When I received my copy of Meaty at an event for the ALA conference, I knew I was in for a different kind of reading experience. She signed my copy with fair warning that she likes writing dirty messages: “your vagina smells amazing. love, Samantha.” This is just a small sampling of the type of writing that you’ll see in her essays. Creator of the blog “Bitches Gotta Eat,” Samantha Irby tells it like it is, whether through the gritty details of her Crohn’s disease or through her unfiltered rantings of men and sex. It is written very informally, following the aesthetic of her blog, and inviting readers in as if Irby is personally conveying her stories and thoughts to them. Continue reading “Meaty”
NewPages Blog
At the NewPages Blog readers and writers can catch up with their favorite literary and alternative magazines, independent and university presses, creative writing programs, and writing and literary events. Find new books, new issue announcements, contest winners, and so much more!
Meaty
Spread the word!
The Night of the Rambler
The Night of the Rambler is true to its title. It tells a story of a revolution rambling with plans on how to execute a coup d’état on a young government, perhaps too young to transform and reconfigure policies inherited from previous colonial administrations. The transition is mired with problems, which is not unusual: young governments in newly decolonized territories are still learning the ropes of being free. Like youth itself, these fledgling states are high on new-found independence or semi-independence. In this novel, that mindset disables effective government. A territory that such a state governs feels neglected and excluded from basic benefits and services. Ironically, here, the lack of organized surveillance through bureaucratic standards—which gave colonial administrations immense control—becomes a form of oppression: political marginalization, a loss of sovereignty that opens channels for organized protests. However, there is a twist in the revolution Montague Kobbé has fictionalized, which is not necessarily in the protest itself, but what it wants in the end: it prefers direct administration from its original colonizer. Continue reading “The Night of the Rambler”
Spread the word!
You are Everything You are Not
You are Everything You are Not represents the conclusion of John High’s lyric narrative trilogy of books he began with Here and A Book of Unknowing. The characters of a mute girl and one-eyed boy return, joining in with a circus man, blind monks, ghosts, and assorted unspecified masters in a journey more spiritual than psychological, across an un-named landscape of trees, wind, streams and rivers, which often brings to mind Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. Or, as Christopher Sawyer-Lauçanno describes it in his preface, “a realm as magically realistic as any found in a García Márquez novel.” Continue reading “You are Everything You are Not”
Spread the word!
The Moral Life of Soldiers
The Moral Life of Soldiers is a collection of five stories (one novella-length) and a novel that fans of author Jerome Gold might recognize from previously published collections, such as Of Great Spaces and Prisoners. This collection is told from the perspective of an older soldier, Paul Donaldson, taking stock of his life and his experiences in the Vietnam War. The organization of the stories speaks to Jerome Gold’s commitment to the practical means of arranging the pieces—favoring a series of myopic encounters of ambiguous moral distinction rather than a longue durée quasi-biographical story of his main character. Continue reading “The Moral Life of Soldiers”
Spread the word!
Young Tambling
Kate Greenstreet, painter, graphic artist, and poet, has published two previous books of poetry with Ahsahta Press: case sensitive (2006) and The Last 4 Things (2009). The back cover of Young Tambling, her third outing, is stamped “Based on a true story.” Fittingly, the first of its six sections, “Narrative,” begins with a retelling of Young Tambling, a Scottish ballad wherein the hero is not Tam or Tambling or Tom Line. Instead, the story belongs to the girl telling it, driving it: “for once, the hero is the girl and her point of view and actions are primary.” This story frames the mixed-genre artist’s memoir; also serving as a frame are epigraphs, each of which is printed at the beginning of a section but erased so only the section is visible, and later in the section, fully legible. Greenstreet’s black and white paintings, photographs, and lists round out the collection. Continue reading “Young Tambling”
Spread the word!
