New Book :: All the Blood Involved in Love

All the Blood Involved in Love poetry by Maya Marshall published by Haymarket Books book cover image

All the Blood Involved in Love
Poetry by Maya Marshall
Haymarket Books, June 2022

In a moment of critical struggle for reproductive justice, Maya Marshall’s haunting debut, All the Blood Involved in Love, meditates on womanhood—with and without motherhood. Traversing familial mythography with an unflinching seriousness, Marshall moves deftly between contemporary politics, the stakes of race and interracial partnership, and the monetary, mental, and physical costs of adopting or birthing a Black child. Maya Marshall, a writer, and editor, is cofounder of underbellymag.com, the journal on the practical magic of poetic revision. As an educator, Marshall has taught at Northwestern University and Loyola University Chicago. She holds fellowships from MacDowell, Vermont Studio Center, Callaloo, The Watering Hole, Community of Writers, and Cave Canem.

Magazine Stand :: Willawaw Journal – Fall 2022

Willawaw Journal online literary magazine Fall 2022 issue cover image

The newest issue of Willawaw Journal is now online for poetry and art lovers to enjoy! This issue features contributors from 22 different states and four different countries, 22 men and 19 women. Twenty-six of the forty-one poets are first-time Willawaw contributors, and an array of talent, emerging to very well-established: Kenneth Anderson, Frank Babcock, Jodi Balas, Louise Cary Barden, Carol Berg, Robert Beveridge, Ace Boggess, Jeff Burt, Natalie Callum, Dale Champlin, Margaret Chula, Richard Dinges, Rachel Fogarty, Matthew Friday, D. Dina Friedman, David A. Goodrum, John Grey, Allen Helmstetter, James Kangas, David Kirby, Tricia Knoll, Linda Laderman, Kurt Luchs, Stacy Boe Miller, Kathryn Moll, John C. Morrison, John Muro, Toti O’Brien, John Palen, Darrell Petska, Vivienne Popperl, Laura Ann Reed, Erica Reid, Lindsay Rockwell, Beate Sigriddaughter, Jeffrey Thompson, Elinor Ann Walker, William F. Welch, Charles Weld, Kevin Winchester. David Memmott is the featured artist, sharing a high-energy and high-chroma palette of work based on photo and ink drawing, which he calls his “Crooked Comix.” He is also a contributing poet.

Poem Review :: Ode on My Nightingale by Barbara Hamby

Barbara Hamby headshot

Guest Post by Aimee L.

The nightingale is often considered a songbird well known for its melodies that spur feelings of love and romance in people. It is a bird that symbolizes romanticism, which is something that Barbara Hamby’s “Ode on My Nightingale” captures. Hamby [pictured], like a nightingale, strings together a melody depicting the beauty and terror that nighttime brings—the broken dreams, regrets, the loneliness. But despite these quieter moments, she depicts a sense of wonder. “My nightingale is the conquistador of moonlight.” Reading this opening line, I felt reassured. I realized how life shines in the darkness—in the “derivative of sin,” as Hamby puts it. One passage, in particular, speaks to me: “…and I am your little god, / your drinking water straight from the stream, / for my song is spooling into the night forever / and ever, amen.” It’s a little magical.

“Ode on My Nightingale” by Barbara Hamby. 32 Poems, Spring/Summer 2020.

Reviewer Bio: Aimee L. is a regular college student and aspiring “writer.”

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New Book :: Never Catch Me

Never Catch Me poetry by Darius Simpson published by Button Poetry book cover image

Never Catch Me
Poetry by Darius Simpson
Button Poetry, October 2022

Darius Simpson’s debut collection Never Catch Me centers on Black boyhood in the midwest and familial disintegration over time. Simpson pulls back the curtain, exposing the violence enacted against and upon, Black bodies, and yet, still, each poem is saturated in revolution and hope. Never Catch Me is the anthem necessary to organize a community that is committed to a better right now–one that can only be achieved with an intensity and action that goes far beyond the page. Darius Simpson is a writer, educator, performer, and skilled living room dancer from Akron, Ohio. Much like the means of production, he believes poetry belongs to and with the masses. He aims to inspire those chills that make you frown and slightly twist up ya face in approval. Darius believes in the dissolution of the empire and the total liberation of Afrikans and all oppressed people by any means available. Free The People. Free The Land. Free All Political Prisoners. Signed copies of Never Catch Me are available to order from the publisher’s website.

