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Poet Laureate #16 :: Kay Ryan

Thursday, July 17, the Library of Congress appointed Kay Ryan as the Library’s 16th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for 2008-2009.

Notable Quote: “If there is a [literary] game of sorts, you can win by staying home and doing the writing,” Ryan says. “Good work can make its way in this culture.”

Ryan’s poems and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Poetry, The Yale Review, Paris Review, The American Scholar, The Threepenny Review, Parnassus, and more.

Read more about Ryan and the appointment here.

Kenyon Review Online Gets Sassy(er)

From Kenyon Review Editor David Lynn:

Kenyon Review Online will be a lively and innovative bridge between the world of the very best print literature and the emerging potential of the electronic universe. We’ll be offering innovative and delightful stories, poems, essays, memoirs, and reviews online. They will be renewed and refreshed regularly and then collected into electronic “issues” over time.

By and large, pieces appearing electronically will be distinct from work in the printed version of The Kenyon Review. I like to think of those pages as timeless. After all, readers turn to them for pleasure and enlightenment years and even decades after they first appear.

KR Online, however, will definitely be more timely, published more quickly than we’re able to do with print. And the pieces here will also be a little more experimental, a little more “out there.” Who knows?—maybe a little sassier too.

Of course, despite a new flavor, all the great writing on KRO will be held to the same high standards and expectations as The Kenyon Review. They’ll be considered as carefully, copyedited to our exacting standards. This will truly be the best writing from around the world, brought to you in this exciting new medium. After all, it’s our name, our tradition, our reputation on the line as well.

Online now: Read Bonnie Jo Campbell’s “Boar Taint” and Kevin Young’s “I Shall be Released” from the Summer 2008 issue of KR. Read new poetry from Christian Ward, an essay on poet Thom Gunn by Alfred Corn, a review of Daniel Hall’s Under Sleep by Janet Chalmers, and a review of Sarah Manguso’s The Two Kinds of Decay: A Memoir by Daniel Torday.

Internships :: Lilith

LILITH Magazine
Independent, Jewish & Frankly Feminist

Lilith offers summer and semester-long internships to college students and recent graduates. Summer interns are expected to commit to at least two days per week in Lilith’s New York office. School-year internships may vary in their weekly commitment.

Some school credit may be available for a Lilith internship, which includes supervision by senior staff, participation in all editorial meetings, and routine office work relating to the assignment and editing of articles, preparing copy for the designer and printer, covering news of Jewish and feminist interest, ordering books for review, tracking manuscripts, and more. (Plus excellent snacks and good company.)

Sinful Reader :: Bechdel Comes Clean

This special comic of Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel appeared in the 100th issue of Entertainment Weekly, where her memoir Fun Home was listed as number 68 of “new classic” books from the past 25 years. The strip begins:

Authors, bless me for I have sinned.

It’s been three months since my last novel. And I didn’t even finish that one.

For my penance I swear I’ll finally read something by Joyce Carol Oates and John Updike…

For fans who weren’t able to find a copy of the magazine, Bechdel received permission to reprint the strip on her site. Read it in full here. No doubt some of you will identify with the situation – I know I did!

Question of Funding for Lit Mags

Susan of Rock and Sling recently wrote to inform me that they will be suspending publication of the magazine due to funding issues. As an independent non-profit, Rock and Sling is not alone in this struggle.

Susan writes: “Over the last few months we have been trying not to make the hard decision to suspend publication of Rock & Sling — pending procurement of long-term sustainable funding (tell me there is such a thing!). The problem of finances for independent presses runs deep. Without university backing to absorb some of the costs, the independent press must put an inordinate amount of time and energy into finding funding. We have found ourselves without sufficient partners and subscriptions alone haven’t proved to be enough. Suspending publication will allow our (all volunteer) staff to spend their time in the donations, grants, and endowments world more effectively.

“It seems a shame to have gotten this far and feel like we have established a niche for ourselves, only to have to stop production and turn all attention to finding support. I suppose any business major would have seen it coming from the get-go. Perhaps on your blog you can throw out the question of how independent presses can maintain financial stability. Where they can find funding—is govt. funding the answer? How does a journal like Rock & Sling (with a Christian bent to its content) get past the hyper vigilance of separation of church and state? Clearly we don’t want to be under any denomination—so church monies are not to be had.”

Susan also humorously added that it should be the law that writers who submit to lit mags should have to subscribe to at least one (another ongoing issue…). But, are subscriptions even enough in this day of increased postal rates and overall higher costs?

Any comments/advice? I’m sure this is an issue of concern for many. And, I already know what some will say – that even publications with university affiliation are not guarnteed funding. So, where does the money come from?

New Press Seeks Poetry

Tilt Press in North Carolina is looking to print three chapbooks a year and is currently open for submissions (July 1 – Sept 30, 2008). No strangers to verse, editors Rachel Mallino and Nicole Cartwright Denison have joined together in this venture to support as yet unpublished poets. For more information, visit the Tilt Press website.

Lit Mag Start-up Advice

From blogger Noel P. Mariano of The Acadmic Masochist: I went to school for this?

So you want to start your own magazine?

I had been kicking around the idea of starting up my own online literary journal. One of the graduates of the masters program that I’m in had started one up and it’s become very successful garnering some nominations for the Pushcart as well as other awards including Best of the Web.

