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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!

A Journey of Self Discovery

Guest Post by Mille King.

Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls represents the term ‘tear-jerker’; it explores themes of pain, loss, and guilt in a real and relatable way. It is clear that Conor, the protagonist, sees himself as a monster for wanting the pain he is going through to be over, even if this means losing his mother. This guilt manifests in a physical monster who he believes visits him but no one else can see. The monster helps Conor through his pain and helps him discover emotions even Conor didn’t know he had.

Ness shows how guilt comes from deep down and we often can’t acknowledge it because we cover it with lies and believe what we want to believe, even when we don’t actually fully believe it. This is a beautiful journey of self discovery and I loved every moment of it.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. Walker Books / Candlewick Press, May 2011.

Reviewer bio: My name is Millie King, I am an English literature major and read not only for school, but for fun too! I always struggled with dyslexia so reading was hard for me but I have overcome those obstacles and am an avid book reader!

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

Contest :: $1,200 & Publication – Saguaro Poetry Prize

2022 Kallisto Gaia Press Saquaro Poetry Prize flier Cropped flier for the 2022 Saguaro Poetry PrizeDeadline: December 31, 2021
Send us your polished manuscripts of original contemporary poetry totaling 28 to 48 pages. Winner receives $1,200, publication by Kallisto Gaia Press, and 20 copies. Runner-Up receives $100 and offer of publication under our generous contract. Guest judge to be announced. Individual poems may be previously published. Original work. $25 to play. Submissions through Submittable only. All judging is ID concealed. See website for more info.

Contest :: Acacia Fiction Prize: $1,200 + Publication

Kallisto Gaia Press Acacia Fiction Prize Flier
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Deadline: December 31, 2021
Send us your polished manuscripts of Short stories, Flash Fiction, Novellas or any combination totaling 45K to 75K words. Winner Receives $1,200, publication by Kallisto Gaia Press, and 20 copies. Runner-Up receives $100 and offer of publication under our generous contract. Gabino Iglesias is the final judge. Individual stories may be previously published. Original work. $25 to play. Submissions through Submittable only. All judging is ID concealed. See website for more info.

Event :: Get Your Tickets for the 2022 Virtual Palm Beach Poetry Festival

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18th Annual Virtual Palm Beach Poetry Festival is taking place 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. There’s still time to purchase tickets to individual events and apply for a one-on-one conference!

‘The Midnight Lie’

Guest Post by Shaelynn Long.

Marie Rutkoski’s The Midnight Lie is a riveting combination of a society rooted in socioeconomic and hierarchical issues and a young woman who believes the life of crime she has chosen was, in fact, her choice. When the main character, Nirrim, discovers that the rules that were seemingly in place to keep her safe are doing more than that, she partners up with a gorgeous traveler, Sid, to find out more about the magic within the places she’s been kept from.

The story has it all: excitement, a love interest, magic, and mystery. It would also be remiss not to mention the LGBTQ nature of the romantic plotline, which is told beautifully. Overall, the story is worth the read, especially if you’re seeking something rooted in the fantastical that still discusses the problematic nature of the relationships between those who have and those who do not.

The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, March 2020.

Reviewer bio: Shaelynn Long is a Michigan-based author who spends the majority of her free time consuming all the books she can, often while surrounded by her three dogs. She is the author of Blur, Work In Progress, and Dirt Road Kid. You can find more about Shaelynn at her website.

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

Winners of the 2021 Adroit Prizes

Adroit Journal‘s Adroit Prizes are awarded to two undergraduate or secondary students annually. The 2021 judges were Carl Phillips and Samantha Hunt.

Winners receive $200 and publication. Runners-up and finalists also receive publication. You can read the pieces now in Issue 39 released in October.

