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!
I am enamored of literary magazines devoted solely to poetry. I look forward to immersing myself in metaphor, surrendering to symbolism, and indulging in sensory imagery to my heart’s content. This issue of Southern Poetry Review delivers a compilation of poems of such craft and mastery that leaves me nearly speechless and most assuredly breathless. Continue reading “Southern Poetry Review – 2013”
We Come Elemental is Tamiko Beyer’s first full-length book; her chapbook bough breaks was published by Meritage Press in 2011. While bough breaks focused primarily on “domestic” concepts (gender, sexuality, motherhood, adoption), We Come Elemental draws from the entire planet for its topics. Water comprises the framework by which these disparate subjects are connected, just as water serves to connect all life on Earth. Continue reading “We Come Elemental”
While the title of Gail Martin’s second collection of poetry, Begin Empty-Handed, calls to mind a state of lack, it also implies a readiness to be filled, an openness to whatever might come to hand. This tension between remaining unburdened and delightfully accepting whatever turns up runs throughout Martin’s poems, as they both critique and catalog the world through the eyes of a therapist, daughter, wife, and mother. Winner of the 2013 Perugia Press Prize, Begin Empty-Handed crackles with wit and humor even as it considers loss and questions of responsibility in poems that clip along with intensity. Continue reading “Begin Empty-Handed”
In her previous memoir, Miss New York Has Everything, Lori Jakiela—an adopted only child—wrote about leaving her childhood home in Pennsylvania to work as an international flight attendant based in New York City, hoping to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming a writer. Jakiela, who directs the writing program at The University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg and teaches in the MFA in Creative Writing program at Chatham University, writes here about the next phase of her life, after her father’s death and leaving New York City, her job, and her boyfriend to return to Pittsburgh and care for her ailing mother. Continue reading “The Bridge to Take When Things Get Serious”
In her debut collection, The Palace of Contemplating Departure, Brynn Saito carries uncertainties and measures them out against the known and the unknown. Saito finds an enthralling voice for complex emotions about race, war, identity, scars, ghosts, family, and suffering. Her undeniable cultural identity is woven through the poems. Her parents are Japanese American and Korean American; their stories, of life during a time when being Asian was a liability in America, are retold here, while Saito’s own stories predominate throughout. She lets us get to know her in an equivocal way and then leaves us with a light hold of attachment and a fierce curiosity about meaning and significance. Continue reading “The Palace of Contemplating Departure”
Latasha Diggs is a writer you have to experience, not read. Twerk isn’t a book to toss into the back seat of your car “for later” or a read-a-poem-here-and-there collection. With each verse, she sparks your curiosity and lures you deeper and deeper with her unique craft. Continue reading “Twerk”
Ray Ragosta’s refreshing style of writing in A Motive for Disappearance prominently features sparse lines in what are typically short poems. Upon a second read-through of this book, a few lines from two of the pieces jumped out at me as Ragosta’s built-in description of his own work: “Their tales, a perfect infection of memory” and Continue reading “A Motive for Disappearance”
What is home? Darcy Lipp-Acord asks. Is it in the prairies of South Dakota where she grew up? Or amidst the mountains of Montana where she attended college? Where does one truly ever belong? What is place? Lipp-Acord explores these and other timeless themes in Circling Back Home: A Plainswoman’s Journey. In a total of thirteen essays, written over ten years, Lipp-Acord wraps the reader up in the intimacy of her marital home, her childhood home, her husband’s ranch, and the lives of her children. Lipp-Acord grew up in Timber Lake, South Dakota, on a farm where three generations of her family have lived. She now lives on a ranch near the border of Montana and Wyoming with her husband, Shawn, and their six children. Continue reading “Circling Back Home”
