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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!

apt – 2011

After twenty-four online issues, apt, in existence since 2005, has done something uncommon in today’s literary scene. At a time when many journals are abandoning print altogether to establish themselves exclusively as online venues, no doubt as a strategic move toward long-term viability, apt has decided the two mediums can and should exist alongside one another. For its 2011 inaugural print issue, apt has brought together the work of Curtis Tompkins, Janelle M. Segarra, Christina Kapp, and David Bartone among others. Continue reading “apt – 2011”

Camera Obscura – Summer/Fall 2011

Come for the literary fiction and enjoy some fine photography while you’re here. This issue is worth the cover price just for Adam Peterson’s award winning story “It Goes Without Saying.” The story follows a travel writer as he navigates a personal crisis while attending a conference abroad where he is the guest of honor. Peterson incorporates apothegms of travel wisdom, without pretension, and avoids the pitfall of didactic lecturing while incorporating just the right amount of comic relief: “The world went on around him, he just wasn’t home to watch it. This was another mistruth of travel writing. The distance one felt when getting away was an illusion. Everything, including the traveler, fell hopelessly forward.” Continue reading “Camera Obscura – Summer/Fall 2011”

Columbia Poetry Review – 2011

Re-reading through Columbia Poetry Review (read first for the pure pleasure of reading, and second for reviewing), I noticed that I had dog-eared a third of the pages of the journal. Why have I marked all of these poems? I wondered. Were they all really that good? Continue reading “Columbia Poetry Review – 2011”

The Gettysburg Review – Summer 2011

On its homepage, the editors of The Gettysburg Review proclaim an unwavering commitment to literary excellence and “emotionally stimulating” art. This issue of the quarterly journal certainly attests to that commitment, making it easy to see why the editors have earned many awards over the past several years. With so much that is good, choosing which pieces and which writers to highlight is a challenge. Continue reading “The Gettysburg Review – Summer 2011”

Jersey Devil Press – July 2011

This is an attractive, well-organized journal that does something I really like: the stories are presented both in regular script or can be downloaded as a pdf. Their contemporaries often do one or the other, and it is nice to have a choice. The editors describe their interests the following way: “Our tastes tend more toward the offbeat and the absurd, the unclassifiable and the insane, stories most other publishers can’t be bothered with.” Well, they certainly have been successful in finding and publishing work to their taste. I had a great time reading their offbeat and usually humorous tales. Continue reading “Jersey Devil Press – July 2011”

Modern Haiku – Summer 2011

Perhaps of all the poetic forms—sonnet, ghazal, villanelle, sestina— the haiku is the most elegant. A tiny, carefully constructed edifice, its 5-7-5 pattern must contain within some image or message. And of all the poetic forms, perhaps the haiku is the poetic form that is most contemporarily relevant. For those of us who are constantly texting or emailing, brevity is king. It’s not surprising that there is a form of Twitter haikus called Twaikus. Continue reading “Modern Haiku – Summer 2011”

Neon Magazine – 2011

They say that good things come in small packages, and this gritty issue certainly backs up the claim. Neon is a perfect take-along for the train, bus or plane, tucked in a pocket or a bag, and will transport you to a world full of stark visuals, poetry and prose perfectly accompanied by sharp black and white photography. Continue reading “Neon Magazine – 2011”

New Millennium Writings – 2011

Imagine a roomy, comfortable venue somewhere in Knoxville, Tennessee. You’re there just in time for a marathon read-in: Fiction writers, memoirists, poets, almost 100 of them, coming up one after the other. There are widely published writers, college writing teachers, and students in MFA programs, and there are other folks who identify themselves as neurologists, gardeners, grandmothers, homebuilders. A couple of young people present their work for the very first time anywhere, and it’s good, and everyone applauds and encourages them: Keep writing, keep it up. Continue reading “New Millennium Writings – 2011”

New Ohio Review – Fall 2010

The population of the Buckeye State is famously diverse, blending urban and rural, conservative and progressive. This diversity of perspectives is reflected in Issue 8 of the New Ohio Review. The editors eschew an opening comment, allowing the poetry, fiction and nonfiction to speak for itself. Continue reading “New Ohio Review – Fall 2010”

