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!
Based at the University of Michigan – Flint, Qua was founded over 50 years ago. They are currently accepting submissions of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, visual arts, and photography from writers and artists living in Michigan for the Fall 2022 issue. No fee to submit. See their ad in the NewPages Classifieds to learn more. Last month to submit!
Guest Post by Kevin Brown
With Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan has chosen a title that seemingly fits her work perfectly, in theme, length, and style. Her novella centers on Bill Furlong, a coal and fuel seller in 1980s Ireland. His life seems quite small, as he goes about his daily routine, working hard delivering and selling coal, logs, and other fuel to customers, and striving to provide for his wife and four daughters. As Christmas approaches, though, he has an encounter that will lead him to make a moral choice, forcing him to confront his privilege and decide what his and his family’s life should be like moving forward. Keegan’s sentences crackle with clarity, presenting exactly what the reader needs to know, and little more. The book is brief—just over a hundred pages—a work readers can digest in one sitting. It seems a small thing, much like Furlong’s life, but it contains so much more, as it grapples with Ireland’s recent history of Magdalene houses. At one point, Furlong thinks, “Why were the things that were closest so often the hardest to see?” That one question sums up decades of dark Irish history, but also so many decisions we fail to make in our lives. Keegan’s novella is a great thing, indeed.
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. Grove Press, November 2021.
Reviewer bio: Kevin Brown has published three books of poetry: Liturgical Calendar: Poems (Wipf and Stock); A Lexicon of Lost Words (winner of the Violet Reed Haas Prize for Poetry, Snake Nation Press); and Exit Lines (Plain View Press). He also has a memoir, Another Way: Finding Faith, Then Finding It Again, and a book of scholarship, They Love to Tell the Stories: Five Contemporary Novelists Take on the Gospels. Twitter @kevinbrownwrite or kevinbrownwrites.weebly.com/.
If you are interested in contributing a Guest Post to “What I’m Reading,” please click this link: NewPages.com Reviewer Guidelines.
Started in 2017, Cholla Needles is one of those quiet little lit mags that, to see it sitting on a coffee table could not even begin to speak for all it represents. A non-profit located in Joshua Tree, California, Cholla Needles publishes monthly in print using a unique format. Each issue is comprised of ten “chapbooks” divided by “covers” – an author photo as the front and an art photo as the back. They also publish books by writers featured in the journal who do not yet have a publisher. Cholla Needles publishes poetry, short stories, creative essays, art, and photography by local and visiting writers “who love the desert.” Cholla Needles also partners with local bookstores and community organizations (like the Joshua Tree Folk Center) to host monthly literary events, offers mentoring, workshops, and publishing activities for writers of all ages, and maintains a poetry, prose, and art library. They recently participated in their community’s NEA Big Read for the fourth year by handing out free copies of the journal. They also work with young writers, publishing a local-only journal twice a year. If there was a dream world for a lit mag, being part of a vibrant literary community and helping make it all happen, it would be Cholla Needles.
Happy September! Is it time to think of cooler weather and all things pumpkin spice yet? Too soon? While you may be staying in denial that fall is just around the corner this month, stay on top of your submissions game with our first Where to Submit Round-up for September 2022. There are a ton of new opportunities added this week.
Want to get alerts for new opportunities sent directly to your inbox every week instead of waiting for our Friday round-ups? For just $5 a month, you can get early access to new calls for submissions and writing contests before they go live on our site, so subscribe today! You’ll also get our monthly eLitPak (view August’s here) along with the occasional promotional emails from advertisers.
Continue reading “Where to Submit Round-up: September 2, 2022”
The September 2022 issue of The Lake is now online featuring works by Satya Bosman, Despy Boutris, Xiaoly Li, Todd Mercer, Bert Molsom, Sarath Reddy, Jacquelyn “Jacsun” Shah, Hilary Sideris, Fiona Sinclair, Catherine Webster. Reviews of Fiona Sinclair’s Second Wind, Hélène Demetriades’ the plumb line, and Rachel Abramowitz’s The Birthday of the Dead are also included. One Poem Reviews is a supercool feature that allows poets to share a poem from a newly published collection. This month Ben Banyard shares “Slow: Learner” from Hi-Viz, and Janet Hatherley shares “Trotline” from What Rita Tells Me.
The winner of the 2022 X. J. Kennedy Prize receives a $10,000 advance and publication by Texas Review Press. This year’s judge is Kimiko Hahn. Poets at any stage of their career are welcome to enter. Unpublished full-length collections need to be submitted by September 30. Stop by the NewPages Classifieds to learn more.
The judge of the 2022 George Garrett Fiction Prize is Vi Khi Nao. The contest is open to any writer at any stage of their career. Submit work to Texas Review Press by September 30. Grand prize is $1,000 advance and publication. Learn more by stopping by their ad in the NewPages Classifieds.
