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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!

R&PA :: Special Issue on Iraq

Michigan State University’s Rhetoric & Public Affairs, Issue 10:2, offers a unique scholarly analysis of the rhetoric that led to U.S. engagement in Iraq and then influenced perceptions as the conflict progressed from occupation to all-out war.

From the Introduction (full-text of which is available online) by Herbert W. Simons:

“It’s no longer terribly controversial that the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was a mistake of monumental proportions.(1) Even the war’s continuing defenders acknowledge that it has adversely affected America’s standing in the world and capacity to meet other global threats while also devastating Iraq. Declines in public support for the war leading to Democratic takeovers of both houses of Congress in 2006 evidence the disaster it has been for the Bush administration.(2)

“This special issue takes up the role of rhetoric in the Iraq debacle, beginning with the once ballyhooed crisis rhetoric of the Bush administration in response to the 9/11 attacks.(3) All but one of the essays scrutinize the rhetoric that brought America into war; the lone exception deals with presidential signing statements. The authors’ critical perspectives are reflected in the questions they pose: Why did we Americans enthusiastically support a preemptive invasion of Iraq when the people and governments of most nations did not? What does this support tell us about ourselves as a people? How did the Bush administration make its case? What fig leafs hid its real motives for war as it put forward its since-discredited weapons of mass destruction (WMD) arguments and its spurious hints of linkage between Saddam and Osama bin Laden? How different was the Bush administration’s war hype from that of past administrations? Why did so many leading Democrats go along? Why did the news media, including the opinion columnists and editorialists, lend their support? Should press, politicians, and even the general public have been able to see through the administration’s slipshod case for war? Most intriguing for me: did the initial success of the Bush administration’s hyperbolic crisis rhetoric in response to the 9/11 attacks prefigure its subsequent failures over Iraq? I address this question, among others, in the issue’s context-setting lead essay. This introduction provides a preview of the other essays.”

Read the rest on Rhetoric & Public Affairs.

Cultural Studies Publications

Two publications from the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, an interdisciplinary research center and intellectual community at the University of Virginia, committed to understanding contemporary cultural change and its wide-ranging individual and social consequences.

The Hedgehog Review: Critical Reflections on Contemporary Culture is an interdisciplinary journal of critical reflections on contemporary culture, published three times a year by the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. Each issue addresses a single theme with articles, interviews, book reviews, and a bibliography written by leading scholars from throughout the disciplines.

Launched in 2007, Culture is the Institute’s free biannual magazine that serves as a site for intellectual exchange and dialogue. Authored by the Institute’s staff, fellows, and alumni, as well as guest authors, Culture creates a lively forum for exploring the complex of meanings that informs and shapes our social world.

Jobs :: Various

Assistant Professor, Creative Writing, William Paterson University – Specialization in Creative Writing, especially fiction, creative non-fiction, and multi-genre writing courses. Linda Hamalian, Chairperson,Department of English.

The College of Saint Rose – Albany. The Department of English seeks a qualified candidate for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position, starting in August 2008. Catherine Cavanaugh, English Department Chair. January 3, 2008.

The University of California, Los Angeles. The English Department is searching for a tenure-track Assistant Professor in fiction writing. Professor & Chair Rafael P

New Lit on the Block :: Fifth Wednesday

Fifth Wednesday Journal is a new biannual print literary journal based in Lisle, IL. The first issue features poetry by Kevin Stein, Poet Laureate of Illinois, Kim Addonizio, Cyrus Cassells, and other fine poets, fiction by established writers like Cris Mazza, J.C. Hallman, Said Shirazi, as well as new and emerging writing, like Laura Madeline Wiseman, and J. Albin Larson. Each issue of Fifth Wednesday Journal will be edited by new guest poetry and fiction editors.

Glimmer Train Goes Simultaneous


“Effective immediately” says Editor Susan Burmeister-Brown, “Linda and I have decided to allow simultaneous submissions. We’ve had a policy for 17 years against simultaneous submissions, but now that we’ve tightened up our submission response times, we feel we can manage it better, and it’s been harder and harder to support our position when it is so darned difficult to get one’s work published. We do ask to be emailed immediately should a submitted piece be accepted elsewhere.”

Indie Bookstore Fights On

BookWoman Fights to Keep Site as Similar Stores in U.S. Close
By Edward Nawotka
Monday, November 26, 2007
In early November, on the same weekend Austin was celebrating two book festivals — the Texas Book Festival and the Austin Jewish Book Festival — Susan Post, the owner of Austin’s BookWoman book store, quietly announced that she needed to raise $25,000 by last week if she hoped to pay off debt and keep the store open. The store would need another $25,000 by Christmas to pay for the down payment on a new lease and the installation of new store fixtures. The store, which has been located at West 12th Street and North Lamar Boulevard for the past 13 years, loses its lease Feb. 1. [read the rest on Statesman.com]

From the BookWoman web site:

Why BookWoman Matters
BookWoman is one of 13 remaining independent women’s bookstores in the country — and the only one in Texas. Independent bookstores provide a venue for small presses and alternative viewpoints, in a publishing environment increasingly ruled by corporate conglomerates.

