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!
We are pleased to announce publication of Wordrunner eChapbooks‘ 44th issue, our Winter 2021 fiction echapbook: Arrest, Stories by Lazarus Trubman. A riveting and grimly comic collection, Arrest is the account of a Moldavian-Jewish dissident’s interrogation by the KGB, subsequent imprisonment in a labor camp, and a difficult emigration from the former Soviet Union with his family. The author’s life is the source for this fiction, narrated by a character named Trubman, a survivor scarred by his experience who finds a new home in the USA.
Extended Deadline: January 24, 2022
Extended deadlines for the Acacia Fiction Prize and Saguaro Poetry Prize! Each winner receives $1,200 and publication + 20 copies. Fiction Judge is Gabino Iglesias. Poetry Judge is Wendy Barnes. Send us your polished manuscripts. See our website for full details.
This winter’s new issue of The Shore marks our third full year of publication! In it is glistening poetry by Shannon K. Winston, Marlo Starr, Lynne Ellis, Kyle Vaughn, Eunice Lee, Lauren K. Carlson, Fatima Jafar, Taiwo Hassan, Stefanie Kirby, Charles Hensler, Simon Perchik, Stephen Ruffus, Kathryn Knight Sonntag, Amy Williams, Meghan Kemp-Gee, Matthew Murrey, David Dodd Lee, Lorrie Ness, Julia Schorr, Jake Bailey, Katie Kemple, C.C. Russell, Adam Deutsch, Nick Visconti, Andrea Krause, Sam Moe, Patrick Wright, Brittney Corrigan, and more. Find a full list of contributors at The Shore website.
Happy New Year from everyone at Press 53 and Prime Number Magazine! In our new issue you’ll find the judges for the 2022 Prime Number Magazine Awards for Poetry and Short Fiction; winners of our monthly 53-word Short Story Contest for October, November, and December; our 2021 nominees for the Pushcart Prize, poetry selected by LaWanda Walters; fiction selected by Michael Beadle; four authors highlighted in the Press 53 Spotlight; and the guest editors for Issue 227. More information at the Prime Number website.
The Fall/Winter 2022 issue of Concho River Review (36.2) opens with an Editor’s Note letting readers know they have online access to the full proceedings of the 25th Angelo State University Writers Conference in Honor of Elmer Kelton through the Angelo State University digital archives. This includes a transcript of the interview with Naomi Shihab Nye, the featured writer. Also in this issue is a tribute by Drew Geyer to writer and “Master Craftsman” Clay Reynolds, who passed away April 2022; he was a constant supporter and regular contributor to the publication since its first issue in 1987. Contributors to this issue are David Denny, Marlene Olin, David Pratt, Clay Reynolds, Jim Sanderson, C. D. Albin, Jeffrey Alfier, Tobi Alfier, Roy Bentley, Jonathan Bracker, Matthew Brennan, Camille Carter, Robert Cooperman, Johanna DeMay, Paul Dickey, E. P. Fisher, Stephen Gibson, Garret Keizer, Gunilla T. Kester, Gordon Kippola, Ulf Kirchdorfer, Nicholas Kriefall, Richard Krohn, Russell Rowland, Michael Salcman, John Schneider, George Searles, Matthew J. Spireng, Eric Fisher Stone, Elizabeth Sylvia, David Vancil, Ken Wheatcroft-Pardue, Francine Witte, Gladys Haunton, Melissa Musick, D. E. Steward, and Christopher Thornton.
The January issue is out now featuring Gale Acuff, Marianne Brems, Frand De Canio, George Freek, Judith O’Connell Hoyer, Todd Mercer, Maren O. Mitchell, Ronald Moran, Pesach Rotem, Gant Tarbard, Rodney Wood. Review of Laura Kolbe’s Little Pharma.
