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At the NewPages Blog readers and writers can catch up with their favorite literary and alternative magazines, independent and university presses, creative writing programs, and writing and literary events. Find new books, new issue announcements, contest winners, and so much more!

Poets in Federal Government

The Summer 2012 (13:3) issue of Beltway Poetry Quarterly is themed “Poets in Federal Government” and features 25 poets, all current or former employees of the U.S. Government, writing about their work experience.

This special issue is co-edited by Kim Roberts and Michael Gushue. As Michael Gushue writes in his introduction, “These poems address the niches and pockets of civil service…and the interstices to be found in work, and work’s aftermath.” Writing from the tradition of Walt Whitman (Department of Justice), Paul Lawrence Dunbar (Library of Congress), Georgia Douglas Johnson (Department of Labor), Liam Rector (National Endowment for the Arts), and Joel Barlow (Department of State), the poets in this issue “yoke together their dual vocations and sing just a bit of the office electric.”

Contributors: Susanne Bostick Allen, Nancy Allinson, J.H. Beall, Paulette Beete, Grace Cavalieri, Barbara DeCesare, Carol Dorf, Laura Fargas, Patricia Gray, Paul Hopper, Donald Illich, Jaime Lee Jarvis, Carol J. Jennings, Susan Mahan, Greg McBride, Mark Osaki, Karen Sagstetter, M.A. Schaffner, Pepper Smith, A.B. Spellman, Yermiyahu Ahron Taub, Davi Walders, Terence Winch, Pamela Murray Winters, and Ed Zahniser.

Beltway Poetry Quarterly is an online literary journal and resource bank, showcasing the literary community in Washington, DC and the surrounding Mid-Atlantic region since 2000.

Modern Haiku 2012 Award Winners

Modern Haiku publishes the winners of The Robert Spiess Memorial 2012 Haiku Awards in the most recent issue. The judges, Melissa Allen and Carlos Colón, say “As a memorial to Editor Bob Spiess, who died on March 13, 2002, Modern Haiku sponsors The Robert Spiess Memorial Award Haiku Competition. We are grateful to Modern Haiku for allowing us to judge this year’s entries for the Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Award Competition. The theme for 2012 was to write haiku in the spirit of the following Speculation by Robert Spiess from his book, A Year’s Speculations on Haiku (Modern Haiku Press, 1995):

Haiku have three forms or manifestations: the written, which enters the eye; the spoken, which enters the ear; and the essential … which enters the heart. [Prompted in part by a passage by Sa’in al-Din ibn Turkah.]

There were many excellent haiku that were worthy of commendation. Although it was difficult deciding on the poems for Honorable Mentions, we quickly settled on the three winning poems.”

First Prize
Scott Mason

Second Prize
Duro Jaiye

Third Prize
Susan Constable

Honorable Mentions

Margaret Chula
Michele L. Harvey
Kirsty Karkow
Scott Mason

New Lit on the Block :: Mixitini Matrix

Mixitini Matrix is a new “multigenre, multidisciplinary journal of creative collaboration.” Published twice a year online only, they feature fiction, nonfiction, poetry, short plays, and visual art that has been created by two or more people. Editor Leslie LaChance describes the name of the name of the magazine as the following:

Mixitini – noun. 1. a portmanteau word intended to suggest spirited concoction. 2. a spirited concoction of diminutive proportions.

Matrix – noun. 1. the birthplace of spirited concoction. 2. stuff that dreams are made of. 3. a place where something grows.

Collaboration – noun 1. the state of being in cahoots with. 2. serendipity.

LaChance and the other editor, Mattie Davenport, “are fascinated when creative minds work in collaboration with other creative minds,” says LaChance. “We are charmed by serendipity and awed by creative synergy. Our magazine seeks to celebrate the connectedness of collaborative art in a seemingly fragmented world.” She says that readers can expect to find work from emerging and established writers and artists. “Readers may find a traditional ekphrastic poem or a nature photograph published in the same issue as an experimental media collaboration or an email chain poem. We seek to expand the definition of collaboration, to acknowledge the collaborative in its broadest sense, so we aim to publish work which will do exactly that.”

The first issue features Marilyn Kallet, Wayne White, Brian Griffin, Jack Rentfro, Laura Still, Dorothee Lang, Julia Davies, Steve Wing, Joe Kendrick, Rachel Joiner, JeFF Stumpo, Leonardo Ramirez, Henri Michaux, Darren Jackson, William Henderson and Clint Alexander.

Mixitini Matrix hopes to continue publishing twice a year and possibly moving to quarterly. LaChance says they hope to “eventually offer high quality printed chapbook and broadside editions of our contributors’ work.”

Submissions are accepted until August 31 through Submittable for the next issue. All work should address, in some way, the concept of collaboration.

Paterson Literary Review Poetry Award Winners

The most recent issue of Paterson Literary Review features the winners of the 2010 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards:

First Prize
Rafaella Del Bourgo, Berkeley, CA “Olive Oil”
Kathleen Spivack, Watertown, MA “Their Tranquil Lives”

Second Prize
Joyce Madelon Winslow, Washington, DC “The”
Francine Witte, New York, NY “In My Poems, Sometimes I Have Children”

Third Prize
Kim Farrar, Astoria, NY “The Box”

For a complete list of winners, visit the magazine’s website.

