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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!

New Lit on the Block :: Sliver of Stone

Under the guidance of Founding Editor M.J. Fievre, Sliver of Stone is a bi-annual, online literary magazine dedicated to the publication of work from both emerging and established poets, writers, and visual artists from all parts of the globe. Other hands on deck for Sliver of Stone, “the talented progeny of the Creative Writing Program at Florida International University in Miami, Florida” include: Corey Ginsberg,nonfiction editor; Fabienne S. Josaphat, fiction editor; Marina Pruna, Laura Richardson, Patricia Warman, poetry editors; Holly Mayes, art editor; and Abigail Sedaris, webmaster.

Issue One contributors include: Alan Britt, Alex Alderete, Andrea Askowitz, Andrew Abbott, Changming Yuan, Chloe Nimue Clark, Denise Duhamel , Ernest Williamson III, Gabriela Suarez, Jennifer Hearn, Jessica Barrog, Joe Clifford, John Dufresne, John Riley, John Solensten, Jon Page, Jonathan P. Escoffery, Julia Meylor Simpson, Kim Barnes, Laura Merleau, Mary Christine Delea, Nicholas Garnett, Peter Borrebach, Rae Spencer, Robert E. Wood, Roxanne Hoffman, Russ Hicks, Russell Reece, Samantha Knapp, Sherry O’Keefe , T.J. Beitelman, Terry Sanville, Tim Curtis, Whitney Scott, and Yia Lee.

Sliver of Stone accepts fiction, creative nonfiction, essays (3,500 words or less); poetry, any form or genre (No more than 5 poems); and visual art. The deadline for the next issue is October 31.

Prism Queer Comics Grant

Every year, Prism awards a significant Queer Press Grant to assist in the publication and promotion of LGBT comics. The grant is funded by donors who are either creators who want to help others just starting out, or fans who want to see more LGBT creators get published. The grant of approximately $2,000 will be awarded to an LGBT cartoonist who is self-publishing a comic book with queer characters and/or themes. Entries are judged first and foremost by artistic merit, followed by concerns such as financial need, proposal presentation, and contribution to the LGBT community. Deadline September 15, 2010.

Sycamore Review Online Submissions

Beginning with its new reading period beginning August 1, Sycamore Review will be accepting submissions of poetry, fiction, and personal essays through their online submissions manager. They will no longer accept submissions via traditional post after August 1, 2010. Submissions for their 2010 Wabash Prize in Poetry judged by Jane Hirshfield, however, will continue to be accepted via traditional post.

Novel Excerpt :: Leora Skolkin-Smith

In “The Fragile Mistress,” it’s the summer of 1963 on the Israeli-Jordanian border. A fourteen-year-old American girl is believed to be to be dead, killed by a sniper. The Fragile Mistress is a unpublished excerpt from the novel, Edges, by Leora Skolkin-Smith. The novel, originally published by Grace Paley in 2005, has since been re-titled and expanded for the feature film, The Fragile Mistress, currently in pre-production with Triboro Pictures. It will be shot on location in Jerusalem, Jordan, and New York, and directed by Michael Gunther. Read the excerpt in the latest issue of Guernica, online.

Books :: Teaching Poetry

Poets on Teaching: “In response to a lack of source works for wide-ranging approaches to teaching poetry, award-winning poet Joshua Marie Wilkinson has gathered ninety-nine micro-essays for poets, critics, and scholars who teach and for students who wish to learn about the many ways poets think about how a poem comes alive from within—and beyond—a classroom. Not narrowly concerned with how to read poetry or how to write poetry, by virtue of their central concern with teaching poetry, the essays in this fresh and innovative volume address both reading and writing and give teachers and students useful tools for the classroom and beyond.” [University of Iowa Press / 1-58729-904-6 or 978-1-58729-904-9]

The Un-Mississippi Review

What the heck is going on at Mississippi Review? Anna Leigh Clark does a nice job of summing it all up on her blog, Isak: Barthelme Departs, Mississippi Review and Center for Writers in Confusion. As for Barthelme, he and several of his fellow publication staffers carry on at Rick Magazine – which will continue to link to the Mississippi Review Online archives from their site.