Winners:

Stephanie Chang | Poetry | Kenyon College, ‘25
Enshia Li | Nonfiction | Stanford University, ‘22

Runners-Up:

Amal Haddad | Fiction | Swarthmore College, ‘22
Delilah Silberman | Poetry | Bennington College, ‘21

Finalists:

Aluna Brogdon | Fiction | Williams College, ‘26
Eliza Browning | Poetry | Wheaton College, ‘22
David Emeka | Fiction | The Federal University of Technology – Owerri, ‘21
Aidan Forster | Fiction | Brown University, ‘22
Jack Goodman | Poetry | Walter Payton College Preparatory School, ‘22
Sharon Lin | Poetry | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ‘21
Sofia Montrone | Fiction | Columbia University, ‘21
Jackson Neal | Poetry | University of Wisconsin – Madison, ‘23
Ngoc Pham | Poetry | Macalester College, ‘21
Kit Pyne-Jaeger | Fiction | Cornell University, ‘21
Clara Rosarius | Fiction | Oberlin College, ‘23
Kyle Wang | Poetry | Stanford University, ‘22

Weber – Fall 2021

The Fall 2021 issue of Weber features a Bernard DeVoto Subfocus which includes an interview with Mark DeVoto, as well as work by Mark Harvey, Nate Schweber, David Rich Lewis, Russell Burrows, and Val Holley. Also in this issue: poetry by Christian Woodard, Eric Paul Shaffer, Stephen Lefebure, Taylor Graham, Joseph Powell, Angelica Alain, and more; and essays by Adam M. Sowards and Ralph Hardy. Find fiction contributors at the Weber website.

Nimrod International Journal

In the “Awards” issue: fiction by Paula Closson Buck, Jennifer Blackman, Teresa Milbrodt, and more; poetry by Emily Rose ole, Francesca Bell, Angela Sucich, Kate Kingston, Adrie Rose, Jessica Pierce, Carolyn Oliver, Zack Lesmeister, Liz Marlow, Mara Adamitz Scrupe, Laura Apol, Connor Yeck, Christina Hutchins, Amy Miller, Caroline Earleywine, Gail Gudd Entrekin, Cynthia White, Dan Albergotti, Harley Anastasia Chapman, Kyoko Uchida, John Blair, and lots more.

More info at the Nimrod website.

AGNI – No. 94

Featured art by Harald Gaski and Máret Ánne Sara. Essays by Melissa Chadburn, Ananda Devi, Moncia Judge, Worapoj Panpong, George Sand, Jennifer Kwon Dobbs & Shuchi Saraswat, and Isaac Yuen; and fiction by Cristina Rivera Garza, Diaa Jubaili, Tasnim Qutait, Barbara Sutton, Che Yeun,and others. Check out poetry contributors at the AGNI website.

The Masters Review 2021 Flash Fiction Contest Winners

The Masters Review has announced the winners of its 2021 Flash Fiction Contest judged by Stuart Dybek.

In first place, we have Tanya Perkins with “Agora é Sempre” in which “a mere thousand words encompasses oceans complete with their currents, riptides, rogue waves. and rolling plastic.”

In second place, is “Play That Again” by John Glowney. “As the title suggests, an odd set of piano lessons becomes a story that is also about music and emotion, and youth, and the recognition of beauty.”

Candice May’s “How to Develop (Film)” took home third place with its use of modernistic techniques that never overwhelm the underlying story.

You can read all three pieces on The Masters Review‘s Blog.

Don’t forget, The Masters Review has two contests currently open to submissions: Novel Excerpt Contest (deadline 11/30) and the Chapbook Open for Emerging Writers (deadline 12/31).

November 2021 eLitPak :: 2022 Uncommon Hours

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Live Virtual Classes on Craft, Publishing, and Productivity

Catalyze your writing in 2022 and meet with a success unexpected in common hours. Uncommon Hours 2022 monthly virtual class + generative writing community features 10 live classes on craft, publishing, and productivity. Boost your skills with craft tips; support yourself as a writer with self-care practices; and find out how to query agents, write book proposals, pitch editors, and submit to journals.

View the full November 2021 eLitPak Newsletter.

November 2021 eLitPak :: Georgia College MFA Application Deadline

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Deadline: February 1, 2022
Apply now to Georgia College’s MFA Program in Fiction, Poetry, and Creative Nonfiction. We believe in the transformative power of language—prose and poetry. Our program at Georgia College is a small, community-centered, and fully-funded MFA program that values and promotes inclusive and diverse learning opportunities both inside and outside the creative writing classroom.

View the full November 2021 eLitPak Newsletter.

