NewPages Blog

Vancouver author Gerry Gilbert died this past week. From Remembering.ca:

“I’ve used up my reality” Tuesday, April 7, 1936 – Friday, June 19, 2009 Gerry, poet, moved into the past tense Friday in Vancouver after a lifetime dedicated to writing, photography and art. He will be greatly missed by his son Jeremy in Toronto and daughter Tamsin Bragg (Ritchie) in Saltspring Island, and by his grandchildren Cassandra and Drew Storey in Saltspring, and Matilda in Toronto. Gerry waspre-deceased by his daughter Lara, sister Linda, and parents Ralph and Betty, all of Vancouver. Gerry, once called the “Jude the Obscure of the Vancouver poetry scene,” published many books of poetry and prose, including “Moby Jane,” “Grounds” and “Azure Blues” and was for many years host of “radiofreerainforest” on Co-op radio. He published “BC Monthly,” a writing journal, and had numerous photographic and audio-visual exhibitions. Through BC Monthly and radiofreerainforest, he was the most active of all the poets in the Vancouver poetry community in promoting and supporting the work of other poets from all the many groups and schools in the city. He lived for the last 40 years in and around Vancouver’s Downtown East Side, subsisting on his writing. His family would like to extend their gratitude to Marlene Swidzinsky and James Campbell, Jamie and Carol Reid, and the staff of St. Paul’s Hospital palliative ward. Gerry’s ashes will be spread over the waters by Jericho Beach, to join his family there who preceded him.

The most recent issue of Alimentum: The Literature of Food (Issue 8) begins with a preface by publisher Paulette Licitra. Its beginning here is something I think many lit mags would agree with, and many readers will find encouraging in seeking out and not being afraid to explore the kind of literature being published these days. Licitra writes:

A couple of years ago someone took me aside and, in a wise-man-giveth-advice tone, told me to take “literature” out of Alimentum‘s subtitle.

“Literature scares people,” he said.

Imagine that. Literature – the word, the idea, the stuff itself – scary. Not scary as in frightening, but as in boring. He thought literature was synonymous with snooze. As if, from this label, people would expect to find dry, bland, sleepy stuff between our covers.

Nothing’s asleep between these covers. Every word is awake and raring to go.

The one thing we didn’t want Alimentum to be is boring. In fact, one of our modi operandi is UNboring. Along with delightful, charming, chewing, tasty (even disturbing), and whoa and wow. And GREAT writing tops our list.

And guess what great writing is called?

Literature.

Even Merriam-Webster says so:

Literature: writings in prose or verse; especially: writing having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest.

Now who wouldn’t want to read something like that. Turn these pages and you’ll find: literature profound and soul-searching, ironic and funny, irreverent and silly, naive and sophisticated. And sexy, too.

Ivory Sherman speaks out against Urban Lit: “Books were the last thing that the African-American people had that didn’t promote negative stereotypes; but like a virulent virus, urban literature came and destroyed the true essence of books.”

A list of the most looked up words by readers of the New York Times.

The Book Beat Backroom has scoured and compiled a list of top 10 summer reading lists from a variety of educational sources as well as links to NPR, Berkley High School, and Reading is Fundamental.org: “These reading lists of recommended children’s books and young adult books are generally organized by grade level. Many of the elementary children’s reading lists include children’s picture books. Many of the recommended reading lists for middle schoolers include a mix of children’s books and young adult books. You’ll find classics and recently published children’s books and young adult books on these 2009 summer reading lists for preschoolers to grade 12.”

Michael Thomas won the 2009 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, one of English language fiction’s richest prizes. His novel, Man Gone Down, depictes the difficulty of attaining the American Dream for an African American.

Seton Hill University seeks published novelist of popular fiction (preferably mystery/suspense), to teach and to mentor novel-length theses in the graduate low-residency Writing Popular Fiction program (half-load), and to teach undergraduate courses in creative writing and first-year composition. Michael Arnzen, Division of Humanities.