Facebook Boots NewPages

To our friends on Facebook – just so you know I’m not ignoring you, but Facebook has terminated my account. Apparently, Facebook only allows “individuals” to have profiles. Even though I was the individual who ran my own profile, they have still terminiated the account. Worse yet, and much less understandable, they also blocked my access to the NewPages Group, saying Facebook does not provide space to “organizations.” WTF! Since when? is what I asked, but was promptly told I could not have access, end of story.

This isn’t new. The same thing happend to Graywolf Press, although, somehow, they were able to maintain a group page. Why NewPages isn’t even allowed to do that is unknown. I pretty much got the “because I said so” from Facebook without ever getting a reasonable or even intelligible response from a person (aka real human being) in their customer service.

Facebook has started a new area called Facebook Business, which I would consider joining, but Facebook has blocked my NewPages e-mail address entirely, so I can’t set up an account there unless I also set up a new e-mail address just for that Facebook account. How many e-mail addresses can one person really have? I think the limit should be five – in which case, I’m over the legal limit. Anyway, it’s not nearly as fun as the individual accounts – through which I was enjoying intereacting with others on a more personal level than the other services allow (aka Bo-ring!).

In the meantime, while the right-hand of Facebook tries to figure out what the left-hand of Facebook is doing, NewPages no longer has a presence there. Sorry to all our friends and friend wanna-bes. I’ll be looking into alternative communities which seem to be up and coming – since, as we learned from MySpace*, it’s only a matter of time until the next great thing comes along – especially when you don’t play nice.

*NewPages is also on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/newpages

IndieFeed Offers Performance Poetry Online

“The IndieFeed service has long provided the best of today’s independent music to a discriminating and demanding audience, through a large selection of music genre channels (Alterative Modern Rock, Blues/Funk, Hardcore/Punk, Hip Hop/Rap, Electronica, etc.). And now, IndieFeed has applied it’s music distribution model to the performance poetry world, with the IndieFeed Performance Poetry channel! The channel promises to uncover the best of today’s cutting edge spoken poetry artists, delivering their work through both studio and live recordings, directly to your computer or other personal music device! Think of it as a poetry slam, or an exciting, dynamic poetry reading, right at your fingertips.”

Sustainability and Corporate Citizens :: CRO’s Top 10 List

CRO’s 10 Best Corporate Citizens by Industry
CRO Magazine—using the analytical skills and data-processing prowess of Portland, Maine-based IW Financial—introduces The CRO’s 10 Best Corporate Citizens by Industry 2007. (Part 1). The industries we’ve dissected are: Chemical, Energy, Financial, Media and Utilities. The Nov/Dec issue of CRO will present Part 2 and review about a half-dozen more.

Submissions :: White Crane 5.1.08

For over fifteen years White Crane has existed as a quarterly forum for exploring Gay Culture and Wisdom.

Spring 2008: Ancestors
Those who came before us, who laid the path we walk upon. Our guideposts, our muses, whose stories still speak to us. Deadline for Spring 2008: February 1, 2008.

Summer 2008: Race & Identity
Deadline for Summer 2008: May 1, 2008

Jobs :: Various

The St. Lawrence University English department invites applications for a one year leave replacement position in poetry writing, with primary or secondary interests in poetics and/or literary theory. Peter Bailey, Chair, Department of English. November 15, 2007.

The College of Wooster visiting Assistant Professor of English, beginning fall 2008. Three-year position. Background in teaching all forms and levels of writing, especially fiction and/or creative nonfiction; secondary expertise in U.S. ethnic literatures or Anglophone literatures desirable. December 4, 2007.

The English Department at Emmanuel College invites applications for a full-time tenure track assistant professor in rhetoric and creative writing to teach three courses each semester, beginning in Sept. 2008.

Hawai’i Pacific University in Honolulu, Hawaii, is searching for a full-time Assistant Professor in English with the ability to teach courses in composition, fiction writing, and literature beginning Fall 2008. December 1, 2007.

Kennesaw State University invites applications for a nine-month, tenure-track assistant professor to teach specifically courses in fiction writing for the MA in Professional Writing Program & undergraduate fiction-writing courses as well as other courses depending on the new hire’s interests & other expertise.

Creative Writing Assistant Professor, Buffalo State College, tenure-track assistant professor, English Department, to begin September 2008. November 30, 2007.

University of Miami English Department seeks a Visiting Associate Professor/Poet, Fall 2008-Spring 2009, for a one-year, non-renewable position, to teach two courses in poetry writing each semester & direct MFA theses. Patrick A. McCarthy, Chair, Dept. of English. December 10, 2007.

Montclair State University Creative Writing, Fiction. Primary expertise in the writing of fiction & secondary expertise in the writing of poetry.

New College of Florida, the experimental liberal arts honors college of the State University System, announces an opening for a Writer in Residence, spring semester 2008 (February-May). Dr.
Nova Myhill, Chair, Search Committee, Division of Humanities. November 26, 2007.

Ithaca College’s Department of Writing seeks candidates for two, full-time, tenure-eligible positions in the Department of Writing, beginning August 16, 2008. Sally Parr, Assistant Professor and Chair. November 15, 2007.

