Teachers: As we approach National Poetry Month, here are Curriculum and Lesson Plans from the Academy of American Poets. Those of you who have successful plans you use in the classroom, the Academy is looking to add to this resource.

“All the Curricula and Lesson Plans were created by secondary school teachers in New York and Colorado. Each teacher developed their unit over the course of an academic year and has tested his or her lesson plans in the classroom. Many of the units use visiting poets or writers-in-residence. You can see how to bring one to your classroom on our Writers in the Schools section in the Teachers Resource Center. Our hope is to expand this page frequently. We welcome you to share with us your own successful poetry units.” [e-mail address on site]

Here’s another great way to celebrate National Poetry Month, as well as poetry year-round. This site is tirelessly maintained by Andrew Christ of the River Junction Poets, who welcomes you to copy their Poets Birthday Readings where you live:

“Since June 2005 the River Junction Poets have hosted free Poets Birthday Readings at the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Saginaw, Michigan to read and discuss life, poetry and the pursuit of happiness. We plan our events around the birthdays of poets; the bookstore mentions our events in its monthly in-store Newsletter. When we send a birthday card to the poet we celebrate, we include the Newsletter that mentions the event. We’ve received Thank You notes from several of these poets.

“The ongoing series of Poets Birthday Readings serves as a reminder that poetry comes from poets. By providing a friendly, non-threatening reading experience, poetry in general can become something for inexperienced readers to engage themselves in more. This blog features lists of poets and their birthdays, titles of their recent works and links to publishers and other pages with information about the poets.”

Read a great deal more about on the Birthday of Poets blog.

The following comes from “The Book of the Ground” by artist Xu Bing. It is a story told in icons that he has been collecting and organizing over the past several years. More than this is the computer program he has written that “translates” the typed message into icons. Visit his website to be even more fully amazed by his visionary art.

Edited by Ash Bowen, Johnathon Williams, Ashley McHugh, and Jennifer Jabaily, “Linebreak is an online journal with a bias for good poetry. We look for poems that we wish we had written and take us somewhere we didn’t even know we wanted to go.”

Linebreak is updated each Tuesday and features a single poem for the entire week. Published poems are archived indefinitely. Linebreak accepts only original, previously unpublished poetry. In addition to text, Linebreak publishes audio recordings of all poems. Each poet’s work is read and recorded by another working poet selected by the editors. To that end, Linebreak is always seeking volunteer readers.

Some of the 59 currently posted poems include such authors as Bob Hicok, Bruce Bond, Barry Ballard, D.A. Powell, Dorianne Laux, Zachary Schomburg, Daniel Nester, Carolyn Guinzio, Richard Siken, Anthony Robinson, C. Dale Young, Seth Abramson, Amanda Auchter, Lola Haskins, Quan Barry, Alison Stine, Heather Christle, David Graham, Sandra Beasley, Christina Davis, Ryan Courtwright, Paul Dickey, Jehanne Dubrow, Adam Clay, and many, many more.

The storySouth The Million Writers Award, which honors the best short stories published each year in online magazines and journals, is now open for nominations. The deadline for nominations is March 31, 2009.

Jason Sanford, founding editor of storySouth writes: “In previous years, the award had a $300 prize for the overall winner. Unfortunately, the economic downturn is affecting everyone and we no longer have a monetary sponsor. To compensate, I am putting up $50 of my own money as prize money, while storySouth’s new publisher, Spring Garden Press, is putting up another $50. However, we’d like to give the winner more, so I hope people will consider a donation to increase the amount of prize money.” Donations can be made using PayPal via the storySouth website.

Teachers & Writers Collaborative (T&W) announces the 2009-2010 T&W Fellowships, awarded to support early-career development for two emerging writers. Applicants for T&W Fellowships must:

Be age 35 or younger at the beginning of the Fellowship period;
Live in New York City or be able to plan an extended stay in the area (T&W cannot assist with finding housing for individuals who do not currently live in New York.);
Show exceptional artistic promise and a commitment to a writing career;
Demonstrate financial need.

