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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!

Vulnerability Is Strength

Guest Post by Joshua Lindenbaum

When one thinks of courage, they usually think about someone going into a burning building to save a person’s life; however, Dr. Brené Brown provides a unique, much-needed lens in which to view bravery in a broader sense in her book Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead. The writing is a beautiful concert of personal anecdotes alongside empirically-based research. Furthermore, Dr. Brown reveals not-so-flattering details about herself, and therefore lives the practices in which she details in her book. It is a lovely trident of logos, pathos, and ethos designed to pierce into the stubbornness of convention and tradition, especially amongst men who have been taught to not show emotions.

This incredibly organized text uproots widely-held beliefs, such as “vulnerability is weakness.” On the contrary, in her previous book The Gifts of Imperfection, Dr. Brown declares, “vulnerability is our most accurate measurement of courage.” She defines ” . . .  vulnerability as uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure,” which comprises everyday life, especially during this pandemic. That’s what I think many readers will appreciate about her work: Brown manages to quantify concepts like vulnerability, shame, and even joy. She includes accounts from her own qualitative research alongside a panoply of reliable sources. In addition to providing background, there are also practical steps in, for example, fostering trust. For instance, there’s a section on “the marble jar,” a metaphor used to help us in assessing whether an individual is trustworthy or not based upon specific criteria. This approach allows one the ability to express themselves while also creating boundaries against those that don’t deserve our trust.

I know what you’re thinking: this sounds like a corny self-help book. You are wrong. It is a humanity book. Step into its pages!

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown. Avery/Penguin Random House, April 2015.

Reviewer bio: Joshua Lindenbaum’s poetry has appeared in Drunk Monkeys, Breadcrumbs, Yes Poetry, The Bangalore Review, Five:2:One, 3Elements Review, Typishly, and elsewhere.

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

It’s Always the Person You Least Expect

Guest Post by Caroline V.D.

As a first timer being introduced into the world of Rizzoli and Isles’s grisly world, I found myself left exposed to the intensity and intricately woven plot in Tess Gerritsen’s addition.

In I Know a Secret, we are pushed straight into the unfortunate murder of Cassandra Coyle, an indie filmmaker and are soon greeted with Rizzoli and Isles. For those like me who are meeting the two strong women quite late into the series, Gerritsen does a wonderful job in establishing familiarity and understanding of their characters as the murder investigation goes on. The characters throughout the book all contribute to the tension and suspense in deducing the culprit’s motives and next actions, as the number of bodies pile up and pasts uncovered. There are no moments that are wasted and no conversations that do not provide a twist to the story, as Coyle’s colleague says “Horror 101 . . . it’s always the person you least expect.”

The symbolism and messages throughout the story are consistent and well placed by Tess Gerritsen who had impressively created an impression of a web laid out by a culprit who could not be traced yet by the end of the book; the web could be followed into a single string as the culprit’s motives are laid out to the reader. It is an amazing feat done by Gerritsen who I commend for roping in another reader into her series!

I Know a Secret: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel by Tess Gerritsen. Penguin Random House, April 2018.

Reviewer bio: Hey all, it’s Caroline, and I am an aspiring book reviewer. Currently I’m working on a personal project where you’ll be seeing me and a lot more books in the future. Check it out at: https://theladywithinkstainedhair.tumblr.com/.

Buy this book at our affiliate Bookshop.org.

Sponsor Spotlight :: Mills College Flex Res MFA in Creative Writing

Mills College logoMills College is now offering a new kind of MFA in creative writing that enables its students to earn a degree in poetry, fiction, or nonfiction in their own way.

Along with offering more traditional classroom-based workshops and craft classes, Mills College also offers the ability to complete the degree by working one-on-one with a faculty mentor. This allows students to be on campus as much or as little as they desire. They are also expanding the amount of online offerings available during summer and January terms.

The program offers concentrations in education, literary arts administration, PhD preparation, and young adult fiction. Students can also create their own unique concentration with electives in podcasting, performance, and pedagogy. They offer a literary editing and production course that gives students hands on experience in editing their annual graduate journal 580 Split.

Stop by their listing on NewPages to learn more about their program.

Call :: The CHILLFILTR Review Seeks Essays, Poems, & Short Stories

Submissions accepted year-round.
The CHILLFILTR Review strives to bring the best new art to a worldwide audience by leveraging best-in-class technology to create a seamless and immersive web experience. We welcome submissions from all walks of life, and all perspectives. We are committed to inclusivity and kindly welcome work from marginalized voices. All featured works will receive an honorarium of $20 per 1,000 words and will be published online at The CHILLFILTR Review as well as on our Apple News Channel. Readers can vote for their favorites, and year-end “Best Of” winners will receive an additional $100 cash prize. Recent works published include “Washrooms” by Cat Hubka, “Holy Mile at Walsingham” by Sarah Law, and “An Outrageous Proposal” by Tim Tomlinson.

