NewPages Blog
Since 2013, Noemi Press and Letras Latinas (the literary imitative at the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame) have been co-publishing under the Akrilica Series to showcase innovative Latino writing.
You Ask Me To Talk About the Interior by Carolina Ebeid joins the ranks of the Akrilica Series, published in September 2016. Ebeid’s first book, You Ask Me To Talk About the Interior has been called “a book of listening and responding and listening again” (Shane McCrae) that uses “[t]he voice of a mother, of lover, of friend” (Julie Carr).
More information about the book and the series can be found at the Noemi Press website.
2016 Janet B McCabe Poetry Prize
Judge Alice Fulton
FIRST PLACE: “Yellow” by Melissa Reeser Poulin
SECOND PLACE: “Small Implosions” by Barbara Ellen Sorensen
HONORABLE MENTION: “The Lord, Walking in the Evening” by Michael Schmidtke and “Deer Apples” by Sally Thomas
With October here, it’s time to announce a couple of the award-winning books slated for publication this month.
Love Give Us One Death: Bonnie and Clyde in the Last Days by Jeff P. Jones is the winner of the 2015 George Garrett Fiction Prize. Final Judge Tracy Daugherty says the book of the two famous outlaws shows “larger dimensions: the spiritual shadows and compulsive needs from which our nation springs and through which it has found its many forms of speech.” This is Jones’s first book, and copies are available from the Texas A&M University Press website.
Continuing an annual tradition started three years ago, Creative Nonfiction presented a list of topics to its newsletter subscribers and social media followers and had them vote for the ones they liked best. "Mistakes" was the first issue (#53), followed the next year by "Waiting" (#56), and now, for 2016, "Childhood" (#60), with the subtitle: "It's not all fun and games." Each Readers' Choice issue also includes a Best Essay contest. Readers can access on the CNF website the winning essay, “The Walk Home" by Judith Barrington, and an interview with Barrington; "Before We're Writers, We're Readers" by Randon Billings Noble - 15 nonfiction authors on the true (or mostly true) stories they read as kids; Lee Gutkind's introduction; and two additional pieces: "I Survived the Blizzard of '79" by Beth Ann Fennelly and "Writing Motherhood" by Marcelle Soviero. 
Able Muse has announced that Nicole Caruso Garcia has joined their staff as Assistant Poetry Editor, replacing the departing Richard Meyer. Nicole Caruso Garcia was born grew up in New Jersey and Connecticut, earned her B.A. in English from Fairfield University, and an M.S. in Education from University of Bridgeport. She was a 2006 Summer Institute Fellow of the Connecticut Writing Project and currently teaches poetry and creative writing at Trumbull High School in Connecticut. Her poetry has appeared in Mezzo Cammin, Willow Review, The Raintown Review, The Sow's Ear Poetry Review, Soundings East, The Ledge, Poetry Midwest, and Small Pond Magazine of Literature, and she received the Spring 2010 Willow Review Award. But, to show her ability to flex poetic styles, while she tends toward formalist poetry, "her rapping alter ego, Capital G, often visits to bust a rhyme for her students." We at NewPages can dig it. Nimrod Literary Awards: The Pablo Neruda Prize in Poetry
FIRST PRIZE: Markham Johnson, OK, “Greenwood Burning, 1921”
SECOND PRIZE: Bryce Emley, NC, “Thesis/Antithesis” and other poems
Nimrod Literary Awards: The Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Fiction
FIRST PRIZE: Chad B. Anderson, D.C., “Maidencane”
SECOND PRIZE: Ruth Knafo Setton, PA, “Swamp Girl”
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Susan Finch, TN, “My Friends, My Sisters, My Doppelgangers”
Daniel Hamilton, KY, “Dragonslayers”
Photographer John Chavers' kaleidoscope image is featured on the October 2016 online issue of Crab Fat Magazine, a journal "founded on the principles of inclusive & diverse writing/publishing." And they mean it.
The Georgia Review has been turning heads for 70 years and will be celebrating through the year with a variety of special events that they will update on their website. The Fall 2016 cover art ("#1637") is by Masao Yamamoto, whose work is also featured with an introduction and full-color, twelve-page portfolio within. 
Copper Nickel, the national literary journal housed at the University of Colorado Denver, features several Translation Folios in each issue, spotlighting the works of several writers in translation. The Fall 2016 (#23) issue includes five poems by Jerzy Ficowski introduced and translated by Jennifer Grotz and Piotr Sommer, three prose poems by Shoba introduced and translated by Paula Gordon, and four poems by Grzegorz Wróblewski introduced and translated by Piotr Gwiazda. 
