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NewPages Blog

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!

The Chamber Four Fiction Anthology

Chamber Four is a fledgling operation which has burst onto the scene with all guns blazing. A visit to their site reveals book reviews plus their reviews of other people’s book reviews. There is a section entitled “Great Reads” which includes, among others, a review of the wonderful 1972 novel Watership Down by Richard Adams. There is a section called “The Best Places to Read Online,” and there is the announcement that the magazine is now accepting submissions to publish their own fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art. But, most interestingly, they have recently published their anthology of the best short stories published on the web in 2009 and 2010. And it is a good one. Continue reading “The Chamber Four Fiction Anthology”

Milk Dress

Milk Dress has many strengths, exhibiting great poetic control and elegance, but no aspect of the book is more interesting to me than Cooley’s successful linking of “world events” and “bodily/personal events,” her experience of pregnancy, birth, motherhood, illness, loss and birth (rebirth?) again “against” (“Write against narrative” she begins in “Homeland Security,” the opening poem) the events of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the daily news, the threat of global disaster. “Write against blankness,” she instructs herself, and, by implication, simultaneously instructs us: read against blankness (“white, white, white”), the empty post-terrorist sky; the empty post-pregnancy crib; the unturned (pre-and-post reading) page. Continue reading “Milk Dress”

One Island

Tony Hoagland selected One Island for the 2009 Robert Dana Prize for Poetry, and it’s indisputably a winner of a book. Pratt is a masterful poet, although her effectiveness is—in the happiest of ways—difficult to describe. Exploiting poetry’s most powerful and effective strategies (economy of language; unusual syntactical arrangements; unexpected, but comprehensible, combinations of words and phrases; a heightened sense of sound and rhythm, among them), the poet turns the ordinary into the oddly exceptional and, often, the exceptionally odd. The book’s opening line, for starters: “The past is a humidity.” Continue reading “One Island”

Elegguas

The ten sections of Elegguas are structured around a series of “Letters to Zea Mexican.” I needed to know who she was (the first letter begins with her death, seeing her for the last time) and she wasn’t hard to find. A quick search online turned up summaries and reviews of Brathwaite’s Zea Mexican Diary (1993), an award-winning memoir/diary about the death from cancer in 1986 of his wife, whom he called Zea Mexican, an allusion to her ancestry. The first letter in Elegguas, is, in fact, dated 1986, the year of her death. Brathwaite, who is from Barbados where he still makes his home part-time (he spends the rest of his time in New York where he teaches at NYU), is a prolific and highly regarded writer both in the Caribbean and in the United States. I confess, however, and with no small measure of embarrassment, that I was not familiar with his work until Elegguas, and I found it helpful to learn about his earlier writing to contextualize and understand this book. Continue reading “Elegguas”

So Quick Bright Things

If some of us want, and many of us do, to read translations in English of work written in other languages, it stands to reason that readers of other languages—Spanish, for example—might want to read poems written originally in English. Wronsky has translated Argentine poet Partnoy’s poetry into English. With So Quick Bright Things / Tan Pronto las Cosas, it’s Partnoy’s turn, beginning with a title (thank you Shakespeare) that’s brilliantly and awfully hard to translate. I applaud Partnoy for her smart, vivid translations of work that is exceptionally difficult to render in another language. Continue reading “So Quick Bright Things”

Houses are Fields

Houses are Fields joins the fast-growing genre of illness memoirs in verse. (In the last week alone, I’ve encountered no fewer than three such books published in 2010. And I am aware that there are many more.) Silverman’s poems treat the subject of a mother’s brain tumor, exploring relationships between a child and her dying (mother) and well (father) parents; the meaning of death; the nature of illness; and the power—and limits—of memory. Continue reading “Houses are Fields”

Best Western

Best Western, like previous Gerald Cable Award Book Series winners, is composed almost entirely of narrative poems in accessible and familiar language intended to draw us easily and naturally into their scenes and stories. Gudas is especially adept at creating a credible and almost palpable atmosphere through small, seemingly ordinary detail, and in so doing, heightening his stories’ emotional impact. Each scene becomes, in essence, a minor drama of human experience, often one with which the reader can identify, if not empathize. Continue reading “Best Western”

2011 Caldecott and Newberry Winners

The 2011 Caldecott Medal winner is A Sick Day for Amos McGee, illustrated by Erin E. Stead, written by Philip C. Stead. A Neal Porter Book, published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing.

