With all the craziness going on in the world, literary magazine Arts & Letters has extended the deadline to its Arts & Letters Prize. They are open to fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. $1,000 and publication awarded to a winner in each genre. The new submission deadline is April 15. $20 fee. Learn more…
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!
Poetry Offers April 2020 Issue Free During NaPoMo
April is here, ringing in National Poetry Month. To celebrate the occasion, Poetry Magazine is currently offering a free download of the April 2020.
You can find the free issue in the Poetry Magazine App, available through the Apple App Store, Google Play, and Amazon.
Poets in this issue include Ocean Vuong, Emily Jungmin Yoon, Jeannine Hall Gailey, Gertrude Stein and Bianca Stone, Michael Hoffman, and plenty more. Go snag your free copy and spend the month celebrating the poems and poets you love.
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Frontier Poetry New Voices Fellow 2020: Dujie Tahat
Frontier Poetry’s New Voices Fellowship is for uplifting and supporting “emerging poets from traditionally marginalized communities.” Congratulations to the newly announced Fellow for 2020: Dujie Tahat.
Tahat will receive a $500 grant, editorial guidance, the opportunity to read for Frontier, and publication of his work.
You can learn more about Tahat, listen to his podcast, and read recent work linked from the Frontier Poetry website.
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A Speaker Readers Can Root For – Three Poems by Laurinda Lind
Magazine Review by Katy Haas
Three poems by Laurinda Lind can be found in Issue 29 of High Desert Journal: “When I Lived in Soda Springs, Idaho & I Had a Belly at the Bar,” “When I Lived in Soda Springs, Idaho & the Cashier at the Convenience Store Was Friendly to Me,” and “When I Lived in Soda Springs, Idaho & I Had Not Yet Killed a Black Widow Spider.”
This series of prose poems is strong in its storytelling. They read quickly with sentences that run on as if the speaker can’t wait to get the words out. The speaker is not the only person in these pieces. They all include other people the speaker interacts with, a cast of characters that Lind brings to life for us: her neighbor “who later stole several hundred dollars from me & nearly killed my cat,” the “old guy” who “wanted to buy us beers,” the friendly cashier who was “short & pretty” with “huge green eyes” and later robbed the store she worked at, and the man who calls her and harasses her over the phone.
There’s an edge to the writing, a take-no-nonsense attitude in every piece. The speaker is a woman who is surviving against the odds in this strange, unfamiliar place with people and animals who make living there difficult. Lind fleshes out a speaker who readers can root for.
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Call :: Fleas on the Dog is Still Open for Issue 6
Reaching out takes many forms. We seek short fiction, poetry, plays, screenplays, and nonfiction for our upcoming Issue 6. You might be isolated but the world is at your keyboard—let’s connect. No, this isn’t a cheeky call like our previous ones. We don’t think that’s appropriate given the pandemic. But our enthusiasm and love of GOOD WRITING is unchanged and yes, we are still the crazy Dude Sextet. We want your junk and we want it now. See fleasonthedog.com for guidelines. Runs April 2-30.
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2020 VanderMey Nonfiction Prize Winners
The latest issue of Ruminate features the writers who placed in the 2020 VanderMey Nonfiction Prize.
First Place
“Destiny of Cumin” by Jasmine V. Bailey
Second Place
“A True Prayer is One That You Do Not Understand” by Kelly J. Beard
Honorable Mention
“How To Ruin a Persian Wedding” by Atash Yaghmaian
Finalists include Avra Aron, Kaimana Farris, Dorothy Neagle, Alexandra Loeb, Sally Pearson, Arielle Schussler, Jamie Smith, Shannon Tsonis, and Shannon Yarbrough.
Selections were made by Ruminate’s founder, Brianna Van Dyke and says of her first-place selection: “Jasmine V. Bailey’s ‘Destiny of Cumin’ offers a wide-searching exploration of food and slavery and motherhood and becomes an essay about power and love and what it means to live among the contradictions of our own hearts.”
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Blackout by Burgess
Magazine Review by Katy Haas
I’m a fan of reading and making blackout poetry, and the Spring 2020 issue of Willow Springs offers one piece of blackout by Jackson Burgess. What makes this a little more unique than other pieces of blackout I’ve read in the past is that Burgess blacks out his own poem.
