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Raleigh Review 2020 Flash Fiction Contest Winners

Raleigh Review - Spring 2020The Spring 2020 issue of Raleigh Review features the winner and two runners-up of the 2020 Flash Fiction Contest. The winner received $500 and publication, and the runners-up received Raleigh Review’s standard $15 payment as well as publication. The pieces are set apart in the latest issue with pages bordered in blue for the winner and purple for the runners-up.

Winner
“The Museum of Forgotten Emotions” by Alexander Weinstein

Runners-up
“Cezanne” by Alexander Steele
“The Year of Transformation” by Sarah Hardy

The Raleigh Review Fiction Team served as this year’s judges. The 2020 contest opened on July 1, 2019, so check back this summer for details on the 2021 contest.

Prism Review: Fiction & Poetry Contest Winners

Prism Review HomepagePrism Review has announced their 2020 contest winners!

Short Fiction: Alan Sincic, “Porter Must Be Stopped”
Judge Aurelie Sheehan: ” “Porter Must Be Stopped” could not be stopped. The language tumbles and collides and crests and takes a breath and rolls in again, and somehow all the world is poised and spinning on the fingertip of a storyteller for our pleasure. The story relies on and is in service to beauty—it conjures beauty out of thin air.”

Poetry: Anna Sandy-Elrod, “Only Two”
Judge Michelle Brittan Rosado: “In “Only Two,” the speaker transforms the difficulty of communicating into a charmingly awkward dance of pairs. These (mis)matchings include the Spanish and Portuguese spoken respectively by the customer and shopkeeper; the unnamed city’s buildings appearing “blue against blue, pink against cream”; and the imagined “two small cups on a plate” as metaphor for the speaker and their lover. This poet reminds us of the inadequacy of language to capture the true experience, even as it assures us that we can be both “failed and triumphant.” ”

Both winners receive $250 and will be published in the next issue. The editors thank all the entrants—the decisions were not easy!

Calling all censors!

Tennessee libraries bill graphicTennessee Becomes Second State to Propose ‘Parental Review Boards’ for Public Libraries. Publishers Weekly.

The controversial bills propose to give elected “parental review boards” the power to decide which “age-appropriate” materials can be accessible to minors within a public library, with librarians who don’t comply with the board’s decisions subject to prison time.

“Public librarians around the country are often put in the uncomfortable position of standing up for free speech in their own institutions, and refusing to take down a book simply become some members of the community object,” Tager said. “Apparently the sponsors of this Act feel that this should be treated as criminal conduct when it’s actually librarians simply doing their jobs.”

 

7 Writers to Rediscover This March

women's history month graphic7 Writers to Rediscover This March. Powell’s City of Books Blog.

Women authors, particularly queer authors and authors of color, have frequently been relegated to the dustbin of history while their male contemporaries have been added to the Western canon and taught in classrooms ad infinitum. Some women are successful in their lifetimes, but, overshadowed by their male contemporaries, fall out of print and the collective consciousness after their deaths. Others languish in obscurity during their most prolific years and find recognition only at the end of their lives; or, they are recognized posthumously, when the mores of society catch up with them.

In celebration of Women’s History Month, here are seven authors who were underappreciated in their lifetimes, or who were forgotten and deserve to be better known.

What does the Future Hold for Literary Magazines?

The Writer talks to editors of literary magazines to gain insight into the future of publishing in “What does the future look like for literary magazines?”

The problem is that more people want to get published than want to read.

Print journals have seen a decrease in subscriptions which has cut into already minuscule budgets to produce issues and pay writers. But while subscription numbers can be seen decreasing…submissions are on the upswing.

Take a look at what current editors of both online and print magazines have to say about trying to stay afloat in the precarious world of literary publishing and foraying not only into online-only content, but into other ventures to keep their journals alive.

The Gettsyburg Review – Autumn 2019

Gettysburg Review - Autumn 2019The Autumn 2019 issue of The Gettysburg Review offers readers a great selection of poetry and prose as usual, from Alice Friman’s “Hygiene,” which utilizes breasts as a way to measure time and maturity in a sort of tongue-in-cheek way, to the 55-part essay “A Brief Account of Certain Left-Leaning Tendencies” by Valerie Sayers which highlights her father by using the word “left,” to digestible words of wisdom in three poems by Joyce Sutphen.