Coming Events promulgates a non-linear reading practice. The form and content of these “collected writings” challengingly swerve back and forth between critical essay, poetry, and personal essay. When considered as a whole, the book’s tendency toward a deliberative structure of concentricity enchants, as individual pieces loop back on each other in ellipsoidal, interchanging depths of reading. The slow reader, returning again and again to the book’s pages, is justly rewarded against the too-eager skimmer looking for quick buzz-words and easily identifiable markers. Continue reading “Coming Events (Collected Writings)”
Flesh-eating hagfish, blue bejeweled garages, animated art, and a moveable geography. Dark March: Stories for When the Rest of the World is Asleep is filled with stories where sandspits are sentient, seagulls are cutthroat, and character conscientiousness is invariably fleeting. These hyperbole-infused short stories infuse ordinary settings with magic and imagination—they give just enough detail to be anchored in a possible universe but contain enough impossibility to buoy the characters above the predictable. Colin Fleming’s collection is pithy and witty, and manages to walk an interesting line between absurd existentialism, surrealist fantasy, and magical realism. Continue reading “Dark March”
The characters in A. Igoni Barrett’s short story collection, Love Is Power or Something Like That, are linked to each other within the chaos and contrasts of Lagos, Nigeria in a nation cycling since the end of colonialism between democracy and dictatorship, reform and intractable corruption. They are dreamers and strivers who sometimes literally tumble into potholes of bad luck while living out the axiom that “no good deed goes unpunished.” The instinct to love is also part of the chain: a father struggling to save a sick infant daughter; a son trying to nourish a drunk, abusive mother; grandmothers who try to nurture neglected grandchildren; two feuding old women abandoned by long departed children who must rely on each other for mutual aid; cousins unable to resist an illicit attraction; a wife trying to placate a husband’s raging despair. Continue reading “Love Is Power or Something Like That”
Just when you thought it was safe to move about the cabin, Jerry Stahl has unleashed a new novel. To the uninitiated, Happy Mutant Baby Pills has no exact genre except for Stahl himself. Continue reading “Happy Mutant Baby Pills”
Geoffrey G. O’Brien’s People on Sunday took me a long time to finish because his poems thrilled me so much. Many pieces in People on Sunday demand an immediate reread upon completing the final lines. Often O’Brien tucks clues, hints, and foreshadowing into his poems. These hints blossom with much more depth and meaning during the second (or third and sometimes fourth) read. My fingers could hardly turn the pages backward fast enough to satisfy my urge to devour some of these poems again. Continue reading “People on Sunday”
Microcosm Publishing’s Why We Drive: The Past, Present, and Future of Automobiles in America is an image-rich examination of the dominance of car culture in the United States. “I am an advocate for car-free cities, car-free city sections, and car-free living,” author/illustrator Andy Singer states within the first few introductory pages. The text proceeds from there, detailing the disadvantages of arranging urban and suburban life around cars rather than people. This is followed by a succinct history of highway politics in the United States, and Singer concludes with a call to action, offering suggestions for individuals who wish to live car-free and strategies for funneling more money into public transportation at the state level. Continue reading “Why We Drive”
Spittoon is happy to announce their “best of” winners for 2013. For more information about the authors, and to read their selected pieces, click here.
Fiction
Patrick Kelling, “How to Teach Disgorgement”
Poetry
Theresa Sotto, “hippocampus–for etching and retrieving long-term memories”
Creative Nonfiction
Irene Turner, “The Lessons”
Sundress Publications is looking to hire two interns, to start immediately. The two options are an editorial intern (to work with the Flaming Giblet Press imprint) or a web development intern (Sundress Publications). To find out more information and to apply, please click here.
Deltona High School’s new online literary arts magazine, Howl, is an after-school organization staffed by students and advised by English teacher Dylan Emerick-Brown. The goal of Howl is two-fold: 1) to teach high school students how to write creatively and clearly in their own voices; analyze, evaluate, and edit others’ work; learn about the writing/editing field as a career option; and overall, expand their minds to the world outside of Deltona and 2) to provide the world with quality selections of literature from which to read and learn.
