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!
In this issue, find poetry by contest winners Saleem Hue Penny and Eileen Elizabeth Waggoner, as well as Stephanie Berger, Joanne Godley, Haolun Xu, Kwame Dawes, Chelsea Bunn, Kai Coggin, Pooja Mittal Biswas, and more; fiction contest winners Galen Schram and Benjamin Kessler as well as James Prier, Douglas Fenn Wilson, Jacob R. Weber, Emily Saso, Hadley Leggett, Moshe Zvi Marvit, and David Allan Cates. Read more at the Bellevue Literary Review website.
“It’s the best writing conference you’ve ever attended, in book form!”
Books by HippoCampus is excited to announce the publication of an anthology inspired by HippoCamp, an annual nonfiction conference, dedicated to writing creative nonfiction and what it means to be a writer who tells true stories.
Getting to the Truth: The Craft and Practice of Creative Nonfiction, edited by Rae Pagliarulo and Donna Talarico, is set to be released on August 11 and will be available for pre-orders on July 5. It features 20+ craft essays offering thoughtful insights from some of the highest rated HippoCamp speakers. It also features wise writers behind some of Hippocampus Magazine‘s most-read craft columns.
Speaking of HippoCamp, they have released the full schedule for this year’s conference set to to take place August 13-15 in Lancaster, PA. As of this writing, there are only 80 spots currently available.
The latest issue of The 2River View, Summer 2021, is out with poems by Ted Kooser, Matthew Freeman, Will Harmon, Sheree La Puma, Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Matthew Murrey, Benjamin Nash, Karen June Olson, Charles Rafferty, SM Stubbs, Diane Thiel, and Sally Van Doren.
Extended Deadline: June 30, 2021
Winner receives $1,500, publication, twenty-five copies, and promotional support. All full-length fiction manuscripts are welcome, including novels, novellas, collections of stories, flash fiction, short-shorts, and linked collections. Full-length fiction manuscripts tend to be at least 30,000 words. There is no maximum length. To submit, please access our convenient online submission manager. Final judge is Kristen Arnett, the NYT bestselling author of Mostly Dead Things (Tin House, 2019), one of The New York Times top books of 2019 and a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in fiction.
On Friday, it was announced that poet Natalie Diaz won the Pulitzer for her second book of poems Postcolonial Love Poem. Diaz spoke about her book with The Arizona Republic, saying, “I knew that I wanted my body, the places I’ve come from, the people I come from, to be of consequence to the world and to kind of bring our perspectives and conversations to bear in our larger national conversations.”
Writing on the Indigenous experience, she explains her poetic viewpoint, “I, of course, have an Indigenous lens, but yet I think that Indigenous lens is extremely important to non-Indigenous peoples. We’re all fighting for our water. We’re all fighting for this Earth, for one another against injustice.”
See what else she said about the winning collection here.
Back in October of 2020, we let you know that Spalding University’s School of Creative and Professional Writing was launching online literary magazine Good River Review in 2021. Well, the first issue has officially launched!
The first issue features prose by Rigoberto González, Pico Iyer, Brian Leung, Chris Offutt, and Julie Ann Stewart; lyric by Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Alan Chazaro, Molly Peacock, Charlotte Pence, J.D. Schraffenberger, Evie Shockley, Katerina Stoykova, and Claire Wahmanholm; and drama by Ifa Bayeza and Kia Corthron.
They also feature book reviews of Dinty W. Moore’s To Hell with It: Of Sin and Sex, Chicken Wings, and Dante’s Entirely Ridiculous, Needlessly Guilt-Inducing Inferno; Zadie Smith’s Intimations; and Julia Phillips’s Disappearing Earth. Under “The Practice of Writing” heading, they feature an excerpt of Felicia Rose Chavez’s Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom.
You will also find interviews with Keven Willmott, Lydia Millet, and Pico Iyer.
Between their biannual issues, they will regularly feature book reviews, interviews, and essays on the practice of writing, along with other important literary news. Swing by their listing on NewPages to learn more and don’t forget to read their inaugural issue!
Their submissions period is open and ongoing and they do accept work written for children and young adults, too! Since they love work that doesn’t fit neatly into genre categories, that is why they publish work under the headings of prose, drama, and lyric.
Want to check out some work by writers from specific regions? Three recent literary magazine issues have you covered.
The Common‘s 21st issue includes a feature on Arabic Stories from Morocco. In this section is translated writing and art from the Hindiyeh Museum of Art by Latifa Labsir, Fatima Zohra Rghioui, Mohamed Zafzaf, and more.
Volume 42 Number 1 of New England Review‘s translation feature is “From Granma to Boston and Havana and Back: Cuban Literature Today.” Here, find work by Víctor Fowler Calzada, Jorge Enrique Lage, Anna Lidia Vega Serova, and others.