But what really left me enamored was the art feature. Nine paintings by Anne Siems grace the pages and cover of this issue. The portraits are whimsical and magical, using creative patterns and images of nature to create portraits that draw viewers in. More little details pop out the longer one looks. People become one with nature—mushrooms cloud around a body in “We Are All Connected,” animal heads sprout from hands like puppets in “Beasts,” antlers grow from the head of an animal-surrounded girl in “Eve Dreams of a Wolf.” These works are gorgeous and give readers a good reason to stick around within the pages of this issue long after they’ve gotten their share of words.

Advice for the AWP Newbie from an AWP Oldie

brevity blog awp graphicAdvice for the AWP Newbie from an AWP Oldie. By Suzanne Roberts, Brevity Blog.

Pace Yourself. Put together a schedule of things you want to attend, but don’t try to go to a panel in every time slot. Shoot for no more than two panels a day, and try to hit the keynote readings. I can’t tell you how happy I am that I got to see people like W.S. Merwin, Seamus Heaney, Grace Paley, and Dereck Walcott read now that they are gone.  Seeing these luminaries was more memorable than those times I went to a 26-person marathon reading in a crowded bar with bad free beer…

 

2019 Constance Rooke Creative Nonfiction Prize Winner

The Malahat Review - Winter 2019The Malahat Review annually hosts the Constance Rooke Creative Nonfiction Prize. The editors consider submissions of “a genre that embraces, but is not limited to, the personal essay, memoir, narrative nonfiction, social commentary, travel writing, historical accounts, and biography, all enhanced by such elements as description, dramatic scenes, dialogue, and characterization.” The Winter 2019 issue features the 2019 winner, chosen by Judge Yasuko Thanh: “Bat Reign” by Jeanette Lynes.

In an interview, Thanh said she was looking for “A story with a heartbeat, the ring of truth; to be surprised on every page with turn of phrase, or metaphor, or image so apt it’s breathtaking. Insight. A climactic “punchline” in the sense that its timing is perfectly paced and creates a resolution as inevitable as unexpected.”

Pick up a copy of the Winter 2019 issue of The Malahat Review to see how Lynes meets these expectations with “Bat Reign,” and check back in May of this year for details on the 2020 prize.

Don’t be afraid to let children read graphic novels.

new kid graphicDon’t be afraid to let children read graphic novels. They’re real books. By Karen MacPherson, Washington Post.

The kids are on board with comics, and so are many publishers, librarians, teachers and literary award givers. I’m hopeful that still-reluctant parents and educators are coming around. Whenever I encounter resistance, I think of what Robin Brenner, teens librarian at the Public Library of Brookline, Mass., and founder of the “No Flying No Tights” website, said: “Comics are not intended to replace prose. They are just one way to tell a story. But they can be as demanding, creative, intelligent, compelling, and full of story as any book.”

A dirty secret: you can only be a writer if you can afford it

make money writing graphicA dirty secret: you can only be a writer if you can afford it

When students ask me for advice with regard to how to “make it as a writer”, I tell them to get a job that also gives them time and space somehow to write; I tell them find a job that, if they still have it 10 years from now, it wouldn’t make them sad. I worry often that they think this means I don’t think their work is worthy; that I don’t believe they’ll make it in the way that they imagine making it, but this advice is me trying help them sustain themselves enough to make the work I know they can.

Orson’s Review has a New Website

Orson's Review screenshotBiannual online literary magazine Orson’s Review has a new website. It was formerly included on the website of parent company Orson’s Publishing, but has now branched off on its own.

The new site has a nice, minimalist design to highlight the work published.

All the archives have moved as well so you can read issues one through three on the new site. Plus, you can read interviews with contributors. Don’t forget to subscribe to receive notifications when Issue 4 is released soon.

NewPages Bookstore & Library Mailing Lists

NewPages mailing listsPlanning on marketing your book to indie bookstores and libraries this spring? Let us help you get started. NewPages offers digital and physical mailing lists to bookstores, libraries, and newspapers within the United States. With a new, lower rate on our digital lists and guaranteed delivery to postal addresses, our lists are a great value and a big help getting your book into the hands of booksellers and readers across the country. Visit our website to learn more.

14th Mudfish Poetry Prize Winner & Honorable Mentions

Mudfish - January 2020The newest issue of Mudfish features the winner and honorable mentions of the 14th Mudfish Poetry Prize. The 2019 judge was John Yau.