On one page, readers can find a prose poem called “Medicine,” which details an almost nightmarish account of medical themes exploring a “lifetime trying to learn what another body needs.” On the next page, the prose poem is blacked out leaving only twelve words from the original piece. Dark and creative, I enjoyed the construction and deconstruction of Burgess’s work.
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Contest :: Carve Magazine 2020 Raymond Carver Short Story Contest
Carve Magazine‘s Raymond Carver Short Story Contest is open April 1 – May 15. Accepting submissions from all over the world, but story must be in English. Max 10,000 words. Prizes: $2,000, $500, $250, + 2 Editor’s Choice $125 each. All 5 winners published in Fall 2020 issue and reviewed by lit agencies. Entry fee $17 online/$15 mailed. Guest judge Pam Houston. www.carvezine.com/raymond-carver-contest/
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Internet Archive Launches National Emergency Library
Last week Internet Archive launched the National Emergency Library which contains 1.4 million digitized books to serve the needs of students, educators, and learners. This means that they have suspended the waitlists, at least through June 30. This allows students to have the access they need to assigned readings and other library materials.
Brewster Kahle, founder of Internet Archive, says, “Think of this as a huge experiment. In one big push, we can improve online learning and its infrastructure in a way that may otherwise have taken years. This crisis encourages universities to be bold, to make investments that ultimately may mean many more students can benefit. Perhaps 500 undergraduates can fill a hall at MIT, but how many millions can take an online MIT course, once the books, materials and lessons are online?”
The library brings together all the books from Phillips Academy Andover and Marygrove College with much of Trent University’s collections. There is also over a million other books donated by other libraries to readers worldwide. Yes, worldwide. The timeline for the waitlist is timed to the crisis in the U.S., but readers all over the world are able to utilize this collection.
This launch has met with much criticism from the publishing community and writers. In a recent NPR article, it has been revealed that many writers and publishers say that the Internet Archive has been sharing full digital copies of books without permission before the establishment of this new library. The Authors Guild, which provides legal assistance to writers, stated the Internet Archive “tramples on authors’ rights by giving away their books to the world” without permission.
They recommend utilizing your own local libraries and their own e-book lending platforms instead.
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Contest :: Black Warrior Review Seeks Work for 2020 Writing Contest
Deadline: September 1, 2020
Biannual print journal Black Warrior Review seeks 2020 contest submissions. Winners will receive publication and cash prizes ($500 for flash and $1,000 for poetry, fiction, and CNF). Judges: Mayukh Sen (nonfiction), Paul Tran (poetry), C Pam Zhang (flash), and Lucy Corin (fiction). Open until 9/1. Submission fee: $20. Complete information available at bwr.ua.edu.
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Fiction Southeast Extends Hemingway Flash Fiction Prize Deadline
Good news, writers! You now have until April 30 to submit your flash fiction of 1,500 words or less to literary magazine Fiction Southeast. They have extended the deadline of their Hemingway Flash Fiction Prize from March 31. Winner receives $200 and publication in the journal. All finalists considered for publication. $10 entry fee. Check out their website for full guidelines.
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Contest :: Baltimore Review Wants Short Shorts for Summer Contest
Something new: No theme for our summer contest! Subject matter is entirely up to you. Surprise us. But keep it short. Three categories: flash fiction, flash creative nonfiction, prose poem. We want to be amazed at how you abracadabra a sprinkling of words into magic. And maybe be a little jealous of how you do that. One writer in each category will be awarded a $300 prize and published in the summer issue. All entries considered for publication. Total word limit for each category is 1,000. See www.baltimorereview.org for complete details. Deadline: May 31, 2020. Fee: $5.
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24th Annual Poet Hunt Winners
The winners of the 24th Annual Poet Hunt can be found in the Winter 2020 issue of The MacGuffin. Judge Richard Tillinghast introduces his selections and gives some insight about the winner and the two runners-up in the issue.
Winner
“The Sketchbooks of Hiroshige” by Jane Craven
Honorable Mentions
“Sonnet from the German Front, 1944” by Jill Reid
“Aergia in the Overworld” by John Blair
The 2020 contest opened for submissions today and will run until June 15. Winners receive publication and a $500 grand prize. Visit The MacGuffin’s website to learn more.
