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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!

Superstition Review – Spring 2008

Superstition Review is not just another journal of interviews, art, fiction, nonfiction and poetry. This creation is a unique collaboration between an all-star team of professional writers/professors and the Arizona State University student community of writers. In this first issue, although there is gluttony of writing selections for you choose from (mostly from professors), you are not left bored, fatigued or searching for your lucky rabbits foot to take you into uncharted and more creative territories in whatever genre you choose to read from first. Continue reading “Superstition Review – Spring 2008”

Versal – 2008

Versal Six is published by wordsinhere in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and features poetry and prose written originally in English, as well as work translated into English from a variety of languages, and artwork, including reproductions of drawings, photographs, and paintings, as well as sculpture and ceramics. The journal is handsomely designed and produced – the quality of the paper and printing is exceptional. This issue includes work by writers from the Netherlands, the United States, Argentina, Uruguay, Morocco, Australia, Romania, Wales, England, Germany, China, South Africa, and the Czech Republic. It is worth noting that many of the writers who appear in Versal Six have extensive international experience, having studied and worked in as many as a half dozen different countries. Continue reading “Versal – 2008”

Whitefish Review – 2008

“Our goal is to add a new voice to the increasingly sprawling network of artists and writers in the interior American West and beyond, wrap it up in mountain culture, and do it even though it doesn’t make sense for a lot of reasons,” explains editor Brian Schott in this journal from Montana. One of the journal’s most appealing aspects for readers, and most useful for writers, is to publish excerpts of forthcoming and unpublished full-length works: passages from a new book of creative nonfiction by writer and filmmaker Annick Smith, Crossing the Plains with Bruno; excerpts from a new work of nonfiction, Why I Came West, by Rick Bass, whose work here is preceded by a brief interview; and a segment from an unpublished novel by J.R. Satterfield Jr. titled Soon You Will Cry. I am looking forward especially to Smith’s book on Bruno, her Labrador retriever, and also to Why I Came West. Bass is at his best, I think, when he brings together his considerable talent for storytelling with his keen observations of place and the social conditions that inform it. Continue reading “Whitefish Review – 2008”

Keyhole Magazine – Spring 2008

Keyhole 3 opens with Shellie Zacharia’s story “Stitch,” where the narrator obsesses over whether her sewing instructor may in fact be a girl from grade school whose stitches she touched on a school bus dare. The story contains the swirl of emotions that a moment from the past often evokes: the anxiety about whether that is the same person, and whether that person remembers that one moment of cruelty you indulged at their expense, the need to defend one’s childhood self, and, ultimately, the remorse and the desire to let the past be the past, hoping that the scar of that one act healed quickly and vanished. Continue reading “Keyhole Magazine – Spring 2008”

A Sixth Hitchiker’s Guide? Uh-oh…

Eoin Colfer to write sixth Hitchhiker’s Guide book
Guardian.uk

“Douglas Adams’s increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy is to be extended to six titles, after Adams’s widow Jane Belson sanctioned a project which will see children’s author Eoin Colfer taking up the story.”[Read the rest here]

I feel a storm brewing among Hitchiker fans…

Teachers Parents Students Young Writers

Please check out the Young Authors Guide on NewPages.com.

This is guide where young authors (as defined by each publication) can find places to publish their writing. It is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but rather is a select list of childrens, teen, and early college-age publications in print as well as online that have open submissions with guidelines, an editorial selection process, and a regular print cycle. Some publish only young authors, some publish all ages for young audiences. For more specific submission guidelines, visit the publication’s website.

Also included in this guide are contests for young writers. These are carefully selected for quality and sensitivity to not wanting young writers to be taken advantage of (with promises of publication and high entry fees). Almost all are no-cost entry with some awarding scholarship money.

This is not a paid-for page or an advertising page in any way. It is a page I have put together as a resource to encourage young writers in their interest.

If you know of other publications or contests that could be added to this list, please e-mail me with information: denisehill-at-newpages.com

New Generation Nigerian Literature

Literature Prize, it’s new writers’ turn
By Gregory Austin Nwakunor
Excerpted from Guardian Newspaper

The new generation of Nigerian writers has never had it so good. Since 2004, when the Nigerian Literature Prize was instituted, this is the first time a new writer will mount the podium to receive the country’s most prized literary award.

Only last Thursday, September 4, after months of intensive scrutiny by eminent judges, the Nigeria Prize for Literature committee announced a shortlist of two books, Kaine Agary’s Yellow-Yellow and Jude Dibia’s Unbridled, as potential winners of this year’s Prize.

Both Kaine and Dibia are not only new writers, they were equally born in the 70s. If one of them emerges winner of this year’s award, he or she will walk away with a $50,000 prize money, an increase from last year’s $30,000. [read the rest]

Poe Home Updated

Just in time of the bicentennial of Edgar Allan Poe’s birth, his Philadelphia home is getting a new look. The house is located a few blocks from downtown Philadelphia, where Poe lived for about 18 months in the early 1840s.

The current exhibits in the home are 30 years old, and interpretive program specialist Mary Jenkins says it’s time for a change. Jenkins says visitors will see Poe’s influence on world literature and on popular culture.

The home will close December 1 and reopen January 17. The Edgar Allan Poe Museum, only blocks from the historic home “boasts the world’s finest collection of Edgar Allan Poe’s manuscripts, letters, first editions, memorabilia and personal belongings.” It remains open to visitors and includes a complete online source of information, works by Poe, educational resources, and Poe “products” – such as books, t-shirts, and – you guessed it – drinking glasses.