Terrain.org – July 2020

New in July on Terrain.org, find poety by Kim Parko, Anna B. Sutton, Dean Rader, and Andrea Cohen; nonfiction by Meg Mills-Novoa, Jason BreMiller, Samantha Scibelli, and Lucy Bryan; and fiction by Susan M. Gaines. Plus, Matthew Cooperman reviews Joshua McKinney’s Small Sillion.

Southern Humanities Review – 53.2

In this issue find nonfiction by Charlotte Taylor Fryar and A. Molotkov; fiction by Kim Bradley, Judith Dancoff, Janis Hubschman, Jeff McLaughlin, and Ann Russell; and poetry by Joseph Bathanti, James Ciano, Bryce Lillmars, Esther Lin, Derek Mong, Christina Olson, Lee Peterson, L. Renée, Kristin Robertson, Mara Adamitz Scrupe, Wesley Sexton, and Annie Wodford. Find more info at the Southern Humanities Review website.

Call :: The Blue Mountain Review Strives to Represent Life through Stories

The Blue Mountain Review flierSubmissions accepted year-round.
The Blue Mountain Review launched from Athens, Georgia in 2015 with the mantra, “We’re all south of somewhere.” As a journal of culture the BMR strives to represent life through its stories. Stories are vital to our survival. Songs save the soul. Our goal is to preserve and promote lives told well through prose, poetry, music, and the visual arts. Our editors read year-round with an eye out for work with homespun and international appeal. Issue 18 of BMR features poetry by Paul Lomax, Charleene Hurtubise, and Jack Stewart; fiction by Sofia Romero, Guinotte Wise, and Michael Hardin; an essay by Oisin Breen; interviews with Christopher Moore, Tyree Day, Blood Orange Review, and Tim Gautreaux; plus special features. www.southerncollectiveexperience.com/submission-guidelines/

Bellevue Literary Review – No 38

Issue 38 of the Bellevue Literary Review (BLR) came together just as NYC and Bellevue Hospital were in the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic. Some of the BLR staff were alternating N95 masks with red pens, balancing patient-care with literary work. But the issue made it to the presses and is packed with good reads. It features the winners of the 2020 BLR Literary Prizes. The poems, essays, and stories in this issue travel from China to Texas to Tehran, from small town to big city, from World War I-era to the present. Stay tuned for Issue 39, coming in the fall, whose theme is “Reading the Body.” Read more at the Bellevue Literary Review website.

Eastern Michigan University Alumni wins the Sawtooth Prize

Eastern Michigan University Graduate Program in Creative Writing websiteThe creative writing program at Eastern Michigan University is distinguished as one of the only interdisciplinary programs for creative writing in the country. They provide a rich space for exploring relationships between poetry and poetics, experimental prose, cultural translation, community service, pedagogy and contemporary arts. Their goal is to nourish the development of rigorous and imaginatively engaged writing.

Rosie Stockton, who graduated from their MA program in 2017 is currently pursuing their PhD at the University of California, Los Angeles. Rosie has become the recent winner of the Sawtooth Prize. Their book Permanent Volta will be published soon by Nightboat Books.

Christina-Marie Sears, current blog writer/admin staffer for EMU’s online journal BathHouse sat down with Stockton to discuss their work, current practice, and time at Eastern Michigan University.

One of my daily rituals is- I get up and I journal. It’s not narrative. Journaling for me is a stream-of -consciousness and image-focused practice. I have a really active dream life and I just wake up and write before I even look at my phone, but of course on some days that doesn’t always work.

Check out the full interview here.

Call :: Poetica Magazine Poetry Edition Now Open to Submissions

Poetica Magazine is looking for works centered on the Jewish experience—open to all writers, of any affiliation, or any level of writing. All accepted works will be published on the website with author’s BIO and photo. This is an open edition until we have enough material to release a 120 page print edition. No fee to submit. Visit the website to submit via SUBMITTABLE form: www.PoeticaMagazine.com.

Take a Walk “In the Woods” with Emily Steinberg

Magazine Review by Katy Haas

Emily Steinberg takes a walk “In the Woods” with her dog, Gus, in her visual narrative found in the Midsummer 2020 issue of Cleaver. During her walk, she focuses on Gus and her surroundings, reflecting on the way the real world and its real problems seem far away. In the woods, “All human makings disappear . . .” and there is only the sounds of the wind in the trees and the creek and Gus’s paws around her. This moment doesn’t last forever, though. She has to cross the threshold back into the real world where everything “comes sweeping back. Crowding my brain. Not letting me breathe.” But for a moment there is peace.

This short visual narrative gives readers a moment of peace as well as we soak in the quiet moment of respite along with Steinberg. Each panel features only Gus, a fluffy scribble of a dog padding through the woods, a dog always good comfort when it’s needed. The piece works as a good reminder to take a moment to find calm and quiet in the midst of the tragedies and turmoil swirling around us. By taking these moments, we’re able to recharge as we head back into the real world to face everything once more.

Creative Nonfiction Now Enrolling for Fall Online Classes

Creative Nonfiction Fall 2019 coverThat’s right! Literary magazine Creative Nonfiction‘s Fall 2020 online writing courses are open to enrollment. They offer courses for writers of all levels from those just starting out to the more advanced. All courses will begin on September 7. If you sign up by August 15, you will save $50. If you have a buddy you want to do these courses with, you could save an additional $25.