Where to Submit Round-up: September 30, 2022

It’s the final day of September already. The year keeps marching forward leaving us no time to take a break it seems. Don’t miss out on all the September 30 and October 1 deadlines below in our Where to Submit Round-up! And with October literally around the corner, do check out our Big List of Writing Contests for those with October deadlines and beyond.

hand holding a pen and writing in a notebook

Want to get alerts for new opportunities sent directly to your inbox every week instead of waiting for our Friday Where to Submit 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 September’s here) along with the occasional promotional emails from advertisers.

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Magazine Stand :: Hippocampus – Sept/Oct 2022

Hippocampus literary magazine logo

The September-October 2022 issue of Hippocampus Magazine offers fresh essays, flash CNF, reviews, interviews, and craft and writing life columns. Contributors include Rick Brown, Sarah M. Clifford, Stephanie Eardley, Aiysha Jahan, Karen Kao, Mark Lucius, Susan Morehouse, Suzanne Orrell, Brooke Randel, Sara Streeter, and Yvanna Vien Tica. Hippocampus speaks with Sabine Hossenfelder, author of Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Big Questions, and Linda Murphy Marshall, author of Ivy Lodge: A Memoir of Translation and Discovery. And readers will appreciate Kristen Paulson-Nguyen’s Writing Life column, “How a Lit Mag Can Grow You,” in which she shares how getting involved with the literary community opened doors, as well as Nicole Breit’s Craft column, “Big Writing Dreams? Here’s Why You Need to Enter CNF Contests,” which dishes some solid submissions advice.

Magazine Stand :: Cholla Needles – 70

Cholla Needles poetry magazine issue 70 cover image

Based out of Joshua Tree, California, and edited by r soos, Cholla Needles is a unique celebration of poetry that highlights ten writers each month, offering readers several works by each, divided into individual “chapbooks” within the print publication. In this newest issue, readers can explore the works of Juan Delgado, Bettina T. Barrett, Bray McDonald, Cati Porter, Fernando Fidanza, Kathy French, Michale H. Brownstein, Tobi Alfier, Mark T. Evans, Marlene M. Tartaglione, and Roger G. Singer. (Okay, this month had 11 poets – bonus!) Cover image by Kathy French. Cholla Needles also provides monthly readings and other events in their area. A true literary boon!

New Book :: Rules of Order

Rules of Order fiction by Jeff Vande Zande published by Montag Press cover art by Andrew Reider book cover image

Rules of Order
Fiction by Jeff Vande Zande
Montag Press, August 2022

Written in a fever dream during the first five weeks of the 2020 Covid lockdown, Jeff Vande Zande’s newest novel, Rules of Order, tells the story of Harvey Crowe, a community activist, who lives in what could be the last remaining high-rise building on the wrecked planet. Cracks in the ground-floor apartments are appearing exponentially. The building’s tensile strength can’t possibly hold against the load it bears. Crowe works tirelessly to inform tenants on the upper floors that the weight of their possessions could bring the entire building down. Working with ACT (the Anti-Collapse Trust), Crowe encounters obstacles to his message, including indifferent tenants, his self-doubt, hostile security guards, and a co-op board, headed by the corrupt Chairman Burke. Even as Crowe makes meaningful alliances with other influential tenants, he can feel the way they are working against a ticking clock. With time running out, Crowe and his militant colleague Dagmar carry out a desperate plan to save what might be the planet’s last habitable space. The book features a number of boardroom scenes driven by Robert’s Rules of Order, most likely influenced by Vande Zande’s time working as a college English teacher and witnessing such nonsense in real life. Cover art features the painting Mine by art teaching colleague Andrew Reider.

Contest :: 2023 Press 53 Award for Short Fiction

Press 53 Award for Short Fiction

Press 53 is accepting unpublished short fiction collections for its 2023 Award for Short Fiction. Judge will be fiction Editor-in-Chief Claire V. Foxx. Winners and finalists will be announced by May 1, 2023. Winner receives $1,000 cash advance, publication, and fifty copies. There is an entry fee.

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Contest :: 2023 Virginia B. Ball Creative Writing Competition

2023 Virginia B. Ball Creative Writing Competition from Interlochen Arts Academy

Interlochen Arts Academy’s creative writing program is accepting applications for its Virginia B. Ball Creative Writing Competition. This is open to students in grades 8-11 during the 2022-23 school year and awards a full-tuition scholarship.

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