Little Blue Books :: Zines that Shaped a Nation

The Henry Ford of Literature
By Rolf Potts
The Believer, September 2008

How one nearly forgotten 1920s publisher’s “Little Blue Books” created an inexpensive mail-order information superhighway that paved the way for the sexual revolution, influenced the feminist and civil rights movements, and foreshadowed the age of information.

“When Emanuel Haldeman-Julius drowned in his backyard swimming pool, on July 31, 1951, he was popularly regarded as a has-been, even in his adopted hometown of Girard, Kansas. Denounced as a communist in national newspapers and investigated by J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, he had recently lost a federal tax evasion lawsuit and was facing time in jail. Amid the cold war atmosphere of the time, schoolchildren around Girard whispered that Haldeman-Julius had actually been assassinated for being a Soviet spy; adults speculated that his death was a suicide—though the only note he left behind contained a silly joke meant for his wife.” [read the rest]

The Leonard H. Axe Library, Pittsburg State University, maintains an online index of all the Little Blue Books published in The E. Haldeman-Julius Collection.

Mad Men Screensavers

Mad Men fans, get your retro screensavers from Dyna Moe (real name?), a designer and illustrator living in New York. You can check out her full line of work, blood, sweat and tears on her website: Nobody’s Sweetheart.

I did start watching Mad Men this season, catching up on all of last season’s shows in a week. I’m not sure I’m going to stick with it, though. It’s a fairly dark show, in a very sad and miserable way. As much as I like the advertising angle, some of the characters, and all that is retro about the show, there is such a pervasive hopelessness about the storyline that holds no appeal for me. I’m not looking for Disney here, but maybe something in between.

Nairobi Literary Seminar 12.08

Summer Literary Seminars Kenya is now accepting applications for the 2008 program, December 13-28 in Nairobi and Lamu. SLS produces a blended program of workshops, lectures and unique cultural experiences, and has hosted faculty such as Dave Eggers, George Saunders, Padgett Powell, Denis Johnson, Jayne Anne Phillips, and Binyavanga Wainaina. Academic credit is available through Concordia University. See a list of program activities here.

50 Days of Poetry Politic

Poetry Politic: A Blog in 50 Days provides daily political poetry news — from September 15th through November 4th, 2008 — brought to readers “by the citizens at Wave Books.” Thus far on the site “Dream Occupation,” a poem by J.W. Marshall and Muriel Rukeyser’s FBI File – no kidding – the whole thing as a PDF download – as well as links to some of the original works cited in the document. Much more chilling to view than I had at first thought it would be. Certainly a blog worth watching to steel us through these 50 days.

NewPages Updates :: Listings :: September 2008

The following are recent additions/changes to NewPages Guides:

Print and Online Literary Magazines
Monday Night – poetry, prose
P-QUEUE – prose poetry hybrid
Bent Pin Quarterly – poetry, flash fiction, essays, creative nonfiction, one act plays
Blue Unicorn – poetry
Black Robert Journal – essays, poetry, fiction, vispo, art, photography

Publishers
Effing Press – poetry
Lost Roads Publishing (updated URL)
Black Heron Press – literary fiction

Contest Winners :: Glimmer Train Family Matters

Glimmer Train announces the three winning stories of our July Family Matters competition:

First place: Nellie Hermann of Brooklyn, NY, wins $1,200 for “Can We Let the Baby Go?”. Her story will be published in the Winter 2010 issue of Glimmer Train Stories, out in November 2009.

Second place: Stephanie Freele of Healdsburg, CA, wins $500 for “Us Hungarians”. Her story will also be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories, increasing her prize to $700.

Third place: Rolf Yngve, of Coronado, CA, wins $300 for “Going Back for His Brother”. His story will also be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories, increasing his prize to $700.

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here. This quarterly competition is open to all writers for stories about family (word count range is 1,200-12,000). Submissions may be sent for the October Family Matters using the Glimmer Train online submissions system at www.glimmertrain.org.

Also: Fiction Open contest (deadline soon approaching! September 30)

Glimmer Train hosts this contest four times a year, and first place is $2,000 plus publication in the journal. It’s open to all writers and all themes, with a word count range of 2,000-20,000. Click here for complete guidelines.

Intelligent Digital Literature?

Can intelligent literature survive in the digital age?
The Independent
September 14, 2008

“Is the paper-and-ink book heading the way of the papyrus scroll? Can serious literature survive in the brave new world of web downloads, e-books and ever-shortening attention spans?”

In addition to John Walsh’s commentary on the subject, several experts are called upon to predict the future in “What’s the word?”: Clare Alexander (agent), Sue Thomas (new-media lecturer), Tracy Chevalier (author), Santiago de la Mora (google-guy), Richard Ovenden (librarian), Jeremy Ettinghausen (publisher), Chris Meade (digital convert), and Andrew Cowan (teacher).

Name Your Essetial Biopunk Pick

Toward a list of essential readings in biopunk fiction
From Enter the Octopus
September 13, 2008

Enter the Octopus has invited readers to add their “essential biopunk” pick to the list already started on the site. Not sure what that means? According to ETO:

“Biopunk is a subcategory of futuristic science fiction characterized by an emphasis on the plasticity of the flesh, genetic modification and self-determination, a blurring of the lines between human, post-human and animal hybrids, and the utilization of biological/genetic technologies to manipulate the external environment and body for reasons both practical – security, hazard mitigation – and aesthetic. The biopunk environment may be dystopian or utopian depending on the ways in which these technologies may be utilizied. While biopunk fiction may also incorporate other science fiction and technological elements – artificial intelligence, cyber-enhancements, alien contact – most of the problems and solutions posed by the narrative will find their origin in humanity’s dabbling in genetic and biological technology.”