New South – Fall/Winter 2011

I am of the firm belief that all writers should read a lot. The problem with this is, most of us still schlep to “real jobs” and grab our writing time when we can—that hour after the kids go to bed, or early Sunday mornings, in the basement, when everyone else is still asleep. How are we expected to have time to read, for pity’s sake? Continue reading “New South – Fall/Winter 2011”

Parnassus – 2011

Parnassus is a brick. At 500+ pages, it holds forth as a mammoth among literary journals (Fulcrum and Vlak being two others having recently published issues that come immediately to mind). The other night at Glen Park Station after a poetry reading, a friend, who himself happens to edit a literary annual, remarked that he finds such a size far too unwieldy and awkward to get around in as a reader. Yet nonetheless, there’s a rather charming and fascinating draw towards large volumes. They possess a seductive quality that’s difficult to resist as they always bring on the feeling that the next round of reading is going to yield another surprise. In this regard, the new issue of Parnassus does not disappoint. Continue reading “Parnassus – 2011”

Pilgrimage – 2011

The pleasure starts as soon as you pick up this magazine. Striking black-and-white linoleum block prints by Melissa West on front and back covers are worth lingering over before you even get inside. Their design and typography call so little attention to themselves that you may not even stop to think about how beautiful type can be when it’s handled well. Instead, you sit back and let yourself be drawn effortlessly into some wonderful writing. Continue reading “Pilgrimage – 2011”

Poetry East – Spring 2011

This issue of Poetry East is a compendium of 100 short poems evenly divided into four sections?Morning, Midday, Evening, Night. While readers will be treated to a few poems from household names, what is far more significant is the natural flow from one piece to the next regardless of who authored them. I have never heard literary magazines, or poetry collections for that matter, referred to as “page turners,” but there is a kind of lightness in these poems that leads to precisely this end. Take for example Andrea Potos’s poem “Abundance to Share with the Birds,” which evokes the image of hair strands removed from a brush taken up by the wind to be collected by birds for a nest. Continue reading “Poetry East – Spring 2011”

Polaris – 2010

Polaris has always been about undergraduate writing, specifically the undergraduate writing of students at Ohio Northern University. The issue I reviewed, however, offered a slight twist on the focus. Editors Brian Hohmeier and Andrew Merecicky explained that “for the first time in the over fifty years of our history as a magazine, the staff and editors were pleased and excited to open up submissions to the global undergraduate writing community.” Continue reading “Polaris – 2010”

Yellow Medicine Review – Spring 2011

The Yellow Medicine Review: A Journal of Indigenous Literature, Art, and Thought has been publishing fiction, poetry, scholarly essays, and art from the perspective of pre-colonial peoples since the Spring of 2007. The cover art for the Spring 2011 edition provides a visual cohesiveness to the broad theme—the tradition of change in indigenous art and literature—addressed in its 256 pages. This issue contains works primarily from North American authors, with a smattering of writers representing indigenous peoples from other parts of the globe. Continue reading “Yellow Medicine Review – Spring 2011”

Z Magazine – May 2011

Claiming to be an “independent magazine of critical thinking on political, cultural, social and economic life in the U.S” and that “seeing racial, gender, class, and political dimensions of personal life as fundamental to understanding and improving contemporary circumstances,” Z Magazine “aims to assist activist efforts for a better future.” It is published by South End Press, and is committed to “the politics of radical social change.” Continue reading “Z Magazine – May 2011”

Confrontations Takes on Art

According to editor Jonna G. Semeiks, for the first time in its over 40-year publishing history, Confrontations has included a section devoted to visual art. The artist (whose work is also featured on the cover) is Esteban Vicente, “an immigrant who left Spain during the Civil War in the 1930’s and settled on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.” Along with the editorial introduction, there is an bio before the images, and eight four, two-sided, full-color, full-bleed pages of his paintings featured. For its inaugural foray into art inclusion, Confrontations has shown great sensibility it how to do it right.