Modern Manners for Your Inner Demons
When confronted with an awkward situation that falls outside the bounds of social etiquette, modern women and men may find themselves in a quandary over what should be done. Never fear, etiquette devotees, for a new volume has explored this uncharted territory and created a guide for those hapless sailors who find themselves adrift in such unfriendly waters. From adultery and infertility to illiteracy and obesity, Tara Laskowski has carefully documented the dos and don’ts for these sticky circumstances in Modern Manners for Your Inner Demons. How fortunate for the current generation to have such wisdom readily available! Emily Post never addressed the faux pas to avoid when choosing to elope. Miss Manners never opined on how to scout a location when engaging in recreational arson. And neither one discussed the missteps likely to occur when conversing with soon-to-be victims of homicide. In short, this is a necessary volume for the considerate psychotics and kindly sociopaths among us—and for those of us who are in search of an amusing read. Continue reading “Modern Manners for Your Inner Demons”
Spread the word!
Lit Mag Covers :: Picks of the Week
Spread the word!
Tupelo Press First/Second Book Award Winner
Paisley Rekdal has selected Yes Thorn by Amy McCann [pictured] of Minneapolis, Minnesota as winner of the Tupelo Press 2013 First/Second Book Award, naming Sleep Sculptures by Michael Homolka of New York, New York as runner-up.
Amy McCann’s poetry has recently appeared in the Kenyon Review, Gettysburg Review, and West Branch, among other journals and magazines. She was a 2012-2013 McKnight Artist Fellow in Poetry and 2012 fellowship recipient from the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. She received her M.F.A. in poetry from Eastern Washington University and currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she teaches at the University of Northwestern—Saint Paul.
Finalists (in alphabetical order)
Kate Braverman of Santa Fe, New Mexico for Acts of Autumn
Tina Cane of Rumford, Rhode Island for Archipelago
Noel Crook of Kittrell, North Carolina for Salt White Moon
Brent House of Grove City, Pennsylvania for The Lightered Prophecy
Steve Lautermilch of Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina for Moth on a Window Pane at Dusk
S. D. Lishan of Marion, Ohio for The Archeology of Startled Light
Joy Manesiotis of Redlands, California for Revoke
Chad Parmenter of Lewiston, New York for Vivienne’s Recovery
Jeremy Pataky of Anchorage, Alaska for The Smallest Ice Age
Juliet Patterson of Minneapolis, Minnesota for Threnody
Stephanie Ellis Schlaifer of Saint Louis, Missouri for Clarkston Street Polaroids
Sarah Sousa of Ashfield, Massachusetts for Split the Crow
Sharon Wang of Queens, New York for Republic of Mercy
Susan Settlemyre Williams of Richmond, Virginia for Navigating the Belly of Night
Spread the word!
Literal on Gun Control
The summer 2013 issue of Literal features War Photography and “Beware Walmart’s Role in the Gun Control Debate.” The editors note says, “The lack of gun control in the United States affects not only its own citizens, but all of Latin America, particularly Mexico. The unbridled sale of high-caliber weapons and the ease with which they can be acquired has fostered an ambiance of paranoia among those living in the United States and a chronic state of violence in Latin American countries. Through the voices of George Zornick and Pablo Boullosa as well as the art exhibition analyzed by Fernando Castro, this issue of Literal reflects both on how weapons fall into the hands of average citizens and their degree of belligerence.”
Spread the word!
Happy 60th Anniversary, The Paris Review!
As part of The Paris Review‘s 60th anniversary, James Salter, Mona Simpson, Lorin Stein, and John Jeremiah discuss the magazine on Charlie Rose. If you missed it, you can watch it here:
Spread the word!
Museum of Haiku Literature Award
The Museum of Haiku Literature Award of $100 goes to the best previously unpublished work appearing in the last issue of Frogpond, selected by vote of the HSA Executive Committee. The winner from Issue 36:1 is announced in the latest issue (36:2):
porch swing my feelings come and go
by Ce Rosenow from Eugene, Oregon
Spread the word!
Active Year for Ibbetson Street
Ibbetson Street is now affiliated with and supported by Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts. Among other news is that they have published a Pushcart-Prize-winning poem: Afaa Michael Weaver’s “Blues in Five/Four, The Violence in Chicago” (published in their mag in November 2012). Kim Triedman, one of the managing editors, is stepping down, and Rene Schwiesow is stepping up to replace her. “Rene, an excellent poet herself, is also co-host for the popular South Shore poetry venue, The Art of Words and a reviewer for Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene,” writes Editor Doug Hodder.
