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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!

Contest :: 3-Day Novel Contest

The International 3-Day Novel Contest – the “marathon” of writing, the rite of passage for “I’ll-write-a-novel-someday” yakkers, and the scourge of “that’s-not-real-writing” critics world wide – is back. To highlight the basic rules: Outlines are permitted prior to the contest; however, the actual writing must begin no earlier than 12:01 a.m., Saturday, September 1st and stop by midnight on Monday, September 3rd. Novels must be postmarked on or before Sept. 7, 2007 to qualify and include a statement, signed by a witness, confirming the novel’s completion over the 2007 Labor Day Weekend. Deadline for preregistration: August 31, 2007

Alt Mag Mailbag :: July 19

To read more about these publications and others, visit the NewPages Guide to Alternative Magazines.

American Book Review
Volume 28 Number 5, July/August 2007

Free Inquiry
Volume 27 Number 5, August/September 2007

fRoots
Numbers 290/291, Aug/Sept 2007

Geist
Volume 16 Number 65, Summer 2007

Korean Quarterly
Volume 10 Number 4, Summer 2007

Labour / Le Travail
Number 59, Spring 2007

Lilipoh
Issue 48 Volume 12, Summer 2007

Our Times
Volume 26 umber 2, April/May 2007

Photoicon
Volume 2 Issue 2, 2007

Shambhala Sun
Volume 15 Number 7, August 2007

Science & Society
Volume 71 Number 3, July 2007

Turning the Tide
Volume 20 Number 4, July-Aug 2007

Whispering Winds
Volume 36 Number 6 Issue 256, 2007

Lit Mag Mailbag :: July 18

Absinthe
Number 6, 2006
Number 7, 2007

The American Poetry Review
Volume 36 Number 4, July/August 2007

Borderlands Texas Poetry Review
Number 28, Spring/Summer 2007

College Literature
Volume 34 Issue 3, Summer 2007
Special Focus: Popular Textualities

The Distillery
A Literary/Creative Arts Journal published by Motlow State CC
Volume 14 Number 1, July 2007

Event
Volume 36 Number 1, 2007

Frogpond
The Journal of the Haiku Society of America
Volume 30 Number 2, Spring/Summer 2007

Habitus
Number 2, Spring/Summer 2007
Focus: Sarajevo

Main Street Rag
Volume 12 Number 2, Summer 2007

The Malahat Review
Number 159, Summer 2007

New England Review
Volume 28 Number 2, 2007

Paterson Literary Review
Issue 35, 2006

Salt Hill
19, Winter 2007
Biannual

South Dakota Review
Volume 45 Number 1, Spring 2007

Upstreet
Number 3, 2007

Yale Review, The
Volume 95 Number 3, July 2007

Educational Kids Comics

Not quite the way I remember comic books from my childhood, but then, I didn’t grow up with these issues. Maybe reading them as adults couldn’t hurt…
Teddi Toys, Inc.
“Team GK is a group of homeless children who are brought together by a rogue government agency for an evil experiment. They escaped and are now living at the Great Kids Children’s Home in Chicago, IL. They develop their new powers and abilities through special mental preparation. Their training is funded by CONSCIENCE, a secret organization. The children make it their personal mission to protect their city, our nation and our world from villanous plots of the evil CONSORTIUM society. Available online in full-color page links: Team GK and the Monster Plan features the story of GK heroes battling a monster created from an HIV infected cell, and Team GK and the Merchants of Death finds them battling the tobacco industry.”

Ghetto Kids
“This site provides educational comic strips for kids by grade levels from 1st to 4th grade. Choose the character your child wants to read about and choose a grade level. These stories have open endings to facilitate discussion of how the stories will end and the repercussions of the character’s actions.”

Reading Ecoregions

A feature on Milkweed Editions allows you to click on an ecoregion within North Amercia to find related books, organizations, and writings from their section World as Home: “dedicated to literary writing about the natural world. Designed as a comprehensive resource for writers, educators, and activists, this site includes nonfiction, fiction, and poetry from Milkweed and other publishers, in addition to related organizations and writings.”

