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Brevity blog: Seven Stages of Submittable

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Alison-Lowenstien-at-Brevity-Blog.jpeg“Seven Stages of Submittable” by Alison Lowenstein, Brevity Blog.

Submitting:

After meticulously crafting a brief cover letter and biographical statement, you upload your work of creative genius, along with a twelve-dollar submission fee. You press submit and enter a period of limbo when you see the essay, along with your many other submissions–ranging from haikus to flash fiction, logged as Received.

Dreaming:

Every evening you visit the web page for the literary journal you submitted to and imagine yourself on their homepage. Fantasizing that within minutes of the essay being on the journal’s website you get a book deal or at least an inquiry from a literary agent… [Read full blog post]

NewPages Magazine Stand: The Chattahoochee Review

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chattahoochee-reviewThe Chattahoochee Review: Vol 39 Number 2, Fall 2019/Winter 2020

This issue features poems by Janelle Adsit, Mario Chard, Kate Glavin, Juliana Gray, Adrian Matejka, John Moessner, Tom Paine, Rebecca Pyle, Phoebe Reeves, Carrie Shipers, Hanna Tomylets, Memye Curtis Tucker, Shaun Turner, and G. C. Waldrep; stories by Whitney Collins, Thomas Cook, Stephanie Dickinson, D. R. Glass, Lois Ruskai Melina, Anie Onaiza, Melissa Ostrom, Zak Salih, and Aaron Schneider; art by Carla Jay Harris; and essays by ssays: Emma Faesi Hudelson, Dionne Irving, Jake Maynard, Lindsey Novak, and Julie Marie Wade. Plus, an interview with Karen Abbott by Anna Schachner, and reviews by Anjali Enjeti, Jamie Iredell, Samuel Pickering, Hannah VanderHart, and Melinda Zepeda.

“What You Need to Be Warm” by Neil Gaiman

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neil-gaiman“What You Need to Be Warm” – Neil Gaiman Reads His Humanistic Poem for Refugees, Composed from a Thousand Definitions of Warmth from Around the World

A century and a half after Walt Whitman wrote, in the middle of a civil war, that “every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you,” Neil Gaiman takes up the question of our shared belonging in a project of uncommon originality.

Frost on the ground that stays in the shadows, waiting for us.
Wear a scarf. Wear a coat. Wear a sweater. Wear socks. Wear thick gloves.
An infant as she sleeps between us. A tumble of dogs,
a kindle of cats and kittens. Come inside. You’re safe now.

Missouri could jail librarians for lending ‘age-inappropriate’ books

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jail librarians Jail Librarians… You just can’t make this stuff up!

A Missouri bill intended to bar libraries in the US state from stocking “age-inappropriate sexual material” for children has been described by critics as “a shockingly transparent attempt to legalize book banning” that could land librarians who refuse to comply with it in jail.

Under the parental oversight of public libraries bill, which has been proposed by Missouri Republican Ben Baker, panels of parents would be elected to evaluate whether books are appropriate for children. Public hearings would then be held by the boards to ask for suggestions of potentially inappropriate books, with public libraries that allow minors access to such titles to have their funding stripped. Librarians who refuse to comply could be fined and imprisoned for up to one year.

NewPages Magazine Stand: Bennington Review

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bennington-review coverBennington Review: Issue 7, Fall/Winter 2019. “The Devotions” issue features fiction by Sabirah Orah Mark, JoAnna Novak, Pablo Piñero Stillmann, Su-Yee Lin, Roger Topp, and more; nonfiction by Jenny Boully, Spencer Reece, Joan Connor, Tyler Mills, D. Gilson, and others; film by Will Stockton; art by Jochern Hendricks; Sabrina Orah Mark in conversation with Vi Khi Nao; and poetry by Peter Cooley, Endi Bogue Hartigan, Matthew Henriksen, Dujie That, Steffi Drewes, G.C. Waldrep, Antonia Pozzi, Owen McLeod, Bronwen Tate, Cary Stough, Sarah Destin, Alisha Dietzman, Christian Wessels, and more.