Issue 9 of Ibbetson Street features poetry by Cornelius Eady, Jean Valentine, Brendan Galvin, Jason Roberts, and more.
Spread the word!
You are Never the Same Reader Twice
In the latest issue of Salamander, Jennifer Barber makes a great point in her editor’s note: “A literary journal, with its many disparate voices and visions, is not something you absorb in one sitting. Maybe you’ll read five or six poems, or two or three short stories, before laying it aside, picking it up again a few days or weeks later. In between, you’ll have changed in barely perceptible ways. A conversation with a friend; a song you heard on the radio; some moment of insight you’ve stumbled on: each will have an effect. In this sense, you are never the same reader twice.”
In this issue, you’ll find pieces from Stephen Ackerman, Pam Bernard, Andrea Cohen, Rita Gabis, Danielle Legros Georges, George Kalogeris, Ellen Kaufman, Jacquelyn Pope, Anna Ross, Tara Skurtu, and more.
Spread the word!
NewPages Weekly Newsletter
Have you heard yet of our new weekly newsletter? In addition to keeping tabs on what we’re up to, you also get calls for submissions and contests sent directly to your email (once a week). There is now no excuse for not submitting due to forgetting to look up places to send work. If you aren’t signed up yet, and you are viewing this post on our blog post, you can sign up via the column to the right. If you are viewing this in a RSS feed, you can sign up here: http://npofficespace.com/newpages-newsletter/
Newsletters get sent out every Monday afternoon, so there is still time to sign up today to get this week’s! You can view last week’s here: http://www.icontact-archive.com/rRNQRindhS4bSK2A6MJQEoLuhyzifA5D?w=4
Spread the word!
August Literary Magazine Reviews
This month’s literary magazine reviews discuss stories and poems with magical realism, a friend named Toothbrush, “Sex at Seventy,” tales from serving in Iraq, golden shovel haiku sonnets, a ten-year-old who must guard the school mascot—her mother, redemption, striking visual art, arranged marriages, multiple wives, and even a man who attempts suicide in his wedding tuxedo. I also spy (with my little eye) a magazine featuring undergrad writers, one featuring writers that are 57+ in age, one with new editors, and one that is brand new. Magazines reviewed include:
A Cappella Zoo
Apalachee Review
Burnside Review
Catamaran Literary Reader
Catfish Creek
Cruel Garters
Exit 7
The Iowa Review
Nimrod International Journal
Parcel
Smartish Pace
Soundings East
The Tusculum Review
upstreet
Witness
Spread the word!
Glimmer Train June Fiction Open Winners :: 2013
Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their June Fiction Open competition. This competition is held quarterly. Stories generally range from 2000-6000 words, though up to 20,000 is fine. The next Fiction Open will take place in September. Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.
First place: Philip Tate [pictured], of Cortland, NY, wins $2500 for “Reading Hemingway.” His story will be published in Issue 93 of Glimmer Train Stories.
Second place: Vera Kurian, of Washington, DC, wins $1000 for “The Bleeding Room.” Her story will also be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories. This is her first story accepted for publication.
Third place: Geoff Wyss, of New Orleans, LA, wins $600 for “Misty.”
A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.
Deadline soon approaching for the Short Story Award for New Writers: August 31. This competition is held quarterly and is open to all writers whose fiction has not appeared in a print publication with a circulation over 5000. No theme restrictions. Most submissions to this category run 1500-5000 words, but can go up to 12,000. First place prize is $1500. Second/third: $500/$300. Click here for complete guidelines.
Spread the word!
Long Poem Prize

The winners of The Malahat Review‘s Long Poem Prize are Claire Caldwell for “Osteogenesis” and Kim Trainor for “Nothing is Lost.” The final judges Elizabeth Bachinsky, Dave Margoshes, and Lorri Neilsen Glenn chose these pieces among 193 entries. Finalists include Michael Prior for “Marie (I-XII),” Genevieve Lehr for “the latter half of the third quarter of the waning moon,” Kim Trainor for “When they come to that country swept with light,” Eric Folsom for “The Senryu of Solomon,” and Chad Campbell for “February Towers.