Caldecott Honors
Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave illustrated by Bryan Collier, written by Laban Carrick Hill, published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

Interrupting Chicken illustrated and written by David Ezra Stein, published by Candlewick Press.

The 2011 Newbery Medal winner is Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool, published by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

Newberry Honors
Turtle in Paradise written by Jennifer L. Holm, published by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

Heart of a Samurai written by Margi Preus, published by Amulet Books, an imprint of Abrams.

Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night written by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen, published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

One Crazy Summer written by Rita Williams-Garcia, published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Helping Out Those Down Under

Australian poet Graham Nunn created the Ocean Hearted Flood Relief Project to raise funds for flood relief in QLD (Queensland, Australia). Here’s his plan:

From January 12 to January 26 Nunn will donate 100% of all sales of his book Ocean Hearted to flood relief and “to add to that, I will personally give an extra $5 for every book sold.” Copies of Ocean Hearted can be purchased for $15 (incl. postage) via paypal or check/money order.

Visit his blog for more details.

All monies will be given to the Premiers Disaster Relief Appeal, a Queensland Government established Distribution Committee that includes representatives from the Australian Red Cross to manage the disbursement of the donated funds.

Call for Guest Editors

Status Hat Productions is currently seeking guest editors for the SUMMER 2011 (3 issues) and FALL 2011 (3 issues) editions of their monthly artszine, STATUS HAT!

Editors will be responsible for 3 issues of STATUS HAT, for either the Summer or Fall quarter. SHP seeking editors with diverse backgrounds in the arts, as our editors do not work in one area, but select visual content, fiction, non-fiction and poetry, as well as seek out additional content or explorations of themes as necessary to create engaging issues of Status Hat.

Guest editors must be able to commit to reviewing and selecting submissions for their assigned issues over a 3 month period prior to the quarter (Summer or Fall, 2011) they are working on, and demonstrate excellent communication skills.

Contact editor-at-statushat.org with an inquiry by January 31, 2011. Please have “GUEST EDITOR INQUIRY” in the subject line of your email.

Singleton and Weales Featured

The Winter 2010 issue of The Georgia Review offers two special features: one on George Singleton and one on Gerald Weales.

The Singleton feature includes two stories, “Vaccination” and “Jayne Mansfield,” which, Editor Stephen Corey notes brings the total number of Singleton stories published by TGR to 11 – putting him “at the head of the quantity class for our fiction writers.” But, more importantly, Corey notes, these two selections “show one of America’s best seriocomic authors at the height of his varied strengths.” Also included in the Singleton feature is “A Holy Impropriety: the Stories of George Singleton” by William Giraldi.

The Weales feature includes “Being Out Front at American Theater: An Interview with Gerald Weales” by Stephen Corey and “American Theater Watch, 1977-2010” – excerpts from decades of Weales annual feature. Corey introduces these selections he made from over 400 pages of Weales’s contributions to the magazine.

New at AWP 2011 – Women’s Caucus

AWP Conference: The Women’s Caucus, led by Lois Roma-Deeley, Patricia Smith, Cheryl Dumesnil, Anna George Meek, Amy King, and Katherine Arnoldi, is scheduled to meet for the first time on Saturday, February 5 from 10:30 AM to 11:45 AM in the hotel Mezzanine Le.

Lois Roma-Deeley sent the following description: “Where is the place for the women writer within AWP and within the greater literary community? The women’s caucus discusses this as well as continuing inequities in creative writing publication and literature. In addition, issues centering on cultural obstacles in the form of active oppression, stereotypes, lack of access to literary power structures, historical marginalization of women’s writing, issues and perspectives and the diverse voices of women will explored. Networking opportunities.”