I sat [and] talked to him about some of the advice and some of the things he considered when starting and here’s what Niel had to say…

Read the blog post on The Academic Masochist.

Holocaust Memoirs Wanted

Appeal for Previously Unpublished or Unavailable Memoirs by Survivors of the Shoah
Worldwide Shoah Memoirs Collection

The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) has launched a worldwide appeal to Jewish survivors of the Holocaust and their families to submit previously unpublished or unavailable memoirs to a worldwide electronic collection.

This collection is being established in cooperation with Yad Vashem, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the M

Duffer Sighting :: Chicago Lit Examiner

Long-time supporter of and intermittent review writer for NewPages (when he’s not doing a hundred other things!), Rob Duffer has embarked on a new endeavor: “I’m the Chicago Literary Scene Examiner.”

Rob explains:

Examiner is a community news source with ‘examiners’ giving the low-down on a specific scene. Examiner has expanded into 60 cities with over 6 million users. Dave Clapper, founder and editor of SmokeLong Quarterly, is the Seattle Lit Examiner. Its Chicago market is only two months old. It’s new, I’m newer, and I’m trying to get people involved.

My intention is to make the site a comprehensive resource of everything literary going on in and around Chicago. Promoting events; featuring authors, editors, agents, lit journals, presses, reading series; interviewing literary folk; reporting lit news; suggesting writing prompts or playing local lit trivia—pretty much anything to do with the written word in Chicago.

So what can you get out of it? Exposure. Promotion. Tapping into a growing network of sometimes disparate literary groups. One place to get reliable literary news in Chicago and nationwide.

The first author to be featured on Examiner will be Stephanie Kuehnert.

Send me your news, put me on your newsletter, add me to your RSS feed, forward this message to anyone who wants another venue to promote their writing. Check out the site. Email me at [email protected]

Cadillac Cicatrix California Fire Response

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, July 17, 2008

Dear Friends …

I write to you with an update on the third issue of Cadillac Cicatrix and with news about our recent evacuation due to the encroachment of wildfires upon our office.

As some of you know, the recent spread of California wildfires has been difficult and exhausting for many communities and fire fighters. Our office has been threatened for the past two months by not only one fire but now a second, more serious fire.

On Saturday, July 12, we were persuasively evacuated from our offices because The Basin Complex Fire had come within potential striking distance of the community where we are located. The Basin Complex is the same fire that threatened Big Sur two weeks ago and has since moved northeast toward Carmel Valley through the Ventana Wilderness.

The fire is currently less than a comfortable distance from the Cadillac Cicatrix office and moving ever closer.

This being said, we are optimistic about the outcome, and we are attempting to move forward with our project (now from a satellite location) but it has been difficult – we are in a state of resolute plodding. Our intentions are to continue as we have for the past two years, but many of our files are currently in a tenuous location and it is uncertain when we might be able to access them.

Depending on the weather, the ability of thousands of fire fighters, as well as military and federal authorities, we could be back in our offices within a few weeks. If the worst does come to pass … well, I’d rather not think about it.

In the spirit of good communication, we only wish to inform you of our current situation and that the release of our third issue (in print any way) has been somewhat delayed.

The entire content of the issue – a focus on ADAPTATION – is available free online at www.CadillacCicatrix.org. We invite you to enjoy the very many talented writers and artists who have contributed to this issue, released July 1.

I look forward to sending you a more positive update soon and thank you for your continued support of our project.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Spencer
Executive Editor

CADILLACCICATRIX
www.CadillacCicatrix.org
21800 Parrot Ranch Road
Carmel Valley, CA 93924
[email protected]

Mag Mailbag July 17

After a couple weeks of “host issues,” I am finally able to update the site!

Stop by NewPages Magazine Stand to find publisher descriptions and cover art from our sponsor magazines, and a list of all new issues of other literary magazines received here at NewPages World Headquarters.

Trying something new once again, this page will combine print and online lit mags.

The alternative magazines page has also been recently updated, but as we aren’t getting a lot of these coming through NPWHQ, and visitor traffic to this page is discouraging low, this may be the last time this page is updated. (Unless there’s some huge public outcry opposed to its elimination…)

If you’d like to be listed, as well as considered for review, be sure we get a copy of your publication (see our FAQ page for more information). For online lit mags, you only need to e-mail notification of when you have a new issue posted online: denisehill-at-newpages.com

NewPages Update :: New Listings :: July 2008

More great finds added to the NewPages ranks. Welcome aboard – give ’em a click!

When viewing our guides, if you know of any links (mags, publishers, bookstores, record labels, etc.) you would like us to consider, please write to me: denisehill-at-newpages.com and send me a link.