And from within the United States, Rattle‘s Summer 2021 issue features twenty-two Appalachian poets. Among these are Ace Boggess, Mitzi Doton, Kari Gunter-Seymour, Raymond Hammond, Elaine Fowler Palencia, and more.
Cutleaf is an online journal published twice monthly. It’ a project of EastOver Press, an independent literary press specializing in collections of short stories, essays, and poetry. The first issue officially launched in February 2021 with “How Gretel Gets Her Groove Back” by Lauren K. Alleyne, “Sliders” by Wesley Browne, and “Eat Before You Go” by E.C. Salibian.
They feature fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and cross-genre work by both new and established writers. Issue 10 published in June 2021 features poetry by George Ella Lyon, fiction by Kevin Fitton, and nonfiction by Matt Muilenberg.
They will reopen to submissions in September 2021. Until then, browse their current issue and their back issues for an idea of what they are looking for.
Stop by their listing on NewPages to learn more.
Whether you can run a marathon doesn’t matter, since this marathon is about writing poetry! And while it’s all community and no competition, that doesn’t mean it’s “easy” to complete. To cross the finish line, participants must write one poem every hour for either 12 hours for one of the two half marathons or 24 hours for the full marathon. Prompts are provided but don’t need to be followed, and it is okay to ‘catch up’ if you can’t post on each hour, but there is no advance posting. Each participant posts their poems on a WordPress login within the group site and can read and respond to others’ poems.
This event is not for the flippant – “Oh yeah, maybe I will try it…” In order to register for the event, you must explain what you plan to do to ‘prepare’ yourself for the day. After several years of completing the half marathon, I have learned it works best to clear my schedule for the day, plan to only do work around the house, and check in at the top of every hour for the new prompt. Sometimes I can respond quickly, and other times, I need more think time, which means setting an alarm to remind myself to post before the hour is up. It is indeed a commitment, and can feel stressful and frustrating at times, but the sense of accomplishment is worth it – having a dozen or two new poems and interacting with about 500 other like-minded poetry lovers from around the globe!
Registration if free and open until June 19. The marathon takes place Saturday, June 26 starting at 9am in the morning. The half marathons run from 9am to 9pm or 9pm to 9am, and the full marathon runs from 9am Saturday until 9am Sunday.
In the table of contents of Arts & Letters latest issue, the heading “Unclassifiable” caught my eye, promising a walk off the beaten path. This section features the winner of the journal’s annual Unclassifiable Contest.
When I paged to this winning piece—”Voidopolis” by Kat Mustatea—I was greeted with a series of photos with accompanying text. This excerpt is from a project Mustatea began on an Instagram page, loosely retelling Dante’s Inferno. Throughout this 46-part series, Mustatea never uses words with the letter “E.” This combined with the format of the photo-sharing app gave me a burst of inspiration to try new things and to challenge myself while doing it.
There is just enough included in the issue to hook the reader along and lead them to check out the rest of the story on Mustatea’s Instagram. The project has ended, so there’s no wait for new readers to reach the conclusion. Step away from the usual, the classifiable, and check out this piece in the Spring 2021 issue of Arts & Letters.
Find the winners of EVENT‘s 2020 Non-Fiction Contest in their latest issue.
First Place
“Our Lives” by Alexis Pooley
Second Place
“Differences” by Madeline Sonik
Third Place
“Sea Monsters Revealed” by Adrienne Gruber
Judge Madhur Anand introduces the winners with an essay on judging nonfiction. Print and digital copies of this issue are available at EVENT‘s website.
Caesura Poetry Workshop aims to support, inspire, educate, and energize poets of all backgrounds through affordable Zoom workshops hosted by award-winning poet, editor, and writing coach John Sibley Williams. Workshops include poem analysis, active group discussion, writing prompts, poem critiques, and plenty of writing time. Come join our growing community! Upcoming classes include Mastering Traditional Forms: Haiku, Sonnet, Ghazal & Pantoum (four sessions in July & August), Marketing Your Small Press Book (August 21, 1-4pm PT), and others. 1-1 personalized workshops, coaching, and manuscript critiques to keep you writing and inspired also available. More information: www.johnsibleywilliams.com/upcoming-classes. To register, email [email protected].
Haunted Waters Press features online content including fiction, poetry, author interviews, and occasional news from the press itself in SPLASH!
They have recently published an interview with Emergency Room doctor and writer Rachel Mallalieu whose work has been featured in SPLASH! as well as in the 2020 issue of their literary magazine From the Depths, which is currently open to submissions along with their annual fiction anthology Tin Can Literary Review through August 31.