Stunning Covers: Calyx

Celebrating 35 years of continuous publishing, Calyx: A Journal of Art and Literature by Women Summer 2011 features the cover art “Adaptation” (acrylic on canvas, 36″ x 48″) by Amy Guidry. It can be viewed in a larger image in the Calyx website. More of Guidry’s work is featured inside the magazine, along with that of Christine Wuenschel, Marie Le Glatin Keis, Alethea Norene, RoByn Thompson, Kathline Carr and Lu – all in full color on glossy center pages.

New Lit on the Block :: The Snake

Editors Marc & Morgane McAllister founded In The Snake Magazine “to provide quality short literature that is both meaningful as well as enjoyable to read.” Launched July 2011, the monthly publication thus far features the short stories of Rose Droll, Jennifer Moore, and Carmen Maldonado, Yarrow Paisley, Jesse Rubin, A. Kham and Shauna Brock.

In The Snake Magazine is currently holding a short story contest for their Summer 2011 Elephant Prize. Deadline for submissions is August 31.

In The Snake Magazine is also accepting submissions for upcoming issues, offering guidelines with detailed expectations of plot, theme, style, and existential conflict: “We look for stories that build strong, dynamic characters that reflect the nature of the human experience.” In addition to cash awards for their contest, In The Snake Magazine is a paying market.

In Aporia: The Annual Akilah Oliver Memorial Reading

The annual Akilah Oliver Memorial Reading honors the memory of Lang professor Akilah Oliver, a radical poet, feminist, and activist. As the first of an annual reading series, this reading will feature the work of Oliver’s contemporaries Julian Brolaski, Rachel Levitsky and Lauren Nicole Nixon, along with Oliver’s former students Erik Freer, Karl Leone and Kaley Foley.

The event is scheduled to take place Monday, September 12, 2011 at 7:00 pm at The New School: Lang Cafe, 65 West 11th Street; New York, NY.

RSVP on Facebook.

Anniversary: Ploughshares 40th

To celebrate its 40th year of publication, the Fall 2011 issue of Ploughshares brings back former guest editors “to contribute new works of their own, to nominate and introduce an emerging writer, or to give an account of turning points in their careers.” A full list of the contents is available on the website, though it does not indicate which new writers are being introduced by guest editors. Ploughshares changes active content links each day for the current issue.

New Lit on the Block :: Trans-portal

“Written for an intelligent reader,” Trans-portal: The Hub of Trans-Formation Studies features contributions that “exhibit the highest qualities of scholarship while also being accessible by a wide audience.”

Trans-portal’s Founding Editor/Curator Michael Broek is joined by Contributing Editors Patrick Donnelly, Stephen D. Miller, Susan Castillo, Matthew Carter and Tarfia Faizullah, and Editor-At-Large Laura McCullough in producing an online biannual, appearing summer and winter.

The first issue (Summer 2011) features lyrical essays by Amanda Abel, Elizabeth Howort, and Steve Newton; scholarly essays by Camille Alexander, Danielle Mortimer, Margaret R. Borders, Bryce Christensen; an audio essay by Paul Lisicky, a photo essay by Tarfia Faizullah, and a review of Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and and Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom by Judy Chen-Cooper.

Trans-portal also includes individual resource pages for essays an articles on a variety of “trans” concepts: Trans-Personal, Trans-Cultural, and Trans-National. I hope to see this become a wealth of resources that continue to grow with the longevity of the publication.

Trans-portal is seeking creative non-fiction lyric essays and scholarly articles pertaining to any of our themes, with an emphasis on synthesis and contemporary relevance.

Sycamore Review Editor Changes & Contest Winner

The Summer/Fall 2011 issue of Sycamore Review features the winner of their annual Wabash Prize for Fiction: Joe B. Sills, “the Duck.”

There are also a number of staff changes taking place: Editor-in-Chief Anthony Cook is stepping down (congratulations on the new baby!); the new editor will be Jessica Jacobs. Poetry editors Mario Chard and Josh Wild and nonfiction editor Chidelia Edochie will also be moving on, with replacements yet to be announced.

