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!
In the new dystopian world of the Grays, you do not live past your 16th birthday before changing into a creature that is no longer human. Scout is humanity’s last hope because if she dies, the world dies with her. Black is the second book in The Firebrand Trilogy. Get the first chapter of Black FREE on our website.
Deadline: March 31, 2022
The 16th Annual National Indie Excellence® Awards (NIEA) are open to all English language printed books available for sale, including small presses, mid-size independent publishers, university presses, and self-published authors. NIEA is proud to be a champion of self-publishing and small independent presses going the extra mile to produce books of excellence in every aspect.
Consequence Volume 13 is now for sale! Although this is the first issue since our founding editor passed, the volume is still chock-full of provocative and sublime works dealing with the human consequences and realities of war or geopolitical violence. Check the flyer to see the star-studded contributors’ list.
Deadline: February 1, 2022
Ann Kjellberg, judge. First prize $1,000, Second $500. Poems in English up to 60 lines, any subject, unpublished at submission. Enter via Submittable or mail c/o WB Yeats Society of NY, National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, NYC 10003. Enter name, contact information separately in Submittable entry form or separate card. Entry $15 for first, $12 each additional poem.
Fellowships for Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, Fiction: deadline January 10, 2022. Scholarships for Veterans and Under-represented Groups: deadline January 10, 2022. Register today for full conference with or without housing and with or without workshops! We fill up fast so secure your spot today!
Deadline: February 26, 2022
This fully independent journal is committed to featuring the work of emerging writers and artists alongside that of more established people, such as Jane Yolen, Marge Piercy, John Lurie, David Yow, and many other luminaries. This is a physical print publication designed to showcase contributor’s work beautifully. Let your writing and art shine in Meat for Tea.
This year’s co-winners were Judy Juanita of Oakland, CA. and Schuyler Dickson of Houlka, MS. Their respective books will come out in June. Don’t forget the deadline for the new contest is December 31. Please see our website for full submission details and to see our forthcoming books, also. Credit cards accepted for all book purchases.
Book Review by Katy Haas.
Zac Smith wants you to know that everything is totally fine. Or maybe it’s totally fucked. Or maybe it’s totally normal. Or maybe it’s somehow all three at once. Forthcoming Everything Is Totally Fine is a collection of flash fiction presented in three sections: “Everything is Totally Fucked, “Everything is Totally Fine,” and “Everything is Normal Life.” The stories are a little zany, a little bit off-kilter, which makes every page fun and unexpected. But there is one thing a reader can come to expect after reading a few of these little stories: things are maybe not okay, despite the narrators’ wishes to repeat how totally fine it all is.
The narrator of “Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts Frosted S’mores Pastries 2ct” wants to “explore new ways of feeling like shit” and ends up “feeling like shit in the wrong way, or feeling like the wrong kind of shit.” The man in “Giving Up Requires Agency in a Way that Feels Like It Shouldn’t by Virtue of Being the Act of Giving Up,” leaves the piece feeling “miserable in a deep, ominous way.” Even the titular octopus of “The Octopus” “felt unhappy and didn’t know what would make it happy. It reasoned possibly nothing could.”
Maybe it’s the shorter, colder days, or the approach of year three of a global pandemic, or reflections on society and climate change and politics and on and on and on that makes these hopeless stories so enjoyable and relatable despite the pitiful and off-the-wall circumstances. Maybe it’s the mix of seriousness and silliness that is everyday, normal life, or the vague notion that none of it matters, not really. Whatever it is, Zac Smith’s figured it out in this fun, fucked, fine collection.
Everything is Totally Fine by Zac Smith. Muumuu House, January 2022.
Next week is already Christmas. The week after the end of December. Where has 2021 gone? Get caught up with the submission opportunities and craft advancement opportunities featured on NewPages this past week to help keep end your 2021 strong and start your 2022 equally as strong.
Don’t forget our weekly NewPages Newsletter has officially moved to Substack. Subscribe today so you get our next newsletter delivered straight to your inbox on Monday with a first look at new opportunities.
Continue reading “Weekly Round-up of Calls & Contests :: December 17, 2021”
Deadline: January 15, 2021
The 2022 Rattle Chapbook Prize offers three winners $5,000 for a chapbook (up to 36 pages), plus 500 author copies, and distribution to Rattle’s 8,000+ subscribers. Entry fee of $25 includes a 1-year subscription to the magazine. For complete guidelines and to read past winners, visit our website: www.rattle.com/chapbooks.