Online Post Graduate Fiction Workshops

Shannon Cain (Tupelo Press, recipient of the Pushcart Prize, the O. Henry Prize, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts) will be leading online post-graduate workshops in fiction along with guest authors/co-leaders Robin Black, Laura van den Berg, and Josh Weil. Workshops are six weeks in length, non-synchronous, and organized in a bulletin board format. (You can browe a sample workshop on the website.) Each week, three participants post their stories for review and commentary by Shannon and the group. In the final half of the workshop, particpants will be joined by a guest co-leader. Each participant will have the opportunity to have one story or chapter workshopped by the guest leader. Workshop size is limited to nine participants.

On Blurbology

“So when publishing people look at the lineup of testimonials on the back of a new hardcover, they don’t see hints as to what the book they’re holding might be like. Instead, they see evidence of who the author knows, the influence of his or her agent, and which MFA program in creative writing he or she attended. In other words, blurbs are a product of all the stuff people claim to hate about publishing: its cliquishness and insularity . . . It stands to reason that, if many blurbs are bestowed for extraliterary reasons like friendship or professional collegiality, then many of them are insincere.” Laura Miller, Beware of Blurbs, Salon.com

Audio :: Les & Bi Women’s Erotic Fiction

Newly added to the NewPages Guide to Podcasts, Video, Audio: The BlogTalkRadio program Readings in Les and Bi Women’s Erotic Fiction hosted Lara Zielinsky, a bisexual author of mature adult content lesbian and bi-women’s fiction, romance and erotica. Every other week she shares excerpts and interviews with authors and others involved in the writing and publication of lesbian and bisexual women’s fiction.

Check out the NewPages Guide to Podcasts, Video, Audio for this and many other great literary resources. Know of a one we should consider listing? Drop me a line: denisehill[at]newpages[dot]com

A Word a Day

Founded in 1994 by Anu Garg, while a graduate student in computer science, A.Word.A.Day (AWAD) is a daily electronic publication from the wordserver at Wordsmith.Org. AWAD includes a vocabulary word, its definition, pronunciation information with audio clip, etymology, usage example, quotation, and other interesting tidbits about words to subscribers every day. You can think of it as a word trek where we explore strange new words. Words are usually selected around a theme every week. At last check, more than 900,000 people in at least 200 countries receive AWAD daily. There is no charge to sign up for AWAD.

Glimmer Train Short Story Award for New Writers :: August 2010

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their Short Story Award for New Writers. This competition is held quarterly and is open to all writers whose fiction has not appeared in a print publication with a circulation greater than 5000. The next Short Story Award competition will take place in August. Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

First place: Olufunke Grace Bankole, of El Cerrito, CA, wins $1200 for “26 Bones.” Her story will be published in the Fall 2011 issue of Glimmer Train Stories. [Photo credit: Cheryl Mazak.]

Second place: Joseph Vastano, of Austin, TX, wins $500 for “Entirely Different Places.”

Third place: Natalia Cortes Chaffin of Las Vegas, NV, wins $300 for “The Pig Roast.”

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

Vanishing Point

Vanishing Point is not a memoir. It says so in the bottom right corner on the cover. On the back of the book, it says “Literature/Essays.” In this book, Ander Monson serves on a jury, spends time at Panera Bread, details his self-Googling results, and devotes a section to the flavors of Doritos. But Vanishing Point is about all of us. How the I of my life, of your life, of every life, blends together and vanishes, at least a little. Continue reading “Vanishing Point”

Black Box Theater as Abandoned Zoo

Winner of the 2008 Concrete Wolf Chapbook Competition, Dana Elkun’s Black Box Theater as Abandoned Zoo offers a guided tour of a rich, imagined landscape. The cover of the volume features a pair of monkeys, perched on a bed, releasing butterfly silhouettes into the air. Underneath the enigmatic cover art, 15 sophisticated yet accessible poems treat topics as varied as marriage, medicine, and history. Continue reading “Black Box Theater as Abandoned Zoo”

How to Catch a Falling Knife

The greatest strength in How to Catch a Falling Knife, Daniel Johnson’s first collection of poems, is its chosen silences. While that may sound like strange praise, this book’s sparseness gives it a paradoxical power where the poet’s ability to know what not to say and when allows what he does say to starkly shine in the same way that it is more arresting to see one light left on in a house you gaze at from the dark street than it is when all the windows are festively blazing. Continue reading “How to Catch a Falling Knife”