Books :: Senior Citizens Writing

Senior Citizens Writing
A Workshop and Anthology, with an Introduction and Guide for Workshop Leaders
By W. Ross Winterowd
Published by Palor Press
From the publisher: “The number of seniors in our population is burgeoning and will continue to grow. Seniors are eager to tell their stories, explain their philosophies, create fictions, and vent their anger at the injustices they perceive in the nation and the world. In Senior Citizens Writing, renowned teacher and writer W. Ross Winterowd describes in his introduction how writing workshops for seniors not only provide an audience but also give them opportunities for the intellectual growth and engagement that everyone wants and needs.”

Kent Rogowski :: Inside Out


The Wild Animals
Interview by Nicole Pasulka
“Think of your favorite teddy bear. Now imagine it’s been ripped open, gutted, and turned inside-out. That’s what Kent Rogowski’s Bears series has done to the iconic stuffed animals of our childhoods. In his recently published book and show at Foley Gallery, Rogowski mangles our memories and, at the same time, makes them all the more real.”
Read the interview and see the images: The Morning News

Submissions :: Little Red Leaves

Open Call for Responses to the Work of John Taggart: Little Red Leaves is announcing a call for responses to the work of John Taggart. These will be collected for one of the next few issues, and can include anything you consider “responsive”: essays, reviews, poems, visual work, video/audio work, etc. For more information, visit the blog at Little Red Leaves

Film :: Ian Wood

An cool short worth checking out: “Tsunami Escape” directed by Ian Wood, featured in Wheelhouse Magazine, Volume 3, Summer 2007. Click on “Film and Video” section. Be patient and take in all the images; don’t work hard to figure it out as it goes along. It really does all come together in the end: a climax, revelation and resolution all at once that left me feeling just as disconcerted as satisfied.

Poetry Anthology PDF :: Babylon Burning

Babylon Burning: 9/11 five years on
“Nearly 90 poets from around the world have contributed to Babylon Burning: 9/11 five years on, an anthology of poems on the Twin Towers atrocity and its consequences. But we are aiming for more than pious hand-wringing: the anthology will be free, but there is a request to donate to the Red Cross, which works tirelessly to help people caught up in disasters and conflicts, wherever and whoever they are.”

Read more and access the PDF: nthposition online

Call for Papers / Call for Proposals

For more information, visit website or contact person listed:

New Approaches to Mark Twain
for Conference
Jason Haslam (Jason.Haslam-at-dal.ca)
Deadline: September 15, 2007

The New Orthodoxy: Religion in Contemporary Jewish American Literature
for Conference
Amanda R. Toronto (aqt8334-at-nyu.edu)
Deadline: September 15, 2007

American “New Criticism”
for Book
Dr. Alfred J. Drake (ajdrake-at-ajdrake.com)
Deadline: August 31, 2007

The Americas: Drawing the Lines
for Conference
Christopher Lockett (clockett-at-mun.ca)
Deadline: August 1, 2007

“Metaphors and Allegories of the Body and Disease”
International Congress on Medieval Studies
for Conference
Jennifer Vaught (jvaught-at-louisiana.edu)
Deadline: September 1, 2007

First Impressions in Victorian Literature
for Conference
Christy Rieger (crieger-at-mercyhurst.edu)
Deadline: September 15, 2007

Preparing for the Academic Job Search

Kristina Mesaros is looking for personal accounts of graduate students preparing to enter into the academic job market for the forward to the second edition of Dawn M. Formo and Cheryl Reed’s book Job Search in Academe (Stylus Press, 2007). The forward to the second edition will focus on graduate students’ perceptions of the approaching academic job search and the pursuit of the tenure-track faculty position. You can be anonymous or named and titled. You may contribute a good quote or a case study. Your only time commitment is your email correspondence with me. Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to:
-Preparation you received for the job search
-Advice your mentors gave you about an academic career
-Impressions of academic positions (teaching, research, publishing, serving on committees, mentoring students)
-Preparation and advice you received for the teaching and service expectations of your first tenure-track position
-Advice your mentors gave you about teaching and publishing while in a tenure-track position

Please make informal queries to [email protected]

Featured Mag :: Terrain

Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments
This online magazine includes poetry, fiction, essays, articles, art, reviews, interviews (currently Joy Harjo), and a feature called “UnSprawl” which features different cities’ approaches to revamping certain urban areas. Full issues are available as PDF download (with full also meaning full color!). Great for personal use or for use as assigned reading in the classroom.