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Event :: Summer Writers Institute Celebrates 25 Years
Registration Deadline: July 16, 2020
Event Dates: July 17 – July 31, 2020; Washington University in St. Louis
The Summer Writers Institute is excited to celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2020. We are known for bringing together adult writers of all levels to work with published authors and exceptional teachers in a supportive, non-competitive format. Our intensive two-week program features workshops in fiction, micro-fiction, poetry, and personal narrative. Whether this is your first foray into the writing life or the next step in honing your craft, we look forward to welcoming you in St. Louis this summer! summerschool.wustl.edu/summer-writers-institute
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The Antioch Review: Keep Calm & Read On
The Antioch Review offers visitors to their website a reminder to “Keep Calm and Read On.” During these times, they give some suggestions and encourage: “Reading to family who want a moment and modicum of normalcy” or “Reading to someone who just wants to close their eyes and escape into the lines of literature” or “Reading to appreciate the literary arts as these have uplifted us, offered us sanctuary, filled our minds (and often our hearts), opened our eyes, challenged our souls, and satisfied our spirits for eons.” They give some other ideas of who could use some reading to at their homepage, a reminder that we can find comfort or an escape in the worlds writers create.
Publishing for seventy-five years, The Antioch Review’s archive contains plenty of reading material if you need to stock up on some calming words.
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Contest :: The Orison Chapbook Prize 2020
The 2020 Orison Chapbook Prize is open for submissions of 20–45 pages in any literary genre (poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or hybrid) from April 1–July 1. Orison Books founder and editor Luke Hankins will judge. The winner will receive $300 and publication by Orison Books. Entry fee: $12. For complete guidelines, see www.orisonbooks.submittable.com.
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Contest :: Killer Nashville Wants to Know if You’re a Killer Writer
The 2020 Killer Nashville International Writers’ Conference will take place August 20-23 in Nashville, Tennessee. This is a premier forum for all literature incorporating mystery, thriller, suspense, or true crime. Scholarships are available! Apply today. Killer Nashville is also seeking both published and unpublished works for its annual contests. The Claymore Award is an open competition for unpublished works open to entries through April 1. The Silver Falchion Award is an open competition for works published in 2019 open to entries through June 1. For complete details including prize information, visit www.KillerNashville.com.
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Bonus Issues with The First Line
Readers, did you know you get a bonus when you subscribe to The First Line? Each subscription comes with one free issue of The Last Line. For those unfamiliar with the journal, The First Line features stories that all start with the same opening sentence, and The Last Line features stories that end with the same closing sentence.
A subscription to The First Line gets you one free issue of The Last Line per subscribed year. It doesn’t matter if you go for the print or the digital subscription—both offer the free issue. The issues are already very affordably priced, but you should still take advantage of the offer and get yourself another source of great writing.
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Update Your Bookmarks – New Website for Gargoyle
Gargoyle Magazine has moved over to a new website. The new site still has everything the old one had—the ability to order the current issues and back issues, recommended magazines, reader testimonials, a bit of history, news and announcements, and more. The page is a little easier to navigate and has a nice, clean design.
Go visit the website and see for yourself everything Gargoyle has to offer.
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Gemini Magazine Extends Deadline of 11th Annual Short Story Contest
Online literary magazine Gemini has announced that they are extending the deadline of their Short Story Contest. You now have until April 8 to submit your fiction to the contest. Your stories can be on any subject in any style. $8 fee; first prize winner receives $1,000 and publication. Learn more…
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Call :: BALLOONS Lit. Journal Seeks Work to Bring Warmth to Young Readers
Deadline: April 11, 2020
Many parts of the world have shut down under the threats of COVID-19. Schools are suspended, gatherings are discouraged. In this difficult period of time, BALLOONS Lit. Journal is seeking poetry, short stories, and artwork that brings warmth to our young readers. Works may praise the medical officers, mourn for the deceased, encourage the infected, cheer up the children staying home, show support to educators, reflect love and humanity or anything that brings out positive energy, the energy everybody needs now. Visit www.balloons-lit-journal.com for submission details. Stay healthy, stay happy!