Deltona High School students read, edit, and publish poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and art from submissions gained either from other Deltona High students or from international submissions that come in from across the globe, giving these students real-time, real-world insight into the world in which they live. They also have partnered with Other Press, Chicago Review Press, and other publishers to read advanced copies of books and write real book reviews. Designers in the class have created website content, web banners, t-shirt designs, and more all while learning about the process of graphic designing as part of a staff from beginning to end. Additionally, the students get to interview acclaimed writers and publishers from around the world either via Skype (face-to-face, so to speak) or email. So far, our students have interviewed or are currently slated to interview:
Robert Pinsky – former US Poet Laureate
Diane McWhorter – Pulitzer Prize winner in fiction
Elizabeth Strout – Pulitzer Prize winner in fiction
Paul Harding – Pulitzer Prize winner in fiction
Lois Lowry – author of The Giver
Lauren Kate – author of The Fallen series
David Levithan – author of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
John Maguire – author of Wicked
John Duff – Vice President and Editor for Perigee Books, a division of Penguin Books
Barbara Epler – Editor-in-Chief of New Directions
Yuval Taylor – Editor for the Chicago Review Press
The staff of Howl does everything that a professional literary magazine does, and then some. The experience they gain is valuable for continued success in the classroom as well as for future endeavors in the literary arts. Their passion and drive is what runs the website and new, innovative ideas are always spawning from our weekly meetings. The students look forward to setting new goals, expanding their minds, and contributing to the global literary conversation.
Broadsided has completed two poetry/art projects to share:
#1: The Haiku Year-in-Review (HYIR 2013) features four haiku by Beth Feldman Brandt, Michael Rutledge Riley, Catherine R. Cryan, and Ron Levitsky selected by popular vote to illustrate the seasonal broadside art by Caleb Brown.
#2: Responses to Typhoon Haiyan for which three artists shared work, then writers submitted poems and short prose. Now, three original collaborations are available for download.
Collaborators’ Q&A are also published on the site along with their work.
All of Broadsided’s collaborative art and poetry posters are available for free download and are meant to be freely shared and posted.
Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their October Family Matters competition. This competition is held twice a year and is open to all writers for stories about family of all configurations. The next Family Matters competition will take place in March. Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.
First place: Barbara Ganley, of Weybridge, VT, wins $1500 for “Language Lessons.” Her story will be published in the November 2014 issue of Glimmer Train Stories. This is her first print publication! [Photo credit: William Roper]
Second place: Natalie Teal McAllister, of Overland Park, KS, wins $500 for “That Old Mess.”
Third place: Michael Rosenbaum, of Austin, TX, wins $300 for “Daily Double.”
A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.
Deadline soon approaching! 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.
The Iowa Review, the literary magazine at the University of Iowa, received and NEA Art Works grant for a recommended $15,000 to support the publication of creative writing by U.S. military veterans.
The funding will allow The Iowa Review to expand the reach of its Jeff Sharlet Memorial Award for Veterans, a contest sponsored by the family of Vietnam War veteran and antiwar writer and activist Jeff Sharlet. The Iowa Review held its first veterans’ writing contest in 2012, with winners published in its spring 2013 issue. NEA funding will be used to publicize the contest among possible entrants, to allow for an expanded number of prizes to be awarded, and to distribute the work of the winners widely, both in print and on a website gallery.
The next contest deadline will be May 15, 2014. Anthony Swofford, author of Jarhead, will be the final judge. The contest is open to U.S. military veterans and active duty personnel writing in any genre and about any subject matter.
“With involvement in wars such a major part of our story as Americans, and most recently with our country having been at war continuously for the past 12 years, there are veterans from previous and current conflicts who have returned and are wanting to share and process their experiences,” says Lynne Nugent, managing editor of The Iowa Review. “We believe the contribution of a literary magazine can be to provide a point of connection between those who want to explore their experience through the creative use of language and those who want to learn about it and understand it in the deep way that literature can provide.”
In a two-part blog post interview, Blood Lotus Editor Stacia M. Fleegal talks with Laura Madeline Wiseman, editor of Women Write Resistance: Poets Resist Gender Violence, an anthology in which over 100 women American poets “intervene in the ways gender violence is perceived in American culture” and includes an introduction that “frames the intellectual work behind the building of the anthology by describing how poets break silence, disrupt narratives, and use strategic anger to resist for change.” Fleegal and Wiseman discuss poet-activists whose work influenced Wiseman, the process of publishing an anthology with a small press, the diversity of the authors in WWR, and the impact of such publications as being antagonizing or invigorating. In addition to this interview, Wiseman provides over two dozen videos of poets reading works from the collection.
#Litrostory is a collective story told on Twitter by as many writers as possible.
The newest #Litrostory started Friday 20th December and closes at midnight on Monday 6th January 2014. The collective story will then be published on Litro.
#Litrostory will be kicked off by author Wiley Cash, whose new gripping novel This Dark Road to Mercy, Transworld Books, is out in January 2014 and the third title in the Litro Book Club.