Books :: Food Pets Die For


Description from the publisher: In this new and updated edition of Food Pets Die For, first published by NewSage Press in 1997, Ann Martin once again goes behind the scenes of the commercial pet food industry. She uncovers the unsavory ingredients that can legally be used by commercial pet food companies, including euthanized cats and dogs, diseased and contaminated meat, moldy grains, and rancid fat. She also documents the ongoing animal experimentation funded by many major pet food companies in the name of nutritious pet food.

Martin arms consumers with crucial information on how to read labels on pet food, and discern for themselves whether or not they want to feed their pets commercial food. Martin offers healthy alternatives for feeding animal companions with nutritious and easy-to-prepare recipes. For people who don’t have the time to cook, Martin provides information on several pet food companies that produce healthy, human-grade pet food. Martin builds a strong case for why our pets will live longer, healthier lives without commercial pet food.

Online Lit Journals and R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Bloggasm is a blog run by Simon Owens that focuses on the media, with an emphasis on online media and journalism. It often features interviews with prominent bloggers, authors and journalists. Simon recently interviewed both the Million Writers Award creator, Jason Sanford, and the winner of the award, Catherynne M. Valente, for an article on how it raises the profile of online literary journals. Read the post: The Million Writers Award: Raising the profile of online literary journals

Teaching Clothes, Class, Consumption through Writing

Linda Christensen gets students to read and write critically about clothes, class, and consumption in Can’t Buy Me Love: Teaching about clothes, class, and consumption:

“I realized when I first stumbled on this writing assignment that I touched a place of pain and shame that needed to be explored more fully. Students knew they hurt, but they didn’t have a social critique to help them understand their humiliation. They internalized the shame of poverty and blamed themselves or their families instead of criticizing a society that places more value on what we own than on our capacity for compassion or good work. In every lesson I construct, I want to puncture holes in the myths that make my students feel shame and doubt about themselves and their families.”

Read the rest: Rethinking Schools, Summer 2007

Alt Mag Mailbag :: July 12

Against the Current
Bolivia’s Transition in the Balance
Volume 22 Number 3, July/August 2007
Bimonthly

Conscience
Published by Catholics for a Free Choice
Volume 28 Number 2, Summer 2007
Quarterly

Grassroots Economic Organizing
Stories from the front lines of economic solidarity & cooperation
Issue 75, Summer 2007
Bimonthly

Greater Good
The Science of a Meaningful Life
Volume 4 Issue 1, Summer 2007
Quarterly

Labor Notes
Number 340, July 2007
Monthly

Space and Culture
International Journal of Social Spaces
Volume 10 Number 2, May 2007
Quarterly

To read more about these publications and others, visit the NewPages Guide to Alternative Magazines.

Books :: Dafur Diaries


Darfur Diaries
Stories of Survival
Jen Marlowe, Aisha Bain and Adam Shapiro
Published by Nation Books

In November 2004, three independent filmmakers traveled to eastern Chad and crept across the border into Darfur. Improvising as they went, they spoke with dozens of Darfurians, learning about their history, hopes, and fears, and the resilience and tragedy of their everyday lives.

In February of 2003 following years of oppression, the Sudan Liberation Army in Darfur took up arms against the Sudanese government. The response to the rebellion was a brutal campaign by the government and allied militias of mass murder, rape and the wholesale destruction of villages and livelihood. Millions of people were displaced, and hundreds of thousands killed.

This book introduces us to those who remain: the refugees and displaced people, civilians and fighters resisting the Sudanese government, teachers, students, parents, children and community leaders, whose collective testimonies provide the heart of Darfur Diaries. Their stories, interwoven with the filmmakers’ own personal narratives and conveyed with political and historical context, provide a much-needed account to help understand the tragic situation in Darfur.

