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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!

Rattle – Winter 2007

This edition of Rattle includes a tribute to nurses that makes this issue worthwhile on its own. The nursing section has personal essays from poet-nurses, such as Courtney Davis, T.S. Davis, Anne Webster and Christine Wideman, describing how they became both writers and nurses, which role was dominate at what point in their lives, and how nursing feeds into their writing. They talk of the sensuousness of nursing, the essential selflessness and empathy nurses experience, and how that “otherness” affects their poetry. Courtney Davis wrote movingly about her favorite patient: “A few weeks after my patient died, not knowing what else to do, I dug out my old poetry notebook…” “Writing about her death, I felt a sudden, inexplicable joy…” “I had also, in the writing, let her go.” Continue reading “Rattle – Winter 2007”

Thereby Hangs a Tale – Summer 2007

The debut of a journal brings tentative excitement to the entrenched literary scene. Can a newbie survive a crowded marketplace funded largely by ego? What distinctive editorial vision will buoy the perils of distribution, promotion, and un(der)appreciation? Some sink, some sail, but the masthead of the second issue of Thereby Hangs a Tale includes the crew’s superpowers, which can only help. Based out of Portland, Oregon, the slender, black-and-white journal runs regular sections, like Tales Told (nonfiction), Tall Tales (fiction), Rants, a closing We ♥ Libraries, and a journal-entry-like sprinkling of revelations. The editors call it an art project; the content, like the contributors who range from novelists to retirees, is free of literary pretensions and silly snobbery. Continue reading “Thereby Hangs a Tale – Summer 2007”

Tuesday; An Art Project – Fall 2007

Tuesday; An Art Project may technically be a literary journal; however, ‘art project’ describes it so much better. It arrives as a series of postcard-like cards, printed on one or both sides, with poems, photographs or prints, well wrapped in sturdy, folded, thick, almost cardboard-like paper. The title and subtitle are neatly printed on one side of the wrapper, the names of the authors and artists on the other, plus the subscription price. It unfolds to display a table of contents inside, plus a list of editors, advisory board, detailed background description of the artists and authors, a featured poem, and, the cards themselves. There are eighteen sturdy, pure-white, five-by-seven-inch cards; fourteen contain poems, four display photographs. Continue reading “Tuesday; An Art Project – Fall 2007”

AlterNet :: Best Progressive Books of 2007

2007 was a banner year for progressive books, but two stand out as true groundbreakers: Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine and Jeremy Scahill’s Blackwater, published by Nation Books. They are co-winners in AlterNet’s 10 Best Books of 2007 contest.

Visit AlterNet list of Best Progressives Books of 2007, which include short summaries of the top 10 books and a list of “honorable mention” titles, with links to all.

By Don Hazen, AlterNet
Posted January 31, 2008

Submissions :: Malahat Review 6.1.08


In 2008, to mark British Columbia’s sesquicentennial, The Malahat Review will devote its Winter issue to the Green Imagination. Focusing on creative approaches rather than on polemics and manifestos, this special issue aspires to place British Columbia—and the idea of British Columbia—at the ecological centre of the debate to showcase a variety of literary responses to questions such as:

“What is wilderness?”
“What is nature?”
“Is the natural world our adversary to be conquered and tamed, as Georgius Agricola argued in his 1556 “Defense of Mining the Earth’”
“Are we stewards of it, as P.K. Page suggests in her 1994 poem ‘Planet Earth’?”
“Are we an integral part of the natural world,” as Don McKay and Chief Dan George contend?
“What is the relationship between language and nature?”
“What is nature writing?”

Writers — B.C. residents and non-residents alike (i.e. true residents of the B.C. of the mind) — may widely interpret the theme of “B.C. and the Green Imagination.”

No restrictions as to form or approach apply: submissions of poetry, fiction, personal essay, memoir, cultural criticism, nature writing, literary journalism, and book reviews of relevant texts are welcome.

An honorarium of $40 per page will be paid for all accepted work.

Deadline: June 1, 2008 (postmark date)

Submissions :: Voices 6.15.08

Voices of Illness, Suffering, and Healing Magazine

Premiering Spring 2008

Call for Submissions for Second Issue

Providing a voice to those who might otherwise not be heard, especially those who are vulnerable and scared in illness. Honoring the caregivers who work tirelessly in service to those who are sick. Join with us in recognizing and celebrating these voices as they declare a part of our shared human experience. Seeking: Poetry, First-Person Narratives, Visual Art, Essays, Humor. Send submissions electronically and inquire about guidelines to managing editor, Belinda Jamison, at [email protected] or at 816-932-5767. Deadline is June 15, 2008.