The mission of the AWP Women’s Caucus is the following:
–to expand networking opportunities for women writers
–to recognize the contributions of women writers nationally and internationally
–to enhance understanding of the relationship between gender and creative writing
–to expand literary and cultural dialogue to encompass all genres of creative writing specific to women writers
–to encourage an open forum for dialogues about feminist literary perspectives
–to support education about the contributions of women writers
–to support women writers on local, national, and global levels
–to advocate for equity in creative writing for all

Job :: Poetry Inside Out Outreach Manager

The Center for the Art of Translation is seeking an Outreach Manager to help place their Poetry Inside Out program in Bay Area, CA schools.

The PIO Outreach Manager works as part of a team to accomplish a number of goals and objectives for the Center. They include:

• Plan the growth and implementation of the program.
• Build relationships with school administrators, districts, teachers, professional organizations, and students and their families.
• Create new systems and revise existing ones for overall program efficiency and documentation.
• Promote opportunities for collaboration with other organizations.
• Oversee and promote PIO public events.
• Assist the PIO staff with defining the goals for and expanding the various PIO curriculum.
• And act as an ambassador of the program and the Center.

For a complete job description and instructions on how to apply, visit PIO’s Get Invovled page.

AMERARCANA – 2010

As child I remember singing, “This land is your land, this land is my land. From California to the New York Island […] This land was made for you and me.” Like Woody Guthrie’s famous song, the Amerarcana brilliantly encompasses a broad spectrum of voices that represents the collective identity of American poets from coast to coast. The Amerarcana is a rich steaming stew of folklore, language, and cultural identity. Piping hot and savory too! Each poem is a tantalizing slice of western spirit. Continue reading “AMERARCANA – 2010”

Amoskeag – Spring 2010

From the unknown writer expecting a rejection letter, rather than a publication, to authors well-known to the New York Times—all meet together in Amoskeag. This collection of voices focuses on what Editor Michael J. Brien expresses as, “recollections and reconstructions of hazy, distant memories, and memories so fresh they scream to be captured before they begin to […] lose breath.” Continue reading “Amoskeag – Spring 2010”

Crab Creek Review – 2010

After winning a year’s subscription during last year’s National Poetry Day, I discovered the joy of the Crab Creek Review. What had drawn me into past issues was the range of voices, both from experienced writers and fresh, emerging writers. There has always been a certain charm to the pieces selected, whether their tone leans towards the more serious or whimsical, and this issue is no exception. Continue reading “Crab Creek Review – 2010”

Feile-Festa – Spring 2010

Feile and festa mean “festival” in Irish and Italian, and indeed there are many pieces in this journal from the Mediterranean Celtic Cultural Association worth celebrating. Much of the work explores the effects of Irish and Italian diaspora in the United States, particularly New York City. Continue reading “Feile-Festa – Spring 2010”

Field – Fall 2010

Bruce Weigl, Annie Finch, Steve and Stuart Friebert, David Young, Beckian Fritz Goldberg, Carole Simmons Oles, and Stephen Tapscott contribute to “A Symposium” on poet Richard Wilbur, in anticipation of his 90th birthday, with essays responding to particular Wilbur poems, reprinted here. These thoughtful essays of close reading, and Wilbur’s “consistently brilliant” poetry (as aptly categorized in the editors’ introduction), are well accompanied by new work from David Dodd Lee, David Wagoner, Elton Glaser, Jon Loomis, Kimiko Hahn, and Sandra McPherson, among others. Continue reading “Field – Fall 2010”

Jubilat – 2010

Uljana Wolf’s work, translated by Susan Bernofsky, excerpts from DICTHionary. A German-English Dictionary of False Friends, True Cognates, and Other Cousins, is like the best of the work jubilat always gives us, inventive, unusual, confusing, smart, and full of itself—always in the best sense. Here, dictionary letters and their representative words are followed by prose poems that play out the letters in clever streams of connected and disconnected images and opinions. Continue reading “Jubilat – 2010”