Courses include a Creative Nonfiction Boot Camp, Introduction to Audio Podcasting & Storytelling, Magazine Writing, The Building Blocks of the Personal Essay, Writing for Change: The Study & Craft of Environmental Writing, Advanced Memoir: From First Sentence to Resolution, Advanced Personal Essay: Finding a Way Through, and Advanced Science Writing.

Learn more about all their courses and how to sign up at their website.

Seeing Dead People

Magazine Review by Katy Haas

Say, “I see dead people,” to just about anyone, and they’ll likely be able to name the movie it came from. But unlike Haley Joel Osment’s character in The Sixth Sense, attempting to help the dead find peace, Jasmine, the narrator in Catherine Stansfield’s “I See Dead People and Other Gags” uses the concept to help herself.

Jasmine tells people she can speak to their dead loved ones, and uses social media to glean information that she later uses in her sessions. Having lost her own mother at a young age and never really speaking about it again gives her a detachment from death and the sentimental feelings surrounding it, so she profits off other people’s pain and grief. However, at the end of the story, she’s hit with a surprise that may make her change her mind about her career path.

I would’ve enjoyed reading more about Jasmine and her work, getting to know more about her clients and her grandmother who casts a shadow over her mother’s death. Stansfield’s writing style is matter of fact and straight forward, fitting for Jasmine’s no-nonsense character. But what we are given is a fun read, a peak behind the medium’s curtain.

Moran Remembers

Magazine Review by Katy Haas

March and the beginning of lockdowns in the United States somehow seems like it was years ago and just days ago. Time continues to slip by in strange ways. Emma Moran touches upon this in her nonfiction piece “What I Will Say” found in the Summer 2020 issue of Sky Island Journal: “Times had changed.  The quality of time had changed.  Hours extended and compressed.  Two hours talking to your sister passed in ten minutes.  Ten minutes extended into days, as you listened to the clock counting out the seconds you couldn’t sleep through.”

In this piece, she reflects on her dad’s instruction to “Remember this. One day your grandchildren will ask what it was like, living through this. Remember it all, so you can tell them.” In the following four paragraphs she explains the way life changed during the first few months of the pandemic, and she does so poetically and eloquently: “People built fortresses out of plans.  I will write those letters, I will train the dog, I will learn to speak French, I will learn to knit, I will learn, I will learn.  We would try to learn.”

Time continues to pass and the push to return to the normal life we used to know is insistent, but Moran remembers and gives a reminder of what we did for others and how we “learned; how we changed” during those first few weeks and months, writing with a thoughtful and sympathetic voice.

14th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards Winners Announced

A leader and veteran of publishing award contests, The National Indie Excellence® Awards are open to recent English language books in print from self and independent publishers. These awards are judged by experts from various book industry professions including publishers, writers, editors, and designers. Winners and finalists are determined by the basis of superior written matter coupled with excellent presentation.

Screenshot of the 14th annual National Indie Excellence AwardsThey have recently announced the finalists and winners from their 14th annual contest. Winners include Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy edited by Nicole Seitz and Jonathan Haupt (University of Georgia Press); Boy on the Bridge: The Story of John Shalikashvili’s American Success by Andrew Marble (University Press of Kentucky); The Big Book of Chakras and Chakra Healing: How to Unlock Your Seven Energy Centers for Healing, Happiness, and Transformation by Susan Shumsky (Weiser); Trove: A Woman’s Search for Truth and Buried Treasure by Sandra A. Miller (Brown Paper Press); Great River City: How The Mississippi Shaped St. Louis by Andrew Wanko (Missouri Historical Society Press); and Fabulous Beast: Poems by Sarah Kain Gutowski (Texas Review Press).

Check out the full list of winners here.

Permission to Be Creative Granted

Guest Post by Jaimie Hanson

Creativity. Merriam-Webster defines creativity as “the ability to create.” In Called to Be Creative, author Mary Potter Kenyon not only writes about creativity, what it is, what it means, how it affects and benefits us mentally, physically, emotionally, and even spiritually, but she does so by graciously giving the reader a glimpse into her own life throughout the book. This book will grant the permission we often feel we need to be a little (or a lot) creative, and you will be inspired and encouraged, for yourself, and I dare say for others in your circle, as you read through the pages. The chapters, each with their own creative focus, are supported by research and resources throughout the book and the easy-to-do exercises at the end of each chapter allow for the very guidance and reference we seek. Write in the margins, underline the ah-ha moments that speak to you, and get your creative self active.

Called to Be Creative, whether read individually or with a group (yes, even a Zoom group), belongs in everyone’s hands. It’s a book club book, a girlfriends group book, a book for those who are single or married, it’s even a book for guys (and dare I say it would be a fun challenge to create a space and opportunity for that to happen!). It’s perfect for families, for creative minds and those who don’t see themselves that way. A teaching tool for young moms, homeschool moms, and moms looking for a way to cure summer boredom. Add this book to your reading list, discover or uncover the creativity within you, embrace the creative opportunities, and be ready to be amazed as you laugh and smile, enjoying the creative moments within your everyday journey.