November 2021 eLitPak :: $1,500 for the Best Short Story

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We are proud to announce our 3rd annual Story Foundation Prize is now open! The winner will receive $1,500 and publication in our summer 2022 issue for a single short story. Submit one short story of up to 10,000 words via our Submission Manager. Our entry fee is $25. Each entrant receives a one-year subscription (three issues) to Story. Deadline: December 15.

View the full November 2021 eLitPak Newsletter.

November 2021 eLitPak :: 2022 Virtual Palm Beach Poetry Festival

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Virtual festival takes place 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. Apply to attend a one-on-one conference by December 1. Special Craft Talk by Kwame Dawes, Special Guest Poet Yusef Komunyakaa. Poet-at-Large, Aimee Nezhukumatathil. Find out more at our website.

View the full November 2021 eLitPak Newsletter.

November 2021 eLitPak :: Gival Press 2021 Poetry Award

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Deadline: December15, 2021
The 20th Gival Press Poetry Award, with a prize of $1,000 plus book publication in 2022, deadline is December 15, 2021. Original, unpublished manuscripts of 45+ pages in any style are acceptable. Visit: Submittable for complete details, to pay $20 reading fee, and to upload your manuscript.

View the full November 2021 eLitPak Newsletter.

November 2021 eLitPak :: Tartt First Fiction Award

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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. The deadline for the new contest is December 31. Please see our website for details. And see our forthcoming books, also. Credit cards accepted for all book purchases.

View the full November 2021 eLitPak Newsletter.

November 2021 eLitPak :: The Caribbean Writer is Open for Artwork and Creative Submissions

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Deadline: December 31, 2021
TCW is especially inviting artwork to grace the next cover and interior sections of Volume 36 under the 2021 theme: “Disruption, Disguise and Illuminations.” Increasingly, as history meets day to day experiences, epiphanies unfold. And as we self-interrogate the disruption motifs in many of these illuminations, the roots of prevailing disruptions emerge, complicated by disguise. We’re exploring the widest permutations.

View the full November 2021 eLitPak Newsletter.

Contest :: Test Site Poetry Series Extends Deadline!

Test Site Poetry Prize Banner Ad - Extended DeadlineExtended Deadline: January 1, 2022
We’re 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

Discovering Not New Fiction

Guest Post by Raymond Abbott.

This book is not new, so what you get is not new fiction as the title suggests. New Fiction from New England was published in 1986 by Yankee Books in Dublin, New Hampshire. Twenty-nine stories and not a clunker in the bunch. All were originally published in Yankee Magazine back when Yankee published stories (fiction). It no longer does, and it is lesser in my opinion as a magazine for no longer doing so. The editor then was Deborah Navas, a skillful writer in her own right.

If you’re looking for variety, and solid storytelling, you will get it here, in abundance, that is if you can find a copy. But do try!

New Fiction From New England edited by Deborah Navas. Yankee Books, 1986.

Reviewer bio: Raymond Abbott lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

Obsidian Announces Three New Events for Fall 2021

Obsidian Voices Fall 2021 Lineup

Started in 2020 to help bring writers and audiences together in celebration of newly created work, #ObsidanVoices is back with three new events! All events are virtual and free to attend. You do have to register, still, though.

First off is Radiant Youth. Taking place November 19th at 6PM CST, this event is a reading and conversation celebrating Issue 46.2. Lineup includes Sandra Jackson-Opoku, Alex Jennings, C. Liegh McInnis, Chinonye Omeirondi, and Kristina Kay Robinson. Moderator of the event is Danielle L. Littlefield.

Next is Suppose Sorrow Was a Time Machine – a reading and conversation celebrating Obsidian 47.1. This will take place virtually on December 3 at 6PM CST. Moderated by Sheree Renée Thomas and Nandi Comer, the lineup features Sheree L. Greer, Michal “MJ” Jones, Shayla Lawz, Christian Loriel Lucas, and Daniel B. Summerhill.

Lastly, we have Heirloom: Preserving HBCU Futures – a reading and conversation celebrating Obsidian 47.2. This will take place online December 10 at 6PM CST. Moderated by Sheree Renée Thomas and featuring Reynaldo Anderson, Roman Johnson, Tony Medina, Carmin Wong, and more.

