Just in time for Halloween, Ms. Magazine has published two articles on feminist perspectives of horror movies:

Part One: Daddy Knows Best
“If you are looking for a good scare this Halloween season, cast your feminist eye on this recent rash of family-centered horror movies in which inattentive fathers leave their children vulnerable to being taken by aliens, monsters and demons.”

Part Two: It’s Not Just About Vampires
“Since Edward Cullen first graced the pages of a young adult novel in 2005, vampires have been the sexy bad guys du jour. But it’s not just the lingering fear that sex might lead to death that makes these nightmarish manifestations of sexual desire resonate with audiences.”

Photo via Ms. Magazine: Courtesy of Patricia.Pictures via Creative Commons 2.0

Creative Nonfiction magazine announced major changes to its website, subscription options, and submission process. The magazine debuted a new website design improving navigation through new web-exclusive content and digitized content from past issues.

Some of this material dates back nearly twenty years, including founder and editor (and “Godfather behind creative nonfiction”) Lee Gutkind’s intros to all 46 issues, which serve as a veritable time capsule of the genre.

“With our 20th anniversary coming up in 2013, we’ve been thinking a lot about the history and development of the genre, but we also have our eye towards the future,” says Gutkind. “We’re proud to debut this new digital content, which we think will make the site a necessary destination both for readers who already have an artistic stake in creative nonfiction, and for anyone looking for an introduction to the genre. In the past twenty years, we’ve seen creative nonfiction become the fastest-growing genre in the publishing industry and within creative writing programs, and we know the audience for news, resources, and great writing within the genre is only going to grow.”

In addition, Creative Nonfiction has unveiled a digital subscription option, which will be powered through Zinio. The new digital subscription option lets readers download the magazine to a computer, iPad, Android device or KindleFire. A four-issue (full-year) digital subscription is $25. Single issues are also available.

The magazine will also begin accepting general submissions online, providing a more green and convenient method for writers to submit their work.

The Idaho MFA in Creative Writing Program has established a new writing retreat fellowship that gives students the opportunity to work in Idaho’s world famous wilderness areas. The competitive “Writing in the Wild” fellowship fully supports a student to spend a week at either the McCall Outdoor Science School (MOSS), which borders Payette Lake and Ponderosa State Park, or the Taylor Wilderness Research Station, which lies in the heart of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. Both campuses offer year-round housing.

The writing retreats will allow students to concentrate solely on their fiction, nonfiction or poetry. Because both locations often house researchers, writers will also have the opportunity to collaborate with foresters, geologists, biologists and other scientists. Students visiting MOSS or Taylor Ranch will find expansive reaches of space to engage with rivers, lakes and forests.

Two “Writing in the Wild” fellowships will be granted in 2012-2013. Future plans include additional fellowships, as well MFA writers sharing their wilderness experiences in K-12 schools to demonstrate how the state’s natural wonders can foster creativity, innovation and inspiration.

Full application materials can be found on this page under Writing in the Wild Fellowships.

The special feature of the new issue of The Bitter Oleander features an interview with the Swiss Francophone poet Jos

A couple changes at The Georgia Review:

As of their spring 2012 issue, The Georgia Review is available in both print and digital formats. The publication is offering a “combo” price for subscribing who would like to receive the magazine in both formats (with prices going up in January, so now would be the time to subscribe for the best deal).

The Georgia Review has also archived its entire run from 1947 through 2008 for viewing through www.jstor.com.

And, lastly but not leastly, longtime managing editor Mindy Wilson has stepped down, making room for her successor, Jenny Gropp Hess. Welcome Jenny!

Armchair/Shotgun magazine, which reads all pieces blindly (without knowledge of the author’s name until the piece has been accepted for publication), proudly announces that the current issue, “by happy accident,” is filled with writing only by female writers. “A writer’s resume . . . is no guarantee of a compelling story—good writing knows only story, and writers of all backgrounds may craft exciting tales,” says the editorial staff. “Our previous issues featured a gender-balanced split of male and female poets, fiction writers, and visual artists. So when we de-anonymized the Issue 3 acceptances, we were surprised and delighted to see that we’d inadvertently created a roster of 11 amazing female writers.”

VIDA, each year, puts out a gender breakdown of writers, reviewers, and books reviewed within well-known publications. “The difference between our outcomes and the average VIDA results—which indicate a male dominated roster of published authors—is notable,” says the staff.