New Lit on the Block :: Paper Nautilus

Paper Nautilus, a new annual print magazine, is named after the tiny species of octopus with the same name. “They’re born by hatching out of very delicate eggs that look like nautilus sea shells,” says Editor-in-Chief Lisa Mangini. “It’s said to be rare to find one of these shells intact, since they’re so fragile. When I learned about this animal, it just seemed like the perfect fit for what I would want in a literary publication: the rare instance of finding something intact, and also the necessity of breaking through the thing that encases us so we can live our lives. It just seemed like the perfect emblem for what a writer does.” She says she wanted to start the literary magazine to create another space “for all that fine work so it could be enjoyed.”

Working with Assistant Poetry Editor Joey Gould, Mangini publishes a variety of poetry and fiction. “We also have a section we call ‘aphorisms,’ which is literature that can be fit into 160 characters or less,” she says. “We’re very open-minded, and make a point of trying to see beyond our own aesthetic and appreciate the strengths and merits of a piece that’s outside our style. And I think most work is also enjoyable for a reader who may not be a writer; the majority of works in Paper Nautilus are accessible to someone who’s just reading for pleasure.”

Mangini says they just launched a chapbook contest and would like to continue with this venture, publishing one to two chapbooks a year. In addition, she thought it would be neat to include a blog about craft, revision, and technique. “We are looking at expanding into digital issues as well,” she says, “but it may be some time before we fully launch that page. But we do have some featured pieces accessible at our website.”

The first issue includes poetry from Carol Berh, Lisa J. Cihlar, Trent Busch, Tobi Cogswell, James Connaster, Gregory Crosby, Barbara Daniels, Lori Desrosiers, Nandini Dhar, William Doreski, Kate Falvey, Marta Ferguson, Lauren Fisk, Ryan Fitzgerald, Ruth Foley, Ian Ganassi, Howie Good, Vivianne Grabinski, George Guida Kyle Hemings, Marianna Hofer, Paul Hostovsky, Nathaniel Hunt, Danielle Jones-Pruett, Tessa Kale, P. Kobylarz, Deirdre LaPenna, Henry W. Leung, Nancy Long, Terry Martin, John McKernan, Michael P. McManus,Colleen Michaels, Raphael Miguel Montes, Rick Murphy, Dianne Nelson Oberhansly, Janet Parlato, Simon Perchik, Marjorie Power, Megan Cowen, Charles Rafferty, Sarah Rizzuto, Jay Rubin, Meredith Sticker, Elizabeth Szewczyk, Meredith Trede, Edwina Trentham, David Walker, Eric Wescott, and William Kelley Woolfitt as well as fiction from Jessica Barksdale, Darren Cormier, James Fowler, Tim Parrish, Jeanette Samuels, Clint Smith, April Sopkin, and Adrian Stumpp.

Submissions are accepted year-round through Paper Nautilus’s online submission manager. Simultaneous submissions are fine as long as the writer withdraws the work upon acceptance elsewhere.

Arc’s 2012 Poems of the Year

In the most recent issue, Arc Poetry Magazine announces and publishes the 2012 Poems of the Year. Editors say, “Our winner’s craft is sound, its music strong, its voice and subject matter compelling. And we think you’ll agree, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer poet.”

Grand Prize: $5,000
Jacob McArthur Mooney: “The Fever Dreamer”

Readers’ Choice
Michael Fraser: “Going to Cape”

Editors’ Choices
Kayla Czaga: “Proposal for the Palace of the Soviets, 1933″ and “Biography of My Father”
Karen Hofmann: “Uses for a Mole”
Michael Eden Reynolds: “Diagnosis”
Renee Sarojini Saklikar “Coda”

Diana Brebner Prize
Lauren Turner: “Engaging the Core”

The Nassau Review 2011 and 2012 Writer Awards

After being on hiatus, The Nassau Review has published their 2012 issue, featuring the work of the 2011 and 2012 writer awards. In the editor’s note, Christina M. Rau says, “Coming back into the lively, chaotic literary scene after a hiatus was tricky, but reading through so many pieces that sparked lively discussions made us believe not only that we could put this journal out, but that this journal would mean something, that literature means something, and that what we do is important. Congratulations to all the artists in these pages and on the cover, especially to the winners of the Writer Awards from both 2011 and 2012.

2011 Poetry Winner
Katie Manning: “Sleeping Beauty’s Mother”

2011 Short Story Winner
Liz Dolan: “What’s Like What”

2012 Flash Fiction Winner
“SOURPUSS”

2012 Prose Poetry Winner

JodiAnn Stevenson: “A Thousand Birds”

Residency: Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts

Applications can now be submitted by visual artists, writers, and composers from across the country and around the world to be considered for a residency at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. Apply online by annual deadlines of March 1 for residencies between July-December and September 1 for residencies in January-June Residencies are available for 2 to 8 weeks stays. Each resident receives a $175 stipend per week, free housing, and a separate studio.

