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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!

Giveaway :: Indiana Review Funk Trivia

To celebrate Indiana Review 30.1 (summer 2008) – The Funk Feature – Associate Editor Nina Mamikunian let me know about the “Five Hump Days of Funk” going on at Under the Blue Light, IR’s blog.

“Here’s how it’s going to work: on Wednesday, we’ll ask a question, you’ll answer it an an e-mail to us, and we’ll select a winner based on response accuracy first, and then on response speed. The following Monday, we’ll announce who gets the copy of the issue.”

Click quickly, and get your free issue – it’s a dandy!

Awards :: Margaret Atwood

A neighbor recently loaned me her copy of Atwoods’s short stories, Moral Disorder, which I am slowly making my way through – one story a night before bed: my nightcap. It is a collection claimed to be as close to autobiography as Atwood has written in her fiction. More poignant: I find it to be a reminder of what it is I admire and appreciate in a “good story.” The book, BTW, with a 2006 copyright, and a first edition, is already a victim of “discard” from a public library. *sigh* That’s another blog story…

Canada’s Margaret Atwood Wins Spanish Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature
Excerpted from China View
Read more on CBCNews.ca

Canadian writer Margaret Atwood has won the 2008 Prince of Asturias Award for Letters, the jury said Wednesday in Oviedo, northern Spain.

“We decided to bestow the award on Margaret Atwood for her outstanding literary work that has explored different genres with acuteness and irony, and because she cleverly assumes the classic tradition, defends women’s dignity and denounces social unfairness,” the jury said.

The poet, novelist and literary critic was born in 1939 in Ottawa. She received international recognition with her novel “The Edible Woman” (1969), followed by “Surfacing” (1972-1973), “Lady Oracle” (1977), “Life Before Man” (1980), “Cat’s Eye” (1988) and “The Robber Bride” (1993).

Atwood is considered to be the greatest living Canadian writer and one of the most eminent voices in the current scene. She offers in her novels a politically committed, critical view of the world and contemporary society, while revealing extraordinary sensitivity in her copious poetic oeuvre, a genre which she cultivates with great skill. The plot of her novels usually focuses on the figure of women.

The literature award attracted 32 candidates from 24 countries this year. It is one of the eight that the Prince of Asturias Foundation gives out yearly since 1981. Other categories include scientific research, sports, arts and humanities. Each carries a 50,000-euro (77,00 U.S. dollars) cash stipend, a sculpture by Catalan sculptor Joan Miro, a diploma and an insignia.

Jobs :: Various

The Professional Writing Program, English Department, at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Creative Writing: Drama beginning August 2009. Dr. Heather H. Thomas, Chair, Tenure-Track Creative Writing Faculty Search Committee.

The English Department at Washburn University is seeking a poet to join a vital undergraduate writing program with colleagues in fiction and creative nonfiction writing. Howard Faulkner, Chair. September 29, 2008.

Emory University. Two-year Creative Writing Fellowship in fiction undergraduate English/Creative Writing Program, beginning fall 2009. November 14, 2008.

Promote Poetry in Your Community

It’s not too late to ask your local or student newspaper to start running this column, or to add it to your own publication. There are two levels of permissible use, with publications only needing to register online (it’s easy); personal use/classroom use need not register.

“American Life in Poetry is a free weekly column for newspapers and online publications featuring a poem by a contemporary American poet and a brief introduction to the poem by Ted Kooser. The sole mission of this project is to promote poetry, and we believe we can add value for newspaper and online readers by doing so. There are no costs or obligations for reprinting the columns, though we do require that the text of the column be reproduced without alteration, along with the complete copyright, permissions and credit information, exactly as supplied with each column.”

In addition so seeing so many of my favorite poets in this project, I have also discovered many new voices. I was also pleased to see two of my friends and colleagues featured: Jeff Vande Zande for his poem “Clean,” and Rick “Anhinga Rick” Campbell, of Anhinga Press, for his work “Heart.”

Web Find :: Asian American Writer’s Workshop

Established in 1991, The Asian American Writers’ Workshop, a nonprofit literary arts organization based in New York city, was founded in support of writers, literature and community.

Operating out of our 6,000 square-foot loft, AAWS sponsors readings, book parties and panel discussions, and offers creative writing workshops. Each winter they present The Annual Asian American Literary Awards Ceremony to recognize outstanding literary works by Americans of Asian descent. Throughout the year, they offer various youth arts programs, including the Where I’m Calling From youth workshop.

The AAWW also offers internships in a number of areas. Application deadline February 1 of each year, then on a rolling basis until all positions are filled

Also included on the site, “The Million Dollar Book Contract: How to Get (the BEST) Agent” – a transcript of a panel discussion held on April 25, 2006, featuring four top literary agents sharing their expertise on how to land a book contract.