Taos Summer Writer’s Conference 6.12.08

10th Annual Taos Summer Writer’s Conference
University of New Mexico
July 12-20, 2008
Weekend and Weeklong/Master Class Workshops

“Though the Taos Summer Writers’ Conference is young in comparison to events like Bread Loaf, the inspiration behind it is deeply rooted in New Mexico’s literary history and predates the existence of even its most well-established national predecessors. English-born writer D.H. Lawrence first traveled to Taos in 1922 at the invitation of Mabel Dodge Luhan. In the 11 months he spent there, over the course of three separate visits, he arrived at a keen understanding of the compelling nature of this landscape. Now, years after Lawrence first set eyes on the dramatic sweep of northern New Mexico, it continues to be a powerful draw for countless artists and writers.”

Perguia Press Prize Winners

Two Minutes of Light by Nancy K. Pearson has been selected for the 2008 Perugia Press Prize for a first or second book of poetry by a woman. Two Minutes of Light is due to be released in September 2008.

Finalists: Shannon Amidon for Coming Out of the Roar , and Stacey Waite for Butch Geography

Semi-Finalists: M. L. Brown, It’s Love That Pushes the Stockings Down;
Kristen Case, The Ice Fishermen; Tiffany M. De Vos, The Dimestore World; Karen Zaborowski Duffy, Nuclear Pregnancy; Kate Lynn Hibbard, Sweet Weight; Emily Johnston, Walks with Her Hands; Anna Leahy, In the Circle of the Familiar; Diane Kirsten Martin, Conjugated Visits; Leslie McGrath, Opulent Hungers, Opulent Rage; Regina O’Melveny, The Shape of Emptiness; Joan I. Siegel, Talking to the Blind & Deaf Dog at Night; Stephanie Walker, Dishwater Oracle; Holly Welker, Christian Art

New Online Lit Mag :: Arch

Housed within the English Department of Washington University in St. Louis, Arch Journal promotes collaboration within Washington University’s Arts and Sciences community for the purpose of producing an annual journal. Arch publishes interviews, translations, poetry, fiction, essays, and other materials.

Issue #1 Winter 2008 includes:

Poetry by Jennifer Atkinson, Walter Bargen, Thomas Cook, John Gallaher, Robert Lietz

Fiction by Andrew Coburn

Translation: V

Author Interview :: Richard Peabody

Author! Author! is the WETA blog featuring author interviews and book reviews by Bethanne Patrick. Richard Peabody, editor/publisher of numerous anthologies with Paycock Press and editor of Gargoyle annual, was interviewed in January, 2008.

“When I asked Richard Peabody how he found writers to contribute to his anthologies, one of the things he brought up (as you’ll see in our interview) is the fact that he and his co-editor Lucinda Ebersole allow the women to write anything and any way they want to — which is not necessarily what working authors are allowed to do for publication in our culture. Peabody is speaking specifically about the divide between realistic and experimental fiction, but his observations hold true for other fictional divides as well.”

Click here to see the video.

Submissions :: Swarthmore Review 4.1

The Swarthmore Review is a new poetry journal being founded by students at Swartmore College. The review has no special requirements as to form or genre; however, all work must be previously unpublished. The first issue will appear in June 2008, and it will continue to publish annually. Please email submissions to swarthmorereview (at) sccs.swarthmore.edu as a PDF document. Deadline: April 1, 2008.

New Lit Mag :: A cappella Zoo

“A cappella Zoo is an independent literary magazine open to all works that are worthy of a good, thorough read, while particularly emphasizing fiction that experiments with technique, form, language, and thought. We make a hobby of shaking up traditional ideas and assumptions about truth and language, whether to challenge our intellects or just to play, but always to contribute to an on-going universal discussion on humanity.”

Some favorite authors of the publishers includ: Gabriel García Márquez, Tim O’Brien, Flannery O’Connor, Annie Proulx, George Saunders, Sylvia Plath, Octavia Bulter, Jorge Luis Borges, Margaret Atwood, Ernest Hemingway, Angela Carter, Orson Scott Card.

Submissions Open in May
A cappella Zoo invites submissions of short stories, flash fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, plays, photography, and art. See site for requirements and pay.

Bilingual Submissions Sought
A cappella Zoo also seeks bilingual submissions, or two versions of the same work in two different languages, one in English and the other in Spanish or French (for other languages, send an email query first). Both versions need to be the original work of the author.

Contest
To celebrate the beginning of a new magazine, A cappella Zoo is hosting a short story contest with a theme of “origins.”

