NewPages Blog

Hello August! NewPages Calls for Submissions has been updated. All new additions are at the top. Scroll down for previous posts; expired posts are removed. If you know of a CFS you’d like considered for listing – or one find one that needs to be removed – please drop me a line: denisehill-at-newpages-dot-com

Writing Specialist
Part Time – 19 hours per week

Western Connecticut State University is seeking an energetic and dynamic person to provide assistance to college students with disabilities. Candidate must demonstrate the ability to work effectively with students one-on-one with consecutive appointments.

Qualifications: Experience working as a teacher or tutor preferred. Bachelor’s degree required, Master’s or Master’s in progress preferred. Must possess strong editorial skills; a good command of grammar, punctuation, bibliography formats, outline development and components of research and creative writing assignments; and excellent interpersonal communication skills. Experience/commitment to working with students with disabilities is preferred as is a demonstrated understanding of best practices for teaching writing to students with learning disabilities. The ability to establish and maintain appropriate boundaries with students is required.

Application Process: Send letter of application, resume, and contact information of three professional references to: Ms. Deborah Cohen, AccessAbility Services Coordinator, Western Connecticut State University, 181 White St., Danbury, CT 06810, or via email: [email protected]. Review of applications begins immediately and continues until the position is filled. Western is an AA/EEO Educator/Employer.

Sylvan Dell Publishing just released its new next generation eBooks. They are offering all 45 titles in a free eBook trial until October 31. The eBooks feature Auto-Flip, Auto-Read, Flipviewer Technology and Selectable Language (English or Spanish with more language choices are on the way). Instructions for using the books are also provided on the site (instructions for using a book? now that sounds weird). The link above will automatically insert the code necessary to access the books (MSBL9J).

The Honey Land Review has designed a spotlight feature to highlight the work of current graduate students. Their intention is “to maintain a forum where graduate students can showcase their work as well as provide some insight into the many wonderful creative writing programs available to writers today.”

If you are a current MA or MFA graduate poetry student at an accredited university and would like to be considered for our Graduate Student Spotlight Feature, simply indicate that in the body of the email containing your submission. The Honey Land Review will consider your work for both the Graduate Student Feature as well as the “open call.”

The newest issue of American Book Review (July/August 2009) takes on the issue of Fiction’s Future, and includes a plethora of “Words, Sentences, Quotes” from three dozen or so writers on the issue – each its own starting point for further consideration.

Jeffrey R. Di Leo and Tom Williams, Focus Editors, start off their editorial with one of the greatest exchanges in all of film – from The Graduate, between Ben and Mr. McGuire (one word – plastics), and create their own exchange with their own “one word” (I’m not telling what it is – go read the editorial).

In relation to the future of fiction, Di Leo and Williams write: “While Ben didn’t ask Mr. McGuire about the future (Mr. McGuire volunteered it), we did ask over three hundred writers, critics, and scholars about the future of fiction. Responses varied from one word (James Whorton, Jr.’s “C-SPAN,” Stephen J. Burn’s “Neural,” and Vanessa Place’s “Conceptualism”), to a quote (Brian Evenson quotes Glenn Gould and Samuel Beckett, and Lance Olsen quotes Franz Kafka and Jerzy Kosinski), to a sentence—and sometimes many more (hey, just in case we’re paying by the word, right?).”

ABR also includes “Elaborations” on Fiction’s Future, as well as, of course, a slew of book reviews.

Barnes & Noble, Inc.the world’s largest bookseller, today announced a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, Inc., a leading contract operator of college bookstores in the United States, in a transaction valued at $596 million, or approximately $460 million net of College’s cash on hand on the expected closing date.

College operates 624 college bookstores through multi-year management services contracts, serving nearly 4 million students and over 250,000 faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Founded in 1965, College has a diversified, predictable and growing revenue stream derived from the sale of textbooks and course-related materials, emblematic apparel and gifts, trade books, school and dorm supplies, and convenience and cafe items.