This issue features Alanna Bailey, Elliott batTzedek, Genevieve Burger-Weiser, Allison Campbell, Diana Clarke, Sarah Goffman, Inge Hoonte, Debbie Ann Ice, Liana Jahan Imam, Danielle Lapidoth, and J.E. Reich. The issue also includes an interview with Reif Larsen, author of The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet; the paintings of Steve Chellis; and the photography of Andrew Wertz.

“Yes, after 76 years, Robin’s Books will close forever at the end of 2012. We are grateful to all of those worthy souls who have patronized us throughout the years, all of the poets, philosophers, scholars, students, and seekers of all stripes.”

Even if you don’t know or particularly care about Robin’s Books, I encourage you to at least read their “About” page, where you’ll learn how Larry Robin continued a bookstore founded by his grandfather, and what Robin thinks the role of the indie bookstore is in the community. I don’t want to harp on the “this is what you’re losing” we hear so often with such bookstore closings, but instead, how about just a nod of appreciation for what folks like Robin have done (and what so many continue to do).

“What It is I Do: I sell books. The written record of thoughts and feelings and facts. This is the primary way in which humankind communicates. There is history, where we come from and what we have done. There is poetry, taking us beyond facts into our feelings. There are novels, exploring our experiences and sharing our successes and failures. Contrary to popular belief, this is not just product. A independent book store is by its nature, a community center and the book seller is an educator. Our job is to help our customers find what they are looking for. All of us are looking for the Truth. Of course, our customers do not always know that. You need to analyze where each customer is, find what they are looking for and figure out how you can help them take the next step.” Larry Robin

Thank you, Larry. I hope there is some way this is able to continue in our communities. Some way.

As part of its 30th anniversary, Alaska Quarterly Review celebrates with a special section in the latest issue that features three sections of invited poetry. Jane Hirshfield, guest editor, explains: “In one, you will find 30 previously published poems by poets familiar to any awake reader of contemporary literature. Many included in this section have also served as previous guest editors for AQR, all of whom were invited to contribute. I wrote to each of the thirty in this section and asked for a single, previously published poem, of their own choosing – sometimes describing it as a kind of tribute bouquet, meant for both the magazine and its readers. The resulting contributions are not bouquet in scale, though, they are continental. They range from signature poems – Marie Howe’s “What the Living Do” – to poems that first appeared in print in the past year, from publications ranging from The New Yorker to the online journal Clade Song.”

“To expand this special issue beyond my own range of knowledge and taste, Ron and I decided to invite in also two exceptional, and somewhat younger, poets, Camille Dungy and Todd Boss, to guest edit a second section of another 30 poems – in this case holding new work, previously unpublished, from a mix of poets.”

Writers among the pages of the rest of the issue include Lenore Myka, Jenny Hanning, Amy Sayre-Roberts, Victoria Kelly, Katherine Heiny, Victoria Lancelotta, Nicole Miller, Laura Jok, Dina Nayeri, Kirk Perry, Eva Saulitis, Francesca Mari, Sandra Kobrin, and Jesse Goolsby.

PEN America‘s newest issue time travels back to 1922, the magazine’s founding year and the height of modernism. “Borrowing from the pages of The Dial, The Crisis, and The Little Review,” says the magazine, “we offer you a taste of the literary scene, alongside a trove of photographs, drawings, advertisements, headlines, and commentary. The featured writers—including Joyce, Du Bois, Woolf, McKay, Crane, Cather, Fitzgerald, Mansfield, and Moore—remain some of our greatest teachers and literary loves.”

In an introduction to the special section, Steven L. Isenberg, PEN America Center’s executive director, says, “This year we celebrate PEN’s ninetieth anniversary and hence our origins and our emergence after World War II and unto today as a literary human rights organization devoted to the protection of free expression and as a standard-bearer for the place of literature and thus the ties that bind, internationally, through reading, writing, translation, and fellowship. When we turn to the literature of 1922 in the pages ahead, we begin the journey once again.”

Writers featured within the pages of the rest of the journal include Jamal Joseph & Sonia Sanchez, Julie Otsuka, Herta Mϋller, Liu Xiaobo & Liu Xia, John Cage, Kimiko Hahn, Theresa Rebeck, Etgar Keret, Eileen Myles, and Richard Feynman.