NewPages Update :: Book Reviews :: July 2008

New Book Reviews have been posted on NewPage. Stop by and take a look at what our reviewers had to say about: Best of the Web 2008 :: Knockemstiff :: Distance Makes the Heart Grow Sick :: Seal Woman :: Alluvium :: Little Brother :: Clear All the Rest of the Way :: Spilling the Moon :: Girl on the Fridge

Creative Nonfiction Forum :: Fourth Genre

Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction (published biannually by the Michigan State University Press) includes a forum on their website of articles from past issues: “We like to think of Fourth Genre as a learning community, a place where writers and readers can meet and engage in conversations, ask questions, experiment, test boundaries, offer advice, and share insights into literary nonfiction. The following excerpts, drawn from past issues, capture something of the range and complexity of that conversation.”

Currently, the Forum on Nonfiction includes:

Interview with Scott Russell Sanders
Roundtable Discussion: Literal versus Invented Truth in Memoir
Bret Lott, “Toward a Definition of Creative Nonfiction”
Lee Gutkind, “Why I Chose the Creative Nonfiction Way of Life”
Nancy McCabe, “The One That Got Away: On Memory and Forgetting”
Michael Steinberg, “Finding the Inner Story in Memoirs and Personal Essays”
Interview with Richard Rodriguez
Capsule Book Review by David Cooper

Looking For Good Foot 7

An interesting request: Anyone have a copy of Good Foot Issue #7 you would be willing to give up? I’ve got a “shot in the dark” request from someone who was published in it who never received a copy of the issue – it was the last published – and we can’t track down anyone associated with the publication. Said author now needs a copy of the mag for professional reasons. NewPages never got a copy of issue 7, so we can’t help out on this one. Anyone? If you have one and will part with it, please send it our way: NewPages, POB 1580, Bay City, MI 48706. I’m sure some good literary karma will come your way as a result…and don’t we all need more of that?

E-mail me and let me know: denisehill-at-newpages.com

New Online Lit Mag :: Cella’s Round Trip

CEllA’s Round Trip publishes poetry, flash fiction/non-fiction, digital poetry, digital art, photography (digitally altered or au naturale), collage, drawings, paintings, shockwave, movies, etc. Favor given to the experimental and creative use of the digital medium; art that creatively utilize words and language; experimental and precise creative writing that utilizes visuals to enhance meaning.

Issue #01, Summer 2008, includes Barry Graham, Christophe Casamassima, Sara Crowley, Craig LaRotunda, Ava C. Cipri, Valerie Fox, William Doreski, C.L. Bledsoe, Jon Pineada, Gwendolyn Joyce-Mintz, Elizabeth Kate Switaj, Vernon Frazer, Cheryl Hicks, Glenn Capers, and more.

Special Calls for Issue #02
.swf or .mov files: “We want good stories that literally move.”
Broadsides. Design the art around your text or the text around your art.

The Future of FC2

Our gal Brenda Mills, managing editor at Fiction Collective 2, had some things to say in the most recent company newsletter (04.08) about changes at FC2. In sum, due to budget cuts at Florida State University (FC2’s home), Brenda’s job will be cut in August. Moreover, when Brenda leaves, she was told to take FC2 with her.

That sounds pretty bad.

However, in the literary world, when one falls, there is often someone else there holding the net. In this case, Jeffrey Di Leo, founder of symploke, editor of ABR, Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences at the U of Houston-Victoria, and long-time friend of FC2, offered to fund several positions at UHV to become the new Brendas (we knew it would take more than one to replace her!), and offered FC2 a home.

That sounds pretty good.

Additionally, UHV is planning to establish an endowment fund to provide for FC2’s future, kicking up promotional activities in their new home area, and will be joined by Matthew Kirkpatrick (of Barrellhouse fame) to add a vast expanse of knowledgeable experience to the work.

That sounds really good.

So far so good for FC2. I’d say a lucky break in the fall, but I know there had to be a lot of people doing a lot of negotiating and paper pushing to get this all to happen so quickly and, seemingly, so smoothly. No doubt, our gal Brenda was – and will be – workin’ it all the way to the end.

Oh, yeah, Brenda.

No, she will not be moving with FC2. With a family in Tallahassee, a move to Texas was not possible. Golly gee whiz, we’re going to miss Brenda. Her insatiable appetite for experimental fiction and unending enthusiasm for her work really made the public face of FC2. She was one of the first people I met at the very first AWP I attended oh so many years ago, and I still have the promotional Barbie Doll leg as a keepsake. Since then, she and her cadre of authors have been one of the greatest highlights of the conference for me, and so I’m sure, for many. What now? I suppose time will tell, but I hope for all her hard work and dedication, something good comes her way.