The Evolutionary Revolution

The latest release from Lily Hoang, The Evolutionary Revolution is a history unto itself. Both a fable and a myth (“Myth is about the past, fable is about the future.”), this title revolves around stories of an ancient, watery Earth populated by “subspecies,” one of which is man, although she does not physically resemble modern homo sapiens. (I know I’ve used “man” and “she” together. It’s an oft-employed technique from the book, one of many contradictions of language that whirl about and simply shrug off their own existences, adding to the intricate mystery and progression of Hoang’s work.) Continue reading “The Evolutionary Revolution”

The Logic of the World

Entering my neighborhood from a different direction for the first time, I became disoriented, unable to find my building right away. Then, there it was! And I suddenly had a new "feel" for the place. Experiencing the familiar from a new perspective can bring disorientation that, fading, leaves an enhanced understanding. In much the same way, Robert Kelly's fiction shows us our familiar world from a new perspective, and expands our understanding of this life we live. Continue reading “The Logic of the World”

Tea Time with Terrorists

I recently became aware of the term personal watermelon. This is a smaller melon than your picnic-for-ten variety, weighing in at 5 lbs or less. Briefly, I entertained the false notion that the term meant the sweet, quenching fruit was mine mine mine and no one’s but. “Personal Watermelons. Get them here.” I’ve been reading about the seedless orbs a lot lately. They seem to be in season; it’s their time. Much like terrorism and terrorist were – and continue to be – ripe terms following September 11, 2001. On that date, artist, software designer, and global hitchhiker Mark Stephen Meadows found himself stranded in Paris, unable to fly home to California as planned on September 12. Continue reading “Tea Time with Terrorists”

The Relenting

Not every writer could make a face-down with a rattlesnake in her Moriarty living room “a primal encounter waiting to be interpreted,” yet that’s precisely what Albuquerque poet Lisa Gill has done. Her introduction to the play, “The Catalyst & the Evolution,” contains one of the best descriptions of the writing process I’ve read: “Ecdysis is the word for the skin sloughing snakes do and might as well be the word for the process writers go through with revisions of certain manuscripts, those texts whose life cycles demand we shed draft after draft, abandoning each accrued preconception to ultimately access deeper instinct.” Continue reading “The Relenting”

Under the Small Lights

John Cotter, author of the just published novella Under the Small Lights, is also a poet. The novella, a co-winner of 2009 Miami University Press Novella Contest, and a knowing yet earnest coming-of-age story about a group of college-age youths embracing a guileless hedonism and salvation through art, has many marks of a poet: a deft feel for spoken language and the ability to create vivid scenes through language. The very structure of the book – with short, often very short, chapters – has less of the expansiveness of prose, and more the concise cognitive breath of poetry. Continue reading “Under the Small Lights”

Falling off the Bicycle Forever

The latest collection from Michael Rattee, Falling off the Bicycle Forever, is a smooth, two-wheel ride through your nearest suburban neighborhood; if you don’t pay close enough attention, you’ll miss the subtleties of this book’s sedentary life, the thick underlay of muck beneath the gilded exterior of the American Dream. Continue reading “Falling off the Bicycle Forever”

Destruction Myth

Mathias Svalina’s Destruction Myth is a collection of great intellectual rigor, grounded by an awareness of the everyday. It presents a series of forty-four poems, all but one entitled “Creation Myth.” Reaching back into history – and sometimes prehistory – Svalina’s poems explore origins. Indeed, almost every work but the last (“Destruction Myth”) starts with some variation of “In the beginning.” Relying upon this formula lifted from “Genesis,” Svalina nonetheless demonstrates great range. He presents highly personal material, confessing “how I felt / when I was eight years old / & my home broke apart,” alongside thought-provoking anthropological generalizations (“Human life begins / at the moment / of contraception”; “Nothing without thumbs / is human”). And he displays skill with both free verse and prose – though the latter mode seems better suited for his forthright tone and frequent use of dialogue. Continue reading “Destruction Myth”

I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl

When titles are well written, they strike our interest and pull us into the main text, but they also are part of the main text – adding to the story, the voice, the emotional resonance – and should never be something without which a text can survive or make sense. I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl – chosen by Lynn Emanuel for the 2008 Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry – does just those things and is exactly what the title of a book should be; even before readers get to what’s inside of the book, it is striking, creative, intriguing, and relevant. Continue reading “I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl”