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April 2020 Writing Contests
Have nothing better to do and want to build up your submissions calendar? Don’t forget to check out our Big List of Writing & Book Contests. We have a whole year’s worth of contests that we work hard to keep updated for you all. April is literally around the corner . . . so why not start there?
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Ruminate – Issue 54
“The Everyday” issue celebrates Ruminate‘s focus on finding the sacred within everyday moments and routines. This issue features work from our 2019 Broadside winner Meredith Stricker, as well as the winning pieces from our 2020 VanderMey Nonfiction Prize written by Jasmine V. Bailey, Kelly J. Beard, and Atash Yaghmaian chosen by judge Brianna Van Dyke. Also in this issue: Erin Malone, Chelsea Dingman, Sneha Subramanian Kanta, Nick Yingling, Alyse Bensel, Daniel Seth Kraus, Andrew Huot, Stacy Trautwein Burns, and more.
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New England Review – 41.1
In this issue of New England Review you’ll find fiction by Maud Casey, David Allan Cates, Nandini Dhar, Elin Hawkinson, Christine Sneed, and Lindsay Starck; poetry by Su Cho, John Freeman, Rodney Gomez, Zach Linge, Vandana Khanna, Joanna Klink, Philip Metres,, Maura Stanton, Emily Jungmin Yoon, and more; nonfiction by Kazim Ali, Jennifer Chang, Ching-In Chen, Julia Cohen, and others; and Max Frisch in translations, translated by Linda Frazee Baker. Plus cover art by Brian Nash.
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Event :: Driftwood Press Erasure Poetry Seminar
Event Location: Online Only
Application Deadline: April 30, 2020
Applications are now open for the “Erasure Poetry” seminar! This seminar is offered completely online. The “Erasure Seminar” is perfect for poets looking to explore the history and techniques behind erasure poetry. Deadline to join is April 30th, and all students will be admitted on a first come, first served basis.
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Gargoyle – No. 71
Check out the new issue of Gargoyle. Contributors include: Laura Arciniega, Paula Bonnell, Sarah Browning, Michael Casey, Grace Cavalieri, Patrick Chapman, Bonnie Chau, Katie Cortese, celeste doaks, Gabriel Don, Cornelius Eady, Blair Ewing, Abby Frucht, Patricia Henley, George Kalamaras, Louise Wareham Leonard, Trish MacEnulty, Franetta McMillian, Tony Medina, Nancy Mercado, Susan Neville, A.L. Nielsen, Josip Novakovich, James J. Patterson, bart plantenga, Bern Porter, Doug Rice, Jane Satterfield, Davis Schneiderman, Claire Scott, Gregg Shapiro, Rose Solari, Maya Sonenberg, Marilyn Stablein, Susan Tepper, Michael Waters, and many more.
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The MacGuffin
Discover a new issue of The MacGuffin. Volume 36 Number 1 spotlights the winners of our 2019 Poet Hunt Contest as selected by guest judge Richard Tillinghast. Jane Craven’s first place “The Sketchbooks of Hiroshige,” begins on p. 74, followed by our two honorable mention poets, Jill Reid and John Blair. This issue’s prose selections include Lucy Mihajlich’s “When I Infiltrated IKEA, They Greeted Me at the Door” and Teresa Milbrodt’s “Playing Krampus.” Featured artist Alison Devine graces the book’s inside and outside with a stroll through the Hamilton, Ontario countryside.
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Call :: The Revolution (Relaunch) Wants Your Creative Activism
Deadline: Rolling
Founded in July of 2019, The Revolution (Relaunch) is a creative resurgence of Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s 1868 publication, The Revolution, which was the official newspaper of the National Women’s Suffrage Association. Like any good 19th century newspaper (or any good 21st century zine), we publish a range of styles—memoir, poetry, cultural criticism, interviews, and profiles featuring activists and grassroots organizations. Our focus is feminism in the broadest sense—in other words, we’re interested in “creative activism” that voices the marginalized and/or criticizes corrupt authority. Submit one piece of prose under 750 words, three poems, or 5 images to therevolutionrelaunch@gmail.com.