Read the rest on ETO.

[via Gerry Canavan]

Jobs :: Various

Comp/Creative Writing: Illinois Valley Community College, located in North Central Illinois, anticipates filling this position to begin January 2009. Glenna Jones, Director of Human Resources.

The Department of English at Salisbury University is accepting applications for the tenure-track position of Assistant Professor in creative writing specializing in fiction. November 17, 2008.

The English Department of Bowling Green State University seeks applicants for the Arts & Sciences Distinguished Visiting Writer. The successful candidate will be in residence spring 2010; teach one workshop in our BFA program and one workshop in our MFA program; give a reading and a lecture; and advise theses. Dr. Kristine L. Blair. Screening of applicants will begin March 16, 2009 and continue until the position is filled.

The School of Arts and Humanities at The University of Texas at Dallas invites applications for a tenure track position, rank open, in Creative Writing, with an emphasis on prose fiction.

The College of Idaho announces a tenure-track position in environmental literature and creative writing (non-fiction prose) at the Assistant Professor level to begin fall 2009. Application review will begin on November 1.

The Washington College Department of English seeks to hire a tenure-track Assistant Professor with specialization in creative writing (poetry). Dr. Kathryn Moncrief, Chair, English. Applications must be received by Nov. 1, 2008 for full consideration.

University of Central Oklahoma: Teach First-Year Composition classes and serve as Executive Editor of New Plains Review; qualified applicants may teach occasional Creative Writing classes, as needed by the department. Dr. David Macey, English department Chair.

Marshall University tenure-track position; rank open. Ph.D. in Creative Writing required at time of appointment; strong record of creative publication; teaching experience; primary area in creative non-fiction with secondary emphasis in fiction or poetry or literature or screen writing. Donna Spindel, Interim Chair English.

Iowa State University Assistant Professor of English in creative writing. Tenure-track. Beginning August 2009. Accomplished writer in one genre with the ability to teach undergraduate and graduate courses in a second genre for the newly-formed MFA program in Creative Writing and Environment. Interviews with selected candidates may be conducted at the AWP Conference in Chicago (2009). Apply online by November 1, 2008.

San Jose State University, California: Creative Writing – Fiction/Non Fiction. John Engell, Chair, Department of English & Comparative Literarture.

Central Michigan University, Creative Writing: Fiction. Tenure-track position as Assistant Professor of English. Dr. Marcy Taylor, Chair, Department of English Language and Literature. Screening of applications will begin on October 20, 2008, and continue until filled.

Texas State University MFA program invites applications for a tenure-track position in poetry writing. Prof. Tom Grimes, Chair, Poetry Search Committee, Department of English,

Reginald Shepherd

Reginald Shepherd, born 1963, died September 11, 2008.

From his own blog: Shepherd is the editor of The Iowa Anthology of New American Poetries (University of Iowa Press, 2004) and of Lyric Postmodernisms (Counterpath Press, 2008). He is the author of: Fata Morgana (2007), winner of the Silver Medal of the 2007 Florida Book Awards, Otherhood (2003), a finalist for the 2004 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, Wrong (1999), Angel, Interrupted (1996), and Some Are Drowning (1994), winner of the 1993 Associated Writing Programs’ Award in Poetry (all University of Pittsburgh Press). Shepherd’s work has appeared in four editions of The Best American Poetry and two Pushcart Prize anthologies, as well as in such journals as American Poetry Review, Conjunctions, The Kenyon Review, The Nation, The New York Times Book Review, Ploughshares, Poetry, and The Yale Review. It has also been widely anthologized. He is also the author of Orpheus in the Bronx: Essays on Identity, Politics, and the Freedom of Poetry (Poets on Poetry Series, University of Michigan Press). Shepherd has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Illinois Arts Council, the Florida Arts Council, and the Guggenheim Foundation, among other awards and honors.

Shepherd was also a regular contributor to The Poetry Foundation’s blog, Harriet.

David Foster Wallace

Writer David Foster Wallace found dead
Marion Ettlinger
Los Angeles Times
September 14, 2008

David Foster Wallace, the novelist, essayist and humorist best known for his 1996 novel “Infinite Jest,” was found dead Friday night at his home in Claremont, according to the Claremont Police Department. He was 46.

Jackie Morales, a records clerk at the department, said Wallace’s wife called police at 9:30 p.m. Friday saying she had returned home to find that her husband had hanged himself.

Wallace, who had taught creative writing at Pomona College since 2002, was on leave this semester…[read the rest here]

Man Booker Prize Finalists

“The Man Booker Prize 2008 shortlist was announced Tuesday September 9. Two first-time novelists, Aravind Adiga and Steve Toltz, survived the cull of the longlist from thirteen novels to just six. Pevious winners of the Booker Prize, John Berger and Salman Rushdie, failed to make this year’s shortlist and Sebastian Barry is the only novelist shortlisted for this year’s prize to have been previously shortlisted (in 2005).

“Linda Grant, winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2000 and longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2002, is the only female author to make the shortlist of six. She is joined by Philip Hensher, longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2002 and a Booker judge in 2001, and the widely-acclaimed Indian writer Amitav Ghosh.”