Georgia Review Features Stephen Dunn

The Summer 2011 issue of The Georgia Review includes a special feature on Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Stephen Dunn: “Many a Beautiful Strangeness.” The feature is well deserved, as TGR Editor Stephen Corey notes: “…since 1980 The Georgia Review has, up through this issue, presented more than fifty of Stephen Dunn’s poems and five of his essays—plus an interview conducted by Laura McCullough [available in full on the TGR website] and a self-conducted ‘intraview,’ both of which appear here in Summer 2011. All told, Stephen Dunn’s Georgia Review poetry offerings would fill a book of nearly one hundred pages — W. W. Norton, are you listening? — and the full body of his contributions would just about flesh out an entire issue of our journal.” Read the full editorial online here, as well as the full table of contents here.

BPJ Devotes Issue & Forum to “The Logic of Yoo”

The Fall 2011 issue of Beloit Poetry Journal is devoted to chapbook of poems which come from a larger manuscript of the same name, Michael Broek’s “The Logic of Yoo.” The poem “probes the moral logic of George W. Bush’s legal counsel John C. Yoo from the perspective of a graduate student who supplements his income by writing academic papers for hire. Ten years into the ‘war on terror,’ the issues the poem raises remain acutely relevant.” (BPJ) The BPJ website includes a PDF of the first dozen pages of the poem. The BPJ website will also feature Michael Brock moderating a discussion of The Logic of Yoo for the September Poet’s Forum. (Great opportunity for teachers and their students!)

[Cover Image: Photograph by Linda Connor]

New Lit on the Block :: Mixed Fruit

Mixed Fruit is a bi-monthly online publication co-founded by editors Lindsay Shields and Abby Norwood. Mixed Fruit has an varied and energetic editorial staff reading poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, translations, and reviewing art submissions.

Editors include Kat Lewin (fiction), Jessica Plante (poetry), Matthew Burnside (fiction/poetry), Kea Wilson (fiction/Spanish/Greek translation), Courtney Thomas Vance (fiction), Summer Greer (poetry/Thai/German translation) and contributing editors Peter Alan Herbert (fiction/copy), Bethany Sarah Startin (poetry reader/French/Ancient Greek/Latin translation), Donna Vorreyer (poetry reader), Olga Mexina (Russian translation), Elisa Fernandez-Arias (Spanish/French translation), and Paula Bertr

Wave Books Subscription = Free Festival Pass

In addition to receiving all the books published by Wave Books in 2011, this year’s subscription ($75) comes with complimentary passes to the Wave Books Poetry Festival: Three Days of Poetry in Translation ($25 value), coming up November 4-6 in Seattle. Even if you can’t attend the festival (donate your passes?) subscribers will receive all materials included in festival participant packets, including limited edition pamphlets and a handmade book.

For a full list of the books included, visit Wave Books website.

WLT: Poetry Untethered

The newest issue of World Literature Today (celebrating 85 years of continous publication) includes the special section “Poetry Untethered: 10 Voices from the English-Speaking World.” In addition to their regular content, this section includes contributions from John Mateer, Dana Gioia, Stephanie McKenzie, Nicholas Samaras, Bill Manhire (“Cream Torpedoes: Recent Poetry in New Zealand”), Maya Khosla, Ilya Kaminsky, Jane Hirshfield (“What is American in Modern American Poetry: A Primer with Poems”), Ngwatilo Mawiyoo, and Ian Brinton (“Pods, Presses, and Pamphlets: Poetry in England Today”). Also included is an extensive interview by Michelle Johnson with Dana Gioia.

A full table of contents is available online with access to some of the above listed features. WLT also offers exclusive web content available for all visitors.

