NewPages Blog

The Asian American Literary Review, Fall 2011 is a special issue commemorating the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11. It includes a DVD: “Ten Years Later: Asian American Performers Reflect on 9/11.” A full table of contents is available on the magazine’s website.

The Fall 2011 issue of Prairie Schooner welcomes Kwame Dawes as the new editor in chief. Dawes joins the University of Nebraska as Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner and Chancellor’s Professor of English.

A few new literary postcard ventures have started up recently – not a new concept, and one The Alternative Press from the 70’s used effectively as part of their literary activism. I’m a big fan of ‘ephemera’ lit – that “publication” that doesn’t fit as neatly into the standards of print-cycle magazine, but has unique print qualities that make it attractive. For me, postcards definitely qualify.

Of the couple I’ve seen come in so far, I have to say I haven’t been overly-impressed with the print quality. This is tough, since it seems in recent years, the post office has taken to stamping, inking, and stickering more and more space on the already size-limited real estate available to the sender. This creates problems when the text meant to be that card’s installment of the journal ends up inked over and unreadable. While the stickers can usually be peeled off, not all post offices use these, so there may be ink at the top and the bottom of the card, making fairly good-sized chunks of the text unreadable.

As if this wasn’t enough, there also seems to be a growing trend in postcards getting a layer of the cardstock ripped off as they go through some sort of roller system. This is usually on the text side of the card and so may also end up ripping off the layer with text on it or causing damage to the art front of the card. Non-glossy cards (the better environmental choice) often come through looking as though a Matchbox car did a peel out on the art side, with black smudges and wear spots, and the text side with ink stamps and tears across the text. I’m certainly not expecting these cards to come through the post in a pristine state; if fact, these markings can become a part of the art and text itself, adding to the character of these publications.

In all, I love the idea of literary postcards. I participate each year in the August Poetry Postcard Festival, and just hope that other participants are aware of how the poems are coming through at their final destination (I’ve received blank postcards, where it looks like someone put their poem on with tape or a sticker, and the postal sorting machines have ripped it off completely). While I have a great sense appreciation for the concept, the execution is sometimes a disappointment. [Pictured: Abe’s Penny Volume 3.2 – can’t tell who the artist is or title because that information was inked over by the post office stamp on the reverse side, whereas the art side got black and orange ink stamps and a brown smudge. To their credit, Abe’s Penny does post photo images of the content online, often inked and torn as well, but when I tried to find this particular card, the image online was different than the one I received.]

An alternative to actually receiving the individual cards sent in the mail is something like Tuesday: An Art Project, whose set of postcards come wrapped in a paper package with even more poems and information about the publication itself. This is a fun way to get the cards, read them, and then share them with others. Since only one poem or artwork featured on the picture side of the card, they are less likely to be damaged. They are also then each a piece suitable for framing vs. postcards that are art on one side and an author’s writing on the other. The quality of the paper and the letterpress printing and photo printing (rather than simple photocopies) also assure that these will be more likely to survive the postal gamut unscathed.

I’m all for postcard literature. With all our digital access, there’s still something fun and special about getting “real mail.” Each time I receive postcard lit, I read it – usually immediately, and then again later. It’s not the longer, sustained reading I most enjoy, but I do appreciate getting jolts of lit in my day. Just enough to remind me to take a deep breath and savor the moment.

Some postcard journals that I’m aware of:

Abe’s Penny
Hoot Review (forthcoming)
The Postcard Press
Ripples

If you know of or are a part of others, please let me know.

Note: If you don’t read all of this, read this much – Please buy a copy of this book and donate it to your local library and/or public school library. Kids need access to books like this to know they are not alone. (This is how I’d planned to end this post, but since not all readers will make it that far, I felt the need to start with it.)

Dear Bully, edited by Megan Kelley Hall and Carrie Jones, is a collection of seventy stories from young adult authors recalling their own childhood experiences with bullying. The perspectives vary, from being an observer who does nothing to stop the incidents, to being the victim – most often feeling helpless, hopeless, but also angry and acting out – to being the perpetrator, a point of view least often explored, and, though with no means to excuse it, often revealing as much hopelessness and helplessness as the victims themselves.

With school gearing up, this book would make a incredible addition to any classroom – from middle school right on through college. This kind of text provides an extremely accessible approach to starting discussions about bullying. Without being preachy or mandating step-by-steps, these stories open the door to talking about what it’s like to be bullied and why it matters to have these conversations now. Who better to provide this to young adults but the young adult authors themselves, many of whose works may already be on the bookshelves in the classroom.

The book is divided into sections: Dear Bully; Just Kidding; Survival; Regret; Thank You Friends; Insight; Speak; Write It; and It Gets Better. The most heart wrenching for me was the Dear Bully section, in which authors write letters to the bullies of their pasts. All are from the perspective of the adult looking back, and these stories in particular seem to hit the strongest chord of showing just how long-lasting negative memories of bullying can be. For anyone who says, “It’s just kids being kids” and “They’ll get over it” – this section is for you.

There are also some fun and uplifting works – where friends stand by one another and stop their hurtful behavior, where the victim finds resolve and perseveres – and not just in adulthood, but then, there, in that moment of childhood. And of course, many, many of the stories show that, despite the bullying, despite feeling as a child that the world was going to end, all of these adults either say directly in their stories or show simply by their being included in this volume, that life does go on and there is more to life than just surviving. Of course, the best stories are the ones where the victims do see their bullies in adulthood and find that those ogres are just regular people – no longer larger than life, no longer commanding control of their universe. And the victims see that they themselves may actually have come out for the better in their lives. Maybe a bit of “vindication” – self-satisfying, but not without its truth.

