NewPages Blog

Bye bye B. Dalton Bookstores – so much for infiltrating malls with books.

Human Like You

Having already captured Jane Austen in Bollywood (Bride & Prejudice), Emma is the next adaptation. Aisha will be co-produced by Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire), to be released in 2010.

From Chilling Effects Clearinghouse: “Do you know your online rights? Have you received a letter asking you to remove information from a Web site or to stop engaging in an activity? Are you concerned about liability for information that someone else posted to your online forum? If so, this site is for you.”

Chilling Effects is a joint project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, University of San Francisco, University of Maine, George Washington School of Law, and Santa Clara University School of Law clinics.

[Mentioned on the Rachel Maddow Show.]

The Poetry Foundation and Poetry magazine announced the five recipients of the 2009 Ruth Lilly Fellowships: Malachi Black, Eric Ekstrand, Chlo

Connoation Press: “For the undergrad section we are asking writing teachers around the world for their best and brightest new writers. Our hope is that the teacher will nominate the undergrad and work with the undergrad to compile a submission. For some new writers this will be their first submission process, and we gratefully welcome those writers.”

On October 24, Ray Bradbury will visit Every Picture Tells A Story, a gallery dedicated to the art of illustration and children’s literature, to sign copies of his book and giclee prints purchased on site.

The Rona Jaffe Foundation recognizes the special contributions women writers make to culture and society, with an emphasis on those in the early stages of their writing careers. The six 2009 winners have been singled out for excellence by the Foundation and will receive awards of $25,000 each: Krista Bremer, Vievee Francis, Janice N. Harrington, Lori Ostlund, Helen Phillips, and Heidy Steidlmayer.

A Devil’s Dictionary for the Twenty-First Century

Submission Deadline Extended to 1 December 2009

The Georgia Review continues to accept submissions for a planned special feature, “A Devil’s Dictionary for the Twenty-First Century” — an update of sorts of Ambrose Bierce’s brilliant satirical work The Devil’s Dictionary, published just about one hundred years ago.

Taking Bierce as a model, all writers are invited to send one or two original dictionary entries — maximum length, two hundred words each — for publication consideration; those writers who include with their submission a paid order for a new, renewed, or gift subscription to The Georgia Review ($30) may send up to six dictionary entries.

All entries will be considered for publication in our pages and/or on our website. All accepted authors will receive an honorarium and also will be eligible to receive “The Devil’s Due” in the amount of $500 for first place, $150 for second, and $100 for third.

A few representative entries from Bierce’s Devil’s Dictionary:

Apologize, v. i. To lay the foundation for a future offence.

Bigot, n. One who is obstinately and zealously attached to an opinion that you do not entertain.

Defame, v. t. To lie about another. To tell the truth about another.

Dictionary, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however, is a most useful work.

liberty, n. One of Imagination’s most precious possessions.

Novel, n. A short story padded . . .

peace, n. In international affairs, a period of cheating between two periods of fighting.

scribbler, n, A professional writer whose views are antagonistic to one’s own.

and, of course,

Editor, n. . . . a severely virtuous censor, but so charitable withal that he tolerates the virtues of others and the vices of himself; who flings about him the splintering lightning and sturdy thunders of admonition till he resembles a bunch of firecrackers petulantly uttering its mind at the tail of a dog; then straightway murmurs a mild, melodious lay, soft as the cooing of a donkey intoning its prayer to the evening star . . .

The English Department at Rhodes College seeks a Fiction Writer to join the Department at the level of Assistant Professor. Tina Barr, Chair, Search Committee, Department of English. Oct 15

The Texas Christian University Department of English invites applications for a tenure-track, assistant professor in creative writing with a specialization in poetry, contemporary literature, & creative nonfiction. Brad Lucas, Chair, Department of English. Nov 19

If you are, you should know it – some how, some way. NPR ran a brief story on the new FTC guides that bloggers who blog product endorsements must make such relationships known to their readers. Of course, how they do so is still a bit sketchy. And just to clarify – NewPages has never blogged for money. None of the “products” mentioned on the blog have ever paid for their placement there; any mention of them has been earnest sharing.