Books :: Humanitarian Imperialism

Humanitarian Imperialism
Using Human Rights to Sell War
by Jean Bricmont
Translated by Diana Johnstone
Published by Monthly Review Press

From the MRP web site: Since the end of the Cold War, the idea of human rights has been made into a justification for intervention by the world’s leading economic and military powers-above all, the United States-in countries that are vulnerable to their attacks. The criteria for such intervention have become more arbitrary and self-serving, and their form more destructive, from Yugoslavia to Afghanistan to Iraq. Until the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the large parts of the left was often complicit in this ideology of intervention-discovering new “Hitlers” as the need arose, and denouncing antiwar arguments as appeasement on the model of Munich in 1938.

Jean Bricmont’s Humanitarian Imperialism is both a historical account of this development and a powerful political and moral critique. It seeks to restore the critique of imperialism to its rightful place in the defense of human rights. It describes the leading role of the United States in initiating military and other interventions, but also on the obvious support given to it by European powers and NATO. It outlines an alternative approach to the question of human rights, based on the genuine recognition of the equal rights of people in poor and wealthy countries.

Timely, topical, and rigorously argued, Jean Bricmont’s book establishes a firm basis for resistance to global war with no end in sight.

Poets Wanted :: Library of Congress Reading Series

The Poetry at Noon Reading Series at the Library of Congress seeks submissions for the 2007-08 season. To apply, pick one or two themes from among these: “Magic and Magicians” (reading Oct. 9), “Love Poems (reading Feb 12), or Family Names and Nicknames (reading April 22). Include a cover sheet with the theme as the title; list your name, address, phone, and email; include a one-paragraph bio. Submit 2 of your own poems on the theme and 3 by other poets. Open to poets who have not read in the series in the past 3 years. Deadline: July 15 (postmarked). Send to: Patricia Gray, Library of Congress, Poetry and Literature Center, 101 Independence Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20540-4861.

NewPages Recognized in UTNE Reader

Let’s REVIEW
Publications that help readers navigate (and evaluate) the indie press
by Danielle Maestretti
UTNE Reader, July/August 2007

“NewPages is the web’s alt-press playground. It’s tough to stop by for a quick visit; you may go for the reviews, but you’ll stay for the guides, with pages upon pages of links to alternative magazines, small book publishers, and independent bookstores…”

To read more, pick up the latest issue of UTNE Reader – or better yet – SUBSCRIBE!

Resources :: Academy of American Poets

The official website of Academy of American Poets (sponsors of National Poetry Month), Poets.org offers hundreds of essays and interviews about poetry, biographies of more than 500 poets, almost 2,000 poems, and audio clips of 150 poems.

For Educators, the Online Poetry Classroom offers a wealth of resources, including Discussion Forums where teachers can share ideas and seek help from colleagues; Pedagogical & Critical Essays about poetry; extensive links to relevant websites; Curriculum Units & Lesson Plans; biographies of hundreds of poets; and over 2,000 poems.

For Writers, visit the Publishing FAQ, which provides reading resources for the budding poet and answers questions abouts where to submit your poems, what poetry scams to be wary of, and where to get good feedback on your work. There are also more than 400 essays and interviews on Poets.org, and many of them deal with the writing process. Read prose pieces that discuss poetic techniques, interviews about the writing life, and browse our glossaries of poetic terms and concepts.

Visit Poets.org today and consider joining the Academy of America Poets.

Brilliant Book Art :: Nina Katchadourian


Sorted Books Project
“The Sorted Books project began in 1993 years ago and is ongoing. The project has taken place in many different places over the years, ranging form private homes to specialized public book collections. The process is the same in every case: culling through a collection of books, pulling particular titles, and eventually grouping the books into clusters so that the titles can be read in sequence, from top to bottom. The final results are shown either as photographs of the book clusters or as the actual stacks themselves, shown on the shelves of the library they were drawn from. Taken as a whole, the clusters from each sorting aim to examine that particular library’s focus, idiosyncrasies, and inconsistencies — a cross-section of that library’s holdings. At present, the Sorted Books project comprises more than 130 book clusters.”