Called to be Creative by Mary Potter Kenyon. Workman, August 2020.

Reviewer bio: Jaimie Hanson lives in the Midwest with her family. She enjoys writing and photography. You can find her sharing both on her blog at jelizabethhanson.com.

A Woman’s Experience in the Gold Rush

Guest Post by Christina Francine

Is making a living worth risking life and reputation? For Au Toy during the American Gold Rush, it was. There isn’t another way. When her abusive husband dies from consumption on the journey by ship from China in 1849, Au is left with her freedom, but without a way to support herself.

The price women pay for independence and safety historically is high. Many women used the only resource they had – their body. For Au Toy, her choices are even more limited due to her bound feet. Not wanting to subject herself to sex work, Au opens a “Lookee shop” instead. The San Francisco bay held unspeakable danger though, especially when Au is “fragile” and “dainty,” twenty years-old, and “varmints” and “ruffians” fill the streets. Her loyal servant, Chen, is big and strong, yet the two need safer accommodations. Mining camps spring up and more men than women roam the area. Au has to be careful with who she allows inside her shanty to look at, but not touch her naked body. When one of her observing customers is a policeman from New York assigned to protect the area, he unnerves her. Ever careful, she works to not encourage him or any of her clients. And yet, John Clark’s gentle nature and soft voice give her pause. He tells her “You are so very lovely, Mrs. Toy. Your skin is like alabaster, your hair like spun silk.” He agrees to pass by regularly on his round for her safety. John Clark warms Au and yet she’s not sure exposing her heart is a good idea. She may never recover.

Grossenbacher’s Madam in Silk is a suspenseful romance to be sure, but also a treat for those longing to travel through history. She captures the essence of people, time-period, setting, and historical events perfectly. Her dedicated research is obvious. She also captures the dangers and stigma women face in order to make a living no matter the time in history. Though a historical account, the situation unfortunately exists present day. Grossenbacher reminds readers of humankind’s ability for cruelty and evil, but also for kindness and love. A heartwarming novel intricately plotted with historical data. A valuable exploration too of how women, especially foreign women, fit into the larger scheme of Gold-Rush history.

Madam in Silk by Gini Grossenbacher. Jgks Press, July 2019.

Reviewer bio: Christina Francine is an enthusiastic author for all ages. She is the author of Special Memory (picture book) and the Mr. Inker series (leveled readers). Journal of Literary Innovation published her analysis on students’ writing across the nation Spring 2016. She believes individual learning style may solve world problems.

A Treat for Duras Fans

Guest Post by M.G. Noles

Published in English in 1993, Practicalities is a rare peek inside the mind of the elusive French author, Marguerite Duras. As the author of some of the greatest French novels of the twentieth century (The Lover, Hiroshima, Mon Amour), Duras’ work has a spellbinding effect on the reader. With a hypnotic prose style unlike any other, she is at once strikingly realistic and dreamily meditative. As a lifelong fan of Duras, I was trepidatious about what to expect from this lesser known work.

But now, after having spent the day reading Practicalities, I have to say that it is stunning! The book is in fact a brief series of transcribed discussions the author had with interviewer Jerome Beaujour, and these discussions were compiled into the present book and translated by Barbara Bray.

In free-form, avant-garde style, Duras discusses everything from her love affair with alcohol to her life in French Indochina. She speaks about her approach to writing and her hatred for being often misinterpreted by critics and “fans.” She talks brilliantly about everything from surviving the war to the details of housekeeping.

Practicalities is a real treat for Duras fans and for anyone who wants an incisive mind’s perspective on the art of writing.

Practicalities by Marguerite Duras. Grove Atlantic, August 1992.

Reviewer bio: M.G. Noles is a freelance writer and history buff.

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

Call :: The American Journal of Poetry Volume 10 Open to Submissions

The American Journal of Poetry skull logoDeadline: Rolling
Volume 9 is now available to read online. Now reading for Volume Ten, the Winter/Spring 2021 issue. Please visit the site read previous volumes filled with poems from poets the world over, from the first-published to the most acclaimed in literature. A unique voice is highly prized. Be bold, uncensored, take risks. Their hallmark is “STRONG Rx MEDICINE.” They are the home of the long poem! No restrictions as to subject matter, style, or length. Published biannually online. Submissions accepted through their online submission manager, Submittable; a submission fee is charged. theamericanjournalofpoetry.com

NewPages Book Stand – July 2020

This month’s Book Stand is now up at our website. We have five new featured titles, and plenty of new and forthcoming books to add to your to-read list.

The stories in Ancestry by Eileen O’Leary champion those who are tenacious in the face of life’s surprises.

Even As We Breathe by Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle follows nineteen-year-old Cowney Sequoyah as he navigates difficult social, cultural, and ethnic divides.

Far Villages: Welcome Essays for New and Beginner Poets is an anthology edited by Abayomi Animashaun and brings a number of established and emerging poets together to welcome new and beginner poets into the art and craft of poetry.