Guest Post by Susan I. Weinstein.
“A female artist fights for success in a world dominated by men and expectations of conventional sexuality in The Looking Glass, novella by Carla Sarett.” —Propertius Press
Claire Charles, a member of 1930s New York high society, has been trained in painting in preparation for marriage, but shocks everyone by pursuing art as a career and her own inclinations. In Paris, fifteen years later, she collides with Leah, a mysterious artist who has been secretly painting for her husband. When Kay Charles, Claire’s 16-year year old niece, reluctantly models for a portrait, the lives of the three women become intertwined. Claire’s voice alternates with James, a handsome art dealer, and Kay, who claims a special legacy. From Manhattan to Paris, galleries to artist colonies, from the 1930s to the 1970s, The Looking Glass is a story about women, art, and memory.
I found this story particularly moving for what’s rarely shown: how women artists have lived and worked in two worlds, the public one under the male gaze and the private one where freedom from the male gaze and power structure is essential for creativity and love that’s meaningful.
The Looking Glass by Carla Sarett. Propertius Press, October 2021.
Susan I. Weinstein worked as an in-house publicity writer for publishers, before starting Susan Weinstein PR. She is the author of The Anarchist’s Girlfriend, Paradise Gardens, and Tales of the Mer Family Onyx; published in New Editions by Pelekinesis. Her play, ETHER: The Strange Afterlife of Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was workshopped 12/19 at I.R.T. Theater in NYC. notanotherbookreview.blogspot.com is her book review blog.
Extended Deadline: December 31, 2021
Take The Fruit, Flood The Desert: A Religious Trauma Anthology is accepting submissions. Did you question church doctrine and the way leaders/family members used it to lead you? How did the threat of eternal damnation affect you? Did you experience self-loathing or an inability to make decisions? What messages did the church give you about your relationship to your body, sex, and boundaries? How have you healed and reclaimed your identity? Send up to 3 pieces of any genre (Google or Word docs) up to 2,500 words total to via email, with the subject “submission, Take The Fruit.” www.amandaekwriter.com/take-the-fruit-flood-the-desert
In their December 14 newsletter, Anomaly announced additions to their editorial staff with new editors in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and translation.
Ashely Adams and Mizzy Hussain join as new Nonfiction Co-Editors while the Poetry editorial team welcomes Tricia Lopez, Tianna Bratcher, Lucy Zhou, and Eleonora Natilii. The Fiction team has been revamped with Talia Wright, Dino de Haas, Carson Faust, and jonah wu with Maxine Savage joining as their new Assistant Translation Editor.
Also joining Anomaly is Meca’Ayo Cole and Addie Tsai who become the new Features & Reviews co-editors. They will be taking the lead on ANMLY’s Blog. Lip Manegio and Gillian Joseph are also joining the team as Assistant Folio Editors. They will work alongside Zeb Wimsatt to curate each issue’s feature folios.
And with this announcement, they also want you to know they are currently open to submissions of translations, creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and comics through March 1, 2022. They have no-questions-asked fee waivers available for writers and artists in need. There is also no fee for Black and Indigenous contributors.
Don’t forget to swing by their website to read their latest issues and check out all of their offerings.
Deadline: January 15, 2022
Submit soon to our In-House Short Fiction & Single Poem Contests! On the short fiction side, we’re proud to announce that we’ve upped the award to $500 for the winning story and $150 for all runners-up! Winners and runners-up also receive publication, an interview, and an illustration that will appear alongside their story. All stories submitted are considered for publication by not one—but two editors, and response times are faster than usual. On the poetry side, all works are also considered for publication, with the runner-ups awarded an interview, publication, and $50 per poem. The winner of the In-House Poetry Contest will receive $400, publication, a featured interview, and a commissioned illustration to appear alongside their work.
Deadline: January 15, 2022
Remember Heron Tree is open to submissions through January 15, 2022. Submissions will be read, and decisions made on a rolling basis. Accepted poems will be published individually online (one poem a week beginning in February 2022) and then collected in Heron Tree volume 9, which will be available as a free downloadable ebook. This special issue will be devoted to found poetry. See our detailed submission guidelines at herontree.com/how/.