Online literary magazine Plant-Human Quarterly reads submissions that explore the myriad ways writers manifest their relationship to the botanical world year-round. Past contributors include Ellen Bass, Forrest Gander, Kimiko Hahn, and Arthur Sze. Learn more about their submission guidelines and accepted genres by stopping by their ad in the NewPages Classifieds.
The cover feature of World Literature Today’s September/October 2022 issue assembles more than a dozen writers, artists, photographers, and translators reflecting on the theme Bearing Witness: Confronting Injustice through Art. Additional highlights include creative nonfiction and essays from Argentina, Denmark, Guatemala, and the US; poetry from Venezuela; Chris Arthur’s “What to Read Now” list of his favorite recent essay collections; and visits to Lagos, Nigeria, as well as lower Manhattan’s Yu & Me Books. With more than two dozen book reviews and additional booklists rounding out the lineup, WLT‘s latest issue remains the best passport to travel the world republic of letters.
NewPages receives many wonderful titles each month to share with our readers. You can read more about some of these titles by clicking on the “New Books” tag under “Popular Blog Topics.” If you are a publisher or author looking to be listed here or featured on our blog and social media, please contact us!
Poetry
Almost Obscene, Raúl Gómez Jattin, CSU Poetry Center
Ancestry Unfinished, Yasmin Kloth, Kelsay Books
Bright Shade, Chelsea Harlan, Copper Canyon Press
The Empty Bowl, Judith H. Sherman, University of New Mexico Press
Essential Voices: Poetry of Iran and Its Diaspora, ed. Christopher Nelson, Green Linden Press
If Not These Things, Kenneth Chamlee, Kelsay Books
In Our Now, Valyntina Grenier, Finishing Line Press
Innocence, Micahel Joseph Walsh, CSU Poetry Center
The Gospel of Wildflowers & Weeds, Orlando Ricardo Menes, University of New Mexico Press
The Lost Notebook of Zhao Li, J.R. Solonche, Dos Madres
My Aunt’s Abortion, Jane Rosenberg LaForge, BlazeVOX
My Secret Place, Max Talley, Main Street Rag Publishing
Mouth, Sugar, & Smoke, Eric Tran, Diode Editions
Of the Florids, Shawn Hoo, Diode Editions
A Passable Man, Ralph Culver, Mad Hat Press
Visiting Her in Queens Is More Enlightening than a Month in a Monastery in Tibet
Poetry by Michael Mark
Rattle Poetry, August 2022
Subscribers to Rattle poetry magazine not only get four issues of the journal each year but are also treated to four chapbooks, one being the Rattle Chapbook Prize Winner. This fall, subscribers are receiving Michael Mark’s winning entry, Visiting Her in Queens Is More Enlightening than a Month in a Monastery in Tibet, “a kind of family photo album for the final years of a life.” As dementia progresses in Michael’s mother, each poem is at once a snapshot, a foreshadowing and a memory. And like memories, each is revealing, accurate, and blurry. Sample poems can be read on the Rattle website. Michael Mark has walked the Himalayas, Wales, Portugal, and Spain with his two children. He’s the author of two collections of stories, Toba and Toba at the Hands of a Thief (Atheneum).
Lakȟóta : An Indigenous History
The Civilization of the American Indian Series, Volume 281
By Rani-Henrik Andersson and David C. Posthumus
The University of Oklahoma Press, November 2022
Lakȟóta : An Indigenous History opens with an origin story, that of White Buffalo Calf Woman (Ptesanwin) and her gift of the sacred pipe to the Lakȟóta people. Drawing on winter counts, oral traditions and histories, and Lakȟóta letters and speeches, the narrative proceeds through such periods and events as early Lakȟóta-European trading, the creation of the Great Sioux Reservation, Christian missionization, the Plains Indian Wars, the Ghost Dance and Wounded Knee (1890), the Indian New Deal, and self-determination, as well as recent challenges like the #NoDAPL movement and management of Covid-19 on reservations. This book centers Lakȟóta experience, as when it shifts the focus of the Battle of Little Bighorn from Custer to fifteen-year-old Black Elk, or puts American Horse at the heart of the negotiations with the Crook Commission, or explains the Lakȟóta agenda in negotiating the Fort Laramie Treaty in 1851. The picture that emerges—of continuity and change in Lakȟóta culture from its distant beginnings to issues in our day—is as sweeping and intimate, and as deeply complex, as the lived history it encompasses.
Carve Magazine recently announced the winners of the 2022 Raymond Carver Contest judged by Dariel Suarez:
FIRST PLACE: Brandon J. Choi for “To Love a Stranger is Certain Death”
SECOND PLACE: Candice May for “A Rugged Border”
THIRD PLACE: Megan Callahan for “Don’t Speak”
EDITORS CHOICE: Abby Provenzano for “Birdsong” and Ned Carter Miles for “–K”
Winners will be published in the Fall 2022 Issue, which is currently in production. The contest runs annually from April 1 — mid-May.