In Memoriam :: Johnnie Rebecca Carr

Civil Rights Leader Johnnie Carr Dies at 97
by Debbie Elliott
From NPR.org

Johnnie Rebecca Carr, one of the lesser-known leaders of the civil rights movement, died Friday in Montgomery, Ala.

For decades, Carr led the Montgomery Improvement Association, an organization formed in 1955 when Carr’s childhood friend Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. The moment sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, and drew national attention to the fight against segregation and a local minister named Martin Luther King Jr.

King was the first president of the Montgomery Improvement Association. Carr first helped organize carpools during the boycott. She became the group’s president in the ’60s and continued to fight for equal rights for African Americans, including enrolling her son in the all-white Montgomery public schools in a legal test case.

Carr died in a Montgomery hospital after suffering a stroke earlier this month. She was 97 years old.

Read more about Johnnie Carr and listen to the All Things Considered audio after 7:00pm Sunday on NPR.

Lit Mag Mailbag :: Feb 24

For information about these and many other quality literary magazines, click the links or visit The NewPages Guide to Literary Journals. Also visit the NewPages Literary Magazine Reviews for new reviews as well as an archive of past reviews.

Columbia Poetry Review
Number 20
Spring 2007
Annual

Forge
“little people opening things”
Volume 1 Issue 2
Winter 2007
Biannual

Greensboro Review
Number 83
Spring 2008
Biannual

Harpur Palate
Volume 7 Issue 2
Winter 2008
Biannual

International Poetry Review
Volume 33 Number 2
Fall 2007
Biannual

Manoa
A Pacific Journal of International Writing
“Maps of Reconciliation: Literature and the Ethical Imagination”
Edited by Frank Stewart and Barry Lopez
Volume 19 Number 2
Winter 2007
Biannual

The Missouri Review
“Fractured”
Volume 30 Number 4
Winter 2007
Quarterly

New South
(Formerly GSU Review)
Fall/Winter 2007
Biannual

Notre Dame Review
Number 25
Winter/Spring 2008
Biannual

One Story
“Beanball” by Ron Carlson
Issue Number 99 & 100
2007
Monthly

Pleiades
Volume 28 Number 1
2008
Biannual

Quick Fiction
Issue 12
Fall 2007
Biannual

Rock and Sling
A Journal of Literature, Art, and Faith
Volume 4 Issue 2
Winter 2008
Biannual

Salmagundi
Number 157
Winter 2008
Quarterly

Spinning Jenny
Number 10
2007

Sport Literate
Volume 5 Issue 1
2007
Biannual

Western Humanities Review
Volume 62 Number 1
Winter 2008
Biannual

Witness
“The Modern Writer as Witness”
Volume 21
2007
Annual

Zahir
A Journal of Speculative Fiction
Issue 15
Spring 2008
Triannual

Alt Mag Mailbag :: Feb 24

For information about these and many other quality alternative magazines, click the links or visit The NewPages Guide to Alternative Magazines.

Buddhadharma
The Practioner’s Quarterly
“Does Buddhism make you happier?”
Volume 6 Number 3
Spring 2008
Quarterly

Conscience
The Newsjournal of Catholic Opinion
“Church and State at the Crossroads”
Volume 28 Number 4
Winter 2007-2008
Quarterly

Free Inquiry
Celebrating Reason and Humanity
“Science and the Islamic World”
Volume 28 Number 2
February/March 2008
Bimonthly

fRoots
The Essential Worldwide Roots Music Guide
Number 297
March 2008
Monthly

In These Times
“Killer Credit! Attack of the $915 Billion Consumer Debt MONSTER!”
Volume 32 Number 2
February 2008
Monthly

Korean Quarterly
“Mu Performing Arts”
Volume 11 Number 2
Winter 2007-2008
Quarterly

Kyoto Journal
Perspectives from Asia
Number 68
2007
Quarterly

Labor Notes
Number 347
February 2008
Monthly

Lilipoh
The Spirit in Life
Issue 50 Volume 12
Winter 2007
Quarterly

Mother Jones
Smart, Fearless Journalism
“Torture Hits Home”
Volume 33 Number 2
March/April 2008
Bimonthly

Our Times
Canada’s Independent Labour Magazine
December 2007-January 2008
Bimonthly

Sierra
Explore, Enjoy, and Protect the Planet
“Wild Rides”
Volume 93 Number 2
March/April 2008
Bimonthly

Space and Culture
Volume 11 Number 1
February 2008
Quarterly
International Journal of Social Spaces

Verbatim
The Language Quarterly
Volume 31 Number 3
Autumn 2006
Volume 31 Number 4
Winter 2006
Quarterly

Whispering Winds
American Indians: Past & Present
Volume 37 Number 2 Issue 259
January/February 2008
Bimonthly

White Crane
Gay Wisdom and Culture
“The Bearable Rightness of Being”
Number 75
Winter 2007/2008
Quarterly

Z Magazine
February 2008
Monthly

Submissions :: Passager 9.15.08

Passager
Pass It On: Firsts
Submit work: January 1 – September 15 (postmarked date)
Results announced (projected date): November, 2008

This section of the journal is devoted to personal stories on the current topic: FIRSTS. Send 250 words or less of informal prose about some “first” in your life. No poems or fiction.