Give One Get One Laptop Program 11.26.07

One learning child. One connected child. One laptop at a time.
“The mission of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. In order to accomplish our goal, we need people who believe in what we’re doing and want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege. Between November 12 and November 26, OLPC is offering a Give One Get One program in the United States and Canada. During this time, you can donate the revolutionary XO laptop to a child in a developing nation, and also receive one for the child in your life in recognition of your contribution.”

Agni Goes Tenor

The latest issue of Agni includes a unique bonus feature: A CD to accompany Harrison Solow’s essay “Bendithion.” This CD, AGNI‘s first, marks the American recording debut of Welsh tenor Timothy Evans. The essay is as much about Wales as it is about Timothy, as it is about song and emotion and performance and solitude. I’ll say no more – you need to read the essay and listen to the CD yourself. (And, yes, I cried.)

From Solow’s essay:

“My name is Harrison Solow. I come from Los Angeles and I’ve never seen, met, known, or heard anyone in the world like Timothy Evans. And unless you live here, in this remote and somewhat implausible Welsh village where Timothy and I live, then neither have you.

“Timothy is our postmaster. He sells stamps, issues various baffling permits, collects payments for bizarre things like television licences and road tax and many nanny-like little punishments which the British government delights in inflicting upon its citizens. (By the way, never mistake ‘Welsh’ for ‘English.’ It’s far worse than mistaking a Canadian for an American, and in my opinion – having lived for some years in Canada – with good cause.) Timothy makes tea for his employees in the back room every morning, wears what appears to be the same sweater every day, and goes home to an empty house every night.

“He goes home, as well, to acres of soft emerald fields full of the Shetland ponies, Torwen sheep, and Bantam hens that he breeds and cares for single-handedly every morning, some noons (during lambing), and every night of his spectacularly mysterious life.

“He also has a voice that comes pretty close to what ‘Let there be Light’ would have sounded like had it burst forth from the lungs of an anthropomorphic god in the act of creation. And pretty close to Light itself.

“Let me say at the outset that this is not an objective account. I am absolutely committed to celebrating this man’s voice. It is flawless, haunting, and irrefutably magical. You won’t be the same after you’ve heard it. No one else is. And you will have probably wept through every unblemished note. Everyone else does. Of course, right now, ‘everyone’ doesn’t constitute a lot of people. This voice is one of the best (and deliberately) kept secrets in the world, as is so much about Wales. But that’s about to change. I’m about to do a little ‘let there be light’ in America, myself.”

The five-track CD and the rest of this essay are available in Agni 66.

The Most Amazing Site I’ve Seen in a Long Time

“TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). This site makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free. Almost 150 talks from our archive are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted. Our mission: Spreading ideas.”

The scope of this site is amazing – I can’t even begin to cover all that is included, (but I will) with speakers like Bono, Jane Goodall, Steven Pinker, Bill Clinton, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and on and on. With a conference sticker price of $6000, you can bet I won’t be going anytime soon (makes AWP look cheap!) – but having full access to all the talks online is what makes this a site for all of us.

100 Photographs that Changed the World

The Digital Journalist

“Is it folly to nominate 100 photographs as having been influential to world events, or is this a valid historic inquiry? LIFE will, here and in the following pages, put forth its argument. You be the judge.

“Having been in the business of presenting stirring, revelatory photography since 1936, LIFE has a vested interest in claiming for photojournalism a place of high importance. Given its preferences and an endless page count, LIFE would put forth a thousand and more photos of substance, each of them worth at least a thousand words.

“Words. Ever since chisel was taken to slate, it has been accepted that words can and do change the world. Whether it be the Torah, the New Testament or the Koran, the Magna Carta or the Declaration of Independence, J’Accuse, Oliver Twist or Catch-22, Common Sense or Silent Spring, the effect of words can reach so many hearts and minds that it impacts the human condition and the course of mankind. Speeches incite, editorials persuade, poems inspire.

“Can photographs perform similarly?”

Read the rest and see the images on The Digital Journalist.

PEN American Award Announced

Announcing $10,000 Award for First Amendment Defender

New York, NY, November 12, 2007—PEN American Center and the Katherine Anne Porter Foundation today unveiled a new $10,000 prize for ordinary people who take extraordinary stands to defend the First Amendment in the United States.

The PEN/Katherine Anne Porter First Amendment Award, which will honor a United States citizen or resident who has fought courageously to safeguard the First Amendment’s right to freedom of expression as it applies to the written word, will be conferred annually before an audience of America’s most distinguished writers at the PEN Gala in New York. The Katherine Anne Porter Foundation is sponsoring the award, a fitting tribute, PEN said today, to the Pulitzer Prize-winning author’s steadfast support for the freedom to write…[read the rest on PEN American]

New Lit Mag in Print :: Steel City Review

From Stefani Nellen: “As you might know, I’m the co-editor with Julia LaSalle of the Steel City Review, an online quarterly with an annual print edition. Our first print edition is now available for purchase at lulu.com and on our website. It contains the material from the website: 27stories by authors such as GK Wuori, Nathan Leslie, Barbara Jacksha, Maggie Shearon, Claudia Smith, and William Reese Hamilton. On the one hand, the magazine is centered around regionally-inspired themes – we want to have stories about Western Pennsylvania itself. But is also more abstractly about the places where technology, academia and innovation intersect with human nature and matters of the heart.”