The Man Booker Prize 2008 shortlisted novels are:

Aravind Adiga The White Tiger (Atlantic)
Sebastian Barry The Secret Scripture (Faber and Faber)
Amitav Ghosh Sea of Poppies (John Murray)
Linda Grant The Clothes on Their Backs (Virago)
Philip Hensher The Northern Clemency (Fourth Estate)
Steve Toltz A Fraction of the Whole (Hamish Hamilton)

The winner of the Man Booker Prize 2008 will be announced October 14.

Job :: Poetry Foundation Web Editor

Editor and Online Program Manager, Poetryfoundation.org
The deadline for applications is September 25, 2008.

Job Description
The role of editor of poetryfoundation.org includes the following responsibilities:

Provide editorial direction to staff editors, producers, and consultants in order to publish the site’s frequently updated content. This includes acquiring and approving all articles and other content such as feature articles, podcasts, and other audio and visual features.

Work with other Foundation program senior managers to publish online content and information from all program areas at the Foundation.

Develop marketing plans and campaigns to promote the website as needed.

Direct the process by which poems and other materials about poets and poetry are added to the site’s archive. This includes supervising the permissions process for all published content.

Collaborate with other editors at the Foundation on poetry issues and judging of awards as necessary.

The role of online program manager includes the following responsibilities:

Manage the technical staff and consultants who design and develop the site’s user interface to ensure the quality of the user experience.

Manage technical consultants, including developers, usability experts, and hosting providers, to ensure the security and performance of the underlying technical infrastructure.

Develop and execute plans to steadily increase traffic to the site, including managing the process for gathering and reporting web traffic data, search results, and web traffic marketing plans, and establishing partnerships with other websites important to the mission of the Foundation.

Qualifications

Extensive background and familiarity with contemporary poetry

Extensive experience with managing editorial processes, including web publishing processes.

Strong knowledge of web technology and web design

Substantial project management experience

B.A. degree or greater in English literature or computer-related studies

Digital Art Weeks

The DIGITAL ART WEEKS program is concerned with the application of digital technology in the arts. Consisting of symposium, workshops and performances, the Digital Art Weeks program offers insight into current research and innovations in art and technology as well as illustrating resulting synergies in a series of performances during the Digital Art Weeks Festival each year, making artists aware of impulses in technology and scientists aware of the possibilities of application of technology in the arts.

New Lit on the Block :: In the Mist

In the Mist is and online outdoor literary magazine for women and by women. The work is meant to “inspire you to seek adventure whether it is in your garden, on horseback, or while climbing glaciers”; or, as Thoreau put it: “Live the life you imagined.” Ange Tysdal is the editor (you may know her also from Marginalia), and Mark Todd the poetry editor.

The first issue includes fiction by Rachel Bell, Lucia Cockrell and Emma Larkins, non-fiction by Sarah Coury, Holly Marie Garrell, Andrea M. Jones, Olga Pavlinova Olenich, Jill Paris, Gabrielle Sierra, poetry by Kristin Berkey-Abbott, Laurie Wagner Buyer, Jenn Campbell, Melissa Carroll, Anne Hasenstab, Ginger Knowlton, Peggy Landsman, Arlene L. Mandell, Martha Meltzer, Caroline Misner, Sheila Nickerson, Mary Rohrer-Dann, Emma Sovich, Ann Walters, and photos/art by Diane Elayne Dees, Erica Lynn Johnson, Diane Parisella-Katris, Christel M. Ruddy, Donna Vorreyer.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!
In the Mist is seeking submissions from women who play, or write about playing, in the mist. Send poetry, fiction, nonfiction, photography, and artwork about being outside. Interested in anything from doing yoga in the park to walking your dog to bombing down the Anasazi Descent in Durango, Colorado or sailing from California to Hawaii in a kayak with outriggers. See website for more information.

From Page to Stage :: Writing Aloud

Writing Aloud

History
Founding program director David Sanders established Writing Aloud in 1999 to present diverse voices in contemporary fiction by the region’s best writers, read on stage by professional actors. Writing Aloud quickly established itself as the region’s premiere reading series and has attracted sold-out audiences, has been featured in special broadcasts on WHYY-FM public radio.

The 2007-2008 season featured writing by Carol F. Dixon, Vashti Bandy, JB Traino, Tally Brennan, Thaddeus Rutkowski, Jennifer Williamson, Harry Humes, Julia MacDonell, William Hoffman, Maggie Fay, R.A. Lopata, Jacob M. Appel, Randall Brown, Alix Ohlin, and many more.

Submissions
Produced by InterAct Theatre Company in Philadelphia, Writing Aloud is a reading series that presents contemporary short fiction read on stage by professional actors. Writers featured in the series are from Pennsylvania and the greater Philadelphia area, or have a strong Philadelphia connection. Selected stories are read before a live audience at InterAct Theatre.

Internships/Volunteer
InterAct offers a variety of internships both during the summer and during the academic year, covering all areas of production, development, and administration. All internships at InterAct have a modest component of general company work, including but not limited to helping with mailings, general office work, and phone answering. In addition, there are several ways to get involved with the company as a volunteer.

Digital Media Writing/Performance :: Interrupt 10.08

Interrupt
October 17-19, 2008
Rhode Island

Interrupt is a festival celebrating writing and performance in digital media, busting onto the scene in Providence, Rhode Island. Events are hosted by Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design. The festival is continuing in the tradition of Brown’s E-Fest, but is expanding/augmenting it, and also streamlining into Pixilerations.