DeBoer Distribution…or not

Upstreet publisher (Vivian) provides an intense three-part blog on literary magazine distribution woes, and calls out DeBoer for unethical behavior, but not without fairly assessing the why and what she has chosen to do about it. Lit mags looking for distribution may want to take close note: The Upstreet Fan Club blog

Submissions :: Maya Angelou Reference Book

Facts On File, a New York publisher of reference books for schools and libraries, is seeking a scholar to write a one-volume reference book on Maya Angelou, focusing on critical analysis of her works. The ideal author will have a Ph.D., broad knowledge of Angelou’s life and works, and an ability to write clearly and succinctly for students in both high school and college. This large project (250,000-300,000 words) must be completed within two years. Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines will be required. If interested please send letter and cv, preferably by e-mail, to Jeff Soloway, Executive Editor Facts on File, Inc., [email protected].

New Lit Site :: Video Poetry

The Continental Review “The web’s first forum devoted exclusively to poets and writers on video. It’s a continuously updated journal of video-readings and video-interviews with some interesting and well-known members of the literary community. Our launch, for example, featured vids by the likes of Linh Dinh, Noah Eli Gordon, Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Allyssa Wolf, and Tom Beckett, and we’ll soon be broadcasting an interview, direct from Paris,with the great Cole Swenson, as well as many other new episodes.”

E-Books :: Snow Monkey

When the editors of Snow Monkey “feel a need to concentrate on a certain something, they produce an eBook”; in collaboration with Ravenna Press, the following are available via Adobe Reader download and are (as far as I can tell) chapbook-size collections of poetry: Music Volleys Through; Gustatory in Nature; To the Music of Mid-November Rain & Snow.

To download and view, visit Snow Monkey: An Eclectic Journal

Million Writers Award Winners Announced

The winner of the 2007 Million Writers Award for best online short story is “Urchins, While Swimming” by Catherynne M. Valente, published in Clarkesword Magazine. Valente’s story received 31% of the public vote. The runner-ups were “All the Way to Grangeville” by A. Ray Norsworthy (Eclectica Magazine) and “The Infinite Monkey Theorem” by Marshall Moore (Word Riot).

Poetry Anthology :: American Muslim and American Jewish 9.30.07

CROSSING LIMITS is a community outreach project of both the American Muslim and American Jewish Communities. It invites poets who locate themselves within the broad cultural, secular and/or religious contexts of the Muslim and Jewish communities to submit original poetry for an upcoming anthology. There are no subject matter restrictions. Previously published poems are acceptable IF author owns rights or provides permission statement(s). Simultaneous submissions are also accepted. Please paste 1-5 poems as text into the body of an e-mail to:CrossingLimits2(at)aol.com(replace (at) with @) OR submit by land mail to: Crossing Limits, P. O. Box 81268, Pittsburgh, PA 15217. Deadline: September 30, 2007.

Open Letters Quiz :: Piggies!

“There’s nothing quite like a good quiz, but they’ve become intensely problematic in this age of instantaneous Internet content. Google and Wikipedia are pirate-coves for the lazy and the cheatful, and so the monthly Open Letters quiz will rely entirely on the honor system: readers are expected to rely on their memories alone. And no quiz would be complete without incentive! The first reader to respond with the highest number of correct answers will receive a book in the mail, courtesy of the editors at Open Letters.” Take the quiz on Open Letters – and let us know if you win (esp. since I couldn’t get past the first question!).

College Prep Egyptian Style

Education Ordeal
by Dena Rashed
Al-Ahram Weekly, June 28 – July 4, 2007

“Looking at Sahar Zakaria, a mother of two, you’d think she was the one taking the thanawiya amma (TA) exams. It’s actually her daughter. For two years now Zakaria has been following up on her daughter’s studies, making sure she does her work and, well, worrying. For her part Heba Khaled, said daughter, is significantly more relaxed: “I’ve been TA mode for two years, I’m sort of used to its kind of stress by now.” But having obtained an average grade of 64 per cent last year, Khaled is already aware that her state-university options are already limited…”

Read more on Al-Ahram Weekly

New Issue & Contest :: The Mad Hatter’s Review

The Mad Hatter’s Review, Issue 8
Stop for tea and stay a while!