How it works:
• Litro Book Club novelist Wiley Cash@WileyCash will write the first line of a brand new story on Friday afternoon on Twitter.
• To take part, you just have to add the #Litrostory. Check out the Twitter hashtag #nextline to read the story so far, and add your line, using the same hashtag at the end. You’ll have to be quick, or someone else might get there first!
• You can take the story in any direction you want to, but remember that the aim is to end up with something readable, so please consider the next contributor before going too crazy.
• You can add as many lines as you want to the story, but not consecutively. Please wait for someone else to add the #Litrostory before you add again.
• You can see the compiled story as it goes along on the Litro site – Litro editors will be updating a page with the story as it stands daily.
The most unique review feature on the web, Screen Reading is a regular column of reviews of current online literary magazines. This month, Reviewer Kirstin McIlvenna takes a look at Ascent, Blue Lyra Review, Chagrin River Review, Compose, and Lines + Stars. Brief but critical, these reviews shine the light on great online reading. NewPages: Good Reading Starts Here!
A subscription to Fact-Simile’s Poetry Trading Cards is a great gift idea that arrives once each month to the lucky recipient. I’m a huge fan of these cards (you might even say obsessed!). They’re printing on recycled cardboard (though come in a sturdy plastic sleeve) and are modeled after the Topps baseball cards from the 30s, with a photo of the poet on the front, and the poem on the back. Right now, you can subscribe for only $10+s/h for 2014, with past cards available on the web site for 99-cents each. Fun, inexpensive, year-long gift giving of poetry. What could be better?
Meaty Gonzales writes in this “bones” issue of Meat for Tea: “This issue will get under your skin and cut through the fat to get to the very bone. Bones. To get to the bare-boned truth, to reveal the skeletons in your closet, to sip a healing broth, bones evoke many conflicting emotions and memories . . .”
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The 2013 issue of The Idaho Review features Bill Carmen’s “The Earialist” which is a 5×7 acrylic on copper made in 2010. It’s slightly creepy, unsettling, but oh-so-interesting to look at!
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Read this about the latest Tin House cover: “This issue’s cover art, Yellow Book, is about connections forged through books. [The artist, Sophie Blackall, says] ‘So many of the missed connections I read [on Craigslist] mention books, ‘You were on the F train, reading As I Lay Dying . . .’ but lots of us have also found friends and lovers through books. The only thing better than a beloved book is a book shared with a beloved.'”
The editor’s note in the latest issue of North Dakota Quarterly starts, “For the first time in 31 years, our editor Robert Lewis no longer heads our efforts. On August 26, 2013, Bob passed away, leaving behind a remarkable legacy. . . It was Bob’s passions and interests that drove NDQ, and they were many . . . One of his most endearing traits was his sense of humor, which was dry, dry, dry. . . We still feel his presence. In this limited space, it’s impossible to give a sense of such a rich and complex man. We are planning a special tribute issue to him which should be out in summer 2014.”
Sharon Carson is the Interim Editor, and the issue features writing from Dana Salvador, Brad McDuffie, Ted Kooser, Holly Day, Patricia Hooper, Brian Maxwell, Anne Valley-Fox, Fred Cardin, Sharon Chmielarz, Gregory Gagnon, and more.
In the latest issue of Western American Literature, Fall 2013, Editor Melody Graulich writes her last editor’s note. On July 1, 2013 Utah State University ended all funding for the magazine. The magazine will find a new home with new editors at the University of Nebraska Press, “a very natural home for our journal,” she writes. Tom Lynch will take over as the new editor, taking into effect some of the decisions Graulich has already made for the upcoming issues.
“Since 1979, the Western Literature Association has been my professional and emotional safety net and home base,” writes Graulich. “You all are the most supportive, generous, smart, unpretentious, and fun collection of friends I could ever have. I have loved editing our journal . . . I’ll be around WLA for a few more years (at least), but for now, I’m glad to be able to hand WAL off into Tom’s more-than-capable hands.”