Driftwood Press‘s latest short stories “Wing Breaker” by Rachel Phillippo and “Spanish Soap Operas Killed My Mother” by Dailihana Alfonseca take you from brutal arctic traditions to the cultural traumas of migrants in America. This issue also collects some of the most insightful and harrowing poetry being written today; these poems delve into illness, motherhood, religious pressure, and much more. Wrapping up the issue are visual arts and comics by Io Weurich, Kelsey M. Evans, SAMO Collective, Jim Still-Pepper, Andrew White, Kimball Anderson, & Casey Jo Stohrer. Now at the Driftwood Press website.
Our Wintry Mix. Creative nonfiction by Bree Smith, Dhaea Kang, Christine Muller, Benedicte Grima, and Virginia Petrucci; flash by Eliot Li, Gabriella Souza, Cassie Burkhardt, and others; fiction by Amy Savage, Kim Magowan, and Maggie Hill; and poetry by Peter Grandbois, Kelley White, Brenda Taulbee, and more. Learn about this issue’s visual work at the Cleaver Magazine website.
This issue of Big Muddy includes work by Brian Baumgart, August B. Clark, Charlotte Covey, Mark Fabiano, Doris Ferleger, Spencer Fleury, Jennifer Gravely, Ian T. Hall, D.E. Kern, Bronson Lemer, Paul Luikart, Leah Mccormack, Matt Mcgowan, Luke Rolfes, Rosalia Scalia, Christine Stewart-Nuñez, Katie Strine, Rachel Tramonte, Carol Tyx, Christian Vazquez, Daniel Webre, Adam D. Weeks, Holden Tyler Wright, and Kirby Michael Wright.
Iron City Magazine celebrates the launch of Issue 6! This will be a virtual event featuring readings, art, and a live Q&A.
Join friends, contributors, and editors of Iron City Magazine: Creative Expressions By and For the Incarcerated as they present work from the latest issue.
Iron City Magazine highlights voices of often silenced writers and artists.
Iron City Magazine is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. This publication is made possible by the generous grant awards from the Ibis Foundation of Arizona and AZ Humanities.
Enjoy this virtual launch on Iron City Magazine’s YouTube channel.
Glass Mountain hosts their annual Boldface Writers’ Conference. Attendees are invited to enter the Robertson Prize after revising their work. Winners of this free contest (one per genre) receive $100 and publication in Glass Mountain. This year’s winners are included in Volume 27.
Winners “Four Yelp Reviews (After J. Bradley)” by Robin Burns
“The Masseuse” by John Cai
“An Obituary for the Ginko Berry Tree in Drexel” by Coutney DuChen
Deadline: January 14, 2022
$2,500 honorarium and book publication: Submit book-length collection of poems to the Colorado Prize for Poetry by January 14, 2022 (we will observe a 5-day grace period). $25 reading fee (add $3 to submit online) includes subscription to Colorado Review. Final judge is Gillian Conoley; friends and students (current or former) of the judge are not eligible to compete, nor are Colorado State University employees, students, or alumni. Complete guidelines at coloradoprize.colostate.edu or Colorado Prize for Poetry, Center for Literary Publishing, 9105 Campus Delivery, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-9105.
Did you know Chestnut Review offers a chance to win free feedback on select Fridays?
Follow the lit mag on Twitter, tweet #freefeedbackfriday on the first Friday of each month, and you’ll be entered to win a free critique on your submission. The next free Friday will take place on January 7, so get your writing ready.
There’s a lot of December 31 and January 15 deadlines below! Don’t miss out on these submission opportunities.
Don’t forget our weekly newsletter has been moved to Substack. If you haven’t seen it in your inbox for a few weeks, please add [email protected] to your safe senders list! Also, newsletter subscribers currently get first access to the latest submission opportunities, upcoming literary events, program news, and a whole lot more, so do subscribe.