The 2009-2010 T&W Fellowship period is September 14, 2009, to June 18, 2010. $20,000 stipend, office space and supplies, Opportunities to meet with experienced professionals. Deadline June 19, 2009.

Bowling Green State University English Department seeks strong applicants for the College of Arts & Sciences Distinguished Visiting Writer. The successful candidate will be in residence spring 2010; teach one workshop in the BFA program and one workshop in the MFA program; give a public reading and a lecture; and advise theses.

Qualifications: 1) MA, MFA, or PhD by time of employment; 2) At least one book of poetry and critical recognition consistent with a writer of national reputation; and 3) Evidence of outstanding undergraduate & graduate teaching.

Send letter, c.v., transcripts, three current letters of reference, writing sample (one book), a list of courses taught with brief descriptions of each, and 1-2 sample undergraduate and graduate syllabi to:

Kristine Blair, Chair
English Department
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, Ohio 43403-0191

The starting date of employment for this position is January 2010. Screening of applicants will begin March 16, 2009 and continue until the position is filled.

Lynchburg College Thornton Writer Residency, Spring 2010. A fourteen-week residency at Lynchburg College, including a stipend of $12,000, is awarded annually to a poet or creative nonfiction writer for the spring term. The residency also includes housing, some meals, and round trip travel expenses. The writer-in-residence will teach a weekly creative writing workshop, visit classes, and give a public reading.

Submit a copy of a previously published book of poetry or creative nonfiction, a c.v., a cover letter outlining evidence of successful teaching experience, and contact information for three references by March 16. There is no entry fee. These are the complete guidelines.

Lynchburg College
Thornton Writer Residency
School of Humanities & Social Sciences
1501 Lakeside Drive
Lynchburg, VA 24501

Joanna Turner
(434) 544-8690

Dear Office of Homeland Security
Jacob Scheier

It’s my duty to inform you I saw a flag waving suspiciously
outside Grand Central Station.

I held my hands to my ears and opened my mouth
and stood on one leg,
trying to signal the authorities
just like the website told me to,
but was only given quarters by a street mime.

So I bought beer nuts from a guy standing next to a guy selling
watches, because you can’t buy sugar coated nuts on the streets
in Canada and I wanted to know what it meant to be an American.

…

Read the rest on Geist.

English, Assistant Professor of English/Children’s Literature U of Nebraska-Kearney. OUF

Literary House Director for The Rose O’Neill Literary House. March 16

The Creative Writing Program at the Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University is seeking distinguished writers for openings in fiction, poetry, translation, autobiography/biography.

The Quarterly Conversation asks readers, in 200 words or less, to tell about the best book they’ve never heard of but need to read. “Make sure it’s something we’ve never seen, and make sure you make us understand why we need to track down a copy.” The winner will receive books and store credit at the online store of Chicago’s Seminary Co-op Bookstore. Prizes for runners-up as well. Details in Issue 15.

Visit NewPages Literary Magazine Reviews to read thoughtful commentaries on the following print publications – Agni :: Alimentum :: Basalt :: Bateau :: Cave Wall :: Freshwater :: High Desert Journal :: Indiana Review :: The Literary Bird Journal :: POOL :: Reed :: Santa Monica Review :: Southern Humanities Review.

For information on having your publication considered for review, please visit the NewPages FAQ page.

Updated today, but won’t post on homepage until tomorrow, so blog readers get an advance peek! Check out NewPages Calls for Submissions page where we list calls from both our sponsors as well as non-sponsors. To have your call listed, e-mail: denisehill-at-newpages.com

PERKASIE, Pa. (AP) — The long-lost handwritten manuscript of Pearl S. Buck’s classic novel “The Good Earth” is set to go on display next month at the late author’s home outside Philadelphia.

The Pearl S. Buck House, in Hilltown Township, will display the 400 hand-edited pages for six months, beginning March 3.

It will be the first time since May 1930 that the manuscript will be reunited with the desk, chair and typewriter that Buck used when she wrote the novel, said Donna Rhodes, a curator at Buck’s home.