Ploughshares‘s latest issue features the winners of the Emerging Writer’s Contest:
Fiction Winner
Memory Blake Peebles: “The Sugar Bowl”
Nonfiction Winner
Mary Winsor: “Rock-a-bye, Ute”
Poetry Winner
Josephine Yu: “Never Trust a Poem that Begins with a Dream”
“Narcissist Revises Tidal Theory”
You can read all of these pieces as well as info about the authors in the winter 2013 issue.
The latest issue of The Kenyon Review marks its 75th anniversary, celebrating with “Ellen Priest’s brush strokes swooshing colors across the cover” and “the table of contents adazzle with talented authors, old friends and new.” But, as David H. Lynn points out in the editor’s note, “There is much to celebrate beyond mere longevity.” As with most publications, there have been many ups and downs. “Thanks to some creative leadership by trustees of Kenyon College and later by the newly formed trustees of The Kenyon Review,” Lynn writes, “our finances today are more stable—are truly secure—in a way that John Crow Ransom might only have dreamed.”
In honor of Ransom, the journal plans to present “a contemporary reimagining of one of his boldest editorial initiatives: the Kenyon Review Credos. In the early 1950s some of the most celebrated public intellectuals of the day, among them Northrop Frye, William Empson, and Leslie Fiedler, contributed to The Kenyon (as it was known) their personal credos, not confessing spiritual faith so much as the core of their professional philosophies and aspirations. These essays, still fascinating, will be reprised in KROnline in coming months.”
They have also asked 16 active writers in the creative arts to offer their own “latter-day credos.” Four will appear in print and twelve online. This issue features that of Carl Phillips. This issue also features Katharine Weber, Heather Monley, Wes Holtermann, Clarke Clayton, Amit Majmudar, Charles Baxter, Joyce Carol Oates, Roger Rosenblatt, John Kinsella, and more.
RAIN TAXI Review of Books is holding its annual benefit auction until December 18. You’ll find an eBay auction filled with great literary presents for yourself or (perfectly timed with the holidays) to give to someone else. There are signed books, rare items, and more! This is a great way to support Rain Taxi – a nonprofit publication – and get great collectibles for yourself or others.
From December 12 – 22 the Broadsided polls are open! Decide which of the haiku finalists their editoral staff has chosen will be paired with Caleb Brown’s art in January. Broadsided has posted Caleb Brown’s art for the chosen events of spring, summer, fall and winter of 2013 alongside the finalists. Now they need your editorial input! Voting is free, easy, and fun… you can even see how the polls stand once you’ve weighed in.
ALSO, this is the last weekend for you to submit writing for Broadsided’s Responses feature. Three artists have shared work responding to Typhoon Haiyan. Broadsided ask you to widen the conversation by submitting poems and short prose. They will publish selected collaborations as a “Responses” feature. Deadline: December 15. Help show how art and poetry can offer solidarity, hope and vision.
Above the lintel of a passageway in Dublin’s Kilmainham Gaol is a quote from Dante that reads: “Abandon all hope all ye who enter here . . .” The struggle for Irish independence mirrors this bleakness, but that struggle also corresponded to a pantheon of literature that no occupation could suppress. In this issue of The Stinging Fly, a literary journal based in Dublin, the Irish spirit is robust enough to signal outward. Not only did the editors cull a magnificent, relentlessly balanced collection of short narratives, they did so through translation. Voices from Brazil, Morocco, Belgium, Italy, China, Rwanda, Poland, Ukraine, Greece, The Netherlands, Spain, Austria and Finland come through translated from their native tongues into a worldwide map of disciplined craft. Continue reading “The Stinging Fly – Summer 2013”
This “Wild” issue of Tin House is special in that it contains both cover art and a feature from Matt Kish’s illustrated version of Conrad’s classic Heart of Darkness. As usual, Tin House features great work from poets, fiction writers, essayists, and reviewers. It has everything from essays on Vegas brothels or snakes to a “Readable Feast” that ends with a recipe for barnacles. Fair warning though, with a cover this visually stunning, you may never be able to actually open it. Continue reading “Tin House – Fall 2013”
Compose has a wide variety of writing to enjoy from fiction, to nonfiction, to poetry, to a couple of features. The artists conjure up images of a widow-bearing tequila bottle that sits on the kitchen table, mermaids that “swim the high school pool,” mussels and clams and a bonfire, “Lint from your best-loved old jumper / sprinkled with grains from your childhood / sandbox,” and 26 tea lights in memory of those lost in the Sandy Hook shooting. Continue reading “Compose – Fall 2013”