Passager
Open Issue For Writers over 50
Submit work: June 1 – September 15 (postmarked date)
Poetry, Short Fiction, Memoir
Sim/sub ok
Results announced (projected date): November, 2008
No reading fee for Open Issue submissions

Workshop :: Manhattanville College 6.08

Manhattanville College
Summer Writers Week
June 23-27, 2008

Manhattanville’s Writers’ Week program offers the opportunity to spend an intensive week of writing and working closely with some of the country’s finest writers and teachers of writing. Participants at all stages of development, novice to experienced, sign up for one of six workshops that meet all morning. Participants also have private conferences with their workshop leaders (see Workshops).

The program also features a keynote address, a session with editors and agents, readings by the distinguished authors, and craft workshops on various aspects of writing and editing. The final reading is reserved for students.

Submissions :: New Madrid 11.1.08

New Madrid
Winter 2009
Theme Issue
Submission dates August 15 — November 1, 2008

“In keeping with its location in the Bible Belt, New Madrid will dedicate its Winter 2009 issue to the theme of “Intelligent Design.” We’reinterested in receiving submissions that address the legacy of Darwin, the impact of the evolution-vs.-creationism debate on the public schools, the cosmological argument, etc., provided they are literary in form and intent. The staff is also interested in receiving submissions of works that let their structures show for example, poems in received forms or nonce forms, and fiction and non-fiction utilizing unorthodox narrative devices (for example, frames within frames)—as well as in works that consider design issues from the perspective of other disciplines (for example, architecture, quilting, graphic arts, the natural sciences, etc.). Our hope is to reinvigorate the phrase “intelligent design” by approaching it from a multiplicity of angles.”

Winners :: Glimmer Train Fiction Open

Glimmer Train Stories announces their December Fiction Open winners:

First place: Stephanie Dickinson of New York, NY, wins $2000 for “A Hole in the Soup”. Her story will be published next year in Glimmer Train Stories.

Second place: Elizabeth Koch, also of New York, NY, wins $1000 for “Would You and Other Relevant Questions”. Her story will be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories.

Third place: Clark Knowles of Portsmouth, NH, wins $600 for “Boxville, East Boxville”. His story will also be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories, increasing his prize to $700.

The next Fiction Open deadline is March 31.

Submissions :: November Third Club 3.15

The November Third Club, an online literary journal seeking to “up the ante” of literary political writing, wants poetry and prose that resonates with a political message and rises above mere rhetoric and rant. Their emphasis is political literature, unabashedly left-wing. Their poetry submissions pile is presently anemic [shocking!]; check the latest issue, which includes poets like Rita Dove, Sam Hamill, Marty McConnell, Sherman Pearl, Arthur Sze and Shole Wolpe, then send YOUR best work. Deadline March 15, earlier is even better.

Print Version Ends :: No Depression

“The latest edition of the alt-country magazine No Depression contains an announcement that it will cease publishing after its next issue, although the Web site will continue to have some new content. While the 13-year-old magazine’s simple answer for its shutdown lies infalling ad revenue – “advertising revenue in this issue is 64% of what it was for our March-April issue just two years ago. We expect that number to continue to decline.” – its longer answer, perhaps unsurprisingly, involves the music industry’s woes, the ever-changingrole of record labels, and the declining number of outlets where the magazine can be sold.”

Submissions :: Ginosko

Ginosko is accepting short fiction & poetry, creative non-fiction and excerpts for the 6th issue. Length flexible. Editorial lead time 1-2 months; accept simultaneous submissions and reprints; receives email & postal submissions. Copyright reverts to author. Publishing as semiannual ezine–summer & winter. Selecting material for printed anthology. Check downloadable issues on website for style & tone. Ezine circulation 2900+. Website traffic 150-350 hits/month. Also looking for artwork, photography, to post on website and links to exchange.