New Lit on the Block :: Oval

The Oval is a brand new literary magazine from the University of Montana published by undergraduate students.

Oval‘s website says they are “devoted to the publishing of writing and artwork from the University of Montana,” and the first issue features UofM students exclusively. However, future issues are open to submissions from undergraduate college and university students in the U.S. Their mission: “to provide a fresh outlet for new and young artists to express themselves, their ideas and passions to the world through the medium of print.”

Oval accepts e-mail submissions year-round: poetry (translations welcome), short stories, creative nonfiction, short plays, interviews, and visual art (such as photography, paintings, drawings, prints, cartoons, and graphic literature).

The Spring 2008 inagural issue is available online (pdf) and includes “Buss, Buss” by poet Laura Anne Nicole Foster, “Just Fine” by author Crystal Corrigan, and “Wolverine and Rabbitt” by artist Eli Suzukovich III.

What’s this thing you call Type Writer?

Here’s a story that comes from my friend Sue about her 14-year-old daughter, Corby:

Corby is spending the weekend at my dad’s. My dad is in the process of trying to clean out the house for a future sale (which is a WHOLE other story). So he, Corby and my stepmother are going through the troves of junk in the basement. They find my handy, dandy MANUAL typewriter. Corby calls to report this “ancient” find.

She then begins to question me. “How does it work. I see the stick thing (the stick thing???) goes up into the middle of the machine. But how does the letter get on the paper?”

I try to explain.

She says she’s pressing on a key and it just isn’t hitting anything. I tell her she must punch the key harder. She still can’t figure it out. My husband, Dennis, asks, “Does she have paper in it?” Surprisingly enough, she did.

She asked what the black ribbon was for. I explained. Then she punched the key harder – and miracle of miracles – it worked (I can’t believe the ribbon hasn’t dried out – this thing has got to be at least 30 years old).

She asked me why I had this typewriter. I told her that I had to type papers for school on it. Her comment: “That must have sucked.” She has no idea…

She hangs up so she can play with the ancient piece of technology.

Dennis and I were having a good chuckle over the fact that I had to try to explain how a manual typewriter works. My phone rings again.

“Mom? How do I turn the Caps Lock off?”

*Sigh*

And I thought having the Birds and Bees talk would have been difficult!

Best of the Web 2008

At the heart of Dzanc Books’ anthology Best of the Web 2008 sits a quiet essay titled “Thirst and the Writer’s Sense of Consequence” by David Bottoms. In the essay, originally published in the Kennesaw Review, Bottoms takes for his starting point Walt Whitman’s poem “A Noiseless Patient Spider,” the language of which inspires him to explore “the whole question of artistic sensibility, more specifically, the sensibility that gives impulse to poetry and literary fiction.” Although it is a change of pace from the poetry and prose of the surrounding pages, for example, Christina Kallery’s poem “Swan Falls in Love with Swan-Shaped Boat” and R.T. Smith’s story “What I Omitted from the Official Personnel Services Report,” the essay gives the anthology a solid center from which the other pieces might develop. Continue reading “Best of the Web 2008”

Knockemstiff

There’s no way I could start this review with a sentence better than any of the first lines in Knockemstiff, the debut collection by Donald Ray Pollock.  Perhaps this one from the collection’s opening story, “Real Life,” which starts, “My father showed me how to hurt a man one August night at the Torch Drive-in when I was seven years old.” Another, “Bactine,” opens with “I’ve been staying out around Massieville with my crippled uncle because I was broke and unwanted everywhere else, and I spent most of my days changing his slop bucket and sticking fresh cigarettes in his smoke hole.” Continue reading “Knockemstiff”

Distance Makes the Heart Grow Sick

As the name implies, the DIY (Do It Yourself) movement is all about self-sufficiency. The punk branch of this larger concept pushes the ideology even further, basically shouting to all: “If your activities (aka consumer services or items) exploit planet Earth or creatures of, then f—k off! We’ll do it ourselves!” This model is essentially economic, finding new (and theoretically purer) paths around consumer culture, from music production (David Ferguson, Michelle Branch, etc.) to advertising (the very successful Sticker Junkie, among others) to the local farmer’s market or garage sale (or dare I say eBay?). DIY innately lends itself to the sensibilities of art and the internet: blogs, zines, forums, the arteries and chambers of the underground, of buzz, immediacy and verve – the hiss and crackle of punk. Continue reading “Distance Makes the Heart Grow Sick”

