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Natalie Diaz Wins Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

On Friday, it was announced that poet Natalie Diaz won the Pulitzer for her second book of poems Postcolonial Love Poem. Diaz spoke about her book with The Arizona Republic, saying, “I knew that I wanted my body, the places I’ve come from, the people I come from, to be of consequence to the world and to kind of bring our perspectives and conversations to bear in our larger national conversations.”

Writing on the Indigenous experience, she explains her poetic viewpoint, “I, of course, have an Indigenous lens, but yet I think that Indigenous lens is extremely important to non-Indigenous peoples. We’re all fighting for our water. We’re all fighting for this Earth, for one another against injustice.”

See what else she said about the winning collection here.

Inside the Night Circus

Guest Post by Natalie Hess.

All I can say is wow. The amount of whimsy and magic in this book blew my mind. It follows a girl named Celia and a boy named Marco who are forced to fight each other in a magical competition which they are bound to until someone wins. Here’s the catch: neither of them are told any rules or boundaries and this competition takes place in a circus which travels all around the world, and is only open at night. This circus is so magical and mysterious that it captures the attention of all who are introduced to it, making them want to revisit it as much as possible, including the reader.

The way Morgenstern describes every little detail brings this world to life so much, and I couldn’t help but wish it were real. Even the simplest things are described as so mysterious and fascinating that this book is impossible to put down. And the relationships between some of these characters are very eye-opening and make you question the morals and intentions of those around you, while others are just flat out wholesome and amazing. Everything about this book was beautiful, stunning, captivating, and I fell in love with it. Definitely a 5-star read, and every fantasy-lover should pick it up.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Anchor Books, 2021.

Reviewer bio: I’m Natalie Hess and I’m simply a high school student who LOVES reading everything from scifi to romance to nonfiction and everything in between. I also love sharing my thoughts and I hope you enjoy!

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

Lifting Stones with Doug Stanfield

Guest Post by Mandi Greenwood.

Doug Stanfield’s poetry is an unfurling of wings and a fanning out in every heartfelt direction, reaching all of life’s heights and depths. There is humility and there is enormous bravery. Within the pages of Lifting Stones there is no finite limit to Stanfield’s poetic skill, nor to his quality.

He owns the journey that is Lifting Stones. He owns it with “bare courage and risk”—his words—and to read this book is to step from one stone to the next in the sometimes calm, oftentimes tumultuous river that he has forged between its covers.

Upon one stone I behold the relatively fresh wound of “Love in the Time of Corona.” Atop another stone I discover the fierce elation of “Borrowed Dust.” I skip to yet another smooth muse of stone and I find “As It Was.” I pause at times, to wipe away the tears, but always I progress to the next verse with intrigue and joy.

It’s difficult to do justice to the raw tenderness of Lifting Stones without falling into cliché. Suffice to say it is a singular collection of clarity, warmth, grief, humor, agony, mortality, recollection, despair, and rebirth. It is an expedition, not a journey’s end. It is a unique work of life via poetry, a kaleidoscopic gallery of this poet’s genuine experience laid bare.

Stanfield writes with a dignity. He writes with a frank self-respect that is, to borrow his exquisite words, “eternally becoming.”

Lifting Stones by Doug Stanfield. Rootstock Publishing, June 2021.

Reviewer bio: Mandi Greenwood is the author of Six Steps Down, Caught Inside, and The Silver Renoir.

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

Finland Is Full Of Saunas, Berries, Lakes, and Interesting People

Guest Post by Susan Kay Anderson.

Enticing though it may be to dream of cold landscapes when summer days get a bit too warm (already) it does not exactly seem wonderful to imagine taking a sauna during the pandemic and sweating out life even more, getting exhausted even more. That’s not the point of the sauna, as Cheryl J. Fish seems to report in her book of poems/memoir/travel journal.  The sauna is the sacred space for contemplation and just plain bathing and, well, for everything under the sun in order to be close to the sun in the darkness.

Cheryl J. Fish’s The Sauna Is Full Of Maids is an adventure to Finland told with poems, photographs, and lines from the Kalevala, Finland’s origin story/epic/saga.

It is great to look through this book and daydream about journeys and berries and boggy lakes. These are prose poems and travelogues in poem form, told with the sparse flavor of the North. I am really attracted to the ancient lifeways in this book:

“His journey paralleled birds and reindeer. Spread his culture, migrating.”
from “Another Round Of Heat”

“In the Kalevala, birds lay eggs in a barren water-mother’s knee. The bottom half of a smashed egg becomes earth.”
from “Unreliable Snowpack”

It isn’t all ancient lore here. There are meetings with fellow artists and travelers, foragers, dreamers, and recent immigrants to Finland. It is amazing to realize (yet again) that we live on a tiny planet and its inhabitants have been following the flow of the elements forever and that during our lives we get glimpses of what is important, what helps us to be alive. Those things could include the sauna, the icy cold water, vasta birch sprigs, and the steam.

The Sauna Is Full Of Maids by Cheryl J. Fish. Shanti Arts Publishing, June 2021.