The Summer 2022 issue of Chestnut Review – “for stubborn artists” – includes an excerpt from the winning entry of their 2021 Prose Chapbook contest: Resistance by Sue Mell. Managing Editor Maria S. Picone interviews both Mell and contest finalist, Siddiqui Chansarkar. Other prose contributors to this issue include Carlos Contreras, Renée Jessica Tan, Yasmin Nadiyah Phillip, Joel Worford, Mattea Heller, and poetry from Stephanie Staab, Lynne Schmidt, Kim Ellingson, Remi Recchia, Michelle Hulan, Yvanna Vien Tica, Gabriela Gonzales, Cate McGowan, Sasha Wade, and art from Patrick van Raalten (cover art: Fluidity), William C. Crawford, Carolyn Guinzio, Moses Ojo, Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad, and Phil Temples. Chestnut Review is free to read online or download as a PDF.
Chino and the Dance of the Butterfly
Memoir by Dana Tai Soon Burgess
University of New Mexico Press, September 2022
Renowned Korean American modern-dance choreographer Dana Tai Soon Burgess shares his deeply personal hyphenated world and how his multifaceted background drives his prolific art-making in Chino and the Dance of the Butterfly. The memoir traces how his choreographic aesthetic, based on the fluency of dance and the visual arts, was informed by his early years in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This insightful journey delves into an artist’s process that is inspired by the intersection of varying cultural perspectives, stories, and experiences. Candid and intelligent, Burgess gives readers the opportunity to experience up close the passion for art and dance that has informed his life.
The Lost Notebook of Zhao Li
Poetry by J.R. Solonche
Dos Madres Press, September 2022
When J.R. Solonche published The Five Notebooks of Zhao Li in November of 2021, it was called an “intriguing set of philosophical poems…a novel in verse [that] offers a glimpse into the most personal thoughts of a creative thinker.” Filled with more of the wise, witty, profound, silly, thoughtful, thoughtless, koan-like musings, The Lost Notebook of Zhao Li can be considered the sixth and final chapter in the tale of this 75-year-old poet/philosopher, who if asked which one he is, would answer: “Both, but not at the same time.”
Published online annually in the spring by the Institute for Research on Women (IRW) at Rutgers University in partnership with The Feminist Art Project, Rejoinder is an online journal featuring work at the intersection of scholarship and activism that reflects feminist/queer and social justice perspectives. Rejoinder publishes critical essays, fiction, poetry, and art. While some issue submissions are by invitation only or commissioned, other issues will have open calls around a specific theme or concept. Past issue themes include: Marking Time; Borders, Bodies, Homes; The Stranger Within; Me Too; Storytelling for Social Change; Climate in Crisis.
The spring 2022 issue is themed Trauma and features poetry by Okolo Chinua, artwork with artists statements by Kathy Bruce, Celia Vara, and Gail Winbury, and essays such as “A Pandemic Parent’s Story of Sadness and Loneliness” by Jennifer S. Griffiths, “Being Toward Trauma: Theorizing Post-Violence Sexuality” by Mahaliah A. Little, “Translating Body and Trauma” by Emily Irvin, and “From Buried to Living Archives: Illustration as a Vessel to Access Portals of Sound Memory. A Culture of Hope in the Making — the Cambodian Case.” by Ravy Puth.
That’s right. There is now only one month left to enter Winning Writers’ Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest. This is open to poems written in English. They can have been previously published. $20 fee to enter 1-3 poems for a chance to win $3,000. Deadline to enter is September 30.
See the ad in the NewPages Classifieds to learn more.
Publishing new content every two weeks, Topical Poetry is an online journal readers will want to subscribe to (for free) to stay up to date on the newest posts. As the name suggests, contributors offer works in response to current events and news – what a great resource to bring into any classroom. “Poetry on current events can be transformational, thought-provoking, and everlasting.” Recent works include “Asian Solidarity” by Jenn Martin, “Still Here” by Buff Whitman-Bradley, “In New York We say” by Elizabeth Schmermund, “CLIMATES CHANGE” by Joanne Kennedy Frazer, “Man in Flames” by Matthew Murrey, “UVALDE 2022” by Dale Hensarling, and “Not Completely Safe” by Jacqueline Jules. Topical Poetry is free to read online and accepts submissions based on public news/events, preferably from the previous or current week – which means a fast turnaround time on acceptance.