Participating artists will share work that in some way addresses the theme of the festival: Interrupt. In computing, an interrupt is a command sent to the processor to get its attention, and indicates a need for change. We understand “interruption” as a useful metaphor for imagining the role of digital arts practices in contemporary society. The festival is being organized with the aim of showcasing arts practices hybridized not only by digital mediation, but by a spectrum of cultural practices including electronic poetry, information design, net art, video art, interactive music, and performance art.

William Carlos Williams Symposium 9.20

On September 17, 2005, several thousand people attended a day-long William Carlos Williams Symposium honoring Rutherford’s native son on the anniversary of his birth. Sponsored by the newly-formed William Carlos Williams Poetry Symposium (WCWPS), this was the first celebration of the Pulitzer Prize winning poet in his hometown in 22 years, and featured the premiere of a double-screen documentary on WCW and his family, an award-winning slide presentation and bus tour of historic WCW sites in Rutherford, and the first full-length performance of a Williams play in Rutherford. Since 2005, the non-profit WCWPS has held annual events honoring Williams. This year it will host a gala celebration of the poet’s 125th birthday on September 20 and 21, 2008, at the Williams Center, with related activities at the Rutherford Library and Meadowlands Museum.

Books :: Poets for Palestine

Poets For Palestine was published to unite a diverse range of poets, spoken word artists, and hip-hop artists who have used their words to elevate the consciousness of humanity. Sixty years after the dispossession of the Palestinian people, this anthology presents forty-eight poems alongside original works by Palestinian artists. All proceeds from the sale of this collection will go toward funding future cultural projects that highlight Arab artistry in the United States.

100 Words a Day? Every Day?

100 Words is an online writing project that began in January 2001, as an exercise between friends to write one hundred words a day for one hundred days. Now online, members (join for free) can write a hundred words a day for a month and be “featured” for having completed their “batch.” Don’t write every day that month, and you will not be featured. Currently, there are 43 writers featured for August. Jeff Koyen and “Uncle” Roy Batchelor are the masterminds behind 100 Words. Think it sounds easy? Give it a try.

Stanford Festival Seeks Sponsors

The organizers of the Frank Stanford Literay Festival – a three-day event in Fayetteville, Arkansas – are looking for help to honor a few central figures in Stanford’s creative career by supporting their travel to participate in the festival.

Sponsors will be acknowledged in promotional materials and in a commemorative, hand-sewn program designed by Cannibal Books. Sponsors will also receive a broadside of a poem from Stanford’s final book, You, designed and printed collaboratively between Lost Roads Publishers, Cannibal Books and Effing Press. Sponsors will also be verbally recognized at all events, which include a Small Press Reading, several Stanford readings, two panels, a screening or Irving Broughton’s legendary Stanford biopic It Wasn’t a Dream It Was a Flood, and a marathon reading of Stanford’s epic poem The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You.

Donations are tax deductible and payable to Lost Roads. For more information, query Matthew Henriksen at frankstanfordfes-at-gmail.com.

Orlowsy Interview Online

The Cervena Barva Press online newsletter for September includes and interview of Ukrainian poet Dzvinia Orlowsky by Alexander J. Motyl. In it, she comments on the state of reading in America, her influences for writing poetry, why she writes so much about Ohio, what makes a good poem, and translating others’ works. A truly full-breadth interview that provides both a great introduction as well as an inside look at this Pushcart Prize winning poet.

Dzvinia Orlowsky is the author of four poetry collections, the most recent of which is <em>Convertible Night, Flurry of Stones. Her first collection, A Handful of Bees, was reprinted as a Carnegie Mellon University Contemporary Classic in 2008. She is a founding editor of Four Way Books and teaches at a low-res MFA program at Pine Manor College.

ZYZZYVA Seeks a New Editor

In the Editor’s Note of the most recent ZYZZYVA, Howard Junker announces his intent to retire from the magazine, which is now seeking his successor, someone who “will have to be different, will have to take a new direction, because the times have changed.” The informal job description Junker gives draws upon a response he once gave to a Paris Review Questionnaire about “the key ingredients needed to keep a literary magazine afloat.” Junker writes: “Taking its editor George Plimpton as my model, I declared: An independent income is the basic flotation device. Having the office in the editor’s basement reduces rent and the editor’s commute. Also helpful because, even if the budget remains modest, attracting money is key: good looks, charm, guts, a thick skin, a sense of humor, a good work ethic, luck, and the ability to spot and nurture talent.” Sound like anybody you know? If so, Junker closes his editorial: “If you have someone in mind, please let me know.”

Job :: Distinguished Visiting Prof

The English Department at Western Kentucky University seeks applicants for the following position: Distinguished Visiting Professor in Creative Writing (Poetry), Summer 2009

Duties: Teach a four-week intensive three-credit undergraduate/graduate workshop sometime during Summer 2009. Give a public reading.

Renumeration: $10,000 + housing

Requirements: Significant teaching experience, at least one published book

Review of applications begins October 31, 2008, and will continue until position is filled. Each applicant must submit a letter of interest, a vita, a copy of one of his/her books, and two letters addressing his/her teaching expertise, to:

Dr. Tom C. Hunley
Department of English Chair
Distinguished Visiting Creative Writing Professor Search Committee
Western Kentucky University
1906 College Heights Blvd. #11086
Bowling Green, KY 42101-1086

Antioch Fiction Issue :: Difficult Choices

The all-fiction issue of The Antioch Review is out. Editor Robert Fogarty comments on the subtitle “Difficult Choices” – about the range of difficult choices faced by the submissions (aka slush) readers. Their choice, which often involves “the dreaded ‘r’ word” becomes what Fogarty refers to as the Key Question: “Should we publish this story or should we encourage to writer to send on another, better story?” Better than saying the story is rejected, I like Fogarty’s perspective of encouragement, which promotes the concept a writers community – a reason why so many people got into publishing lit mags in the first place.

