winners of the 2014 Kalos Visual Art Prize judged by Mary McCleary: First Place Hilary White, whose work is featured on the cover in addition to a portfolio within; Second Place Aaron Lee Benson; Honorable Mention Lisa Discepoli Line.

Lit Mag Covers :: Picks of the Week

pretty-owl-poetry

This colorfully fun, free flowing cover image for Pretty Owl Poetry Winter 2014, The Gift of Saturn, was created by featured artist Ernest Williamson III, accomplished and prolific poet as well as artist.

printers-devil-review

Printer’s Devil Review online literary and visual art magazine published by Black Key Press consistently has some of the most stunning visual art covers I’ve seen. This cover of their fall 2014 issue features Nicola Verlato’s Crash 5 (2012; Oil on canvas, 36 in. x 48 in.).

psychopomp

This cover of Psychopomp (Winter 2015) online journal of prose and visual art caught my eye because it reminded me of Heinz Edelmann, art director for the 1968 animated Beatles film Yellow Submarine. Good times. This piece, Cross Section of a Cloud, is by multi-talented artist Cate Anevski.

American Life in Poetry :: Billy Collins

American Life in Poetry: Column 510
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE

Billy Collins, who lives in New York, is one of our country’s most admired poets, and this snapshot of a winter day is reminiscent of those great Chinese poems that on the virtue of their clarity and precision have survived for a couple of thousand years. His most recent book of poetry is Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems, (Random House, 2013).

Winter

A little heat in the iron radiator,
the dog breathing at the foot of the bed,

and the windows shut tight,
encrusted with hexagons of frost.

I can barely hear the geese
complaining in the vast sky,

flying over the living and the dead,
schools and prisons, and the whitened fields.

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 ©2014 by Billy Collins, “Winter,” (Poetry East, No. 82, 2014). Poem reprinted by permission of Billy Collins and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2014 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.

Irish Pages Seamus Heaney Memorial

irish-pagesEdited by Chris Agee and Cathal Ó Searcaigh, the newest issue of Irish Pages (v8 n 2) is a tribute in memory of Seamus Heaney. The journal includes: four poems by Heaney; Sven Birkerts and Helen Vendler on the man and the poet; a suite of obituaries and global reminiscences by leading poets and writers in Ireland, Britain and the United States; new poems by Kerry Hardie, Michael Coady, Paddy Bushe, Kathleen Jamie, Katie Donovan, Seán Lysaght, Damian Smyth, Ignatius McGovern, John F. Deane, Franics Harvey, Michael Longley, Alan Gillis, Moya Cannon and Harry Clifton; President Michael D. Higgins on John Hewitt & Richard Murphy on poetry and terror; new writing in Irish from Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Cathal O Searcaigh and others; and Seamus Justin Heaney 1939-2013 a unique photographic portfolio by Bobbie Hanvey.

Poetry App Matches Verse to Weather

poetry-eastPoetry East has introcuded its new app, The Poet’s Almanac, available for free download on iOS and Android devices. This unique app analyzes the weather report and couples it with Poetry East’s customized archive to create a new way for users to discover and engage with poetry every day. Matthew Murrey heralds a rainy day with a piece, and an afternoon of San Francisco fog invites the reader to enjoy Sally Fisher. All of the poems have been handpicked by the staff at Poetry East and graduate students, as well as faculty, at DePaul University have attributed to each a temperature and weather type.

Slippage :: Putting the A in STEAM

slippageWhile science, technology, engineering and mathematics – STEM – is the recent focus in education, I am pleased to find pockets where the value of arts is retained: STEAM. The online literary/arts journal [Slippage] is “dedicated to the discovery and publication of unique, creative pieces fusing art with science . . . to bridge the gap between the two worlds of art and science by inspiring artists to think about science and encouraging scientists to transcend rote reductionism.”

[Slippage] journals are available full access online, publishing scientific literary writing in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, artwork, and nonfiction science studies/research papers and science articles/nonfiction, with the note that the editors are looking for “scientific studies testing artistic hypotheses, or that are art-related in nature.” The editors have provided brief explanations of their definition of “scientific literary writing (and its artistic equivalent)” and “good scientific writing (nonfiction).”

In addition, the [Slippage] website features a “Need Inspiration?” page that would be better labeled “The Value of Arts in the World of Science.” Okay, maybe that’s too long. But the page provides a list of “Did you know. . . ” with specific connections between the arts and science, a brilliant comment from Dr. Robert Root-Bernstein, Professor of Physiology at Michigan State University, which names artists and their contributions to science and the closing comment that “the modern world would not be possible without the insights and inventions of artists. We lose sight of this conclusion at our peril. . . “

There is also a list of science/art readings, artists, writers, influential figures and organizations, scientific theories and concepts, and “sister genres.” It’s a resource useful for helping connect artists to the sciences and vice versa, and a great resource for teachers working with students in one discipline to help them see the value in crossing over and ways in which to do so – the publication itself a living example of how this can be achieved.

Able Muse Prize Winners & Featured Poet

able-museAble Muse Winter 2014 features poetry from Scott M. Miller, winner of the 2014 Write Prize for Poetry, as well as by finalists Eric Berlin, Marilyn L. Taylor, and Catherine Chandler. Winning work of the 2014 Write Prize for Fiction, J. Preston Witt, is featured as well.

New to this issue, Able Muse includes a Featured Poet. Wendy Videlock is the inaugural author to receive this honor,  having five new poems published within and an interview with David Mason. Videlock shares her perspectives on sound and silence, the use of and movement away from the first-person pronoun, the conscious and the subconscious, and much more on her craft of writing.