Deadline: March 14, 2022 $2,500 honorarium and publication in the Fall/Winter issue of Colorado Review: Submit an unpublished story between 2,500 and 12,500 words by March 14, 2022 (we will observe a 5-day grace period). $15 reading fee (add $2 to submit online). Final judge is Ramona Ausubel; friends and students (current or former) of the judge are not eligible to compete, nor are Colorado State University employees, students, or alumni. Complete guidelines at nelliganprize.colostate.edu or Nelligan Prize, Colorado Review, 9105 Campus Delivery, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-9105.
If you like themed lit mag issues, we’ve got some recommendations!
Each issue of THEMAfocuses on one themed prompt. The Autumn 2021 issue’s theme is “Which Virginia?” Twenty contributors try their hand at exploring this Virginian theme.
While not quite a theme, Hanging Loose does feature a selection of high school aged writers in each issue. Issue 111 includes work by eleven different high school writers who close out the issue.
Bennington Review‘s Summer 2021 issue focuses on a theme that’s probably on most of our minds right now: The Health of the Sick. Michael Dumanis’s note from the editor explains, “Many of the pieces in this issue of Bennington Review display a keen awareness of the vulnerability of the human body, physically, emotionally, and psychologically.” The theme “borrows its title from Argentine writer Julio Cortázar’s underappreciated 1966 short story . . . “
Issue 22 of The Common includes a portfolio of writing from the Arabian Gulf introduced by Deepak Unnikrishnan. This includes fiction by Tariq Al Haydar, Farah Ali, and others; essays by Mona Kareem, Keija Parssinen, and Priyanka Sacheti; and poetry by Hala Alyan, Rewa Zeinati, Zeina Hashem Beck, and more.
AGNI Number 94 brings readers a portfolio of work in translation. You can expect to find work by Azzurra D’Agostino translated by Johanna Bishop, Yi Won translated by E. J. Koh & Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bello, Ananda Devi translated by Kazim Ali, and much more.
Finally, The Missouri Review asks the question “How did I get here?” in the Fall 2021 issue, the theme inspired by “Once in a Lifetime” by the Talking Heads.
Visit each literary magazine to show some support and learn more about these issues.
Deadline: January 31, 2022 Ethos Literacy—a nonprofit literacy program—is still accepting entries to its 3rd Annual Short Short Story Contest. 100-word limit on one of these topics: chewing gum, horror movies, skyscrapers, or tubas. Cash prizes: Best in Contest: $250; Best Youth Prize (14 years or younger): $100; 4 Best of Category: $100; People’s Choice $100. Publication in a digital magazine + webcast of winners reading their stories. Submission fee: $10. Proceeds support literacy programs for teens and adults. Learn more at their website.
Deadline: Rolling Storm Cellar seeks new and amazing writing and art for its spring issue! We are a journal of safety and danger, in many senses, in print and ebook formats since 2011. Send secrets, codes, adventures, mad experiments, and wild things. Black, Indigenous, POC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, neurodivergent, fat, border-straddling, poor, and other marginalized authorsLi encouraged, bonus points for a Midwest connection. Now paying; limited no-fee submissions available each month. Full guidelines, F.A.Q., and link to submit here: stormcellar.org/submit.
Next month, Cleaver begins their Winter 2022 Workshops. The magazine’s senior editors are bringing writers EKPHRASTIC POETRY: The Art of Words on Art with Poetry editor Claire Oleson, UNSHAPING THE ESSAY: Experimental Forms in Creative Nonfiction with Creative Nonfiction editor Sydney Tammarine, and WRITE, REVISE, PUBLISH! Flash and Microfiction Practice with Flash editor Kathryn Kulpa.
These all take place online. Workshops are capped at twelve registrants.
Learn more about the upcoming workshops here and register through Submittable.
Happy holidays! Hopefully you have some time to kick back and relax before jumping into keeping your submissions goals strong. NewPages will be on our annual winter break next week but have no fear as we still have goodies coming your way; stay tuned to our blog and social media accounts. Plus, if you haven’t already, subscribe to our weekly newsletter (now on Substack). Subscribers currently get a first look at opportunities before they are on our site.