New Book :: Walter Mosley

tempest The Tempest Tales

by Walter Mosley

Available April 2008

Black Classics Press

Tempest Landry and everyman African American, is “accidentally” killed by a cop. Denied access to heaven because of what he considers a few minor transgressions, Tempest refuses to go to hell. Stymied, Saint Peter sends him back to Harlem. There a guiding angel tries to convince Tempest to accept Saint Peter’s judgment and even the Devil himself tries to win over Tempest’s soul. Through street-smart Landry, Mosley poses the provocative question: Is sin for Blacks the same as it is for Whites? And who gets to decide?

Submissions :: Packingtown Review

University of Illinois at Chicago journal Packingtown Review invites submissions for its inaugural issue to be released in November 2008. Seeking submissions of poetry, scholarly articles, drama, creative nonfiction, fiction, and literary translation, as well as genre-bending pieces. For more information, please view their submission guidelines.

Conference :: Nebraska & Prairie Schooner 6.08

Nebraska Summer Writers’ Conference
The Prairie Schooner Workshops
Weekend: June 14 & 15
Week-long: June 16-20

The Nebraska Summer Writers’ Conference is in its sixth year of bringing award-winning, widely reviewed writers of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, as well as influential publishing professionals, to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to conduct weekend and week-long workshops. The workshops are attended by people from all across the country-writers either just beginning to find their voices, or in the process of polishing their work—many of whom return year after year for the conference’s invigoratingly creative environment.

Art Submissions :: Bring Out Yer Funk!

From Indiana Review Blog: “So, we’ve got this issue, 30.1, and it’s super Funky, but we need visual art, for the cover and inside, that will reflect and enhance all the layers of Funk we got going on. Do you have any work that fits the bill?

“This issue features a special section highlighting poetry, fiction, and visual art with a Funk aesthetic. IR is looking for a piece of art that will reflect the work featured in this issue. The cover will appear in color, so artists should feel encouraged to submit pieces that take advantage of this capacity. Our past covers (which you can find at Indiana Review) have ranged in aesthetic, so all submissions truly will be considered. IR is willing to accept pieces as e-mail attachments (Jpeg or Gif files) or as web links. Our e-mail address is inreview-at-indiana.edu. All submissions are due to our office by February 29th, 2008.”

Submissions :: Dalkey Archive Press

In 1992, Dalkey Archive Press at Illinois State University began its Scholarly Series with the publication of Viktor Shklovsky’s Theory of Prose. Since that time, the Press has published such distinguished critics, theorists, and scholars as Gerald L. Bruns, Leslie Fiedler, Hugh Kenner, and Warren Motte.

In 2004, the Press expanded this series in response to the crisis in scholarly publishing—and the call by a number of professional organizations, including the Modern Language Association, for much needed subventions—in order to issue specialized scholarly research that otherwise cannot be made available. The Press plans to publish as many as 20 titles per year in this series.

Dalkey Archive Press is currently seeking book-length scholarly works. Areas of interest include:

Monographs on authors from throughout the world in the aesthetic tradition represented by Dalkey Archive Press’s list
Encyclopedic companions to contemporary fiction from around the world
Literary history and theory
Cultural studies
Collections of interviews
Aesthetics
Bibliographies

Book :: Jackie Ormes Biography

Jackie Ormes
The First African American Woman Cartoonist
by Nancy Goldstein
Published by University of Michigan Press
February 2008

In the United States at midcentury – a time of few opportunities for women in general and even fewer for African American women – Jackie Ormes (1911-85) blazed a trail as a popular cartoonist with the major black newspapers of the day. Jackie Ormes chronicles the life of this multiply talented, fascinating woman.

Ormes’s cartoon characters (including Torchy Brown, Candy, Patty-Jo, and Ginger) delighted readers of newspapers such as the Pittsburgh Courier and Chicago Defender and spawned other products, including an elegant black doll with a stylish wardrobe and “Torchy Togs” paper dolls in the funny papers. Ormes was a member of Chicago’s black elite, with a social circle that included the leading political figures and entertainers of the day. Her politics, which fell decidedly to the left and were apparent to even a casual reader of her cartoons and comic strips, eventually led to her investigation by the FBI during the McCarthy era.

The biography’s more than 150 illustrations include photographs of Jackie Ormes and a large sampling of her cartoons and color comic strips, including some furnished by cartoonist and cartoon historian Tim Jackson. Her work provides an invaluable glimpse into American culture and history, with topics that include racial segregation, U.S. foreign policy, educational equality, the atom bomb, and environmental pollution, among other pressing issues of the times – and of today’s world as well.