CFS :: Haiku Year in Review

hyir-2013The Broadsided Editorial Team is once again planning their Haiku Year-In-Review (HYIR). Writers are asked to “render the events of the previous year in short poems.” These poems will then be matched with seasonal images for a broadside that can be downloaded for posting. “When you write out your resolutions,” the editors suggest, “look back and write a haiku (and send it to us!)”

A list of suggested topics has been posted on the Broadsided guidelines page. Submissions are being collected on Twitter with an alternative submission method for non-Tweeters. Those selected will be published in January as the 2014 HIYR. Deadline: January 10, 2015.

New Journal :: Textual Overtures

textual-overturesTextual Overtures is a new online academic journal created by graduate students for graduate students in an effort to create an intellectual relationship between the studies of rhetoric & composition and literature. The mission statement of Textual Overtures focuses on the publication’s dedication to “creating a space in which rhetoric, composition, and literature can coexist, and further, create a harmony of textual explorations.”

The editorial staff is “a coalition of graduate students at Washington State University committed to promoting a community of graduate scholarship and discourse.” The current board is Editor-in-Chief: Lindsay Williams; Tech Editor: Kerry Clark; Junior Tech Editor: Hallie Kaiser; Literature Editor: Benjamin Carlton; Rhetoric/Composition Editor: Lauren Kelly; and Communications Editor: Edie-Marie Roper.

The first two issues are available to read online, with the first focused on “Texts, Technologies, and Remediation” and the second “Representing the Body.” The journal can be read online via Scribd and individual articles can be downloaded as .pdfs.

Lit Mag Covers :: Picks of the Week

iron-horse

Amy Eavou’s cover photo for Iron Horse Literary Review (v16.6), appropriate for this time of year, is likewise aptly titled “Snowy Horse Muzzle.”

mamalode

Mamalode‘s cover photo by Holly Andres provides the visual understatement of the year for the publication’s December theme: “It’s Complicated.”

zymbol

Marcello Castellani‘s “Dualidad Prismatica 2” print on canvas creates a stunning cover image for the winter 2014/2015 issue of Zymbol.

CFS :: Hands Up. Don’t Shoot.

The editorial board of the College Language Association Journal (CLAJ) invites the submission of essays, poetry, short prose, short drama, or book reviews for its special issue entitled, “Hands Up. Don’t Shoot: Critical and Creative Responses to Violence Toward Black Bodies in the 21st Century.” All submitted works must be previously unpublished.

CLAJ welcomes submissions of essays, poetry, short prose, or drama that engage the brutalization of black bodies in twenty-first century America with a particular focus on one or more of the following:

-the militarization of the police
-the criminalization of black bodies
-the intersections between gender, sexuality, and race

Categories

-Essays (18-25 pages)
-Poetry (3 poems; 30 line maximum)
-Short story (1 story; 2500 word maximum)
-Drama (1 play; 5000 word maximum)

CLAJ also welcomes book reviews of the following:

-Koritha Mitchell, Living With Lynching: African American Lynching Plays, Performance, and Citizenship, 1890-1930 (2011)

-Radley Balko, Rise of the Warrior Cop: the Militarization of America’s Police Forces (2013)

-Charles E. Cobb Jr, This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible (2014)

Submissions must be received no later than January 5, 2015.

Glimmer Train Very Short Fiction Award Winners :: December 2014

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their Very Short Fiction Award. This competition is held quarterly and is open to all writers for stories with a word count under 3000. The next Very Short Fiction competition will take place in January. Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

eva-lomskiFirst place: Eva Lomski [pictured], of Melbourne, Australia, wins $1500 for “The Things We Build.” Her story will be published in Issue 96 of Glimmer Train Stories.

Second place: Francisco Delgado, of Forest Hills, NY, wins $500 for “International Politics.” His story will also be published in an upcoming issue, increasing his prize to $700.

Third place: Chris Santiago, of Pasadena, CA, wins $300 for “Flyover Country.”

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

Deadline coming up for the Glimmer Train Fiction Open: January 2
Glimmer Train hosts this competition twice a year, and first place is $2500 plus publication in the journal. This category has been won by both beginning and veteran writers – all are welcome! There are no theme restrictions. Word count generally ranges from 2000 – 8000, though up to 20,000 is fine. Click here for complete guidelines.

Stoneboat Polar Plunge

Sheboygan, Wisconsin is known to us Michganders as the place that breaks the winter storms for us before they head across Lake Michigan to our western shores. Which makes the Stoneboat fundraiser one that truly earns my respect for those kuh-ray-zee editors: On New Year’s Day, they will be participating in the Polar Bear Plunge. For those of you in warmer climates who may not be aware of what this entails – imagine filling your bathtub with ice water, strip down to next to nothing… Enough said, right? Feeling the chill already?

The folks at Stoneboat will be plunging into frigid Lake Michigan, or at least going in as deep as their fundraising demands. Which is where you come in: The more money Stoneboat raises before the January 1 plunge, the further they will submerge themselves into the water. Here’s their formula of how much and how deep they’ll go:

stoneboat-polar-plunge$50 knees
$100 mid-thighs
$150 hips
$200 belly buttons
$250 chests
$300 shoulders

In addition, while they’ll take donations in any amount, they are offering the following premiums to donors:

$10 a handmade Stoneboat bookmark
$20 a Stoneboat t-shirt
$50 a one-year subscription to Stoneboat and a poem of your choice (the first 10 lines, or the whole poem if it is 10 lines or less) will be read in the water/at the event*

The asterisk, fairly enough, ensures that no one succumb to hypothermia: “*We will try to read as many poems in the water as possible, and we’ll ensure that all selections are read at the event.”

So if you’re still looking for a post-holiday gift for someone, I’d say the subscription and having the poem read (and recorded) at this event would be a great way to head on in to 2015. Get those Stoneboaters up to their shoulders; really, I think this is one freeze they’d appreciate!