If you are subscribed but haven’t seen our newsletter in a few weeks, please don’t forget to add [email protected] to your safe senders list. You can view our archive of recent newsletters via the Substack link above.
Event Dates: January 10-15, 2022 Event Location: Virtual 18th Annual Virtual Palm Beach Poetry Festival, January 10-15, 2022. Focus on your work with America’s most engaging and award-winning poets. Workshops with Kim Addonizio, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Chard deNiord, Mark Doty, Yona Harvey, John Murillo, Matthew Olzmann, and Diane Seuss. One-On-One Conferences with Lorna Blake, Sally Bliumis Dunn, Nickole Brown, Jessica Jacobs, and Angela Narciso Torres. A special Craft Talk by Kwame Dawes, Special Guest Poet, Yusef Komunyakaa. Poet-at-Large, Aimee Nezhukumatathil. To find out more, visit www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org. Individual event tickets as well as full conference packages still available.
Deadline: January 15, 2022
Background: The contest is in honor of Emma Howell who was born in Portland, Oregon, and died in 2001, at the age of twenty. She left behind a single volume of poetry: Slim Night of Recognition. This prize is an effort to promote the publication of young poets, to honor Emma’s memory, as well as honor the time and effort her father, Christopher Howell, former Director of Willow Springs Books, has put into our press. Prize: $2,000 + manuscript publication. Eligibility: Poets 35 years old and younger who have not yet published a book-length poetry manuscript. Submit:bit.ly/3aE00R3.
The last Book Stand of 2021 is here! Stop by and learn about this month’s featured titles below.
In Animal Disorders, Deborah Thompson relates her own complicity in some of the disordered approaches to nonhuman animals, including such practices as pet-keeping, animal hoarding, animal sacrifice (both religious and scientific), magical thinking, and grieving.
Art Essays, edited by Alexandra Kingston-Reese, is a passionate collection of the best essays on the visual arts written by award-winning writers such as Zadie Smith, Chris Kraus, Teju Cole, Orhan Pamuk, and Jhumpa Lahiri.
In Chris Linforth’s The Distortions we glimpse a pageant of characters struggling to understand their lives after the dissolution of Yugoslavia.
Through stories, secrets and memories experienced, read, heard, reimagined and remixed, Ra Malika Imhotep’s gossypiin reckons with a peculiar yet commonplace inheritance of violation, survival, and self-possession.
Temple University Press has recently released Invisible People by Alex Tizon in paperback. This book collects the best of Tizon’s rich, empathetic accounts.
You can learn more about each of these New & Noteworthy books at our website. Click here to see how to place your book in our New & Noteworthy section.
Books by Hippocampus has announced you can still pre-order their next two anthologies Ink and Main whose production and release has sadly been delayed.
Ink a part of The Way Things Were series which celebrates print media—magazines and newspapers—from the pre-digital age. You’ll find essays taking you from the newsroom to production. Each piece sharing a common thread of how people and publications built community, impacted change, celebrated local milestones, or mourned national tragedies. Contributors include Nancy Brewka-Clark, Richard Fellinger, Andrea Frantz, Timothy Kenny, Magin LaSov Gregg, Richard LeBlond, Nina B. Lichtenstein, Kate Meadows, Anthony J. Mohr, Judy S. Richardson, Marsh Rose, Roxanna Ross, and Laura Stanfill.
Main is also part of The Way Things Were series with a focus of celebrating small town America. It features twelve stories about the stories, services, and specialty shops that once ruled Main Street America. Contributors share how these family businesses defined and redefined themselves and how these endeavors evolved over time. Enjoy work by Lindsay Gelay-Akins, Joan Taylor Cehn, Christopher Cocca, Kimberly Ence, Nina Gaby, Linda Hansell, Melissa Hart, Kristine Kopperud, Dyann Nashton, Kelly Garriott Waite, Suzanne Samuels, and Melissa Scholes Young.