Deadline: Rolling
Atmosphere Press currently seeks book manuscripts from diverse voices. There’s no submission fee, and if your manuscript is selected, we’ll be the publisher you’ve always wanted: attentive, organized, on schedule, and professional. We use a model in which the author funds the publication of the book, but retains 100% rights, royalties, and artistic autonomy. This year Atmosphere authors have received featured reviews with Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist, and have even appeared on a giant billboard in Times Square. Submit your book manuscript at atmospherepress.com.
Sleet‘s Winter 2021-2022 Infrastructure Edition is out. Read about art, bears, snow, fatherhood and more as infrastructure! Featuring new work by poet/professor Deborah Keenan; Lucia Cherciu; Trevor Moffa; Christian Chase Garner; Daniel Edward Moore and Yun Wang. New sweetest fiction from Astrid Egger and Ryan Love. Irregulars by Howie Good; Raphael Kosek; Steven Ostrowski; Elizabeth Kerlikowske; Guillermo Rebollo Gil and Timothy Pilgrim. AND CNF from Kathryn Ganfield, Susan Petrie and Sara Dovre Wudali.
More info at the Sleet Magazine website.
RavensPerch this month: poetry by Joseph D. Milosch, Diana Raab, Barbara Schweitzer, Wally Swist, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Hoyt Rogers, and Margaret Krusinga. Fiction by Anne Hosansky. Nonfiction by Edgy Sack.
More info at The RavensPerch website.
In this issue: Suzi F. Garcia, Taylor Johnson, Tamara Panici, Bryan Byrdlong, John Lee Clark, Angelo Mao, Simon Shieh, Kelan Nee, Lilly Bechtel, Eleanor Stanford, Paul Hlava Ceballos, Aurielle Marie, Julian Randall, Diannely Antigua, Alexis V. Jackson, Ugochukwu Damian Okpara, Steven Espada Dawson, and Camille Carter. See “Respect the Mic” contributors at the Poetry website.
The Autumn 2021 issue is here featuring the winner of our 2021 Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction. Poetry by Y. S. Lee, Laurie D. Graham, Yuan Changming, Sebastien Wen, Allison LaSorda, Danielle Hubbard, Elisabeth Gill, Rozina Jessa, Sue J. Levon, and morej, as well as fiction by Jenny Ferguson, Sara Mang, and Cassidy McFadzean. Find more contributors at The Malahat Review website.
Featuring the Amon Liner Poetry Prize winner, “Pygmalion” by Megan Gower, an Editor’s Note from Terry L. Kennedy, and new work from Dan Albergotti, Talal Alyan, Ricky Aucoin, Joseph Bathanti, Ronda Piszk Broatch, Grant Clauser, Whitney Collins, Beth Dufford, Susan Grimm, Paul Guest, Julie Innis, Mary Elder Jacobsen, Justin Jannise, Julia Kenny, Mary Ann Larkin, Trapper Markelz, Joy Moore, Tomás Q. Morín, Elle Napolitano, and more. Find more contributors at The Greensboro Review website.
The new issue of Gemini Magazine is now online featuring the winners of our 12th annual Short Story Contest. Top honors and the $1,000 prize go to Kathleen Spivack of Watertown, Massachusetts for “Moths,” a high intensity story about a woman who fights with her husband over the future of their special-needs child. Second prize: “Banjo” by Earl LeClaire. See honorable mentions at the Gemini Magazine website.
In this newly redesigned issue of Creative Nonfiction we explore the roots of the genre and celebrate the spirit of rebellion that’s always infused it. And we consider where we are now at this moment that feels pivotal for so many. Plus, new essays about the limitations of identity labels; what we can (and can’t) learn from dinosaur tracks; how to reintegrate after two military tours overseas; the challenges of translation; and how to approach a sibling who’s taken a deep dive into conspiracy theories. Essays by Valerie Boyd, Margaret Kimball, Bret Lott, Marisa Manuel, Brenda Miller, Clinton Crockett Peters, and others.
More info at the Creative Nonfiction website.
Featuring new work from Ricardo Pau-Llosa, Jane O. Wayne, Tim Whitsel, the winners of our 2021 Curt Johnson Prose Awards, two beautiful art portfolios by Howard Skrill and Jean Wolff, and much more! Poetry by Erin Bealmear, Erica Bodwell, Dina Elenbogen, Rebecca Foust, Ellen Romano, Reyes Ramirez, and others. Fiction by Dinah Cox, Bill Gaythwaite, Barb Johnson, Sarah Starr Murphy, K.W. Oxnard, and Anamyn Turowski. Check out nonfiction contributors at the december website.