Deborah Jang’s Float True carries story and emotion via reflections on an immigrant family, history, metaphysical musings, and earthly perplexities.

The poems in T.R. Hummer’s In These States are haunted by precise and troubling questions: what, exactly is the condition of the body politic, and how does that condition affect us, both in large and small ways, in abstract and concrete symptoms, in dailiness and in eras?

You can learn more about each of these New & Noteworthy books at our website and find them at our our affiliate Bookshop.org. You can see how to place your book in our New & Noteworthy section here: https://npofficespace.com/classified-advertising/new-title-issue-ad-reservation/.

Contest :: 2022 Miller Williams Poetry Prize Deadline in 2 Months

Don’t forget the deadline to be considered for the 2022 Miller Williams Poetry Prize deadline is November 30. Every year, the University of Arkansas Press accepts submissions for the Miller Williams Poetry Series and from the books selected awards the $5,000 Miller Williams Poetry Prize in the following summer. For almost a quarter century the press has made this series the cornerstone of its work as a publisher of some of the country’s best poetry. The series is edited by Patricia Smith. For more information visit uapress.com.

Comic & Disturbing

Guest Post by Lynn Levin

Poet and writer Chris Bullard is blessed, or maybe tormented, with a brilliant and surrealistic muse. In his new chapbook Continued, Bullard graces us with a comedy of lost souls and a range of humorously morbid imaginings.

The poet delivers his meditations and perturbations in a range of quirky and hybridized forms perfectly paired to the content. The prose poem “Cartoon” satirizes a New Yorker-type cartoon of a person stranded on a desert island. And if being shipwrecked were not bad enough, the cartoonist draws himself a hole and plummets through it into the sea. In the flash fiction piece “Miracle,” a man runs over a herd of migrating abalones as he drives to a job interview. He hides this awful secret from his wife who is sympathetic to the mollusks and later turns into an abalone himself, much to his delight. Bullard’s humor is so desperate that it becomes hilarious. I laughed aloud at his crossword puzzle poem “Down,” the word “down” evoking both the direction of the crossword clues and the speaker’s mood. Sample clues include “4. A slipping away of consciousness” and “9. The phenomenon of chaos.”

The list form is one of Bullard’s favorites. “More Prompts for the Writer” is a send-up of workshop exercises, and each evokes the tormented mindset of the instructor. Number 13 invites the writers to “Imagine a car, a ship, a flying saucer, anything for chrissakes, taking you away from here forever.” Some of the pieces in Continued are more morbid, some more hilariously absurd. I often found myself laughing aloud at the author’s deconstructions of normalcy and the self. I could go on tantalizing you with snippets of Bullard’s work, but I think you should explore these comic and disturbing poems for yourself.

Continued by Chris Bullard. Grey Book Press, July 2020.

Reviewer bio: Lynn Levin’s most recent book is the poetry collection The Minor Virtues (Ragged Sky, 2020).

Call :: Blueline Open to Work Focused on Nature

Add November 30 to your deadline reminders! BLUELINE: A Literary Magazine Dedicated to the Spirit of the Adirondacks seeks poems, stories, and essays about the Adirondacks and regions similar in geography and spirit, focusing on nature’s shaping influence. Submissions window open until November 30. Decisions mid-February. Payment in copies. Simultaneous submissions accepted if identified as such. Please notify if your submission is placed elsewhere. Electronic submissions encouraged, as Word files, to [email protected]. Please identify the genre in the subject line. Further information at bluelineadkmagazine.org.

Sponsor Spotlight :: The Society of Classical Poets Journal

The Society of Classical Poets Journal Vol. VIII cover

The Society of Classical Poets, a non-profit organization formed in 2012, publishes an annual literary magazine called The Society of Classical Poets Journal. They are dedicated to the continuation of Beauty, Goodness, Truth, and excellent poetry. They believe good, new poetry cherishes and builds on the perennial techniques like meter and rhyme as such poetry carries a message and is infused with the profound insights and character of the poet.

The latest issue of the journal contains more than 300 pages of work by James A. Tweedie, Adam Sedia, Joe Tessitore, Leo Zoutewelle, Theresa Rodriguez, Peter Hartley, C.B. Anderson, Randal A. Burd, Jr., T.M. Moore, Martin Rizley, David Watt, Joseph Charles MacKenzie, Gleb Zavlanov, Michael Curtis, Joseph S. Salemi, Martin Hill Ortiz, Sally Cook, Daniel Galef, Susan Jarvis Bryant, Ron L. Hodges, and many more.

They also post essays and poems online as well has hosting poetry contests and offering a forum for writers to workshop their poems. They are open to submissions year-round. Stop by their listing on NewPages to learn more.

Call :: Fiction Southeast Seeks Articles on Writing Year-round

Don’t forget that online literary magazine Fiction Southeast seeks articles about writing, interviews, and essays from MFA students as well as emerging and established writers year-round. There is no fee to submit to this category. Check out past features for a taste of what they look for. fictionsoutheast.com

Revisiting Childhood Favorites

Guest Post by Chang Shih Yen

Lockdown gives you more free time to reread classics and revisit things you love as a child. The Little Prince is a book by French writer and aviator, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was originally written in French and first published in 1943. Since then, it has been translated into hundreds of languages and has sold many millions of copies.