World Literature Today Winners of Readers’ Choice Poll

World Literature Today, in honor of their 350th issue, chose a shortlist of the staff’s favorite pieces that have appeared in the pages of WLT over the past ten years and then gave it over to its readers to vote on the very best. The editors say, “Over 700 readers voted in our online poll, so we extend a hearty “thanks” to all of you for participating and reading!” The work from the winners and nominees can be read on the website.

Essays
Winner: Aleš Debeljak, “In Praise of the Republic of Letters” (March 2009)
Runner-up: George Evans, “The Deaths of Somoza”(May 2007)

Poetry
Winner: Paula Meehan, “In Memory, Joanne Breen” (January 2007)
Runner-up: Pireeni Sundaralingam, “Language Like Birds” (November 2008)

Short Fiction
Winner: Mikhail Shishkin, “We Can’t Go On Living This Way,” tr. Jamey Gambrell (November 2009)
Runner-up: Amitava Kumar, “Postmortem”(November 2010)

Interviews
Winner: Jazra Khaleed interviewed by Peter Constantine (March 2010)
Runner-up: Pireeni Sundaralingam interviewed by Michelle Johnson (March 2009)

Book Reviews
Winner:Warren Motte, review of How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read, by Pierre Bayard (March 2008)
Runner-up: Issa J. Boullata, review of Sadder Than Water, by Samih al-Qasim (September 2007)

subTerrain Supplement

subTerrain‘s new issue, number 61, comes with a supplement–“Okanagan: Spotlight Folio”–which showcases student writing from University of British Columbia Okanagan campus. Professor Michael V. Smith says, “There is no unified sense of style or thematic resonance in these pages. Writing in the Okanagan is hard to sum up.” The folio features four undergrad and three grad students: Kirsten Barkved, Kristin Burns, Lee Hannigan, Dylan Lenz, Clay McCann, Portia Priegert, and Murissa Shalapata.

Ruminate Magazine Contest Winners

The most recent issue of Ruminate Magazine announces the winners of the VanderMey Nonfiction Prize sponsored by Dr. Randall J. Vandermey and judged by Leslie Leyland Fields.

First Place
Jessica Wilbanks: “Father of Disorder”

Second Place
Lili Wright: “Shopping for Virgins”

Honorable Mentions
Colleen Clayton: “Mud Fork Holler”
Bryan Parys: “Shape of a Ghost”

Finalists
Emily Brown: “Seeing What Happens if I Do the Same Thing Over and Over Again”
Tristan Mercado: “Virtually Qualified”
Kaethe Schwehn “Tailings”
Natalie Vestin: “Purple Light in the House of God”
Lori Vos: “A Cloud of Mothers”

New Lit on the Block :: The New Poet

Editor David Svenson says that within the pages of The New Poet, a new online magazine, readers will find “strong, vivid poems that utilize imagistic and narrative styles.”

“As a poet,” says Svenson, “I read to not only discover new work and trends, but also for inspiration. I started The New Poet to witness exciting developments in poetry firsthand and to share these discoveries with others. I also understand the value of encouraging others to keep writing. With three issues a year and a mission to find new and exciting work, The New Poet also serves as inspiration to other writers to push their own limits.”

The first issue features poetry from Wendy Carlisle, Paul Hostovsky, Allie Marini Batts, Andrea Potos, Lana Rakhman, Alexis Sellas, Tim Suermondt, Tim Tomlinson, Theresa Williams, and Axel Wright. And the second issue features Kate Bernadette Benedict, Thomas J. Erickson, Caitlin McLean, Jesse Millner, Sue Morgan, John Palen, Ned Randle, Colin Sargent, Martin Willitts Jr., and Laura Madeline Wiseman.

Currently, The New Poet publishes only poetry–of all kinds–but hopes to include book reviews and interviews in the future. Submissions for issue 3 are currently being accepted through Submittable.

Bookstore Closings & Relocations

The Reader’s Cove in Fort Collins, CO will be closing July 6. The website notice provides a list of reasons why the dream of owning a bookstore did not work out in reality (good insight for anyone who also ‘dreams’ of bookstore ownership: Be careful what you wish for, TRC’s owners say).

Hue Man Bookstore is Harlem (NY) is closing shop in its current location on July 31 and working to determine a ‘future format’ for the store: “So what next? While we are figuring out our amazing bookstore of the future, I will be working on several projects which will focus on giving ethnic writers an advantage in the marketplace. We will continue to be involved in the publishing of books and will ramp up our agency services to writers and publishers alike. Though we can not give you the future in a nutshell, we can tell you that on September 6th 2012 at 7:30Pm we will launch our new event format with Miami Heat Dwayne Wade. Partnering with a state of the art facility we can begin to create the kind of multi-platform customer experience we’ve always imagined. Stay tuned!” [The HMB website is currently offline.]

How Much Editing Can an Editor Do?

How much can an editor edit your work for publication? It all depends on what you agree to in the contract, so read carefully before you sign – if you sign at all. Victoria Straus at Writer Beware Blogs! takes a thorough look at this issue in her post Editing Clauses in Publishing Contracts: How to Protect Yourself. She provides numerous examples of bad contract language and suggestions for protecting yourself and your creative work.