If you’re interested in submitting to Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora, they have extended the deadline to submit to their Gender Queer/Genre Queer Playground Special Issue. Ronaldo V. Wilson is the issue’s guest editor. Submissions due by January 1, 2022.

Call :: Deadline Extended for Religious Abuse Anthology

Take The Fruit, Flood The Desert Anthology GuidelinesExtended 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 [email protected], with the subject “submission, Take The Fruit.” Don’t forget the deadline to submit has been extended to December 31! www.amandaekwriter.com/take-the-fruit-flood-the-desert

Call :: Under 1 Month Left to Submit Work to RCC MUSE

RCC MUSE Journal coverDeadline: December 15, 2021
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. Through Dec. 15: submit one short story or CNF 1500 words max; up to three poems. Mail to RCC MUSE, Riverside City College, 4800 Magnolia Avenue, Riverside, CA 92506 or email [email protected]. If email, send as attachment with “Last Name – Genre – Title of Submission” in the subject line (e.g., Smith – Prose – “In Summer”). Please include contact information. See full submission guidelines at rcc.edu/muse.

Call :: Heron Tree Volume 9

Deadline: January 15, 2022
Heron Tree is open for submissions through January 15, 2022. We will read submissions and make decisions 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/.

Call :: Still “Time” to Submit to Abandon Journal Issue 3

Abandon Journal logoDeadline: November 30, 2021
Issue #3 of Abandon Journal is open for submissions until 11/30/21. The theme is “Abandon Time” (interpret that as you wish). No fees for general subs. Accepting just about anything, as long as it is created with abandon, and we pay our contributors. See abandonjournal.com/submissions for full guidelines.

Finding the Childlike Magic Within

Guest Post by Haydyn Wallender.

For as long as she can remember, Scarlett Dragna has dreamed of Caraval: a magical show where fantasy and reality collide. Legend, the mastermind behind the show, has declined to return any of Scarlett’s letters of urgency to see his magic—until now.

Swept off of her island by a mysterious sailor, Scarlett and her sister Tella aren’t just players of the show—they are the main attractions. Whisked into a world where nothing is as it seems, and with countless warnings to not believe what her eyes tell her, Scarlett learns that following her heart is the only way to find the truth—and her sister—before it’s too late.

Garber’s language and characters make the magic of her story come to life. Creating a strong bond between her readers and her characters using childlike wonder, hope infuses the pages with every turn, despite all the tension, confusion, and panic that is a common theme throughout this novel.

This book marvelously captures what it’s like to be caught in between a child and a young adult, where themes of love, sisterhood, and courage fill the pages. Garber’s ease of writing a story so full of twists using these themes is evident in her style and the composition of her work; each chapter seems to build up to something larger, as if Legend himself is creating the storyline. It is a wonderful novel for all who are grasping for that little bit of child—and magic—still left in oneself.

“Magic will find those with pure hearts, even when all seems lost.” ―Morgan Rhodes

Caraval by Stephanie Garber. Flatiron Books, May 2018.

Reviewer bio: Haydyn Wallender is an insatiable reader, writer and reviewer. Her experience with written work(s) extends back through her undergraduate, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English at Washington State University. Her writing style and English-based experiences can be found at her website: (haydynwallendershowcase.com).

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

wildness – November 2021

Featuring some wonderful poetry, fiction, and narrative nonfiction from: Geoff Anderson, Shuang Ang, Claudia Delfina Cardona, Aaron Caycedo-Kimura, Stephanie Chang, Bryce Emley, Miguel Barretto García, Janalyn Guo, Bill Hollands, Ricardo Frasso Jaramillo, Karishma Jobanputra, Ravi Mangla, Shannan Mann, Sham-e-Ali Nayeem, Robert Okaji, D. A. Powell, Monica Prince, and AM Ringwalt. Find this issue at the wildness website.