Requiem for the Orchard

What’s in an author’s name? Just uttering, “Oliver de la Paz” is to be moved by poetry. Repeating the musicality of such a name over and over before even peeling back the cover to the opening poem makes one ponder, “Could this poet’s name be some sort of predestination statement at the root of his creative process? Or evidence of his introduction since birth to the rise and fall of words that have fine-tuned his ear?” Continue reading “Requiem for the Orchard”

Creating a Life

In her memoir Creating a Life, Corbin Lewars chronicles her difficult journey to motherhood. Along the road there is a miscarriage, unearthed memories of being raped as a teenager, a struggle to find meaningful work, and tough decisions about the birth itself: hospital or home? Drugs or “natural” childbirth? Continue reading “Creating a Life”

The Disappeared

The novel The Disappeared, by Kim Echlin, is one that defines how love can surpass not only generations but countries as well. The story comes through so naturally – the narrator not hesitating to let true statements of the heart come through when need be – that, by the end of the novel, I felt as if this was a story told to me personally by a good friend. Continue reading “The Disappeared”

2010 New Millennium Contest Winners

New Millennium Writings has announced the winners of their 2010 poetry, fiction, short-short fiction and nonfiction contest as:

Pamela Uschuk of Bayfield, Co, has captured the $1,000 Poetry Award for her poem, “Shostakovich: Five Pieces.”

BK Loren of Lafayette, Co, took the $1,000 Fiction Prize for her story “Cerberus Sleeps.”

Norma Shainin of Mt. Vernon, Washington, was awarded the $1,000 Short-Short Fiction Prize for her story “The Famous Writer.”

Amy Andrews of Rochester, NY, earned the $1,000 Nonfiction Prize with her creative nonfiction essay, “hide and seek.”

Their works are scheduled to appear in the next issue of NMW, due out this winter, and also at www.newmillenniumwritings.com.

Books :: Writing and Publishing

Carol Smallwood has been quietly creating a name for herself over the years, and I say quietly for a couple of reasons. First, she’s a librarian! With both an MLS and an MA, she has focused her writing on resources for librarians. But I also say quietly because she has edited a couple of phenom publications, taking the back seat to the subject matter, as great editors do. Her latest collection is one not to be missed by any writer who is interested in learning more about publishing venues. That’s right: I said Writer. Not just Librarians.

The book is Writing and Publishing: The Librarian’s Handbook (ALA Editions 2010), but any non-librarian writer who passes this book by because of that subtitle is making a huge mistake. This book is chock full of some of the most practical, hands-on, I’ve-lived-this advice from writers about the most wide array of publishing venues I have ever read in a single collection. There are 46 contributors to this collection, condensed into less than 200 pages. This is my kind of “guide” – it gets directly to the nitty-gritty of each individual topic in 92 (yes, you read me right) essays.

Granted, some of the topics covered are Librarian-specific, such as “MLS, MFA: The Working Librarian Pursuing a Degree in Creative Writing” (Colleen S. Harris), “Partners: Helping Your Hometown Paper Promote the Local Library” (Beth Nieman), and “Children’s Librarians! Use Your Skills to Fill Your Collection Gaps” (Margaret Read MacDonald). Although, I did find the information insightful and even helpful as someone who works closely with librarians to help promote events, build collections, etc. But there are plenty more contributions that seem library-specific, like “Blogging: Writing Op-Eds” (Michale Dudley) and “The Poet-Librarian: Writing and Submitting Your Work” (Colleen S. Harris) that make consideration for the role/career of librarian, but could just as easily be applicable to anyone with any other career. Specifically for librarians, however, is insight in how to participate in these publishing venues either as part of the job to help promote the library/collections, or as a separate activity and the politics of keeping your writing life clear from that of public or institutional jobs and the overreaching restrictions those sometimes have.

The breadth of topics in this collection is most astounding. It’s not just a something-for-everyone collection, it’s an a-lot-for-anyone collection. For librarians who want to do ANY kind of writing, this book is a no-brainer to get, read, and keep in your personal resource library. For others – anyone interested in writing to publish, this is a resource to take a look at. There are plenty of other “publishing” resources out there – but in my recent research for a college-level course in professional writing, finding a book as comprehensive in voices and topics as this one is RARE. I wouldn’t pass up using this as a resource with students interested in publishing. For students? Heck, for anyone trying to step into and make sense of where to get started or different directions to take in publishing.