This issue of Blue Lyra Review has a special theme: “Stories We’d Rather Not Tell.” This, of course, is a little contradictory considering if the authors didn’t want to tell the stories, they wouldn’t submit. But it’s intriguing nonetheless, and I dove right in. I was instantly drawn in to the nonfiction section, eager to hear those stories first, and I wasn’t disappointed. Continue reading “Blue Lyra Review – October 2013”
Chagrin River Review, now in its third issue, publishes fiction and poetry, leaning toward the more traditional styles, nothing extremely experimental or flashy, just good writing. Continue reading “Chagrin River Review – Fall 2013”
This issue of Lines + Stars is the perfect introduction to winter, as in some poems, the snow has already fallen and is already deep, and in others, it has only just begun. Many of the pieces are reminiscent of the holidays, with the sounds, smells, and tastes of the seasons. They all have vivid imagery that brings the poetry to life. See, for example, these lines from Dan Ferrara: “dancing red from ice and vodka, / juggling knives and strangling accordions.” And: Continue reading “Lines + Stars – Fall 2013”
With a url such as “readthebestwriting.com,” Ascent offers up some high expectations. While I’m not certain how to qualify any writing as “the best,” there is no argument that Ascent really does publish quality writing. Continue reading “Ascent – Oct/Nov 2013”
Each issue of 32 Poems is an intimate encounter that is made the perfect size with clever cover art that makes me want to carry it around everywhere. This issue of 32 Poems features cover art from Elliot Walker as well as a humorous back cover titled “32 Things We Really Should Apologize For” by Aaron Alford and Liz Anderson Alford. Literally, this issue of 32 Poems is a must read from front to back. Continue reading “32 Poems – Spring/Summer 2013”
Jelly Bucket is the literary magazine of the Bluegrass Writers Studio at Eastern Kentucky University. As previous reviewers have noted, this magazine welcomes a broad diversity of work in fiction, nonfiction, interviews, poetry (including translation), and art. Graphic design is bright and lively without sacrificing readability. Big pages and proportionally ample margins present writers and artists well. The quality of the work is a bit uneven, but overall, standards are high and there are some really fine works. Continue reading “Jelly Bucket – 2013”
Harvest time is my favorite time of year, so I was naturally drawn to this “Harvest” issue of Kindred. From the photographs to the stories and poems to the how-to pieces in this issue, Kindred not only brings the harvest season to life on the page, but also accomplishes its goals of bringing the sense of home and togetherness, fusing two themes of harvest and community. Continue reading “Kindred – Fall 2013”
In the most recent issue of New Ohio Review (NOR), the editors feature a series of “Translation Cruxes,” inspiring meditations on the method by which we are able to access voices from afar. The trick, of course, is that the journal is full of translations—maybe not in the nature of the subjunctive, but rather in the way feelings are translated. Continue reading “New Ohio Review – Fall 2013”
If surrealism is a vehicle for expressing the unsaid, then The Southeast Review smartly packages its fiction in a way that says a great deal through a scrim of restraint. In this way, the magazine honors the Southern vernacular tradition of saying something poignant innocuously. Continue reading “The Southeast Review – 2013”
This cover of The Missouri Review‘s Fall 2013 issue is a photo by Beth Hoeckel titled “Tip Toe.” This is a special “transcendence” issue, featuring Nick Arvin, Claudia Emerson, Jane Gillette, Jason Koo, Dorothea Lasky, and more.
In general, I just love The Common‘s cover designs; they always feature a common object. And just as they aim to “find the extraordinary in the common” for their writing, they follow the same example with their covers. It just makes sense.
And speaking of covers that just make sense, check out the recent cover of Iron Horse Literary Review. Does it really need any explanation? The artwork is metal sculptures located at Landmark Bank, N.A. in Kingston, Oklahoma, constructed and designed by Doug Owen.
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Each year, Atlanta Review hosts a poetry competition in which the grand prize winner earns $1,000. For 2013, it goes to Dane Cervine. The Fall/Winter 2013 issue features his poetry as well as that of the other winners.