Seal Woman

In Seal Woman, a historical novel by native Icelander Solveig Eggerz, Charlotte is a German wife and mother fleeing war-torn Berlin and the ghosts of her memory. One of more than 300 people responding to an ad for “strong women who can cook and do farm work” in Iceland, Charlotte hopes to live in a land without war memories – one she hopes will prove a refuge from the difficult recollections of her missing Jewish husband and their daughter. Continue reading “Seal Woman”

Alluvium

I picked up Erin M. Bertram’s Alluvium less on the reputation of its writer, whom I knew little about, than that of its publisher. Kristy Bowen’s dancing girl press is an enviable little operation that publishes handmade chapbooks by a veritable who’s who list of emerging women poets, and I was curious to check out one of its latest offerings. Continue reading “Alluvium”

Little Brother

Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother is his first young adult book, but don’t let that put you off reading it. This is perhaps the first essential book I’ve read this year, the first novel that feels important enough to recommend it to every single person I discuss books with. While it will resonate best with teens, who will identify closely with its protagonist and his friends, the issues covered over the course of the story are important enough to matter to every American reader. Continue reading “Little Brother”

Clear All the Rest of the Way

The Midwestern voice has been with us long enough now that sometimes we forget that, like all innovations, it once required inventing. The Chinese capacity for understatement is something that I have also taken for granted, not remembering that such stances would be considered a departure from our American ancestors of Whitman and Dickenson. Warren Woessner recently reminded me of this unexpected connection between the Minnesota miller and Tang aristocrat in a brief interview below his Minneapolis law office, eloquently providing his own juxtaposition. Continue reading “Clear All the Rest of the Way”

Spilling the Moon

Matt Schumacher’s first collection of poetry is an otherworldly journey of linguistic inventiveness that keeps you directly on this earth while simultaneously transporting you to locations that at first glance appear strange or surreal but become familiar once you peer into their profound insides. These poems make up a cosmic parade where you will meet cowboys from Venus, pizzas that fly and ghosts who haunt spaceships. Ultimately, these poems are about the redemption of humanity in spite of the obstacles you have to overcome and the distances you must travel to arrive at familiar, yet alien, destinations. The poem “Old West Town Discovered on Venus” takes the reader on a journey to one of these planets: Continue reading “Spilling the Moon”

The Girl on the Fridge

For many American readers, Etgar Keret’s 2006 collection The Nimrod Flipout was the book that first introduced them to this excellent Israeli writer. With his short, fable-like stories combining a fantastical whimsy with the political and social realities of the Middle East, Keret’s stories felt like they burst onto the scene from nowhere, while in reality it was his second American book taken from the five collections already published in Israel. Like its predecessors, The Girl on the Fridge contains a wealth of Keret’s short stories, including some that will truly amaze the reader at how much power he can pack into a two- or three-page story, or, even more impressively, into a one-paragraph story, like the opener “Asthma Attack,” quoted here in its entirety: Continue reading “The Girl on the Fridge”

Help With Bookstore Guide Update

We doing a summer update on our bookstore list – NewPages.com Guide to Bookstores in the U.S. and Canada. If you’re traveling or moving to a new town, it’s a wonderful list to have along. But we’d like your help in updating this list: please check out the city/state where you live and let us know if what we have is correct. Bookstores often move or close or even spring up anew without us knowing about it (imagine that!). Maybe what we have listed isn’t really an indie, or is mainly a resale shop. Please feel free to set us right about it:

newpages-at-newpages.com
Subject: Indie Bookstore

How Do Lit Mags Survive? A Look at Thema

The Summer 2008 issue of Thema is the second of this quarterly’s celebration of 20 years in print. With the ongoing cycle of lit mags folding and new ones beginning, such anniversaries as this are indeed cause for celebration. It is also cause for curiosity: What does it take for a lit mag to survive?

One of the features in Thema are letters to the editor run at the end of the publication. I was particularly drawn to these, the first from Tina M. Klimas, whose work was actually rejected, but her letter is in praise of Thema‘s process: “Although you were writing to decline my piece, I appreciated knowing that my work came close… I wanted you to know that your encouragement is valued…getting the poem back gave me an opportunity to improve it… So, thank you for giving me the chance to make a better poem.”

The second letter is from Matthew Petti, who writes about leaving his job as a clinical psychologist to pursue his writing: “I gave myself five years to get something published; if I didn’t get a bite in five years, I told myself, I’d give up.”

It was Thema that published Petti’s first short story back in 2000 (“Toby Came Today”). This encouraged his pursuit, leading to an MFA, an Assistant Professorship teaching writing and literature, and more publishing. He sums up the whole of this experience: “I’ve loved this part of my life’s journey, and your thumbs-up was the encouragement I needed to begin.”