WinnerMark Wagenaar
First Runner-up
Susan O'Dell Underwood
Second Runner-up
Doug Rutledge
Finalists
Mehul Bhagat
Ryan Black
Cortney Lamar Charleston
Meghan Dunn
Jennifer Givhan
Pamela Hart
Susanna Lang
Ansley Moon
Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib
The Antioch Review, "one of the oldest, continuously publishing literary magazines in America," celebrates 75 year of publishing fiction, essays, and poetry from both emerging as well as established authors. The celebration begins with the Summer 2016 issue, Part I, with a selection of "firsts" and a few "favorites" from the 40s - 60s. Editor Robert S. Fogarty includes the first poem and first story published in the journal, as well as the "most downloaded" essay which was first published in 1943.Also shared within this historical collection is the "Preamble and Statement of Principles" collectively written by The Association of Literary Magazines of America when those 19 magazine organizers first met in 1961. It begins: "Resolved, that we form an association, the purpose of which is to increase the usefulness and the prestige of the literary magazines in the United States and Canada," and later makes the following statement that still rings true today: "A nation's body of literature does not depend wholly on a the great, and since the magazines have served as a seedbed for each generation of creative writers they have also helped to preserve the very impulse to literary creation. The literary magazines of the present generation are continuing this indispensable tradition."
The American Poetry Review provides readers a glimpse inside their bi-monthly publication by providing featured works of poetry on their website. From the September/October 2016 issue, readers can enjoy works by Marie Howe, Afaa Michael Weaver, Nicole Steinberg, Jane Wong, Carlos Pintado, and Beth Ann Fennelly. Available in the print edition is the full content, which includes Michael Dowdy's commentary "Reading Latina/o Poetry in the Summer of Trump" and Edward Hirsch's "What is the Task?" - a version of an essay which appears as the introduction to The Best American Poetry 2016. 
The Raleigh Review Fall 2016 issue features "Red Madonna" by Geri Digiorno on its cover, an appropriate welcome to its contents, which Editor Rob Greene comments: "Many of us enter the arts as a way to heal . . [the arts] is about real people trying to make a better world. We hope the work in this volume guides you a better understanding of humankind."
"Jenna's First" by William Paul Thomas adorns the cover of The Carolina Quarterly Fall 2016, with a full-color portfolio of his work within. "I paint representations of disembodied heads of people in my social circle and sometimes scrawl text directly over their likenesses," Thomas writes in his Artist's Statement. "As it relates to my portraits, whatever the viewer derives from looking is the correct interpretation. I embrace symbolic ambiguity while clinging to observational specificity."
"My work explores narratives that recognize the urgency and conflict in our continuing attempts to connect to the world around us," writes Hanna Dansie in her Artist's Statement. Her work is featured both on the cover of the Spring/Summer 2016 Hayden's Ferry Review and with several internal pages as well. BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE
Barbara Crooker, who lives in Pennsylvania, has become one of this column's favorite poets. We try to publish work that a broad audience of readers can understand and, we hope, may be moved by, and this particular writer is very good at that. Here's an example from her collection, Gold, from Cascade Books.
Grief
is a river you wade in until you get to the other side.
But I am here, stuck in the middle, water parting
around my ankles, moving downstream
over the flat rocks. I'm not able to lift a foot,
move on. Instead, I'm going to stay here
in the shallows with my sorrow, nurture it
like a cranky baby, rock it in my arms.
I don't want it to grow up, go to school, get married.
It's mine. Yes, the October sunlight wraps me
in its yellow shawl, and the air is sweet
as a golden Tokay. On the other side,
there are apples, grapes, walnuts,
and the rocks are warm from the sun.
But I'm going to stand here,
growing colder, until every inch
of my skin is numb. I can't cross over.
Then you really will be gone.
We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2013 by Barbara Crooker, “Grief” from Gold, (Cascade Books, 2013). Poem reprinted by permission of Barbara Crooker and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2016 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.
"On Writing" is a series of guest posts written by writers for the Ottawa Poetry Newsletter, curated by Rob McLennan. On Writing #107 features former NewPager and poet Gina Myers. Entitled "Is there room in the room that you room in?," borrowed from the opening sonnet in Ted Berrigan's The Sonnets, Myers explores the concepts of community and inclusivity as place in poetry. Read the full post here. 
The annual print issue of Baltimore Review allows readers to catch up on a full year of reading in one volume. The 2016 print issue includes poems, stories, and creative nonfiction from the Summer 2015, Fall 2015, Winter 2016, and Spring 2016 online issues, as well as contest winners for the Summer 2015 and Winter 2016 issues. 
The NewPages Guide to Independent Publishers grew by five today, welcoming Hohm Press, Measure Press, Oneworld Publications, 3 Mile Harbor Press, and SolsticeLit Books (the book publishing arm of Solstice magazine).
Bookstore fanatics will find two new independent bookstores, Old Books on Front Street in Wilmington, North Carolina, and Books & Mortar in Grand Rapids, Michigan (shown right).