About Caldwell’s “Osteogenesis,” the judges said, it ” is a different beast altogether. This narrative poem takes place in a university town and weaves together three stories: that of two young lovers; their friend M (a medical student) and her cadaver; and the decomposition of a great blue whale. These stories, as told by a young woman to her lover, unfold like a mystery that we can never quite solve.”
And about Trainor’s “Nothing is Lost,” they said, “explores the aftermath of the Srebrenica genocide in 1995 in which thousands of Bosnian Muslims were massacred. Such profound cultural and personal loss is almost beyond language. Taking as inspiration the International Committee of the Red Cross Book of Belongings, a publication of photographs and personal effects, the poet creates an alphabet of loss, weaving images of a glove, a marble, notebook, buttons – exquisitely particular personal items – with insights into the ways artifacts themselves become saturated with human sentience.”
Click here to read more about the pieces, the judges, and the authors.
Spread the word!
Staff Members Wanted: Asymptote Journal
“Last call for 2013: Asymptote is now RECRUITING for a blog editor and a business developer among others (application deadline: 26 Aug). Don’t miss your chance to join one of the most exciting literary journals in circulation today!” For the full details click here.
Spread the word!
High School Writers
Hanging Loose 102 features 4 writers that are of the high school age: Alexa Derman, Mika Kligler, Camille Petersen, and Mia Rosenberg. This is a regular section of the magazine. Here’s a sampling of Petersen’s work, “Birds on Fire”:
Written out it would sound like
A Latin church song
Wind climbing a staircase
It would be the yell of the man
Who says he has nothing to say
But writes letters to himself on the train
Secretly prays someone will ask him
What he is doing and why he is so alone
And why his eyes look like lacquered pumice
Trying to disintegrate
The boy of the atheists who walks himself
To church has a talent for eyes
He doesn’t ask questions
He just stares . . .
Spread the word!
MUDLARK eChapbooks and More
MUDLARK: An Electronic Journal of Poetry & Poetics (“Never in and never out of print…”) offers e-chapbooks as its “issues” publication in addition to “posters: the electronic equivalent of print broadsides: and “flash poems are poems that have news in them, poems that feel like current events.” The most current issue of MUDLARK (51) is the poetry chapbook Hone Creek by Rose McLarney.
Spread the word!
Grain’s 40th Anniversary
Open to the first page of Grain Magazine‘s latest issue, and you’ll find a note that says, “If you are here for the party, please use the back door.” This issue marks their 40th Anniversary and is subtitled, “Making It.” In the editor’s note, Rilla Friesen writes, “‘Making It’ is, in one sense, about how we make our works what they are. Kyle Beal, our featured artist, writes, ‘I recently overheard a person remark at the novelty and forgotten pleasure of writing with a pencil. A timely real-life event that anecdotally affirms, or at least suggests, the notion that the act of note-leaving has become somewhat anachronistic, or at least quaint. A little like sitting down to make a drawing on a twelve-by-nine sheet of paper.’ Both Lund-Teigen and Beal prompted me to consider how writing is about making something, and we prepare the artefact that you now hold in your hands, the Grain team has made something too. And what we make is worth fighting for–literally and metaphorically.”
The issue features work by Tim Bowling, Lorna Crozier, Dorothy Field, Patrick Lane, Jeannette Lynes, rob mclennan, Jonathan Ball, Adrienne Gruber, David Carpenter, and more.
Spread the word!
2011 and 2012 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards
Paterson Literary Review‘s 2013-2014 issue features the winners of the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards for both 2011 and 2012. Here are the top winners for each:
2011 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards
First Prize
Christopher Bursk
Charlotte Muse
Second Prize
Mark Hillringhouse
Sander Zulauf
Third Prize
Antoinette Libro
2012 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards
First Prize
Dante Di Stefano
Second Prize
Donna Spector
Carole Stone
Third Prize
Jim Reese
To see a list of honorable mentions for each (also included in this issue) as well as the 2013 winners, please visit this link.
Spread the word!
Herzog Texting & Driving Short Documentary
From One Second to the Next is 35-minute short documentary by Werner Herzog created for the Texting and Driving…It Can Wait campaign. A very powerful series of stories – from victims and their families as well as from the drivers who were texting.