Full-time Editor-Berkley Books, Penguin Group(NY).

Simon & Schuster Associate Publisher, Touchstone/Fireside (NY).

Full-time Editor, John Wiley and Son’s Inc (Malden, MA).

Full-time Associate Editor, Palgrave Macmillan (New York, NY).

Writer/Editor, Membership Resources for adult audiences, Girl Scouts USA.

Kimmel Harding Nelson Center (Nebraska) offers up to fifty juried residencies per year to working artists from across the country and around the world. Residencies are awarded to visual artists, writers, composers, interdisciplinary artists, and arts or arts education scholars. Residencies are available for two-, four-, six-, or eight-weeks stays. Each resident receives a $100 stipend per week, free housing, and a separate studio. Deadline September 1, 2009.

I have now received two notices of extended deadline from Eastern Kentucky University’s MFA program for their new publication of Jelly Bucket, so, either they’re not getting enough submissions or not enough GOOD submissions. C’mon NewPages readers/writers – get off yer summer duffs and submit:

“The new literary journal for EKU’s MFA program would like to announce a special call for non-fiction submissions. The deadline has been extended to July 15th. All submissions should be sent to: nonfiction(at)jellybucket(dot)org. All contact information should be on your submission. The inaugural issue will be released this November. Payment will be two contributor’s copies.” (Tasha Cotter, Poetry Editor/Editor-In-Chief)

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO JULY 15

First Person America: In These Hard Times

A national competition seeking the best videos, photographs, and stories describing how individuals, families and communities are managing during these hard times.

Writing submissions – up to 2,500 words.
Film and video submissions – up to five minutes, excluding credits.
Photography submissions – may include up to five photographs, with or without accompanying text of up to 100 words per image.

Submission deadline: June 30, 2009

Interlochen Arts Academy, world renown for its school-year academy and summer arts programs, now offers an Adult Arts Program.

Narrative has a weekly Literary Puzzler feature, challenging readers to participate. Last week it was the infamous six-word story form, and this week: Neologisms, which asks readers to submit their own best new words. Winners receive a three-month pass to Narrative Backstage or a digital edition of 18 Lies and 3 Truths. Win or not, the puzzlers are fun to play.

Stop by and check out the freshest batch of NewPages Literary Magazine Reviews of the following print and online publications: Alaska Quarterly Review, American Poetry Review, American Short Fiction, Black Warrior Review, Freight Stories, Georgia Review, Hawk & Handsaw, Jabberwock Review, The MacGuffin, Michigan Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, Poet Lore, Sentence, Sewanee Review, South Loop Review, West Branch, World Literature Today, ZZYZYVA.

The new Espresso Book Machine is out – currently in 15 bookstores, and another 100 projected (Strauss). “The EBM is a fully integrated patented book making machine which can automatically print, bind and trim on demand at point of sale perfect bound library quality paperback books with 4-color cover indistinguishable from their factory made versions.”

The Found Poetry Project was conceived by Timothy Green and Megan O’Reilly Green back in 2005 and launched December 2008. The intention of The Found Poetry Project is “to raise awareness of the poetry that appears anywhere we choose to look.” To that end, the editors have established the following guidelines for found poetry, or FoPo, to be considered on their ongoing blog site:

1. The original author must not have intended the text to be poetry.
2. The found poem may not be sourced from literary fiction, non-fiction, or poetry. If the author seems to have been intentionally using poetic elements, it does not qualify for our purposes, even if those elements were employed in prose.
3. The original source of the text must be known. Source material may be anonymous, such as graffiti, signage, etc., but all published works must be properly cited.
4. The original text must not be edited by the finder, except by omission, punctuation, or lineation. Finders may cut words and add line breaks, but may not add words or rearrange text.
5. Finders may either choose to leave the poem untitled, or add their own.

Submissions are open, limited only by your own vision to see the poetry.