The manuscript had been missing for about 40 years when it was found in June 2007. The daughter of Buck’s longtime secretary said she found the pages in a suitcase in her basement and took them to a Philadelphia auction house, which called the FBI.

The manuscript has spawned a legal fight involving Buck’s heirs and foundations with links to her. A lawyer representing Buck’s birthplace in Hillsboro, W.Va., also staked a claim for ownership based on a notarized “bill of sale” that Buck signed in 1970, three years before she died.

Janet Mintzer, president of Pearl S. Buck International, said a will filed in Vermont, where the author died, gave the Buck family estate rights to her literary works, but that the family didn’t want to lend out the manuscript until the matter was settled.

The Buck family trust has formed an agreement with Pearl S. Buck International to display the manuscript for six months. The foundation maintains Buck’s home and manages its international adoptions program.

“We’ve been waiting literally a year and a half for it,” Mintzer said. “We’re very excited. It’s a great piece of history.”

“The Good Earth,” Buck’s most famous book, follows the life of a peasant farmer in pre-Revolutionary China as he marries, accumulates wealth and experiences both success and heartache. Buck, the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries, lived mostly in China from infancy through age 40.

The novel won the Pulitzer Price in 1932 and helped earn Buck the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938.

Swing by the NewPages Book Review page to read great reviews on the following small/indie press books:

Secret of Breath
Poetry by Isabelle Baladine Howald
Translated from French by Elena Rivera
Burning Deck Press, October 2008
Review by Joseph P. Wood

Irresponsibility
Poetry by Chris Vitiello
Ahsahta Press, February 2008
Review by Karyna McGlynn

A Fixed, Formal Arrangement
Prose by Allison Carter
Les Figues Press, November 2008
Review by Sarah Sala

Big World
Stories by Mary Miller
Short Flight/Long Drive Books, February 2009
Review by Ryan Call

Circulation
Novella by Tim Horvath
sunnyoutside, March 2009
Reviewed by Jason Hinkley

The Islands of Divine Music
Novel by John Addiego
Unbridled Books, October 2008
Review by Laura Di Giovine

The White Space Between
Novel by Ami Sands Brodoff
Second Story Press, October 2008
Review by Christina Hall

Family Secret
Poetry by Rich Murphy
Finishing Line Press, 2008
Review by Roy Wang

Tomorrowland
Flash Fiction by Howie Good
Paper Hero Press, Achilles Chapbook Series,
December 2008
Review by Ryan Call

When You Come Home
Novel by Nora Eisenberg
Curbstone Press, November 2008
Review by Jessica Powers

Dzanc Books is looking for an individual to provide strategic direction and coordination for all fundraising efforts. The candidate will be an experienced person able to help create fundraising strategies that increase donations to Dzanc from individuals, corporations, agencies and foundations. Position will develop / implement a major gifts fundraising program, and solicitation strategies. Experience with grant writing a plus but not necessary. Send resume to [email protected] For further information about Dzanc, check their website.

Feminism, a Dirty Word
Nanna Árnadóttir
From Iceland Review

Feminism has become something of a taboo I’ve noticed. It’s beginning to annoy me a little actually.

It’s like some dirty word now. Feminist. Like saying you’re a feminist equates you with standing on the steps of City Hall and setting your bra on fire. I cherish my bra, anything that can support these puppies is alright in my book, and I still call myself a feminist…Now some might argue that feminism has always been taboo because any attempt by women to create equality is taboo, but I’m not of that opinion. I think feminism in the Nordic countries (Iceland included) has become taboo because most women think they evened the playing field already…And yet women in countries like Iceland are being abused by stuff that—if feminism were more integrated into people’s lives—might not actually be happening…[read the rest]

Read Gerry Canavan’s recap of his above titled presentation, which includes the following major points:

1) Science fiction should be understood as an ecological literature
2) I use the distinction between Coruscant and Trantor to draw a line between science fiction (SF) and science fantasy
3) How the current environmental crisis demands not just this sort of methodological ecology but a politically environmentalist consciousness
4) Taxonomy

District took Bless Me, Ultima off sophomore reading list
By Danielle Gaines
[email protected]
February 24, 2009

Two teachers from Orestimba High School, upset that a book has been removed from their class reading lists, met with UC Merced students on Monday night.

