NewPages Blog

In addition to celebrating its tenth anniversay of publication, the newest issue of Canada’s Hamilton Arts & Letters (11.1) is also a celebration of Bertrand Russell and the 50th Anniversary of the Russell Archives.

Guest Editor Rick Stapleton [pictured] writes in his introduction, “In 1968 McMaster University purchased the first instalment of the archives of Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), a vast collection of letters, manuscripts, photographs, books and other personal material of one of the 20th century’s greatest philosophers, writers, and peace activists. At the time, the 96-year-old Russell was in need of funds to support his peace work, and McMaster’s university librarian, William Ready—renowned for his ‘buccaneering’ style of acquiring collections—was able to bid successfully for the archives. Now, 50 years later, we celebrate that event with this special issue of Hamilton Arts & Letters magazine, devoted to Bertrand Russell.”

The issue is packed with poetry, artwork, and articles, including an Interview with Kenneth Blackwell, the original Bertrand Russell archivist by Wade Hemsworth; “’I Have Never Been a Complete Pacifist’: Bertrand Russell on Peace and War in the Twentieth Century” by Andrew Bone; “Bertrand Russell and The Revolution in Twentieth Century Philosophy” by Nicholas Griffin; “A Rivalry? – Russell’s Lovers, Lady Ottoline Morrell and Lady Constance Malleson” by Sheila Turcon; “Hanging out with Bertrand Russell” by Terry Fallis; and “Bertrand Russell: Remembering a Public Intellectual for Our Time” by Henry A. Giroux.

Hamilton Arts & Letters is an online publication; the full issue can be accessed here.

The Aquifer, the online journal of The Florida Review, is now accepting film and video work as they expand their visual arts and new media offerings for readers. 

“We are looking for experimental works of film or video that are 15 minutes or less and utilize moving images as a means to poetic expression, formal exploration, or abstract and open-ended narratives. Compelling, personal works that push the boundaries of cinematic convention will also be considered for publication.”

For more information, see the Aquifer announcement.

[The Florida Review 42.1 2018 cover art: Dengke Chen, “Tank Man,” digital illustration]

The Florida Review is seeking submissions from Latinx / Latina / Latino writers for a special feature. Work submitted to this category will be considered for both the digital and print editions of this feature. Fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, graphic narrative (color or black-and-white), hybrid writing, visual art, and digital media are all welcome. Edited by Nicole Oquendo [pictured]. Submissions accepted through September 1, 2018. For more information, click here.

Gyroscope Review: Fine Poetry to Turn Your World Around has announced a call for submissions for The Crone Issue to feature contemporary poetry from poets who identify as women and are over the age of 50.

“Women over 50 are often underrepresented in poetry publications, so we are choosing to offer a space and a voice to the wise women out there. We want work that celebrates the ideas of crone, wise woman, matriarch, post-menopause, grandmother, elder, strength, experience,” the editors write in their CFS. They challenge: “Shake up our ideas of the female over-50 demographic. Show us something fierce, something powerful, something that cannot be ignored. Cast off the restrictions around what you have been told you can talk about. Break your silence.”

Submissions are open until September 15 or until the editors have accepted enough content to fill the issue – whichever comes first. So – don’t delay! Send your best work today!

The Summer 2018 issue of Sheila-Na-Gig online includes a special section of works by poets who are also editors (or is that vice versa?). Featured poets and their publications:

Glen Armstrong / Cruel Garters
Sarah Diamond Burroway / Jelly Bucket
Alan Catlin / Misfit Magazine
Rita Chapman / december magazine
Kersten Christianson / Alaska Women Speak
Sandy Coomer / Rockvale Review
AR Dugan / Ploughshares
Catherine Fahey / Soundings East
Lynne Marie Houston / Five Oaks Press
James Croal Jackson / The Mantle
Jen Karetnick / SWWIM Every Day
Sergio Ortiz / Undertow Tanka Review
Joseph Shields / Nerve Cowboy Magazine
Dan Sicoli / Slipstream Magazine and Press
Martin Willitts Jr / The Comstock Review
Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas [pictured] / The Orchards Poetry Journal

In keeping with Memoir Magazine‘s mission, “to be a witness to both factual and emotional truths that resonate with the human heart by supporting writers and artists in sharing their stories—whether personal, social or political– through publication, education, and advocacy,” the publication offers Memoir Magazine University, “a safe space dedicated entirely to the development of writers and stories that need to be heard.”