The Feminist Press has released a ebook edition of Pussy Riot! A Punk Prayer for Freedom with profits from the sale of the book going to support the Pussy Riot legal defense team.

Following the February 21, 2012 staged performance in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow and subsequent arrest of several band members, “the Internet exploded with petitions, music videos, and calls to action, and as the guilty verdict was anticipated, Pussy Riot responded with articulate, unwavering courtroom statements, calling for freedom of expression, an end to economic and gender oppression, and a separation of church and state. They were sentenced to two years in prison, and inspired a global movement. Collected here are the words that roused the world.”

A print edition is forthcoming.

Citing a need to “navigate the changes in market conditions for print publications,” American Short Fiction is taking a “temporary hiatus” in order to “seek the best way forward” as well as “other organizational changes” for publication publisher, Badgerdog. Read the full press release here.

The most recent issue of Saranac Review makes room for a special section of poetry about Black Poetry Day. “For almost thirty years, SUNY-Plattsburgh has been home to an annual celebration of Black Poetry Day. The event was first established by Stanley Ransom, a librarian from the Town of Huntington, Long Island, in1970. Its purpose is to recognize the contributors of Black poets to American life and culture and to honor Jupiter Hammon, the first African-American to publish his own verse,” says Alexis Levitin, co-host of Black Poetry Day and poetry editor of the magazine.

Poetry in this section comes from five of the Black Poetry Day celebrants: E. Ethelbert Miller, Gretna Wilkinson, Charles Fort, Marilyn Nelson, and Tony Medina.

Reminiscent of one of the buildings on the campus of Goddard College—a symbol for the college and the independent spirit of being part of its learning environment—comes the name of a brand new magazine: Clockhouse Review. Published by Tim Kenyon and managed by Editor Chris Mackowski, this annual print magazine prints fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama (for both stage and screen), comics, and graphic narratives. “Readers will find a collection of work in various genres from strong, independent voices,” says Kenyon.

Their mission statement is as follows: “Dare. Risk. Dream. Share. Ruminate. How do we understand our place in the world, our responsibility to it, and our responsibility to each other? Clockhouse Review is an eclectic conversation about the work-in-progress of life—a soul arousal, a testing ground, a new community, a call for change. Join in.”

Writers and artists from the first issue include Sean Bernard, Arthur Levine, Will Donnelly, Robert McGuill, Mira Martin-Parker, Ian Couch, Hunter Huskey, Tina Tocco, Elizabeth Dalton, Lisa Braxton, David Ritchie, Barbara Ridley, Jan Shoemaker, Louise Deretchin, Mike Mosher, Sara Backer, Joe Lauinger, Paul David Adkins, Lynnel Jones, Leslie Paolucci, Jeffrey MacLachlan, Lisa Mangini, Valerie Macon, Steve Klepetar, Timothy Martin, Ron Riekki, Thomas Piekarski, Matthew Thorburn, John Grey, Steve West, Gabrielle Freeman, Jenn Blair, Lauren Nicole Nixon, Franklin Mulkey, Genevieve Betts, Ruth Bavetta, Gerald Solomon, Billy Reynolds, Russell Rowland, Cecilia Llompart, Leslie Heywood, Nicole Santalucia, Virginia Shank, Marissa Schwalm, and Charles Davenport.

While the goal at the moment is to publish annually, Kenyon expresses that they have the potential to become a biannual journal. “We will be featuring the work of well-known, established writers as featured contributors with each upcoming issue,” he says.

Plume, an online magazine, has just printed its 2012 poetry anthology which includes work from the first six issues, each of which includes twelve poems. In a forward by Ron Slate, he says “The Internet, home to Plume, supposedly has the legs to make its digital contents accessible in perpetuity, but if [Editor] Daniel Lawless should fail to pay his server invoice, Plume would vanish. So he is taking no chances. Petroleum-based print is his back-up medium.”

“The first volume of collected Plume also includes new unpublished work from additional poets, and a special feature on the work of the Dutch poet M. Vasalis, translated by David Young and Fred Lessing.”