Room 2011 Writing Contest Winners

In Volume 35 Issue 2, Room announces its 2011 Writing Contest winners:

“Fiction judge Amber Dawn selected Rhonda Douglas’s ‘God Explains the Collapse of the Cod Fishery’ for first place. In second place we have a tie: Solveig Mardon’s ‘Deep-Tail Dancer’ and Julie Eill’s ‘There’s Nothing Like that Here.” In the poetry category, judge Elizabeth Bachinsky chose Patricia Young’s ‘Morning Class’ for first place and Crystal Sikma’s ‘Bell’ for second place. Susan Juby, who judged our creative non-fiction entries, selected Jan Redford’s ‘God or Boys’ for first place. ‘An Act of Grace’ by Christine Barbetta took second place.”

Errançities

It’s not just the references to Mad Max in Quincy Troupe’s Errançities which suggest a sense of perpetual collapse. It’s also the rampant amnesia. It’s the ignorance of cultural amnesia, the acknowledgement of this amnesia but having too many of one’s “own vexing / problems, way too many”; it’s the amnesia of important thoughts you fail to record. It’s a desire to be somewhere else, somewhere otherworldly, somewhere “beyond our knowing” where “silence reigns.” It’s a desire to dissociate from the “I” for a while, and to become the “eye” instead. It’s the admission that even you are quick to discard society’s discards. It’s the never-ending cycle of forgetting and reminding. It’s smoothing over the past with a kind of politeness that doesn’t change anything in “these yet to be united states.” Continue reading “Errançities”

Domestic Apparition

A poignant ride through different phases of the protagonist’s life, Domestic Apparition is funny, sarcastic, dark, reflective, and touching. The first few stories are set in Michelle’s domestic life—her resistance to being drafted to school when she is six years old, her awe for her brilliant but eccentric brother’s courage in challenging a strict Catholic teacher in school, her admiration for her older sister’s guts, her parents’ relationship, and her mother’s unfulfilled dreams. Gradually, we move toward her life when she starts living by herself in college with roommates, her tedious job at a Holiday Inn which she is pushed into by her demanding boyfriend, and finally her job in the heart of corporate America. Continue reading “Domestic Apparition”

The Life of an Unknown Man

Andreï Makine, whose Dreams of My Russian Summers won France’s highest literary award, employs his beautifully lyrical style again in The Life of an Unknown Man. Maxine, who was born in Siberia and has lived more than twenty years in France, has set this novel in both Paris and Russia during the siege of Leningrad and Stalin’s purges. In spite of some of the grim details of starvation particularly, the beauty of the prose makes these images dreamlike, almost ephemeral. The sense of humanity at the core abides in two old Russians, one living in Paris and one whom the protagonist meets in Russia, both having lived beyond their generation and thus becoming “unknown.” The span of this novel takes us from literary concerns to love during wartime to the music that kept the Russians going in spite of deprivation. At the end, the reader feels keenly the loss of an unknown but incredible life of survival and the sacrifice of love. Continue reading “The Life of an Unknown Man”

Crossing Borders

In this collection of sixteen essays, Sergio Troncoso writes about family, fatherhood, education, illness, love, politics, religion, social issues, societal responsibility, and writing. He observes that his clear, direct writing about difficult questions “has sometimes condemned [him] in academic circles” and that his writing is also “overlooked by those who never desire to think beyond the obvious and the popular.” Troncoso chronicles his transformation from “a besieged outsider needing a voice” to “an outsider by choice deploying [his] voice,” creating an intellectual borderland from where he tried to push his mind with the philosophical ideas that form the framework of his writing. Continue reading “Crossing Borders”

Talk Poetry

In my own reading experience, nothing beats the first-person account of the interview, offering as it does an essential glimpse into what’s happening in the mind of the subject. As the instigator of responses in this collection, David Baker takes a rather light hand and offers little fleshiness, certainly no blood, yet presents an easygoing introduction to both the poet-as-person as well as the work. Continue reading “Talk Poetry”

I Take Back the Sponge Cake

I Take Back the Sponge Cake almost looks like a children’s book at first glance. But in reality, this book is a whimsical, lyrical adventure that takes you down a different path with every read. Choose-your-own-adventure books are a rare but surprising delight to come across, and this book is no exception. I especially like how abstract the poetry is; it matches the artwork perfectly. Rather than choosing a direction or making an ethical choice at the turn of each page, the reader is given the privilege of choosing a word to fill in the poems themselves. The words are homonyms (for example, weight and wait, or ring and wring), so although they are pronounced the same, the different meanings lend different import to each choice. The readers’ personal styles and lives have an effect on which word they choose, giving them a unique experience. Continue reading “I Take Back the Sponge Cake”

Sudden Death, Over Time

Age and the academy dominate John Rember’s latest collection, Sudden Death, Over Time. Master of the cynical first person male, Rember repeatedly places readers in the context of professors well past their prime, who know that their best choice left is to smirk at the absurdity surrounding their departments, their students, and their love lives and to plod along. Continue reading “Sudden Death, Over Time”