Spread the word!
Feminist Press New Executive Director
The Feminist Press at CUNY welcomes Jennifer Baumgardner as the new executive director. Jennifer is an accomplished activist, author, filmmaker, and public speaker who “will bring all this experience as well as her formidable intelligence and energy to the job of keeping the Feminist Press vibrant and indispensable to the feminist movement.”
Spread the word!
Europa Editions Named Publisher of the Year by NAIBA
The New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association has selected Europa Editions for its Book of the Year Award. While the award is usually given to a single title, this year the committee decided to honor a publisher. According to Lucy Kogler, chair of the awards committee, “Each of Europa’s books is an artistic, original treasure that we are thrilled to place in our stores.”
“It is an honor for Europa Editions and a tribute to our authors,” Europa publisher Kent Carroll said upon the announcement. “I’ve been publishing Jane Gardam since my Carroll & Graf days, and I’m now privileged to also publish the likes of Elena Ferrante, Muriel Barbery, Steve Erickson, Damon Galgut, and Jean-Claude Izzo.”
The NAIBA award will be presented to Europa Editions at the organization’s annual awards banquet, to be held October 1 in Somerset, NJ.
–From Europa Editions
Spread the word!
Lit Mag Covers :: Picks of the Week
Okay so by now it should really be “picks of the month.” There haven’t been any of these posts in a while, but that’s really just because there was a lull where we didn’t receive many new issues in the mail. But rest assured; NewPages went on vacation for a week, and I returned to find 2 large bins of litmags! So let me cease my rambling; I present you with my top picks/pics for this week:
![]() |
New Orleans Review |
![]() |
Green Mountains Review |
![]() |
Cimarron Review |
Spread the word!
A Cappella Zoo – Spring 2013
According to Wikipedia, Professor Matthew Strecher defines magic realism as “what happens when a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something too strange to believe.” The article goes on to say that “magical realist texts create a reality ‘in which the relation between incidents, characters, and setting could not be based upon or justified by their status within the physical world or their normal acceptance by bourgeois mentality.’” Who wants to think of themselves as having a bourgeois mentality, accepting things as “normal” and thereby obstructing magical realism? Not me. This issue of A Cappella Zoo—entitled “Bestiary” because, I assume, it’s the best of the first demi-decade of this labor-of-love journal of magical realism of all kinds—completely dismantles whatever bourgeois mentality I, or you, may be harboring. It will charm you, in every sense of the word. Continue reading “A Cappella Zoo – Spring 2013”
Spread the word!
Apalachee Review – 2013
Apalachee Review is an attractively designed magazine hailing from Tallahassee, Florida. The editors are Michael Trammell and Jenn Bronson. The quality of work is high across all five genres presented—fiction, poetry, essay, book review, and visual art—with fiction getting a nod as the particular strength of this issue. Continue reading “Apalachee Review – 2013”
Spread the word!
Burnside Review – 2013
This issue of Burnside Review brings with it some big changes. While it is still unmistakably an issue of Burnside Review, a new poetry editor, John Pursley III, and a new fiction editor, Adam O’Connor Rodriquez, have brought a new energy to the journal and are taking the journal to the next level. Continue reading “Burnside Review – 2013”
Spread the word!
Catamaran Literary Reader – Summer 2013
Color is what first struck me with Catamaran Literary Reader. A quick flip through the pages reveals not only the abundance of visual artwork, but also the vibrancy of their colors and movement. The cover is “Jump #5,” one oil painting among four in the issue by Sarah Bianco which depicts several people in different stages of a leap downward against a background of yellow, blue, and red. It’s hard to tell where they will land. I want to guess that the cover was chosen to match Catamaran’s emphasis on the “California regional themes of environmentalism, personal freedom, innovation, and artistic spirit.” For ages, people have come to California to live their dreams. For many, the move must have felt like a leap into a beautiful unknown. Continue reading “Catamaran Literary Reader – Summer 2013”
Spread the word!