You can also purchase these anthologies in cost-saving a bundle! Get your copies here.
Samuel Thomas Martin, author of This Ramshackle Tabernacle and A Blessed Snarl, has produced a third work of high-caliber fiction: When the Dead are Razed, published by Slant Books. With the mesmerizing setting of urban Newfoundland as its backdrop, the novel follows the perilous adventures of Teffy Byrne, a woman determined not to raze the dead, but rather to seek justice on their behalf.
Long-interred mendacities, deeply troubled faith, and the constant threat of catastrophe keep the strings tight and ringing throughout the entire narrative as Teffy strives to solve the mystery of a young woman’s murder. There is both shadow and light in these characters and in the novel itself, with moments like these speaking to us from someplace raw and real and painfully recognizable: “She hears a creak and spins, searches the tear-smudged room, but there’s no one there. Not a soul. Only her. Her and the goddamn wind. ‘And you!’ she turns on Christ. ‘Why is it that we ask and ask and ask and you do nothing? You do nothing! Not for me or Fin or Ger. Not for any of us! Who are you!?’ she screams. ‘Who are you to shuck off being God!'”
Martin’s novel is a wild ride, but its sensational plot does not undercut its exploration of critical ideas, specifically the necessity of memory, truth, and justice.
Reviewer bio: Elizabeth Genovise is an MFA graduate from McNeese State University and the author of three short story collections, the most recent being Posing Nude for the Saints from the Texas Review Press. https://www.elizabethgenovisefiction.org/
CARVE has announced their upcoming 2022 schedule of online classes.
Short Story Writing: Fundamentals consists of five lessons on Character & Plot, Point of View, Dialogue, Inner Monologe, and Description. The course runs for 6 weeks. Available dates are January 3 – February 13, March 28 – May 8, June 20 – July 31, and September 12 – October 23.
Short Story Writing: Techniques is also a 6-week course comprised of 5 lessons on Use of Senses, Imagery, Metaphors & Similies, Rhythm & Pacing, and Threading. Available dates are February 14 – March 27, May 9 – June 19, August 1 – September 11, and October 24 – December 4.
Each class needs to have at least five students and there will be weekly deadlines to completed writing exercises and provide peer feedback. There is no instructor feedback for these courses.
This issue’s Special Feature is “Beyond Illusory Space” by Albert Wong, who is also interviewed by John Zheng. Lauri Scheyer interviews Lenard D. Moore. In Haibun & Tanka Prose: Rich Youmans, Keith Polette, Ce Rosenow, and Terri L. French. Poetry by Elizabeth Burk, Ambrielle Butler, Andrea DEeken, Theodore Haddin, Charlene Langfur, Ann Lauinger, George Looney, Ted McCormack, Adam Moore, Steve Myers, Dan Pettee, Margo Taft Stever, and Jason Visconti. Find prose contributors at the Valley Voices website.
Extended Deadline: January 15, 2022 MUSE is especially looking to publish work from under- or misrepresented groups, such as people of color, disabled people, LGBTQ+, present/formerly incarcerated people, and others from a culturally and linguistically diverse background. Deadline extended to January 15 for Spangler Award submissions. Submit up to three poems about a child or childhood, $5 fee payable by check or Venmo @rccmuse. Mail to RCC MUSE, Riverside City College, 4800 Magnolia Avenue, Riverside, CA 92506 or email. If emailing, send as attachment with “LastName – Spangler – Title” in the subject line (e.g., Smith – Spangler – “Summer”). Please include contact information. See full submission guidelines at rcc.edu/muse.
The Winter 2021 issue of Still Point Arts Quarterly is available digitally and in print. The theme of this issue is Ruins. It includes the work of roughly fifty artists and writers from around the world. Work by Beebe Bahrami, Sandra Fees, Barbara Haas, J. R. Solonche, Zach Murphy, Jen Mierisch, Catherine MacKenzie, Jane Hertenstein, Mercury-Marvin Sunderland, Cici Grove, Terry Allen, Bob Royalty, Martin Willitts Jr., Kiss Moon, Andrew Ilachinski, Diane Danthony, Hall Jameson, and Carol McCord. More info at the Still Point Arts Quarterly website.