Featuring the 2021 Crazyhorse prize winners in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, Mary Clark, Jung Hae Chae, and Mark Wagenaar; a debut story from Nancy Nguyen; fiction from Nicole VanderLinden, Weston Cutter, and Timothy Mullaney; an essay from A.C. Zhang; and poems from Lisa Low, Michael Prior, Mary Kaiser, Jose Hernandez Diaz, and Mehrnoosh Torbatnejad, among others. Now on Crazyhorse website.
The Fall 2021 issue of Carve is out now and features the winners of the Raymond Carver Contest, guest judged by Leesa Cross-Smith.
First Place
“Habits” by Morgan Nicole Green
Second Place
“The Pit” by Chris Blexrud
Third Place
“Field Dressing” by Mariah Rigg
Editors’ Choice
“What Happened With the Librarian?” by Haley Hach
“Kingdom of the Shades” by Nina Ellis
You can learn more about each story by checking out the author interviews following each piece. Print and digital issues are available at Carve‘s website.
Lauren Taylor Grad’s work was featured in Woven Tale Press Volume XI Number 9. Jennifer Nelson, WTP feature writer interviewed Taylor Grad recently on the meaning and thought processes behind several of her works along with her pursuit of an MFA.
From using found items to create sculptures to utilizing her undergraduate work in biology to create paintings, Taylor Grad’s work is diverse. One of the most interesting pieces is Tethered which is comprised of used clothing made to create two concrete boulders and a connecting line between them. She also created a video art piece to accompany the sculpture about moving these boulders around a curving path.
Nelson: Why did you feel it was important to earn an MFA?
The decision to go to graduate school and earn my Masters in Fine Arts was not one that I took lightly. It is a huge investment, both in time and money, and I wanted to be sure that it was the right path for me to take before I made that leap. I personally really enjoy academia; I think that the amount of growth and nurturing that occurs in an individual throughout art school in such a short amount of time is transformative, and unlike anything that you can get elsewhere.
Taylor Grad also talked about taking time off after earning her undergraduate degree to try out being a living artist and other avenues before ultimately going back to earn her MFA so that she can also become an art instructor.
Read the full interview here and look at some of Taylor Grad’s amazing work.
In case you missed the news, our weekly NewPages Newsletter has officially moved to Substack. Don’t forget to subscribe today so you get our next newsletter delivered straight to your inbox on Monday and our monthly eLitPak delivered to you on Wednesday. If you missed out on the submission opportunities, new titles, and craft advancement opportunities featured on NewPages this week, you’re in luck. They are rounded up here for you.
Continue reading “Weekly Round-up of Calls & Contests :: December 10, 2021”
Deadline: January 31, 2022
Submissions are still being accepted for the 10th Saroyan Prize. The awards, co-sponsored by Stanford Libraries and the William Saroyan Foundation, are “intended to encourage new or emerging writers and honor the Saroyan legacy of originality, vitality, and stylistic innovation.” Two prizes of $5,000 each are given for works of fiction and nonfiction. Writers who have published four books or more are ineligible. Submit five copies of your work published between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2021, with a $50 entry fee by January 31, 2022. Visit our website for complete eligibility and submission details: library.stanford.edu/saroyan.
As a writer the wait to hear from a journal or press about the status of your submissions can be a long and tedious road where you are stuck in limbo. With their 2022 In-House Contest, Driftwood Press has decided to make some changes to alleviate this.
Instead of notifying writers once everything has been read and judged, they will be announcing results to writers as soon as the piece has been read and a decision made, whether a rejection or continuing on in the contest.
All submissions accepted will be initially given runner-up status. Then in April 2022, one of the runners-up will be awarded the Grand Prize.
The deadline to submit to the In-House Short Story Contest is January 15. There is a $12 fee. The chosen Grand Prize winner will receive $500, publication, and five copies of the issue in which their story appears. They will also have the opportunity to be interviewed about their work and the interview will be published alongside the winning story.
Runner-ups will be offered publication, an accompanying interview, $150, and one copy of the issue in which their story appears.