New Online Lit Mags Listed
Parlor Journal
Shelf Life
CellA’s Round Trip
Road Runner Haiku Journal
Pregnant Moon Poetry Review

New Print Lit Mags Listed
Low Rent
Two Review
Packingtown Review
Oval
Illuminations
Ocho
MiPOesias

New Online Alt Mags Listed
Is Greater Than

New Print Alt Mags Listed
Penguin Eggs
Ode Magazine
Good Magazine
Alternatives
Whole Terrain
Our Truths/Neustras Verdades
Social Policy
The Last Straw
Permaculture Activist

New Publishers Listed
Green Candy Press
Firebrand Books

PEN Amercian Prison Writing Awards

Every year, the PEN Prison Writing Program recognizes the work of writers imprisoned throughout the country. Exiled from our schools and society, inmates submit manuscripts in every form to one of the only forums of public expression for incarcerated writers. Presented on the PEN American website are uncensored writings (poetry, fiction, essay, memoir, drama) from this year’s Prison Writing Contest winners, as well as one-on-one interviews with some of the most hidden voices in America.

Narrative Medicine

The Program in Narrative Medicine was established in the Department of Medicine at Columbia University in 1996. Its mission statement reads: “Narrative Medicine fortifies clinical practice with the narrative competence to recognize, absorb, metabolize, interpret, and be moved by the stories of illness. Through narrative training, the Program in Narrative Medicine helps doctors, nurses, social workers, and therapists to improve the effectiveness of care by developing the capacity for attention, reflection, representation, and affiliation with patients and colleagues. Our research and outreach missions are conceptualizing, evaluating, and spear-heading these ideas and practices nationally and internationally.”

Included in the program are:

Narrative Medicine Rounds
Lecture/reading series with such writers as Mark Nepo, Sue Halpren, Carol Gilligan,

Literature@Work
Discussions of literature

Narrative Medicine Workshops
Three-day intensive workshops for health care professionals and literary scholars engaged in narrative medicine practice. The next workshop will be held October 24 – 26, 2008.

Narrative Oncology
Doctors, nurses, and social workers on the oncology unit of Presbyterian Hospital gather bimonthly to read to one another what they have written about their day-to-day clinical experiences.

Student Creative Rounds and Reflexions, a student literary publication, as well as seminars for students at various levels.

Job :: Bookstore Manager

Named “the best campus bookstore in the country” by Rolling Stone, Kenyon College seeks manager to begin next chapter for its campus bookstore with national reputation for its rich literary traditions. Must have experience leading and managing others, ability to network and develop marketing/event opportunities, and interest in relocating to village of Gambier, Ohio or surrounding area. Highly visible (and celebrated) position on campus requires positive, energetic and creative manager with interest in being an active part of the campus and surrounding community. Kenyon College is an EOE. Send a brief statement of interest along with resum

Disability Journal Expands Focus

In 2009 the innovative Journal of Literary Disability is moving to Liverpool University Press under the new title Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies. It will continue to focus on the literary representation of disability, but cultural studies will now be added to the multidisciplinary mix.

With an editorial board of 50 internationally renowned scholars, the journal is central to the literary disability movement that is changing the face of literary studies on a global scale.

Special issues have included Representations of Cognitive Impairment, guest edited by Dr. Lucy Burke, Senior Lecturer, Department of English, Manchester Metropolitan University; Disability and the Dialectic of Dependency, guest edited by Dr. Michael Davidson, Vice Chair, Department of Literature, University of California; and Disability and/as Poetry, guest edited by Dr. Jim Ferris, Faculty Associate, Department of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin.

The first issue in the new format, JLCDS 3.1: Deleuze, Disability and Difference, will be a special issue, guest edited by Dr. Petra Kuppers, Associate Professor of English, Theatre, and Women’s Studies, University of Michigan; and Dr. James Overboe, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Wilfrid Laurier University. Many disability scholars have been wary of utilizing poststructuralism as a means to disrupt ableism. But there is much nuance in poststructuralist thought and its relation to representational politics, and JLCDS 3.1 hopes to push disability studies further along its journey into this territory.

Collaborative Autobiography :: The Grand Piano

An interesting concept, especially in its decades-long planning and the use of sequencing in each volume. I’ve not seen a copy of this – anyone who has is welcome to comment. From the website:

The Grand Piano is an experiment in collective autobiography by ten writers identified with Language poetry in San Francisco. The project takes its name from a coffeehouse at 1607 Haight Street in San Francisco where from 1976 to 1979 several of us programmed and coordinated – and all of us participated in – a weekly reading and performance series.

The Grand Piano is centered on the 1970s when we first met and collaborated. Yet we all engage issues beyond that time, and the project adheres to no prescribed set of themes. Originally, each author was to follow the prompt of the previous. In the event, many sections have been written out of order, and the project’s development has been nonlinear even as it is being published in serial form. Rae Armantrout, Steve Benson, Carla Harryman, Lyn Hejinian, Tom Mandel, Ted Pearson, Bob Perelman, Kit Robinson, Ron Silliman, and Barrett Watten write The Grand Piano.

New volumes appear several times a year. The complete series will comprise ten volumes, with the ten authors appearing in different sequence in each volume, according to the following grid:

1 BP BW SB CH TM RS KR LH RA TP
2 BW TP RA SB KR TM RS CH LH BP
3 SB TM CH RA LH BP BW TP KR RS
4 CH KR TM BW RA TP LH BP RS SB
5 TM RS BW TP SB RA BP KR CH LH
6 RS SB BP KR BW LH CH RA TP TM
7 KR CH LH RS BP BW TP TM SB RA
8 LH RA RS BP TP KR TM SB BW CH
9 RA LH TP TM RS CH SB BW BP KR
10 TP BP KR LH CH SB RA RS TM BW

Meridian’s Lost Classics a Great Find

Meridian, the semi-annual from the University of Virginia, celebrates its 10th Anniversary with its May 2008 issue. In it are selections from the first ten years of Meridian. One of the regular features of Meridian is the “Lost Classic” – which is exactly as it sounds.