Two summer classes coming up are Anonymous Memoir Writing Workshop for Sexual Assault Survivors with Memoir Magazine Founder and Editor-in-Chief Mary McBeth (July 9 – August 20; open times) and Writing To Heal with Jerry Waxler [pictured] (July 10 – August 21, Tuesdays 7:30-9pm EST; July 12 – August 23, Thursdays 12 noon-1:30 EST).

Future classes will include Intro to Memoir and Memoir 101. For more information, visit Memoir Magazine’s website.

Celebrating ten years and thirty issues of Still Point Arts Quarterly, Founding Editor Christine Brooks Cote’s introduction to the Summer 2018 issue reads like an advice article for anyone with the idea to start up a journal.

Among the things she figured out along the way was what made for publishable submissions. She came up with these three criteria: “1) they have to be so interesting that I can’t stop reading until I get all the way to the end; 2) they have to be well written – I shouldn’t have to reread a paragraph or a sentence several times, or even twice, to figure out what is being said; and 3) they have to strike just the right chord inside me and make me feel that what I just read should be read by everyone.”

Over this years, she notes, this search for quality submissions has not changed, nor her “aim to present them as respectfully and tastefully as possible. Each journal is a creation, a work of art.”

Cote admits one thing that has changed over the years: “my respect, admiration, and gratitude for the artists and writers whose work we publish has grown exponentially. I never imagined when I started this work that I would have the pleasure of connecting with so many thoughtful and inspiring individuals who produce work that regularly stops me in my tracks. Truly, connecting with the people who contribute to this publication has been immensely joyful and fulfilling, and I’ve learned so much from them. That part I didn’t expect – indeed, unexpected gifts are the best.”

May Still Point Arts Quarterly enjoy another ten years – and more – of giving such beauty and joy to readers as well as receiving!

Excerpted from “Choler” by Bruce Bond from the Spring 2018 issue of Zone 3:

The long depressive curtain, the castle
stone limned in green, the thin insistent

incursions of rain that scarify the mortar,
what are they if not a promissory note,

the slung burden and authoritative bell
of dreams we take, in dreams, for dead.

The yellow eye wakes, and death’s antagonist—
let us call him scientist, father, creator, god—

draws back in shame and horror from his one
creation. He sees in him a miracle confusion,

drenched in the bile that is our birthright,
and says, in silence, hell. What did I expect.

Cover art “Dimming Superstition” collage on a book cover by Hollie Chastain.

The Spring 2018 issue of The Bellingham Review includes two features: Who Are These Assembled Nations?: New Poems from Palestine with works from Sheikha Helawy [pictured], Najwan Darwish, and Anwar Al-Anwar, and Unbidden Stories: New Writing from Israel with fiction by Orly Castel-Bloom, Anat Levin, and Liran Golod, poetry by Shimon Adaf and Anna Herman, and a hybrid text-image collaboration between Etgar Keret and Neta Rabinovitch. Credit for this curation goes to international consultant Liran Golod who worked with S. Paola Antonetta to bring these collections to readers.

In addition to its regular content of poetry, the Summer 2018 issue of Rattle includes a Tribute to Athlete Poets. “The stereotypes about athletes and poets might make it seem like an odd combination, but poetry lives everywhere, and stereotypes need to be broken,” comment the editors.

Rattle does this by bringing together twenty-two poets that include professional athletes from the NFL and NBA, tennis pros, soccer players, weightlifters, and marathon runners. Add to the mix an interview with semi-pro basketball player (did you know that?) and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Stephen Dunn. 

Athletes whose poems appear in this issue include: James Adams, Elison Alcovendaz, Chaun Ballard, Erinn Batykefer, T.J. DiFrancesco, Stephen Dunn, Peg Duthie, Michael Estabrook, Daniel Gleason, Tony Gloeggler, Alex Hoffman-Ellis, A.M. Juster, Benjamín N. Kingsley, Laura Kolbe, Michael Mark, Tom Meschery, Jack Ridl, Laszlo Slomovits, Brent Terry, Martin Vest, Arlo Voorhees, and Guinotte Wise.