Looking back on the question of how lit mags survive, it would seem one way would be in treating prospective writers and their submissions with respect, whether accepted or rejected, and offering the opportunity for new and developing writers to be given the chance with a poem or a story – whether it be their only one or the first of many. When we talk about the “community” of writers and publications, there are many facets involved. Reading these letters and taking a look at the long history of Thema, community seems apt to describe what they have built, and a viable one at that.

Cody’s Books of Berkeley Closes

Revived once when on the verge of bankruptcy, Cody’s Books of Berkeley has closed for good. There is no evidence a savior will emerge — as one did before — to save the iconic retailer.

Anirvan Chatterjee, founder and CEO of bookfinder.com, said Cody’s closure is another sign of challenges facing independent bookstores, which are seeing increased competition from online retailers and chain booksellers. “Actually, about as many new independent bookstores are opening as are closing. But the new ones tend to be specialized,” said Chatterjee. “It’s harder to be an independent general bookstore.”

Read the rest of the story by Francine Brevetti in the Oakland Tribune

Audio Interviews :: Write the Book

Started in April 2008, Write the Book, hosted by author Shelagh C. Shapiro, is a series of audio podcasts available for online listening and download. These are interviews with authors, editors, agents, editors, journalists – people involved with writing and publishing.

The interview with Caroline Mercurio, editor of the Hunger Mountain is an insightful look at the work of literary magazine production, and offers a nice recognition of NewPages and the work we do here to help promote lit mags and small press ventures. (Thanks Caroline!)

A sample of other interviews available include one of my all-time favs, David Budbill, as well as authors Chris Bohjalian, Laura Williams McCaffrey, Annie Downey, Elizabeth Bluemle, and David Huddle.

Write The Book originally airs on WOMM-LP 105.9 FM “The Radiator,” in Burlington, Vermont, every Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m.

Interview :: CutBank in Bangledesh

Considered “America’s foremost literary magazine” by Ahmede Hussain of The Daily Star, Bangladesh’s largest circulating English-language newspaper, CutBank Managing Editor Brian Kevin gives an interview in which he talks about the American lit mag scene, writing personal history, and the dangerous lives of wild animals (really, it did go there…). Kevin gives insight into what CutBank looks for in their submissions, editorial decisions, and comments on writer attention to audience. Read the column in full here.

Awards :: Coach House Books Recognized

At a ceremony held July 23 in Toronto, Coach House Books was awarded the inaugural Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts for Arts Organizations.

The award, administered by the Ontario Arts Council, recognizes outstanding achievement in the professional arts by an individual or a group. Coach House shared the night with the winner in the individual artist category, acclaimed Ottawa-based sculptor and installation artist Ron Noganosh.

Publisher Stan Bevington and Senior Editor Alana Wilcox accepted the award on behalf of Coach House. Alana expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Culture, the Premier’s Office, the Ontario Arts Council and the many, many outstanding writers, editors and artists that have worked with the press over the years.

[From the Coach House Books Newsletter.]

Nominations Please :: Best of Creative Nonfiction

From Creative Nonfiction Managing Editor Hattie Fletcher: The Best Creative Nonfiction, Vol. 3: Editors of any publication, print or online, are invited to nominate up to 3 essays or articles from their 2007/2008 issues. Send one hard copy of each piece to:

The Best Creative Nonfiction
c/o Creative Nonfiction
5501 Walnut Street, suite 202
Pittsburgh, PA 15232

or by email (pdf or Word attachments only): bestcreativenonfiction[at]gmail.com

To be considered, work must be slated for publication before the end of 2008. In the case of work not published by the nomination deadline, please send page proofs or a Word manuscript.

Deadline: July 15

Ducts Seeks Editor-in-Chief

“Ducts.org, the literary webzine of personal stories, is looking for a young, hungry someone or other to take over the duties of editor-in-chief. We’re looking for someone who cares deeply about the literary community, has some experience working on a literary magazine and also has some technical skills. We put our site together in WordPress so experience using that would be a bonus, but not necessary as long as you’re willing to learn. The position is voluntary (no pay), but will allow the new editor to gain invaluable experience and make tremendous contacts. If any of you know someone who might be interested, please have them contact me, Jonathan Kravetz, at [email protected] and put “Editor-in-Chief” in the subject line. Many thanks!”

[Originally posted on WestConn MFA in Professional Writing, June 18.]

New Lit on the Block :: Low Rent

Low Rent is an independent journal from New York (though distributed beyond), published six times a year. The frequency of publication sounds ambitious for a New Lit on the Block, but the format is modest – including (so far) two stories and eight poems every issue*. I’m not sure if there are plans to increase the content, but as a bimonthly, lower quantity and higher quality would seem to be the ideal balance to keep both writers and readers coming back. For the low-rent cover price – $4.95 – it is likely to keep attracting new and repeat readers.