From Carol Novack, editor and publisher:
“We’re extremely pleased to present our most extravagant and colossal uber issue to date, overflowing with wondrous featured art, music and writings. Many of the written offerings (in our main issue) were chosen by our guest editor Debra Di Blasi in concert with our literary editors. Our guest editor was also responsible for introducing us to solicited offerings by several cutting edge writers, as well as the very fine art of Anne Austin Pearce and the stunning music of Christopher Willits. As usual, we are offering new and updated columns, book reviews, cartoons, custom-made art and collages, videos, a featured country or part of country section (in this issue, Part I of the already much e-buzzed about ‘Eclectic England’).”

The Mad Hatter’s Review also offers a biannual contest for written works inspired by the current image on their site.

The Mad Hatter’s submission period is open September 8 – 22, but as any good writer knows: READ BEFORE YOU SUBMIT!

Postal Hiked Up My…

I received this correspondence in response to my letter writing to express concern for the fate of the small press if postal rate hikes were to go into effect. Bottom line is: rates went up, and the “incentive” the postal service means to provide is a euphemism for “screw ’em.” Any publishers/small press folks out there want to respond – please write me and I’ll post commentary here – maybe I’m way off on this, and we’ll all be just fine…

(Oh, and my favorite part of this was undergoing gender reassignment…)

***

UNITED STATES
POSTAL SERVICE

June 12, 2007

Mr. Denise R. Hill
Editor
NewPages
Post Office Box 1580
Bay City, Ml 48706-1580

Dear Mr. Hill:

This responds to your recent letter to Postmaster General John E. Potter concerning the approved rate increase for Periodicals.

While most United Postal Service price changes and new mailing standards went into effect on May 14, 2007 (including the 41-cent price for First Class Mail stamps), the Postal Service Board of Governors delayed the implementation of new Periodical prices and mailing standards until July 15, 2007. The delay will give mailers and the Postal Service more time to prepare for the new pricing structure recommended by the Postal Regulatory Commission.

The United Postal Service has proposed revisions to the Periodical (magazine and newspaper) portion of its mailing standards that will accompany the new Periodical pricing that will go into effect on July 15, 2007. Periodical mailers will have new incentives to use efficient containers and bundles, and copalletization (publishers/printers merging bundles from separate publications or titles on the same pallet) becomes a permanent offering to encourage more publishers to combine mailings.

You may visit our website at www.usps.com for the proposed revised standards. This site also contains rate charts and other helpful information for mailers.

You can be assured that we will continue our efforts to keep our cost as low as possible while continuing to provide the American public with consistent, reliable, and economical mail service.

Sameatria Morton
Consumer Research Analyst
Reference: HQ31719362

***

Is it just me, or does “copalletization” sound smutty?

Writers Revealed

Join host Felicia Sullivan (editor and publisher of Small Spiral Notebook) each week in a new kind of Sunday Book Review. Participate in live discussions, book giveaways, and opportunities to get between the sheets with some of today’s most buzzworthy writers. Writers Revealed is not about name-dropping obscure authors and talking about the “process” of writing – this show is all about the hilarious and heartbreaking stories you can relate to. Archives available on podcast.

Coming up:
Sunday, July 8 – I Love You, Let’s Meet
@7PM EST / 4PM PST
Virginia Vitzthum

Sunday, July 15 – Ace of Spades
@7PM EST / 4PM PST
David Matthews

Human Rights Watch

“Human Rights Watch is the largest human rights organization based in the United States. Human Rights Watch researchers conduct fact-finding investigations into human rights abuses in all regions of the world.”

Recent Photo Essays:
Gay Rights Under Attack in Russia
Wal-Mart Denies Workers Basic Rights
Iran: Release Women’s Rights Advocates
Sri Lanka – Karuna Group Abducts Children for Combat
…and dozens more archived.

Recent HRW Publications available online, print, or as .pdf download:
Indiscriminate Fire: Palestinian Rocket Attacks on Israel and Israeli Artillery Shelling in the Gaza Strip
Scared Silent: Impunity for Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines
Unfinished Business: Serbia’s War Crimes Chamber
The Poisoned Chalice: A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper on the Decision of the Iraqi High Tribunal in the Dujail Case
Bottom of the Ladder
Exploitation and Abuse of Girl Domestic Workers in Guinea
…and many, many more.