Just start writing. It doesn’t have to be perfect; in fact, it won’t be. But if it doesn’t find its way to paper, the poem will never exist. . . . First and foremost, you’re writing for you! Don’t be held back by other’s expectations.
Mallalieu talks about her introduction to poetry, writing schedule, how the pandemic has affected her as a writer, what she’d say to a young poet, and what she’d tell her younger self. At the end of the interview there’s even a fun “Lightning Round” of 10 bonus questions from what bores Mallalieu (TV!) to which fictional place she’d love to visit (Narnia!).
Check out the interview here and read her poems “The Taste of Grief” and “A History of Resurrection.” If you’re thirsty for more, pick up the 2020 issue.
Deadline: June 30, 2021
A prize of $1,500 and publication by Barrow Street Press is given annually for a poetry collection. A. Van Jordan will judge. Submit a manuscript of 50 to 80 pages with a $25 entry fee ($28 for electronic submissions) by June 30. Visit the website for complete guidelines: barrowstreet.org/press/submit/.
Guest Post by Tanushree Baidya.
Set in Havana, Cuba, The Playwright’s House is an expansive yet intimate novel about a young lawyer Serguey and his family when their father Felipe, a notable theater director, is detained by state security, disrupting the mirage of personal ambition and stability that Serguey has worked towards. The novel delves deep into the history and socio-political landscape of Cuba in the early aughts and highlights the fragility of individual rights under an authoritarian and oppressive regime. The seamless confluence and meditation of art, history, architecture, the power of social media activism, and the influence of the Catholic Church makes this political thriller an intriguing and illuminating read.
This is an impressive debut novel and second book by Cuban-American writer Dariel Suarez. It was nice to read a novel about a country often mischaracterized and exoticized in American culture. Along with Serguey, Suarez renders the multi-dimensionality of other characters, be it the hot-headed brother Victor, or the headstrong sisters Anabel (Serguey’s wife) and Alida, or the absent father Felipe, with incredible nuance and specificity. Leaving Cuba seems like an inevitable decision that Serguey will have to eventually make, for his choices are grim. But whether or not he does keeps you hooked until the very end.
The Playwright’s House by Dariel Suarez. Red Hen Press, June 2021.
Reviewer bio: Tanushree Baidya is a writer and an analyst. Her work has appeared in WBUR, Kweli, Creative Nonfiction, and elsewhere. She grew up in India and now lives in Cambridge, MA.
Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.
Deadline: June 30, 2021
CHESTNUT REVIEW (“for stubborn artists”) invites submissions year round of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art, and photography. We offer free submissions for poetry (3 poems), flash fiction (<1000 words), and art/photography (20 images); $5 submissions for fiction/nonfiction (<5k words), or 4-6 poems. Published artists receive $100 and a copy of the annual anthology of four issues (released each summer). Notification in <30 days or submission fee refunded. We appreciate stories in every genre we publish. All issues free online which illustrates what we have liked, but we are always ready to be surprised by the new! The reading period for the Fall issue ends June 30. Any pieces submitted after that will be considered for our Winter 2021 issue. chestnutreview.com
Guest Post by Natalie Hess.
All I can say is wow. The amount of whimsy and magic in this book blew my mind. It follows a girl named Celia and a boy named Marco who are forced to fight each other in a magical competition which they are bound to until someone wins. Here’s the catch: neither of them are told any rules or boundaries and this competition takes place in a circus which travels all around the world, and is only open at night. This circus is so magical and mysterious that it captures the attention of all who are introduced to it, making them want to revisit it as much as possible, including the reader.
The way Morgenstern describes every little detail brings this world to life so much, and I couldn’t help but wish it were real. Even the simplest things are described as so mysterious and fascinating that this book is impossible to put down. And the relationships between some of these characters are very eye-opening and make you question the morals and intentions of those around you, while others are just flat out wholesome and amazing. Everything about this book was beautiful, stunning, captivating, and I fell in love with it. Definitely a 5-star read, and every fantasy-lover should pick it up.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Anchor Books, 2021.
Reviewer bio: I’m Natalie Hess and I’m simply a high school student who LOVES reading everything from scifi to romance to nonfiction and everything in between. I also love sharing my thoughts and I hope you enjoy!
Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.
If you didn’t already know, Meat for Tea: The Valley Review is a print literary magazine founded in 2006. They publish quarterly issues of short fiction, flash and micro-fiction, poetry, essays, interviews, and visual arts of all kinds. They are committed to retaining a punk rock aesthetic while presenting readers with work of the highest quality.
Besides their quarterly issues, Meat for Tea offers an audio companion in their podcast which serves up live recordings of spoken word and music, conversations with authors and other artists, and more! They have just uploaded the 20th episode for their second season on June 5 which features editor Elizabeth Macduffie with Matt Latham.