“You need another literary journal like you need a hole in the head. We’re here for you.” That tagline pretty much sums up the playful attitude you’ll find at Hole in the Head re:View, an online quarterly publishing on “Groundhog Day, May Day, the editor’s birthday in August, and the day after Halloween.” Publishing poetry, art, photography, reviews, and interviews, contributors to the newest issue include Kenneth Rosen, Ginny Speirs (incl. cover art), Jeanne Julian, Laura Schaeffer, Sara Wallace, Christopher Paul Brown, Erika Michael, Jenny Doughty, Ellen Stone, Jeff Mann, Diana K. Malek, Mark DeCarteret & Pat Keck, Elizabeth Iannaci, Robin Young, Larkin Warren, Cheryl Slover-Linett, Chloe’ Firetto-Toomey, Roger Camp, Cecil Morris, Joan Mazza, M.S. Rooney, Charter Weeks, Bob Herz, David P. Miller, Annette Sisson, Larissa Monique Hauck, Brett Warren, Howie Faerstein, Jack Bordnick, Mary Beth Hines, Jim Rioux, Geoffrey Aitken, Michael T. Young, Andrew K. Clark, Casey Clark, Miho Kinnas, Bookend – Sebastian Matthews interview, Sebastian Matthews, and Greg Clary.
The Fantastic Other is a biannual digital literary magazine that specializes in speculative fiction (including flash) and poetry, and science fiction and fantasy, as well as visual art in any medium. Editor in Chief G. E. Butler adds, “We also get excited for magical realism, surrealism, or anything that is altogether strange and ‘out there.’” In addition to the summer and winter issues, The Fantastic Other also publishes occasional articles to their website between issues, such as their Author’s Spotlight segment. Readers can find the latest issues online and download them as PDF documents. All content is free to read. [Cover art by Irina Tall (Novikova)]
Continue reading “New Lit on the Block :: The Fantastic Other”
The online Months to Years Summer 2022 features the creative works of twenty-five writers, poets, photographers, and artists with a range of voices and perspectives. Bev Mondillo Wright remembers her mother’s Italian baking traditions in “Agrodolce, and Other Memories of the Funeral Pan.” Becca Baisch, in “Twin Hearts,” reflects on her husband’s cancer diagnosis soon after the birth of their first child. In “A Story of a Good Mom,” pediatric ICU nurse Hui-wen Sato opens our perspective to the trauma that ICU nurses witness daily. These are just a sample of the compelling works in this issue.
Other contributors include Elizabeth Berman, Harry E. Northup, Greg Turlock, Grace May, Ingrid Blaufarb Hughes, Amanda Julien, Adnan Adam Onart, Janice Lynch Schuster, Ciera Lloyd, Marie Mischel, Gwynn Wills, Michael Salcman, Dara McGarry, Jen Emmerich, John Grey, Victor Larson, Serena Piccoli, Amy Haddad, Vincent J. Tomeo, Beverly Rose Joyce, Carole Geithner, and Cheryl Comeau-Kirschner. A digital version of the Summer 2022 issue is now available on the Months to Years website. The digital flip book, a downloadable PDF, and a web-based experience of each work are available for free. Glossy magazine hard copies can be purchased via Blurb.
The eighth and newest issue of the annual print Cherry Tree: A National Literary Journal @ Washington College features work by Anthony Aguero, Mya Matteo Alexice, Amy M. Alvarez, Jeffrey Bean, Kathryn Bratt-Pfotenhauer, Erica Lee Braverman, Holly Burdoff, Camille Carter, Adam Clay, Caitlin Cowan, Meg Day, Jose Hernandez Diaz, Denise Duhamel, María Esquinca, Sophie Ezzell, Hazem Fahmy, William Fargason, Aidan Forster, Camille Guthrie, Julie Hanson, Kathryn Hargett-Hsu, Clemonce Heard, Su Hwang, Mark Jacobs, Naomi Kanakia, Justin Lacour, Daniel Lassell, Susan L. Leary, Emily Light, Chrissy Martin, Gloriz Muñoz, Catherine Pierce, Helena Rho, C.T. Salazar, Leona Sevick, Harvey Silverman, Donna Vorreyer, Siamak Vossoughi, D.S. Waldman, Nikki Wallschlaeger, Elaine Wang, Ross White, Jeff Whitney, Eileen Winn, Haolun Xu, Nicholas Yingling, and cover art by Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi. Visit the Cherry Tree website for subscription information and single-copy orders.
Guest Post by Cindy Dale
A six-hour Amtrak ride from NYC to Syracuse loomed. Searching for something to read, I came across Dana Spiotta’s Wayward, a novel that, surprisingly, takes place in Syracuse. I downloaded the sample on my Kindle, vowing to save the balance of the book for the train if I liked it. But once I started down the rabbit hole with 52-year-old protagonist Sam Raymond, I couldn’t stop. Sam’s having a midlife crisis and impulsively buys a fixer-upper in a sketchy Syracuse neighborhood and announces she’s leaving her husband. Her sixteen-year-old daughter, Ally, sides with dad. But this is not your typical midlife crisis novel! Set just after the 2016 election that upset so many apple carts, we follow Sam as he buys the ramshackle house, joins a radical feminist group, witnesses a cop shoot a young black boy at 3 a.m., does a disastrous night of stand-up at a local comedy club, and grapples with the impending death of her mother from cancer and the daughter who’s no longer speaking to her. Throughout, the history of Syracuse (the city L.M. Baum modeled Oz after!), the backstory about the suffragette icons of the late 1800s, and the etymology of a plethora of SAT words are seamlessly woven into the narrative. There are so many unexpected twists and thought-provoking riffs on getting old and the meaning of life in our wacked, wired world.