Also somewhat sketchy is whether or not reviewers are taking “payment” if they receive free books and then review them on their blogs, regardless of whether or not the review is favorable. This is pretty much the way of reviewing – either review writers request “review copies” at no cost or are sent unsolicited copies. Advanced Review Copies (ARCs) may help avoid this sketchy area altogether as they do not carry a sale price, and while some review publications accept only ARCs, here at NewPages, we rarely see ARCs, nor do they even exist for literary magazines.

Read the full FTC Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

New Ohio Review, Fall 2009, features a section entitled: “Stories You May Have Missed: Fifteen Fiction Writers Reflect on Underappreciated Contemporary Stories.” In “presenting” a favorite story published between 1970 and 2000 that has not been given the attention it deserves, each writer gives an analytical/personal response reason for the selection. The stories themselves are not included, but source information for their publication is included. Writers and stories presented include:

Lydia Davis presents “Maggie May” by Lucia Berlin
Stuart Dybek presents “Bad Jews” by Gerald Shapiro
Carol Anshaw presents “Dog Heaven” by Stephanie Vaughn
Max Apple presents “The School” by Donald Barthelme
Alan Cheuse presents “In Kew Gardens” by Bernard Malamud
Erin McGraw presents “The Comedian” by John L’Heureux
Robert Cohen presents “The Moon In Its Flight” by Gilbert Sorrentino
Nicholas Delbanco presents “The Ebony Tower” by John Fowles
Lynne Sharon Schwartz presents “The Accompanist” by Anita Desai
Tracy Daugherty presents “Enough” by Alice McDermott
Steven Schwartz presents “In Miami, Last Winter” by James Kaplan
Andrea Barrett presents “The Remission” by Mavis Gallant
Francine Prose presents “Mlle. Dias de Corta” by Mavi Gallant
Jim Shepard presents “Helping” by Robert Stone
Rosellen Brown presents “Fenstad’s Mother” by Charles Baxter

Hilary Mantel wins The Man Booker Prize for Wolf Hall.

Special thanks to recent contributors to the NewPages Beer Fund!

Yes, in case you’re wondering, we are still drinking beer here at NewPages World Headquarters, and contributions of any size can be made by clicking the pint glass.

We are microbrew fans, and a favorite – Short’s Brewing from Bellaire, Michigan, has started bottling and shipping out around the state. Huma Lupa Licious is not only fun to say, but one of the sharpest IPAs we’ve ever tasted. It’s a house favorite, and now we can drink it without having to drive all the way up north to get it!

Additionally, I’ve started brewing again after a ten-year hiatus. That’s right – NewPages World Headquarters is now officially NewPages Brewing. Thanks to donations to the Blog Pint, readers have graciously helped to support this renewed hobby and old habit.

Saw Palm, University of South Florida’s online journal has announced their first issue in print available for purchase Winter 2009. The journal will feature content not available on their website.

*Previously posted as UF, not USF – thanks Eric for the correction.

Victoria Strauss on Writers Beware has once again posted a must-read blog: “The Perils of Searching For Publishers on the Internet.”

21: Journal of Contemporary and Innovative Fiction is a peer-reviewed, online critical journal exploring contemporary and innovative fiction: “We are interested in cutting edge fiction from the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, whether in the short story, the novel or hybrid forms; in print or hypertext. This includes all literature written in English or published as translation.”

Issue 1 (autumn/winter 2008/09) contains essays and articles on authors including J.G. Ballard, Anne Enright, A.M. Homes, Tim O’Brien, Annie Proulx, Jenefer Shute and Graham Swift written by Elizabeth Baines, Brian Baker, Kym Brindle, Alison Kelly,Paola Trimarco, Ursula Hurley, and Rob Spence interviews Charles Lambert, and Ailsa Cox writes on the Edge Hill Prize.