Anthology :: Lesbian Travel Writing

Women’s Wonderlands
Good Lesbian Travel Writing

Gillian Kendall is currently soliciting submissions for a new anthology from University of Wisconsin Press, which will be a sister edition to Wonderlands: Good Gay Travel Writing, edited by Raphael Kadushin. Wonderlands has had terrific success, selling out of its first print run after the W hotel chain made copies of the book available to selected guests.

For this anthology of lesbian travel writing, she does not want travel writing per se please, no destination pieces, no hotel-beach-tour reviews, nothing that would be even remotely right for Conde Nast Traveler. Wonderlands pieces are emphatically not consumer travel pieces; they are impressionistic, literary travel pieces in the tradition of fine travel writing. There are no forbidden topics, but we don’t want anything dogmatic. What Kendall does want is an anthology of personal stories that have a strong travel element. In other words, the stories should be about people, but the place should matter too.

If you’re wondering what that means, read Wonderlands itself — you can order it from Amazon. In this collection by gay men, nearly every piece is beautifully written, moving, funny, or all three. Or read Gillian Kendall’s book, Mr. Ding’s Chicken Feet, or Sailing to the Far Horizon by Pam Bitterman for a guide to the kind of travel narrative sought. After you do, please send your own stories of adventure, of falling in or out of love, of exploration or ex-patriation, or danger or senseless self-indulgence. . .send stories of personal growth, stories of lesbian heart and spirit and, oh yeah, travel.

Women’s Wonderlands will offer a small honorarium to individual contributors, probably $50 USD. Many of the contributors to the first Wonderlands chose to donate their honorarium to support the work of Living Out, a long-standing gay/lesbian list from the U of Wisconsin Press.

Please send your submissions to womenswonderlands(at)gmail.com. There is no minimum page length, but please no more than 30 double-spaced pages. You may send work that has been published previously, as long as you retain the rights for republication (we can’t pay permissions fees).

Kendall aims to have a draft collection put together by the end of 2007, so please send her your work no later than Nov. 30th 2007.

Alt Mag Mailbag :: November 16

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

Alternatives
Global, Local, Political
Volume 32 Number 3
July-September 2007
Quarterly

Buddhadharma
“Psychology and Buddhism”
Volume 6 Number 2
Winter 2007
Quarterly

Corporate Responsibility Officer
“CRO’s 10 Best Corporate Citizens by Industry: Part 1”
Volume 2 Number 5
Sept/Oct 2007
Bimonthly

fRoots
The Essential Worldwide Roots Music Guide
Number 294
December 2007
Monthly

In These Times
“Welcome to California”
Volume 31 Number 11
November 2007
Monthly

Our Times
Canada’s Independent Labour Magazine
Volume 26 Number 4
August/September 2007
Bimonthly

Sierra
“10 Coolest Schools”
Volume 92 Number 6
November/December 2007
Bimonthly

Jobs :: Various

West Virginia State University English Department – Assistant Professor. Dr. Timothy C. Alderman, English Department. Friday, December 28, 2007.

Writing Division at Columbia University’s School of the Arts seeks to fill the position of Assistant Professor of the Arts. January 10, 2008.

William Paterson University – specialization in Creative Writing, especially fiction, creative non-fiction, and multi-genre writing courses. Linda Hamalian, Chairperson, Department of English.

Johns Hopkins University. The Writing Seminars is seeking an Assistant Professor of Fiction Writing, tenure track. Professor Jean McGarry, The Writing Seminars. December 15, 2007.

Tulane University. The Department of English at Tulane University seeks to hire a tenure-track assistant professor in creative writing, non-fiction. Gaurav DDesai, Chair, Department of English. November 26th, 2007.

Mesa State College invites applications for a full-time temporary position in English. December 1, 2007.

Truman State University Assistant Professor of English – creative writing/generalist – beginning August 18, 2008. Dr. Monica Barron, Search Committee Chair, Department of English and Linguistics. November 19, 2007.

Assistant/Associate Professor of Writing and Literature, emphasis in Fiction Writing Chester College of New England. February 1, 2008.

The Graduate School of Liberal Studies at Hamline University (GLS) invites applications for a visiting assistant professor in creative writing (Fiction) to begin in August 2008. Mary Rockcastle, Dean, Graduate School of Liberal Studies,

Bethany College seeks an excellent teacher/scholar/artist to fill a tenure-track position in American Literature and Fiction Writing. Dr. Larry Grimes Dean of Arts and Sciences. December 1, 2007.

English /Creative Writing – Assistant Professor. Queens University of Charlotte seeks applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor of English specializing in creative writing.

New Issue Online :: GuernicaMag

If you don’t know GuernicaMag, you should! A full-text online magazine of art and politics. In this month’s issue:

Salar Abdoh finishes his three-part series on Iran with “Irrational Waiting” which examines the effects of fuel rationing in Iran;

Nancy Rawlinson investigates a fringe religion in “Are You Abnormal?”, an essay accompanied by a series of photographs called “Church of the Subgenius” by Lucas Thorpe;

In an interview with Robert Pinsky called “Thrilling Difficulty”, Gibson Fay-Leblanc learns how this poet (who would rather not use such a title) nearly became a musician;

In a photo essay series, Ann Tornkvist introduces five photographers over a period of ten weeks on the theme of “Home” and opens with photos by Filippo Mutani;

Guest Poetry Editor Tracy K. Smith selects seven poets to highlight: Cynthia Cruz, Terrance Hayes, Tina Chang, David Semanki, Sean Singer, Aaron Smith, and Kyle Booten.