Catfish Creek – 2013
Loras College, which publishes the national undergraduate literary journal Catfish Creek, sits near the banks of the Mississippi River in Dubuque, Iowa. The contributors hail from colleges across the country, but it is through Loras, which is serving as a kind of modern-day Paris in uniting these writers, that we see their work collected and their spirits compiled.
Spread the word!
Cruel Garters – 2013
The mission and vision of Cruel Garters is “to publish both well-established and newer voices in a small, stripped-down publication that minimizes literary trappings and focuses on the work itself.” They state they prefer “the short, lyrical, and odd but are most interested in work with its own voice and aesthetic.” Continue reading “Cruel Garters – 2013”
Spread the word!
Exit 7 – Spring 2013
Published by faculty members and students of West Kentucky Community and Technical College, the Spring 2013 issue of Exit 7 features fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art originating from a wide range of geographical and stylistic traditions. The volume is slim and handsome, bookended by images of paintings by Bo Bartlett, whose work is also showcased in the middle of the journal. Continue reading “Exit 7 – Spring 2013”
Spread the word!
The Iowa Review – Spring 2013
American soldiers maintain a fine tradition that is far removed from the work they do abroad: they create great literature that helps the rest of us understand the true nature of the battles fought on our behalf. Kurt Vonnegut helps us understand World War II in the European theater, and Tim O’Brien offers the rest of us a visceral account of how it felt to be an American soldier in My Lai only months after the massacre. This issue of The Iowa Review spotlights the work of soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Continue reading “The Iowa Review – Spring 2013”
Spread the word!
Nimrod International Journal – Spring/Summer 2013
Read vertically top to bottom, the final words of the lines of Ronald Wallace’s “Sex at Seventy” form this haiku by Issa: Continue reading “Nimrod International Journal – Spring/Summer 2013”
Spread the word!
Parcel – Spring 2013
The magazine Parcel is a city of mirages, each component story its own minaret and long stretch of shadow. One such structure is Rebecca Emanuelsen’s short exercise “Transmissions.” I found it especially evocative of the power of allegory. The characters channel various spirits from different continents and eras. We have the brooding Bronte men and the sequestered Burnett children, the precocious du Maurier innocents and the brittle old women who will always transcend time with the ultimate lubricant of such travel—old money. I felt that Emanuelsen teased this reader too much with allusion, where the word “quite” infected the page and the aforementioned characters did seem borrowed from other casts, but she wrote a story I couldn’t put down. The premise is that of a bookseller who becomes entrapped in a strange thread. (Yes, it leads her to an unexpected peace, but you won’t guess where). Her opening is perfect: “Olette wakes one morning to find a string running taut from her left ear canal out through the crack beneath her bedroom door. She sits up and touches the place where the thread connects to her head, perplexed by its presence.” Continue reading “Parcel – Spring 2013”
Spread the word!
Smartish Pace – 2013
If there is one thing you can count on when it comes to literary journals it is that Smartish Pace will always produce a solid body of poetry in each and every issue. This issue is thoughtfully constructed, well crafted, and satisfying. Coming up on its fourteenth year of publication, Smartish Pace is only getting stronger. Continue reading “Smartish Pace – 2013”
Spread the word!
Soundings East – Fall 2012
After everyone decided that Google changed the way Americans think, certain technocrats decided that we read differently too—gone were the days of “linear” reading: enter the temporary narrative, with Chaucer in the bathroom, Proust in the kitchen, Ginsberg in the den, collectively a kind of horizontal homage to Lowell or anyone who could compete with the subtitles of the foreign films playing in the bedroom. It could be that these alphabetic adventurers simply wanted a literary magazine, with twenty-five different voices in one compact book of leaves. Soundings East, for example, captures that American premise well. It showcases the end of moral innocence (Doug Margeson’s “The Education of Arthur Woehmer”), the liberation of internees at Santo Tomas University in the Philippines in 1942 (Anne-Marie Cadwallader’s “Waiting”), and a love story complex enough to cross time and space and species (Janet Yoder’s “Getting to Misha”). But what I found especially nonlinear about the enterprise was the way that the writing began. Continue reading “Soundings East – Fall 2012”
Spread the word!