Reviewer bio: Susan Kay Anderson lives in Oregon’s Umpqua Basin, author of, Please Plant This Book Coast To Coast, available from Finishing Line Press.

Shattered Triangle: Impending Fate

Guest Post by Manasi Patil.

Impending Fate is the third book in the series, Shattered Triangle. This novel is told through the point of view of Giovanni Lozano, and progresses with the plots of the other protagonists of the series: Lt. Tom Moran, Giuseppe Lozano, and Giovanni himself.

Three determined people, one genius murderer, and an ‘impending fate.’ After the identity of the murderer of Giuseppe Lozano’s family is revealed in A Consequential Murder, and the story is followed in Beleaguered Truth, I was beyond obsessed with the Shattered Triangle series. William P. Messenger is my new favorite author, and I’m so glad to have had this opportunity of reading the trilogy.

Giuseppe’s relationship with Jackson progresses and it’s a cruel twist when the former first kills Jackson’s partner in order to be with him, and then kills Jackson himself, when he sees him as a potential threat. Giovanni is ready to break the sacrament in order to save the country and do the right thing. He may get banished from his church for doing so, but after three years, he is prepared for the consequences.

Impending Fate is a riveting combination of religion, politics, and mystery. The story of ‘Shattered Triangle’ progresses further and also ends, unfortunately, in this edition. After reading the series, the question is: will the broken shards of the shattered triangle survive?

Impending Fate by William P. Messenger. Black Rose Writing, December 2017.

Reviewer bio: Manasi Patil is a young author with a passion for writing.

Shattered Triangle Trilogy: Book Two

Guest Post by Manasi Patil.

Beleaguered Truth is the second book in the series Shattered Triangle. In this second installment, the identity of the killer is known, and they are present right in the front seat, but there is no way to capture them.

Lt. Tom Moran knows the identity of the murderer of Giuseppe Lozano’s family. But there’s no evidence through which he can prove it. And he’s frustrated. Fr. Giovanni Lozano also shares the fate of Tom when the murderer successfully silences him by confessing his sins in a sacred confession in the church. Giuseppe Lozano, in order to fulfill his ambitions, stops at no extent. For him, everything is expendable. Even his family. And the fact that he orders his family to be killed proves him to be an ambitious, but ruthless and cruel person.

After the identity of the murderer of Giuseppe Lozano’s family is revealed in Shattered Triangle: A Consequential Murder, the story left me speechless. It was so unexpected, and yet seemed so real. Beleaguered Truth adds more to the story with Giuseppe’s point of view and how he feels about the consequences he created. William Messenger has done very well in writing out this book, especially in capturing a new point of view. It certainly makes the story more intriguing, as I felt a need to know how Giuseppe feels after murdering his own wife and three children.

Beleaguered Truth is a great political thriller and very captivating, to say the least. The book deals with the impact of the truth on Tom and Giovanni and delves deep into the story that is Shattered Triangle.

The triangle is being shattered. This book questions: will it be broken into pieces, or is it possible to mend them together and reconstruct the once beautiful triangle?

Beleaguered Truth by William P. Messenger. Black Rose Writing, August 2015.

Reviewer bio: Manasi Patil is a young author with a passion for writing.

Chatham University & Fourth River to Launch Jeffrey “Boosie” Bolden Series

Screenshot of Fourth River WebsiteThe MFA Program in Creative Writing at Chatham University and literary magazine The Fourth River have announced the creation of the Jeffrey “Boosie” Bolden Series. The first publication will be a special anthology called Black Visions. This anthology was conceived of and will be edited by the MFA Emerging Black Writers in Residence Cedric Rudolph and Caitlyn Hunter along with alums Samantha Edwards and Nicole Lourette.

About this anthology: Are you a black writer, or a writer who is black?

Black artists everywhere are all too familiar with this question and label on their work. Why are Black artists always called upon to write about the Black experience, about Black pain? Where are the discussions about craft, form, and futurisms? This anthology was born out of the need to create more space for Black voices; all Black voices. We want to see how your medium amplifies your voice and who you are as an artist, without the limitations of formality, genre, or subject. We are looking for the musicality, depth, and vibrancy that is Black art.

The anthology is accepting submissions through 11:59 PM on Friday, June 18 with expected publication in fall of this year.

The series is named after Chatham MFA alum and former Fourth River editor Jeffrey “Boosie” Bolden who refused to write prose or poetry restricted by genre and pushed himself to create hybrid flows fusing prose and rap. His mixtape-memoir Wolves was released in November 2020 after his passing in June of 2020.

There is no fee to submit to this anthology and accepted writers will receive a copy of the book and $50 honorarium.

Elemental Witness

Guest Post by Michael Hettich.

Perhaps the most striking characteristic of Blood Aria, given its poems’ formal dexterity, nuanced tonal shifts, and emotional depths, is that it is Christopher Nelson’s first full-length book of poetry. In its range of subject matter and at times harrowing emotional risk, as well as in the sheer dexterity of its strategies and tones, Blood Aria is a deeply powerful and necessary book, one of the richest first books of poetry I have read in years. This is work that reminds us of the depths of insight and feeling that are unsayable except in the most dexterous, courageous, emotionally capacious poetry; it reminds us as well of an essential human need that finds expression only in the best poetry’s capacity to speak through the blood and guts of being, balanced against the scintillating engagements of the formally-adept mind. Continue reading “Elemental Witness”

Shattered Triangle Trilogy

Guest Post by Manasi Patil.