The retrospective includes a list of the twenty classics, a brief explanation as to “why it is important,” for some “what happened to it,” and an excerpt of the text. A few listed classics: Letters from Jack London to Louis A. Augusin; Zora Neeale Hurston: Unpublished Writing from the Federal Writers’ Project and a Lost Interview; Two Uncollected Works by Robert Frost; A special Portfolio by Jane Kenyon; A Letter from Edgar Allan Poe to Washington Irving.

This issue of Meridian‘s “Lost Classic” is “Stephen Crane’s Deleted Chapters from Red Badge of Courage.” The introduction by Jeb Livingood as well as the chapters are available on Meridian‘s website. A number of the previous issues’ Lost Classics are also available on their site.

A wonderful feature for reconnecting and reconsidering works and their authors.

Giveaway :: Indiana Review Funk Trivia

To celebrate Indiana Review 30.1 (summer 2008) – The Funk Feature – Associate Editor Nina Mamikunian let me know about the “Five Hump Days of Funk” going on at Under the Blue Light, IR’s blog.

“Here’s how it’s going to work: on Wednesday, we’ll ask a question, you’ll answer it an an e-mail to us, and we’ll select a winner based on response accuracy first, and then on response speed. The following Monday, we’ll announce who gets the copy of the issue.”

Click quickly, and get your free issue – it’s a dandy!

Awards :: Margaret Atwood

A neighbor recently loaned me her copy of Atwoods’s short stories, Moral Disorder, which I am slowly making my way through – one story a night before bed: my nightcap. It is a collection claimed to be as close to autobiography as Atwood has written in her fiction. More poignant: I find it to be a reminder of what it is I admire and appreciate in a “good story.” The book, BTW, with a 2006 copyright, and a first edition, is already a victim of “discard” from a public library. *sigh* That’s another blog story…

Canada’s Margaret Atwood Wins Spanish Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature
Excerpted from China View
Read more on CBCNews.ca

Canadian writer Margaret Atwood has won the 2008 Prince of Asturias Award for Letters, the jury said Wednesday in Oviedo, northern Spain.

“We decided to bestow the award on Margaret Atwood for her outstanding literary work that has explored different genres with acuteness and irony, and because she cleverly assumes the classic tradition, defends women’s dignity and denounces social unfairness,” the jury said.

The poet, novelist and literary critic was born in 1939 in Ottawa. She received international recognition with her novel “The Edible Woman” (1969), followed by “Surfacing” (1972-1973), “Lady Oracle” (1977), “Life Before Man” (1980), “Cat’s Eye” (1988) and “The Robber Bride” (1993).

Atwood is considered to be the greatest living Canadian writer and one of the most eminent voices in the current scene. She offers in her novels a politically committed, critical view of the world and contemporary society, while revealing extraordinary sensitivity in her copious poetic oeuvre, a genre which she cultivates with great skill. The plot of her novels usually focuses on the figure of women.

The literature award attracted 32 candidates from 24 countries this year. It is one of the eight that the Prince of Asturias Foundation gives out yearly since 1981. Other categories include scientific research, sports, arts and humanities. Each carries a 50,000-euro (77,00 U.S. dollars) cash stipend, a sculpture by Catalan sculptor Joan Miro, a diploma and an insignia.

Jobs :: Various

The Professional Writing Program, English Department, at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Creative Writing: Drama beginning August 2009. Dr. Heather H. Thomas, Chair, Tenure-Track Creative Writing Faculty Search Committee.

The English Department at Washburn University is seeking a poet to join a vital undergraduate writing program with colleagues in fiction and creative nonfiction writing. Howard Faulkner, Chair. September 29, 2008.

Emory University. Two-year Creative Writing Fellowship in fiction undergraduate English/Creative Writing Program, beginning fall 2009. November 14, 2008.

Promote Poetry in Your Community

It’s not too late to ask your local or student newspaper to start running this column, or to add it to your own publication. There are two levels of permissible use, with publications only needing to register online (it’s easy); personal use/classroom use need not register.

“American Life in Poetry is a free weekly column for newspapers and online publications featuring a poem by a contemporary American poet and a brief introduction to the poem by Ted Kooser. The sole mission of this project is to promote poetry, and we believe we can add value for newspaper and online readers by doing so. There are no costs or obligations for reprinting the columns, though we do require that the text of the column be reproduced without alteration, along with the complete copyright, permissions and credit information, exactly as supplied with each column.”

In addition so seeing so many of my favorite poets in this project, I have also discovered many new voices. I was also pleased to see two of my friends and colleagues featured: Jeff Vande Zande for his poem “Clean,” and Rick “Anhinga Rick” Campbell, of Anhinga Press, for his work “Heart.”