From American Book Review:

Richard Ford once said that it takes as much effort to produce a bad book as a good book.

And as disheartening as that sounds, what Ford’s assertion might raise, and what most everyone who has attempted the task of a book-length work already knows, is the notion that effort alone does not ensure a book’s success, and that there are probably more ways for a good book to be overlooked than a bad book to never make it into print.

That said, what constitutes a bad book? Is it an overrated “good” book? Can an otherwise good author produce a “bad” book? Is the badness in style, in execution? Or is it in theme or outlook?

In the spirit of such focuses as 100 Best Last Lines of Novels and Why Teach Creative Writing? and the most recent Fiction’s Future, American Book Reviewseeks entries for consideration in an upcoming “Bad Books” focus. Whether it’s a novel, memoir, collection of poems, how-to or self-help book, select a book that you think belongs on the “Bad Books” list and accompany it with a two hundred and fifty word essay illustrating just what’s bad about it.

Submissions are due by Nov. 1, 2009

American Book Review
School of Arts & Sciences
University of Houston-Victoria
3007 N. Ben Wilson
Victoria, TX 77901
USA

The Lynchburg College School of Humanities & Social Sciences announces the Thornton Writer Residency, a fourteen-week residency at Lynchburg College, including a stipend of $12,000, will be awarded for the Fall 2010 term to a fiction writer with at least one previously published book.

The residency also includes housing, some meals, and roundtrip travel expenses. The writer-in-residence will teach a weekly creative writing workshop, visit classes, and give a public reading.

Denison University seeks a tenure-track assistant professor in fiction writing; possible secondary interests may include playwriting, screenwriting, hypertext, graphic novels, or new media. Nov 13. MLA Interviews.

Submit a copy of a one book (will be returned), a c.v., a cover letter outlining evidence of successful teaching experience, and contact information for three references by October 15, 2009 (postmark deadline).

There is no entry fee.

These are the complete guidelines.

Lynchburg College
Thornton Writer Residency
c/o Joanna Turner
School of Humanities & Social Sciences
1501 Lakeside Drive
Lynchburg, VA 24501

(434) 544-8820
(434) 544-8820

Allison Wilkins, contact

The University of Dayton is accepting applications for the Herbert W. Martin Post-graduate Fellowship in Creative Writing, with possibility of renewal for a second year. Review begins Nov 6.

The Department of English at Ohio University tenure-track assistant professor in Creative Writing: Non-Fiction. Review begins Nov 6.

The Department of English and Modern Languages at Shepherd University seeks to fill a tenure-track position in Creative Writing, beginning in August 2010. Dr. Heidi M. Hanrahan, Department of English and Modern Languages. Oct 30 for full consideration.

The Department of English at the University of San Francisco invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position at the assistant professor level in creative writing with an emphasis in creative nonfiction.Kimberly Garrett, Program Assistant Department of English. Nov 1

The Amherst College Creative Writing Program invites applications from fiction writers for the position of Visiting Writer, to begin July 2010. Nov 15

The Department of English and Philosophy, Murray State University seeks a Visiting Professor in Residence for the Nancy and Rayburn Watkins Endowed Professorship
in Creative Writing. This full-time, nine month, non-tenure track position begin August 2010. Nov 27 deadline.

In anticipation of future openings, Ashland University’s MFA Program in Creative Writing is accepting the submission of resumes by creative writing faculty in poetry and creative nonfiction for their low-residency MFA program. Stephen Haven, Director, MFA in Creative Writing.

The Creative Writing Program of the Department of English at the University of Houston is seeking to fill a tenure track or tenured position in poetry at a level to be determined by relevant experience & publications. J. Kastely, Director, Creative Writing Program, Dept. of English. Nov 1

The English Department at Western Kentucky University seeks applicants for Distinguished Visiting Professor in Creative Writing (Creative Nonfiction), Summer 2010. Dr. Dale Rigby,Department of English. Review begins Nov 2.