For more online alt mags, visit NewPages Guide to Alternative Magazines Online.

Short Story Becomes HBO Feature Film

HBO presents Ken Kalfus’s Pu-239
The movie adaptation of Ken Kalfus’s short story, “Pu-239,” which is the title story of his second Milkweed book, Pu-239 and Other Russian Fantasies, premieres on HBO November 17 at 8 pm and will be shown for the next month. Ken Kalfus’s short story collection, Pu-239 and Other Russian Fantasies, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a Philadelphia Inquirer Notable Book, and led to a his selection as a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. Now, the book’s title story has been made into an HBO movie written and directed by Scott Z. Burns and staring Paddy Considine and Radha Mitchell.

Art :: Leonard Nimoy and Large Ladies

Actor, director and photographer Leonard Nimoy has a new book of photography due out in December: The Full Body Project, a collection of nude photographs of very full bodied women. “Nimoy captures images of full-bodied women, some of whom are involved in what is known as the ‘fat acceptance’ movement. ‘The average American woman,’ Nimoy writes, ‘weighs 25 percent more than the models selling the clothes. There is a huge industry built up around selling women ways to get their bodies closer to the fantasy ideal. Pills, diets, surgery, workout programs. . . . The message is You don’t look right. If you buy our product, you can get there.'” Published by Five Ties Publishing.

Poetry :: Emory University 4.08

A Fine Excess: A Three-Day Celebration of Poetry at Emory University
April 2,3, and 4, 2008 with Richard Wilbur, W.D. Snodgrass, Mark Strand, J.D. McClatchy, and Mary Jo Salter and other Waywiser Press Poets. Additional readins by Morri Creech, Erica Dawson, Jeffrey Harrison, Joseph Harrision, Erick McHenry, Deborah Warren, Clive Watkins, and Greg Williamson. Dana Goia, Chairman of the NEA will open the celebration. For more information, email: libdeb (at) emory.edu

Submissions :: College English 3.15.08

Call for Submissions: Creative Writing in the Twenty-First Century

A special issue of NCTE’s College English, seeks essays, symposia, reviews, and other documents which interrogate and add new insight into the academic position, scholarly and artistic status, and disciplinary future of creative writing in the twenty-first century. Deadline: March 15, 2008.

Some possible topics: creative writing theory, pedagogy, or professional practice (including teacher training and graduate student job placement), the history of this field; its relation to other fields; the role of technology; critical studies of programs, especially those in development or transition; reviews of current creative writing textbooks, guides, or critical collections; archival records. We welcome work from new as well as established scholars, especially graduate students currently enrolled in creative writing programs.

Essays and other contributions should be no longer than 25 double-spaced manuscript pages. Please also review the general guidelines for College English before submitting your work. Email manuscripts and queries to the issue’s guest editors, Kelly Ritter from Southern Connecticut State University (ritterk1-at-southernct.edu) and Stephanie Vanderslice from the University of Central Arkansas (stephv-at-mail.uca.edu).

Proposals for Poetry Fest 12.1.07

Calling for proposals, poetry, and volunteers for Split This Rock Festival, Washington, D.C., March 20 to 23, 2008, celebrating the Poetry of Provocation and Witness. Featured poets include Lucille Clifton, Martin Espada, Carolyn Forche, Galway Kinnell, Naomi Shahib Nye, Sharon Olds, Alicia Ostriker, and Patricia Smith. Proposals are invited for panel discussions and workshops (all 90 minutes in length). The deadline is December 1, 2007.

How to Remember the One Who Dropped the Bomb

Media is biased. Whoop-dee-doo. Tell me something I don’t know. Yet, here’s just another case study. In remembrance of the man whose job it was to actually drop the bomb on Hiroshima. Surprisingly (?) the most “fair” representation comes from the first source – Earth Times. Really? Huh, how ’bout that.

Paul Tibbets, pilot of A-bomb plane, dies
Author: General news editor
Earth Times

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 1 Paul Tibbets Jr., who flew the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, died Thursday in his Columbus, Ohio, home at age 92.