Being responsive to their writers, Fogarty says they must make a “firm and quick judgement about a story” – but there is no doubt they are also good at what they do, with a number of their fiction writers having received awards and placement in “best of” collections. “I expect,” Fogarty writes, “that several of the writers included in this issue will in the future make a ‘best’ list.” That kind of comment makes it no difficult choice at all to pick up this mag and give it a look see!

CFS :: Two Unique Calls for Librarians

1. Seeking Submissions from Practicing Librarians (U.S. and Canada) for The Published Librarian: Successful Professional and Personal Writing (publisher: American Library Association)

Foreword: Bob Blanchard, Adult Services Librarian, Des Plaines Public Library. Contributor to Illinois Library Association Reporter; Thinking Outside the Book: Essays for Innovative Librarians (McFarland, 2008)

Introductory Note: Wayne Jones, Head of Central Technical Services, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Ed., Ontario Library Association, Access; Ed., E-Journals Access and Management (Routledge, 2008)

Contributors need significant publication credits in order to write practical, concise, how-to articles to help the reader. No previously published, simultaneously submitted, co-authored material. Two articles sharing the range of your publishing experiences: 1900-2100 words total; for example, one article could be 1000 words, another 900-1100 words on another topic. Librarians with ethnic backgrounds serving diverse cultures are encouraged. Contributor’s sign an ALA Writer Agreement before publication. Compensation: a complimentary copy, discount on additional copies

Possible topics: marketing, online publishing, where to send reviews, research skills for historical novels, diversity in publication, ideas from students for YA books, using tools like BIP to locate publishers for your books, storytellers turned picture book authors, interviewing, networking, using a technology edge, promoting your books at conferences. Using issues librarians face such as censorship in poetry, essays, memoir, short stories, columns.

The deadline for current cycle of submissions is October 30, 2008.

Please submit 3-4 topic proposals with a 65-70 word bio beginning with your library of employment, highlighting your publications. Place LIBRARIANS/your name on the subject line to: [email protected]

2. Seeking Submissions from Practicing Librarians (U.S.) for Librarians as Community Partners: An Outreach Handbook (publisher: American Library Association)

Foreword: Kathy Barco, READiscover New Mexico: A Tri-Lingual Adventure in Literacy (Sunstone Press, 2007); children’s librarian, Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Public Library

Afterword: Edith Campbell, Media Director, Arlington High School, Indianapolis. Indiana Libraries, Viewpoints; http://campbele.wordpress.com

Articles by practicing academic, public, school, special librarians sharing their experiences on how U.S. librarians are not tied to computers inside libraries: how librarians partner, outreach, and market libraries in their communities. Librarians with ethnic backgrounds serving diverse cultures are encouraged.

One article, 1900-2100 words; no co-authors. Practical, concise, how-to contributions are needed.

Possible topics: workshops at senior centers, story hours at community swimming pools, innovative literacy outreach, partnering with artists and writers, creative youth participation, effective advocacy with elected officials, working with the media.

The deadline for current cycle of submissions is October 30, 2008.
Contributor’s sign an ALA Writer Agreement before publication. Compensation: a complimentary copy, discount on additional copies,

Please submit 3 topic proposals (each 3-4 sentences) in descending order of choice–hopefully your first will not have been already taken. Please also send a 65-70 word bio beginning with your library of employment, title, highlights of your community library outreach activities, awards, and related professional contributions. Place PARTNERS/your name on the subject line to: [email protected]

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Editor Carol Smallwood, MLS, has written, co-authored, edited 19 books such as Educators as Writers and Thinking Outside the Book: Essays for Innovative Librarians. Her work has appeared in English Journal, Clackamas Literary Review, The Detroit News, and several others including anthologies. Pudding House Publications published her 2008 chapbook.

Cheers! Beer! Bowling – ?

Speaking of beer – many thanks to the NewPages supporters who have been contributing to the blog beer fund! Now that school has started up again and I’m back in the classroom, your support means all the more (and goes much faster…). Add to that: I’ve joined a bowling league. I only did so under the promise that it was really a drinking league using bowling as the guise. Our team name? We’re still working on it, but here’s one I liked: We Make Obama Look Good.

Drinking and Writing Brewery

I’ve found a new support group: The Drinking and Writing Brewery.

“Through a radio show, productions on stage and in bars, a website, and on the page, The Drinking & Writing Brewery exists to preserve the spirit and devotion of the hard drinking writer and to uphold the rituals of creativity through their passion for the written word. We strive to attract others who share these principles.”

The radio show is one hour long and each show explores the connection between creativity under the influence and includes interviews and reports on a featured writer, a featured bar/brewery, music, and original writing by artists from Chicago and everywhere else. The Drinking & Writing Brewery Radio Show on WLUW, 88.7FM is aired the first Sunday of every month at 6PM and is available via download on the website after the air date.

Also included on the roster of events, the Beerfly Alleyfight, in which contestants must match homebrew, homemade food, and an art interpretation of both in an “asskicking alleyfight.” And then there’s the Drinking & Writing Festival which requires a two-drink minimum of all participants – images of this year’s winners are on the site.