Puerto del Sol Contest Winners

The Summer 2011 issue of Puerto del Sol features works by the winners of their Poetry and Fiction Contests:

2011 Fiction Contest (Dawn Raffel, judge)

1st Place: Joe Aguilar, “The Flood”
2nd Place: Jen Bergmark, “Boyle Heights”
3rd Place: Kellie Wells, “The Incinerating Place”

2011 Poetry Contest (Julie Carr, judge)

1st Place: Amy Woolard, “The Housewarming”
2nd Place: Amy Woolard, “The Petty Arsonists”
3rd Place: Denise Leto, “Jaw Simulacra”

Best of Net Submissions Sought

From Sundress Publications: “Since 2006 the Best of the Net Anthology has sought to represent the best of the online literary world in poetry, fiction, and in 2010 non-fiction. Sundress Publications is seeking submissions to the sixth volume of Best of the Net. This project aims to represent the expanding, although often disregarded, online venue and bring more prestige to the innovative and continually growing medium. This collection intends to bring greater respect to the voices of those writers who choose to publish their work online. Our last issue included work by poetry by B.H. Fairchild, Karin Gottshall, Maxine Lopez-Keough, fiction by, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Max Everhart, Dominic Preziosi and non-fiction by Amy Clark, Mark Dowie, and Emma Trelles. Submissions from editors will be open from July 1 to September 30th. Winners will be announced in February, 2012.” Full details available here.

New Lit on the Block :: The Muse (India)

The Muse: An International Journal of poetry is a new biannual online publication with Chief Editor Pradeep Chaswal and Editors Dr. Mohammad Arif and Deepak Chaswal.

The first issue includes poetry by A. D. Winans, Adam Bogar, Adrienne Wolfert, Alan Lindsay, Anca Vlasopolos, April Avalon, Benjamin Myers, Boghos L. Artinian, Carl Scharwath, Carrie Allison, Chris Tanasescu, Christina Murphy Dalel Sarnou, Devreaux Baker, Gale Acuff, Hal O’Leary, Hugh Fox, Jennifer C. Wolfe, Judith Prest, Kathleen Specter, Kenneth Pobo, Linda Appleby, Michael D. Sollars, Michael Lee Johnson, Mike J Gallagher, Paul Lobo Portuges, Phillip A. Ellis, Raj Vatsya, Richard Oko Ajah, Rebeca Sara, SamEisenstein, ShradhaKamra, ThomasZimmerman, Valentina Cano, Victor W. Pearn, and William John Watkins.

Also featured in this issue are research papers and essays “Pet Trees & Dancing Bay Ponies” by Joseph Powell, “How Dangerous Is Digital Literature?” by Felix Nicolau, and “A Tribute to Raymond Garlick (1926 – 2011)” by Byron Beynon, as well as interviews with Hugh Fox and Al Beck and book reviews.

The Muse is open for submissions of poetry, research papers, essays, and reviews. The deadline for the December issue is November 10.

New Lit on the Block :: Anobium

Based in Chicago, but with “values that extend beyond borders,” Anobium aims to “print literature in a digital world” and do so with quality and brevity, keeping the volume small (5″x&’, 84pp), portable, durable (laminated matte cover with 55lb stock), and accessible ($10).

Anobium‘s masthead is: Senior Editor Mary J. Levine, MFA; Managing Editor Benjamin D. van Loon, BA; Assistant Editors Jon-Erik Means, BA, Michael Zielinski, BA, Lauren Monokian, BA; Illustrator & Assistant Designer Jacob van Loon, BFA; and Executive Administrator Sarah E. Docherty, BM.

Anobium: Volume 1 (Summer 2011) features new writing from Laura Carter, Jennifer Collins, William Doreski, Eric Evans, Ricky Garni, Jonathan Greenhause, Luke Irwin, Rich Ives, Eddie Jones, J.S. MacLean, Claire McCurdy, Bethany Minton, Thomas Mundy, Ben Nardolilli, James Payne, Stephanie Plenner, Graham Tugwell, Meredith Turits and Susan Yount. Also included is a feature story and interview with “Chicago favorite,” Joe Meno.

Submissions for volume 2 are now open for poetry and prose. Specific guidelines are available on the Anobium website.