If you’re a fan of novellas, Volume 42 Number 3 of New England Review and the Summer & Fall 2021 issue of Alaska Quarterly Review have got you covered.
In Alaska Quarterly Review, Kristopher Jansma’s “Like a Bomb Went Off” opens the issue. It begins:
The Neighbor’s House Explodes
The neighbor’s house explodes at 5:05 p.m. Harriet is behind the family station wagon, vacuuming summer’s sand out of the trunk. There is an incredible noise, like something collapsing to the ground. She looks up to see a white cloud rising behind the fence. Warm air rushes by like bathwater. There is no fireball. “It was like a bomb went off,” she’ll soon say, for the first time, even though it is not like that at all.
New England Review has published “Past Perfect” by Alice Greenway. The novella starts with:
“Can you explain when we use was and when use had been?” Sayed Zubair asked. He sat cross-legged on a blanket distributed by Samaritan’s Purse. It was spread on the floor as a rug. His back was impressively straight. He was a neat trim man with a tidy moustache, his hair beginning to thin on top, and he held a notebook in his lap. Behind him, a small plastic fan wedged into a square window blew in welcome air. He was proud of the fan, as he had pirated the electricity, hooking wires into the overhead floodlights that lit the camp at night.
Everything starts the same, but it all ends differently. The First Line is a print literary magazine that is unaffiliated, unfunded, unassuming, and works hard to be inspiring. Each year they offer four writing prompts. All pieces submitted must start with these lines. Where they go from there is dependent on you.
Check out the first lines slated for 2022 & consider taking up the challenge and writing a story. And don’t forget to check out their past issues.
Spring:
“Rayna sat in front of the mirror removing her makeup and wondered who she would discover underneath.”
Due date: February 1, 2022
Summer:
“Thomas hadn’t expected to be alive when the town’s time capsule was opened.”
Due date: May 1, 2022
Fall:
“Lily unlocked the back door of the thrift store using a key that didn’t belong to her.”
Due date: August 1, 2022
Winter:
“When he died, their father had two requests.”
Due date: November 1, 2022
Deadline: December 31, 2021
Chestnut Review (“for stubborn artists”) invites submissions year-round of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art, and photography. We offer free submissions for poetry (3 poems), flash fiction (<1000 words), and art/photography (20 images); $5 submissions for fiction/nonfiction (<5k words), or 4-6 poems. Published artists receive $120. Notification in <30 days or submission fee refunded. We appreciate stories in every genre we publish. All issues free online which illustrates what we have liked, but we are always ready to be surprised by the new! Any submissions received after December 31 will be considered for the next issue. chestnutreview.com
Grab a copy of the November/December 2021 issue of Kenyon Review to check out the winners of the Short Nonfiction Contest.
Winner
“And We Inherit Everything” by Brigitte Leschhorn Arrocha
Runners-up
“Blue Whale Challenge” by Christian Butterfield
“Translating” by dm armstrong
The contest was judged by Roxane Gay, who writes of the winning essay, “[ . . . ] we are taken on a lyrical journey about grief, yes, but also the wounds of family and the myths of the people to whom we belong.” Grab a copy of the issue to read the winning essays, and see what Gay says about the runners-up.
Guest Post by Petra Mucnjak.
This novel begins with a young girl named Emily Benedict returning to the small town of Mullaby, where her mother had grown up and her grandfather still resides. Although her grandfather’s demeanor appears to be somewhat aloof, her grandfather welcomes Emily home, generously offering her the choice of picking one of his many empty spare rooms as her bedroom. Naturally, the girl chooses her mother’s former room and soon realizes that it possesses an extraordinary air to it. Then there is the issue of the mysterious lights which have the habit of appearing over the lake at night . . .
The Girl Who Chased The Moon is the first book I have read by Sarah Addison Allen and, expecting a syrupy family-reconciliation-romance novel, I was delightfully surprised upon encountering a humorous, warm, humane tale about family, friends, and how being haunted by the ghosts of the past doesn’t necessarily have to mean havoc. Miss Allen’s writing is very poetic, her words luring the reader into her small American town with no more or less than the charm of a siren. Sentences like “The air outside was tomato-sweet and hickory-smokey, all at once delicious and strange,” brought me into the center of this wonderful atmosphere, making my senses hum.