NewPages Update :: Book Reviews :: July 2008

New Book Reviews have been posted on NewPage. Stop by and take a look at what our reviewers had to say about: Best of the Web 2008 :: Knockemstiff :: Distance Makes the Heart Grow Sick :: Seal Woman :: Alluvium :: Little Brother :: Clear All the Rest of the Way :: Spilling the Moon :: Girl on the Fridge

Looking For Good Foot 7

An interesting request: Anyone have a copy of Good Foot Issue #7 you would be willing to give up? I’ve got a “shot in the dark” request from someone who was published in it who never received a copy of the issue – it was the last published – and we can’t track down anyone associated with the publication. Said author now needs a copy of the mag for professional reasons. NewPages never got a copy of issue 7, so we can’t help out on this one. Anyone? If you have one and will part with it, please send it our way: NewPages, POB 1580, Bay City, MI 48706. I’m sure some good literary karma will come your way as a result…and don’t we all need more of that?

E-mail me and let me know: denisehill-at-newpages.com

New Online Lit Mag :: Cella’s Round Trip

CEllA’s Round Trip publishes poetry, flash fiction/non-fiction, digital poetry, digital art, photography (digitally altered or au naturale), collage, drawings, paintings, shockwave, movies, etc. Favor given to the experimental and creative use of the digital medium; art that creatively utilize words and language; experimental and precise creative writing that utilizes visuals to enhance meaning.

Issue #01, Summer 2008, includes Barry Graham, Christophe Casamassima, Sara Crowley, Craig LaRotunda, Ava C. Cipri, Valerie Fox, William Doreski, C.L. Bledsoe, Jon Pineada, Gwendolyn Joyce-Mintz, Elizabeth Kate Switaj, Vernon Frazer, Cheryl Hicks, Glenn Capers, and more.

Special Calls for Issue #02
.swf or .mov files: “We want good stories that literally move.”
Broadsides. Design the art around your text or the text around your art.

The Future of FC2

Our gal Brenda Mills, managing editor at Fiction Collective 2, had some things to say in the most recent company newsletter (04.08) about changes at FC2. In sum, due to budget cuts at Florida State University (FC2’s home), Brenda’s job will be cut in August. Moreover, when Brenda leaves, she was told to take FC2 with her.

That sounds pretty bad.

However, in the literary world, when one falls, there is often someone else there holding the net. In this case, Jeffrey Di Leo, founder of symploke, editor of ABR, Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences at the U of Houston-Victoria, and long-time friend of FC2, offered to fund several positions at UHV to become the new Brendas (we knew it would take more than one to replace her!), and offered FC2 a home.

That sounds pretty good.

Additionally, UHV is planning to establish an endowment fund to provide for FC2’s future, kicking up promotional activities in their new home area, and will be joined by Matthew Kirkpatrick (of Barrellhouse fame) to add a vast expanse of knowledgeable experience to the work.

That sounds really good.

So far so good for FC2. I’d say a lucky break in the fall, but I know there had to be a lot of people doing a lot of negotiating and paper pushing to get this all to happen so quickly and, seemingly, so smoothly. No doubt, our gal Brenda was – and will be – workin’ it all the way to the end.

Oh, yeah, Brenda.

No, she will not be moving with FC2. With a family in Tallahassee, a move to Texas was not possible. Golly gee whiz, we’re going to miss Brenda. Her insatiable appetite for experimental fiction and unending enthusiasm for her work really made the public face of FC2. She was one of the first people I met at the very first AWP I attended oh so many years ago, and I still have the promotional Barbie Doll leg as a keepsake. Since then, she and her cadre of authors have been one of the greatest highlights of the conference for me, and so I’m sure, for many. What now? I suppose time will tell, but I hope for all her hard work and dedication, something good comes her way.

New Lit on the Block :: Oval

The Oval is a brand new literary magazine from the University of Montana published by undergraduate students.

Oval‘s website says they are “devoted to the publishing of writing and artwork from the University of Montana,” and the first issue features UofM students exclusively. However, future issues are open to submissions from undergraduate college and university students in the U.S. Their mission: “to provide a fresh outlet for new and young artists to express themselves, their ideas and passions to the world through the medium of print.”

Oval accepts e-mail submissions year-round: poetry (translations welcome), short stories, creative nonfiction, short plays, interviews, and visual art (such as photography, paintings, drawings, prints, cartoons, and graphic literature).

The Spring 2008 inagural issue is available online (pdf) and includes “Buss, Buss” by poet Laura Anne Nicole Foster, “Just Fine” by author Crystal Corrigan, and “Wolverine and Rabbitt” by artist Eli Suzukovich III.

What’s this thing you call Type Writer?

Here’s a story that comes from my friend Sue about her 14-year-old daughter, Corby:

Corby is spending the weekend at my dad’s. My dad is in the process of trying to clean out the house for a future sale (which is a WHOLE other story). So he, Corby and my stepmother are going through the troves of junk in the basement. They find my handy, dandy MANUAL typewriter. Corby calls to report this “ancient” find.

She then begins to question me. “How does it work. I see the stick thing (the stick thing???) goes up into the middle of the machine. But how does the letter get on the paper?”

I try to explain.

She says she’s pressing on a key and it just isn’t hitting anything. I tell her she must punch the key harder. She still can’t figure it out. My husband, Dennis, asks, “Does she have paper in it?” Surprisingly enough, she did.