Here’s just an outline of the content:

Part 1 – Why Write

Part 2 – Education of a Writer
Getting Started
Writing with Others
Revise, Revise, Revise
Lessons From Publishing

Part 3 – Finding Your Niche in Print
Books
Newsletters and Newspapers
Reviewing
Magazines and Professional Journals
Essays
Textbook Writing
Children’s Literature
Writing on Specific Subjects

Part 4 Finding Your Niche Online

Part 5 Maximizing Opportunities

For a more detailed outline of content, visit the publisher’s website: Writing and Publishing

Telling the Story Behind Storytelling Totem Poles

The current issue of Whispering Wind (V39 N2 I271) features the article “Totems at Sitka National Historical Park Sitka, Alaska” by Scott Jensen that is worth seeking out to read and share with others. This is a thorough exploration of the history of the totem pole in the Northwest Territory, and includes numerous, clearly referenced photos. Jensen’s writing is well researched and documented and provides a solid historical understanding of the role of the totem pole in Native American storytelling.

Five Points – 2010

Edited by Megan Sexton and David Bottoms, this issue of Five Points explores literature as well as audio inspired by the theme “Belfast Imagined.” Work includes an interview with novelist Glen Patterson (which is also available on the journal’s website); photography comprising a series entitled “Flash Points”; a companion 19-track, 78+ minute CD; two essays; fiction; and poetry by Medbh McGuckian, Ciarán Carson, Leontia Flynn, Howard Wright, and Alan Gillis, whose poem “Down Through the Dark and Emptying Streets” begins the issue: Continue reading “Five Points – 2010”

Hayden’s Ferry Review – Spring/Summer 2010

I’m warning you from the get-go: I will never be able to do this volume justice in a one itty-bitty little review. This is one big, bold, brilliant effort. From Brian Dettmer’s “New Books of Knowledge,” full bleed front and back cover art, to Halina Duraj’s essay, “The Company She Keeps,” the last piece in the magazine, this is surely one of Hayden’s Ferry Review’s most exciting issues ever. Continue reading “Hayden’s Ferry Review – Spring/Summer 2010”

The Iowa Review – Spring 2010

A terrific redesign to kick off the journal’s 40th year. I love the new look and feel (decidedly less stodgy; easier to hold and read; appealing new shape, beautiful cover and page layouts). Prose – seven stories and five essays – is what held my attention most vividly in this volume, beginning with Elizabeth Benjamin’s beautifully composed prose in “Scarce Lit Sea” (“A year after he said see you soon out the window of his truck, he returned to me, in the night as he had always come, either by water, his boat striking the sharp brown rocks, or on foot, whistling bird calls from the trail.”). Stories by Karl Harshbarger, Whitney Ray, Sarah Colvert, Amma Gautier, Ben Fountain, and Kirsten Clodfelter couldn’t be more different from Benjamin’s, or from each other, but all are solid and satisfying in different ways and for different reasons, making the short fiction in this issue especially appealing. Continue reading “The Iowa Review – Spring 2010”

The MacGuffin – Spring/Summer 2010

Curiosity got the better of me. Once I’d read the title, “Je Suis un Ananas” (I am a Pineapple) in the TOC, I had to turn to Libby Cudmore’s essay right away. I got doubly rewarded for my impatience. First, with Cudmore’s short, insightful response to “new media” (YouTube, Facebook) efforts to encourage a revisionist approach to childhood memories; and then by Colleen Pilgrim’s exquisite black and white photo, “Bog Trail,” which I had not expected on the facing page. The quality of Pilgrim’s photo sent me straight back to the TOC to look for other photos, and I was happy to find another of Pilgrim’s photo, and stunning images by Patrick Mog and Robert McGovern. Continue reading “The MacGuffin – Spring/Summer 2010”

Northwest Review – 2010

In this era of short attention spans, multi-tasking, split screen viewing, fast food, speed dial, and the quick fix, I admire Northwest Review’s daring: this issue features three very long short stories (Charlie Smith’s “We’re Passing Through a Paradise” is nearly 50 pages) and a lengthy essay by poet Eavan Boland (just under 20 pages). The work of 15 poets rounds out the issue. Continue reading “Northwest Review – 2010”