How Did I Get Here? Inside: Poetry by Jessica Garratt, Rebecca Lehman, Maggie Queeney, and Joe Wilkins. Stories and essays by Jason Brown, Morris E. Hartstein MD, Kristen Iskandrian, Judith Claire Mitchell, Devin Murphy, Clare Needham, and David M. Sheridan, with features on Barbette and Duchamp, and a review of new and recent Southern writing from Sam Pickering. Now at the Missouri Review website.
Last year at this time we released our first issue dedicated to emerging writers, and now with 42.4 we’ve done it again. While this issue offers up the range of voices, genres, and styles New England Review promises every quarter, this time that mission is accomplished by writers who won’t be recognizable to most readers, that is, they’ve not yet published a book or full-length collection. Find a selection of this year’s contributors at the New England Review website.
The Louisville Review, Volume 90, Fall Edition is the 45th anniversary issue! It features poetry, fiction, non-fiction and children’s poetry from grades K-12. Poetry: Susan Ayres, Christopher Buckley, Claudia Buckholts, Elsa Cross, Olga-Maria Cruz, Angela D’Ambra, Andrea Doll, Regina Derieva, Marcia L. Hurlow, and more; nonfiction by Sarah Gorham, Corie Neumayer, and Jonathan Weinert; fiction by Jeff McLaughlin, Neema Muneer, Tony O’Keeffe, Erik Peters, Seth Brady Tucker, Nadeem Zaman, and others. See the K-12 contributors atThe Louisville Review website.
Volume 27 is out with art by Isabella Celentano, David Dodd Lee, Weining Wang, Emily Fannin, Nicole Choi, and more; poetry by Jose Wilson, Tom War, Tobias Tegrotenhuis, David Romanda, Riley Morrison, Annie Martin, Delaney Kelly, Ambrose Day, and Lorelei Bacht; and prose by Amber Barney, Nicole Collingwood, Devan Hawkins, Haley Herzberg, Hannah Lindsay, Khalid McCalla, Adia Muhammad, Elena Negrón, and Beatrix Zwolfer. Plus the winners of the Robertson Prize. More info at the Glass Mountain website.
Cutleaf celebrates the end of our first year with this all-nonfiction issue featuring three must-read essays. Elise Lasko speculates on the potential for relapse into old habits while imagining her mother’s death and funeral, in “Relapse Fantasy.” Carter Sickels realizes that “the universe keeps moving, surprising you with what it drops in your path,” in “Rescued.” Greg Bottoms recounts how his father and grandfather expressed—or didn’t express—emotion, in “One Summer Morning.” Learn about this issue’s images at the Cutleaf website.
Extended Deadline: January 1, 2022
We’re still looking for manuscripts of at least 48 pages that engage the perilous conditions of life in the 21st century, as they pertain to issues of social justice and the earth. Because we believe the truth is always experimental, we’ll especially appreciate books with innovative approaches. Beginning in 2021 and going forward, Interim will be publishing two books in their Test Site Poetry series—one title publicized as the winner of the Test Site Poetry Series and the other as the Betsy Joiner Flanagan Award in Poetry. Both winners will receive $1,000 and publication by the University of Nevada Press. www.interimpoetics.org/test-site-poetry-series
In the new dystopian world of the Grays, you do not live past your 16th birthday before changing into a creature that is no longer human. Scout is humanity’s last hope because if she dies, the world dies with her. Black is the second book in The Firebrand Trilogy. Get the first chapter of Black FREE on our website.
Deadline: March 31, 2022
The 16th Annual National Indie Excellence® Awards (NIEA) are open to all English language printed books available for sale, including small presses, mid-size independent publishers, university presses, and self-published authors. NIEA is proud to be a champion of self-publishing and small independent presses going the extra mile to produce books of excellence in every aspect.