Meat for Tea also hosts launch events for their quarterly issues. The past few events have all been virtual and free to access. To see these, visit their website.
They have the Le Cirque Salé taking place via Facebook on Saturday June 12 from 7-10 PM. This will be a virtual celebration of their “criadilla de toro” issue featuring an art exhibit from Shawn Farley and John Allen, the standup comedy of Ezra Prior, spoken word performances, videos by Piper Preston and Thomas Matthew Campbell, and more.
Guest Post by Mandi Greenwood.
Doug Stanfield’s poetry is an unfurling of wings and a fanning out in every heartfelt direction, reaching all of life’s heights and depths. There is humility and there is enormous bravery. Within the pages of Lifting Stones there is no finite limit to Stanfield’s poetic skill, nor to his quality.
He owns the journey that is Lifting Stones. He owns it with “bare courage and risk”—his words—and to read this book is to step from one stone to the next in the sometimes calm, oftentimes tumultuous river that he has forged between its covers.
Upon one stone I behold the relatively fresh wound of “Love in the Time of Corona.” Atop another stone I discover the fierce elation of “Borrowed Dust.” I skip to yet another smooth muse of stone and I find “As It Was.” I pause at times, to wipe away the tears, but always I progress to the next verse with intrigue and joy.
It’s difficult to do justice to the raw tenderness of Lifting Stones without falling into cliché. Suffice to say it is a singular collection of clarity, warmth, grief, humor, agony, mortality, recollection, despair, and rebirth. It is an expedition, not a journey’s end. It is a unique work of life via poetry, a kaleidoscopic gallery of this poet’s genuine experience laid bare.
Stanfield writes with a dignity. He writes with a frank self-respect that is, to borrow his exquisite words, “eternally becoming.”
Lifting Stones by Doug Stanfield. Rootstock Publishing, June 2021.
Reviewer bio: Mandi Greenwood is the author of Six Steps Down, Caught Inside, and The Silver Renoir.
Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.
In this issue of Sou’wester, find fiction by Karin Aurino, Joe Baumann, Matthew Bruce, Bryana Fern, Rachel Furey, Justin Herrmann, Siew David Hii, Mehdi M. Kashani, Kate LaDew, Nathan Alling Long, Lope López de Miguel, Fejiro Okifo, R.S. Powers, Katie Jean Shinkle, Noel Sloboda, RaShell R. Smith-Spears, Samantah Steiner, Matthew Sullivan, and Tina Tocco; and nonfiction by Martha Phelan Hayes, Louise Krug, and Cynthia Singerman.
Change Seven is a volunteer-run online literary journal founded in 2015. They publish four issues a year featuring fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and artwork. Their book section features interviews with writers (by writers) as well as reviews.
They host two reading periods a year and are currently open to submissions through June 30. They do charge a $3 fee.
The Spring 2021 issue features fiction by Liz Başok, Eesha Dave, Naira De Gracia, Ann Liska, Eric Maroney, Olive Mullet, Ken Post, Shira Richman, Ellen Sollinger-Waker, and Sara Staggs; poetry by Melissa Helton, Ace Boggess, Megan Bracher, Heather Frese, Ryan Harber, Mary Imo-Stike, and Jane Sasser; with nonfiction by Susan Bonetto, Charles Clark, James Cochran, Susan Narayan, and Paul Rousseau.
Stop by their listing on NewPages to learn more & don’t forget to read through this issue and go through the archive of past issues, too, to see what you’ve been missing.
Sleet Magazine‘s Slim Summer Edition is now live! The editors reveal gut-wrenching new poetry by Jim Moore and Michael Kleber-Diggs. Sleet features life and death CNF from Margaret Bell and Dr. Alexander Gong, as well as sparkling fiction by Euan Currie, Scott Gardner and Erin Winseman. This edition is not to be missed!
The Summer 2021 issue of Rattle features a tribute to Appalachian Poets. The 22 poets in this special section write about family, history, and modern life. The tribute section was so good, we had to stretch the issue to 124 pages to fit it all in. In the open section, the poems are as strong as ever, featuring reader favorites Francesca Bell and Ted Kooser, along with several excellent poets new to Rattle’s pages, writing about everything from sexual desire to cancer, big foot to peeing in the pool, including a long poem from Clemonce Heard on the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre.
2020 Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize Winners, a conversation with Camille T. Dungy, Kate McIntyre on the progeny of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, arts features about punk’s influence on contemporary art and the Great British Teddy Girls. Read more at The Missouri Review website.
Founded in 1999, Arts & Letters is a nationally circulating journal featuring young, fresh voices as well as established poets and writers. It was founded at Georgia College where it operates out of the MFA program in creative writing. They publish biannually in Spring and Fall with full-color covers designed by Peter Selgin.