In The Little Prince, the narrator is a pilot who has crash landed in the Sahara Desert. In the middle of the desert, the pilot meets a little prince who comes from a different planet. The little prince has decided to travel and visit different planets, including Earth. The little prince asks the pilot many questions about the world. In this book, readers meet many characters like the little prince, his rose, his lamb in a box, and the fox. The book is also illustrated with charming illustrations by the author.

The Little Prince may be a children’s book, but it should be recommended reading for all ages. This book reveals the truths about life and the essential secret to understanding life. This book can be read at any stage in life, and each time that you read it, you will discover new truths and connect with your inner child.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Reynal & Hitchcock, 1943.

Reviewer bio: Chang Shih Yen is a writer from Malaysia, seeing through the pandemic in New Zealand. She writes a blog at https://shihyenshoes.wordpress.com/

Sky Island Journal – Summer 2020

Sky Island Journal’s stunning 13th issue features poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from contributors around the globe. Accomplished, well-established authors are published—side by side—with fresh, emerging voices. Readers are provided with a powerful, focused literary experience that transports them: one that challenges them intellectually and moves them emotionally. Always free to access, and always free from advertising, discover what over 70,000 readers in 145 countries already know; the finest new writing is here, at your fingertips.

Salamander – No. 50

The Summer 2020 issue of Salamander features poetry by Rajiv Mohabir, Emily O’Neill, Rose McLarney, Sebastián Hasani Páramo, and many more; translations by Martha Collins, Nguyen Ba Chung, and Sergey Gerasimov; fiction by Anne Kilfoyle, Matthew Wamser, Olivia Wolfgang-Smith, and Joanna Pearson; creative nonfiction by Kathryn Nuernberger; artwork by Emily Forbes; and reviews by Joseph Holt, Mike Good, Katie Sticca, and Brandel France de Bravo.

Event :: Storyville Writing Workshop Offers Virtual Opportunities

Storyville Writing Workshops logoOngoing Enrollment; Location: Online
Storyville Writing Workshop offers virtual writing workshops online for a wide variety of skill levels. Workshops provide personalized critiques, ongoing email access to the instructor, writing resources, personal virtual meetings via Google Meet, as well as access writing forums. The Basics of Novel Writing is currently available to enroll in. Learn more at storyvilleworkshop.com/online-workshops/.

The MacGuffin – Spring Summer 2020

Evan D. Williams’ Escape Risk on the cover of The MacGuffin’s Volume 36.2 charts a vivid route out via literature of whatever quarantine situation you may find yourself trapped in. Journey to a new home and a new job in Mark Halpern’s “Would You Like Fries with That?” or head out on a cinematic cross-country trek with grandma in Jordan J.A. Hill’s “Marching Towards Golgotha.” Matthew Olzmann—guest judge of this year’s Poet Hunt contest—is highlighted in a short feature that begins on p. 101, while Erin Schalk’s gouache, ink, and wax form a vibrant mid-volume oasis.

bioStories – Vol. 9 No. 1

The latest issue of bioStories introduces readers to the survivors of wars and the survivors of accidents, transports them to homeless shelters and hospitals, onto urban campuses and within rural farmhouses, and invites them to live briefly alongside occupants of cramped Brooklyn apartments and Southwest desert trailer parks. Work by Steven Beckwith, J. Malcolm Garcia, Jay Bush, Gary Fincke, and more.

Event :: Willow Writers’ Workshop Now Offering Virtual Workshops for 2020

Beginning Dates: July 27; Virtual
Registration Deadline: Rolling
Willow Writers’ Workshops is going virtual this summer and fall! We will offer workshops, providing writing prompts, craft discussions, and manuscript consultations. All levels are welcome. Three different courses are being offered: Desire to Write? An Introduction to Creative Writing; Flash: Writing Short, Short Prose; and Writers Workshop on Thursday Nights, a six-week course focusing on short stories. Summer dates begin July 27. The facilitator is Susan Isaak Lolis, a published and award-winning writer. For more information, check out willowwritersretreat.com.

Call :: Palooka Seeks Diverse Forms & Styles Year-round

Don’t forget that international literary magazine Palooka is is open to chapbook and journal submissions year-round. For a decade they’ve featured up-and-coming, established, and brand-new writers, artists, and photographers from all around the world. They’re open to diverse forms and styles and are always seeking unique chapbooks, fiction, poetry, nonfiction, artwork, photography, graphic narratives, and comic strips. Give them your best shot! palookamag.com

Childhood Crushes & Dentist Fanfiction

Magazine Review by Katy Haas

Who didn’t have an embarrassing crush growing up? For thirteen-year-old Chava in “I Love You, Dr. Rudnitsky” by Avigayl Sharp, her new crush is her titular dentist.