Wayward by Dana Spiotta. Penguin Random House, June 2022.
Reviewer bio: Cindy Dale has published over twenty short stories in literary journals and anthologies. She lives on a barrier beach off the coast of Long Island.
If you are interested in contributing a Guest Post to “What I’m Reading,” please click this link: NewPages.com Reviewer Guidelines.
Did you know this week was the final full week of August? Next week (on Thursday to be exact) kicks of September. Time is flying. Weather is still going crazy. So while Mother Nature tries to make up her mind on if its summer, fall, or somewhere in between, NewPages has you covered so you can stay inside (or find a nice outdoors nook) to stay on top of your submission goals for 2022. There are a lot of August 31 deadlines, so don’t miss out!
Want to get alerts for new opportunities sent directly to your inbox every week instead of waiting for our Where to Submit Round-ups? Paid subscribers to the NewPages weekly newsletter get early access to new calls for submissions and writing contests before they go live on our site, so subscribe today! You’ll also get our monthly eLitPak (view August’s here) along with the occasional promotional emails from advertisers.
Continue reading “Where to Submit Round-up: August 25, 2022”
Conduit Books and Ephemera is open to submissions for their fifth annual Open Book Prize. The winner receives $1,500 and book publication. Any poet writing in English can enter regardless of previous publication record. Do check out their literary magazine Conduit for an idea of what they like. They do charge an entry fee. View their full ad in the NewPages Classifieds to learn more.
Publishing since 1967 and still as cutting edge as ever, the newest issue of Southern Humanities Review includes Nonfiction by George Estreich, Kelly Ann Jacobson; Fiction by Alena Graedon, Lucy Zhang, Tanya Žilinskas, Sanjena Sathian; Poetry by Angelica Maria Barraza, Clayton Adam Clark, Todd Davis, Jessica Dionne, alyssa hanna, Constance Hansen, Sara Henning, Maurya Kerr, Daniel Edward Moore, tano rubio, Maureen Sherbondy, and Grace Q. Song. Cover art by MimiPrint. Several works from each issue are available to read online.
Issue 34:1of The Gettysburg Review features paintings by Carrie Moyer, fiction by Leila Mohr, Holly Beth Pratt, Corey Campbell, Allison Field Bell, and Victoria Campbell; essays by Magin LaSov Gregg, Jenny Catlin, E. G. Cunningham, and Christina Pugh; poetry by Laura Read, Michael Pearce, Linda Pastan, Katharine Jager, Danny Duffy, Anne-Marie Thompson, Hannah Craig, David Kutz-Marks, Meghan Maguire Dahn, Michael Homolka, Caroline Crew, Jill Gonet, Keith Leonard, Jacob Sunderlin, Wendy Guerra, Dorothy Chan, Michael Lavers, John Poch, Frank Paino, Cindy King, Caleb Braun, Calgary Martin, and William Olsen.
Stubborn writers wanted! Join Chestnut Review Managing Editor Maria S. Picone and Poetry Editor A.R. Salandy for a variety of unique workshops offered through August (there’s still time!) and September:
Discounts are available for contributors, staff, or returning attendees. For more information see the Chestnut Review workshops page.
Free Feedback Fridays Ongoing
If you’re not following Chestnut Review on Twitter, you’re missing out on Free Feedback Fridays! Follow and retweet our #freefeedbackfriday post on the first Friday of each month and you’ll enter a drawing to win a free critique on your submission. The next one is on Friday, September 2nd.
Literary magazine Whitefish Review is accepting entries of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for its Montana Prize for Humor. This year’s final judge is legendary funnyman and writer Garrison Keillor. Deadline to enter is September 30. The winner in each genre receives $500 and publication. There is an entry fee. View their ad in the NewPages Classifieds to learn more.
Creature Features
Poetry by Noel Sloboda
Main Street Rag Publishing, June 2022
While the poems in Creature Features draw inspiration from several sources, many center on classic monsters author Noel Sloboda first encountered as a boy while watching the Creature Double Feature television show. In the 1970s and 1980s, this show introduced him to the Mummy, the Wolfman, the Blob — and more. What largely interested Sloboda and what he explores in this collection is how these monsters show us ourselves (or reflect our “features”). Readers may appreciate that there’s also a good deal of Shakespeare in the chapbook, since Sloboda teaches Shakespeare and has spent some time in theatre as a dramaturg. But the author also wanted to lend some of our popular culture nightmares — too often dismissed as disposable or as kitsch — the kind of pedigree they merit. Hence too — in part — the “borrowed authority” with the inclusion of cameos by eminent philosophers. Originally from New England, Noel Sloboda earned his Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis. His dissertation about Edith Wharton and Gertrude Stein became a book. He sat on the board of directors for the Gamut Theatre Group for a decade, while serving as dramaturg for its nationally recognized Shakespeare company. Currently, he is an Associate Professor of English at Penn State York.