They are currently open to submissions for their Unclassifiables contest and Drama Prize. Regular submissions will reopen on August 1. They seek poetry, fiction, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction. They do charge a $3 non-refundable fee. Arts & Letters pays upon acceptance at a rate of $10 per page. Writers also receive a contributor copy and one year subscription.
The Unclassifiables contest is open through July 31 and is for work that blurs, bends, blends, erases, or obliterates genre and other labels. Pieces need to be 5,000 words or less. This year’s judge is Michael Martone. $10 fee. Winner receives $500 and publication.
The Drama Prize is open through June 30 to one-act plays of 30-60 pages that have not yet been produced. $10 fee. Winner receives $500 and travel support to attend the production.
EVENT’s latest Non-Fiction Contest Issue is here, featuring the three 2020 winning essays, and an exciting assortment of poetry, fiction and reviews to keep you entertained. Work by Alexis Pooley, Madeline Sonik, Adrienne Gruber, David Zieroth, Malgosia Halliop, David Ishaya Osu, James Pollock, Jade Riordan, and more. Read more at the EVENT website.
CRAFT has announced the winners and finalists of its 2020 Creative Nonfiction Awards judged by Joy Castro. The winning pieces and editors’ choice selections will be published this month, so stay tuned!
Winners
Tammy Delatorre: “The Ties That Bind”
Clare Fielder: “What You Don’t Know”
Liz Harmer: “Catalogue for a Coming of Age”
Editors’ Choice Selections
Sara Davis: “The Untimely Collaborators”
Marilyn Hope: “Face, Velvet, Church, Daisy, Red”
Congratulations to the winners and finalists.
The 2021 Creative Nonfiction Award will open in the Fall. They are currently accepting entries to the First Chapters Contest through June 30. The judge is Masie Cochran of Tin House.
The Spring 2021 issue of Boulevard features the winner of the 2020 Nonfiction Contest for Emerging Writers and the winner of the 2020 Poetry Contest for Emerging Writers.
2020 Poetry Contest for Emerging Writers
Winner
“Black Zombi” by Bryan Byrdlong
Honorable Mentions
Esther Ra
Calvin Walds
Christine Robbins
2020 Nonfiction Contest for Emerging Writers
Winner
“The King’s Game” by Jonathan Wei
Runner-up
“Six Articles for Survival” by Laura Joyce-Hubbard
Grab a copy of the issue or check out these pieces on the journal’s website.
Guest Post by Susan Kay Anderson.
Enticing though it may be to dream of cold landscapes when summer days get a bit too warm (already) it does not exactly seem wonderful to imagine taking a sauna during the pandemic and sweating out life even more, getting exhausted even more. That’s not the point of the sauna, as Cheryl J. Fish seems to report in her book of poems/memoir/travel journal. The sauna is the sacred space for contemplation and just plain bathing and, well, for everything under the sun in order to be close to the sun in the darkness.
Cheryl J. Fish’s The Sauna Is Full Of Maids is an adventure to Finland told with poems, photographs, and lines from the Kalevala, Finland’s origin story/epic/saga.
It is great to look through this book and daydream about journeys and berries and boggy lakes. These are prose poems and travelogues in poem form, told with the sparse flavor of the North. I am really attracted to the ancient lifeways in this book:
“His journey paralleled birds and reindeer. Spread his culture, migrating.”
from “Another Round Of Heat”
“In the Kalevala, birds lay eggs in a barren water-mother’s knee. The bottom half of a smashed egg becomes earth.”
from “Unreliable Snowpack”
It isn’t all ancient lore here. There are meetings with fellow artists and travelers, foragers, dreamers, and recent immigrants to Finland. It is amazing to realize (yet again) that we live on a tiny planet and its inhabitants have been following the flow of the elements forever and that during our lives we get glimpses of what is important, what helps us to be alive. Those things could include the sauna, the icy cold water, vasta birch sprigs, and the steam.
The Sauna Is Full Of Maids by Cheryl J. Fish. Shanti Arts Publishing, June 2021.
Reviewer bio: Susan Kay Anderson lives in Oregon’s Umpqua Basin, author of, Please Plant This Book Coast To Coast, available from Finishing Line Press.
Deadline: Year-round
John Updike once said, “Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity. Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or better.”
At Driftwood Press, we are actively searching for artists who care about doing it right, or better. We are excited to receive your submissions and will diligently work to bring you the best in full poetry collections, novellas, graphic novels, short fiction, poetry, graphic narrative, photography, art, interviews, and contests.
We also offer our submitters a premium option to receive an acceptance or rejection letter within one week of submission; many authors are offered editorships and interviews. To polish your fiction, note our editing services and seminars, too.