Full story here.

From Samantha Giles, Executive Director of Small Press Traffic:

At Small Press Traffic, we believe a culturally diverse avant-garde is key to a relevant American Literature. Small Press Traffic Literary Arts Center promotes and supports writers from all over the globe– particularly those who push the limits of how we speak and think about the world. Since 1974 SPT has been at the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area innovative writing scenes, bringing together independent readers, writers and presses through publications, conferences, talks, and our influential reading series. For more information, please check us out on the web at www.sptraffic.org

Interns will have the opportunity to meet nationally known writers, learn about how non-profit literary arts agencies work, and assist in the Friday/Saturday Night reading series and Saturday workshop/talks. Other benefits include exposure to a wide-range of writers and their work. (And free refreshments at the readings!)

We are looking for people who are flexible, reliable, and willing to take on all kinds of tasks, such as selling tickets at the door for readings, soliciting and collecting donations from local businesses, and visiting classrooms and helping to publicize SPT events. Please have interested students contact us at: smallpresstraffic_at_gmail_dot_com

Free chapbooks are a great resource for readers and teachers! New at 2River is How the World Was Made, a new collection of prose poems by Christien Gholson and number 20 in the 2River Chapbook Series. The chapbook can be read online, or to make your own print copy, click Chap-A-Book to download a PDF, which you can then print double-sided, fold, and staple to have a personal copy of Gholson’s chapbook.

2nd River accepts submissions for their chapbook series. Submissions should consist of no more than 23 poems, and authors are asked to browse the series before submitting to be sure their work is a good match for 2nd River.

2nd River is also currently accepting submissions of unpublished poetry (June 1 – Aug 31) for their fall 2009 issue.

PEN American Center, the largest branch of International PEN – the world’s oldest literary and human rights organization – announced the appointment of Steven L. Isenberg as Executive Director, effective immediately. For the past six years, Mr. Isenberg was a Visiting Professor of Humanities at the University of Texas (Austin). During his distinguished career, Mr. Isenberg has served in a variety of leadership roles in journalism, government, academia and law, including prior positions as interim President and Chairman of the Board of Adelphi University, Publisher of New York Newsday, Executive Vice President of the Los Angeles Times, and as Chief of Staff to New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay. (PR Release from PEN)

Friends, colleagues and fans of Harold Norse, who died June 8, 2009, got together for a memorial celebration at the Cornelia Street Cafe in NY. The event was recorded and is available in three parts for listening/downloading on the Acoustic Levitation website.

Part One: Opening Remarks by Valery Oisteanu

Part Two: Valery Oisteanu, Angelo Verga, George Wallace, Ira Cohen

Part Three: Judith Malina, Max Blagg, Jeffrey Cyphers Wright, Steve Dalachinsky, Shelley Miller, Tom Walker

NativeWiki is a free, open-to-the-public library of information about indigenous nations and peoples (past and present) of the world. NativeWiki feature major sections on Nations and Peoples, Documents and Materials, Geographic Regions and a Picture Gallery of selected images. Begun in April, 2007, NativeWiki currently has 1,305 content pages, 1,176 media files, and 2,106 registered contributors.

Posted previously, Create Culture has introduced a new section called “Collaborate!” for members to post and find calls for collaboration. Whether your are looking for a composer for your new choreography, seeking a partner for studio space or engaging others in online projects, “Collaborate!” is the space to post to connect with others.

While there are pros and cons to having common class texts, the English Department at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, MN has been able to integrate the use of a common reading text in a series of their courses, a project called Many Voices. While Augsburg touts the positive effects for students, I would also think there would be some cross benefits for instructors being able to share resources, work through common challenges, and offer support for one another in working with difficult topics related to the text with their students. Their common reading text for 2008-2009: Persepolis. Prior years’ selections are also listed on the site.