A Consequential Murder is the first book in the series, “Shattered Triangle” by William Messenger. This is an uncommon and unique book with complex characters and plots.

The blurb of Shattered Triangle: A Consequential Murder was enough to hook me right in the book. I was certainly expecting a lot from this read, and am glad to say that I had a fulfilling time, and the end left me speechless. It was very unexpected and made me want to read the whole book again just to understand how and why the plot twisted in such a manner. Continue reading “Shattered Triangle Trilogy”

Antsy Anticipation in ‘Leave the World Behind’

Guest Post by Julia Wilson.

The sense of dread the reader experiences starts with the first sentence of Rumaan Alam’s Leave the World Behind.

“Well, the sun was shining. They felt that boded well . . . ” In fact, it does not.

Alam uses a few methods to keep the reader on edge. He intersperses somewhat alarming but sketchy details haphazardly, and doesn’t always return to explain. For instance, the narrator tells the reader one of the characters always has his epi-pen within reach, then moves on, leaving the reader to wonder: Why is it mentioned? How will it fit into the story? This keeps the reader filled with antsy anticipation.

Then there are the layers of possible menace facing the characters. The first is suspicion based on race. But are there larger threats facing them all as a group? Should they unite and put aside their differences? Alam reveals these details throughout the novel in a slow, tantalizing thread.

And finally, and most impactfully, there is Alam’s use of the omniscient narrator. In this novel, the narrator is used as a technique to impart to the reader information that none of the characters know. For instance, the narrator tells us a tick has burrowed into a boy’s skin, unbeknownst to him or anyone else. Later, when he falls ill, the reader is sure they know what has made the boy sick. But is that really the culprit, or is it something else, with the tick serving as a distraction?

Alam pulls the reader along, dropping asides from the narrator, making it clear that something really big and really bad is going to happen. And the reader watches as the characters try to catch up.

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam. HarperCollins Publishers, 2020

Reviewer bio: Julia Wilson is currently pursuing a Masters in Writing at Johns Hopkins University.

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

 

An Unquiet Mind

Guest Post by Diana De Jesus.

“I doubt sometimes whether
a quiet & unagitated life
would have suited me – yet I
sometimes long for it.” — Byron

This statement by Byron quoted in the text illustrates what life can be like for someone with mental illness.  An Unquiet Mind is a memoir by Kay Redfield Jamison, a Professor of Psychiatry, in which she candidly discusses her struggles with living with bipolar disorder (formally known as manic depression) from a variety of perspectives rather than just one lens.

Jamison references her journey from her adolescent to college years in which her manic depression illness slowly makes an appearance, altering her moods and performance unbeknownst to her at the time. However, as time progresses, so does the state of her illness. Jamison provides in vivid detail the many highs and lows she experiences because of her mental illness, and many incidences occur as a result; for example, extreme spending sprees, mood changes, violent episodes, engaging in uncharacteristic behavior towards her colleagues, and lastly a suicide attempt.

Soon after, she begins to see a psychiatrist at the age of 27, thus, eventually, learning her manic depression is hereditary since her father was dealing with the same affliction when she was a young adult. Moreover, her therapy sessions did not go without problems of course, as she confesses her reluctance to take medication more specifically Lithium.  In reality, she learns the hard way eventually realizing medication is a necessity rather than a hinderance; thereby, making peace with herself and her mental illness as she embraces her disease.

Through her writing, Jamison displays much resilience, and courage in spite of her illness. Her honesty and efforts in making sure people with depression and other psychiatric disorders do not feel ashamed nor stigmatized is quite commendable. In my view, she is a warrior and not a victim of her own mind. I recommend An Unquiet Mind to anyone; whereby, hopefully changing any preconceived notions regarding those who struggle with mental health issues.

An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison. Vintage, January 1997.

Reviewer bio: Diana De Jesus is an adjunct professor from Queens, NY, she is a fan of books, 80’s music to rock out too and old television shows. Additionally, she has a blog she is still very slowly and surely updating.

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

A Mystery that Only the Dead Can Solve

Guest Post by Heather McCardell.

Elatsoe (pronounced el-at-so-ay) by Darcie Little Badger follows Ellie Bride, a Lipan Apache teenager, as she, her ghost dog Kirby, mom, and best friend Jay seek to uncover the truth about the night her cousin was found in a single car crash. This hunt takes them to the little town of Willowbee, where Ellie discovers a town secret that haunts her more than the dead she can wake. In this riveting debut novel, Little Badger crafts a world where magic is the norm and passed down through family lines – Ellie can wake the dead, passed down through her Great-Six Grandmother, and Jay is a direct descendent from the fairy king Oberon – and weaves a tale about family, allies and advocacy, and the ongoing colonization of Indigenous peoples. Little Badger handles the topic of colonization with delicacy, approaching it through character dialogue and entwining it with the ending revelation.