The Tusculum Review – 2013
Halfway through The Tusculum Review, I feel like I have to come up for air: so much of it seems to take place in a small space, i.e., the writers’ and the characters’ heads. The poems jump from one time or image or location to another within the space of two lines, though individual sentences and fragments offer the occasional reward. Some of the essays are entirely cerebral, while others are a more traditional mix of storytelling and meditation. The stories, while mostly well-written, don’t quite hit the mark, and I’m left wondering: is there more? Continue reading “The Tusculum Review – 2013”
Spread the word!
upstreet – 2013
Richard Farrell, the creative nonfiction editor of upstreet magazine, opens the 2013 issue with a short essay about a boy who finds unexpected treasure: “Sea levels rise dramatically . . . Thousands of stones have washed up and cover the beach, as if the sea’s reliquary has emptied its contents at the child’s feet.” The stories, essays, and poems in this issue are like the stones found on Farrell’s beach: polished and smooth to the touch. Continue reading “upstreet – 2013”
Spread the word!
Witness – 2013
Redemption is at the heart of Witness magazine’s latest issue: “Heavy with religious and secular meaning, weighted with emotion, and anchored in morality, redemption is a frequent theme in literature.” This vast theme is examined and exposed in this offering of stories, poems, and essays from an award-winning literary journal. Continue reading “Witness – 2013”
Spread the word!
The Citron Review – Summer 2013
Ask anyone here at NewPages, or anyone really who knows me, and they’ll tell you I can’t pass up anything cat-related that catches my eye. Anthony Santulli’s “Sorry for Your Loss,” though not necessarily sentimental, came to me only a day after my mother’s cat was put to sleep. Only a paragraph long, this short piece of nonfiction holds symbolism, even as the four of them “crawl up the stairs on all fours.” He writes, “What is it you’re holding on to? Is it the ninefold freedom of springtime shedding and arched backs, of sandpaper tongues and their baths?” Perfectly compact, and wonderfully cat-like. Continue reading “The Citron Review – Summer 2013”
Spread the word!
Bodega – July 2013
Only just under a year of publication, Bodega seems to be in its element. This issue is cohesive; it works together, and not because of a theme or genre. Bodega pieces capture vivid imagery, placing words and phrases next to each other in surprising and delightful ways. Such as “we adopted the ferns / as our pets and spent long hours brushing their hair” (Sarah Burgoyne’s “Autobiography”), and, “When the floral bouquets are passed from a beautiful woman / and the ribbon is cut, one aquarium opens and another is drained.” (Jake Levine’s “Kim Jong Un Looking at Things”). Read both of these poems; they are seriously good. Continue reading “Bodega – July 2013”
Spread the word!
Four Ties Lit Review – Summer 2013
This issue of Four Ties Lit Review has a, perhaps unintentional, unifying theme: looking at people and communities in a new light and learning to accept the differences and overcome the boundaries—whether it is the readers who are asked to do this or the characters in the stories themselves. Continue reading “Four Ties Lit Review – Summer 2013”
Spread the word!
Hot Metal Bridge – Summer 2013
This issue is titled “Sustenance and Survival,” and while the editors claim that the most direct connection would be through stories about food, the pieces “expand our definitions of nourishment.” Editor-in-Chief Leigh Thomas writes, “this selection of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry offers up a feast of ways to envision sustaining ourselves that have very little–if anything at all–to do with food (at least as we normally imagine it).” Continue reading “Hot Metal Bridge – Summer 2013”
Spread the word!
drafthorse – Summer 2013
drafthorse focuses on “fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, visual narrative, and other media art where work, occupation, labor—or lack of the same—is in some way intrinsic to a narrative’s potential for epiphany.” This Summer 2013 issue speaks to that, loud and clear. Continue reading “drafthorse – Summer 2013”
Spread the word!
Sign Up Now: 100 Thousand Poets for Change
September 28, 2013 marks the third annual global event of 100 Thousand Poets for Change, a grassroots organization that brings poets, artists, musicians, and photographers together to call for environmental, social, and political change, within the framework of peace and sustainability. The local focus is key to this global event as communities around the world raise their voices through concerts, readings, workshops, flash mobs and demonstrations that speak to the heart of their specific area of concerns, such as homelessness, ecocide, racism and censorship.