New Online Lit Mag :: Wigleaf

“Just-launched Wigleaf features stories under 1000 words. Updating regularly (at least once a week), we hope to showcase the diverse possibilities of a genre we see as still in emergence. In our first four weeks, we’ve run work by Joe Wenderoth, Debora Kuan, Dawn Corrigan and Leah Browning, and Karyna McGlynn. Forthcoming are stories by Pedro Ponce and Pirooz Kalayeh. Stop by!”

Conference :: The Compleat Manuscript

The Compleat Manuscript Poetry Conference, a subset of the Colrain Conference, is a very small, intensely focused conference that includes reading, analysis and discussion of the entire manuscript by two professionals in the field, Jeffrey Levine (Tupelo Press) and Joan Houlihan (Concord Poetry Center). Only six participants are admitted. For details on location, requirements and cost, please visit their website.

Anthology :: Shameless Mag and Tightrope Books 4.18.08

A Shameless Anthology
Co-editors Megan Griffith-Greene and Stacey May Fowles
Tightrope Books
Spring 2009

The anthology will include creative non-fiction essays by women and trans-identified adults about their formative experiences as teens, and is primarily intended for a youth audience. Specifically, we’re looking for submissions about how teen experiences (positive and negative) shaped our writers’ lives and made them the people they are today.

This project is affiliated with Shameless magazine and is based on the magazine’s signature mix of smart, sassy, honest and inclusive writing. In keeping with the mandate of Shameless, we want to reach out to young female readers who are often ignored by mainstream media: freethinkers, queer youth, young women of colour, punk rockers, feminists, intellectuals, artists, and activists. We hope this book will open up a real dialogue about growing up female, creating a book that is pro-choice, queer-positive, sex-positive, girl-positive.

Deadline: April 18, 2008

Submissions :: Pebble Lake Review

Pebble Lake Review
First Theme Issue: Illness and Health

“We are interested in work which depicts, speaks to, or defines illness and health. All styles and subjects welcome, but special consideration will be given to work which explores the personal experience with illness, whether directly or indirectly. We are not looking for scholarly or critical essays/work at this time. However, reviews of current or forthcoming books concerning illness and health will be considered. Please read web site guidelines for further submission information.

Submissions :: Big Pulp

Big Pulp, an online journal featuring genre fiction and artwork of all kinds, is actively seeking submissions of prose, poetry, photography, artwork, and comics. BP defines “pulp fiction” very broadly – “it’s lively, challenging, thought-provoking, thrilling, and fun, regardless of how many or how few genre elements are packed in. We don’t subscribe to the theory that genre fiction is disposable; in our opinion, a great deal of literary fiction could easily fall under one of our general categories.” On-site genre categories include: Fantasy, Mystery, Humor, Adventure, Horror, Science Fiction, Romance.

Submissions :: New Madrid 4.1.08

New Madrid, the literary journal published by Murray State University’s MFA Creative Writing Program, welcomes submissions of original poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction for its Summer 2008 issue, which will also include an “Emerging Poets” feature, showcasing the work of four poets who have their first books debuting in 2008:

Elizabeth Bradfield, Interpretive Work (Arktoi Books)
Jericho Brown, Please (New Issues)
Sean Hill, Blood Ties and Brown Liquor (University of Georgia Press)
Catherine Pierce, Famous Last Words (Saturnalia Books)

Deadline: April 1, 2008

YA Anthology :: Cacophony!!

Cacophony!
A YA anthology edited by Eric Kutscher
Published by Scrap Paper Press

“The current collection, composed by thirty-one teenage authors, is a cacophony of writing styles, topics, and emotions. These works portray symbolism, deep meaning and thought patterns. They discuss everything from death to life, stereotypes to reality, and humor to sincerity. There are written prose and written poetry. There are happy pieces and gloomy ones. It’s the balance and juxtaposition of these different works that create a truly unforgettable book.”

Scrap Paper Press was founded in 2003 by high school students, to create literature anthologies that are written, edited, and published by teens.

New Online Issue / Submissions :: Paradigm

Paradigm, the online journal from Rain Farm Press, has released their fifth -issue “The Kepler Issue.” It features interviews with bestselling novelist Louis Bayard (“Mr. Timothy”), crop-circle designer John Lundberg, singer-songwriter Liz Pappademas, and movie concept illustrator James Clyne.

Submissions for the sixth issue are currently open. The deadline is March 7.

Paradigm also announces their first-time novelist contest. Entry Fee: $20 per manuscript. Deadline: July 31, 2008. Restrictions: Entries must be previously unpublished; 35,000-word minimum. Open to any genre. See website for more details.