Consequence Volume 13 is now for sale! Although this is the first issue since our founding editor passed, the volume is still chock-full of provocative and sublime works dealing with the human consequences and realities of war or geopolitical violence. Check the flyer to see the star-studded contributors’ list.
Deadline: February 1, 2022
Ann Kjellberg, judge. First prize $1,000, Second $500. Poems in English up to 60 lines, any subject, unpublished at submission. Enter via Submittable or mail c/o WB Yeats Society of NY, National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, NYC 10003. Enter name, contact information separately in Submittable entry form or separate card. Entry $15 for first, $12 each additional poem.
Fellowships for Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, Fiction: deadline January 10, 2022. Scholarships for Veterans and Under-represented Groups: deadline January 10, 2022. Register today for full conference with or without housing and with or without workshops! We fill up fast so secure your spot today!
Deadline: February 26, 2022
This fully independent journal is committed to featuring the work of emerging writers and artists alongside that of more established people, such as Jane Yolen, Marge Piercy, John Lurie, David Yow, and many other luminaries. This is a physical print publication designed to showcase contributor’s work beautifully. Let your writing and art shine in Meat for Tea.
This year’s co-winners were Judy Juanita of Oakland, CA. and Schuyler Dickson of Houlka, MS. Their respective books will come out in June. Don’t forget the deadline for the new contest is December 31. Please see our website for full submission details and to see our forthcoming books, also. Credit cards accepted for all book purchases.
Zac Smith wants you to know that everything is totally fine. Or maybe it’s totally fucked. Or maybe it’s totally normal. Or maybe it’s somehow all three at once. Forthcoming Everything Is Totally Fine is a collection of flash fiction presented in three sections: “Everything is Totally Fucked, “Everything is Totally Fine,” and “Everything is Normal Life.” The stories are a little zany, a little bit off-kilter, which makes every page fun and unexpected. But there is one thing a reader can come to expect after reading a few of these little stories: things are maybe not okay, despite the narrators’ wishes to repeat how totally fine it all is.
The narrator of “Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts Frosted S’mores Pastries 2ct” wants to “explore new ways of feeling like shit” and ends up “feeling like shit in the wrong way, or feeling like the wrong kind of shit.” The man in “Giving Up Requires Agency in a Way that Feels Like It Shouldn’t by Virtue of Being the Act of Giving Up,” leaves the piece feeling “miserable in a deep, ominous way.” Even the titular octopus of “The Octopus” “felt unhappy and didn’t know what would make it happy. It reasoned possibly nothing could.”
Maybe it’s the shorter, colder days, or the approach of year three of a global pandemic, or reflections on society and climate change and politics and on and on and on that makes these hopeless stories so enjoyable and relatable despite the pitiful and off-the-wall circumstances. Maybe it’s the mix of seriousness and silliness that is everyday, normal life, or the vague notion that none of it matters, not really. Whatever it is, Zac Smith’s figured it out in this fun, fucked, fine collection.
Next week is already Christmas. The week after the end of December. Where has 2021 gone? Get caught up with the submission opportunities and craft advancement opportunities featured on NewPages this past week to help keep end your 2021 strong and start your 2022 equally as strong.
Don’t forget our weekly NewPages Newsletter has officially moved to Substack. Subscribe today so you get our next newsletter delivered straight to your inbox on Monday with a first look at new opportunities.
Deadline: January 15, 2021
The 2022 Rattle Chapbook Prize offers three winners $5,000 for a chapbook (up to 36 pages), plus 500 author copies, and distribution to Rattle’s 8,000+ subscribers. Entry fee of $25 includes a 1-year subscription to the magazine. For complete guidelines and to read past winners, visit our website: www.rattle.com/chapbooks.