One thing I adored about this book was the oral storytelling culture that appears throughout, especially in the tales of Great-Six. These act as teaching moments for both Ellie and the reader, and provide readers a deeper look into Ellie’s family history and relations. At the heart of this novel is a story about a young girl who will do what she can to get justice, and allies who believe and support her and her family when they rightfully claim that her cousin’s death was no accident. In between the detective work, Ellie continues to work on her skill of waking the dead, much to the concern of her mom, but there is one rule passed down with this magic that Ellie plans to abide by: never wake a human ghost. With Dr. Abe Allerton as a suspect, Ellie senses a conspiracy that involves her cousin’s murder, and this is one secret she won’t let stay buried.

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger. Levine Querido, August 2020.

Reviewer bio: Heather McCardell is a graduate student at the University of Windsor, studying English Literature and Creative Writing. When not writing essays, she enjoys writing poetry and hiking.

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

An Everyday Cult

Guest Post by C. Jane Taylor.

An Everyday Cult invites the reader to ride the spiritual rapids of the Center for Transformational Learning, a cult whose leader hopes you will drown. Working under the guise of a trusted therapist, the cult’s aloof, captivating, even sexy leader—referred to only as ‘Doug’—gives weekly ‘homework’ assignments that use pathologies, psychological archetypes, and dream interpretation as the foundations for self-annihilation.

The author’s elegant use of language makes An Everyday Cult read like a literary work of fiction and yet her treatment of the subject matter makes the tale race like a horror film. We watch from behind reluctantly parted fingers as the dark reality of the cult unfolds.

The reader travels with Buglion as she falls—simultaneously in love with the cult’s charismatic leader and asleep to her own identity—drifts, sleeps, and then snaps awake to the eighteen-year nightmare she has endured. The narrative reminds us to open our own eyes and stay awake to the dangers of authoritarian leaders claiming to know us better than we know ourselves.

An Everyday Cult by Gerette Buglion. Rootstock Publishing, May 2021.

Reviewer bio: C. Jane Taylor is the author of Spirit Traffic, a woman’s motorcycle journey of family, fear, and fledging. She lives, writes, and rides in Hinesburg, Vermont.

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

Unique Upcycled Notebooks Made From Vintage Books

Photograph of upcycled notebooks handcrafted from vintage booksBookMark Books refashions discarded and unwanted vintage books into lovely, sturdy, unique, blank notebooks. Made with upcycled, vintage covers; recycled interior paper; and hand-waxed thread, they are excellent tools for writers, artists, musicians, teachers, or anyone who loves beautiful books and the act of making their mark. A notebook is an essential tool for writers and artists, and having something beautiful, handmade, and environmentally friendly to use when an idea strikes makes creating even more satisfying. Visit me on on Instagram @bookmark_books for pictures of what I’m working on and a link to my Etsy shop.

Explorations of Identity

Guest Post by Natalie Hess.

This was a really weird book, but in a good way. It follows a girl named Jenna Fox who was in a car accident and woke up from a coma with no memories at all. She has to build a new life for herself while also trying to find out about her past.

There are some sci-fi elements in the medical parts of this story as well which made for some really shocking plot twists, and the way that Jenna’s new life is shaped because of those things is so much different than normal people’s lives.

This book also brings up identity and what it means to be yourself and have your own personality and I really enjoyed that part of it. I also liked the whimsical way the story was told. There were parts where I felt like I was reading poetry because the writing is so pretty, but it was really easy to understand, even the more scientific parts.

If you really enjoy stories about medical miracles, or utopian stories, this is a great book to pick up.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson. Square Fish. 2009.

Reviewer bio: I’m Natalie Hess and I’m simply a high school student who LOVES reading everything from scifi to romance to nonfiction and everything in between. I also love sharing my thoughts and I hope you enjoy!

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

What It Means to Be an Underdog

Guest Post by Gabrielle Thurman.

Dog Boy by Eva Hornung is the harrowing tale of a young boy raised by wild dogs. Based on a true story, the novel follows Romochka, a four-year-old boy abandoned by his family, as he attempts to survive the Russian winters in the aftermath of perestroika. At its heart, this book is a story about what it means to be an underdog, both literally and metaphorically.

Every scene in this book had me gritting my teeth. I laughed. I cried. I walked away from it in horror and disgust, only to return to it again and again. It’s one of those books that even after you finish reading it, you still think about it. I can’t look at dogs the same way I used to. Hornung does a fantastic job of examining what it means to be a “person.”

The book isn’t perfect. There are parts where the plot gets a bit fuzzy and convenient. She stretched my suspension of disbelief a tad bit too far in places. Overall, though, this is one of my new favorites, and I’ll definitely be recommending it to others. If you love books about  dogs, survival, Russia, humanity, violence, family, and hope, then this book is for you.

Dog Boy by Eva Hornung. Viking, March 2010.

Reviewer bio: Gabrielle Thurman is a creative writer, professional editor, queer woman, native Arkansan, and aspiring novelist. Her creative nonfiction can be found in The Elephant Ladder and The Vortex Magazine of Literature and Fine Art.