The Northern Kentucky University Department of English announces an open position for a tenure-track Assistant Professor of English in Creative Writing. P. Andrew Miller, Search Committee Chair, Department of English

Jesse Glass, publisher, of Ahadada Books. We met him at AWP Chicago, 2009. He flew in from Japan to attend the conference and staff the publisher’s table at the book fair. I’ve never met anyone suffering from jet lag who was as energetic and humorous as this guy, and wholly passionate about books, publishing, meeting writers, and talking reading. His energies are as boundless as his compassion for words and people alike. He also runs a mean blog and is himself a damn fine poet. You can read his work and see/hear him read on the site.

From Roland Prevost (with collusions with curry):

john curry, certainly a world class poet living in our community, is presently facing almost certain eviction.

Stephen Brockwell alerted me of this precarious situation, by phone, and asked if I would get the word out, most recently at the TREE Reading Series on September 22, where we were able to scare up enough to cover one of his 5 months owed rent & save his telephone service.

curry’s been in constant production of his own and hundreds of others work since 1979. He’s mainly ineligible for grants. His bookstore is mainly an unused resource. His archive documenting the growth of avant-garde writing in Canada is one of the key collections in the country. Nicky Drumbolis has said: curry and his work are the best-kept secret in Canada.

Since time is of the essence, if curry is to avoid eviction, there are a few ways you can help:

Start to use his goddamn store!
Room 302 Books is the only bookstore in Canada ever to focus specifically on the avant-garde and overlooked outsiders, specializing in concrete/visual/sound poetries (mainly Canadian) with a stock of over 20,000 mainly rare titles, including elusive ephemera, and probably the only source of most of jwcurrys various imprints and titles (which number in the thousands). currys current lists finally focus on his own work as artist & publisher, virtually the first time everything that’s (still) available has been made commonly available. You can purchase bookstore IOUs (or set up an account) today in any amount for those who would like to do that.

Subscribe to Curvd H&z, curry’s serial imprint.
Donor subscriptions (please indicate) of $100 or more get the stash in a sampling of available titles from various of his imprints immediately, the remaining put on account for forthcoming titles.

Donate outright.
I would like to encourage you to donate something so as to keep this excellent bookstore, publisher, archive and artist alive, and at the same time help prevent curry’s eviction from his apartment. For those who would like to purchase bookstore IOUs, Id ask you to write (#302-880 Somerset Street West, Ottawa Canada K1R 6R7) or call him at (613) 233 0417. Please contribute as you can.

NewPages Book Reviews

From Science Daily: Reading a book by Franz Kafka – or watching a film by director David Lynch – could make you smarter. “The idea is that when you’re exposed to a meaning threat –– something that fundamentally does not make sense –– your brain is going to respond by looking for some other kind of structure within your environment,” said Travis Proulx, a postdoctoral researcher at UCSB and co-author of the article. “And, it turns out, that structure can be completely unrelated to the meaning threat.”

My colleague watched Ace Ventura 2 with his daughter and swears it lowered his IQ. Can the same be said for some reading? Where’s that study?

To celebrate over 25 years of publishing, Wasafiri asks 25 international writers to name the top 25 most influential novels over the past 25 years.

One of my favorite lines of all time is delivered by Joan Cusack’s character Cyn in Working Girl (1988): “Sometimes I sing and dance around the house in my underwear. Doesn’t make me Madonna. Never will.”

I feel the same way about the explosion of “performance poets” and “spoken word artists” thanks to the advent of YouTube. ‘Just because you have a poem and a video camera doesn’t make you a performance poet.’ At least there’s still hope you could become one, however. And for an great example of what it means to be a performance poet and spoken word artist in this digital age, check out Cassandra Tribe.

And, of course, there’s the indomitalbe Maggie Estep with one of my favorites: “I’m an Emotional Idiot.” For aspiring spoken word artists, she should be on your list.