The masterminds behind this? Pete Crowley, Steve Mosqueda and Sean Benjamin – with plenty of nods to Bukowski.

What’s New at the Pew

“The Pew Internet Project is an initiative of the Pew Research Center, a nonprofit “fact tank” that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. Pew Internet explores the impact of the internet on children, families, communities, the work place, schools, health care and civic/political life. The Project is nonpartisan and takes no position on policy issues.”

Recent reports/memos include (visit the site for complete data):

Podcast Downloading 2008
Mary Madden Sydney Jones
8/28/2008
As gadgets with digital audio capability proliferate, podcast downloading continues to increase. Currently, 19% of all internet users say they have downloaded a podcast so they could listen to it or view it later. This most recent percentage is up from 12% of internet users who reported downloading podcasts in our August 2006 survey and 7% in our February-April 2006 survey. Still, podcasting has yet to become a fixture in the everyday lives of internet users, as very few internet users download podcasts on a typical day.

Search Engine Use
Deborah Fallows
8/6/2008
The percentage of internet users who use search engines on a typical day has been steadily rising from about one-third of all users in 2002, to a new high of just under one-half (49%). With this increase, the number of those using a search engine on a typical day is pulling ever closer to the 60% of internet users who use email, arguably the internet’s all-time killer app, on a typical day.

Home Broadband 2008
John Horrigan
7/2/2008
Some 55% of all adult Americans now have a high-speed internet connection at home. The percentage of Americans with broadband at home has grown from 47% in early 2007. Poorer Americans saw no growth in broadband adoption in the past year while at the same time nearly one-third of broadband users pay more to get faster connections.

Writing, Technology and Teens
Amanda Lenhart Sousan Arafeh Aaron Smith Alexandra Rankin Macgill
4/24/2008
Teens write a lot, but they do not think of their emails, instant and text messages as writing. This disconnect matters because teens believe good writing is an essential skill for success and that more writing instruction at school would help them.

Reissue :: On Reading

On Reading
W.W. Norton, September 2008
ISBN 978-0-393-06656-2
68 duotone photographs/80 pages

“André Kertész (1894-1985) was one of the most inventive, influential and prolific photographers in the medium’s history. This small volume, first published in 1971, became one of his signature works. Taken between 1920 and 1970, these photographs capture people reading in many parts of the world. Readers in every conceivable place—on rooftops, in public parks, on crowded streets, waiting in the wings of the school play—are caught in a deeply personal, yet universal, moment. Kertész’s images celebrate the absorptive power and pleasure of this solitary activity and speak to readers everywhere. Both playful and poetic, On Reading is reissued with striking new duotone reproductions. Fans of photography and literature alike will welcome this classic.”

NewPages Update :: September Book Reviews Posted

Once again, the NewPages Book Reviewers have outdone themselves with a unique selection of books. Stop by and check out these reviews:

Dear Everybody
Novel by Michael Kimball
Alma Books, September 2008
Reviewed by Josh Maday

Vacation
Novel by Deb Olin Unferth
McSweeney’s, September 2008
Review by Matt Bell

Liam’s Going
Novel by Michael Joyce
McPherson & Company, July 2008
Review by Rav Grewal-Kök

In the Land of the Free
Flash Fiction by Geoffrey Forsyth
Rose Metal Press, July 2008
Review by Sean Lovelace

New World Order
Stories by Derek Green
Autumn House Press, June 2008
Review by Dan Wickett

Sound + Noise
Novel by Curtis Smith
Casperian Books, September 2008
Review by Matt Bell

Bill’s Formal Complaint
Poetry by Dan Kaplan
The National Poetry Review Press, March 2008
Review by Micah Zevin

Lands of Memory
Stories by Felisberto Hernández
Translated from the Spanish by Esther Allen
New Directions, July 2008
Reviewed by Josh Maday

Who Can Save Us Now?
Brand-New Superheroes and their Amazing (Short) Stories
Ed. by Owen King and John McNally
Free Press, July 2008
Review by Matt Bell

In Hovering Flight
Novel by Joyce Hinnefeld
Unbridled Books, September 2008
Review by: Christina Hall

LGBT Thowback :: Freaky Lit

FREAKS READ showcases gay literature, erotica in East Village
by Scott Stiffler
EDGE Contributor
Thursday Aug 28, 2008

Just as the city’s gays were starting to clean up their act, along comes a bold and unapologetic happening that puts specific elements of gay life behind the mic and back on the front burner.

Working in the tradition of literary salons set in literate saloons, FREAKS READ is a new monthly event whose gay bar location and 21-plus policy guarantees exposure to the sort of provocative adult content on which urbane LGBTs used to thrive.

Founder and host Charlie Vazquez books the unconventional talent.

“We call it FREAKS READ because we started the reading as part of Freak Week, a week of events leading up to Pride,” he said.

In the true spirit of Pride and all things freaky, Vazquez sorts through the submitted material to ensure the poetry and fiction on display is filled with enough sex, gore and out there concepts to provide LGBTs with an antidote to the encroaching world of baby carriages, Jamba Juice franchises and other soul-crushing hallmarks of urban hetero-assimilation…[read the rest]

A Day of Literature in the Park

On Sunday, Sept. 7, the Christopher Morley Knothole Association will present a “Day of Literature in the Park: Poetry and Prose Picnic.” The event will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Christopher Morley Park, located on Searingtown Road in Roslyn Estates, New York.