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Black Warrior Review – Spring 2020
The Spring 2020 issue of Black Warrior Review is out. In this issue: Aliza Ali Khan, Sébastien Bernard, Agata Izabela Brewer, Naomi Day, Meg E. Griffitts, Katherine Indermaur, Sara Kachelman, Jasmine Khaliq, Jessica Lanay, M.L. Martin, Cherise Morris, Mónica Ramón Ríos (translated by Robin Myers), Monica Rico, Angie Sijun Lou, Molli Spalter, Qianqian Ye, and more. Chapbook by Seo-Young Chu. Cover art by Dominic Chambers.
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Event :: Driftwood Press Online Editors & Writers Seminar
Event Location: Online Only
Application Deadline: April 30, 2020
Applications are now open for the “Editors & Writers: The Path to Publication” seminar. This is offered entirely online. The “Editors & Writers: The Path to Publication” seminar is perfect for short fiction writers who are submitting to magazines; come see the process and the craft from an editor’s point of view. Deadline to join the class is April 30th, and all students will be admitted on a first come, first served basis.
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The Adroit Journal – March 2020
Find the newest issue of The Adroit Journal is out. Readers can check out poetry by Bryan Byrdlong, Steven Duong, Garous Abdolmalekian, Emily Lee Luan, John Freeman, Erin Adair-Hodges, Peter Streckfus, Ae Hee Lee, Matthew Gellman, Sara Elkamel, Seth Simons, Imani Davis, Kim Addonizio, Sahar Romani, Zach Linge, Matthew Rohrer, Joanna Klink, and more; prose by Cathy Ulrich, K-Ming Chang, Connor Oswald, and others; plus conversations with Natalie Diaz, Matthew Rohrer, Brian Teare, Deb Olin Unferth, and Matthew Zapruder.
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Call :: True Stories about Winter Holidays
Deadline: April 30, 2020
It may be April, but Christmas is already in the air at Chicken Soup for the Soul. Share your winter holiday memories and traditions with our readers, from the heartwarming to the hilarious. Everything from Thanksgiving, to Hanukkah, to Christmas, to New Year’s. Be sure the stories are “Santa safe” so we don’t spoil the magic for precocious readers! If we publish your piece, you will be paid $200 plus 10 free copies of the book. Writing guidelines and more info at www.chickensoup.com/story-submissions/possible-book-topics.
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THEMA Puzzles Writers, Pleases Readers
Magazine Review by Katy Haas
Each issue of THEMA invites writers to explore a given theme. The Spring 2020 issue’s theme is “Six Before Eighty,” which Editor Virginia Howard explains in her Editor’s Note, gave writers a run for their money. It “tended to puzzle more authors than usual.”
Despite the challenge, sixteen on-theme pieces made it into the issue. H.B. Salzer in “Her Number Six” writes of a woman’s bucket list—six things to do before she turns eighty. James “Jack” Penha in “Eulogy for My Elder Brother,” writes fondly of his brother who passed away at age seventy-four—six years before turning eighty. In “Written in Gold,” Larry Lefkowitz’s characters try their own hand at translating the theme finding it in a Mayan inscription in a temple. But my two favorite pieces in the issue each interpret the theme as different roads.
In “Mantra” by Lisa Timpf, the numbers are a reminder for a man’s fading memory. Regional Road 6 comes before Sideroad 80 and then he’s home. Readers can feel the anxiety in the piece as he repeats his mantra, trying to get home while admitting he “hasn’t told his wife / how much has slipped away.” But his mantra always gets him back home.
Cherie Bowers’s “Off-Ramp” is a short poem conjuring up Exit 6 as it merges onto 1-80. Here, a memorial with “fading words” reads, “We love you, Jason.” “To see it clearly,” the speaker says, “you must slow down,” a reminder for readers it’s necessary to slow down to truly see everything around us and to give thought to these fading signs we see beside the road.
I’m sure it was a lot of run writing for this issue of THEMA, and it was a lot of run reading what everyone was able to come up with.
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Reader, Writer, Editor – Driftwood Press Has You Covered
Driftwood Press has plenty on the horizon for both readers and writers.
Writers looking to hone their craft can benefit from the two seminars Driftwood Press offers—Editors & Writers: The Path to Publication, and a seminar for Erasure Poetry. These are both conducted online and have plenty of information to help guide writers and editors better their work. The deadline to apply for each of these is April 30.
Readers can now order copies of Helli Fang’s new chapbook Village of Knives from the press. Chen Chen says of the collection, “The poems here listen to immigrant life and dream, to gendered expectation and subversion, to desire, to the body’s surging, briny rhythms.”
