NewPages Blog

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.]

“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.]

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.

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

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
r.ky.r.y.
Rougarou
Poetry International Web

New Alternative Mags Listed
Cure

New Online Alternative Mags Listed
Eurozine
In Short

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.

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 and Noteworthy
Stop by to see a selection of books from some of the finest small, independent and alternative presses received at NewPages world headquarters. If you have titles you’d like to see listed, please visit our FAQ page first.

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.

Here’s one from Killing Trout and Other Love Poems that I thought of on this Father’s Day. It’s fun to hear Dave read this one himself, at the end of it, he gives an incredulous, “Mom!”

My Father’s Old Camera Said…

the old camera said,
when I picked it up,
said something about

3 dozen grey sunsets,
before that, a factory
in Germany, it had

traveled, sat around
the shop, been opened
and closed like the mouth

of a horse, traded
on an impulse,
caught me, young,
leaning against the crescent moon
next to the wishing
well on Belle Isle,

caught my uncle catching
trout, my brother diapered
and crying in my old crib.

and before that, had seen my mother
nearly naked, smiling at it,
adjusting her fake fur stole.

Father’s Day
Poetry and Essay by Bruce Guernsey
Wild River Review, June 2008

For the buried, closure.
For the missing, space–
This Illinois distance
Where a man can walk forever,
Stubble and sky,
Where a house on the other side
Is ever the horizon.

Ten years ago this month—June, the month of Father’s Day—what was thought to be the remains of my father’s body were found in some woods along a ridge by a couple of hikers. He had disappeared three years before from a VA hospital in rural Pennsylvania. His Parkinson’s Disease had finally exhausted my mother, and she couldn’t keep him at home anymore. On most days, he was helpless, but every once in a while, he could with a struggle dress himself. Gaining momentum, he’d then shuffle about, gathering speed as he went, head-down and charging like the soldier he once was into enemy fire—that is, into whatever was in the way, be it a lamp or a shelf full of crystal, and down they’d come. And if a door were open, out he’d go, which is exactly what he did that day at the VA…[read the rest on Wild River Review]

Posted on WestConn MFA in Professional Writing , June 11, 2008:

“Hyperion has a terrific entry level opening, working as assistant to an executive editor (Brenda Copeland) and the associate publisher (Kristin Kiser). It’s a fine opportunity that would give the right person some real big-picture experience. A brief job description below. If you want to apply, please send an email to Brenda, with resume attached. Please feel free to forward this email. Brenda Copeland Executive Editor HYPERION 77 W. 66th Street – 11th Floor New York, NY 10023 P: 212.456-0143 [email protected]”

Job Description The editorial assistant provides editorial and administrative support to one Executive Editor and one VP/Associate Publisher. It is the responsibility of the assistant to ensure that the editor’s and AP’s offices are well-maintained, specifically: answer telephones, keep accurate files, and maintain calendars. For the editor, the assistant will also do the following: record submissions and rejections, draft rejection letters, make sure that author checks are requisitioned in accordance with contractual obligations, and make sure that fact sheets and other materials are submitted on time. For the editor, the assistant will also track book projects from the manuscript stage through to the arrival of the finished books and deal with post-production matters. He or she must look out for potential problems, keep an eye on deadlines, and keep editors, authors, and agents informed about production schedules and other significant deadlines. In addition the assistant will be called upon to read and evaluate manuscript submissions and draft promotional material such as flap copy, catalog copy, and audio copy. For the Associate Publisher, the assistant will keep lists for several seasons and update accordingly, schedule campaign meetings and assist with follow up with various departments (editorial, publicity, marketing, and sales), schedule sales meetings and assist with follow up.

Science Fiction, literature, and the haters
by Jake Seliger
Posted June 5, 2008 on The Story’s Story

Seliger’s essay begins with this question: “Why does so little science fiction rise to the standards of literary fiction?”

And explores this both from the perspective of a reader AND writer of SciFi. His experiences with rejection of his novel add to the mix of how SciFi is treated, and he comes part way through the essay to this commentary:

“It’s unfortunate that the entire genre gets tarred as junk by some critics and readers when in reality it’s not entirely junk—if it were, I wouldn’t write a long essay describing it. I have a theory as to why science fiction often gets labeled as junk: it values other qualities than aesthetic novelty/skill and deep characterization. It’s more concerned with ideas rather than how ideas are expressed, while the greatest literary fiction sees ideas and their expression as inextricably linked. At the same time, though, I think that science fiction’s defenders might bring on the literary snobs’ ire by doing things like calling them literary snobs when many aren’t actually snobs, but just have standards that science fiction too infrequently reaches in part for the reason I just stated. This is also why, I suspect, science fiction has trouble achieving the critical and academic recognition it should probably have, especially given its larger impact on the culture. I’m one of the defenders of good writing being good writing regardless of where it comes from, but the more science fiction I read, the more I realize so much of it just doesn’t have the skill in narrative, detail, character, sympathy and complexity, language, and dialog that readers of literary fiction demand. I still like a lot of science fiction, but most of it now causes me to roll my eyes and skip pages: characters have no life, the books have no lifeness, clichés abound, and strong setups devolve into variations on cowboys and indians.”

There is more, much more, to this thoughtful and well supported exploration, in which Seliger himself says he comes to no final conclusion. All the more for the readers and writers to consider.

Pulse: Voices from the Heart of Medicine. This new magazine is dedicated to publishing personal accounts of illness, fostering the humanistic practice of medicine, and encouraging health care advocacy. Patients and health professionals are invited to sign up as a friend to the magazine to receive the issues and/or to submit original creative work.