Oxford American – 2010

A glossy, four-color magazine produced quarterly in Arkansas, featuring magazine journalism, fiction, a dining column, news of the south, and the annual “Best of the South” selection. This year’s “Best of the South” turns “best-of” lists upside down with quirky “Odes to” places, trips, events, people, experiences, books, activities, nature highlights, sports, commercial establishments, food and drink, the visual arts, famous personalities, moods and moments by writers, artists, and actress Sharon Stone. Beth Ann Fennelly expounds on “Ten Sexy Books” (writers as distinctly different from each other as Tennessee Williams, Zora Neale Houston, and Ellen Gilchrist make the list). Maud Newton writes about the Biltmore Hotel in Florida. Barrah Hannah’s ode is advice to a young writer advising that he/she treasure loneliness. William Giraldi celebrates body builders in Louisiana. Continue reading “Oxford American – 2010”

Poetica Magazine – Spring 2010

This is the “short story” issue, fifteen short works (2-4 pages) many of which read more like memoirs or personal essays than fiction, and they may be (genres are not identified). They are direct in their intention to be “reflections of Jewish thought.” Half have titles that announce their Jewish-ness in one way or another (“Post-Abrahamic,” “Tekiah Gedola: The Strongest Call,” “Mamala,” “Zaydie the Courageous,” “A True Hillel and Shamai Story,” “Yom Kippur,” “Israel Journey, ’94 Heart”), and all have overtly Jewish themes of one type or another: one’s relationship to Israel; the portrait of a grandparent as an example of Jewish life as it used to be; differences in Jewish practice or belief between parents and children; the experience of Holocaust Survivors; memories of synagogue services; relationships with Christian neighbors; coping with aging parents; the changing nature of Jewish families. Continue reading “Poetica Magazine – Spring 2010”

Poet Lore – Spring/Summer 2010

This issue’s cover is a riveting photo of Japanese-Americans at a Los Angeles rail station on their way (forcibly) to internment camps in 1942. In fact, the photo is so beautifully composed and so striking, it’s hard to open the cover and leave it behind. But, it would be a shame not to, the issue’s simply terrific. “Poetry…survives war’s upheavals and seeks to leave an enduring record…rebuilding has always been part of poetry’s promises,” assert Poet Lore’s editors. Much of the work here certainly deserves to endure. Continue reading “Poet Lore – Spring/Summer 2010”

Poetry Northwest – Spring/Summer 2010

With this issue, the journal moves from its home at the Attic Writers Workshop in Portland, Oregon to the Written Arts Program at Everett Community College on the Puget Sound. Editor Kevin Craft says the journal will remain true to its “capacity to be of one place and reflective of many,” and he describes the journal’s editorial approach: Continue reading “Poetry Northwest – Spring/Summer 2010”

Room – 2010

Sometimes other diversions provide resonance to my reading. Last week I watched SMILE, a Michael Ritchie film that I’d seen several times back when watching old movies meant late night broadcast stations, not TCM. I remember how hip I thought that movie was, because it acknowledged that beauty and charm were just as much part of women’s competitive framework as doing well in track or basketball. Knowing what I do now about life, women (and women’s pictures), I was naive. I was also in the first generation of girls that went to school after Title IX was enacted in US schools. Equal opportunities in athletics, back then, seemed a new, honest and honorable route to personal achievement. Continue reading “Room – 2010”

Seneca Review – Spring 2010

Full disclosure: I read this issue and am writing this review while recuperating from surgery to repair a fractured hip. So, this issue’s focus on the corporeal (Special Double Issue: The Lyric Body) is of particular interest. Of the body, editors Stephen Kuusisto and Ralph James Savarese say they present “a form for engagement” that “is always political…and always lyrical, whether we see it that way or not.” If lyrical means poetically inspired, and political means engaged with the world, then I would say their choices for the issue are, indeed, lyrical and political. And they’re also quite wonderful. Continue reading “Seneca Review – Spring 2010”

Tipton Poetry Journal – Spring 2010

Tipton Poetry Journal is a small, stapled, chapbook-like (in appearance) publication featuring “poetry from Indiana and around the world.” This issue’s 44 pages include the work of three-dozen poets. While I was not familiar with these poets, all have substantial publication credits in a wide variety of journals and several have authored full-length collections and/or novels. Continue reading “Tipton Poetry Journal – Spring 2010”

NewPages Updates :: July 28, 2010

Publications and Publishers newly added to NewPages website:


The NewPages Big List of Literary Magazines

The Meadowland Review – poetry, fiction, photography
Mused – poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, artwork, photography
Survivor Chronicles – poetry, fiction, non-fiction
Melusine – poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, art
Status Hat! – fiction, creative non-fiction, articles, poetry, music
Stirfry – poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction artwork, photography
Spiral Orb – poetry
Kritya – poetry, essays
Assembly
The Fine Line – poetry, fiction, artwork
Suspense Magazine mystery, horror, thriller
Cousin Corrine’s Reminders – writing, comics, photography
EOAGH – poetry, prose, articles
Lavender Review – poetry, art
The Country Dog Review – poetry
The Asian American Literary Review – poetry, fiction, nonfiction
James Dickey Review – poetry, fiction, nonfiction

The NewPages Big List of Alternative Magazines

The Point – essays, reviews, symposium on arts and culture
GAY (alt)

Independent Publishers & University Presses

Bona Fide Books – poetry, fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels
Cooper Dillon Books – poetry, chapbooks
Dedalus Books – fiction, nonfiction, translations
Paraguas Books – fiction, nonfiction, children’s, Spanish language
Sasquatch Books – cookbooks, gardening, travel
Other Press (updated link)
8th House Publishing (Canada)
Hub City Press – poetry, fiction, nonfiction, regional, art
Monkey Puzzle Press – poetry, fiction, nonfiction, hybrid works, essays, chapbooks
Mutual Publishing – fiction, nonfiction, Hawaii
Narrow House – poetry, fiction
Shearsman Books (UK) – poetry
Skysill Press (UK) – poetry

New Podcast on the Block :: Red Lion Square

With the staff of Amy Watkins, Host/Co-Editor, Jae Newman, Co-Editor, Shawna Mills, Artist, and Alex Copeland, Music/Technical Consultant – Red Lion Square is a free weekly podcast (archived monthly) of “contemporary poetry intended for a general audience.”

The podcasts are short (the ones I sampled were 8-12 min.) with a pleasant mix of transitional music, intros, different poets reading, and a segment called “the after party,” which might be music, interviews, or in the case of Episode 6, a visit to the Audubon Park Community Market to hear Poetry by Flashlight from Thomas Birchmire. The sound quality varies as some portions seem to be recorded by the writers themselves (tinny, in some cases) and most likely sent in, but what is recorded “in house” is top quality. Of course, the after party may allow the setting to lend its charm to the recording, but in the episodes I sampled, I had no trouble understanding the poet/musicians.

Cuurent contributors include: Thomas Birchmire, Therese L. Broderick, Mark Russell Brown, Debra Kang Dean, Teneice Durrant Delgado, Stacia M. Fleegal, Kenneth P. Gurney, Marci Rae Johnson, Erin Keane, Karen Kelsay, Russ Kesler, Steve Kronen, Richard Newman, Daniel Romo, Jesse Jay Ross, Katerina Stoykova-Klemer, Andy Trevathan, Matthew Vetter, Jonathan Weinert, and Johnathon Williams.

Red Lion Square is open for submissions: “looking for smart, accessible poems that sound great out loud. We believe there is a difference between easy poems and accessible poems and that a good reading of a good poem can turn on a person’s interest in poetry. We want those poems.” Writers can submit written works to be read, or read their own poems and send in quality recordings in wav or mp3 format along with written submissions.

Submissions :: Art Exhibit & Quote Contest

Embracing Our Differences invites professional, amateur and student writers to participate in its 8th annual exhibit celebrating diversity. National and international submissions are encouraged. Entries should be no more than 30 words and express what the theme “embracing our differences” mean to you.

The exhibit, displayed during April and May 2011 in Sarasota, Florida, has been viewed by more than 850,000 visitors. Cash award of $1,000.00. Deadline for submission is December 20, 2010. There is no submission fee or limit on the number of entries. Submission forms and more information concerning past winning submissions are available at www.EmbracingOurDifferences.org or by emailing [email protected]. Submissions may also be made online.

Naked Girls Want You

International literary salon Naked Girls Reading is looking for exceptional, “gut level” writing in the areas of Short Fiction, Poetry, Criticism and Erotica. In November 2010, an array of famous Naked Girls will read finalists in every category and give away the Naked Girls Reading Literary Honors at a special event in Chicago. This Honors includes a reader funded cash prize of at least $500 and the prestige of being the first recipient of the award.