The educators — Catherine Quittmeyer, chairwoman of the English department, and Andre Powell, English teacher — spoke to about a dozen Chicano literature students and future teachers on the university’s campus.

“This was an event for the students; a lot of them want to become teachers,” Quittmeyer said. “This is something I wish I was able to ask questions about when I was becoming a teacher.” [read the rest]

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies
Summer Research Assistantships for Graduate Students

The Center is now accepting applications for graduate student summer research assistants. Recipients will have the opportunity to participate with the Center’s staff scholars in cutting-edge research and publication projects relating to key areas of Holocaust scholarship. Sample projects may include writing and editing for the Museum’s /Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945; /research and translating for the Center’s archival source series on /Documenting Life and Destruction/; and preparing in-depth studies and reports about the archival collections of the International Tracing Service (ITS), among others.

Applicants must be enrolled in or admitted to a graduate program at a North American university. The Center is unable to provide visa assistance for non-U.S. citizens. Applicants must have basic knowledge of the Holocaust, experience in conducting archival or library research and the ability to work as part of a team. In addition to English, fluency in one or more of the following languages is desired: German, Russian, Polish, Romanian Hebrew, Yiddish, French, Dutch, Hungarian, Slovak, and/or Croatian. Each assistantship will last for up to three months during the May-August time frame. Awardees will receive a stipend of $2,500/month. The Center will also provide funds for one roundtrip airline ticket to and from Washington, D.C. for travel within North America.

Application Procedure:

Applicants should submit a resume, a personal statement of no more than two pages in length, and one letter of recommendation from a faculty member or dean at his/her institution that speaks to the applicant’s qualifications. The personal statement must explain the significance of the assistantship to the applicant’s professional and/or academic goals, and the contributions the applicant’s skills and interests could make to the Center’s research and publication projects. Application materials must be received by March 31, 2009. All applicants will be notified of selection results by early April 2009.

Application materials should be sent to: Dr. Lisa Yavnai, Director, Visiting Scholar Programs, Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW, Washington, DC 20024. Inquiries may be addressed to [email protected] or via telephone at 202-314-7829.

“Controversial gay writer Scott Symons, whose scandalous life and 1967 novel “Place d’Armes” rocked Canada’s literary world, has died at age 75. The Toronto-born author passed away at a Toronto nursing home on Monday after several years of poor health, his lawyer Marian Hebb said WednesdayShe remembered Symons as a bold personality who never shied away from strong views on politics, love and literature, at times to the detriment of his personal relationships.”

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site offers two residencies each of two to four weeks from May 1 through September 30. Residencies are open to all professional American artists. Application deadline: February 28

The third annual Conversations and Connections conference will be held in downtown DC on April 11, with Amy Hempel as the featured speaker. Registration includes the full day conference, one ticket for “Speed Dating with Editors,” a book, and a literary magazine subscription. Breakout sessions are geared to appeal to new and experienced writers of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, and include topics like Fighting Writer’s Block with Play and Experimental Prompts, Sentence Power, Creative Nonfiction: Where are the boundaries? Do they exist?, The Digital Literary Landscape, Writing Sex Scenes, Grants for Writers: Where’s the money and how do you get it?, and more.

Galleries from AmateurArtwork.com are now in their new home at Prick of the Spindle, along with 12 new artists. View art from Jesse Lindsay, David Scott Tenorio, Amy Bernays, Pam Ross, Dave Mullins, Christy Call, and many more. Look for new artists to be added on a weekly or semi-weekly basis.

Also check out the graphic short, The Dragoon, written by Lane Kareska and illustrated by Cynthia Reeser.

Prick of the Spindle is open to submissions year-round.