Chava, deep in the throes of the brutality of puberty, falls in love with her dentist one day. Her newfound crush with its accompanying fantasies serves as a respite from her real life: being Jewish and bullied at her Catholic school, a disconnect with her distant mother, and disgust at her own body—her weight, her body hair, her budding sexuality.

Sharp gives Chava a voice that’s somehow both humorous and tragic, bringing me back to those awkward days of adolescence and the torturous process of puberty. She’s upfront and honest, telling us truths she doesn’t admit to others, while simultaneously wrapping us up in one lie after the other. By the end of the story, it feels like we’re reading her Dr. Rudnitsky fanfiction she’s posting on some secret blog. One can’t help feeling sympathy for Chava, for wanting to sit her down and give her a hug and some advice, and we can thank Sharp for creating such a cringe-worthy yet completely loveable character.

“Tacos Callejeros” by Kenneth Hinegardner

Magazine Review by Katy Haas

There’s a fine selection of short fiction in the Spring/Summer 2020 issue of Concho River Review. Among them is the five-page “Tacos Callejeros” by Kenneth Hinegardner.

In this story, Steven observes a mother and her two children at a restaurant. The children misbehave as he eats and watches their behavior, and he ends up taking a liking to their mother, Melanie. Between these observations are passages about watching a dog fight on a past trip to Tijuana. As we read, it becomes clear Steven is not a caring and concerned individual, but is closer to a dog, its teeth around another dog’s throat.

Hinegardner writes with a slow build to the end, writing with precision and subtlety. The final character in this story, Ruben, acts the reader’s place, recognizing this part of Steven that is slowly revealed across the pages in this chilling, short piece.

July 2020 eLitPak :: Gival Press Short Story Award

Gival Press Winter 2020 LitPak Flier
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Gival Press is hosting three contests in 2020: the Gival Press Novel Award, the Gival Press Oscar Wilde Award, and the Gival Press Short Story Award. The Novel Award deadline was May 30. The prize was $3k and book publication in 2021. The Oscar Wilde Award for the best LGBTQ poem deadline was June 27. The prize was $500 and online publication. The Short Story Award deadline is August 8. The Prize is $1,000 and online publication. For complete details on each contest, visit: www.Givalpress.Submittable.com.

View the full July eLitPak here.

Call :: About Place Closes to Submissions on August 1

About Place Resistance, Resilience Call for SubmissionsDeadline: August 1, 2020
Each issue of About Place Journal, the arts publication of the Black Earth Institute, focuses on a specific theme. We will close to submissions for our Fall 2020 issue Works of Resistance, Resilience on August 1. Our mission: to have art address the causes of spirit, earth, and society; to protect the earth; and to build a more just and interconnected world. We publish prose, poetry, visual art, photography, video, and music which fit the current theme. More about this issue’s theme and our submission guidelines: aboutplacejournal.org/submissions/.

July 2020 eLitPak :: Blue Earth Review Summer Contest

Blue Earth Review July 2020 eLitPak flier
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Blue Earth Review is open to submissions for our Summer 2020 Contest. Submit flash fiction: up to 2 flash pieces, 750-word maximum each; flash creative nonfiction: up to 2 flash pieces, 750-word maximum each; poetry: 1-3 poems. Deadline to enter is August 15, 2020. Entry fee: $5.00. Winners receive $500 and publication. Additional finalists may also be published. For these and general submissions, go to blueearthreview.submittable.com/submit.

View the full July eLitPak here.

Call :: level:deepsouth for Generation X

combat bootsSubmissions accepted year-round.
level:deepsouth is an online anthology created in 2020 with the goal of documenting Generation X in the Deep South during the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s by collecting works of creative nonfiction (personal essays, memoirs, and reviews) about our lives back then and since then. Submissions guidelines can be found on the website: leveldeepsouth.com.

July 2020 eLitPak :: Greensboro Review 2020 Robert Watson Literary Prizes

The Greensboro Review 2020 eLitPak flier
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The Greensboro Review invites submissions for our annual Robert Watson Literary Prizes in Poetry and Fiction. Send us your previously unpublished poems or stories, now through September 15! Winners each receive a $1,000 cash award and publication in the journal; subscribers submit for free. To learn more, read past winning works, and submit, visit: greensbororeview.org/contest/.

View the full July eLitPak here.

Event :: The Center for Creative Writing Offers Online Opportunities for Writers

The Center for Creative Writing has been guiding aspiring writers toward a regular writing practice for more than 30 years. Their passionate, published teachers offer inspiring online writing courses in affordable six-week sessions, as well as one-on-one services (guidance, editing) and writing retreats (virtual for 2020). Whatever your background or experience, They can help you become a better writer and put you in touch with the part of you that must write, so that you will keep writing. Join their inclusive, supportive community built on reverence for creativity and self-expression, and find your way with words. Creativewritingcenter.com.