Based out of Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, the newest issue of Zone 3 offers readers an eclectic mix of writing with the common denominator of stunning opening lines that won’t let go. Eneida P. Alcalde’s poem, “Memory Quilt,” begins: “My baby’s napping when what’s left / of you arrives…” Eddie Vona’s story, “Paragon of Animals,” begins: “It was Christmas Eve, so my mother was killing lobsters in our kitchen sink.” Sarah Carey’s poem, “Space Invaders,” begins: “My body homes itinerant ghosts—” Katie Darby Mullins’ story, “Game Theory,” begins: “The baby should mean something to me.” Delving in rewards the reader with more great lines, like “The world is more than pipelines.” from “Transatlantic Flight” by Megan M. Garr, and “He used to step into the phone box, if it was empty, to talk to her ghost.” from “Chess Wednesday” by Andrew Peters. All this to say, check out the newest issue of Zone 3, which also features works by Morgan Hamill, Shannon Hardwick, Rebecca Lehmann, Angie Macri, Nathan Manley, Sandra Marchetti, Ted McCarthy, L.S. McKee, Sarah Fawn Montgomery, Bo Schwabacher, Carrie Shipers, Audrey Spina, Simone Muench and Jackie K. White, Julia Kooi Talen, Vanessa Tamm, Greg Tebbano, John Walser, Gregory Wolff, Danae Younge, Ahimsa Timoteo Bodhrán, Alyse Bensel, Lisa Compo, Aran Donovan, Jordan Escobar, and Seth Garcia. Cover art by Marc Escalona Gaba.
Guest Post by Cindy Dale
Take heart would be novelists who are not twenty-something! One of the best debut novels I’ve read this year is Bonnie Garmin’s Lessons in Chemistry. Garmin is 64 and proof positive that it’s never too late! Set in the early 1960s, back when women were still expected to marry, stay home, and raise the kids, the novel follows heroine chemist Elizabeth Zott as she faces prejudice and discrimination head-on. This is not a rah-rah sisterhood woman’s rights novel, however. It’s a nuanced, very witty, thought-provoking novel on life and all its ups and downs. Elizabeth encounters plenty of both. She meets her soul mate, Nobel-nominated fellow chemist Calvin Evans, at a second-tier lab. When he dies suddenly, Elizabeth is left, (unbeknownst to her at the time) pregnant with their daughter, Mad. Calvin’s death results in Elizabeth’s ungracious firing at the lab after which she serendipitously falls into hosting a TV show called Supper at Six. Stubborn and unwilling to play the happy homemaker, Elizabeth turns the show into a chemistry lesson of sorts, infusing the show with lots of lessons on life. Oh, and perhaps the best character of all: Six-thirty, the family’s very smart and loyal rescue dog!
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmin. Penguin Random House, April 2022.
Reviewer bio: Cindy Dale has published over twenty short stories in literary journals and anthologies. She lives on a barrier beach off the coast of Long Island.
If you are interested in contributing a Guest Post to “What I’m Reading,” please click this link: NewPages.com Reviewer Guidelines.
NewPages receives many wonderful literary magazine and alternative magazine titles each month to share with our readers. You can read more about some of these titles by clicking on the “New Mag Issues” tag under “Popular Topics.” Find out more about many of these titles with our Guide to Literary Magazines. If you are a publication looking to be listed here or featured on our blog and social media, please contact us!
Bennington Review, 10
Carve, Summer 2022
Colorado Review, Summer 2022
Conduit, Summer 2022
Crazyhorse, Spring 2022
Cutleaf, 2.17
ecotone, Spring/Summer 2022
Feminist Studies, 48.1 2022
Free Inquiry, August/September 2022
The Georgia Review, Summer 2022
The Gettysburg Review, 34.1
Continue reading “New & Noted Lit and Alt Mags – August 2022”
Literary journals continue to expand the boundaries of style and content, responding to the changing world around us and venturing into new territories. oranges journal does both with its focus on fiction, mental health and culture writing. Publishing on a rolling basis in an open online format, founder and editor of oranges journal Jade Green [picutred] says, “I wanted to create a strong brand that would stick in people’s minds, and build a beautiful website on which I would be proud to feature my own work. The name ‘oranges’ pretty much creates its own branding; it’s a bold, outspoken, unique color which definitely aligns with our feminist mission and the kind of writing we want to publish. As soon as I came up with the name, everything else just fell into place – a very organic process!”