Knockout Literary Magazine – Spring 2010

Simply put, the collection of poems in Knockout Literary Magazine is breathtaking. This edition includes a wide variety of topics such as suicide, oppression against homosexuality, and love (straight and queer). In its third volume, the heavy-hitting journal presents forty astounding poets, who make their way to the page bringing dark imagery, fearless honesty, and fresh voices, including Jeff Mann, Robert Walker, Joseph Massey, Jim Tolan and Ronald H. Bayes. Knockout also features translations from Dag T. Straumsvag, Yannis Ritsos, Harry Martinson, Jesus Encinar, and Olav H. Hauge. Continue reading “Knockout Literary Magazine – Spring 2010”

Poet Lore – Fall/Winter 2010

The cover of Poet Lore is wondrous, a photograph of ice skaters posing for the camera on Mirror Lake in Yosemite in 1911. The Editor’s Page describes the photo as an appropriate introduction to the issue’s work with its—unanticipated—focus on winter as metaphor. The photo’s technical and artistic qualities are, to my mind, the finest metaphor for poetry, or, perhaps, an apt metaphor for fine poetry—making the real seem both more and less real than seemed possible, drawing what is far-off into close view and moving what is right in front of us into the background. The photo is clear in its misty-ness and misty in its clarity, like much of the poetry in this issue. Continue reading “Poet Lore – Fall/Winter 2010”

Slipstream – 2010

This issue is a beautifully composed collection of poetry and black-and-white photography commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of Slipstream Magazine. Elegant, hauntingly surreal images by David Thompson and Lauren Simonutti, interspersed among the poetry, compliment perfectly the magazine’s tone. Poems contributed by authors from walks of life ranging from the academic to the janitorial present a similarly diverse range of perspectives, yet the poems feel like they were meant to be published together. The collection flows seamlessly from beginning to end in a way that makes reading it in its entirety not only easy to do, but extraordinarily rewarding as well. Continue reading “Slipstream – 2010”

The Tusculum Review – 2010

The Tusculum Review plunges into an odyssey of self-reflection, confession, and recollection. The review calls itself, “an annual venue for new voices,” and each voice within its pages is entirely unique from its counterparts. The sampling highlights a fusion of character voices within the short stories, drama, poetry, and illustrations; each piece retains a beautifully rendered resonance to its own statement. Continue reading “The Tusculum Review – 2010”

World Literature Today – November-December 2010

Every glorious issue of World Literature Today is an argument for print! There is simply no way to duplicate the experience as cyber reading. This is not to say that you might not want to try “Zinio,” the virtual magazine-reading option for WLT. But, for my money (and it’s only $4.95 on the newsstand!) there is no way it could duplicate the feel of the glossy paper, the vibrancy of the large and small format color and black and white photos, the clarity of the illustrations (maps), or the smartly designed pages. This issue’s special section is on India, and the gorgeous, beautifully reproduced full-color, full-bleed photograph that opens the section, “Girl in Red Slippers by the Blue Door,” the work of guest editor and poet Sudeep Sen of New Dehli, is hard to picture on a small screen.

Continue reading “World Literature Today – November-December 2010”

Native American Voices in Art and Literature Online

Issue #4 of the online lit mag Ekleksographia is a special issue: The Emerging Native American Voices, guest Curated by Ann Filemyr and Jamie Figueroa.

In the introduction, Ann Filemyr writes: “Twenty-first century Native American literature is vibrant and evolving. It invites us into the creative lives and ideas of writers whose cultures are demonstrating an incredible capacity for cultural survivance against all odds.”

Art, poetry, and prose contributors include: Ungelbah Daniel-Davila, Anna Nelson, Ruben Santos, Paige Buffington, Nathan Romero, Vernon Begay, Sara Marie Ortiz, Alice M. Azure, Ann Filemyr, Jamie Figueroa, Celeste Adame, Autumn Gomez, Evelina Zuni Lucero, and Marcia Smith.