Winner
“Fluencies” by Mark Wagenaar

Honorable Mentions
“Not Yet Across” by G. Hanlon
“Crossing Lake Pontchartrain” by Stokes Howell

The 15th Mudfish Poetry Prize is currently open until March 15 and will be judged by poet and novelist Erica Jong.

Patti Smith awarded PEN Award

Patti Smith jpg2020 PEN/Audible Literary Service Award: Patti Smith. Pen America.

Patti Smith is a writer, performer, and visual artist. She gained recognition in the 1970s for her revolutionary merging of poetry and rock. She has release 12 albums, including Horses, which has been hailed as one of the top 100 albums of all time by Rolling Stone.

Smith had her first exhibit of drawings at the Gotham Book Mart in 1973 and was represented by the Robert Miller Gallery for three decades. Her retrospective exhibitions include the Andy Warhol Museum, the Fondation Cartier, and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Her books include Just Kids, winner of the National Book Award in 2010, Witt, Babel, Woolgathering, The Coral Sea, Auguries of Innocence, M Train, and Devotion.

2020 Rainbow Book List

Rainbow Book ListRainbow Book List – GLBTQ Books for Children & Teens

The Rainbow Book List Committee is proud to announce the 2020 Rainbow Book List. The List is a curated bibliography highlighting books with significant gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning content, aimed at children and youth from birth to age 18. This list is intended to aid youth and those working with youth in selecting high-quality books published in the United States of America between July 1, 2018 and December 31, 2019.

This year, our committee has noticed an abundance of genre fiction, as well as books whose plots do not revolve around anxiety concerning a queer character’s identity. Micro trends that we’ve noticed this year have been books about birds or with birds in the title, and books about queer witches. We’ve also seen an increase in books with non-binary, asexual-spectrum, and bisexual characters.

 

“Poet Laureate? Poet Illiterate? What?”

Luis J Rodriguez poet laureateDoes poetry matter? L.A.’s former poet-in-chief Luis J. Rodriguez explains why it’s life changing. Los Angeles Times.

Confusion aside, I felt it was about time “poet laureate” became a household term. The United States now has more poet laureates than ever before. There are poet laureates for states, counties, cities, communities, small towns, and Native American reservations (Luci Tapahonso became the first poet laureate of the Diné Nation). Claudia Castro Luna, a Salvadoran American, served as Seattle’s poet laureate and later held the same post for Washington state. Two Xicanx poets, Laurie Ann Guerrero and Octavio Quintanilla, did the same for San Antonio. Sponsored by New York City–based Urban Word, there is also a Los Angeles Youth Poet Laureate (I helped pick two of them) and the first ever National Youth Poet Laureate, eighteen-year-old Amanda Gorman.

…It’s hard to figure out poetry’s worth when there is a hierarchy of “values” hanging over our heads determined not by nature or skill but by powerful men in the publishing, media, and political industries — entities that are about making money. I’m not talking about family values or cool traits. I’m talking net worth, the bottom line: “If it don’t make dollars, it don’t make sense.”

If that’s the case, poetry should perish.

 

$2 million book deals about the Trump administration are anything but brave

$2 million book deals about the Trump administration are anything but brave. Vox.

The book publishing industry has many problems, but the one I find most chilling as a former book editor who now reports in the industry is that people who have vital information about our democracy are rewarded for putting such info in books rather than coming forward.

For book lovers such as myself, the silver lining of Trump’s election was the possibility that readers would be looking for escapism and big ideas in art. So it’s particularly demoralizing to watch publishers package the ongoing debasement of our country as entertainment. If Trump’s best political weapon is being at the apex of an infotainment media system that is consumed like cable news, then publishers aren’t obligated to play his game.

Poem: At Least

Poem: At Least. By Ha Jin. Selected by Naomi Shihab Nye. New York Times Magazine.

In a wry poem of direct counsel, Ha Jin dismisses obligatory mingling and networking. He’s talking to himself or to any of us, as the poem quietly advises and reasons. “A Distant Center,” Ha Jin’s profoundly appealing collection of poems written in Chinese, then translated by the author into English, contains so many breathtaking cleanses-of-spirit — begone bombast and posturing! Reading it is better than going to a spa. The title of this poem adds another encouraging nod to the topic. We may not know everything, but “at least” this.

“…Look, this skyful of stars,
which one of them
doesn’t shine or die alone?
Their light also comes
from a deep indifference.”