 

A Memoir of Two Illnesses

Guest Post by Kylie Smith.

In Every Last Breath: A Memoir of Two Illnesses, scholar and memoirist Joanne Jacobson strings twelve independently stunning essays together to create a lyrically compressed contemplation of the always frail body.

The essays detail Jacobson’s heart-wrenching experience of discovering her own chronic illness even as she was writing about her mother’s. Both memoir and biography, the book rejects the linear trajectory of conventional narrative to call the reader “out of time” and into the lives of two Jewish-American women as their diseases, one of blood and one of breath, force them to confront “end of life” together.

With the precision of a poet, Jacobson gracefully and honestly explores the ephemerality of time and breath and speaks deeply to the shared human experience of incremental loss. Every Last Breath is a hopeful and hurting reminder that the body is both singly inhabited and commonly shared.

Every Last Breath: A Memoir of Two Illnesses by Joanne Jacobson. The University of Utah Press, 2020.

Reviewer bio: Kylie Smith is a writer based out of Logan, Utah.

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

April 2021 eLitPak :: Enjoy the Complete Works of Clifford Brooks

Screenshot of Clifford Brooks Poetry Collections February 2021 eLitPak Flier
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The Complete Works of Clifford Brooks Now Available

Get this 3 volume set personalized, signed, and delivered for only $89.00. (Further discounts can be negotiated on larger orders.) For more information, contact the poet directly at: [email protected].

View the full April 2021 NewPages eLitPak newsletter here. Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to get weekly updates on lit mags, presses, writing programs, literary events, and more along with the monthly eLitPak newsletters.

April 2021 eLitPak :: Catamaran Poetry Prize for West Coast Poets Closes April 20

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Deadline Alert!

Submit your book-length manuscript to the Catamaran Poetry Prize for West Coast poets. This year’s judge is Pulitzer Prize finalist Dorianne Laux! The prize winner will receive $1,000 and book publication. Submission deadline is April 20th, 2021. This contest is only open to poets living in California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii.

View the full April 2021 NewPages eLitPak newsletter here. Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to get weekly updates on lit mags, presses, writing programs, literary events, and more along with the monthly eLitPak newsletters.

Get Happy with Lawson

Guest Post by Natalie Hess.

This book was absolutely phenomenal and it was a 5-star read! It dealt with mental health, specifically anxiety and depression, in such a fun way. I burst out laughing so many times that people would actually give me weird looks or ask what was happening. Jenny Lawson is just so funny and she somehow combines this humor with her terrible experiences to create the intriguing, hilarious, inspiring masterpiece that is Furiously Happy. There are lighthearted parts, and there are parts that are really serious and it all balances out perfectly.

This book did leave me with more questions than answers, but it definitely made me think about how “normal” my life seems compared to hers. I also learned that both of those lives are perfectly acceptable.

To anyone who is struggling with mental health, this could definitely help you, and even if it doesn’t you will probably still enjoy it nonetheless. I know I did.

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson. Flatiron Books, February 2017.

Reviewer bio: I’m Natalie Hess and I’m simply a high school student who LOVES reading everything from scifi to romance to nonfiction and everything in between. I also love sharing my thoughts and I hope you enjoy!

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

“The Wide, Wide Sea” by Patrick Ness

Guest Post by Natalie Hess.

Patrick Ness’s “The Wide, Wide Sea” is a short story from the Chaos Walking series that takes place before the start of the first book, but is meant to be read between the second and third.

I am a sucker for a good forbidden love story and this one did not disappoint. The main character is a human who has fallen in love with a spackle, and they have such a wholesome story in such a gruesome place. Realistically, I don’t think any of the plot twists were super unpredictable, but I personally did not see any of them coming and that was such a roller coaster of events coming out of nowhere. Not to mention how loveable the characters were despite the fact that the story was less than 40 pages long.

This was an extremely enjoyable story and I gave it 4.75 out of 5 stars.

“The Wide, Wide Sea” by Patrick Ness. Walker Books, 2018.

Reviewer bio: I’m Natalie Hess and I’m simply a high school student who LOVES reading everything from scifi to romance to nonfiction and everything in between. I also love sharing my thoughts and I hope you enjoy!

March 2021 eLitPak :: LitNuts – Connecting Indie Authors with Booklovers

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LitNuts eNewsletter: Connecting Indie Authors with Booklovers

Special Offers for Authors: Give us a try with a book promotion for the introductory price of only $10 with discount code NewPages10. Fantasy authors: Feature your book in a special March 25 fantasy issue for only $5 with discount code Fantasy5 (deadline 3/22/21). Visit our site for more information.

View the full March 2021 eLitPak Newsletter.

February 2021 eLitPak :: Catamaran Poetry Prize for West Coast Poets

Screenshot of Catamaran February, March, April 2021 eLitPak flier
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Submit your book length manuscript to the Catamaran Poetry Prize for West Coast poets. This year’s judge is Pulitzer Prize finalist Dorianne Laux! The prize winner will receive $1,000 and book publication. Submission deadline is April 20th, 2021. This contest is only open to poets living in California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii.