Flannery O’Connor Short Fiction Award Winners

E.J. Levy, of Washington, DC, and Hugh Sheehy, of Brooklyn, NY, have been named the winners of this year’s Flannery O’Connor Short Fiction Award. Levy’s collection MY LIFE IN THEORY and Sheehy’s collection THE INVISIBLES will be published by the University of Georgia Press and will be available in Fall 2012.

The competition, now in its twenty-eighth year, seeks to encourage the writers of excellent short stories and bring their work to a wider audience by offering publication of a book-length collection and a $1,000 prize. The Flannery O’Connor Award has helped launch the literary careers of such previous winners as Ha Jin and Antonya Nelson.

NewPages Updates :: August 15, 2011

New additions to the NewPages Big List of Literary Magazines

Blueline Image poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art, photography
Still Point Arts Quarterly Image fiction, essays, articles, art
Valley Voices Image literature, culture, criticism
The Worcester Review Image poetry, fiction, essays, photography, graphic art
100 Word Story [O] prose poetry, prose, essays, interviews, photo stories
Aldus [O] translations, poetry, prose, essays
Catfish Creek Image undergraduate poetry, fiction, nonfiction
The Corradi Image poetry, prose, artwork
Plume [O] poetry
Printer’s Devil Review [O] poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art
Urban Confustions Image poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art
Printer’s Devil Review [O] fiction, nonfiction, art, poetry
Aldus [O] works in translation (all genres) poetry, prose, essays on translation
Connotation Press [O] – poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, screenplay, graphic art, visual art, interviews, reviews

Newly added to NewPages Guide to Misc Literary Blogs and Websites
The Literarian [O] fiction, interviews

New additions to the NewPages Big List of Alternative Magazines
NEA Arts Magazine [O] – National Endowment for the Arts

New additions to NewPages Guide to Independent Publishers & University Presses
Connotation Press – poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama
eohippus labs

[O] = mainly online publication
Image = mainly print publication

New Lit on the Block :: The Washington Pastime

The Washington Pastime is an online journal edited by founder Paul Karaffa and Laura Bolt. Karaffa’s motivation for starting the journal was a 2010 study from Central Connecticut State University in which Washington DC Metropolitan area was found to be the most well read urban area in the United States. “But Washington, DC.” Karaffa writes, “did not have a professional literary magazine representing its stake in contemporary American literature. The Washington Pastime was founded as an electronic and print publication based in Washington, DC committed to publishing the best in literary and genre fiction.”

The first issue, available on The Washington Pastime website and also as a PDF download, includes literary fiction by Matthew Ward, science fiction by Michael Anthony, horror fiction by Matt Walker, crime/mystery fiction by Jeanette Samuels, and experimental fiction by Keith Laufenberg.

The Washington Pastime website also includes a section called “Author’s Resource,” offering a developing library of information on publishing, writing fiction, the future of publishing, and “words of caution” for writers entering publishing.

The Washington Pastime is open for submissions for its next issue. Writers may submit adventure, fantasy, horror, science fiction, mystery, romance, thriller, western, and general literary fiction. Submissions for articles about the writing industry are also considered for the “Author’s Resource” page as well as topics of interest and controversy for an upcoming feature called “Expanding Scope.” The Washington Pastime offers a nominal payment for works published.

The Washington Pastime is also holding a contest for fiction and a Promising Young Author Prize for Fiction. See website for contest guidelines. The deadline for both contests is December 31.

Additionally, The Washington Pastime has an editor position open. If you are interested, see the “About” page on the site for more information.

Tampa Review: Art Blast from the Past

Tampa Review 41 offers a unique volume by pairing contemporary stories and poems with antique art from the fifteenth century and the early twentieth century, as well as a special sampling of art from the Vorticist movement, a “lively alliance of literary and visual artists before World War I that included Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, Wyndham Lewis, and a famous literary magazine called Blast.”