‘Real censorship’: Roxane Gay responds to American Dirt death threat row

Roxane Gay jpg‘Real censorship’: Roxane Gay responds to American Dirt death threat row. The Guardian.

The author argues the debate around Jeanine Cummins’ controversial novel shows how people are threatened for ‘daring to have opinions’

Gay, who explained that she receives death threats every week, and pays for a security service to monitor and protect her, said that it was “important to acknowledge the death threats people receive for daring to have opinions, for daring to be black or brown or queer or disabled or women or trans or any marginalised identity”.

“People need to realise what real censorship looks like. They need to understand how unsafe it can be to challenge authority and the status quo,” she said. “These are not things that should be taken lightly, nor should this level of harassment be dismissed as mere trolling. You never know when one of those so-called trolls is going to take his rage from the internet into the physical world.”

How to Raise a Reader

How to Raise a Reader jpgHow to Raise a Reader (Does Anyone Actually Know?) BookRiot.

From what I can tell, the advice from these books can be distilled into three main points. One, read to your children, all the time, for as long as you can (even after they can read for themselves). Two, surround them with books and make books easily accessible. Borrow books from the library, buy books new, buy books secondhand, whatever it is — just have books at home. And three, model reading to them. One of the best ways to raise readers is to be a reader yourself, and let your child see that.

But thinking about these tips and advice also made me wonder: how effective are these tips? Can readers be made or are they born? The rest of these musings are exactly that: musings based on anecdotes and in no way on rigorous scientific research but it’s interesting to ponder.

NewPages February 2020 Digital eLitPak

NewPages has sent out our monthly digital eLitPak to current newsletter subscribers yesterday afternoon. Not a subscriber yet? Sign up here: npofficespace.com/newpages-newsletter/.

Besides our monthly eLitPak featuring fliers from literary magazines, independent presses, and creative writing programs and events, we have a weekly newsletter filled with submission opportunities, literary magazines, new titles, reviews, and more.

Check out the current eLitPak below. You can view the original newsletter email here. Continue reading “NewPages February 2020 Digital eLitPak”

Trans Representation in Film & TV

Disclosure LGBTQ documentary“Disclosure”: Groundbreaking Documentary Examines a Century of Trans Representation in Film & TV. Democracy Now.

The documentary examines the depiction of transgender people in television and film for more than a century, from the 1914 silent film A Florida Enchantment to the Oscar-winning 1999 film Boys Don’t Cry to the new hit television series Pose. Through in-depth interviews with transgender actors, activists and writers, the documentary reveals the way Hollywood and the media both manufacture and reflect widespread misunderstandings and prejudices against trans people. The film also champions the trans people in film and television who have fought and are fighting tirelessly for accurate and dignified representation on screen.

… There is a lack of historical context for trans people, which we actually see in the legislation, as well. There’s this notion that it’s a new phenomenon, that trans people are a sudden trend that need to be combated, because we have this continual historical forgetting. We don’t know our own past. We don’t know that we’ve been around, because we don’t get to see those images.

Science as Story

Creative Nonfiction Fall 2019 coverIn their recent newsletter, literary magazine Creative Nonfiction has announced a new series of events launching this spring called Science as Story. The best part of this series is that these events will be free thanks to the support from the Fisher Fund of the Pittsburgh Foundation.

From March to May, five scientists will visit Pittsburgh to give public lectures. If you aren’t a local to the area, these will also be available as webinars! Each of these scientist writers will also participate in intimate conversations along with Q&As to discuss the craft of writing.

Plus, they will also be running a six-week writing workshop for scientists who are itching to tell their stories.

Featured authors in this series are Azra Raza, Amanda Little, Dawn Raffel, Danielle Ofri, and Ruth Kassinger. Visit their website to learn more.

Bookselling and Liberation

Bookselling and Liberation: Black Bookstores in America, from the ’60s to the Present. American Booksellers Association 2020 Winter Institute keynote event.

“These Black radical bookstores were part of a larger movement,” said Davis, and they emerged from social movements in the ’60s and ’70s, including civil rights, Black power, feminism, environmentalism, and the peace movement.

… “Our core is from that era because it represents us, and we’re very eager to share that with young people because it was written with them in mind,” she said. “People who were incredibly oppressed wrote for the next generation. And so, a good bookseller makes sure that the next generation gets access to what was left behind for them.”