Conference & Submissions :: Evergreen State College 5.1.08

A Cross-Cultural Literary Conference
The Evergreen State College
Washington
May 24-5 2008

Keynote speakers will include: experimental playwright, poet and activist Rodrigo Toscano; Gertrude Stein Prize-Winning writer Mark Wallace; poet Laura Elrick; novelist and columnist Randall Kenan, poet and film theorist Tung-Hui Hu; poet Leonard Schwartz; poet and essayist Kristin Prevallet; editor John Bellamy Foster; poets and activists Jules Boykoff and Kaia Sand, and many others.

This year’s theme is “Activism & the Avant-Garde.” Currently seeking papers, prose, poetics, groups of poems, and any hybrid text-based work that would advance discussion of at least one of the central questions posed at this conference: 1) Where is the intersection between political resistance and the Avant-Garde, both historically and now? 2) What is the function (if any) of “non-mainstream” literary work—and what do we mean by “non-mainstream”? 3) How has non-mainstream writing evolved recently? Any work that addresses literary matters in relation to commercialism and the economics of particular literary landscapes, imperialism, ethnography, feminism, postcolonialism, translation, globalization, web technology, or particular writers and/or small presses is especially welcome. All writers awarded panel and/or workshop spots will have their work published as part of an anthology.

Deadline for Submissions is May 1, 2008.

Submissions :: Anthology on Global Warming 5.1.08

Facing the Change: Grassroots Encounters with Global Warming will be a completely new kind of book about global climate change. Instead of experts talking at you, this planned anthology will feature personal responses to global warming – what everyday people are feeling and thinking as well as what they are doing. Stories, essays, and poetry are welcome, from writers and concerned citizens from all walks of life and all ages. No publisher as yet, though according to Steve, they are making inquiries with reputable presses who will also handle distribution. Please visit their website for more information and submission instructions (including a printable version of the full Invitation to Submit). You can also pass this invitation on to anyone who may be interested – friends and family, colleagues, students. Anthology editor: Steven Pavlos Holmes, Ph.D., Independent Scholar in the Environmental Humanities, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. steve(at)facingthechange.org

Writing Workshops :: Mid-American Review 5.12.08

Mid-American Review Online Workshops
Date: May 12 to July 6, 2008

New this year, MAR is sponsoring a set of eight-week online writing workshops. The focus of the workshops is preparing poems, stories, or essays for publication. Feedback will include a thorough discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the work submitted, but will also offer editors’ perspectives on how work could more effectively capture a reader’s attention if it were submitted to a magazine.

Interested writers may apply for a chance to work closely with MAR‘s editors in an online environment. Those who are accepted into a workshop must commit to providing thorough feedback ro other workshop members. Additionally, participants should keep in mind that workshop submissions will at no point be considered for publication in MAR, although editors will provide advice on submitting work to other journals.

The fee for the workshop is $295, which includes a three-year subscription to MAR and an ongoing relationship with MAR editors and fellow workshoppers. The fee is payable by check, money order, or credit card. Please contact Michael Czyzniejewski at [email protected] with questions.

Mid-American Review
Summer Intensive Writing Workshop
June 23-28, 2008

The third annual MAR Summer Workshop will take place on the campus of Bowling Green State Universiry and will provide a chance for participants to get away from their hectic lives and concentrate entirely upon their writing. In the workshop setting, participants will receive feedback on their work from their peers and the workshop instructor, who is an experienced MAR editor. There will also be ample opportunity for workshoppers to create new work—with plenty of inspiration as well as the time to act upon it.

The fee for the weeklong workshop is $495, plus the cost of accomodations. Participants have the option of reserving on-campus dorm housing for the week at a cost of $130, or they may pursue alternate housing options on their own. Those who register before March 15 may secure an early-bird price of $350. A $ 100 non-refundable deposit is necessary to secure a spot. Please contact Karen Babine at [email protected] with questions.

Submissions :: North Central Review

Undergraduate Literary Journal Seeks Work

The North Central Review is one of only a handful of literary journals publishing exclusively the writings and works of undergraduate students. The North Central Review considers all genres, including short fiction, poetry, drama, creative nonfiction, and mixed genre pieces. The staff gives each submission at least two close readings, the journal is beautifully produced, and contributors are given two copies.

New Site Launch :: roger

Back last March, I commented on the incomplete web site for roger, an art & literary magazine, formerly Calliope (of Ampersand Press), but still based out of Roger Williams University. Jon Morris, Design & Promotions Editor, has let me know the site is now up and running, complete with subscription and submission guidelines. Give it a look-see.