Get Lit!
April 10-19, 2009
Spokane, WA

The Northwest’s best festival for readers and writers features author presentations and readings, writing workshops and panels, author visits to schools throughout eastern Washington and into northern Idaho, youth poetry slams, and more. Many events are free to the public. The festival, now celebrating its 11th year, is produced by Eastern Washington University Press.

This year’s authors include: Simon Armitage, Charles Baxter, Margaret Lippert, Paul Roberts, Jane Smiley, David Suzuki, Ellen Wittlinger, Pamela Aidan, Zan Agzigian, Glenda Burgess, Patrick Carman, Sarah Conover, Chris Crutcher, Claire Davis, William Dietrich, Kathy Fagan, Deby Fredericks, Sam Green, Adina Hoffman, Christopher Howell, Sandra Hosking, Sherry Jones, John Keeble, Jim Kershner, Melissa Kwasny, Laurie Lamon, Ken Letko, Phillis Levin, Buddy Levy, Samuel Ligon, Tod Marshall, Brenda Miller, Kelly Milner Halls, Kenn Nesbit, Laurie Notaro, Oliver de la Paz, Midge Raymond, Claire Rudolf Murphy, Brandon Schrand, Martha Silano, Gregory Spatz, Mark Steilen, Rachel Toor, Manny Trembley and Eric Anderson, Kathryn Trueblood, Jeanette Weaskus

Cancel out any idea of an Obama Presidential Library? Some think so.

Check out Jessica’s expose on the perils and pitfalls of online publishing: Now You Read It, Now You Don’t: A cautionary look at online magazines. A must read for writers and editors alike.

From the latest issue of Granta comes this essay, How to Write About Africa, by Binyavanga Wainaina. Should be required reading on at least a dozen lists I can think of: “Broad brushstrokes throughout are good. Avoid having the African characters laugh, or struggle to educate their kids, or just make do in mundane circumstances. Have them illuminate something about Europe or America in Africa. African characters should be colourful, exotic, larger than life — but empty inside, with no dialogue, no conflicts or resolutions in their stories, no depth or quirks to confuse the cause…”

Tucson Festival of Books
March 14-15, 2009
University of Arizona

Featured authors include Jimmy Santiago Baca, Josh Bazell, Jennifer Lee Carrell, Billy Collins, David Eagleman, Diana Gabaldon, Brent Ghelfi, Temple Grandin, J.A. (Judith) Jance, Elmore “Dutch” Leonard. and Richard Shelton. Separate events for children and teens.

According to this article on Reutgers, Poet Laureate Andrew Motion believes students can’t “get past ‘go'” in such classics as Milton’s Paradise Lost without having basic knowledge of the Bible. Other classics that suffer in their loss of students understanding their full meaning also include Shakespeare, with something as simple as the title “Measure for Measure” (which comes from the Bible) being a lost reference for students.

Interestingly enough, Professor John Mullan comments that this lack of Biblical background may come from universities “accepting young people from much broader social backgrounds, with less frequent immersion in classical literature, than they had in the past.” Or perhaps more specifically, less exposure to the Bible and Christianity? (Though they do argue religious adherence is not a requirement.)

I’m sure it is a lament of every generation, but will there come a time when Milton and Shakespeare are no longer the “classics” to be studied? Will their references, regardless of how “archetypal” be so without point of grounding in student understanding that they become irrelevant? Me thinks it is only a matter of time…

Protests over one teacher’s inclusion of Ken Follet’s Pillars of the Earth draw encouraging support from her former students.

NYU’s Violation of Student Rights
Tuesday, February 24, 2009

From John K. Wilson’s post on College Freedom, “I was not a fan of the student occupation of a New York University cafeteria. I didn’t like the incoherent list of bizarre demands, and I don’t like the use of occupation as a tactic in general. But the response of NYU in suspending 18 students, who were arrested when the occupation was ended, is a gross abuse of due process.” Read the rest.

Check out the World Press Photo of the Year contest winners. The overall winner is a very telling image of our tough economic times: “Following eviction, Detective Robert Kole must ensure residents have moved out of their home. Cleveland, Ohio, 26 March”