The Cranes Dance

For an allegedly silent art, ballet has inspired many good words. Essays by poet Edwin Denby and critic Arlene Croce are worthy writing workshop handouts. Choreographer Agnes de Mille’s books are histories of dance and America. Jacques d’Amboise’s memoir I Was A Dancer is not only candid; the charming, legendary dancer wrote it as if he was telling his story over coffee. Continue reading “The Cranes Dance”

Wonderful Investigations

A collection is an interesting thing. Traditionally, we can expect to find a collection in some sort of museum setting—a set of archaeological artifacts or art objects that allows the audience to understand another culture. A collection of writing, however, is particularly interesting as it allows a reader to examine an author’s intellectual and aesthetic commitments. In a collection of writing, the reader has more than simply the Objekt to examine or look at; the surrounding context for the author’s intended themes is available to the reader as well. These themes, in turn, become the real collection on display to the reader. In Wonderful Investigations: Essays, Meditations, Tales, author Dan Beachy-Quick amasses quite a cabinet of written curiosities that serve as the basis for his Investigations—a collection that does not seem to argue for a specifically particular point or theme, but, rather, a collection that allows the reader to examine Beachy-Quick’s intellectual and aesthetic commitments to his own treasured authors. Continue reading “Wonderful Investigations”

Richard Outram

Poet and critic Richard Outram was for me one of those writers who occasionally popped up on the periphery of my poetry explorations. I saw him referenced and quoted until I began to wonder who he was. Outram was like one of those neighbors you never introduced yourself to. You passed him or her once or twice a week and waved without an inkling of who they were or what they did. Continue reading “Richard Outram”

Letters from Robots

After reading the title, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this book. It gave me the strange feeling I’d be reading letters, or advice, from the future. Ironically, Salier focuses tremendously on the current so-called Mayan threat of the end of the world. Since we have already lived through a few apocalyptic threats within the last decade or so, it’s refreshing to contemplate the future through the lens of someone who admits that “every friday at 2pm i feel strongly / that i should’ve been an astronaut.” Continue reading “Letters from Robots”

In the Shade of the Shady Tree

John Kinsella’s In the Shade of the Shady Tree: Stories of Wheatbelt Australia should entice the reader who enjoys unusual fiction in a strange place of extremes, off the tourist map. Kinsella describes his very short short stories as “stories told for the moment, out of experience more than ‘art,’”—similar to Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio. Kinsella’s interests are how the people Continue reading “In the Shade of the Shady Tree”

Letters to Kelly Clarkson

Letters to Kelly Clarkson is full of short letters written from the narrator to American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson, beginning with “Dear Kelly.” Although there were certainly thoughts and points that stuck out as interesting to me, the majority of the letters were ungrounded and rambling. A letter at the beginning of the book opens with: “You know, sitting here, eating my microwaved tomatoes on somewhat tough toast, I think I could give myself another chance.” And I started silently cheering, we all deserve a second chance! Good for you! But then the next lines were: “Seriously, can you tell me why I keep dreaming of a chipped white truck? Could it be the swerve of it, the handle? A rush of blood to the hand.” I was so intrigued by the second chance that I wanted to know all the details of how she messed up and with whom and how she was planning to fix it. Yet there was no resolution for me and I felt like the writer had left me high and dry, though perhaps this was her intention. Continue reading “Letters to Kelly Clarkson”

Editorial Position: Mid-American Review

The English Department of Bowling Green State University seeks strong applicants for an instructor to serve as editor of the internationally recognized literary magazine Mid-American Review and instructor in Creative Writing. The initial appointment is for one year, with possibility of renewal. Postmark deadline for application is July 16, 2012.

NewPages Updates :: June 29, 2012

Not even 90-degree weather can slow us down at NewPages, where we’ve been hard at work adding new resources throughout the site:

Added to The NewPages Big List of Literary Magazines:
Ekphrasis Image – poetry
Hart House Review Image – (Canada) poetry, fiction, nonfiction, reviews, art
J & L Illustrated Image – fiction, illustrations
Snail Mail Review Image – poetry, fiction
Watershed Image – poetry, fiction, nonfiction, articles, photography
The Cossack Review [O/E] – poetry, fiction, nonfiction
Essays & Fictions [O/P] – nonfiction, fiction, criticism, analysis, translations
Four and Twenty [O] – poetry
Glass Seed Annual [O] – poetry
The Ilanot Review [O] – poetry, fiction, nonfiction, interviews, translations
Linden Avenue [O] – poetry, fiction
Jenny Magazine [O] – poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art
The New Poet [O] – poetry
About Place [O] – poetry, prose
String Poet [O] – poetry, music
The Examined Life Image – poetry, fiction, nonfiction
Meat for Tea Image – poetry, prose, photography
Paper Nautilus Image – poetry, prose

[app] = publication available as an app for tablets/phones
Image = electronic publication for e-readers
Image = online magazines
[p] = print magazine

Added to Literary Links:
Extract(s) – poetry, fiction, nonfiction, excerpts
The Ofi Press – poetry, fiction, reviews
throughthe3rdeye – reviews, interviews, and poetry by Michigan poets

Added to The NewPages Big List of Alternative Magazines:
Composite [O] – exists somewhere between a literary magazine and an art gallery
Pathfinders Travel Image – travel magazine for people of color
Tathaastu Image – Eastern wisdom for mind, body, soul
Works & Days Quarterly [O]