Cover Image: “Timeless” by Marcia Smith

Art :: Fresco Books

Fresco Fine Art Publications produces unique books and catalogs for artists, galleries and museums throughout the United States. Fresco was founded in response to the need in the Santa Fe art community for “beautifully designed art books and catalogs that could be produced at a cost that was affordable, and within a time frame that kept the project fresh and enjoyable.”

Recently featured publications include:

Tom Kirby Light Passage, with inspiration for his work drawn from extensive travels throughout Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and North Africa. “Tom’s work is distinctly modern yet deeply influenced by past masters, most importantly, Carravagio. His work is a synthesis of expressionistic and minimalist influences.”

Art alive! A Fresh Approach to Teaching the Basics: The Teaching Techniques of Sally Bartalot

With work by almost 100 artists, Visual Journeys: Art of the 21st Century edited by Nina Mihm and Mary Carroll Nelson is a publication of The Society of Layerists in Multi-Media, an international group of artists sharing a holistic world view. The thought that unites the society is, “We are all connected. There exists a oneness and unity to everything, everyone, and the whole.” This philosophical premise distinguishes it from other art societies that are based on a single medium.

The Ne’er-Do-Well Does Well for Workers

Issue Number 3 of The Ne’er-Do-Well Literary Magazine focuses on Working-Class Stories, with new stories, essays, and comics from Willy Vlautin, Kevin Sampsell, Suzanne Burns, Gigi Little, Chris A. Bolton, Sheila Ashdown, Megan Zabel, Daniel Hall, Christina Mackin, Jill Holtz, and John Gifford.

From the editors: “If the phrase ‘working class’ conjures vintage images of lumberjacks and Rosie the Riveter [R.I.P.], it’s time to reboot your brain for the twenty-first century. This issue of working-class stories casts a fresh light on the absurdity, banality, and redemption of contemporary wage-slavery. Join us for a shift at the circus, the Outback Steakhouse, a Minnesota dairy farm, a Plaid Pantry convenience store, and more.”

Profits from the sale of this issue will be donated to the strike fund of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

Zahir Anthology

Zahir: A Journal of Speculative Fiction is trying out a creative approach to publishing. The magazine had appeared in print three times a year from 2000-2009, but in 2010, moved to publishing quarterly online. However, the full content of the four online issues is now available in print as an anthology and can be ordered through Creative Space and Amazon.

The anthology (at 302 pages) includes stories by Sarah Cornwell, Jefferson Burson, Trent Hergenrader, Kim Goldberg, Richard Wolkomir, Alexander Weinstein, Jennifer Griffin Graham, Vishwas R. Gaitonde, Susannah Mandel, Andrew Hook, John Brantingham, John Zackel, Thoraiya Dyer, William Alexander, Daniel Brugioni, Dallas Woodburn, Nick Jackson, Kevin Frazier, Joseph R. Quinlan, M.Lamaga de Sanchez, N.D. Segal, Lawrence Buentello, Jeffrey Greene, and Roderick B. Overaa as well each each of the four “cover” images by artists Alyson Lamanes, Dan Ruhmanty, Adam Yeater, and Yael Degany.

Literature Rewards Patience

New Letters Editor Robert Stewart comments on the role of “slow” literature in our fast-paced world:

“From the audience recently, where I sat at the downtown public library in Kansas City, a man asked the visiting speaker, Joyce Carol Oates, how she managed to write her many books all in longhand,as she just had revealed. ‘My mind thinks faster than my hand can write,’ said the man. ‘I need a computer keyboard to keep up with my thoughts.’ A general assent seemed to puff across the audience.