If you’re interested in having your own poetry read by the editors, consider submitting your full-length manuscript. Submissions are currently open for the rest of the month, so act fast! If you do end up missing this submission period, there are still two contests currently open until July.
Whether you’re looking to learn, read, or submit, Driftwood Press has you covered!
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Crowing & Hosanna-Singing with Margot Farrington
Guest Post by Robert Bensen
We can go to Margot Farrington’s The Blue Canoe of Longing (as Seamus Heaney wrote of poetry at large) “to be forwarded within ourselves,” to conceive “a new scope for our mind’s activity”—and that of the heart, as Farrington’s art draws desire out to longing, from the familiar to the exotic, lowly to lofty, in Catskill country poems and Brooklyn city poems.
The pleasure begins in effortless, exacting metaphors that create (for instance) space for the “orchestral silence” of heat lightning, the “rogue shapes” of clouds, the “buffed dominos” of Holstein cows,” the “starlight / beading like solder on a running brook.” Her imaging steadies our gaze on what we seldom glimpse of bird or bush or hill or people, for that matter. Her heart is in the right place, which helps ours get there too.
The poems take on large ecological, cultural, personal and other issues in playing out their dramas. Consider Robbie (“Counterweight”), a farmer pressed by his wife to kill a fox that had taken two of his Bantam roosters to feed her kits. He should kill the fox, but the fox is old, he knows, probably on her last litter. He resolves the small war in him, coming down on the side of the angels: “Pardon was Robbie’s province. / Sharpening, silvering, the old mother would persist / as long as rough gods bid before her fade into the mists / the island made.” And he’d be rewarded with “hatchings and crowings since.”
There should be plenty of crowing and hosanna-singing over Margot Farrington’s The Blue Canoe of Longing. Or maybe better would be paying quiet attention and being forwarded within ourselves, with new ranges for the mind’s activity.
The Blue Canoe of Longing by Margot Farrington. Dos Madres, October 2019.
About the reviewer: Robert Bensen’s Before (2019) is his sixth book of poems. He taught at Hartwick College (1978-2017), now conducts the poetry workshop at Bright Hill Press.
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Interview with Native American Writer CMarie Fuhrman
Did you know online literary magazine High Desert Journal features an exclusive podcast interview with Native American writer CMarie Fuhrman? If not, definitely go check it out. You may need to really crank the volume so you can hear her responses to the interviewer’s questions.
And I think that says something, too, about our culture not wanting to face death.
Listen to the the full interview here: www.highdesertjournal.com/podcast.
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Ann S. Epstein Questions What’s in a Name
Magazine Review by Katy Haas
bioStories invites readers into the daily lives of those around us. Ann S. Epstein’s “My Name Could Be Toby Gardner” explores a topic that follows all of us daily: our names.
Born to a family of immigrants, Epstein begins by breaking down her parents’, grandparents’, sibling’s, and aunt’s name, each of them going by one that was not given to them at birth. Once she makes it to her own name, Epstein considers the ways which we tie identity to the name people call us. But she’s never felt connected to neither her first nor last names.
There is something almost comical about the way Epstein rights about this. The constant back and forth and corrections of the names of the people she’s mentioning in her piece are handled with levity, but she concludes on a more serious tone, wondering if names can be lost if they don’t make their mark on their person when they’re young.
Whether you want to spend some time thinking about what names mean to identity, or you just want to learn about the intricacies of the names of Epstein’s family, this is a quick and interesting read.
About the reviewer: Katy Haas is Assistant Editor at NewPages. Recent poetry can be found in Taco Bell Quarterly, petrichor, and other journals. She regularly blogs at: newpages.com/blog.
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Maureen Thorson Taps into Tenderness & Family
Magazine Review by Katy Haas
The thumbnails of the Fall 2019 of Court Green mostly show silhouetted scenes of courtship—men playing musical instruments or bowing on knees before women, scenes of dancing and kissing. In her two poems, Maureen Thorson writes of a different sort of relationships and intimacy, instead focusing on family. Continue reading “Maureen Thorson Taps into Tenderness & Family”
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What Are You Reading?
What are you reading?