Tibbets suffered several small stokes and heart failure in recent years, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

Tibbets fell in love with flight as a child and when he was 12, volunteered to ride in the backseat of a biplane, dropping leaflets for a candy company during fairs and carnivals in the Miami area, the newspaper said…

Pilot of Plane That Dropped A-Bomb Dies
Associated Press
By Julie Carr Smyth

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Paul Tibbets, who piloted the B-29 bomber Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died Thursday. He was 92 and insisted almost to his dying day that he had no regrets about the mission and slept just fine at night…

Paul Tibbets, take a bow
By Alan Howe
News.com.au

A toast to the man who dropped the A-bomb
The Arizona Republic

Carlson: Tibbets was happy to keep low profile
By John Carlson
DesMoines Register

Tibbets dropped the bomb, but he shouldn’t be the target
Victor Vargas, Online Coordinator
The Gateway, Alberta, CA

The pilot of the Enola Gay might not have apologized for his actions, but that doesn’t mean he should be the scapegoat for Hiroshima. After all, it takes more than one man to assemble and deliver an atomic bomb…

Listen Up :: Gargoyle 52 Has Arrived


I was a bit surprised to receive the latest issue of Gargoyle – usually a three-pounder publication – in a small, square envelope weighing about an ounce. You guessed it – Gargoyle 52 is a CD version. Personally, I’m psyched about it. I’m a big fan of audio these days, since time to read anything other than the stacks of student papers piling up is out of the question. However, there are inherent risks with listening to literature – poor recording quality, writers who are good writers but bad readers (painfully bad sometimes), bad/annoying/distracting background music (usually played by the ________ [fill in relationship] of a friend who just couldn’t be denied), and works that are recorded but really would be better read silently in the privacy of one’s own gray matter.

Alas, fear not. With Peabody at the helm, Gargoyle 52 succeeds in taking on these risks. The CD includes groovy music w/lyrics, readings with “poet’s voice” (aka no inflections), readings with inflections, some with playful vocal characterizations, readings with sound effects, some true spoken word and music (nearly a lost art these days), and readings with tempos and rhythms that never – never – would have surfaced in this gray matter, but that have made all the difference.

Still, I’m a bit of a hog – it would have been nice to have the liner notes include the words. I’m still a strongly visual learner – I want to see it just as much as I want to hear it. Need to see it in some cases. But then, I guess we’d be back to a three-pounder with a CD accompaniment, and that may well defeat the effort here.

Gargoyle 52 features Cravin’ Dogs, Silvana Straw, Brigitte Diane Knudson, William Levy, Reginald Harris, Mesmer and Passiflora, Miranda Saak, George Kalamaras, Franetta McMillian, KD Rouse and the Sams, Jennifer Cutting, Henry Warwick, Jeffrey Little, Neelam Patel, Jonathan Vaile, Julianna Spallholz, Jillian Ann, Kate Braverman, Thylias Moss, Venus Thrash, David Hernandez.

In Memoriam :: Norman Mailer


Norman Mailer, Author and Social Critic, Dies at 84
by Lynn Neary
NPR Weekend Edition
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Norman Mailer, who burst on the literary scene in 1948 and published his most recent book just last month, died Saturday at the age of 84. Co-founder of the Village Voice, the winner of two Pulitzer Prizes and the National Book Award, he was nonetheless a controversial figure who lived life large…[read and hear more on Mailer’s life and passing on NPR.org]

Conference :: The Pan African Literary Forum 7.3.08


Announcing the the Pan African Literary Forum. A unique learning experience bringing together established and emerging writers of the African Diaspora for annual conferences of writing workshops, craft seminars, lectures, professional development, networking and cultural activities. The inaugural 2008 PALF Forum will be held July 3-18, 2008 in Accra, Ghana the 1st week and the Ashanti city of Kumasi the 2nd with excursions to the slave castles of Elmina.

NEW :: Africana Competition for emerging writers from Africa and the African Diaspora and One World Competition open to anyone wishing to submit work. Winners receive a free trip to the conference and publication. Visit website for more information.

Submissions :: The Southern Quarterly 2.08

The Southern Quarterly: A Journal of the Arts in the South. Call for poetry for Volume 45:4 of the Southern Quarterly (Summer 2008) a special issue on the legacy of Emmett Till, Guest Editor, Philip C. Kolin. Philip C. Kolin solicits original poetry on Emmett Till that captures the impact of his tragic lynching and his continuing importance as an icon for the civil rights movement in the United States and worldwide. Deadline for submissions in February 2008.

Film :: Communities Documentary

Visions of Utopia
Experiments in Sustainable Culture
reated by Geoph Kozeny, a core staff member of the first two editions of the Communities Directory and a featured columnist in Communities magazine. This full-length documentary has been more than four years in the making. Now you can actually see how some communities look “up close” while you listen to community members tell their stories in their own words. This first disc features an overview of 2,500 years of shared living, then highlights seven communities and offers insights about what works and what doesn’t. Includes:

Ananda Village, CA
Meditation/yoga community

Breitenbush Hot Springs, OR
Worker-owned conference/retreat center

Camphill Special School, PA
School and community for disabled children

Earthaven, NC
Ecovillage demonstration and teaching center

Nyland Cohousing, CO
Suburban cohousing development

Purple Rose Collective, CA
Small urban cooperative of activists

Twin Oaks, VA
Planner/manager government with labor credits

Submissions :: Anthology on Body Marking

Body. Your body. Your lived and living body. In what ways is your body marked? Do you have scars? Plastic surgery? Tattoos or piercings? Crazy haircuts? Have you ever injured yourself on purpose, or had the desire to do so? Do you have special jewelry or clothing that carries meaning for you?

Torn Skin and Soul Clothes: Accepting non-fiction (creative and theoretical), poetry, and photographs. Submission deadline: December 31, 2007. As yet no publisher, but the editor says she is making contacts – needs more submissions to present before publishers will give further consideration.

