From Speer Morgan's "Forward: Practical Living," which opens the Fall 2018 (41.3) issue of The Missouri Review:

"Trends in international politics toward right-wing nationalism, racism in endlessly renewing guises, and the pursuit of material short-term gain regardless of what it does to the earth’s environment and national budgets: all these things make me wonder how well we remember our history beyond last year or even last month. The end of World War I led to an utterly changed, financially crippled world; World War II resulted in the physical destruction of much of Europe and between fifty and eighty million dead, only to be followed by a series of cold and hot wars arising partly from long-misguided imperial assumptions. This nation now has a president who among other things denies climate change, while the largest wildfire in California history burns along with sixteen others and the highest mountain in Sweden just lost its stature because it has melted so much this year.

"Current politics and culture wars are surely a passing phase, like the reign of the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. When Dorothy throws a bucket of water on her, the witch will surely melt. Surely. However, given how little we appear to remember about history, one wonders if we will have to go through some cataclysm before we go for our buckets."

Read the full essay here.

A Broadsided Press recent call for “Multilingual Writing” resulted in In Praise of Polyphony, 2018, a folio of six broadsides from writers and artists who “think/feel/see in English, Spanish, Finnish, Yiddish, Chinese, Italian, Polish, and Russian. In narrative, metaphor, sound, ink, photograph, shape, and color.”

Like all broadsides from Broadsided Press, the folio is available for free download.

Writers featured: Maija Mäkinen, Jeni De La O, Piotr Gwiazda, Diana Anaya, Allison Escoto, Ching-In Chen.

Artists featured: Anya Ermak, Bailey Bob Bailey, Cheryl Gross, Antonia Contro, Undine Brod, Barbara Cohen.

Heading down its home stretch, Glimmer Train Bulletin continues to offer writers and readers the inside scoop from authors. December's bulletin features "Go Small to Go Big" by Jane Delury [pictured], which advises writers who feel "overwhelmed with your novel or story draft" to set it aside and go back to basics: the sentence. And Matthew Vollmer's essay, "The Literary Masquerade: Writing Stories Disguised As Other Forms of Writing," encourages that "this interplay that results from a story and the particular form it appropriates can be exciting for both writer and reader." 

Read both essay in full here, where you can also find a full archive of bulletin back issues.

Mary A. Johnson's "Staurozoanastic Cavity" (2017) is featured on the cover of the Summer 2018 Cimarron Review. This unique work is composed of Emperor rice dye, logwood/bloodwood dyed paper, aerosol paint, inkjet prints on rice paper, rhinestones, aluminum shavings, acrylic medium, and pen, on paper. See more of her work here.

Nancy Scott is equally well known for her collage as she is her poetry. Schoolcraft College's The MacGuffin Fall 2018 issue showcases her "Still Life with Books." See more of her work here.

It seems 'collage' is this week's theme, finishing out with "House" by Star Black on the cover of Gargoyle 68.

The Fall 2018 issue of Carve Magazine features prize-winning entries from the 2018 Raymond Carver Short Story Contest selected by guest judge Susan Perabo.

First
"Home as Found" by Frank Meola in Brooklyn, NY

Second
"Explain It To Me" by Jenessa Abrams [pictured] in New York, NY

Third
"Conflagration" by Suzanne Barefoot in Lancaster, PA

Editor’s Choice
"Terschelling" by Jaap van der Schaaf in London, England
"How Would You Like to Be Dead?" by Noah Bogdonoff in Providence, RI

In addition to publication, each winning entry receives a cash award. For a full list including honorable mention and semifinalists, click here.

This is an annual contest open from April 1 - May 15.

Until November 29, The Common Foundation is holding its annual Author Postcard Auction: "Bid for a chance to win a postcard from your favorite author, handwritten for you or a person of your choice. A wonderful keepsake, just in time for the holidays. Author postcards make great gifts! All proceeds will go toward The Common's programs. These include publishing emerging writers, mentoring students in our Literary Publishing Internship program, and connecting with students around the world through The Common in the Classroom."

Featured authors include: Aja Gabel, Aleksandar Hemon, Andre Aciman, Andrew Sean Greer, Anne Tyler, Ann Patchett, Caitlin Horrocks, Carmen Maria Machado, Claire Messud, David Sedaris, Elliot Ackerman, Esi Edugyan, Garth Risk Hallberg, George Saunders, Harlan Coben, Jennifer Egan, Jonathan Lethem, Joseph O'Neill, Julie Orringer, Kelly Link, Kiese Laymon, Min Jin Lee, Nathan Englander, Nell Freudenberger, Rabih Alameddine, Rachel Kushner, Rebecca Makkai, Rivka Galchen, R.O. Kwon, Tommy Orange, Tom Nichols, and Viet Thanh Nguyen.

Southeast Missouri State University's Big Muddy Editor Jame Brubaker announced in the introduction to issue 18.2 that "Due to budgetary contraints and restructuring at our university, we've had to modify our plans a bit. So, going forward, Big Muddy will be printed once, annually. Additionally, in early 2019, we will begin publishing weekly work on a new website that is still being developed (keep your eyese peeled for updates on that!)." We wish Big Muddy the best in this time of transition, and though times may be tough, we hope SMSU will continue to support the arts through this exceptional publication.

Issue 204 of The Malahat Review features the Far Horizons Award for Poetry winner "Venn diagrams" by  Emily Osborne as selected by Carolyn Smart.

Read an interview with the winner here: "Using the Rubrics: Rose Morris in Conversation with Emily Osborne."

In addition to publication, the winner receives $1000. See full guidelines for this annual contest here.

The Fall/Winter 2018 issue of Colorado Review features "Aisha and the Good for Nothing Cat" (also available to read online) by Shannon Sweetnam, winner of the 2018 Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction selected by Margot Livesey.

In addition to publication, the winner receives $2000. The prize opens annually on December 1 and closes on March 14, 2019. See full guidelines here.

The December 2018 issue of Poetry Magazine features the 2018 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship recipients: Safia Elhillo, Hieu Minh Nguyen, sam sax, Natalie Scenters-Zapico, and Paul Tran.

The annual $25,800 prize is intended to encourage the further study and writing of poetry and is open to all U.S. poets between 21 and 31 years of age.