Read issue 8.1 featuring R. C. Davis, Ben Kline, Brennan McMullen, Wren Hanks, Kelsey M. Evans, Jake Goldwasser, Kat Y. Tang, Mason Boyles, Lynda Montgomery, Sam Heydt, Robin Gow, Lina Patton, Lora Kinkade, & Summer J. Hart for a taste of what they like. www.driftwoodpress.net
805 Lit + Art online lit mag not only features new and emerging writers, poets, and artists, they provide a series of Story Toolbox workshops to help writers practice and hone their craft. Open to participants 16 years and older, upcoming workshops with Writer and Editor Julieanna Blackwell [pictured] and hosted by Manatee Libraries include Writing in Flash-Prompts (7/12/21) and Study of Novella in Flash (7/19/21). Visit the 805 Events page for more information.
Deadline: July 5, 2021
Our 4th annual first book prize is open. If you have a manuscript or know someone who does, please give us a shot. Awarded annually to a poet writing in English who has not yet published a full-length poetry book, the prize seeks to represent the best contemporary writing in high quality editions of enduring value. Prospective entrants are encouraged to familiarize themselves with Conduit, which champions originality, intelligence, irreverence, and humanity. Previously unpublished manuscripts of 48-90 pages should be submitted through our Submittable page or via the USPS. Bob Hicok is the final judge. Please visit www.conduit.org/book-prizes for details.
Deadline: September 1, 2021
Puerto del Sol will be accepting entries to our annual contest in poetry and prose between May 1 and September 1. Judges are Eileen Pollack in prose and Todd Dillard in poetry. Winners receive $500 and publication. $9 entry fee includes one-year subscription. All manuscripts entered will be considered for publication. See website for complete guidelines—puertodelsol.org. Las year’s winners were Babette Cieskowski with her poem “American Sonnet for My Medical History” and prose “is the watermelon sweet?” by Emily Yang.
Guest Post by Linda C. Wisniewski.
Silver crescent
April moon glimmers anew
clear as your eyes
—Bless the Birds
During this pandemic year, I’ve been reading stories of people living through hard times, successfully or not. I am less judgmental these days of how people handled things: My mother during the Depression. My father fighting in the Pacific during WWII. A friend with terminal cancer. Maybe it’s a gift of age, but I crave witnessing the journey over advice for a good life.
In her memoir of grief, author Susan J. Tweit writes eloquently of the two years preceding her husband’s death from brain cancer. She ends each chapter with a haiku about a day from that time. Not at all depressing, the book is the story of their attempt to make the best of each day together, sometimes failing but always holding onto love.
Tweit, a plant biologist, and her husband, Richard Cabe, an economist turned sculptor, are settled into a happy marriage and fulfilling work when one day on a road trip, he sees thousands of birds that are not real. The vision was actually a gift, leading to a quick diagnosis and treatment that probably gave them more time together, time they spent intentionally.
They talked about their love, their marriage, their families and their work. They hoped for a cure. They took a long road trip through the American West, enjoying their natural surroundings—the plants, animals, and yes, birds in each stopping place. It was the kind of road trip where you allow yourselves to take time, to stop when you see something interesting, knowing the destination will still be there at the end.
When the end finally comes, you feel you’ve gotten all you can from the trip.
We can’t escape the scary parts of life, though we surely try. This memoir reminded me that facing them head on, with honesty, acceptance, and love makes meaning of even the worst of circumstances.
Bless the Birds: Living with Love in a Time of Dying by Susan J. Tweit. She Writes Press, 2021.
Reviewer bio: Linda C. Wisniewski is a writer, reader, quilter, knitter and happy trail walker in Bucks County, PA, where she guides people writing memoirs. Find her on Twitter and Instagram.
Guest Post by Manasi Patil.
Impending Fate is the third book in the series, Shattered Triangle. This novel is told through the point of view of Giovanni Lozano, and progresses with the plots of the other protagonists of the series: Lt. Tom Moran, Giuseppe Lozano, and Giovanni himself.
Three determined people, one genius murderer, and an ‘impending fate.’ After the identity of the murderer of Giuseppe Lozano’s family is revealed in A Consequential Murder, and the story is followed in Beleaguered Truth, I was beyond obsessed with the Shattered Triangle series. William P. Messenger is my new favorite author, and I’m so glad to have had this opportunity of reading the trilogy.
Giuseppe’s relationship with Jackson progresses and it’s a cruel twist when the former first kills Jackson’s partner in order to be with him, and then kills Jackson himself, when he sees him as a potential threat. Giovanni is ready to break the sacrament in order to save the country and do the right thing. He may get banished from his church for doing so, but after three years, he is prepared for the consequences.