She asked what the black ribbon was for. I explained. Then she punched the key harder – and miracle of miracles – it worked (I can’t believe the ribbon hasn’t dried out – this thing has got to be at least 30 years old).

She asked me why I had this typewriter. I told her that I had to type papers for school on it. Her comment: “That must have sucked.” She has no idea…

She hangs up so she can play with the ancient piece of technology.

Dennis and I were having a good chuckle over the fact that I had to try to explain how a manual typewriter works. My phone rings again.

“Mom? How do I turn the Caps Lock off?”

*Sigh*

And I thought having the Birds and Bees talk would have been difficult!

Help With Bookstore Guide Update

We doing a summer update on our bookstore list – NewPages.com Guide to Bookstores in the U.S. and Canada. If you’re traveling or moving to a new town, it’s a wonderful list to have along. But we’d like your help in updating this list: please check out the city/state where you live and let us know if what we have is correct. Bookstores often move or close or even spring up anew without us knowing about it (imagine that!). Maybe what we have listed isn’t really an indie, or is mainly a resale shop. Please feel free to set us right about it:

newpages-at-newpages.com
Subject: Indie Bookstore

Cody’s Books of Berkeley Closes

Revived once when on the verge of bankruptcy, Cody’s Books of Berkeley has closed for good. There is no evidence a savior will emerge — as one did before — to save the iconic retailer.

Anirvan Chatterjee, founder and CEO of bookfinder.com, said Cody’s closure is another sign of challenges facing independent bookstores, which are seeing increased competition from online retailers and chain booksellers. “Actually, about as many new independent bookstores are opening as are closing. But the new ones tend to be specialized,” said Chatterjee. “It’s harder to be an independent general bookstore.”

Read the rest of the story by Francine Brevetti in the Oakland Tribune

Audio Interviews :: Write the Book

Started in April 2008, Write the Book, hosted by author Shelagh C. Shapiro, is a series of audio podcasts available for online listening and download. These are interviews with authors, editors, agents, editors, journalists – people involved with writing and publishing.

The interview with Caroline Mercurio, editor of the Hunger Mountain is an insightful look at the work of literary magazine production, and offers a nice recognition of NewPages and the work we do here to help promote lit mags and small press ventures. (Thanks Caroline!)

A sample of other interviews available include one of my all-time favs, David Budbill, as well as authors Chris Bohjalian, Laura Williams McCaffrey, Annie Downey, Elizabeth Bluemle, and David Huddle.

Write The Book originally airs on WOMM-LP 105.9 FM “The Radiator,” in Burlington, Vermont, every Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m.

Interview :: CutBank in Bangledesh

Considered “America’s foremost literary magazine” by Ahmede Hussain of The Daily Star, Bangladesh’s largest circulating English-language newspaper, CutBank Managing Editor Brian Kevin gives an interview in which he talks about the American lit mag scene, writing personal history, and the dangerous lives of wild animals (really, it did go there…). Kevin gives insight into what CutBank looks for in their submissions, editorial decisions, and comments on writer attention to audience. Read the column in full here.

Awards :: Coach House Books Recognized

At a ceremony held July 23 in Toronto, Coach House Books was awarded the inaugural Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts for Arts Organizations.

The award, administered by the Ontario Arts Council, recognizes outstanding achievement in the professional arts by an individual or a group. Coach House shared the night with the winner in the individual artist category, acclaimed Ottawa-based sculptor and installation artist Ron Noganosh.

Publisher Stan Bevington and Senior Editor Alana Wilcox accepted the award on behalf of Coach House. Alana expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Culture, the Premier’s Office, the Ontario Arts Council and the many, many outstanding writers, editors and artists that have worked with the press over the years.

[From the Coach House Books Newsletter.]

Nominations Please :: Best of Creative Nonfiction

From Creative Nonfiction Managing Editor Hattie Fletcher: The Best Creative Nonfiction, Vol. 3: Editors of any publication, print or online, are invited to nominate up to 3 essays or articles from their 2007/2008 issues. Send one hard copy of each piece to:

The Best Creative Nonfiction
c/o Creative Nonfiction
5501 Walnut Street, suite 202
Pittsburgh, PA 15232

or by email (pdf or Word attachments only): bestcreativenonfiction[at]gmail.com

To be considered, work must be slated for publication before the end of 2008. In the case of work not published by the nomination deadline, please send page proofs or a Word manuscript.

Deadline: July 15

Ducts Seeks Editor-in-Chief

“Ducts.org, the literary webzine of personal stories, is looking for a young, hungry someone or other to take over the duties of editor-in-chief. We’re looking for someone who cares deeply about the literary community, has some experience working on a literary magazine and also has some technical skills. We put our site together in WordPress so experience using that would be a bonus, but not necessary as long as you’re willing to learn. The position is voluntary (no pay), but will allow the new editor to gain invaluable experience and make tremendous contacts. If any of you know someone who might be interested, please have them contact me, Jonathan Kravetz, at [email protected] and put “Editor-in-Chief” in the subject line. Many thanks!”

[Originally posted on WestConn MFA in Professional Writing, June 18.]