Jobs :: Various

Roger Williams University Department of Creative Writing invites applications for a tenure-track appointment in poetry beginning Fall 2008. January 15, 2008.

Chatham University invites applications for an assistant or associate level fiction writer with demonstrated commitment to environmental writing or writing with a strong sense of place for our innovative MFA program that focuses on nature, environmental and travel writing. November 15, 2007.

Washington State University Department of English seeks a tenure track assistant professor in creative writing with primary focus in poetry beginning Fall 2008. November 15, 2007.

Goucher College seeks a tenure-track, assistant professor in fiction writing or fiction-writing/poetry. December 15, 2007.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee English Department seeks a tenure-track assistant professor with a specialization in fiction writing. November 19, 2007.

The English Department of Eastern Michigan University invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor position in Creative Writing. November 15, 2007.

Northern Michigan University, Assistant Professor, tenure track, in creative writing: fiction; Ph.D. or MFA required, along with successful teaching experience at a college or university. November 26, 2007.

Colorado State University – Pueblo, Lecturer in English.

Utne Award Nominees

Nominees for the 19th Annual Utne Independent Press Awards 2007

“We began by upending the orderly shelves of our library, corralling some 1,300 magazines, newsletters, journals, alt weeklies, and zines into wobbly stacks. Then we dug in to read articles that we might have missed during the year and to reread our favorites—everything from gritty newsprint publications to polished perfect-bound journals. After much deliberation, debate, and a bit of teeth-gnashing, we whittled it all down to 111 standouts.

“Even after 19 years, the Utne Independent Press Awards still manage to surprise and delight our editorial staff—and we trust our readers will be similarly sated. Not only did we consider a vast catalog of longtime heavyweights, we unearthed a host of new darlings and pulled more than a few dark horses into the final stretch.”

See the full list at Utne online.

Submissions :: Mosaic

Founded in 1967, Mosaic is an interdisciplinary journal devoted to publishing the very best critical work in literature and theory. Submissions: Essays must represent innovative thought (either in the form of extending or challenging current critical positions). Focus can be on literary works or issues related to any historical period, national culture, ethnic group, genre, or media. Any interdisciplinary critical approach or methodology may be employed. Essays may be mainly theory-oriented or may conjoin theorizing with practical application or examination of specific texts. Essays must be thoroughly researched and make concrete reference to recent scholarship in the given area.

Festivals :: Memory Festival

The Vancouver Memory Festival is a free-floating series of public events focused on public and private memory, and the questions that surround acts of memory and forgetting: How are memories made and re-made, lost, and found again? How is memory preserved? What are memories? Is there such a thing as public memory? When does Memory enter into History, and whose memory is it then? The Memory Festival is improvised and open-ended. It will unfold in different venues around the city throughout 2008—the year of the already nearly forgotten sesquecentennial of British Columbia. You are invited to participate. The Memory Festival consists of things people want to do with and about Memory.

Novel at 90 by Creator of Mr. Magoo

Bowl of Cherries
Millard Kaufman
“Kicked out of Yale at age fourteen, Judd Breslau falls in with Phillips Chatterton, a bathrobe-wearing Egyptologist working out of a dilapidated home laboratory. There, young Valerie Chatterton quickly leads Judd away from his research and into, in order: the attic, a Colorado equestrian ranch, a porn studio beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, and a jail cell in southern Iraq, where we find him awaiting his own execution while the war rages on in the north. Written by a ninety-year-old debut novelist, ex-Marine, two-time Oscar nominee (screenwriting, Bad Day at Black Rock and Take the High Ground!), and co-creator of Mr. Magoo, Bowl of Cherries rivals the liveliest comic novels for sheer gleeful inventiveness — this is a book of astounding breadth and sharp consequence, containing all the joy and derangement and terror and doubt of adolescence and of our time.”

Festival :: Kenyon Review

The Kenyon Review First Annual Literary Festival
Gambier, Ohio
November 9-10
This festival complements the sixth annual Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement, which will take place on November 8 in New York City. The award recipient this year is Margaret Atwood. A full schedule of events is available on The Kenyon Review website.

New Alt Mag :: a.magazine

“a.magazine is a nonfiction literary magazine showcasing established and emerging writers and artists from Africa and across the globe. a.magazine takes pride in its innovative style, blending quality narrative with a strong graphic layout for a unique ‘lit-trade’ mix. It has the permanence of a literary publication and the premium finish of a design magazine. Published quarterly, a.magazine is available in U.S. independent bookstores and to subscribers worldwide. The first issue of a.magazine will hit newsstands at the end of October.”

Film :: Word is Out 30th Anniversary DVD

Thirty years ago, in 1977, Word is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives startled audiences across the country when it appeared in movie theaters and on television. The first feature-length documentary about lesbian and gay identity made by gay filmmakers, the film had a huge impact when it was released and became an icon of the emerging gay rights movement of the 1970s.

In honor of its place in our collective history, Word Is Out has been selected for the Legacy Project for GLBT Film Preservation by Outfest and the UCLA Film & Television Archive. The original film negative will be restored this year, and the re-mastered 35 mm print will be shown at public events in Los Angeles and San Francisco. It will then be available for international exhibition through Word Is Out‘s longtime distributor, New Yorker Films.