Added to Writing Conferences, Workshops, Retreats, Centers, Residencies, Book & Literary Festivals:
Celebrating African American Literature, PA [Con]
Writing Short Course, OK [Wkshp]
Prose, Poetry, and Passion: Summer Writing Workshops, MA

Added to Creative Writing Programs:
College of Saint Rose MFA Program, NY

Added to NewPages Guide to Independent Bookstores in the U.S. and Canada:
Bank of Books, Ventura, CA
Big Apple Bookstore, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Book Exchange, Norfolk,VA
Boswell Book Company, Milwaukee, WI
Five Stone Bookstore, Lebanon, PA
Irvin’s Books, York, PA
Mystery Cove Book Shop, Hulls Cove, ME
The Old Books Surfer, Schenectady, NY
One for the Books, Cape Coral, FL
Vintage Books, Hopkinton, MA

Added to Independent Publishers & University Presses
Trio House Press – poetry

Screen Reading: Online Lit Mag Reviews

A few weeks ago, NewPages Literary Magazine Review Editor Kirsten McIlvenna kicked off her new weekly column – Screen Reading. Each week she spotlights online literary magazines, offering a glimpse into some of the best and newest writing on the web. Publications recently reviewed include Jersey Devil Press, The Summerset Review, Anti-, inter|rupture, Stirring, LITnIMAGE, Dragnet Magazine, Spitton, Straight Forward, and Blood Orange Review.

For both readers and writers, just the sheer number of online literary publications can be overwhelming. NewPages uses thoughtful criteria in selecting what we recommend in our guides, and Kirsten’s reviews are a great way to learn more about these publications, discover new authors, and keep up with some of your favorites.

Check back each Monday for a new installment of Screen Reading!

New Lit on the Block :: The Ilanot Review

The Ilanot Review, published online biannually, is affiliated with the creative writing program at Bar-Ilan University. Editor Janice Weizman says that Ilanot also means “young trees” in Hebrew—“which is a nice metaphor for new writing.” Marcela Sulak, Nadia Jacobson, Karen Marron, Jane Medved, and Karen Boxenhorn also serve as editors for the magazine.

“Originally, we wanted to give a platform for English writing coming out of Israel,” Weizman says. “Today, we accept writing from anywhere in the world.” She explains that readers can expect to find “fresh and striking prose and poetry, English translations of literature from other languages—particularly Hebrew but other languages as well—interviews with published poets and writers, and thought provoking themed issues.”

The Ilanot Review’s first publication includes well known names such as Mark Mirsky, Joan Leegant, Michael Collier, E. Ethlebert Miller, and Gerald Stern as well as several emerging poets and writers. “We launch every issue with a public reading by contributors in fun and memorable venues,” Weizman says.

Writers can submit to The Ilanot Review through Submittable through October 30, 2012 for the next themed issue: “Foreign Bodies.”

Welcome TRON! Tampa Review Online

The University of Tampa has just launched its online counterpart to the award-winning literary magazine The Tampa Review.

TRON, or Tampa Review Online is an online literary magazine dedicated to the blending of contemporary literature and visual arts in traditional and innovative ways. TRON feature new art and writing from Florida and around the world. The journal is edited and run by the students of the University of Tampa’s MFA program in Creative Writing. TRON will publish bi-monthly throughout the year and will consider online submissions of prose, poetry, and the visual arts.

Currently featured on TRON: An essay by Dean Bartoli Smith (“The Online Literary Magazine as Triggering Device”); fiction by Robert Clark Young and Ric Hoeben; poetry by Sean Patrick Hill and Angela Masterson Jones; visual art by Martha Marshall and Candace Knapp; and an excerpt from Taylor Branch’s Byliner Original The Cartel (Chapter Two: Founding Myths).

New Lit on the Block :: The Drunken Odyssey with John King Podcast

The Drunken Odyssey with John King: A Podcast About the Writing Life is a new weekly podcast that features interviews with established writers about the writing life. Editor John King explains that each episode will also have a memoir essay about a writer’s relationship to a beloved book. “Each episode,” he says, “will close with me responding to listener mail. All aspects of the writing life—including any possible genre—will be discussed.”

King says that the name of the podcast “invokes both the mythos of the writer as drinker, and also the mythos of the writer as heroic misadventurer. Both identities can overlap. But liquor is not the only path to drunkenness. As the late ray Bradbury said, ‘You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.’”

King says, “Writing is an isolating activity, and discussion of writing in the media prioritizes the finished product of writing. This podcast, then, is an opportunity to build a sense of community among writers, and to offer some catharsis in discussing the struggle of writing, and all aspects of this business of writing, rather than merely the accomplishments of writing.”

The first podcast includes an interview with Nathan Holic, an editor, and Ryan Rivas, a publisher, who are behind the 15 Views of Orlando project and a memoir essay from Olivia Kate Cerrone which discusses her relationship to Yann Martel’s Life of Pi. King says that future episodes will have interviews with Lisa Claire Roney, the Shakespearean actor Kevin Crawford, and novelist Darin Strauss.