Impending Fate is a riveting combination of religion, politics, and mystery. The story of ‘Shattered Triangle’ progresses further and also ends, unfortunately, in this edition. After reading the series, the question is: will the broken shards of the shattered triangle survive?
Impending Fate by William P. Messenger. Black Rose Writing, December 2017.
Reviewer bio: Manasi Patil is a young author with a passion for writing.
The latest issue of THEMA explores the theme: The Tiny Red Suitcase. Work by Madonna Christensen, Cathy Bryant, Stuart Jay Silverman, Lynda Fox, Jesse Doiron, Rayna Bright, Sivakami Velliangiri, and more.
The Spring 2021 issue features the Winners of the 2021 Open Season Awards: Matthew Hollett, Zilla Jones, and Tanis MacDonald. Poetry by Saeed Tavanaee Marvi, Rhiannon Ng Cheng Hin, Leslie Joy Ahenda, Manahil Bandukwala, Sophie Crocker, Kari Teicher, Tia Paul-Louis, Ngwatilo Mawiyoo, Hussain Ahmed.
Deadline: Rolling
50 Give or Take daily delivers micro-fiction of fifty words or less straight into your inbox. Please subscribe (it’s free!) to get an idea of what is published, before submitting your work. All accepted 50 Give or Take pieces will be published in a print collection at the end of every year, starting in 2021. All you have to do is submit your: 50-word story, one-line bio, website or social media URL, and a vertical photo of yourself to [email protected]. Good luck!
The June issue of The Lake is now online featuring Estaban Allard-Valdivieso, Georgi Bailey, Daisy Bassen, Sylvia Freeman, Neil Fulwood, Margaret Galvin, Maren O. Mitchell, Fiona Sinclair, J. R. Solonche, Richard Allen Taylor, Damaris West, Sarah White, Rodney Wood.
The Spring 2021 edition of Boulevard is now available with winning poems from the 2020 Poetry Contest by Bryan Byrdlong, the winning essay from the 2020 Nonfiction Contest by Jonathan Wei, and a craft interview with Emily St. John Mandel. New poetry by Adrian Matejka, Adedayo Agarau, JD Amick, Clare Banks, Lory Bedikian, Ava C. Cipri, Laura Davenport, Kwame Dawes, Rosalind Guy, Rachael Hershon, Lisa Low, Jane Morton, and more.
Deadline: June 15, 2021
Indigo Moor judges the MacGuffin’s 26th Poet Hunt contest, open April 1 through June 15! $500 first prize plus publication; up to two Honorable Mentions will also be published. All entrants receive one copy of this issue. Send no more than five poems per $15 entry fee. Include a cover page that lists your contact info and poem titles. On the following page(s), include your poem(s), beginning each poem on a new page devoid of personally identifiable information to preserve the blind review process. Enter via Submittable, or to enter by email or post, see full rules at schoolcraft.edu/macguffin/contest-rules.
Deadline: June 30, 2021
Now in its seventh year, the North Street Book Prize is sponsored by Winning Writers and co-sponsored by BookBaby and Carolyn Howard-Johnson. Self-published books in seven categories can win up to $5,000 plus additional benefits. Submit online or by mail. Winning Writers is a partner member of the Alliance of Independent Authors, and this contest is recommended by Reedsy. Entry fee: $65 per book. Free gifts for everyone who enters. Final month to enter! Deadline: June 30. winningwriters.com/northnp21
Deadline: July 31, 2021
There’s two months left enter the 2021 Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize judged by Mark Doty. $1,000 for first place and a letterpress broadside printed by Felicia Rice of Moving Parts Press, $500 for second, $250 for third. Top five published in Red Wheelbarrow Literary Magazine. Submit up to 3 original, unpublished poems. $15 entry fee. Deadline: July 31, 2021. For complete guidelines, see redwheelbarrow.submittable.com/submit.
The National Writing Project has long been a source of support for writing teachers (K-12+), providing programs where teacher-leaders work with local teachers on developing approaches to teaching writing as well as engaging in their own writing practice. Those who have local chapters benefit from the professional development and community programming, but now NWP is expanding that opportunity by introducing an online space for teachers to connect and collaborate with writing teacher colleagues.
Write Now Teacher Studio will open on June 3, 2021, and NWP invites teachers to join a live launch event through mobile app or the web. The Write Now Teacher Studio will let teachers connect and collaborate around specific topics of interest in their teaching, attend events about writing and teaching writing, join groups to address challenges, take courses designed by experienced writing teachers, and create or join reading and writing groups.
To learn more about the Write Now Teacher Studio or to sign up for the launch, visit NWP Eventbrite Registration.