View the entire February eLitPak here. Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to get first access to future eLitPaks.

Able Muse YouTube Channel: Readings & Book Trailers

If you weren’t able to attend the virtual reading and Q&A with Able Muse Press authors Carrie Green, Hailey Leithauser, and Sally Thomas on January 27, they have uploaded a recording of the event to their official YouTube Channel.

Don’t forget to subscribe for more content…like their recently released book trailer for William Baer’s New Jersey Noir: Cape May. This is the second book of the Jack Colt Murder Mystery Novels Series. It was released on January 15 of this year. They are hoping to bring even more book trailers in the new future.

Plus! Don’t forget their 2021 contests are open to submissions! You can submit fiction and poetry to their Write Prize for publication in their literary magazine Able Muse through March 15. You can submit full-length poetry collections to their Book Award through March 31.

Shanti Arts :: Spring Leaves Chapbook Series

I love a good chapbook—something slim and short and perfect for my pandemic-shortened attention span. With this in mind, I was excited to find out Shanti Arts, publisher of literary and art journal Still Point Arts Quarterly, has begun to publish the Spring Leaves Chapbook Series.

The first chapbook in this series was released back in August. The Vermeer Tales by Gail Tyson is “[i]nspired by A. S. Byatt’s The Matisse Stories and Johannes Vermeer’s exquisite paintings of women,” and was written “during a transition from a demanding career to full-time writing in 2017, and finished the last after [Tyson’s] beloved’s brief, terrifying illness and death.”

The chapbook is available now at the Shanti Arts website. There, readers can also have a sneak peek at the contents before purchasing.

Driftwood Press :: New Poetry Title & Launch Party

Do you need something good to look forward to? Driftwood Press has you covered.

Their first full-length poetry collection is forthcoming on December 15: Magnolia Canopy Otherworld by Erin Carlyle. The collection has received advance praise: Rebecca Morgan Frank, author of Little Murders Everywhere calls it a “riveting, smart, and unforgettable debut,” and F. Daniel Rzicznek, author of Settlers warns readers: “Be ready for her to interrupt your life with poem after stunning poem in this haunting and arresting debut.” You can preorder your copy now.

To celebrate the release of Magnolia Canopy Otherworld, tune in on December 18 for a free digital launch party held on Zoom. In addition to Erin Carlyle, Wren Hanks, Ben Kline, Helli Fang, Kimberly Povloski, Charles Malone, and Annie Christain will also be reading. Find more information about the launch party at Driftwood Press‘s Facebook.

Are You Somebody I Should Know? Mudfish Individual Poet Series #14

Girl floating in book outside a white house

Mudfish has released the 14th installment in their Individual Poet Series. Are You Somebody I Should Know? by Dell Lemmon. Art critic and poet John Yau says that Lemmon’s “memoir poems, as she calls them, are strong rivers pulling you into their currents. Her poems are pared down and direct and move at a rapid clip without ever tripping over themselves.” Jason Koo, Founder and Executive Director of Brooklyn Poets, says Lemmon’s book will convince you that you have missed so “much of your life, haven’t truly seen it, haven’t treasured nearly enough of all your friends, your loves, your family, let alone all the people you thought were not important enough to know.”

Are You Somebody I Should Know is available via SPD, Amazon, and Mudfish‘s website.

Into The Void Releases We Are Antifa Anthology

Into the Void Antifa Anthology flierAt the beginning of the month, literary magazine Into the Void released it’s We Are Antifa: Expressions Against Fascism, Racism and Police Violence in the United States and Beyond. The anthology features creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry from diverse writers all over the world, i.e. the US, Canada, Ireland, the UK, Greece, Nigeria, and more.

Into the Void will be donating 100% of proceeds from the anthology’s sales to Black Lives Matter Canada. In order to maximize profits, the book will only be available via Amazon in ebook and paperback formats.

We Are Antifa was edited by Heath Brougher, Jay C. Mims, Amanda Gaines, Andrew Rihn, and Philip Elliot. It features “breathtaking writing condemning fascism, racism and state-sanctioned brutality through powerful expressions of grief, rage, hope and love.”

The title is a response to Donald Trump’s declaration that the US will be designating Antifa as a terrorist organization. The editors encourage readers to check out “A Brief History of Anti-Fascism” in Smithsonian Magazine to better understand why they published this anthology and “how anti-fascism and anti-racism are inextricably linked in the fight against oppression and supremacy.”

Diversity of Little Libraries Lies in their Non-curated Nature

Guest Post by S. B. Julian

Is making the shelves of Little Free Libraries more diverse an appropriate role for their stewards? Emblems of diversity already, these little book nooks give pleasure by not being “stewarded” at all. Ideally, you never know what you might find in one. You don’t have the feeling that someone has pre-engineered your discovery. Continue reading “Diversity of Little Libraries Lies in their Non-curated Nature”

PoArtMo Anthology: 2020 Artists

We could all use a little positivity and Auroras & Blossoms agrees. This is why the literary magazine has established PoArtMo which stands for “Positive Art Month and Positive Art Moves.”