King is looking for content, especially memoir essays about beloved books. He is also looking forward to responding to listener mail and encourages listeners to write to him through the contact information on the site.

Petition to Save U of Missouri Press

From Chris Wiewiora:

As you might know, lots of university presses are underfunded. It’s even worse when a university unplugs from their press. [Read about SMU Press’ recent loss of funding here.] As writers, many times our first publications and books are with literary magazines and presses. I believe we need to support them, always.

I actually have read a couple of books from University of Missouri Press. One of them, Talk Thai, was a favorite memoir of mine from a good buddy Ira Sukrangruang. I would like to read more books from more folks like Ira from university presses like Missouri.

With that, I hope you’ll consider signing on to the petition. They need 4,000 signatures and are currently just a nudge under that. Also, please pass along this message to other friends and writers and readers.

Here’s the link for the petition: http://bit.ly/LjlemX

Glimmer Train April Family Matters Winners – 2012

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their April Family Matters competition. This competition is held twice a year and is open to all writers for stories about family of all configurations. The next Family Matters competition will take place in October. Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

First place: Danielle Lazarin [pictured] of New York, NY wins $1500 for “Spider Legs.” Her story will be published in the Fall 2013 issue of Glimmer Train Stories.

Second place: Pam Durban, of Chapel Hill, NC, wins $500 for “The Tree of Knowledge.”

Third place: Tom Paine of Portsmouth, NH, wins $300 for “Oppenheimer Beach.”

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

Deadline soon approaching for the Fiction Open Contest: June 30.

Glimmer Train hosts this competition quarterly, and first place is $2500 plus publication in the journal. It’s open to all writers and there are no theme restrictions. The word count generally ranges from 3000 – 8000, though up to 20,000 is fine. Click here for complete guidelines.

New Lit on the Block :: Sawmill Magazine

Sawmill Magazine, a new online magazine, offers up six issues a year, two for each of the genres: fiction, poetry, and comics. Sawmill was created as a “digital sister” to Typecast Publishing’s print magazine, The Lumberyard. Fiction Editor Wesley Fairman, says, “We felt it was only fitting that we develop a name for our web-based magazine that recalled The Lumberyard and evoked similar feelings of creation, industry, and precision. We wanted a place to play, to test ideas, and to begin building relationships with writers and visual artists that, hopefully, lead to bigger projects down the road. Much in the way the sawmill is the first step for building materials before they reach the lumberyard, Sawmill the magazine is the birthplace for the future of Typecast.”

The rest of the editorial team includes Comics Editor Jake Snider and Poetry Editor Jen Woods. Fiction will be published each January and July, comics each March and September, and poetry each May and November. “With each issue,” says Fairman, “the editors will seek to forge partnerships with authors, illustrators, and graphic designers in order to present digital packaging as gorgeous and important as the literature housed within.

“When you open Sawmill, expect to see something unusual and engaging. Be it a short story wrapped in an experimental graphic design scheme, a poem that makes you choke on your breath, or a hand-drawn, one-of-a-kind comic. Never ordinary, and always pushing the boundaries of what has come before, Sawmill seeks only to find a way to delight you, and fill you with as much joy as any book you’ve ever held in your hands.”

Fairman says that Typecast Publishing enjoys working with magazines because it allows them to “work with a multitude of creative forces at one time.” She says that offering an online magazine allowed the publishing company to continue to work with magazines but in a new way. “We wanted to pose the same challenges we face in our print objects to the digital format—mainly how to bring intimacy and depth to the reading experience in a way that honors the text. And digital was exciting because it allowed us to create something we could offer for free.”

The first issue include comics from Ken Henson, Maureen Fellinger, and Megan Stanton and fiction from Kirby Gann, David James Poissant, Mark Jacobs, Kristin Matly Dennis, and Matt Dobson (Publication Design).

As the magazine develops, the editors hope to add a behind the scenes feature “where the reader can pull back the proverbial curtain and see the trials and triumphs of developing a literary magazine. Additionally,” Fairman says, “we also hope to develop a print on demand feature for readers who prefer physical copies of the literary magazines they love.”

Because there are six issues a year, submissions are accepted via email throughout most of the year.

Bellingham Review 2011 Contest Winners Printed

The Bellingham Review features its 2011 Contest winners in its current (Spring 2012) print issue:

49th Parallel Poetry Award
Final Judge: Lia Purpura
First Place: Jennifer Militello
“A Dictionary of Mechanics, Memory, and Skin in the Voice of Marian Parker”

Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction
Final Judge: Ira Sukrungruang
First Place: Jay Torrence
“Buckshot”

Tobias Wolff Award for Fiction
Final Judge: Adrianne Harun
First Place: Lauri Anderson
“Hand, Mouth, Ring”

Specter Magazine’s First Themed Issue

Specter Literary Magazine, a monthly online magazine, just put out its first themed issue—“Hip-Hop Issue: Side A & Side B”—guest edited by Rion Amilcar Scott. The issue features poetry, prose, and art focused on hip-hop and even includes an accompanying playlist for both sides A and B.