 

Caribbean region needs publishers

Caribbean region needs publishers. Caribbean Life. The state of publishing in the Caribbean has regressed to the conditions of the 1940s, and apart from Barbados, anglophone Caribbean governments give short shrift to the literary arts.

So says Vincentian and leading Caribbean novelist and literary critic, Dr. Nigel Thomas, who while complimenting Barbados at a recent awards function for its vibrancy in promoting the arts, said the island has far to go for greater organisation in permanently recognising its outstanding artistes.

… Thomas who lives in Quebec and is author of 11 books and five novels contends that the absence of recognition for creators in literary arts is part of a bigger problem in the English-speaking Caribbean where those who pen from their imagination have little or no publishing opportunities.

Ascent ascends

Ascent magazine coverLocal literary magazine Ascent ascends under new editorial management. Inforum.

After thousands of submissions and hundreds of pieces of work published for the world to enjoy, a fresh mind and eye is taking over the local literary magazine Ascent. As of January, W. Scott Olsen, an English professor at Concordia College in Moorhead and the author of several books, has stepped back from his role as editor-in-chief of the literary magazine — handing over the reins to colleague Vincent Reusch.

Ascent currently publishes online, with a few hard-copy issues printed each year; however, Reusch is hoping to bring back a regular schedule of printing submitted work.

To submit work, or to read pieces by other authors, visit the magazine’s website at readthebestwriting.com.

Adventures in Publishing Outside the Gates

publishing-industry-small.jpegAdventures in Publishing Outside the Gates by Wendy C. Ortiz. Gay Mag. It can be a long road to publication when signing with a big five publisher. Editors come and go. Books get put on hold for a variety of reasons. Here was a small press publisher who wanted to publish this book the following year. No big publisher could do that. I had no faith at that point that anyone would give me a second look — they already hadn’t. I wanted to hold out for the editors who never responded to my agent, still hopeful I’d get a chance with a big publisher with what would be my first book, but I was learning they never would.

… I wonder about an industry that wants to pay seven figures for a fictional book about sexual abuse. I wonder about an industry that is constantly taken to task for perpetuating white supremacy in its mostly-white field, from receptionist to first reader to editor to CEO.

…My story is just one example of how the publishing industry works. Gatekeepers have kept me, and so many others, out. Now is the time to call out the publishing industry (as we have, as we do, as we keep having to do) for its racism and small-mindedness about who gets published and who does not; who gets massive advances and who does not.

Why Book Reviewing Isn’t Going Anywhere

Why Book Reviewing Isn’t Going Anywhere. The American Scholar. Now an assistant professor of sociology at McMaster University in Ontario, Chong researches how fiction book reviews come to fruition, trying to solve the puzzle of why some books get reviewed and why so many more are ignored. Her new book, Inside the Critics’ Circle: Book Reviewing in Uncertain Times makes the case for the persistence of old-guard professional criticism even in the Internet age.

… reading, especially literary novels—which is what I focus on—has always been practiced by a really elite group of people, and these are often people who are invested in the idea of reading as a way to understand the world around us. People don’t just read reviews to find books to buy, they also read reviews to learn about what ideas are circulating in the culture.

… But to go back to the idea of authenticity and trust, this is just as much if not more of an issue for reviews on places like Goodreads and Amazon. Who is booklover123? Is it the author’s aunt? Agent? An ex-student who feels he deserved an “A”?

The Veterans Writing Project

writing-war.jpgThe Veterans Writing Project. Writers Digest.  …When he got back to the States he tried conventional talk therapy. He tried medication. He drank. He got a dog named Harry. None of it was getting the PTSD symptoms in the box. He went to a community writing workshop at Walter Reed [medical center], part of Operation Homecoming, and the writing actually helped.

So he went to Johns Hopkins with his GI bill and got an MA in creative writing, with a double concentration in fiction and nonfiction. He wrote his memoir [Seriously Not All Right: Five Wars in Ten Years (Schaffner Press)] as his thesis. Then he decided that he wanted to give back and create a nonprofit that would offer creative writing skills to veterans and family members, regardless of why they wanted to tell their stories—whether it was for expressive and therapeutic purposes, to leave it in a box for the grandkids, or get something published.

Raymond Carver and the Night of the Living Bukowski

Raymond Carver and the Night of the Living Bukowski. Los Angeles Review of Books.