New Title :: Broadstone Books Presents New Poetry from David Hargreaves

Broadstone Books Classified Banner for Running Out of Words for AfterwardsLush and allusive, tuned to a background in translating Nepal Bhasa poetry, Running Out of Words for Afterwards gives voice to cycles of desire, loss, and renewal. Like the many rivers that flow through this book, David Hargreaves’ poems, in various turns, can be urgent, expansive, unpredictable, or calm, conveying the reader through landscapes both mystical and mundane, through illusions of selfhood, and the struggles of language to accept its own limitations. “A truly exquisite book of poems.”—Charlotte Pence

Raleigh Review – 11.2

New fiction by Whitney Collins, Ryan Napier, Barbara Barrow, Sarah Schiff, and Shannon L. Bowring. Poetry by Anna Tomlinson, Betsy Johnson, Mary Ann Samyn, Hannah Dela Cruz Abrams, Lauren Green, Tianru Wang, Michael Dhyne, Aimee Seu, Ashley Sojin Kim, Dorianne Laux, Miguel Martin Perez, Chris Ketchum, Cheyenne Taylor, Isabelle Shepherd, Samuel Cheney, Riley Ratcliff, and Emma Aylor. Plus, art by David Gilman, Zwanda Cook, Annie Bates-Winship, Peter Kent, Sandra Ducoff Garber, Susan Gefvert, Toby Tover, and Ken Garber. Now at the Raleigh Review website.

New Orleans Review – Fall 2021

The prose and poetry in this issue helped out editorial team find beauty and peace both through the pandemic and through Hurricane Ida. We hope you love them as deeply as we do. Fiction by Nicole VanderLinden, Mike Itaya, Heather Monley, Banzelman Guret, and Lucy Zhang; poetry by Ashley Crout, Jacob Griffin Hall, Amanda Gaines, Maari Carter, Maegan Gonzales, Bernardo Wade, Athena Nassar, Joanna Fuhrman, and Elizabeth Bergstrom; and nonfiction by Dan Leach and Sofía Aguilar. Find this issue’s interviews at the New Orleans Review website.

Kenyon Review – Nov/Dec 2021

The Nov/Dec 2021 issue of the Kenyon Review features the winners of our 2021 Short Nonfiction Contest: Brigitte Leschhorn Arrocha, Christian Butterfield, and dm armstrong; stories by Bennett Sims, Morgan Thomas, Robert Travieso, and Hananah Zaheer; an essay by Paula C. Brancato; a short play by Kemuel DeMoville; and poems by O-Jeremiah Agbaakin, Kai Carlson-Wee, Lindsay Stuart Hill, Richie Hofmann, Dayna Patterson, Colin Pope, and Arthur Sze.

More info at the Kenyon Review website.

Cutleaf – Volume 1 Issue 21

In this issue, Matt Prater celebrates the music of escape in three poems beginning with “The Slow Work of Unlearning.” Robert Sachs recounts the story of a boy named Evelyn who knew how to make the dogs howl in “A Delicious Silence.” And Jay Hodges reveals the intimate world of caring for someone with severe memory loss in a series of linked essays beginning with “Our Own Country.” Learn about this issue’s images at the Cutleaf website.

Contest :: 2022 Rattle Chapbook Prize

Screenshot of Rattle's flier for the NewPages Fall 2021 LitPak
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Deadline: January 15, 2021
The Annual 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. Deadline: January 15. For guidelines and to read past winners, visit our website: www.rattle.com/chapbooks.

Calls :: Attentive Publisher Atmosphere Press Reading Book Manuscripts in All Genres

atmosphere press logoDeadline: Rolling
Atmosphere Press currently seeks book manuscripts from diverse voices. There’s no submission fee, and if your manuscript is selected, we’ll be the publisher you’ve always wanted: attentive, organized, on schedule, and professional. We use a model in which the author funds the publication of the book, but retains 100% rights, royalties, and artistic autonomy. This year Atmosphere authors have received featured reviews with Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist, and have even appeared on a giant billboard in Times Square. Submit your book manuscript at atmospherepress.com.

Sarah Moore Interviews Noémi Lefebvre in WLT

In the Autumn 2021 issue of World Literature Today, Sarah Moore interviews Noémi Lefebvre. The two corresponded in May 2021 shortly after Poètique de l’emploi had been published in English and Parle had been released in France. The interview immediately had me interested with as they discuss the English translation of Poètique de l’emploi‘s title:

Sarah Moore: Your most recent work to be translated into English, Poètique de l’emploi, considers the question of employment. The English translation of emploi, which variously means “employment,” “use,” and “labor,” into “work” already shows the tension that you explore between how we earn a living and how we spend our time. How do you feel these different aspects relate to each other? Why were you interested in the subject?