In the month of June, the PoArtMo creators urged writers and artists to “celebrate positive art for 30 days.” A collection of this positivity is to be memorialized in the PoArtMo Anthology. The anthology will feature drawings, paintings, photography, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and six-word stories by the writers and artists who participated in the challenge. The magazine has announced the featured artists readers can expect to see in the anthology.

Congrats to the selected writers, and thank you for spreading your positive outlook!

September 2020 eLitPak :: LitNuts: Crazy About Books

LitNuts eLitPak flier
click image to open PDF

Coming September 21, the LitNuts eNewsletter promotes books from independent presses. A special offer is now available for authors! Subscribe to the newsletter (it’s free!) and indicate that you are an author. We’ll send you discount codes for free and discounted advertising that can be used during our launch, now through January 2021.

View full September eLitPak here.

Best American Essays 2020 Sponsor Spotlights

Best American Essays 2020Congratulations to two of NewPages sponsored magazines for having selections included in the Best American Essays 2020 due out on November 3, 2020. This year’s anthology was curated by guest editor André Aciman and series editor Robert Atwan.

“My Pink Lake and Other Digressions” by Alison Townsend was originally published in an issue of Cimarron Review. Jerald Walker’s “Breathe” was featured in New England Review 40.3.

Green Mountains Review Launches Social Distance Reading Series

Social Distance Reading Series poetsLiterary magazine Green Mountains Review has partnered with the Vermont School to highlight writers whose book launches have been “snuffed out” by the COVID-19 pandemic.

They post new videos to their Social Distance Reading Series twice a week on Wednesday and Sunday so that authors can read from their newly released collections of poetry. Right now the focus is on writers whose book events were cancelled in the months of January through May.

You can currently find readings by Chard deNiord, Kathryn Nuernberger, Felicia Zamora, Philip Metres, Tommye Blount, Penelope Crazy, and Matthew Lipman.

Internet Archive Launches National Emergency Library

Last week Internet Archive launched the National Emergency Library which contains 1.4 million digitized books to serve the needs of students, educators, and learners. This means that they have suspended the waitlists, at least through June 30. This allows students to have the access they need to assigned readings and other library materials.

Brewster Kahle, founder of Internet Archive, says, “Think of this as a huge experiment. In one big push, we can improve online learning and its infrastructure in a way that may otherwise have taken years. This crisis encourages universities to be bold, to make investments that ultimately may mean many more students can benefit. Perhaps 500 undergraduates can fill a hall at MIT, but how many millions can take an online MIT course, once the books, materials and lessons are online?”

The library brings together all the books from Phillips Academy Andover and Marygrove College with much of Trent University’s collections. There is also over a million other books donated by other libraries to readers worldwide. Yes, worldwide. The timeline for the waitlist is timed to the crisis in the U.S., but readers all over the world are able to utilize this collection.

This launch has met with much criticism from the publishing community and writers. In a recent NPR article, it has been revealed that many writers and publishers say that the Internet Archive has been sharing full digital copies of books without permission before the establishment of this new library. The Authors Guild, which provides legal assistance to writers, stated the Internet Archive “tramples on authors’ rights by giving away their books to the world” without permission.

They recommend utilizing your own local libraries and their own e-book lending platforms instead.

Fates Intertwine in Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House

Ninth House by Leigh BardugoBook Review by Ken Brosky

Galaxy “Alex” Stern has been given a free ride to Yale, despite a shady past and nonexistent high school grades. Why? Because she can see ghosts, and one of Yale’s secret societies has use of her unique gift. If that’s not enough to get you interested, how about this: in the first 20 pages, the society Skull and Bones has already opened up a living man’s body to perform a ritual designed to pick winning stocks. That’s just a taste of the incredible creativity that awaits readers as Alex investigates the strange goings-on of the secret societies, searching for answers to a suspicious murder.

Leigh Bardugo’s writing style shifts perspective with ease, moving between two main characters whose fates are intertwined. But what sets this book apart is the incredible creativity. Each secret society in Yale practices a form of magic, with consequences that go beyond the campus. It’s difficult to come up with something new in the fantasy genre, but Bardugo’s twisted imagination succeeds so well that this book is impossible to put down.

The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. Flatiron Books, October 2019.

About the reviewer: Ken Brosky teaches English, plays guitar, and works in his woodshop when he’s not busy writing. He is short stories have been published in The Portland Review, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, among others. He’s currently represented by agent Sandra Sawicka, and they’re working on a mystery novel.

That’s Some (Weird) Pig!

Weird Pig Robert Long ForemanSoutheast Missouri State University Press may have their orders closed at the moment, but you can still learn about their forthcoming titles. In October 2020, they’ll publish Weird Pig by Robert Long Foreman, winner of the 2018 Nilsen Prize for a First Novel.

Although it’s his first novel, Foreman has made his mark by winning Pleiades Press’s Robert C. Jones Prize for Short Prize with his collection of essays Among Other Things and by winning a Pushcart Prize for fiction.