And finally, readers and writers can find three online literary magazines newly added to our Big List of Lit Mags: Starwheel Magazine, a short-works publication of The Riding Light Review; Cede Poetry, a new Canadian poetry magazine; and Beech Street Review, with submissions currently open for their second issue.
Boulevard #94 features the winner for their 2015 Short Fiction Contest for Emerging Writers who has not yet published a book of fiction, poetry, or creative non-fiction with a nationally distributed press. Joshua Idaszak's "The Last Laz of Krypton" was awarded $1,500 and publication. Honorable Mention "Mrs. Lana Greer" by Chloe Packer is also included in this issue. Check out the new sites added to NewPages today.
In Literary Links, the Second Hand Stories podcast showcases writing and writers from all around the world, stories read by Jim Szabo and Colleen Stewart. Heartbeat Literary Magazine, on the Big List of Lit Mags, publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and artwork in frequent, online issues.
On the Big List of Alt Mags, find VIDA Review, the newly named section of the VIDA website that features interviews, articles, and essays on intersectional feminist and womanist thinking.
New on the Publisher's Guide, Nomadic Press publishes chapbooks, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry; and in Independent Bookstores, Wisconsin sees the addition of Downtown Books - Bought & Sold, a used bookstore located in Milwaukee.
And of course, it's a Monday, so our Magazine Stand features blurbs of fresh, new magazines issues.
Lalitamba, which means Divine Mother, calls itself a "journal of international writings for liberation" and was inspired by a pilgrimage through India. Each issue, the cover is meditaion on the publication's focus and inspiraiton. [No photo credit.]
Michigan Quarterly Review Summer 2016 cover photo is a rich perspective on the beauty of summer. "A Patch of Green" photo by MIchael Owen, 2014.
Cynthia Low's artwork appears both on the cover and is featured inside Subprimal Poetry Art, an online journal. See the full print and Low's commentary here. 
In addition to work by 17 poets that opens the issue, Rattle #53 features a Tribute to Adjuncts. The editors write, "Over 65% of U.S. college faculty now work as adjuncts, facing low wages, limited hours, and high instability. We wanted to highlight their writing, while also showing support for recent efforts at gaining better treatment by the university system. As always, the goal was to show the wide range of creative work that the featured group is producing, so while many poems address their careers, others cover a variety of subjects. All of them share their thoughts on adjuncting in the contributor notes section." Every one of us who teaches in higher ed should buy copies of this issue to give to our dean, provost, vice president, president. board of trustees - whomever is responsible for the decision-making that retains, and continues to increase, these miserable working conditions for adjunct faculty. Perhaps better still, assign this issue in your classes, have students read it; the real change will need to come from dissatisfied "customers." If they are outraged about egregious labor practices and refuse to buy their products from certain companies, they should be as equally outraged about the education for which they are paying a premium price to support an oppressed working majority. [Rattle cover artist Allison Merriweather]
September seems to be the month for award-winning book releases. This month, find the winners of Moon City Press’s 2015 Moon City Poetry Award, the 2015 The American Poetry Review/Honickman First Book Prize, and The University of Tampa Press’s 2015 Anita Claire Scharf Award.
Jeannine Hall Gailey brought home the Moon City Poetry Award with her fifth collection Field Guide to the End of the World, with a cover designed by the talented Charli Barnes (shown on the right). The poetry collection “delivers a whimsical look at our culture’s obsession with apocalypse.” Readers can pre-order copies from The University of Arkansas Press.
Likenesses by Heather Tone was chosen by Nick Flynn as the winner of The American Poetry Review/Honickman First Book Prize. Flynn says Likenesses, is an origin myth in its “attempts to create a world by naming it.” Copies of Tone’s first full collection of poetry will be distributed by Copper Canyon Press.
Patricia Hooper, the author of three previous books of poetry, received the Anita Claire Scharf Award, winners selected by the editors of the Tampa Review from among the manuscripts submitted to the annual Tampa Review Prize for Poetry. Hooper’s collection, Separate Flights, “quite literally lifts off,” says Tampa Review Editor Richard Mathews, and is “musical and powerful in its impact.”
Check out these three award-winning poetry books, all hitting shelves sometime this month.
At the end of the year, find Annie Kim’s Into the Cyclorama, winner of Southern Indiana Review’s 2015 Michael Waters Poetry Prize.
From back of the book:
We enter works like the 19th-century Gettysburg Cyclorama at the heart of this book, asking: What art can we make out of violence? What shape from loss? Like snow that leaves no trace in the photographed garden, Into the Cyclorama answers: Form is everything, even at its most transient.
Preparing for December, when the poetry collection will be released, readers can check out the Southern Indiana Review website where they’ll find sample poems, a link to Annie Kim’s website, and an interview with the poet conducted by Michael Collins.