New Lit on the Block :: Low Rent

Low Rent is an independent journal from New York (though distributed beyond), published six times a year. The frequency of publication sounds ambitious for a New Lit on the Block, but the format is modest – including (so far) two stories and eight poems every issue*. I’m not sure if there are plans to increase the content, but as a bimonthly, lower quantity and higher quality would seem to be the ideal balance to keep both writers and readers coming back. For the low-rent cover price – $4.95 – it is likely to keep attracting new and repeat readers.

Edited by W.P Hughes, Jeff Bernard, Robert Liddell, and Jason Koo, Issue 1 features stories by Trevor J. Houser and Tracy Jo Barnwell, poetry by Marc McKee (winner of the 2008 DIAGRAM Chapbook Contest) and Ciaran Berry, and design by Hiroko Mizuno. Issue 2 includes stories by Murray Farish and Robert Taylor Brewer, and poetry by Sasha West and Jason Bredle, cover design by Hiroko Mizuno, inspired by EMIGRE. Excerpts of pieces from both issues are available online* (click on covers).

Low Rent is accepting submissions via e-mail of stories under 6k and poetry. Small stipends are paid to writers as it becomes available*. It’s worth reading their creatively smarmy FAQs to get to know them better, and just to put a smile on your face.

*Updated information via Bill Hughes at Low Rent (7/11).

Job :: Fiction @ Missouri State

From a list to which I belong, orginally an e-mail from W.D. Blackmon at MSU:

“In the Missouri State University English Department we’re doing a search early this summer for a Fiction Writing Instructor (Lecturer). We had an unexpected resignation late in the academic year, and our goal is to complete the search while summer school is still in session. Creative Writing is booming at Missouri State, especially at the undergraduate level, since both beginning short story writing and poetry writing are offered to all students on campus as a General Education option.” See job posting here.

Can Your Writing Do That?

I liked this comment from the Editor’s Notes of the latest issue of Tin House:

“We are frequently asked what we look for in a story or poem. The answer is simple: To see things anew, to be reminded of what it is to be alive. To miss our subway stop because we are so consumed with what we are reading. That’s all we ask for. And we hope that you will find the same.”

They make it sound so simple, don’t they? I know exactly the kind of writing they’re talking about, and I imagine it is neither simple to write, nor as an editor, easy to select. But, as a reader, greatly appreciated.

Call for Papers :: Underground 8.18

Generally, calls for submissions are listed on the NewPages Submissions Page, but this one in particular did not have a web link, yet I felt it might be of interest to some of our readers:

UNDERGROUND
Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference November 6-7, 2008
Department of Comparative Literature
Graduate Center, City University of New York
365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016

Call for Papers

“I am convinced that fellows like me who live in dark cellars must be kept under restraint. They may be able to live in their dark cellars for forty years and never open their mouths, but the moment they get into the light of day and break out they may talk and talk and talk…” -Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground

How do we perceive the underground? What lies beneath the surface? Wherein lies the significance of this metaphor? In defining the “underground” we have an immediate understanding of the term in its political, artistic, spatial and temporal dimensions: secret societies, the avant-garde, the unknown, the underworld. But what else constitutes the underground? Since antiquity we have been fascinated by the possibility of a separate realm that does not abide by the conventions of the known world. The underground also represents all that is hidden within the human psyche and that resists our attempts to excavate it. This conference intends to explore manifestations of the underground across all disciplines: literature, art, music, film, political science, sociology, psychology, art history, classics, philosophy, etc.

Papers might focus on the following topics, but are not limited to these: The underground man in the novel—the underworld—Hades—the subversive— counterculture—resistance movements—outlaws—outcasts—misfits—the subconscious—the subway—the metro—the grave—le gouffre—the living dead— internment—revolution—catacombs—bomb shelters—thresholds—sewage—treasure— secret societies—the mole—urban myth—irony—the hidden—underground railroad—slave narrative—the avant-garde in music, film, art and writing.

Please submit abstracts of up to 300 words to cunyunderground_at_gmail.com or to the address below. Special consideration will be given to panel proposals. We will acknowledge the receipt of abstracts within 2-3 days. The deadline for submissions is August 18, 2008.

You will be notified if your proposal has been accepted no later than September 17, 2008 and we would like to have confirmation from those whose submissions have been accepted no later than October 1, 2008. There is no registration fee and the conference is free to attend. Please send all questions to the above listed email address.

Anick Boyd
c/o CUNY Graduate Center
Ph. D. Program in Comparative Literature
365 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10016

NewPages Update :: New Publication Listings

Whew! We’ve been busy here at NewPages World Headquarters!* We have been checking out lots of web sites, scouring the globe for quality publications not yet listed in our guides that we think our readers would like to know about.* It’s exhausting work*, always looking our for our readers*, but we know it MUST be appreciated*. (Is the Catholic-guilt-martyr thing working here? I’d hate to think I sat through all those catechism classes on Monday nights for nothing.)

*Now would be a good time to click the PintLink on the right and make a donation.

These publications have also all been added to the guide pages and have a “NEW!” icon next to them so they are easy to find. As always, let us know of any publications we don’t have on our lists that you’d like us to consider: denisehill-at-newpages-dot-com.

New Online Lit Mag Sponsors
In the Mist
A publication to give a voice to all the other female adventurers who need a home for their work. Now accepting submissions for the first issue. See website for details.