Every year, the PEN Prison Writing Program recognizes the work of writers imprisoned throughout the country. Exiled from our schools and society, inmates submit manuscripts in every form to one of the only forums of public expression for incarcerated writers. The uncensored writings from this year’s Prison Writing Contest winners can be read in full on the PEN Prison Writing Awards website.

Experimental UK publisher Oystercatcher Press won the £5,000 UK poetry pamphlet publisher award. “They’re very new – they started in 2008 – and they’re quite open about what they want to do: experimental, avant garde work. All the judges liked that sense of direction,” said Judge Richard Price. “They also have innovative ways of making the most of a shoestring operation – a scheme to subscribe to pamphlets rather than buy them one by one, for example – and they publish poets from the 70s as well as contemporary work.” Read more on Guardian UK.

The Neustadt International Prize for Literature is a biennial award sponsored by the University of Oklahoma and World Literature Today. The Prize consists of $50,000, a replica of an eagle feather cast in silver, and a certificate. A generous endowment from the Neustadt family of Ardmore, Oklahoma, and Dallas, Texas, ensures the award in perpetuity.

This year’s winner will be selected in October from the following candidates and their representative texts:

Ha Jin, War Trash
Ricardo Piglia, Artificial Respiration
Michael Ondaatje, Running in the Family / Divisadero
Haruki Murakami, The Elephant Vanishes
Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
Duo Duo { poetry selections }
A. B. Yehoshua, A Woman in Jerusalem
Athol Fugard, My Children! My Africa! / The Island
Shahriar Mandanipour, Censoring an Iranian Love Story

For more information about the prize, visit World Literature Today.

Soapstone is accepting applications until August 1, 2009 for residencies starting November 2009 to November 2010.

From the Soapstone website:

Soapstone provides women writers with a stretch of uninterrupted time for their work and the opportunity to live in semi-solitude close to the natural world.

In addition to that rare but essential commodity for a writer—a quiet space away from jobs, children, and other responsibilities—Soapstone provides something less tangible but also invaluable: the validation and encouragement necessary to embark upon or sustain a long or difficult writing project.

Located in Oregon’s Coast Range, nine miles from the ocean, the retreat stands on twenty-two acres of densely forested land along the banks of Soapstone Creek and is home to much wildlife. The writers in residence enjoy a unique opportunity to learn about the natural world and join us in conscious stewardship of the land.

Soapstone is set up for two writers at a time, each with her own writing studio. From an applicant pool of 400 to 500, approximately thirty-five writers each year are awarded residencies of one to four weeks.

This past week, PEN American Center has been in court challenging the U.S. government’s massive warrantless surveillance program. The hearing took place at 10:00 a.m.. in U.S. District Court in New York. It came amid new revelations that National Security Agency’s telephone and Internet surveillance program has been collecting the private communications of Americans in clear violation of longstanding legal limits on such domestic surveillance activity.

More information about their actions can be found on the PEN website, along with a sample letter interested readers/activists can send to their members of congress on the issue of warrantless surveillance.

Click on over to read the July lit mag reviews – a great selection of new, established, print, and online journals – NewPages Literary Magazine Reviews: A Cappella Zoo, Agriculture Reader, Bellingham Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Chtenia, Exquisite Corpse, Field, Glimmer Train, Greensboro Review, Gulf Coast, Hayden’s Ferry Review, H.O.W. Journal, The Literary Review, LITnIMAGE, Meridian, Mizna, Monkeybicycle, New Ohio Review, the new renaissance, New York Quarterly, Potomac Review, Rattle, Red Rock Review.

Pikes Peak Community College President Tony Kinkel comments on the prospect of losing state funding entirely: “I don’t know that we could keep the doors open,” he says. At a minimum, he adds, the college would have to increase tuition by 50 percent, close its Falcon campus and use only adjunct faculty. (Colorado Springs Independent, “Death to Higher Ed“)

Ouch.

Things are not looking good for UC Berkley in this time of economic crisis. If there was ever a canary in a coal mine, this is one that – as an educator – makes my stomach turn.