“Nothing about Carver stood out as remarkable at the time. Indeed, he gave the impression of someone who did not want to be noticed, sitting not at the head of the conference table like other visiting poets but on the side with the students, slouched in his chair, hiding behind dark glasses and a scrim of smoke. When prompted by our teacher, Morton Marcus, to talk about his work and to give advice to the table of young, aspiring poets, Carver mumbled through a couple of poems and said something about keeping after it and not giving up. Then he lit another cigarette.

…But as Maderos remembered it, in spite of all Bukowski’s bravado, the mix of students and faculty and town poets in this elite academic environment seemed to have thrown the poet off his game, as he rushed his lines or threw the best ones away. And yet The New Yorker writer William Finnegan, another UCSC undergraduate at the time, recalled loving the event, finding Bukowski more literary than he had expected and, most certainly, larger than life.”

Margaret Atwood’s New Poetry

Margaret-Atwood-new-poetry-book.jpgMargaret Atwood to publish first collection of poetry in over a decade. The Guardian.

Margaret Atwood is set to publish her first collection of poetry in over a decade, an exploration of “absences and endings, ageing and retrospection” that will also feature werewolves, aliens and sirens.

After jointly winning the Booker prize with Bernardine Evaristo last year for her bestselling sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, The Testaments, Atwood’s publisher said today that the 80-year-old Canadian author’s next book would be Dearly. Out in November, the collection will be Atwood’s first book of poetry since 2007’s The Door.

Smorgasbords Don’t Have Bottoms

nplus1-article.jpgSmorgasbords Don’t Have Bottoms. N+1 magazine. A long read touching on Borders, Amazon, the Kindle, indie bookstores, ebooks, audiobooks, Barnes & Noble, conglomerate publishing, Trump books, the end of fact-checking and editing, Goodreads, indie publishers, and more.

“… there is a giant constellation of books being produced by America’s independent publishers, carefully edited and intelligently marketed, that are worth reading. Though they face long odds and ghastly profit margins (n+1 barely breaks even on books we sell through Amazon), in a destabilized media environment, books published by independents often get the same degree of press as those with six-figure marketing budgets, their impact on the culture wildly disproportionate to their authors’ and publishers’ limited means.”

Pause and Effect

punctuation.jpgThe past and future of punctuation marks. History Matters magazine.

We send each other millions of faces each day, hoping to press complex emotional tones into waywardly arranged punctuation marks: a colon, a dash, half a bracket, closed if happy, open if sad. This seems like a radical reinvention of these marks, yet the real leap of thought happened much earlier.

In classical times there were no punctuation marks or spaces between words. Since punctuation determines sense (‘Let’s eat, Grandpa’ versus ‘Let’s eat Grandpa’)…

On the Hatred of Literature

hatred of literature.pngOn the Hatred of Literature. The Point, Issue 21. … Nearly giving way to what seemed to me at the time (but not now) an embarrassing overflow of emotion, she accused the professors of “hating” literature. We had become English majors in the first place, she went on, not because novels and poems told us interesting things about history or politics but because they made us feel less alone, captivated us with their beauty, helped us to better know ourselves and the world. The professors, as far as I can remember, responded politely: after all, the student was only a sophomore. She would learn.

Chinese Literature Today Celebrates 10 Years

Chinese Literature Today - Volume 8 Number 2Back at the end of August 2019, Chinese Literature Today celebrated its tenth anniversary. During the past ten years, the journal—a sister publication to World Literature Today—has published sixteen issues of Chinese work and culture. With their latest issue, the editors have chosen to celebrate by publishing “the first ever CLT special section on contemporary Chinese theater.”

In this feature, readers will find over fifty pages of work, including “Boundary-Crossing Experiments: Ecology of the Shanghai Avant-Garde Theater in the New Century” by Zhai Yueqin, translated by Josh Stenberg; an examination of experimental theater by Ding Luonan, translated by Nienyuan Cheng; an interview with Li Jing by Liu Hongtao, translated by David N. C. Hull; and more.

2019 Writer’s Block Prize in Fiction Winner

The Louisville Review - Fall 2019Winners of Louisville Literary Arts’ annual Writer’s Block Prize are published in The Louisville Review. The Fall 2019 issue includes the winner of the 2019 prize: “The Things We Leave Behind” by Aimée Lehmann.