Salem Revisited
Poetry by Charles K. Carter
WordTech Editions, November 2021
In Salem Revisited, Charles K. Carter examines homophobic and transphobic violence in the United States. Many of the pieces look as if they have been pulled directly from yesterday’s headlines. Carter brings an awareness to these injustices by shining a harsh spotlight on what haunts many LGBTQ+ community members and their allies. The collection experiments with a wide range of poetic forms including blank verse, free verse, ghazal, and haiku as well as unconventional structures. Charles K. Carter (he/him) is a queer poet from Iowa. He is a volunteer video curator for Button Poetry, and his poems have been featured in several literary journals. Carter is the author of four chapbooks, including Salem Revisited (WordTech Editions). His first full-length collection, Read My Lips (David Robert Books), will be released in fall 2022. Sample poems can be read here.
With Volume 48.1, Feminist Studies scholarly journal celebrates fifty years of publication and commemorates forty years of “two anthologies that heralded major innovations in feminist theory: This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color (Persephone Press, 1981; Kitchen Table Press, 1983) and All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women’s Studies (The Feminist Press, 1983). The writing in this issue,” continue Judith Gardiner and Matt Richardson in the preface, “reflects the deeply personal impact these books have had on scholars’ intellectual, political, and emotional development since the time of their publication.”
Contributors include Nicole Charles, Paulina Jones-Torregrosa, Analouise Keating, Emek Ergun, Nida Sajid, Keisha-Khan Perry, Sirisha Naidu, Sangeeta Kamat, Richa Nagar, Tala Khanmalek, Heidi Andrea Restrepo Rhodes, Sidra Lawrence, Kelsey Leonard, Chrystos, Max Wolf Valerio, And Jo Carrillo, Reanae Mcneal, Nathalie Lozano Niera, Shoniqua Roach, Kristie Soares, Tamara Lea Spira, Anna Storti, Saraellen Strongman. A full table of contents can be found on the Feminist Studies website.
The Todos Santos Writers Workshop is thrilled to announce our 10th anniversary session, JANUARY 28 – FEBRUARY 5. Join us for a week of workshops, craft talks, fiestas, and camaraderie in our pueblo magico by the sea. Faculty: Christopher Merrill, Leigh Newman, Jeanne McCulloch, Karen Karbo, and Rex Weiner. Open to writers in all genres and at all levels. For more information and to register, please go to our website. Register with early bird discount before October 15.
View the full August 2022 eLitPak Newsletter. Don’t forget to subscribe today to receive the September 2022 eLitPak Newsletter straight to your inbox.
Unlettered Longings
Poetry by Abin Chakraborty
ukiyoto, June 2022
Our hearts are not designed to beat to beaten tracks – they have rhythms and quests and seasons of their own which often veer away from established norms and the set motions of everyday existence. Naturally, therefore, we are always entangled in longings — conscious or unconscious which punctuate our days, nights, dreams, writings and much more. The poems in this collection are reflective of such longings, at times foolish, at times desperate, at times mundane, but always authentic. These longings stem from human beings — eternal quests for love, for beauty, for understanding, for solidarity, for recognition. Such quests, of course, are not always fulfilled and the failed and thwarted pursuits bring about their own notes of disillusionment, frustration, anger, self-loathing, and self-deception as well. These poems take all such affects into account while negotiating with the shadows that fall between dreams and reality, between desire and experience, between aspirations and limitations. It is hoped that the reader will find among these lines various echoes of their own myriad experiences which will better illuminate the labyrinthine mazes of our own hearts and souls while securing solace, pleasure, strength, and most importantly, a realm of communion beyond the sutures of the self.
Deadline: October 15, 2022
The fight for social justice, reproductive rights, and the environment has been ongoing and yet the moment calls for an urgent and sharp response. The artist is to illuminate darkness and make the world better. We need submissions of poetry, prose, and visual art that expresses resistance and collective democratic worldbuilding, worlds with justice as a reality. View flier or visit website to learn more.
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I Dreamed I Was Emily Dickinson’s Boyfriend
Poetry by Ron Koertge
Red Hen Press, October 2022
I Dreamed I Was Emily Dickinson’s Boyfriend easily solidifies Ron Koertge’s reputation as a poet who is very funny and also very serious. In these surprising and delightful poems, a mannequin joins the Me Too movement, a summer job turns into a lesson in class distinctions, and Jane Austen makes a surprise appearance at a mall. Ron Koertge’s uniquely playful imagination is on display in poem after poem. Visit Koretge’s website to learn more about his numerous books of poetry, young adult titles, Academy Award-nominated short film, Negative Space, based on one of his poems, and learn about his famous home – Halloween and Jamie Lee Curtis fans, you’ll want to check that out!
Sans. PRESS, a new indie publisher from Ireland, is looking for short stories for their newest anthology, INTO CHAOS. Open to all genres and writers, we want unexpected stories that show us new layers to reality! Free to submit and selected writers will be offered €150 for stories. View flier or Visit website to learn more.
View the full August 2022 eLitPak Newsletter. Don’t forget to subscribe today to receive the September 2022 eLitPak Newsletter straight to your inbox.