New Lit on the Block :: Urban Confustions

Urban Confustions is a biannual print and PDF (Lulu) publication, featuring “urban tales, poetry, non-fiction, and art from women writers and artists living in urban cities of the world.” Staffing the publication are Editors Rheea Mukherjee and Shilpa Kameswaran, Art Editor Tulika Ladsariya, and Rabia Mehta, Publicity and Marketing. Urban Confustions also holds public readings in various cities twice each year.

Each month, Urban Confustions “spotlights” an author or artists with a bio and a link to specific works by each. Featured thus far: Patricia Lee Martinovic, Teresa Chuc Dowell, Anna Saini and Emily Rutledge.

The first issue of Urban Confustions features works by Amelia Whitcomb, Sarah Rosenberg, Anna Saini, Jenny Fan, Rohini Sahni, Rachel Noelani Bovee, Shilpa Kameswaran, Tulika Ladsariya, Anna Cherednikova, Diane Ponder, Suzanne Hilal, Emily Rutledge, Archana Prasad, Jasmine Kwong, Susan Redekar, Teresa Chuc Dowell, Rabia Mehta, Jina Joan D’cruz, Shelly Bhiol Sood, Sonia Sarkar, Bo Melissa Schwabacher, Tishani Doshi, Janice Sapigao, Srividya Suryanarayanan, Prasanna Surakanti, Gathima Asghar, Ambika Ananth, Sampada Chavan, Patricia Lee Martinovic, and an interview with author Brinda Charry.

Urban Confustions invites women living in the urban centers of the world to submit fiction, non-fiction, poetry and art for their winter issue. Deadline for submissions is November 10.

Manoa: Voices of the Okinawan Spirit

The newest issue of Manoa is Living Spirit: Literature and Resurgence in Okinawa. The publication is a collection of works from the Ryūkyūs, “Most of which have never been translated into English, or are newly translated for this volume. This issue is a “sister” volume to Manoa 2009, Voices from Okinawa – a collection of plays and essays by Okinawan Americans. In addition to the written works, this Living Spirit issue includes a series of photographs by Higa Yasuo, whose subjects include three decades of his study and recording of ancient and sacred religious festivals of Okinawa. Visit the Manoa Voices of the Okinawan Spirit blog for more information.

New Lit on the Block :: The Found Poetry Review

The Found Poetry Review is a quarterly online poetry journal “celebrating the poetry in the existing and the everyday.” FPR publishes “found poems, centos, erasure poems and other forms that incorporate elements of existing texts.”

To clarify this to both their readers and writers itnerested in submitting works, FPR includes content with links on the definition of found poetry, examples of found poetry, and found poetry and fair use standards.

The Summer 2011 inaugural issue includes works by Christine Pacyk, Howie Good, Jill Crammond, Johnny Chinnici, Christina Burress, Jeanne Shannon, Mark Blaeuer, Clare Kirwan, Andrea J. Dickens, Claire Ferris, Jennifer Saunders, Guy Torrey, and Ed Higgins.

FPR is accepting submissions via Submishmash for the Fall 2011 issue, deadline September 30, 2011.

FPR is also holding their first contest, in which all contest submissions must be found poems derived from “How to Analyze People on Sight” by Elsie Lincoln Benedict and Ralph Paine Benedict, available as a free e-text through Project Gutenberg. The contest deadline is August 31, 2011.

Malahat Long Poem Prize 2011 Winners

“The Constant Gardener” by Maggie Schwed and “The Sun Estate” by Julie Joosten were selected as the Malahat Long Poem Prize 2011 Winners. Each receives a $1000 cash prize as well as publication. Their poems appear in the most recent issue of Malahat (Summer 2011), and an interview with each appears on the Malahat Review web site.

The Malahat Long Poem Prize is held every second year. The deadline for the next contest is February 1, 2013. Malahat Review sponsors a number of contests, guidelines for which can be viewed here.

National Student Writing Contest

The YES! National Student Writing Competition demonstrates how teachers can use YES! Magazine stories as the basis for thought-provoking writing, and gives students an opportunity to voice their opinions and show off their exemplary writing. Each quarter, students will have the opportunity to read and respond to a selected prompt. The prompt will be available on Sept 6.