“The question highlighted a feature — call it a value — of literary art, not always or easily acknowledged: Literature slows us down. Here was an author, Ms. Oates, emblematic in our culture for productivity, who had just baffled the crowd by her adherence to a human-scale, physical scratching out of one sentence after another, although she happens to do so, as she pointed out, hour after hour, day after day. Of her slow method, she made a joke, citing Shakespeare, who worked in longhand, of course, and, yes, it might be said that his mind was pretty quick.

“Shakespeare, let’s admit, might have worked by computer or Tweets if he could have, but the point has been made by the work, itself. It holds up. It rewards patience.”

The full Fall 2010 issue editorial is available online.

Barra-Barracuda

Descant Arts & Letters Foundation’s NOW HEAR THIS! literacy program sends professional writers into schools to conduct writing workshops with students. These workshops help develop literacy skills, cultivate talent and creativity, encourage self-expression and foster analytical skills and critical thought.

After a “smashingly successful” third year, Descant presents The BARRACUDA, their latest anthology of student-written stories, poems, and personal essays documenting the success of Toronto’s first-ever ongoing writers-in-schools program.

West Branch Wired

West Branch Wired is a distinct quarterly extension of the West Branch semiannual print magazine. Issues are released on the solstice or equinox in March, June, September, and December and feature poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction that are exclusive to WBW. Book reviews and columns run in both WBW and the print magazine.

Guest edited by Deb Olin Unferth, the first issue, Fall 2010, includes an interview with Orlando Menes, poetry by Brian Barker and Doug Ramspeck, and fiction by Patrick Dacey. Also featured are reviews by Matthew Ladd, “To a Green Thought,” an annual column from Garth Greenwell, and Marginalia – recommendations from contributing and advisory editors.

CT Review Vetrans of War Special Section

In addition to its usual general content (poems, essays, and fiction) the Fall 2010 issue of Connecticut Review features a special section entitled “Veterans of War” guest edited by Lisa Siedlarz, who writes, “…the creative works of warriors are such an important part of our history. these poems, stories, and photographs preserves a significant part of our freedom, and make as real as possible to noncombantants the things that are not discussed,” and as contributor Horace Coleman notes about the subject of his photo: “The young soldier…is mourning a soldier from his outfit killed in a war that’s fought by few and ignored by most.” The section contains stories and poems by vets from the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as Vietnam and World War II.

Henry F. Tonn, a reviewer for NewPages, has a piece featured in this section in which he recounts the story of WWII veteran Richard Daughtry’s visit to the Buchenwald concentration camp after the US occupation. Tonn clearly and specifically details Daughtry’s harrowing encounter with “freed” prisoners whose bodies and minds were so ravaged by their ill-treatment that they would not live to enjoy their freedom.

Also included are works by Donald Anderson, Christopher Lee Miles, Terry P. Rizzuti, William Childress, Joseph Giannini, Rick Christman, David Abrams, Tim Skeen, Jason Poudrier, Dario BiBattista, Benjamin Simon, Allan Garry, H. Palmer Hall, Greg McBride, Jason Armagost, Adam King, John Balaban, Sonja Pasquantonio, Brian Turner, Benjamin Busch, Kevin Siedlarz, Troy Walker, Horace Coleman, and Pit Menousek Pinegar.

The cover image for the issue is most stunning: “Blood Trail” a digital photograph taken by Benjamin Bush in Ar Ramadi, Al Anbar Province, Iraq (2009). “This is an insurgent’s footprint on a sidewalk, left in blood, as he fled from a failed attack on a U.S. Marine position in Ar Ramadi. He died 27 steps from this one. The photographer took this photograph on the morning afterward.”