Hippocampus Magazine and Books has announced that they will be hosting their annual 3-day creative writing conference this summer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
If you haven’t heard about HippoCamp before, it is geared toward creative nonfiction writers of all skill levels and backgrounds and is formatted “in the style of a professional development, industry conference.” They feature solo presenters passionate about their topics rather than panel discussions. There you can hone your craft, explore publishing options, and find ways to balance your writing and real life while meeting new friends to learn from and share with.
This year’s conference will take place August 13-15, 2021.
They offer additional pre-conference workshops you can apply to as well as add-ons, like book sale space. As of this writing there are 102 spots remaining, so if you’re interested in nonfiction and learning more and honing your craft, don’t forget to register soon.
Global Vaccine Poem is a joint project between the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University and the University of Arizona Poetry Center. It was launched in April and invites everyone to “share their voices to promote COVID-19 vaccination through the imaginative language of poetry.”
They ask that you read the model poem, “Dear Vaccine” by Naomi Shihab Nye and then choose a prompt to respond to. You only need to send a few lines in your own words. No need to worry about rhyming, spelling, or grammar as they simply want people to share their thoughts.
So far there are submissions from the US, Canada, France, Turkey, Mexico, and Malaysia. You can read about the hope, the frustrations, the positives, and the negatives of living through this pandemic.
Stop by their site to read the model poem, responses, and consider adding your voice.
Guest Post by Manasi Patil.
Beleaguered Truth is the second book in the series Shattered Triangle. In this second installment, the identity of the killer is known, and they are present right in the front seat, but there is no way to capture them.
Lt. Tom Moran knows the identity of the murderer of Giuseppe Lozano’s family. But there’s no evidence through which he can prove it. And he’s frustrated. Fr. Giovanni Lozano also shares the fate of Tom when the murderer successfully silences him by confessing his sins in a sacred confession in the church. Giuseppe Lozano, in order to fulfill his ambitions, stops at no extent. For him, everything is expendable. Even his family. And the fact that he orders his family to be killed proves him to be an ambitious, but ruthless and cruel person.
After the identity of the murderer of Giuseppe Lozano’s family is revealed in Shattered Triangle: A Consequential Murder, the story left me speechless. It was so unexpected, and yet seemed so real. Beleaguered Truth adds more to the story with Giuseppe’s point of view and how he feels about the consequences he created. William Messenger has done very well in writing out this book, especially in capturing a new point of view. It certainly makes the story more intriguing, as I felt a need to know how Giuseppe feels after murdering his own wife and three children.
Beleaguered Truth is a great political thriller and very captivating, to say the least. The book deals with the impact of the truth on Tom and Giovanni and delves deep into the story that is Shattered Triangle.
The triangle is being shattered. This book questions: will it be broken into pieces, or is it possible to mend them together and reconstruct the once beautiful triangle?
Beleaguered Truth by William P. Messenger. Black Rose Writing, August 2015.
Reviewer bio: Manasi Patil is a young author with a passion for writing.
The Missouri Review always has plenty to offer readers. Aside from the usual poetry and prose, there are art features, a “curio cabinet” feature, and an interview. In the Spring 2021 issue, Jacob Griffin Hall interviews poet, essayist, professor, and editor Camille T. Dungy. The two discuss everything from types of research to environmental writing to poetic beginnings. There is plenty to take away from this interview, but what I enjoyed most was the portion on “experiential research,” excerpted here:
HALL: In an interview with Arkana, you talk about “experiential research”—”Listening to the world, paying attention, watching and looking” is just as important as, say, digging into archives. What habits or practices do you have that help you be attentive to the world around you?
DUNGY: Ha. It’s not a habit or practice. It’s a way of life. I suppose it could be taught. I suppose we all have to learn to slow down and pay better and different attention from time to time. But I also think that an artist, a writer, must look at the world more attentively, more closely, more patiently and carefully than people who are not artists tend to look. It’s just how I move through the world. I can stop and hear myself thinking if I want to, but I am always thinking in this way. “How would I describe the color of that grass?” “Oh, look, that rabbit has a bit of russet on its scruff.” “I wonder when they first release Subarus in the US?” “Do you think that woman’s eyes are naturally gray? Those are all questions I asked out loud or in my head today.
Deadline: July 31, 2021
Enter your fiction of at least 40k words or poetry manuscripts of around 90 pages for a chance to win $500 and publication by Winter Goose Publishing. Honorable mentions may also receive publication. Submissions are being accepted from 5/1 – 7/31. ENTER TODAY before time runs out!
Join The Adroit Journal on Thursday, June, 2021 for the Word is Bond #3 reading. 100% of the proceeds will go toward the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund and the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
Readers include Jessica Abughattas, Chen Chen, Taylor Johnson, and Paul Tran with host Anthony Thomas Lombardi and co-host/co-curator Alexa Patrick.
Purchase tickets and find out more at Eventbrite.