Go to the NewPages Magazine Stand

NewPages Magazine Stand: The Antioch Review

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antioch-review civerThe Antioch Review: Volume 77 Number 3, Summer 2019. This issue opens with postmodernist African-American painter and printmaker Emma Amos’ 1957 Antioch College senior paper about her education as an artist whose works are currently scheduled to go to the Smithsonian. Investigative reporter Jay Tuck’s “Mankind’s Greatest Challenge: Artificial Intelligence” is a well-founded call for caution in what has become the wild west of virtual reality. Mika Seifert’s “Old Timers” will send chills up your spine and “Coming in on Time” by Stuart Neville will have you reaching for tissues. Our poetry selection rounds out this issue that once again delivers the best words in the best order.

Go to the Magazine Stand.

“How does one not write a depressing book about depression?”

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Book cover of The Scar by Mary CreganCaoilinn Hughes talks with Mary Cregan about her new book The Scar. …But this book is far more than a memoir: it is the result of decades of research on the medical history of the diagnosis, as well as the classification and treatment of depression and melancholia. To this rigorous and fascinating scholarship, Cregan has added the work of a variety of artists—from the ancient Greeks to Leonard Cohen. No surprise, then, that she teaches literature at Barnard College.

For a long time I couldn’t figure out how to write the book because the subject is seen by most people as “depressing.” How does one not write a depressing book about depression? Add to that the trigger of the death of an infant, and it seemed a daunting thing to invite readers to enter into. Death, grief, suicide, illness: these are subjects that a lot of people prefer to avoid thinking about.

NewPages January 2020 Digital eLitPak

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NewPages has sent out our monthly digital eLitPak to current newsletter subscribers this afternoon. Not a subscriber yet? Sign up here: npofficespace.com/newpages-newsletter/.

Besides our monthly eLitPak featuring fliers from literary magazines, independent presses, and creative writing programs and events, we have a weekly newsletter filled with submission opportunities, literary magazines, new titles, reviews, and more.

Check out the current eLitPak below. You can view the original newsletter here: bit.ly/newpages2001elitpak. [Read more…] about NewPages January 2020 Digital eLitPak

Joy Harjo: ” Everyone wants a place where they feel safe”

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Joy Harjo An American SunriseYou once said that poetry “directly or inadvertently mirrors the state of the state.” And I wonder what you think the state of the state is right now?

Everyone wants a place where they feel safe, where they feel like they might know what’s going to happen tomorrow and that they could wake up in a universe in which they feel supported. Where we know we can practice our ways and not be jailed or censored or anything. Most people want that. But I think the state of the state is marked by a great insecurity, a great insecurity running through everyone, whatever so-called side you’re on. And so I think people are really looking for connection and trust to build some kind of stability — and for some kind of leadership in which we have leaders who are trusted because they have a history of compassion, of knowledge, and they’re willing to work across any kind of political lines. Those are real leaders. The real leaders care about the people, not about the opinion of those who are going to give them money for their campaigns. Read more…

Frontier Poetry Partners with Antioch University LA for New Fellowship

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Frontier Poetry Antioch MFA Fellowship PrizeOnline literary magazine Frontier Poetry announces a new fellowship in partnership with the creative writing program at Antioch University Los Angeles.

The Antioch-Frontier Fellowship allows the winner to experience one of Antioch University LA’s MFA residencies first-hand. This includes 10 days of intense learning and immersion with mentorship and community opportunities. The fellow can choose between the Summer 2020 residency or the Winter 2021 residency.

The fellowship will cover travel expenses and lodging. Also, it awards a $1,000 cash prize to cover any additional expenses. The Winner will also be published on the Frontier Poetry website. February 15 application deadline. The Editors of Frontier Poetry and staff of Antioch University will select the winner. Learn more about the fellowship at Frontier Poetry‘s website.

2019 Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction Winner

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Colorado Review - Fall/Winter 2019The featured fiction piece in the Fall 2019 issue of Colorado Review is the winner of this year’s Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction: Bryna Cofrin-Shaw’s “Loss and Damage.”

Joan Silber selected the winner, and says of her selection: “How many writers could turn a conference on climate change into a very smart tale of sexual intrigue? It has ideas (all too rare in fiction), irony so good it’s unexpected, and great characters.”

Pick up a copy of the latest issue of Colorado Review to take in this story and the rest of the quality work inside the issue, or check out the winning piece online.