Filmpoem Collection by Alastair Cook

“Filmpoem is a project by artist Alastair Cook, dedicated to the filming of poetry. The combination of film and poetry is an attractive one. For the poet, perhaps a hope that the filmmaker will bring something to the poem: a new audience, a visual attraction, the laying of way markers; for the filmmaker, a fixed parameter to respond to, the power of a text sparking the imagination with visual connections and metaphor.” Cook’s collection includes poetry by Andrew Phillip, Mairi Sharratt, Juliet Wilson, G

Books :: Poet Cookery

The Sound of Poets Cooking edited by Richard Krawiec is a collection of poetry, poetry-recipes, recipe-poems, and just outright recipes. Five dozen poets are featured in the anthology, and the recipes range from spicy hard-boiled eggs to balsamic mangoes to Malaika’s crockpot Irish stew to Aunt Wilma’s coconut cake – 54 recipes in all. The impetus for the book – to feed readers as well as writers while doing a good turn for the community. Proceeds from the sale of the book will be used to pay writers a stipend to teach poetry workshops to underserved community groups. Included in the book is an application for writers interested in offering workshops – though published by Jacar Press in North Carolina, there’s no specifics on where the workshops will/must take place. For further information and/or to purchase a copy of the book, visit the Jacar Press website.

Flyway Hazel Lipa Chapbook Winner

Volume 13.1 of Flyway: Journal of Writing and Environment includes several poems from Hazel Lipa Chapbook finalist Corrie Williamson as part of the regular content, with winner Lois Marie Harrod’s Cosmology receiving the final pages of the magazine to feature her 28 poems in full chapbook form with cover image, table of contents, acknowledgments, author biography and author’s note.

Talk is Cheap Haiku Contest

Alright, now here’s a fun one. Off the Coast is having a “Times Are Tough; Talk is Cheap” Haiku Competition. The impetus: “At a recent poetry reading, a poet gave a five-minute introduction to a haiku. Absurdities not being lost on us, we began generating our own haiku responses.” Writers are asked to complete one of the following two haiku prompts: “Five minute intro” or “Times are tough, talk cheap.” The entry fee is 25

The Hampden-Sydney Broadside Series

The Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review Broadside Series offers a limited edition of artist-designed illustrations of poems which have been published in the Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review. Each broadside is numbered and signed by the author. Currently available is “The Persimmon Tree” by Maurice Manning, letterpress in two colors on handmade paper with deckle edge, 7×7 inches, signed and numbered edition of 50 ($15) and “Loved & Lost” by John Burnside, giclee on watercolor paper with deckle edge, 7×10 inches, signed and numbered edition of 50 ($15). Broadsides can be ordered directly from the Review.

Journal of Ordinary Thought Seeks Director/Editor

The Neighborhood Writing Alliance (NWA) of Chicago, IL, is a small literary arts and community building organization with a large agenda. With three full-time staff members, and a handful of volunteers, NWA conducts ten weekly writing workshops with over 270 adult participants, publishes quarterly issues of the Journal of Ordinary Thought, and hosts or participates in 35 public events and readings each year.

The Neighborhood Writing Alliance has launched a search for a new Program Director/Associate Editor of the Journal of Ordinary Thought. Applications will be accepted through January 17, 2011 for an experienced and enthusiastic candidate with a strong commitment to community-based writing and publishing.

NewPages Updates :: May 01, 2011

NewPages works to keep its links fresh! The following are new listings in our guides – while some you may be looking for have been removed. Listings are removed when magazines don’t update their websites, don’t appear to have kept up with their publishing cycle, and don’t respond to inquiry e-mails from us about what is going on with their magazine. If we can’t recommend the publication – which includes all of the above and more – we won’t list it. If you know something we don’t about a listing for any of our guides – be it new or no longer in existence or a bad link – please drop us a line and let us know: denisehill-at-newpages.com

Lit Mags
Jellyfish Magazine – poetry
Tapestry – poetry
Raft – spoken-word poetry, fiction, essays, and book reviews
Barely South Review – poetry, fiction, nonfiction
Thysia – poetry, creative nonfiction, fiction, art
Psychic Meatloaf – poetry
The Susquehanna Review – undergraduate poetry, fiction, nonfiction
Polari Journal – LGBTIQ short stories, poetry, essays, one act plays/scripts, reviews
Soundzine – poetry, fiction, music, art, photography, readings
Otis – poetry, prose, music, visual art, video
Under the Sun – national print nonfiction mag based out of Tennessee Tech
The New Guard – new print lit mag
Another Chicago Magazine – poetry, fiction, nonfiction
North American Review – poetry, fiction, nonfiction