The Wilson College MFA program is designed for working professionals with a low-residency schedule tailored to meet the needs of artists allowing them to reach the next level in their field. View flier or visit website to learn more.
View the full August 2022 eLitPak Newsletter. Don’t forget to subscribe today to receive the September 2022 eLitPak Newsletter straight to your inbox.
Deadline: September 30
Submit published or unpublished poems to the 20th annual Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest sponsored by Winning Writers and co-sponsored by Duotrope. We will award $3,000 for the best poem in any style and $3,000 for the best poem that rhymes or has a traditional style. The top 12 poems will be published online. Final judge: S. Mei Sheng Frazier. Fee: $20 for 1-3 poems.
View the full August 2022 eLitPak Newsletter. Don’t forget to subscribe today to receive the September 2022 eLitPak Newsletter straight to your inbox.
While the back to school scramble makes it hard to find the time to devote yourself to writing, editing, and submitting, NewPages has you covered. Check out out weekly Where to Submit Round-up for third week in August to help you out in finding the perfect home for your work.
Want to get alerts for new opportunities sent directly to your inbox every week? NewPages weekly newsletter subscribers get early access to new calls for submissions and writing contests before they go live on our site, so subscribe today! You’ll also get our monthly eLitPak (view August’s here) along with the occasional promotional emails from advertisers.
Continue reading “Where to Submit Round-up: August 19, 2022”
A Woman Somehow Dead
Poetry by Amy Locklin
David Robert Books, March 2022
In this first full collection by Amy Locklin, the whirl of life and death, the rhythm of rot and rebirth, permeates these striking poems. Locklin has previously edited two print fiction anthologies, Altered States and Law and Disorder. She was a managing editor for the cross-genre anthology A Year in Ink, and her poetry chapbook, The Secondary Burial, was a finalist for the San Diego Book Awards. She earned her MFA in Poetry Writing and MA in 20th Century Literature from Indiana University Bloomington and currently teaches writing across the disciplines in online accelerated terms at Southern New Hampshire University. Sample poems are available to read here.
To Sleep With Bears
Poetry by Steve Nickman
Word Poetry, April 2022
Steve Nickman’s poems in his newest collection, To Sleep With Bears, are about praise and amazement, as well as connection and the loss of it. They are about food, childhood, hiding, loneliness, small and large animals, and despair. They are about losing courage and regaining it, our capacity for good and evil, and finally about knowing that we won’t live forever. Steve Nickman is an almost-retired child psychiatrist in Brookline, Massachusetts. In 2006 he joined Barbara Helfgott Hyett’s workshop and learned that much of what his patients had to say was poetry. Working with adopted children has given him insight into the feeling of lost connection. Sample poems are available to read here.
Flutter, Kick
Poetry by Ann V.Q. Ross
Red Hen Press, November 2022
In Flutter, Kick, poet Anna V. Q. Ross plumbs motherhood, migration, childhood, and the cycles of violence and renewal that recur in each. These are poems of math homework and police sirens, where a fox pops out of a fairy tale to dig up the backyard, NPR News spirals the evening carpool into memories of girlhood and trauma, and a city gas leak conjures xenophobic backlash against refugees. In poems of reclamation and warning, Flutter, Kick brings readers to the center of this world—a place where “in those days, we were fast and best, but didn’t know it”—with a compassion learned of anger, memory, and joy.
Fantasy Kit
Fiction by Adam McOmber
Black Lawrence Press, June 2022
The strange and sometimes horrific stories in Adam McOmber’s Fantasy Kit could easily draw a comparison to the work of Angela Carter or even the master of lyrical horror, Edgar Allen Poe, but they are also entirely unique. Made up of fairy tales, myths, and traveling through mazes of space and time; each of these stories creeps through the mind long after the last page. Adam McOmber is the author of three novels as well as two collections of short fiction. His short fiction has appeared in numerous magazines and journals. He teaches in the MFA Writing Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts where he is also the editor-in-chief of the literary magazine Hunger Mountain.
Reflections Through the Convex Mirror of Time
Poems in Remembrance of the Spanish Civil War
By E.A. Mares
University of New Mexico Press, August 2022
In this poignant bilingual collection, preeminent New Mexican poet E. A. “Tony” Mares posthumously shares his passionate journey into the broken heart and glimmering shadows of the Spanish Civil War, whose shock waves still resonate with the political upheavals of our own times. Mares engages in dialogue with heroes and demons, anarchists and cardinals, and beggars and poets. He takes us through the convex mirror of history to the blood-stained streets of Madrid, Guernica, and Barcelona. He interrogates the assassins of Federico García Lorca for their crimes against poetry and humanity. Throughout the collection, the narrator is participant and commentator, and his language is both lyrical and direct. In addition to Mares’s parallel Spanish and English poems, the book includes a prologue by Enrique Lamadrid, an introduction by Fernando Martín Pescador, and an epilogue by Susana Rivera.