We’d love to hear about what you’ve been reading. Whether it’s a new issue of your favorite literary magazine, the book you’ve just added to your shelf, or one piece of poetry or prose that really spoke to you, we’re looking forward to your recommendations.
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Send us an email with a brief, previously unpublished review (200 words maximum) and we’ll share it with our users on our blog and across our social media accounts.
NewPages seeks reviews of contemporary literary books from small presses and new magazine issues or work. Contemporary = within the past year. Literary = no ‘popular genre’ works (fantasy, thriller, sci fi, murder mystery, etc., unless it is from a publisher we list on our site).
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Runestone Journal Has Questions
Magazine Review by Katy Haas
The writers in Volume 6 of Runestone Journal have questions. In poetry, Lex Chilson asks, “Why Am I Always Sadder During the Summer?” and in fiction, Gabraella Wescott narrator wants to know “Would God Have a Beach House?” while Holley Ziemba’s character wonders “Do I Miss Myself?” Continue reading “Runestone Journal Has Questions”
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Fates Intertwine in Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House
Book Review by Ken Brosky
Galaxy “Alex” Stern has been given a free ride to Yale, despite a shady past and nonexistent high school grades. Why? Because she can see ghosts, and one of Yale’s secret societies has use of her unique gift. If that’s not enough to get you interested, how about this: in the first 20 pages, the society Skull and Bones has already opened up a living man’s body to perform a ritual designed to pick winning stocks. That’s just a taste of the incredible creativity that awaits readers as Alex investigates the strange goings-on of the secret societies, searching for answers to a suspicious murder.
Leigh Bardugo’s writing style shifts perspective with ease, moving between two main characters whose fates are intertwined. But what sets this book apart is the incredible creativity. Each secret society in Yale practices a form of magic, with consequences that go beyond the campus. It’s difficult to come up with something new in the fantasy genre, but Bardugo’s twisted imagination succeeds so well that this book is impossible to put down.
The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. Flatiron Books, October 2019.
About the reviewer: Ken Brosky teaches English, plays guitar, and works in his woodshop when he’s not busy writing. He is short stories have been published in The Portland Review, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, among others. He’s currently represented by agent Sandra Sawicka, and they’re working on a mystery novel.
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That’s Some (Weird) Pig!
Southeast Missouri State University Press may have their orders closed at the moment, but you can still learn about their forthcoming titles. In October 2020, they’ll publish Weird Pig by Robert Long Foreman, winner of the 2018 Nilsen Prize for a First Novel.
Although it’s his first novel, Foreman has made his mark by winning Pleiades Press’s Robert C. Jones Prize for Short Prize with his collection of essays Among Other Things and by winning a Pushcart Prize for fiction.
Find out more about the 2018 competition at SEMO Press’s website. And if you’re interested at trying your own luck at entering the Nilsen Prize for a First Novel, you have plenty of time—submissions close in November.
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The Shore Poetry – Spring 2020
A new issue of The Shore features poetry by: Julia Bouwsma, Charlie M. Brown, Nicholas Samaras, Sarah Marquez, Nicholas Holt, Rachel Small, Noah Stetzer, Kathryn de Lancellotti, Molly Tenenbaum, Kathryn Merwin, Jenny Irish, Nicholas Molbert, Alicia Hoffman, TW Selvey, Anna Sandy-Elrod, Clifford Brooks, Stephen Furlong, and many more. It also features stunning photography by Melissa Marsh.
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Sheila-Na-Gig online – Spring 2020
The Spring 2020 issue of Sheila-Na-Gig Online features the Spring Poetry Contest Winner and honorable mentions as well as poetry by T-M Baird, Rose Mary Boehm, Doug Bolling,R.T. Castleberry, Alan Catlin, Susan Darlington, Kelly Dolejsi, Tyler Dunston, Rob Hunter, Glenn Ingersoll, Stephanie Kendrick, Mercedes Lawry, Betsy Mars, Tom Montag, John Palen, Robert Strickland, Laura Grace Weldon, and more.