What’s new this month? Found fabrics, feather textiles, calligraphic lines, resonate poems about donkeys, and more. Work by Elias Andreopoulos, G.D. Brown, Corrine Demas, Michal Gavish, Alia Georges, Deborah Kruger, Marianna Marlowe, and more. Find a full list of contributors at The Woven Tale Press website.
Issue 28 of Superstition Review which features art by Jeff Rivers. Interview Editor Anna Narin interviews Joyce Carol Oates. Fiction by Melissa Llanes Brownlee, nonfiction by Amanda Gaines, and poetry by Gleen Shaheen.
More info at the Superstition Review website.
This month’s featured selection: “Jewish American Women Poets” by Sally Bliumis-Dunn featuring Jennifer Barber, Jessica Greenbaum, Judy Katz and Nomi Stone. In nonfiction: “All These Red and Yellow Things: Short Papers on Art by Lesle Lewis.” Jeri Theriault reviews Devon Walker-Figueroa’s Philomath. See a selection of this month’s poets at the Plume website.
The December issue is now online featuring Dan Brook, Gavan Duffy, Edilson A. Ferreira, Nels Hanson, Amy Holman, Tom Kelly, Deborah Kennedy, Charles Rammelkamp, Michael Salcman, Kerrin P. Sharpe, Andrew Sheilds, J. R. Solonche, Marjory Woodfield. Reviews of Michael Salcman’s Shades and Graces and Judith Wilson’s Fleet. Learn more about this issue’s reviews at The Lake website.
In this issue, Barrett Bowlin chronicles the pain of parenthood through a child’s “Milk Teeth.” Julia Halprin Jackson writes about the relationships we have with our bodies, and the decisions that our cells sometimes make without us in “Scouting.” And Elijah Burrell merges his love and knowledge of music with the mysterious longings of friendship in three poems beginning with “Even the Best Records Have Gaps Between the Tracks.” Learn about this issue’s images at the Cutleaf website.
This issue fatures work by Janice N. Harrington, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Cindy Juyoung Ok, Danny Thiemann, and Zack Finch. Additional fiction by Siân Griffiths, Anu Kandikuppa, and Brendan Williams-Childs; nonfiction by Lauren Haldeman and Megan Baxter; and poetry by Diana Khoi Nguyen, Stella Wong, April Freely, Phillip West, Joshua Bennett, Bryce Emley, Chee Brossy, Ellen Samuels, Stacy Gnall, Dorothy Chan, and more. See a full list of contributors at the Colorado Review website.
The Arts & Letters Fall Issue is out! This issue features our annual prize winners, as well as fiction by E. A. Bagby, Emma Wunsch, and Brett Armes; flash fiction by Dog Cavanaugh and Andrew Kane; poetry by Michael Waters, Joshua Garcia, Anne Barngrover, Nicholas Samaras, Yerra Sugarman, Elisabeth Murawski, Arthur Vogelsang, and Kay Cosgrove; and creative nonfiction by Sonja Livingston and Kevin Callaway.
More info at the Arts & Letters website.
Bellevue Literary Review is celebrating 20 years of publication with Issue 41, the 20th Anniversary Issue! Founding Editor Danielle Ofri opens the issue with a foreword that details the journal’s beginnings.
“Pulling together an inaugural issue during the summer of 2001 was both heady and nerve-wracking, as we trod uncharted territory in everything from poetic sensibility and creative-nonfiction definition to font size and paper weight. We packed the first issue off to press in the first week of September and then the attacks of 9/11 occurred. Everything ground to a halt in New York City, logistically and emotionally. Not only could we not get our print run delivered, but we could hardly muster the spirit to find joy in any accomplishment. In the heavy pall of grief, everything else seemed inconsequential.”
Ofri goes on to recount how they moved forward and what happened in the wake of the tragedy of 9/11. In the following pages, readers can check out a 20th Anniversary Editorial Roundtable where “editors past and present, plus our founding publisher, [ . . . ] offer reflections on the BLR‘s founding and its evolution over two decades of publishing.” Check out the issue here.
The Winter 2021 issue of Rattle features the Rattle Poetry Prize winner and finalists.