Edited by W.P Hughes, Jeff Bernard, Robert Liddell, and Jason Koo, Issue 1 features stories by Trevor J. Houser and Tracy Jo Barnwell, poetry by Marc McKee (winner of the 2008 DIAGRAM Chapbook Contest) and Ciaran Berry, and design by Hiroko Mizuno. Issue 2 includes stories by Murray Farish and Robert Taylor Brewer, and poetry by Sasha West and Jason Bredle, cover design by Hiroko Mizuno, inspired by EMIGRE. Excerpts of pieces from both issues are available online* (click on covers).

Low Rent is accepting submissions via e-mail of stories under 6k and poetry. Small stipends are paid to writers as it becomes available*. It’s worth reading their creatively smarmy FAQs to get to know them better, and just to put a smile on your face.

*Updated information via Bill Hughes at Low Rent (7/11).

Job :: Fiction @ Missouri State

From a list to which I belong, orginally an e-mail from W.D. Blackmon at MSU:

“In the Missouri State University English Department we’re doing a search early this summer for a Fiction Writing Instructor (Lecturer). We had an unexpected resignation late in the academic year, and our goal is to complete the search while summer school is still in session. Creative Writing is booming at Missouri State, especially at the undergraduate level, since both beginning short story writing and poetry writing are offered to all students on campus as a General Education option.” See job posting here.

Attend Strand Book Store Events from Your Computer

The Strand Book Store hosts weekly author and artist events, free and open to the public, which is great if you live in New York. But, now, thanks to Strand hooking up with Xanga, you can enjoy their events from home (or work or in the car or cafe).

You can watch the archived events, and chat with other users also watching the video, and you can also watch the events live as they are streamed. During live events, Strand will take online questions (time permitting). Viewers click on the “Questions” tab to post a question. “You can also vote on questions others submitted by clicking on either the plus or minus signs next to their question, depending on whether you feel it’s a good or bad question. The questions with the highest overall scores are listed first and will be asked first.”

Available for viewing now: Richard Bausch, Simon Winchester, Matthew Yglesias, Josh Marshall, Peter Schjeldahl, Lynda Barry, Walter Mosely and many more.

Upcoming events are on the Strand’s calendar.

Can Your Writing Do That?

I liked this comment from the Editor’s Notes of the latest issue of Tin House:

“We are frequently asked what we look for in a story or poem. The answer is simple: To see things anew, to be reminded of what it is to be alive. To miss our subway stop because we are so consumed with what we are reading. That’s all we ask for. And we hope that you will find the same.”

They make it sound so simple, don’t they? I know exactly the kind of writing they’re talking about, and I imagine it is neither simple to write, nor as an editor, easy to select. But, as a reader, greatly appreciated.

Call for Papers :: Underground 8.18

Generally, calls for submissions are listed on the NewPages Submissions Page, but this one in particular did not have a web link, yet I felt it might be of interest to some of our readers:

UNDERGROUND
Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference November 6-7, 2008
Department of Comparative Literature
Graduate Center, City University of New York
365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016

Call for Papers

“I am convinced that fellows like me who live in dark cellars must be kept under restraint. They may be able to live in their dark cellars for forty years and never open their mouths, but the moment they get into the light of day and break out they may talk and talk and talk…” -Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground

How do we perceive the underground? What lies beneath the surface? Wherein lies the significance of this metaphor? In defining the “underground” we have an immediate understanding of the term in its political, artistic, spatial and temporal dimensions: secret societies, the avant-garde, the unknown, the underworld. But what else constitutes the underground? Since antiquity we have been fascinated by the possibility of a separate realm that does not abide by the conventions of the known world. The underground also represents all that is hidden within the human psyche and that resists our attempts to excavate it. This conference intends to explore manifestations of the underground across all disciplines: literature, art, music, film, political science, sociology, psychology, art history, classics, philosophy, etc.

Papers might focus on the following topics, but are not limited to these: The underground man in the novel—the underworld—Hades—the subversive— counterculture—resistance movements—outlaws—outcasts—misfits—the subconscious—the subway—the metro—the grave—le gouffre—the living dead— internment—revolution—catacombs—bomb shelters—thresholds—sewage—treasure— secret societies—the mole—urban myth—irony—the hidden—underground railroad—slave narrative—the avant-garde in music, film, art and writing.

Please submit abstracts of up to 300 words to cunyunderground_at_gmail.com or to the address below. Special consideration will be given to panel proposals. We will acknowledge the receipt of abstracts within 2-3 days. The deadline for submissions is August 18, 2008.