Lehmann’s fiction was selected by 2019 judge Garth Greenwell. In addition to publication, Lehmann also received a $500 prize for her winning piece. The 2020 Writer’s Block Prize is open during the summer months, so stay tuned for updates on this year’s deadline.

2019 SRPR Editor’s Prize Winners

Spoon River Poetry Review - Winter 2019Spoon River Poetry Review’s Winter 2019 issue features the 2019 SRPR Editors’ Prize winner and runners-up.

Winner
“The Mammoth Steppe” by Mirande Bissell

Runners-Up
“I Thought I Was the Scream that Woke Me” by Abigail McFee
“After  weeks apart” by Alex Chertok
“Burning the Field” by Mitchell Untch
“Evolution” by Andrea Deeken
“Hoodoos” by Robin Rosen Chang
“Arizona” by Harry Bauld

Final Judge Rachel Webster introduces Bissell’s work and explains her choice, stating, “And maybe what I appreciate most about this poem is the fact that it introduces me to a speaker, a family and a landscape that are new to me, and piercingly vivid.” This year’s contest is currently open until April 15.

Get the NewPages Winter 2020 LitPak

NewPages will be mailing our annual Winter LitPak the week of February 10. LitPaks are sent to colleges and universities with both graduate and undergraduate programs and classes.

Don’t know what a LitPak is yet?

NewPages LitPak EnvelopeLitPaks are 9×12 envelopes containing fliers from literary magazines, independent and university presses, writing conferences and events, as well as creative writing programs. You can learn about new titles, new issues, calls for submissions, writing and book contests, upcoming application deadlines, new events, and more.

While NewPages won’t be handing out these LitPaks at AWP this year, you can still get your own copy delivered right to your doorstep. The cost for the Winter LitPak is only $5 – the price of shipping ($10 if you live in Canada).

Subscribe here: npofficespace.com/litpak/subscription/.

2019 Kenyon Review Short Fiction Contest Winners

Kenyon Review - January/February 2020Grab the first Kenyon Review issue of the year for the winners of the 2019 Kenyon Review Short Fiction Contest.

Winner
“Brown Girls” by Daphne Palasi Andreades

Runners-up
“Solitaria” by Emily Everett
“You Break It, You Own It” by Susan Falco

Fiction Editor Kirsten Reach introduces the three selections. Be sure to check this intro out for Judge Mia Alvar’s thoughts on her choices. Also not to be missed is the cover art for this issue, a literary illustration by Milan-based illustrator Emiliano Ponzi.

2019 SRPR Editors’ Prize Winner

Spoon River Poetry Review - Winter 2019Spoon River Poetry Review’s Winter 2019 issue features the 2019 SRPR Editors’ Prize winner and runners-up.

Winner
“The Mammoth Steppe” by Mirande Bissell

 

Runners-Up
“I Thought I Was the Scream that Woke Me” by Abigail McFee
“After  weeks apart” by Alex Chertok
“Burning the Field” by Mitchell Untch
“Evolution” by Andrea Deeken
“Hoodoos” by Robin Rosen Chang
“Arizona” by Harry Bauld

Final Judge Rachel Webster introduces Bissell’s work and explains her choice, stating, “And maybe what I appreciate most about this poem is the fact that it introduces me to a speaker, a family and a landscape that are new to me, and piercingly vivid.” This year’s contest is currently open until April 15.

Masters Review: New Writing on the Net

Masters Review: New Writing on the Net January 2020.

“In our first edition of New Writing on the Net for 2020, The Masters Review reader Nicole VanderLinden shares her suggestions for your weekend reading list, all selected from the best new writing published online in the previous month! Happy new year!”

Featured this month is fiction from Grist Online, Lunch Ticket, JuxtaProse, Juked, SmokeLong Quarterly, Hobart, and Crack the Spine.

Does Reading Really Improve Your Writing?

reading-and-writing.jpgDoes Reading Really Improve Your Writing?

While our literature professors may have embedded this idea in our heads since middle school, the relationship between reading and writing is not as straightforward as it may seem. Yes, they are obviously closely related. But, it does not mean your interaction with one will affect your skill in the other.

As someone who has written for several organizations, newspapers and magazines for a fair amount of time and can barely get through half a book, I never understood the basis of this concept. And so, trying to decipher it was like a roller coaster ride.