Now is the time to think about including the YES! National Student Writing Competition in your fall curriculum. For fall 2011, students will read and respond to the YES! article, “Why My Dad’s Going Green.”

Contest Age Categories:

Grades 5-8
Grades 9-12
College/university
Adult continuing education

New Lit on the Block :: Manor House Quarterly

Organized by Dane Cardiel, contributing editor, Manor House Quarterly is “a collaborative effort of individuals whose diverse interests range from mixed-media to poetry, photography to music composition, story-telling to illustration, and more. The quarterly publication is simply the blending of these interests speaking toward a given concept.”

The first issue of MHQ is available online using Issuu and includes writing from Chloe Sparacio, Ethan Linstrom, Jeff Murray, Kohn Ashmore, Justin Wright, Andrew Gumm, Gaelan Gilbert, Sean Sand, Jared Callahan, Theron Allen Gregory, Vanessa Nelson, and Blake Nelson, and visual art from Casey Galanter, Frank Scott Krueger, Elisha Medina, Garrett Richardson, Jeff Allen, Kalika Kastein, Megan Gilbert, Scott Linger, Aubrey Perkins, Lauren Whisnant, and Emily Spencer.

Submissions of written content are being accepted for the next issue of MHQ, themed “1877.” The deadline is August 12.

Main Street Rag 2011 Poetry Book Award Winners

Elegies for New York Avenue by Melanie Henderson of Washington, DC. won the Main Street Rag 2011 Poetry Book Award.

The deadline for the next Poetry Book Award is January 31, 2012. All entries are considered for publication.

Finalists/Runners up (in alphabetical order) are:

Banjo String Theory by Lynn Pattison, Kalamazoo, MI
Devil’s Messengers by David Allen Sullivan, Santa Cruz, CA
Dopplegangster by Patrick Moran, Fort Atkinson, WI
Heinz 56 by Amanda Reynolds, Pittsburgh, PA
Silver by Jason McCall, Tuscaloosa, AL
System of Hideouts by Heather McNaughter, Pittsburgh, PA
Zero is the Whole I Fall into at Night by Becky Thompson, Jamaica Plain, MA

Because the primary purpose for the MSR contest is to select manuscripts for publication, all of the finalists have been offered publication.

MSR also welcomes back Foster C. Hunter, who will be helping “Build Better Books” in the print and bindery operation.

Anobium Books Education Discount

Anobium Books is a Chicago-based, independent publisher founded in 2011 by Benjamin van Loon and “Mary J. Levine.” Anobium Books’ Education Discount Program will run indefinitely while supplies last, and offer free shipping and a 20% discount to Chicago Metropolitan Area students, faculty and staff. Beginning on July 31st, Anobium: Volume 1, which features new writing from Jonathan Greenause, Rich Ives, Joe Meno and others will be the first title available in the program.

New Lit on the Block :: Country Music

Country Music is an online biannual journal of poetry edited by Scott Abels. In addition to the poetry, each of the two issues now available include special features, such as “The Darkness and the Popcorn: Tyler McMahon’s Correspondence with Denis Johnson” (Volume 1), a selection of poems with an introduction (explanation) of the very quirky Barcelona Poetry Machine (Volume 2), and “Contributors Respond to Art and Economics” (Volume 2).

Issues #1 and #2 include works by Dan Chelotti, Sally Molini, Jennifer H. Fortin, Nate Pritts, Angela Veronica Wong, Alen Hamza, Donald Illich, Jon Thrower, Ron Riekki, Matt Ryan, Tyler Gobble, Peter Jay Shippy, Brandi Homan, Rob MacDonald, Rich Murphy, Kyle Thompson, Katie Condon, Andrew Morgan, Philip Byron Oakes, Francis Raven, Michael Schiavo, Clay Matthews, Lucy Biederman, Matt Hart, Samuel Day Wharton, Peter Davis, Amber Nelson, Jim Goar, and Jackie Clark.

Submissions are currently open “with no firm guidelines.”

[Issue #2 Art by Vince Hazen]