Great radio program on The Bob Edwards Show: The Day Carl Sandburg Died. Edwards talks to Paul Bonesteel – documentary writer, editor and director of the film The Day Carl Sandburg died, which airs Monday, September 24 on PBS stations  as part of the American Masters series (check your local listings).

The Day Carl Sandburg Died tells the life story of the populist poet. Sandburg was known for bringing Chicago, “the city of the big shoulders,” to life in his writings and for his close associations with socialism. Carl Sandburg won two Pulitzer Prizes for his poetry, and one for his multi-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln.

This special issue of Light is dedicated to John Mella (December 12, 1941 – April 16, 2012), the previous editor. With this John Mella Memorial Double Issue comes the end of Light‘s print presence. “The transition has proven harder than any of us had hoped, of course. The loss of John last spring still hurts. Meanwhile, finances make it impossible to sustain the magazine in the form we’re all familiar with,” says Melissa Balmain. “The good news, though, is that along with the rest of Light‘s new, volunteer crew, I’m determined to make sure light verse still has a dedicated home in this country. The best way for that to happen, we’ve realized, is to move the magazine online. We believe this will allow Light to attract more fans than ever before.”

She notes that they hope to make the online version as easy on the eyes as possible and to print an occasional “best of” edition. She said they will still accept submissions the “old-fashioned way” via snail mail, however.

“It’s a real honor to be picking up where John left off. I’m immeasurably grateful to him, Lisa Markwart, Margarita Walters and Thomas Gorman, and to the many donors, directors, advisors and others who have served the magazine so well these past 20 years.”

In addition to work by Mella, there is writing in this issue from Dominic Martia, Charles Ghigna, Max Gutmann, Mary Meriam, Phillip T. Egelston, Henry Harlan, Daniel W. Galef, and Dan Campion.

The fall issue of The Iowa Review—whose cover features a boat adorned with oversized shrimp, “jumbo shrimp,” if you will—is titled “The Food Issue. Er, Non-Food Issue.” Noting that they don’t normally put out themed issues, Editor Russell Scott Valentino says that the issue, at first, wasn’t intended to be themed but happened as a result of several of the submissions including Meenakshi Gigi Durham’s essay, “Hunger Pangs,” Ayse Papatya Bucak’s short story “Iconography,” Elizabeth Cullen Dunn’s “A Gift from the American People,” and Naomi Kimbell’s esssay “Bounty.”

“For most magazines,” Valentino writes, “the idea of a Food Issue conjures up sumptuous color spreads, aspirational recipes, accounts of treks around the world to sample the most exotic repasts. But since TIR isn’t mandated to promote the quest for consumer bliss, but rather given the freedom to seek out and present a much wider slice of human experience, our Food Issue could perhaps more accurately be called the Non-Food Issue. Or the Hunger Issue. And our answer to the lavish four-color spread is Erin Carnes’s photographic series Digesting Dystopia, in which idealized images of plants, animals, and agriculture roost amid more disturbing views of the modern food production and consumption industries. Yet, despite the dark themes one would expect from a Hunger Issue, each of the pieces mentioned above also hints at the plenitude of Kimbell’s title: a spoonful of honey that provides a taste of home for war refugees, a bumper crop of Roma tomatoes at the food bank, the ‘chicken-butt soup’ Durham’s future husband teaches her to cook as they fall in love.”

Featured writers in this issue include Zach Savich, Kimberly Elkins, Eleanor Stanford, Tomaž Šalamun, Wendy S. Walters, and Stephanie Ford.

“The pieces in this issue,” says Valentino, “whether about food or other human hungers, remind us of privation and unmet desires but also of unexpected sources of abundance, including the ones in our own lives.

Each year Millay Colony for the Arts invites 52 visual artists, writers and composers for a colony residency. Residents are chosen anonymously by a panel of jurors in each discipline. The application process is competitive and based solely on on the merit of the artist statement and work sample. Past jurors and their bios can be viewed on the Juries page. An article on the jury process can also be found in the Millay Colony Spring 2008 newsletter.

The Millay Colony has announced that, starting this year, they are adding three new offerings to their roster of artist residencies on its upstate New York/Berkshire area campus. While continuing to offer month-long residencies to visual artists, writers and composers, the Millay Colony is now offering three new ways to spend time as a resident: Two-week Residencies in the month of September, Virtual Residencies and Group Residencies.

Next Application Deadline: October 1, 2012