The Knothole Association will present live readings and interpretations of classic works of literature. Local residents can be part of the fun by bringing their own poems or novels to read from and then share what they believe the author is saying, what the author’s history is, and why that work of literature has significant meaning. The Day of Literature will be held outdoors under the shade tree at the Knothole, itself the preserved study of Christopher Morley.

Rusty Sighting :: Fried Chicken and Coffee

I just got a note from Rusty Barnes about his newest literary endeavor, starting right now as a blog and seeing where interest might take it: “I’m doing periodic blogposts as well as interviews and reviews and publishing fiction and poetry, all of which is related to rural literature, Appalachian literature, and redneck/white trash literature in general. It’s at friedchickenandcoffee.blogspot.com. Right now I have a couple poems and a story posted, and interviews scheduled with Ron Rash and Silas House, as well as a review of Jayne Pupek’s Tomato Girl.”

NewPages Updates :: New Mag Listings

New Literary Magazines Listed
The Prague Revue – fiction, poetry, reviews, drama, essay, photography
Toward the Light – poetry, fiction, essay, photography
Rabbit Light Movies – video poetry
Torch – poetry, prose, artwork, video
Hawk & Handsaw – poetry, nonfiction, stories, visual art
Wild Violet – poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, essay, art, reviews, interviews
Dreaming Methods – media fiction

New Alternative Publications Listed
RiseUp – a newspaper and online magazine celebrating race and ethnicity

Jobs :: Various

Hartwick College Department of English and Theatre Arts invites applications for a full-time, 3-year position in fiction writing commencing September 2009 (pending final administrative approval) at the rank of assistant professor. Dr. Robert Bensen, Acting Chair, English and Theatre Arts. November 15, 2008.

University of Michigan Department of English Language & Literature invites applications for the Helen Herzog Zell Visiting Professorship in Creative Writing visiting appointment in fiction, which is a three-year appointment (through April 30, 2012), with potential renewal for two additional years (through April 30, 2014). Candidates should be emerging writers (no more than one or two books published or under contract) who have achieved distinction in their writing & excellence in their teaching or who have demonstrated the promise of such distinction & excellence. Send letter of application, c.v. & short writing sample (25 pages) by November 10 to: Professor Sidonie Smith, Chair, Department of English Language & Literature, University of Michigan, 3187 Angell Hall, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1003.

Arkansas Tech University invites applications for a tenure-track, assistant professor in fiction writing, beginning August 11, 2009. Dr. Carl Brucker, Head, Department of English. November 25, 2008.

The 2009-10 Stadler Fellowship offers professional training in arts administration & literary editing in a thriving, university-based poetry center, while also providing the Fellow time to pursue his or her own writing. December 6, 2008.

The Creative Writing Program, New York University seeks a renowned fiction writer of national reputation who will play a leading role within the Creative Writing Program, & will hold a tenured appointment in the Department of English. Position to begin September 1, 2009, pending final administrative & budgetary approval.

University of California, San Diego, Department of Literature is seeking a poet to teach in a thriving undergraduate program & new MFA program. November 15, 2008.

Colby-Sawyer College has an opportunity for an innovative and energetic full-time Assistant Professor of Literature and Creative Writing in the Department of Humanities. This is a tenure-eligible faculty position available in late August 2009. October 15, 2008.

Narrative Contest Winners Announced

Narrative Magazine announces the winners of the 2008 First-Person Story Contest:

First Place ($3,000) Gina Ochsner On Principle
Second Place ($1,750) Heather Brittain Bergstrom Celilo Falls
Third Place ($1,000) Holly Wilson Night Glow

Ten Finalists ($125 each)
Alethea Black Mistake
Abby Frucht But You’re Not
Lisa Fugard The Ghost of Anton Viljoen
Ed Gray Freedom Cross
Barb Johnson Turn It Up
Twister Marquiss Spectator Sports
David Peters The Dressing Room
Marc Petersen Shopping in the Middle of the Night
Debra Spark 46
Terese Svoboda Recon

Dear Everybody

Michael Kimball’s third novel, Dear Everybody, is wonderfully subtitled “A Novel Written in the Form of Letters, Diary Entries, Encyclopedia Entries, Conversations with Various People, Notes Sent Home from Teachers, Newspaper Articles, Psychological Evaluations, Weather Reports, a Missing Person Flyer, a Eulogy, a Last Will and Testament, and Other Fragments, Which Taken Together Tell the Story of the Short Life of Jonathon Bender, Weatherman.” Kimball juxtaposes these fragments to cultivate a swirl of humor and sadness, giving the reader a palpable sense of Jonathon’s intense alienation and loneliness at the center of the increasingly unhappy Bender family. Continue reading “Dear Everybody”

Vacation

In Deb Olin Unferth’s Vacation, people are always following each other from one place to another, starting with Myers, a middling office worker whose main distinguishing characteristic is a dent in his skull from jumping out a window when he was young. When he discovers that his wife is spending her evenings following a man named Gray through the streets of New York City, he begins to follow her himself, a process that stretches wordlessly through the first two years of their marriage. Later, after Myers and his wife decide to separate, Myers goes looking for Gray directly, leading to yet another chase that takes him across the Americas in search of a man who, if not exactly a rival, is still the closest thing Myers has to a cause for the dissolution of his marriage. There are other characters throughout the book who have their own loved ones or enemies to follow, each of their stories intersecting the love triangle of Myers, his wife, and Gray, until the book is just one more place for its characters to get lost in, to lose sight of their goals, to find, if not what they were looking, then maybe something they needed instead. Continue reading “Vacation”