The 30th anniversary DVD will include the original theatrical version of the film, exclusive updates on the cast and the filmmakers and an homage to Peter Adair, originator and inspired producer of Word is Out who died of AIDS in 1996.

Essays :: Coffee Reconciliation

Shilling for Starbucks
How I Made Peace with Coffee and the Green Machine
By Hal Brill

“I brewed myself a cup of coffee today. No big deal, except that until a few weeks ago I had never done that. Coffee occupied a blurry place in my psyche – I liked it but also feared the bean. A couple of jittery, heart-racing experiences had taught me to minimize consumption. I avoided learning barista skills to keep temptation off the table.

“The blend I had this afternoon was of fresh Starbucks beans that arrived unexpectedly, a gift from the company after our recent tour. It achieved exactly what they hoped, sealing my fate. I’ve become not only a coffee drinker, but also a converted Starbucks fan. YIKES! How can this be? Is there something in their brew that has crushed my will to resist both stimulants and corporate allegiance?”

[read the rest on GreenMoney Journal]

Howl Against Censorship :: Pacifica Radio

“Fifty years ago, on October 3, Judge Clayton Horn ruled that Allen Ginsberg’s great epic Beat-era poem HOWL was not obscene but instead, a work of literary and social merit. This ruling allowed for the publication of HOWL and exonerated the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who faced jail time and a fine 50 years ago for publishing HOWL.

“Fifty years later, with draconian FCC fines for language infractions, you still can’t hear HOWL on the radio. That’s something to howl about. This October, Pacifica Radio Network released a commemoration of Judge Horn’s ruling on behalf of free speech, with a recording of the poet Allen Ginsberg, himself, reading the unadulterated HOWL.”

Download/listen on Pacifica.org

Festival :: Nature of Words 11.1-4.07

The Nature of Words, Central Oregon’s premier literary event, annually showcases acclaimed authors and poets whose writing deals primarily, but not exclusively, with the literal and metaphorical Western landscape. Scheduled for November 1-4, 2007, participants in the long weekend can choose from author readings, workshops, and panel discussions.

The American Poetry Review – Sept/Oct 2007

The issue contains both poems that address current events and poems with timeless themes. The best poems, as often happens, combine both the relevant and the timeless aspects. Bob Hicok, a professor at Virginia Tech, writes such poems, their main focus his silent student who became a killer: “[…]the code for language= / sight. Even now, I go back and listen / to what he was saying by not saying, I look / at my memory of the unsounding / […]but there’s nothing, no knob of sound” (“Mute”). After describing the particular murderer, he asks the general question that all witnesses ask: “why did this happen,” – a common enough question in the aftermath of any tragedy, but poignant nonetheless because no one has yet given a satisfactory answer. Susan Stewart’s response to another massacre – this one in the Amish community – is to use the victims’ names as a refrain throughout her poem. Continue reading “The American Poetry Review – Sept/Oct 2007”

The Bitter Oleander – Spring 2007

If you’re looking for writing that skirts, tunnels under, or transcends the ordinary, open any issue of The Bitter Oleander. Beyond any other criterion, this journal prefers provocative work – work that engenders a change in the mind of the reader, whether that change involves heightened sociopolitical awareness, or simply a gorgeous revolution of one’s perception of words and sound. Indeed, the best indicator of The Bitter Oleander’s character may be the uncompromising language found on nearly every page. Consider a sampling of lines from this issue’s poetry selections: “Your face breaks open to light” (Jacob Russell, “The Sea Bandits”); “the incarnate heart in your mouth pricks you” (Estrella del Valle, “My Room and Justine”); “Every morning the sun rises behind the guardhouses / wearing filthy hospital pajamas” (Titos Patrikios, “Habits of the Detainees,” in translation from the Greek). The short fiction offers similar raw intensity in lines like these from “Tale of a Long Winter” byAllen Kesten: “She remembered standing on her head after she had cut away the skin from her thighs, rivulets of blood running down her body and drying like prison bars on her torso.” Continue reading “The Bitter Oleander – Spring 2007”

Bronx Biannual – Number 2

I’ve recently begun teaching in the inner-city, so I thought I might find reading material for my freshman from the Bronx Biannual: The Journal of Urbane Urban Literature. Although I soon discovered that the explicit content guaranteed that these weren’t stories I’d casually give fourteen-year-old students, this issue contains great reading for the more mature reader. Continue reading “Bronx Biannual – Number 2”

CUE – Winter 2007

Prose poetry is a genre I was introduced to a year ago when reading poetry by James Galvin. His poems intrigued me and forced me to ask what the definition of prose poetry really is. The guest editor of CUE’s thin volume (the entire journal can fit snugly into the pocket of my fall coat), Jason Zuzga, defines it as being the “self in process […] in prose proper […] something like Montaigne thinking on the page in an essay.” His words are an apt description for the prose poetry in this volume. On an initial glance at the form of these seventeen poems, some look like carefully placed lines of free verse and others appear almost as stream of consciousness paragraphs. On further inspection, all contain writers’ detailed observations – though maybe not quite as astute as Montaigne’s – on the visible universe that enlightens the invisible thoughts and emotions. Continue reading “CUE – Winter 2007”