American Intelligence :: Have we hit rock bottom?

Dumb and Dumber
Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?
By Patricia Cohen
February 14, 2008
New York Times

A popular video on YouTube shows Kellie Pickler, the adorable platinum blonde from “American Idol,” appearing on the Fox game show “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” during celebrity week. Selected from a third-grade geography curriculum, the $25,000 question asked: “Budapest is the capital of what European country?”

Ms. Pickler threw up both hands and looked at the large blackboard perplexed. “I thought Europe was a country,” she said. Playing it safe, she chose to copy the answer offered by one of the genuine fifth graders: Hungary. “Hungry?” she said, eyes widening in disbelief. “That’s a country? I’ve heard of Turkey. But Hungry? I’ve never heard of it.”

Such, uh, lack of global awareness is the kind of thing that drives Susan Jacoby, author of The Age of American Unreason, up a wall. Ms. Jacoby is one of a number of writers with new books that bemoan the state of American culture…[ read the rest ]

Graphic Novel Symposium :: SPLAT! 3.15.08

Splat!
A Graphic Novel Symposium
Saturday, March 15, 2008
New York Center of Independent Publishing (NYCIP), Manhattan

For new readers, writers, artists, publishers, agents, and long-standing comics fans alike to learn more about the fastest growing movement in publishing and meet some of the best creators working in the medium today!

The SPLAT! Symposium offers prospective creators with a unique opportunity to learn what it takes to be a graphic novelist. There will be three different tracks of panels, seminars, and workshops, followed by the SPLAT! Reception with Scott McCloud.

The panels will be led by a number of key writers, editors and artists from the graphic novel world including: Jim Killen, buyer Barnes & Noble; David Saylor, Editor Scholastic; Raina Telgemeier, artist, The Baby-Sitters Club; Ted Rall, creator, Attitude: The New Subversive Political Cartoonists; CB Cebulski, writer/editor, Marvel Comics; Bob Mecoy, Founder, Bob Mecoy Literary Agency; R. Sikoryak, creator, The Seduction of Mike; Brian Wood, creator, Demo, DMZ and Local; Nick Bertozzi, creator, The Salon; and Charles Brownstein, executive director, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Books :: Skunk Love

Skunk
A Love Story
by Justin Courter
Published by Omnidawn

“This novel tells of a young man’s attraction and ultimate addiction to skunk musk, and the social difficulties he encounters as a result. He longs to find an isolated utopia where he can experience his addiction in peace, but he is thwarted by all, including a young woman who understands his skunk fetish because she has a fish fetish.”

First three chapters are available for PDF download on the publisher’s website.

Submissions :: Women Experts Wanted

Seal Press is launching a new series and is looking for women writers who are experts on the following topics:

Car repair
Camping
Home repair
BBQing

Whether it be your passion, your hobby, or your profession, the main qualifier is that you really know your stuff. They want writers who can translate these subjects in an intelligent, fun, and accessible style.

Fellowship :: The Southern Review

From TSR Editor Jeanne Leiby:

“Beginning fall 2008, The Southern Review will offer a post-graduate editing/teaching fellowship to a recent graduate of an MFA or PhD program. The Scholar will spend 20 hours a week working on all aspects of The Southern Review‘s production and publication and teach one class a semester in the English Department (course assigned based on departmental need and scholar’s interests). This position will be for a non-renewable two-year term with GREAT salary and benefits. We are not yet taking applications, but keep your eye on The Southern Review website and the AWP Job List. Or sign-up on our mailing list and we’ll send you an email announcement.”

At AWP, Jeanne told me about her desire to create this position: “It’s what I would have wanted when I was a student.” Way to make it happen Jeanne! And good luck to those of you applying for this – one of you is going to be very, VERY fortunate to receive this and be able to work with Lieby and all the other wonderful folks at the Southern Review. Sort of like being Charlie and winning the whole Wonka Factory!

Film :: Shriek – The Movie

shriek King Squid Productions Presents
Jeff VanderMeer’s
Shriek

A city at war with itself. A night beyond imagining. And… aftermath. A short indie film about memory and transformation by Finnish director J.T. Lindroos, from a screenplay by Jeff VanderMeer, with an original soundtrack by the legendary art-rock band The Church. Voice cast includes Kathleen Martin as Janice Shriek and Steve Kilbey & Tim Powles from The Church. With character images by Elizabeth Hand and Rick Wallace, and art by Scott Eagle, Steve Kilbey, and others. The film opens with Shriek typing up her memoirs from the backroom of a bar. 14 minutes [Allow the film to play to the end if experiencing bit rate problems, and then replay.]