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Leaping Clear – Spring 2020
The Spring 2020 of Leaping Clear is out. This issue encourages readers to find balance in troubling times. Essays by Amy Sugeno, Dorian Rolston, and more; fiction by Anita Feng; mixed media by Barbara Parmet and Deborah Kennedy; music by Jon Tho; poetry by Ben Gallagher, Kathleen Hellen, Stephen Fulder, Yasmin Kloth, and more; video by Zangmo Alexander; and visual art by Denise Susanne Townsend, Michele Giulvezan-Tanner, and Stephanie Peek.
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Jewish Fiction .net – March 2020
A beautiful new issue of Jewish Fiction .net is out. We’re sharing our journal with you earlier than usual in the hope that the power of great literature will provide you with comfort and pleasure now. Find 16 excellent stories, originally written in English, Hungarian, and Hebrew. And in honour of the upcoming holiday, two stories are about Passover: The Trade” by Mendele Mokher Seforim and “The Guest” by Remy Maisel. Enjoy this fabulous new issue and we wish you and yours continued good health.
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Witness the Witness Literary Award Winners
The Spring 2020 issue of Witness features the winners of their latest Witness Literary Awards.
Poetry Winner:
“Future Ruins” by Andrew Collard
Poetry Runner-up:
“You Will See It Coming & You Won’t Run” by Emmy Newman
Fiction Winner:
“Delivery” by Emily Greenberg
Poetry Runner-up:
“The Dramatic Haircut” by Kristina Ten
Nonfiction Winner:
“When a Child Offends” by Michele Sharpe
Nonfiction Runner-up:
“Ani-la and Anne-la: On Everything I Knew and Didn’t Know” by Anne Liu Kellor
Poetry was selected by Heather Lang-Cassera, fiction was selected by Kristen Arnett, and nonfiction was selected by José Roach-Orduña. The rest of the issue is “magic” themed, so grab a copy and discover the magic inside.
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Call :: The Voices Project Poetry & Short Prose in Response
Deadline: May 15, 2020
The Voices Project is taking submissions of poetry or prose in response to the current global health crisis. We believe self expression can be therapeutic for many people and promote empathy during uncertain times. We are interested in hearing your perspective, your reality, and also writings of hope. What did people do to help you or others? What acts of compassion have you witnessed? Prose, no longer than 350 words. Include a short thoughtful bio (160 words or less) with your submission. Multiple submissions welcome, no more than 2. We do not take anonymous submissions. Submit through our website:
www.thevoicesproject.org/submit.html.
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Visit Flint with About Place Journal
Magazine Review by Katy Haas
The October 2019 issue of About Place Journal takes readers on a journey from north (truth) to south (courage) to east (rebirth) to west (mourning). I immediately connected with a poem found in the north: “Flint” by Kendra Preston Leonard.
It would be hard to find someone who hasn’t heard about Flint, Michigan at this point. In early 2014, the city (which is only about a forty-five-minute drive from my home and is home to a handful of my friends) was in the news for their water crisis. After changing water sources to save money, residents were left with lead-poisoned water, an on-going issue in the city and the state.
Leonard writes about this in “Flint,” the speaker asking readers to “Come and drink,” “this acid” and “the sweet sweet leaded water,” to “Drink / and drink / and drink/ down this styx.” She invites those with distance to “Find out what it is to stand you here,” “where the river / adds children to the cemetery.” This lessens the distance between watching the information on the news and leading readers to really considering the humans that have been harmed by water, something that’s necessary to live.
Leonard’s imagery is enjoyable to read, despite the gravity of the poem’s message. The piece reads smoothly, flowing like a river. “Flint” is a great place to start your journey into this issue of About Place.
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Sheila-Na-Gig Editions Announce New Titles
Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, publisher of online lit mag Sheila-Na-Gig online, is not just celebrating the release of two new titles Robert DeMott’s collection of prose poems, Up Late Reading Birds of America, and Barbara Sabol’s Imagine a Town) but also two new titles in the hopper.
First they have their first-ever fiction title. This will be a re-release of John Bullock’s novel Mark Small: This is Your Life. It was previously titled Making Faces. This is a coming-of-age story set at the British seaside.
The winner of their Spring Poetry Contest, Kari Gunter-Seymour, has agreed to let them publish her forthcoming chapbook A Place So Deep Inside America It Can’t Be Seen. Stay tuned for more information on these titles and grab a copy of their current releases.
Oh, and don’t forget their Poetry Manuscript Contest is open through July 1 annually.