This collection offers a delightful variety of writing styles – from the epistolary to the narrative – including diary entries, loads of character sketches (of course) and effective dialogue – both external and internal. There are song lyrics by Jessica Brody (with a link to hear the song online), an A-Z narrative (not quite an acrostic) by Laura Kasischke, a comic with story by Cecil Castellucci and illustrated by Lise Bernier, and another of my favorites, Sara Bennett Wealer writing to herself as a young girl with “stuff I wish someone would have told me when I was sixteen.” This should be required reading of ALL young girls (not to mention some adults).

The book includes two helpful sections: “Resources for Teens” and “Resources for Educators and Parents.” Dear Bully has a website that at the moment doesn’t have a whole lot to offer, mostly just media PR on the book, and a Facebook page where users post insightful, supportive, and helpful comments on bullying – what states and schools are doing, as well as personal commentary. A lot more going on here with 800+ likes.

With incidents of bullying – and the most insidious of all: cyberbullying – on the rise, this book comes into and can help start the conversation at the most opportune time. Dear Bully is for everyone who has grown up in this culture where bullying takes place every day, not just in the schools, but in our streets, in our homes, our place of work (and globally). Dear Bully unveils the truth of who we are as a community of people, and it’s not pretty. But until we recognize this, stop keeping it silent, and address it head-on, we’re doomed to continue forcing young people to have to “survive” their childhoods. It’s time to be the grown-ups we wish had stepped in to help us when we were young.

The Creative Resistance Fund is intended for activists and culture workers in situations of distress as a result of their professional work. Distress situations may include verbal threats, imprisonment or legal persecution, violent attack, professional or social exclusion, or harassment.

The Creative Resistance Fund provides small distress grants to people in danger due to their use of creativity to fight injustice. The fund may be used to evacuate a dangerous situation; to cover living expenses while weighing long-term options for safety; or to act on a strategic opportunity to affect social change.

Now celebrating its 31st year in print, The Chattahoochee Review is under all new editorship: Editor Anna Schachner, Managing Editor Lydia Ship, Fiction Editor Andy Rogers, Nonfiction Editor Louise McKinney, Poetry Editor Michael Diebert; Art Editor Claire Paul, and Social Media Editor Michael Rowley.

Managing Editor Lydia Ship writes: “Although our roots are in the South and we publish important writers such as William Gay, George Singleton, and Natasha Trethewey, we also publish writers from other regions of the U.S. and other countries such as Denmark, Mexico, Romania, and England. We are committed to exploring literature in translation and to writers who transgress borders, cultural and otherwise. While the Review features poetry, fiction, nonfiction, interviews, reviews, and occasional graphic work, we are also open to nontraditional forms. We value established writers but take great pride in discovering new voices. Work from The Chattahoochee Review is regularly featured in nationally published anthologies and books.”

The Chattahoochee Review is currently seeking poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for a special issue on Southern Literature to be published in late 2011, with a particular interested in writing that:

1. Challenges the traditional definition of “Southern”
2. Addresses the concerns of ethnicity in the South
3. Uses humor with originality and intelligence
4. Blends the gothic with other literary modes
5. Defies geography and the use of the vernacular as the only conditions of Southern identity

Alimentum: The Literature of Food offers Eat & Greet Food Tours – visiting cafes, bakeries, sample foods in restaurants, and visit markets. Registration is required.

NASHVILLE
September 17th, 2011
Nolensville Pike
Tour runs from 9:30 am till 4 pm. Includes cafes of Istanbul to the authentic bakeries of Iraq, restaurant specialties: Ethiopian injera, Turkish stuffed grape leaves, Kurdish flatbread, Thai-style curry, authentic Mexican tacos, and learn from local market owners and restaurateurs about their native cuisine, and shop ethnic markets.

Tour Hosts: Alimentum Publisher Paulette Licitra & PR Director Annakate Tefft

Upcoming tours:

NASHVILLE October 22, 2011
Middle Tennessee Farm Tour
Tour Hosts Alimentum Publisher Paulette Licitra & PR Director Annakate Tefft

NYC November 5th, 2011
Bensonhurst-Gravesend Brooklyn – Southern Italian Cusiine & Culture
Tour Hosts Alimentum Publisher Paulette Licitra & Editor Esther Cohen

NYC November 6th, 2011
Elmhurst, Queens – Thai Cuisine & Culture
Tour Hosts Alimentum Publisher Paulette Licitra & Editor Esther Cohen

The National Museum of American History will commemorate the tenth anniversary with an exhibit of objects recovered from the three sites attacked on September 11, 2001 – “Bearing Witness to History: Remembrance and Reflection.” Photographs with commentary on each object are available online as well as text and audio stories from the collection curators. A separate page of educational resources is available for teachers as well as a blog discussing such related issues as whether to teach the events of 9/11 as history or current events.

Founded and edited by Jonathan Gray and Adam Green, The Public Domain Review was launched 1/1/11 to coincide with Public Domain Day celebrations around the world. The aspiration of The Public Domain Review is “to become a bounteous gateway into the whopping plenitude that is the public domain, helping our readers to explore this rich terrain by surfacing unusual and obscure works, and offering fresh reflections and unfamiliar angles on material which is more well known.”

Each week an invited contributor presents an interesting or curious work with a brief accompanying text giving context, commentary and criticism. Contributors include scholars, writers, critics, artists, archivists, scientists and librarians. is also now accepting open submissions.

In addition to the articles, The Public Domain Review has begun collections of public domain films, audio, images and texts.

The review is a project of the Open Knowledge Foundation (a not-for-profit organization) and is made possible by funding from the Shuttleworth Foundation.