The Straddler
An interdisciplinary journal of culture, publishing innovative criticism, essays, art, poetry, fiction and interviews, all of which aim to examine and transform their cultural context. Dismissing neither academically nor popularly informed criticism, The Straddler offers more than either, at present, provides.

New Print Lit Mags Listed
Avery
First City Review
Hedgehog Review

New Online Lit Mags Listed
Ugly Cousin
Conte
Swell
Salt Magazine
Jacket
91st Merdian
The Teacher’s Voice
r.ky.r.y.
Rougarou
Poetry International Web

New Alternative Mags Listed
Cure

New Online Alternative Mags Listed
Eurozine
In Short

Awards :: Glimmer Train Family Matters – June 2008

Glimmer Train has chosen the three winning stories of our April quarterly of the Family Matters competition for stories in the word count range 500-12,000.

First place: Terrence Cheng of New York City wins $1200 for “The Boy”. His story will be published in the Spring 2009 issue of Glimmer Train Stories.

Second place: Marissa Perry, also of New York City, wins $500 for “Where We Began”. Her story will also be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories, increasing her prize to $700.

Third place: Matthew Salesses of Storrs, CT, wins $300 for “The Grief Ministry”. His story will also be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories, increasing his prize to $700.

The next Family Matters contest deadline is in July. See Glimmer Train’s website for full details.

Short Stories :: Matt Bell and Blake Butler

NewPages is fortunate in having a staff of review writers with a great range of literary interests and skills. We love hearing about “our” writers having their creative works published, and take the opportunity when we know about it to pass this along to our readers. We just got this note from NewPages Book Review Editor Matt Bell:

“SmokeLong Quarterly has just published its 21st issue, which is also its fifth anniversary. To celebrate, they’ve published a double issue of forty flash fictions, including stories by many of the people who’ve been staff members over the last five years. Myself (“The Folk Singer Dreams of Time Machines”) and Blake Butler [NewPages Book Reviewer] (“Disease Relics”) both have stories in the issue… SLQ is one of the best flash fiction publications around…

“Also just published is the June 2008 issue of elimae, which, among other things, also includes stories by myself (“Creating a Radio”) and Blake (“Do Not Look into the Mother’s Head”).”

New Online Lit Mag :: The Straddler

“The Straddler is an interdisciplinary journal of culture, publishing innovative criticism, essays, art, poetry, fiction and interviews, all of which aim to examine and transform their cultural context. Dismissing neither academically nor popularly informed criticism, The Straddler offers more than either, at present, provides.”

For even more on what this new endeavor means to be about, both editors Elizabeth Murphy and Dan Monaco have His and Her “say” on the matter to kick off the Spring/Summer 2008 issue.

Also on board – contributing editors include Ted Barron, Isabel Sinistore and Sarah Janoch, and web designers Monica Donovan and Michael Wysong.

Included in the inagural issue:

“Enough of Your Yankee Bloodshed,” an essay on Emily Dickinson by Dan Monaco

Poetry by William O’Hara, Elizabeth Murphy, and Frank Arthor Drake

Fiction by Greg Bennetts

“Let the Rhythm (and Melody) hit ‘em: 3 Communiqués from Classical Music’s Long March,” in which The Straddler sat down with a 35-year-old conductor who lives in New York City and asked him some questions about the health of classical music

Paintings by Mark Johnson

And the review “American Gangster: The Crime You Need When the Mob is Not Enough”

The Straddler: “Don’t fear what you do understand.”

New Lit on the Block :: Oranges & Sardines

“Menendez Publishing introduces Oranges & Sardines, the new print magazine dedicated to spanning the two genres of poetry and art in an effort to fuse both communities in a fresh and exciting way. The staff of Oranges & Sardines are poets and artists who are dedicated not only to publishing the best content submitted in both genres, but also to the aesthetic appearance of our magazine. We welcome submissions from the established as well as the emerging and unknown.” (No sim/subs.) The 8×10 format is extremely well styled in this quarterly publication, and the editors ask that writers consider this format when submitting works.

The Summer 2008 issue (1.1) is edited by David Krump, Andy Nicholson, Meghan Punschke, Didi Menendez, and features:

Artists Ethan Diehl, Marcia Molnar, Holly Picano, Cheryl Kelley, Jennifer Wildermuth, L.D. Grant, Niel Hollingsworth, Steph Chard, Jeremy Baum, Jeff Filipski and E.B. Goodale.

Poems by Blake Butler, Dana King, J.P. Dancing Bear, Josh Olsen, Steffi Drewes, Matthew Hittinger, Patrick Leonard, Diana Adams and Graeme Mullen.

Short story by Kirk Curnutt. Reviews by Miguel Murphy, Michael Parker, Cheryl Townsend, Courtney Campbell and Jim Knowles.

Columns by Talia Reed and Caridad McCormick.

Grace Cavalieri interviews Mark Doty.

Jobs :: Various

The English Department at Missouri State University anticipates an August 2008 opening for an Instructor, non tenure-track, to: teach ENG 215 Creative Writing: Short Story and other fiction writing classes in support of B.A. (also General Education offerings); to help mentor selected graduate students specializing in fiction-writing; and to help advise undergraduate creative writing majors. June 24.

The Department of English at Medgar Evers College invites applications for a full-time tenure-track position teaching Creative and Professional Writing. July 1.