You will be notified if your proposal has been accepted no later than September 17, 2008 and we would like to have confirmation from those whose submissions have been accepted no later than October 1, 2008. There is no registration fee and the conference is free to attend. Please send all questions to the above listed email address.

Anick Boyd
c/o CUNY Graduate Center
Ph. D. Program in Comparative Literature
365 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10016

NewPages Update :: New Publication Listings

Whew! We’ve been busy here at NewPages World Headquarters!* We have been checking out lots of web sites, scouring the globe for quality publications not yet listed in our guides that we think our readers would like to know about.* It’s exhausting work*, always looking our for our readers*, but we know it MUST be appreciated*. (Is the Catholic-guilt-martyr thing working here? I’d hate to think I sat through all those catechism classes on Monday nights for nothing.)

*Now would be a good time to click the PintLink on the right and make a donation.

These publications have also all been added to the guide pages and have a “NEW!” icon next to them so they are easy to find. As always, let us know of any publications we don’t have on our lists that you’d like us to consider: denisehill-at-newpages-dot-com.

New Online Lit Mag Sponsors
In the Mist
A publication to give a voice to all the other female adventurers who need a home for their work. Now accepting submissions for the first issue. See website for details.

The Straddler
An interdisciplinary journal of culture, publishing innovative criticism, essays, art, poetry, fiction and interviews, all of which aim to examine and transform their cultural context. Dismissing neither academically nor popularly informed criticism, The Straddler offers more than either, at present, provides.

New Print Lit Mags Listed
Avery
First City Review
Hedgehog Review

New Online Lit Mags Listed
Ugly Cousin
Conte
Swell
Salt Magazine
Jacket
91st Merdian
The Teacher’s Voice
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Awards :: Glimmer Train Family Matters – June 2008

Glimmer Train has chosen the three winning stories of our April quarterly of the Family Matters competition for stories in the word count range 500-12,000.

First place: Terrence Cheng of New York City wins $1200 for “The Boy”. His story will be published in the Spring 2009 issue of Glimmer Train Stories.

Second place: Marissa Perry, also of New York City, wins $500 for “Where We Began”. Her story will also be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories, increasing her prize to $700.

Third place: Matthew Salesses of Storrs, CT, wins $300 for “The Grief Ministry”. His story will also be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories, increasing his prize to $700.

The next Family Matters contest deadline is in July. See Glimmer Train’s website for full details.

Short Stories :: Matt Bell and Blake Butler

NewPages is fortunate in having a staff of review writers with a great range of literary interests and skills. We love hearing about “our” writers having their creative works published, and take the opportunity when we know about it to pass this along to our readers. We just got this note from NewPages Book Review Editor Matt Bell:

“SmokeLong Quarterly has just published its 21st issue, which is also its fifth anniversary. To celebrate, they’ve published a double issue of forty flash fictions, including stories by many of the people who’ve been staff members over the last five years. Myself (“The Folk Singer Dreams of Time Machines”) and Blake Butler [NewPages Book Reviewer] (“Disease Relics”) both have stories in the issue… SLQ is one of the best flash fiction publications around…

“Also just published is the June 2008 issue of elimae, which, among other things, also includes stories by myself (“Creating a Radio”) and Blake (“Do Not Look into the Mother’s Head”).”

New Online Lit Mag :: The Straddler

“The Straddler is an interdisciplinary journal of culture, publishing innovative criticism, essays, art, poetry, fiction and interviews, all of which aim to examine and transform their cultural context. Dismissing neither academically nor popularly informed criticism, The Straddler offers more than either, at present, provides.”

For even more on what this new endeavor means to be about, both editors Elizabeth Murphy and Dan Monaco have His and Her “say” on the matter to kick off the Spring/Summer 2008 issue.

Also on board – contributing editors include Ted Barron, Isabel Sinistore and Sarah Janoch, and web designers Monica Donovan and Michael Wysong.

Included in the inagural issue:

“Enough of Your Yankee Bloodshed,” an essay on Emily Dickinson by Dan Monaco

Poetry by William O’Hara, Elizabeth Murphy, and Frank Arthor Drake

Fiction by Greg Bennetts

“Let the Rhythm (and Melody) hit ‘em: 3 Communiqués from Classical Music’s Long March,” in which The Straddler sat down with a 35-year-old conductor who lives in New York City and asked him some questions about the health of classical music

Paintings by Mark Johnson

And the review “American Gangster: The Crime You Need When the Mob is Not Enough”

The Straddler: “Don’t fear what you do understand.”