Noémi Lefebvre: First, it’s a subject that affects me. I don’t understand the link between work and salary or why, when I work, I’m not earning much of a living. For example, when I write, I don’t earn much money, but that’s my real job. There isn’t a clear connection between the money we earn and the work we do. Also, work is a social condition that we’re all supposed to accept but one that often significantly restricts freedom. That’s what I wanted to consider. When a baby is born we don’t think, “Oh, super, it’s going to have a wonderful job,” unless, of course, you’re very narrow-minded. We think first about life and freedom, not in terms of paid work. I wanted to explore what remained childlike in me and what retains the desire to always be free in life, while work is often restrictive or creates living conditions that are just impossible—not for everyone but, still, often.

Check out the rest of the interview at WLT‘s website.

Frontier Winter Poetry Lab

This past spring, Frontier Poetry ran their first Poetry Lab, and they’re back with another one this winter.

With this online space, your work will be read and edited by editor-partners Jenny Molberg, Kathleen Volk Miller, Rob MacDonald, and Mike Good.

Digital versions of Frontier‘s poetry chapbooks: How Often I Have Chosen Love by Xiao Yue Shan, Shadow Black by Naima Tokunow, and In the Year of Our Making & Unmaking by Frederick Speers will be paired with guided learning materials about crafting your own chapbook.

Participants will also receive over 40 pages of submission advice from editors from a selection of other literary magazines. Frontier promises to “send you a dozen great places that could be a good fit for your particular voice. Every participant will get individualized recommendations from our experienced team.”

You can learn more about the poetry lab at Frontier‘s website and register for the $299 lab through their Submittable. The deadline to register is November 30.

Contest :: Amsterdam Open Book Prize | Versal Editions

banner for Versal 2021 Amsterdam Open Book PrizeDeadline: December 31, 2021
Versal is currently accepting submissions for the biennial Amsterdam Open Book Prize. Chapbook-length to full book manuscripts between 25 and 80 pages of different genres and forms, including poetry, fiction and nonfiction prose, and especially experimental, hybrid and collaborative pieces are welcome. Inventive works that create new landscapes visually, sonically or cognitively excite us. Writing that resists and rebels. Work that is humanizing and radical and necessary in the world. Literary expressions that push boundaries. Linguistic gatherings and reckonings. Judge: Raina León. Deadline: December 31, 2021. For full guidelines, please visit: www.versaljournal.org

Contest :: 2022 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing

2022 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing bannerDeadline: January 31, 2022
Submissions are now being accepted for the 10th Saroyan Prize. The awards, co-sponsored by Stanford Libraries and the William Saroyan Foundation, are “intended to encourage new or emerging writers and honor the Saroyan legacy of originality, vitality, and stylistic innovation.” Two prizes of $5,000 each are given for works of fiction and nonfiction. Writers who have published four books or more are ineligible. Submit five copies of your work published between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2021, with a $50 entry fee by January 31, 2022. Visit our website for complete eligibility and submission details: library.stanford.edu/saroyan.

One Fierce Follow-up

Guest Post by Carla Sarett.

A long weekend, and no page-turner in sight. Luckily, Carry The Dog by Stephanie Gangi arrived in my mailbox. Gangi’s debut novel, The Next, was fiercely funny; while this one’s not a comedy, it is every bit as fierce.

At almost 60, Manhattanite Bea Marx lives with an icy legacy: her mother, Miriam, took erotic pictures of her kids (the “Marx Nudes) and then killed herself after the death of Bea’s teenaged brother. Now, Bea’s life seems on hold: she’s even married the same philandering man twice. She’s obsessed with how things look (like wrinkles and Balenciaga bags) but she fails to see people realistically; she’s locked herself out. When Hollywood and MOMA come knocking for Miriam’s story, Bea starts to confront childhood truths. She finds layers and layers to unwrap, each progressively darker. But Gangi’s not after the darkness: this is a story of possibilities.

I disagreed, on many levels, with Bea’s final decision. But I am still thinking about it. That is a lot for one book to accomplish.