Brevity blog: Seven Stages of Submittable

Alison-Lowenstien-at-Brevity-Blog.jpeg“Seven Stages of Submittable” by Alison Lowenstein, Brevity Blog.

Submitting:

After meticulously crafting a brief cover letter and biographical statement, you upload your work of creative genius, along with a twelve-dollar submission fee. You press submit and enter a period of limbo when you see the essay, along with your many other submissions–ranging from haikus to flash fiction, logged as Received.

Dreaming:

Every evening you visit the web page for the literary journal you submitted to and imagine yourself on their homepage. Fantasizing that within minutes of the essay being on the journal’s website you get a book deal or at least an inquiry from a literary agent… [Read full blog post]

The New Guard 2019 Contest Winners

The New Guard - 2019The New Guard Volume VIII features the winners of the Machigonne Fiction Contest and Knigtville Poetry Contest, as well as the contests’ finalists and semi-finalists.

Machigonne Fiction Contest
Judge Rick Moody
“The View From Beachy Head” by Thos. West

Knigtville Poetry Contest
Judge Patricia Smith
“Once Upon a Time” by Damen O’Brien

In addition to the winners, finalists, and semi-finalists, the issue also features a section of eleven letters to writers’ younger selves.

“What You Need to Be Warm” by Neil Gaiman

neil-gaiman

“What You Need to Be Warm” – Neil Gaiman Reads His Humanistic Poem for Refugees, Composed from a Thousand Definitions of Warmth from Around the World

A century and a half after Walt Whitman wrote, in the middle of a civil war, that “every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you,” Neil Gaiman takes up the question of our shared belonging in a project of uncommon originality.

Frost on the ground that stays in the shadows, waiting for us.
Wear a scarf. Wear a coat. Wear a sweater. Wear socks. Wear thick gloves.
An infant as she sleeps between us. A tumble of dogs,
a kindle of cats and kittens. Come inside. You’re safe now.

Missouri could jail librarians for lending ‘age-inappropriate’ books

jail librarians Jail Librarians… You just can’t make this stuff up!

A Missouri bill intended to bar libraries in the US state from stocking “age-inappropriate sexual material” for children has been described by critics as “a shockingly transparent attempt to legalize book banning” that could land librarians who refuse to comply with it in jail.

Under the parental oversight of public libraries bill, which has been proposed by Missouri Republican Ben Baker, panels of parents would be elected to evaluate whether books are appropriate for children. Public hearings would then be held by the boards to ask for suggestions of potentially inappropriate books, with public libraries that allow minors access to such titles to have their funding stripped. Librarians who refuse to comply could be fined and imprisoned for up to one year.

2019 Rattle Poetry Prize Winner & Finalists

Rattle - Winter 2019Pick up the Winter 2019 issue of Rattle for the Rattle Poetry Prize winner and finalists.

Winner
“Stroke” by Matthew Dickman

Finalists
“Punch Line” by Kathleen Balma
“Bonanza” by Susan Browne
“Mother and Child” by Barbara Lydecker Crane
“Foreign-ness” by Maya Tevet Dayan
“Cathedrals: Ode to a Deported Uncle” by Daniel Arias Gómez
“The Never-Ending Serial” by Red Hawk
“Gender Studies” by Sue Howell
“From Oblivious Waters” by Kimberly Kemler
“Red in Tooth and Claw” by James Davis May
“Self-Portrait, Despite What They Say” by Gabrielle Otero

Along with the winner and finalists, there are twenty-three other poets included in this issue in the “Open Poetry section.”

Caitlin O’Neil Wins Danahy Fiction Prize

Caitlin O'Neil [cropped headshot]The editors of Tampa Review are pleased to announce that Caitlin O’Neil, of Milton, Massachusetts, has won the thirteenth annual Danahy Fiction Prize for her short story entitled “Mark.”  She will receive an award of $1,000, and the story will be published in the forthcoming Spring/Summer issue of Tampa Review.

O’Neil is a graduate of the MFA program at Columbia University and currently teaches in the English Department at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. She says that her winning story came directly from her life experiences as a college professor and as a human being living in America today.

“I watched multiple school shootings unfold on television with sadness and fear,” O’Neil says. “Given the gridlock around gun control, I began to think about what a world that had adjusted to guns and gun violence might look like.”

O’Neil’s story is set in a near-future in which guns become an even more pervasive part of the culture.

Learn more about the winning story and the runners up here: tiny.cc/danahyprize13.