“A female artist fights for success in a world dominated by men and expectations of conventional sexuality in The Looking Glass, novella by Carla Sarett.” —Propertius Press
Claire Charles, a member of 1930s New York high society, has been trained in painting in preparation for marriage, but shocks everyone by pursuing art as a career and her own inclinations. In Paris, fifteen years later, she collides with Leah, a mysterious artist who has been secretly painting for her husband. When Kay Charles, Claire’s 16-year year old niece, reluctantly models for a portrait, the lives of the three women become intertwined. Claire’s voice alternates with James, a handsome art dealer, and Kay, who claims a special legacy. From Manhattan to Paris, galleries to artist colonies, from the 1930s to the 1970s, The Looking Glass is a story about women, art, and memory.
I found this story particularly moving for what’s rarely shown: how women artists have lived and worked in two worlds, the public one under the male gaze and the private one where freedom from the male gaze and power structure is essential for creativity and love that’s meaningful.
Susan I. Weinstein worked as an in-house publicity writer for publishers, before starting Susan Weinstein PR. She is the author of The Anarchist’s Girlfriend, Paradise Gardens, and Tales of the Mer Family Onyx; published in New Editions by Pelekinesis. Her play, ETHER: The Strange Afterlife of Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was workshopped 12/19 at I.R.T. Theater in NYC. notanotherbookreview.blogspot.com is her book review blog.
Extended Deadline: December 31, 2021 Take The Fruit, Flood The Desert: A Religious Trauma Anthology is accepting submissions. Did you question church doctrine and the way leaders/family members used it to lead you? How did the threat of eternal damnation affect you? Did you experience self-loathing or an inability to make decisions? What messages did the church give you about your relationship to your body, sex, and boundaries? How have you healed and reclaimed your identity? Send up to 3 pieces of any genre (Google or Word docs) up to 2,500 words total to via email, with the subject “submission, Take The Fruit.” www.amandaekwriter.com/take-the-fruit-flood-the-desert
In their December 14 newsletter, Anomaly announced additions to their editorial staff with new editors in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and translation.
Ashely Adams and Mizzy Hussain join as new Nonfiction Co-Editors while the Poetry editorial team welcomes Tricia Lopez, Tianna Bratcher, Lucy Zhou, and Eleonora Natilii. The Fiction team has been revamped with Talia Wright, Dino de Haas, Carson Faust, and jonah wu with Maxine Savage joining as their new Assistant Translation Editor.
Also joining Anomaly is Meca’Ayo Cole and Addie Tsai who become the new Features & Reviews co-editors. They will be taking the lead on ANMLY’s Blog. Lip Manegio and Gillian Joseph are also joining the team as Assistant Folio Editors. They will work alongside Zeb Wimsatt to curate each issue’s feature folios.
And with this announcement, they also want you to know they are currently open to submissions of translations, creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and comics through March 1, 2022. They have no-questions-asked fee waivers available for writers and artists in need. There is also no fee for Black and Indigenous contributors.
Don’t forget to swing by their website to read their latest issues and check out all of their offerings.
Deadline: January 15, 2022 Submit soon to our In-House Short Fiction & Single Poem Contests! On the short fiction side, we’re proud to announce that we’ve upped the award to $500 for the winning story and $150 for all runners-up! Winners and runners-up also receive publication, an interview, and an illustration that will appear alongside their story. All stories submitted are considered for publication by not one—but two editors, and response times are faster than usual. On the poetry side, all works are also considered for publication, with the runner-ups awarded an interview, publication, and $50 per poem. The winner of the In-House Poetry Contest will receive $400, publication, a featured interview, and a commissioned illustration to appear alongside their work.
Deadline: January 15, 2022 Remember Heron Tree is open to submissions through January 15, 2022. Submissions will be read, and decisions made on a rolling basis. Accepted poems will be published individually online (one poem a week beginning in February 2022) and then collected in Heron Tree volume 9, which will be available as a free downloadable ebook. This special issue will be devoted to found poetry. See our detailed submission guidelines at herontree.com/how/.