New Lit on the Block :: Oranges & Sardines

“Menendez Publishing introduces Oranges & Sardines, the new print magazine dedicated to spanning the two genres of poetry and art in an effort to fuse both communities in a fresh and exciting way. The staff of Oranges & Sardines are poets and artists who are dedicated not only to publishing the best content submitted in both genres, but also to the aesthetic appearance of our magazine. We welcome submissions from the established as well as the emerging and unknown.” (No sim/subs.) The 8×10 format is extremely well styled in this quarterly publication, and the editors ask that writers consider this format when submitting works.

The Summer 2008 issue (1.1) is edited by David Krump, Andy Nicholson, Meghan Punschke, Didi Menendez, and features:

Artists Ethan Diehl, Marcia Molnar, Holly Picano, Cheryl Kelley, Jennifer Wildermuth, L.D. Grant, Niel Hollingsworth, Steph Chard, Jeremy Baum, Jeff Filipski and E.B. Goodale.

Poems by Blake Butler, Dana King, J.P. Dancing Bear, Josh Olsen, Steffi Drewes, Matthew Hittinger, Patrick Leonard, Diana Adams and Graeme Mullen.

Short story by Kirk Curnutt. Reviews by Miguel Murphy, Michael Parker, Cheryl Townsend, Courtney Campbell and Jim Knowles.

Columns by Talia Reed and Caridad McCormick.

Grace Cavalieri interviews Mark Doty.

Jobs :: Various

The English Department at Missouri State University anticipates an August 2008 opening for an Instructor, non tenure-track, to: teach ENG 215 Creative Writing: Short Story and other fiction writing classes in support of B.A. (also General Education offerings); to help mentor selected graduate students specializing in fiction-writing; and to help advise undergraduate creative writing majors. June 24.

The Department of English at Medgar Evers College invites applications for a full-time tenure-track position teaching Creative and Professional Writing. July 1.

New Online Lit Mag :: In the Mist

Editor Ange Tysdal founded In the Mist to give a voice to all the other female adventurers who need a home for their work. “In the Mist is seeking submissions for our maiden issue from women who play, or write about playing, in the mist. Send us your poetry, fiction, nonfiction, photography, and artwork about being outside. We’re 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.” Deadline: Aug. 31, 2008.

New Online Lit Mag :: Salt Magazine

“Salt Magazine began life in Australia in 1990 under the editorship of John Kinsella, it rapidly developed an reputation as an exciting venue for a wide range of writers and writing practices: international, diverse and pluralistic. The magazine has had a number of guest editors, has partnered with both Jacket Magazine and Verse Magazine, and has published poems, short stories, biography, literary criticism, cultural criticism, essays and reviews. The bi-annual issues have been thematic but have rarely included editorials.”

2River View – Spring 2008

Colorful, penetrating art, theory and a treasure trove of poems is what comprises a major portion of this issue. Before reading these poems (about politics, a chicken, even the floors of a nasty bathroom stall off the New Jersey Turnpike), we are introduced to the artwork of Jackie Skrzynski: startlingly stark paintings of children in various states of action and repose with titles like “Cold Comfort” and “Boy Napping with Bears.” These pieces are a great first course of what is to come when we are presented with audio of the authors reading their poems on the pages ahead. Continue reading “2River View – Spring 2008”

Blood Orange Review – March 2008

Blood Orange Review is a poetry, fiction, essay and art journal with a dark skin and a smooth philosophical center. Enter the orange confines of their most current issue and be exposed to crimson narratives imparting stories of characters and places told with their fascinating and sometimes tragic details (whether the narrative centers on class, a jellyfish or the struggles inherent in the immigrant experience). Continue reading “Blood Orange Review – March 2008”

Blue Print Review – 2008

A serene and bright swathe of red and yellow sunset greets you before you even read a word of Blue Print Review, a journal that incorporates an image, be it a painting, photograph or sketch, with something like a poem, short story or prose piece – although it never explicitly labels any of them as anything but “words.” Even the all-encompassing theme of being “Lost, Found and Stolen” is open to interpretation, much like a painting or photograph. Continue reading “Blue Print Review – 2008”

Cadillac Cicatrix – Winter 2008

Created as a result of the one-time issue of the same name by the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, Cadillac Cicatrix offers a diverse range of poetry, nonfiction, prose, art, criticism and video. Leaving so much literary food on the readers’ plates, they will be forced to ingest its offerings one course at a time. Continue reading “Cadillac Cicatrix – Winter 2008”

Center – 2008

Center is 200 plus pages of what you would expect from a quality literary journal – poems, short stories, autobiographical essays, and an interview. It also contains the not-so-usual, “Symposium on the Line: Theory and Practice in Contemporary Poetry.” Lines, even more, line breaks, are discussed imaginatively by distinguished poets. Continue reading “Center – 2008”