Call :: Pensive Seeks Work for Black Lives Matter Feature Section

Deadline: November 15; submissions reviewed and accepted on rolling basis
New online publication based at Center for Spirituality, Dialogue, and Service (CSDS) at Northeastern University in Boston. Seeking work that deepens the inward life; expresses range of religious/spiritual/humanist experiences and perspectives; envisions a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world; advances dialogue across difference; and challenges structural oppression in all its forms. Seeking work for feature section on Black Lives Matter. Send unpublished poetry, prose, visual art, and translations. Especially interested in work from international and historically unrepresented communities. No fee; currently non-paying. Submit 3-5 pieces via Submittable or via email to [email protected]. Questions? Contact Alexander Levering Kern, co-editor or visit pensivejournal.com.

The Power of Translation in The Return

Guest Post by Christy O’Callaghan

Last summer, when we could still travel, I had the honor of attending the Disquiet Literary Program in Lisbon. As part of that fantastic two weeks, we were treated to panels of local authors and discussions about the history of Portugal. Had I not had that experience, I may never have learned about the western world’s longest dictatorship. The panelists possessed so much history as people who lived those times or grew up in the wake of them. One such panelist was Dulce Maria Cardoso. Before I left Portugal, I’d already ordered her book The Return.

Her novel, which is translated into English by Angel Gurria-Quintana, mirrors her experience of being a Portuguese citizen but raised in Angola, one of Portugal’s colonies at the time. When Portugal had its revolution, so did their colonies. This book follows a family exiled back to Portugal, returning to a country many had never set foot in and where they weren’t welcomed with open arms. The main character Rui is a teenage boy trying to wrap his head around what’s happening, why, and how to live in this foreign Motherland.

Books like The Return exemplify why good translations are valuable. This dictatorship, let alone that colonies still existed, weren’t discussed when I was in school. And these events took place only 45 years ago. Being able to hear Dulce tell her story was a gift I shall treasure forever, but not everyone has that privilege. Access to books written in other languages then translated means more people can share in that information, those cultures, and experiences. Learning about our own society and history is essential. So too is knowing what has happened in the larger world—allowing us to glean from other’s experiences in hopes of not repeating them.

The Return by Dulce Marie Cardoso. MacLehose Press, 2016.

Reviewer bio: Christy O’Callaghan lives in Upstate, New York. Her favorite pastimes include anything in the fresh air. For her blog and writing, go to christyflutterby.com.

Call :: Apple in the Dark Issue 1

Deadline: August 15
Apple in the Dark Journal is a brand-new online publication focusing on works of fiction and creative nonfiction no longer than 1,500 words apiece. Send your work to [email protected]. Please use this format for the subject line: “[Last Name], [First Word of Title]” and please include your contact info/social media handles and a brief bio in the email. If possible, please paste the contents of your submission into the body of the email rather than attaching it as a Word document or PDF. Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but do please let us know if your work has been accepted elsewhere. appleinthedark.wordpress.com

Call :: Red Planet Magazine Submission Call

Deadline: Rolling
Red Planet Magazine is an independent literary magazine emphasizing a theme of speculative fiction, and is open for submissions year-round on a rolling basis. Contributors receive a digital copy of the issue in which their work has been featured. Please visit www.redplanetmagazine.com for additional information.

Contest :: 2020 Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize – 1 Month Left!

Red WheelbarrowThe deadline to submit to the 2020 Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize is August 15. This year’s prize is judged by Dorianne Laux and Joseph Millar. $1,000 for first place and a letterpress broadside, $500 for second, $250 for third. Top five published in Red Wheelbarrow Literary Magazine. Submit up to 3 original unpublished poems. $15 entry fee. For complete guidelines, see redwheelbarrow.submittable.com.

Seneca Review – Spring 2020

The 50th Anniversary Issue of Seneca Review, ON ANXIETY, is guest edited by Joe Wenderoth. Featuring poems and essays by Mary Ruefle, Graham Foust, Jamil Jan Kochai, Kitty Liang, Immanuel Mifsud, Amie Zimmerman, Lake Angela, Judy Bertelsen, Laura Brun, Eric Burger, Mike Carlson, Curtis D’Costa, and more. Cover art and design by Abigail Frederick.

Call :: The Awakenings Review Seeks Submissions from Writers with Personal Connections to Mental Illness

Established in 2000, The Awakenings Review is an annual lit mag committed to published in the fall. It features poetry, short stories, nonfiction, photography, and art by writers, poets, and artists who have a relationship with mental illness: either self, family member, or friend. The striking hardcopy publication is one of the nation’s leading journals of this genre. Creative endeavors and mental illness have long had a close association. The Awakenings Review publishes works derived from artists’, writers’, and poets’ experiences with mental illness, though mental illness need not be the subject of your work. Visit www.AwakeningsProject.org for submission guidelines. There is no fee to submit.

Plume – July 2020

This month’s Plume Featured Selection: “Caliche Sand and Clay: Five Albuquerque Poets” with work by and interviews with Jenn Givhan, Felecia Caton Garcia, Michelle Otero, Rebecca Aronson, and Hilda Raz. In Essays & Comment: “It’s Called the Renaissance, You Know, or The Soul Sibling Report” by David Kirby. Fred Marchant reviews Ledger by Jane Hirschfield.