Winner
“Encephalon” by Ann Giard-Chase
Finalists
“After My Teenager Tries to Kill Herself . . .” by Elizabeth Johnston Ambrose
“This Is How I Make My Money” by Heather Bell
“Do You Have Children?” by Susan Browne
“Follow Me” by Rayon Lennon
“Black Boys as Fireflies” by Dayna Hodge Lynch
“White Privilege Skydives with Black Guy in Appalachia” by Mary Meadows
“The Internet of Things” by Erin Murphy
“Exodus: Gilliam Coal Camp, West Virginia, 1949” by L. Renée
“Purgatorio” by Zella Rivas
“My Father Transformed by Dying” by Richard Westheimer
Subscribers to Rattle can vote for their favorite out of the finalists to determine the winner of the $5,000 Readers’ Choice Award. The voting deadline is February 1.
Gift yourself or someone special Creative Nonfiction goodies this holiday season. Until Friday, December 12, the literary journal is offering discounts on magazines, subscriptions, books, and merch.
Get books for as low as $8, back issues of Creative Nonfiction for $2.50 each, back issues of True Story for $1, 33% off one-year subscriptions, and up to 33% off merch.
Show off your love of CNF on your bookshelves or in your wardrobe and learn more about this limited time sale here.
Happy December! The year is nearly over with. Hopefully you have been able to keep up with your writing and submission goals. Take a look at the submission and craft advancement opportunities featured on NewPages this past week to help. Newsletter subscribers get an early peek, so subscribe today!
Continue reading “Weekly Round-up of Calls & Contests :: December 3, 2021”
The MFA in Creative Writing program at George Mason University combines acclaimed faculty with a welcoming community to be the place where you want to create literary art. With the new Watershed Lit: Center for Literary Engagement and Publishing Practice, we are here to develop your artistic and professional careers. Students can receive funding as Graduate Teaching Assistants or Graduate Professional Assistants. Be part of the rich cultural life at Mason, in Northern Virginia, and throughout the Washington, D.C., region. Check out a recording of our recent Online Open House! Just email [email protected] to request access.
Deadline: Rolling
Storm Cellar seeks new and amazing writing and art for its spring issue! We are a journal of safety and danger, in many senses, in print and ebook formats since 2011. Send secrets, codes, adventures, mad experiments, and wild things. Black, Indigenous, POC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, neurodivergent, fat, border-straddling, poor, and other marginalized authors encouraged, bonus points for a Midwest connection. Now paying; limited no-fee submissions available each month. Full guidelines and f.a.q. at stormcellar.org/submit and submit at Submittable.
Guest Post by Antonio Addessi.
In Anatomy of Want, Lee takes us deep into the intimacy between lovers, the memories they create, hold on to and try to forget but can’t. Through his talent for noticing the small details of everyday life, he arouses all of the senses, often on the same line or stanza.
In poems like “Compliments to the Cook” and “La Cocina,” Lee wafts the scents of fragrant food into our noses and holds up the spoon to our mouths to taste the poems coming off the pages. The longing to love and be loved is stitched tightly into each line as we’re carried through cityscapes with lively streets and dark bedrooms with empty beds all reminding us of lovers lost.
Anatomy of Want is an enticing and heartfelt ode to what it means to give part of yourself to the people you allow close to you. In it we see ourselves as the speaker, the holder of secrets and the teller of truths sometimes hard to swallow. The nostalgia exudes itself onto every page—evoked by memories of sorrow and loss, of growing up too fast and living in an often foreign feeling state that is strangely familiar. Its Americana places us deep in the heart of Manhattan’s subway systems and the long aisles of grocery stores filled with people that infinitely stay strangers. This book is definitely on the edge of what poetry is going to look and feel like for years to come. It is one that deserves to be read and reread for it’s intimate look at what being human truly is.
Anatomy of Want by Daniel W. K. Lee. Rebel Satori Press, 2019.
Reviewer bio: Antonio Addessi is a poet and writer living in New York City. He received his MFA from Columbia University (’20) and his debut book of poetry Sleeptalking, published by Rebel Satori Press, comes out April 2022.
Deadline: January 31, 2022
Ethos Literacy—a nonprofit literacy program—announces its 3rd Annual Short Short Story Contest. 100-word limit on one of these topics: chewing gum, horror movies, skyscrapers, or tubas. Cash prizes: Best in Contest: $250; Best Youth Prize (14 years or younger): $100; 4 Best of Category: $100; People’s Choice $100. Publication in a digital magazine + webcast of winners reading their stories. Submission fee: $10. Proceeds support literacy programs for teens and adults.