Find out more about the 2018 competition at SEMO Press’s website. And if you’re interested at trying your own luck at entering the Nilsen Prize for a First Novel, you have plenty of time—submissions close in November.

Sheila-Na-Gig Editions Announce New Titles

Up Late Reading Birds of America coverSheila-Na-Gig Editions, publisher of online lit mag Sheila-Na-Gig online, is not just celebrating the release of two new titles Robert DeMott’s collection of prose poems, Up Late Reading Birds of America, and Barbara Sabol’s Imagine a Town) but also two new titles in the hopper.

First they have their first-ever fiction title. This will be a re-release of John Bullock’s novel Mark Small: This is Your Life. It was previously titled Making Faces. This is a coming-of-age story set at the British seaside.

The winner of their Spring Poetry Contest, Kari Gunter-Seymour, has agreed to let them publish her forthcoming chapbook A Place So Deep Inside America It Can’t Be Seen. Stay tuned for more information on these titles and grab a copy of their current releases.

Oh, and don’t forget their Poetry Manuscript Contest is open through July 1 annually.

Best Microfiction 2020

Best Microfiction 2020Mark your calendars! The Best Microfiction 2020 anthology is slated for release this April from Pelekinesis Press. The series is edited by Meg Pokrass and Gary Fincke. The guest editor this year was Michael Martone.

Featured in this edition is work originally published in Cherry Tree, E. Kristin Anderson’s “Ted Cruz Attends a Goldfish Funeral” and Catherine Edmunds’ “Her Wing”; Apple Valley Review, “Teeth” by Tim Fitts; Kenyon Review Online, “Thaddeus Gunn’s “An inventory of the possessions of William Kevin Thompson, Jr., age 19, upon his expulsion from the family residence on October 20, 1971”; Anomaly, “This Is A Comb” by Leila Ortiz; Into the Void, JJ Peña’s “the summer heat feels just like love”; The Sonder Review, CC Russell’s “Caught”; and much more.

Pre-order yourcopy today and support the awesome journals these pieces were originally published in.

NewPages March 2020 Digital eLitPak

The March eLitPak was mailed to our newsletter subscribers yesterday afternoon. Not a subscriber yet? Sign up today to get not only our monthly eLitPak, but also our weekly newsletter full of updates on great lit mags, books, events, and more. Plus, you get early access to calls for submissions and writing contests before they are posted to our site.

View the March 2020 eLitPak Newsletter. Continue reading “NewPages March 2020 Digital eLitPak”

“Social Poetics” Uncovers the Poetry of Everyday Workers

Social Poetics cover“Social Poetics” Uncovers the Poetry of Everyday Workers. By Harris Feinsod. In These Time.

Goldman and Antonio both participated in the Worker Writers School (WWS), founded by poet and activist Mark Nowak, who has offered creative writing workshops with trade unions and social movements since 2005. In Nowak’s stirring new book, Social Poetics, he documents how writing workshops can embolden workers who, to paraphrase Trinidadian historian and writer C.L.R. James, seek to chronicle their own struggles “to regain control over their own conditions of life.”

…Nowak’s work follows in the tradition of Langston Hughes, whose 1947 essay, “My Adventures as a Social Poet,” turned away from lyric poems of individual experience to the poetry of social commitment, poems that “stop talking about the moon and begin to mention poverty, trade unions, color lines and colonies.” Social Poetics relates the history of this tradition: Young English Professor Celes Tisdale and the Abenaki author Joseph Bruchac, for example, created poetry classes in prisons (which included participants in the 1971 Attica uprising).

Zizzle Literary Branches Out in 2020

Zizzle Literary launched as a flash fiction literary magazine for families in 2018. Since its inception, it has morphed into a short story anthology series for readers young and old.

Zizzle Selects coverZizzle is now evolving into a small press and hopes to begin to offer novels, graphic novels, and short story collections in the near future. The first of their new offerings, Zizzle Selects, will be released in June 2020. This anthology for teens features flash fiction stories from previous issues of Zizzle Literary and includes a discussion guide.

Jessica Lind Peterson 2020 Deborah Tall Lyric Essay Book Prize Winner

Jessica Lind PetersonIn December of 2019, Seneca Review announced the winner of its annual Deborah Tall Lyric Essay Book Prize.

Final judge Jenny Boully selected Living Room Horses by Minnesota-based essayist and playwright Jessica Lind Peterson. The book will be published in November 2020.

Finalists:
Vanessa Saunders, The Flat Woman
Dennis James Sweeney, You’re the Woods Too
Nance Van Winckel, Sister Zero

Vote for Your Favorite Lake Covington Couple

Lake Convington coverThe people behind literary magazine Gold Man Review started SMOLDR back in 2018 with the launch of a writing contest for romance stories based around fictional characters living in Lake Covington.

They released Lake Covington on Valentine’s Day this year and are now accepting votes through March 14 for readers to choose their favorite couple. The top three writers whose couples are chosen will receive cash prizes. Grab your copy of the anthology today and vote for your couple.

Oh, and don’t forget that Gold Man Review is currently open to submissions from West Coast writers for their annual issue through May 1.