Poetry 2013
International Publication Prizes
Judith Barrington
Susan Browne
Lucas Carpenter
Susan Cohen
Patricia Davis
Keith Eisner
Rose Gottlieb
Pauletta Hansel
Margaret Hoehn
Carol Stevens Kner
Robert Koban
Lisa C. Krueger
Steve Lautermilch
Roy Mash
Ellen Peckham
Eve Powers
Caroline Sposto
Jeanne Wagner
Scott Williamson
James K. Zimmerman
To view the winners of the International Merit Awards, go to Atlanta Review‘s website.
In the editor’s note to the “Cry Baby” issue of The Literary Review, Minna Proctor writes about how she has always had a thick skin: “It was a philosophical position: crying was for babies. Crying made you weak. My calculated clear-eyed aspiration was to be strong. And so I was doctrinaire, even a little pathological, about not crying.” She goes on to say that putting out that front means that everyone assumes you are okay, and nobody comes in to help. She writes that she was ambivalent about the theme, but the titled was “accidentally included in [the] roster two years about by an intern, and before [she] had the chance to erase it, there was a ticker-tape swell of enthusiasm from the rest of the editorial staff,” that she let it stand. And now, the issue embodies that ambivalence: “Like a love song that calls you names because you are a terrible, inexperienced, transparently manipulative cry-er, but loves you anyway.”
The issue features writing from Jody Azzouni, Elizabeth Cantwell, Cynthia Cruz, Dan Gutstein, Heather Hartley, David Luoma, Carrie Messenger, Jerry Whitus, Alex Cigale, Heather Higle, H.L. Hix, and more.
So to Speak‘s latest issue features the winners of the Fall 2013 Fiction Contest, judged by Asali Solomon. Taking first place is Rebecca McKanna’s “Watch Out for Lions,” and Tamar Altebarmakian takes the honorable mention with “Sit Still and I’ll Weave.”
About McKanna’s piece, Solomon writes, “There’s not a false moment in this story of Delia, a middle schooler who must wrestle with changes in her body win the absence of the mother who abandoned her and her father. . . . I was also thrilled by the surprising but emotionally authentic climax of the story. I think, however, what I loved best about this story was McKanna’s incorporation of sinister background detail, which gives the story unusual texture.”
And Solomon writes that Altebarmakian’s piece “is fresh in its exploration of heritage, history, generation gaps, and genocide. Altebarmakian’s matte-of-fact and lucid prose style and the deadpan humor of the story work extremely well with the tragic and dramatic subject matter.”
The issue also features nonfiction by Jane Eaton Hamilton and Stephanie Dickinson and poetry by Alice Notley, Jenifer Browne Lawrence, Rosebud Ben-Oni, Danielle Pafunda, Laura Davis, and more.
Arcadia‘s “The Post-Traumatic Issue” is guest-edited by Benjamin Reed, the magazine’s first guest editor. He writes, “I didn’t choose ‘The Post-Traumatic’ as the theme for this issue of Arcadia in order to navigate the reader to some topical tropic, some tangential island just off the known continent of literature. I did not ask writers to submit stories of aftermath, loss, and recovery in order to explore the cognitive and literary backwaters of how life becomes art, or vice versa, but rather to draw the reader even closer to the art of defragmentation, which is always at the very center of the many means and motives at play when we sit down to write.”
For the issue, Reed selected work by Joe Amaral, Erika Anderson, Martin Barkley, Catherine Campbell, Tanya Chernov, Aubrey Edwards, Tessa Fontaine, Lindsay Illich, John Liles, Peter Mason, Katherine Menjivar, Don Peteroy, Amber Rambharose, Jordan Rossen, Joe Scott, Hali Fuailelagi Sofala, Dan Szymczak, and Bradford Tice.
The latest issue of Rattle features the winner and finalists of the Rattle Poetry Prize. Robert Ascalon of Seattle, WA took the prize for “The Fire This Time’ and was awarded $5,000. The editors write, “With blazing language and a pounding rhythm, ‘The Fire This Time’ poses hard questions—and leaves us longing for answers.”
Winner
Roberto Ascalon
Finalists
Chanel Brenner
Rebecca Gayle Howell
Courtney Kampa
Stephen Kampa
Bea Opengart
Michelle Ornat
Jack Powers
Danez Smith
Patricia Smith
Wendy Videlock