Carry the Dog by Stephanie Gangi. Algonquin Books, November 2021.

Reviewer bio: Carla Sarett’s novella about maverick female artists, The Looking Glass, was published by Propertius Press in October, 2021.

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

Event :: Able Muse November 2021 Book Launch Reading

Mark your calendars and don’t forget to register! Able Muse Press’ next Book Launch and Reading will take place on November 13, 2021 from 3-4 PM EDT. Registration is required, but no worries it’s free!

The event will be hosted by Deirdre O’Conner and will feature a reading and Q&A with authors Len Krisak and Rebecca Starks.

Len Krisak, winner of the 2020 Able Muse Book Award, will be reading from his winning book just released on November 1, Say What You Will. Rebecca Starks will be reading from her forthcoming title Fetch, Muse (due out on November 26, but available for pre-order).

Besides the reading and Q&A, Able Muse Press has announced the publication of Brian Culhane’s Remembering Lethe. The book is available for pre-order and will be published on December 17. Culhane was a finalist for the 2020 Able Muse Book Award.

The Woven Tale Press

What’s new this month? A physical and structural approach to painting, stunning pixelated images, our usual resonate prose and poetry, and so much more. Work by Carolyn Anderson, Cliff S. Berman, Emil Brägg, Neil Carpathios, Dianne Corbeau, Ann S. Epstein, Mary Gilliland, Sherry Karver, Jeanne LaCasse, Joyce Peseroff, Kari Souders, and Lauren Taylor Grad. More info at The Woven Tale Press website.

Variety Pack – Issue 6

Issue 6 of Variety Pack features short fiction by Bruce Meyer, Maia Kowalski, Penny A. Page, and Philip Houtz; flash fiction by Sara Dobbie, Emily Enfinger, Natascha Graham, Redfern Boyd, and Sophie Fink; and nonfiction by Natascha Graham and Robin Foster. Poetry by Ebukun Gbemisola Ogunyemi, Raymond Gibson, Megan McKinley, David Harrison Horton, and more. Find a full list of contributors at the Variety Pack website.

Plume – November 2021

This month’s featured selection: “On Peach State and crafting ‘the raw materials of circumstance’”: an interview with poet Adrienne Su by Mihaela Moscaliuc. In nonfiction: “Truscon, A Division of Republic Steel, 1969-70: A Prose-Poem Sequence Disguised as a Lyrical Essay, Itself Aspiring to Be a Fictional Memoir” by Peter Johnson. Jane Zwart reviews Kasey Jueds’s The Thicket. Poetry contributors are at the Plume website.

The Main Street Rag – Fall 2021

In this issue: fiction by Jennifer Blake, Matthew C. Bush, Nathan Leslie, R. F. Mechelke, and more. Poetry by Matthew E. Henry, Jane Andrews, Richard Becker, Kay Bosgraaf, Brenton Booth, Chris Bullard, Ricks Carson, Diana Cole, Matthew J. Spireng, Beth Suter, Kevin Sweeney, Kelly Terwilliger, Mark Taksa, Eric Weil, and others. Plus a featured interview, “Teaching While Black,” with Matthew E. Henry by Shawn Pavey. Find out more at The Main Street Rag website.

The Dillydoun Review – November 2021

In the new issue of The Dillydoun Review, check out short stories by Noah Kenny, Rachel McCarren, John Nicholson, Rebeka Selmeczki, Mark R. Vickers, and Brian Will; flash fiction by Peter Amos, Matthew Downing, and Michael Edwards; nonfiction by Anna Schott; and flash nonfiction by Rachel M. Reis, Sidney Stevens, and Ronald Wetherington. Check out poetry contributors at The Dillydoun Review website.

Cutleaf – Volume 1 Issue 20

In this issue, Joe Tobias merges a surgeon’s knowledge with the instincts of poetry in three poems beginning with “Repair.” Karen Salyer McElmurray recalls pivotal moments of grief as she plans her father’s memorial at the beginning of the pandemic in “How Souls Travel.” And Benjamin Anastas explores Japanese jetlag porn and the verb tenses of a man’s life at age 47 in the short story “Going Underneath.” Learn about this issue’s images at the Cutleaf website.