Amilcar Scott says, “Rap as a musical form shares with literature an intense focus on words. All the authors here delight in the obsessive wordplay of your local emcee . . . The playlists for Side A and Side B are how the issue sounds to me. These are the songs suggested to me by the rhythms of the words and by them themes explored in the issue. Pump these playlists as you read. Shit, make your own playlist based on how the words in this issue hit you.

“So, here it is, Specter Magazine’s Hip-Hop Issue: Side A & Side B, pure heat, pure funk. I hope you enjoy the pieces as much as I enjoyed assembling them. I hope you throw your hands in the air and wave them as if you no longer care. At least many will echo with you like your saddest hip-hop memory or your favorite rap song.”

New Scholarly Journal :: The Hare

Edited by Jeremy Lopez and Paul Menzer, The Hare is a peer-reviewed, on-line academic journal published three times yearly. The journal publishes short essays on the dramatic, poetic, and prose works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. The journal also publishes academic book reviews, and provides a public forum for open exchange between scholars in the field. The Hare seeks short essays on all topics related to early modern literature – poetry, prose, and drama as well as reviews of “old” – classic, foundational, seminal, unjustly forgotten, etc. – books.

New M.F.A. at The College of Saint Rose

The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York presents a new M.F.A. in Creative Writing. This new program “provides serious writers with the opportunity to develop their craft within a supportive and challenging academic community of creative writers and literary scholars. This full-residency MFA program allows students to work rigorously within their chosen genres in workshops and to complete a full-length creative work as a thesis. Students study literature as they deepen and broaden their writing skills, adding a strong component of literary analysis and criticism to their range of knowledge and skills.”

New Lit on the Block :: Glass Seed Annual

Glass Seed Annual is a new annual poetry magazine published each fall that specializes in pantoums. Editor Mary Alexander Agner says that readers should expect to find poetry that uses “repetition, refrain, anaphora, alliteration, rhyme, meter, and other sonic devices to convey interesting and unexpected stories.”

The magazine started as a way to “showcase poetry which emphasizes the musical aspects of language without neglecting meaning,” explains Agner. “Also, I wanted to promote writing and reading of pantoums.”

Contributors in the first issue include Elsa Louise von Schreiber, Francesca Forrest, Joshua Davis, Sherry Chandler, and Louise Wakeling.

Agner said that the magazine will continue to solicit and publish poetry which emphasizes the music of language with a new topic for publication each year. Submissions are accepted through email, and writers whose works are selected will receive payment for publication.

The Ledge Magazine 2011 Awards Competition Results

The newest issue (#34) of The Ledge Poetry & Fiction Magazine features the winners of the 2011 Poetry and Fiction Awards Competition:

Poetry Awards Competition Results:
First Prize ($1,000): “Camille Pissarro: The Bather” by Elisavietta Ritchie of Broomes Island, MD
Second Prize ($250): “Last Pharaoh” by Joyce Meyers of Wallingford, PA
Third Prize ($100): “The History of Bitumen” by Don Schofield of Thessaloniki, Greece

Fiction Awards Competition Results:
First prize ($1000): “When Ah Was Very Young ” by Enid Baron of Evanston, IL.
Second prize ($250): “Amazing Things Are Happening Here ” by Jacob M. Appel of NY, NY.
Third prize ($100): “The Barberini Princess ” by Lisa Gornick of NY, NY

New Lit on the Block :: Linden Avenue Literary Journal

Edited by founder Athena Dixon, Linden Avenue Literary Journal is a monthly online journal that accepts poetry (up to 50 lines), flash fiction (up to 1,000 words), and fiction (up to 2,500 words). Dixon says that readers can expect to find the best work, regardless of any affiliation or prior publication and “poetry and fiction that is as beautiful in construction as it is in content. I wanted to create a place where writers would feel comfortable in sharing their words and, in turn, themselves.”

The journal was named after the street that Dixon grew up on. It was where she “first wrote her stories and poems and was encouraged to continue writing by the teachers in her local elementary school and junior high school.” Dixon explains that that she has created this journal as a space for stories that are both simple and stunning. “I found myself a little disheartened by work that seemed ‘alternative’ for the sake of being alternative, not because the content supported it,” she says.

The first issue features poetry and fiction by Elizabeth Akin Stelling, Leesa Cross-Smith, Ariana D. Den Bleyker, Daniel Casey, Andrea Blythe, Melanie Faith, Fiona Pearse, Marissa Hyde, Anthony Frame, Alisha Sommer, Gwen Henderson, C.L. McFadyen, William Henderson, Laura Hallman, Neal Kitterlin, and Val Dering Rojas.

The journal will continue to publish each month with a goal of being able to accept art and photography by the end of 2012. Within the next year, Dixon hopes to move the journal to a print publication.

Currently, submissions are accepted through Submittable on a rolling basis for issues published on the first of every month. Simultaneous submissions are welcome.

Indiana Review Prize Winners

In addition to having a stunning cover – “Ragnarok’n’Roll” by Jen Mundy – the newest issue of Indiana Review (34.1) features the winner of the 2011 Indiana Review Fiction Prize: “Mud Child” by Becky Adnot-Haynes; and the winner of the 2011 Indiana Review 1/2 K Prize (entrants limited to 500 words): “When You Look Away, the World” by Corey Van Landingham.