“Peace and sustainability is a major concern worldwide, and the guiding principle for this global event,” said Michael Rothenberg, Co-Founder of 100 Thousand Poets for Change. “We are in a world where it isn’t just one issue that needs to be addressed. A common ground is built through this global compilation of local stories, which is how we create a true narrative for discourse to inform the future.”
Organizers and participants are hoping through their actions and events to seize and redirect the political and social dialogue of the day and turn the narrative of civilization towards peace and sustainability. Those that want to get involved can visit www.100tpc.org to find an event near them or sign up to organize one in their area.
About 100 Thousand Poets for Change
Co-Founder Michael Rothenberg is a widely known poet, editor of the online literary magazine Bigbridge.org and an environmental activist based in Northern California. Terri Carrion is a poet, translator, photographer, and editor and visual designer for BigBridge.org.
Spread the word!
The 30/30 Project: Call for Poets
From Tupelo Press: At the turn of the year we introduced you to the 30/30 Project, in which volunteer poets run the equivalent of a “poetry marathon,” writing 30 poems in 30 days, while the rest of us “sponsor” and encourage them every step of the way. Since then, nearly 75 poets have participated! This month’s “runners” are Lynn Doyle, Karen L. George, Mariela Griffor, Rachel Kubie, Denise Rodriguez, M. E. Silverman, and Scott Whitaker. You can read their poems and cheer their progress here. There are still a few slots open for September, so you’d like to volunteer, please contact kmiles-at-tupelopress.org with your offer, a brief bio, and three sample poems.
Spread the word!
International Film Studies Online Journal: Alphaville
“Alphaville offers a dynamic international forum open to the discussion of all aspects of film history, theory and criticism through multiple research methodologies and perspectives. Alphaville aims to cultivate inspiring, cutting-edge research, and particularly welcomes work produced by early career researchers in Film and Screen Media. The editors seek work that engages with current debates and especially invite contributions that display a clear engagement with methodological issues.
“The journal is open access to fully contribute to international debates in film and screen studies and beyond, and welcomes essays, festival and conference reports and book reviews, as well as print, audio and filmed interviews.
“Alphaville is the first fully peer-reviewed online film journal in Ireland. It is edited by staff and PhD and postdoctoral researchers in Film Studies at University College Cork. It is published twice a year, in Summer and Winter, with both open and themed issues that aim to provoke debate in the most topical issues in film and screen studies.”
Spread the word!
Literary Magazine Updates :: August 08, 2013
NewPages continues to help our readers locate great resources with the latest additions:
The NewPages Big List of Literary Magazines:
Live Mag!
Radio Silence
Jonathan
Jewish Fiction .net [O]
Graze
Tears in the Fence
Bent Ear Review [O] – MusePie Press
Concho River Review LP]
Cruel Garters
The London Magazine
Gris-Gris [O]
Skin 2 Skin [O]
Decades Review [O]
Split Rock Review [O]
Kenning Journal [O]
The Missing Slate [O]
Atlas Review
Dandelion Farm Review [O]
Pachinko! [O]
The Vehicle [O]
Poeticdiversity [O]
Driftless Review [O]
Looseleaf Tea [O]
Bodega [O]
The St. Sebastian Review [O]
Cant
The Topaz Review [O]
Niche [O]
Promptly [O]
(em) [E]
[E] = electronic publication for e-readers
[O] = online magazines = print magazine
Writing Conferences, Workshops, Retreats, Centers, Residencies, Book & Literary Festivals:
The Virtual Poetry Seminars – university of Iowa
NYU Summer Publishing Institute
Raymond Carver Festival
Between the Lines
Writing & Illustrating for Young Readers
Summer Fiction Writing Intensive – UC Berkeley
Nora Roberts Writing Institute
Historical Novel Society US Conference
Green River Writer’s Workshop
Smith College Young Women’s Writing Workshop
Prairie Writers’ Workshop – willa cather foundation
U.S. Poets in Mexico
Literary Links:
Femficatio
Emerald Bolts
The Lost Country
Fiction Vortex
New York Dreaming
Tinywords
Paper Tape
Gravel
The NewPages Big List of Alternative Magazines:
Commons Magazine [O]