Independent Publishers & University Presses
Argos Books – poetry, translations, hybrid, collaborations
Magic Helicopter Press
Spooky Girlfriend Press
Mindmade Books – poetry chapbooks
ExquisiteDisarray – mainly poetry from North Western (particularly WA) writers

Writing Conferences, Workshops, Retreats, Centers, Residencies & Book & Literary Festivals
Susquehanna University’s Undergraduate Literature & Creative Writing Conference
Summer Advanced Writers Workshops – Sponsored by Susquehanna University’s Writers Instituted and it is for High School students in grades 11 & 12

Podcasts, Video, Audio
Center for the Art of Translation – Audio

It’s True: Anyone Can Publish a Book

“You know who’s got a brand new book in the bookstores right now? Snooki. Snooki is a published author. I’m blaming Sarah Palin; she lowered the bar.” David Letterman

And from Sarah Crow: Read Excerpts From Snooki’s Book, Prepare to Have Mind Blown

“Faulkner, Hemingway and Fitzgerald may be widely acknowledged as America’s preeminent literary talents, but none of them have gotten down with The Situation in a hot tub. This is where Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi enters the equation.

“The Jersey Shore star’s first novel, A Shore Thing, is scheduled for release this week and early buzz has contenders for the National Book Award shaking in their boots.”

And then Crow goes on to compare lines from Polizzi’s book with writing by Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Didion, and Faulkner.

At least it’s been worth the laugh.

Poetry :: The View From Here

“The View From Here” is a occasional feature in the Poetry Foundation’s Poetry in which people from various fields comment on their experience of poetry. The January 2011 issue features the eighth installment of the series and includes comments from Daniel Handler, Madeleine Avirov, Helen Fisher, Jolie Holland, Stephen T. Ziliak, and Tracey Johnstone.

Gary Finke Creative Writing Prize Winners – 2011

The 2010 annual issue of The Susquehanna Review of undergraduate writing features the winners of the Gary Finke Creative Writing Prize: Caitlin Moran, winner in prose for “All Her Numbered Bones” and Sky Shirley, winner in poetry for “The Paper Called them Black-Fish.” Both winners were selected by Gary Finke for the prize in his name which was established this year in his hone. Finke has directed the Susquehann University Writers Institute since he founded it in 1993. Through the contest, TSR hopes to pay tribute to extraordinary student writers outside the Susquehanna community in both poetry and prose.

New Lit on the Block :: Women Arts Quarterly Journal

WomenArts Quarterly Journal (WAQ), an initiative of Women in the Arts, “aspires to nurture, provide support, and challenge women of all cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds, and abilities in their role in the arts and seeks to heighten the awareness and understanding of the achievements of women creators, providing audiences with historical and contemporary examples of the work of women writers, composers, and artists.”

With some content available online, this inaugural print issue includes a review of Isabelle O’Connell’s new album Resevoir, a conversation with violist Kim Kaskashian, poetry by Julia Gordon-Bramer and Kelli Allen, an excerpt from the novel Saint Monkey by Jacinda Townsend, silk screen prints on paper (reproduced in full color) by Ellen Baird, non-fiction by Beth McConaghy, and B&W photograms by Vanessa Woods.

Submissions are open for fiction, personal essay, poetry, visual art, and reviews (books, articles, biographies, catalogues, profiles, DVDs, CDs) with full guidelines available on the WAQ website.

[Pictured: The Blessed Imelda silk screen prints on paper by Ellen Baird]

Able Muse Inaugural Print Issue

Reversing the print-to-online trend in literary magazines, biannual online lit mag Able Muse has come out with its inaugural print issue of poetry, prose and art with its Winter 2010 publication (different from its print ‘best of’ anthology). Some online content from the issue is open (including some audio), the majority of it is accessible to subscribers only.