The 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.
News
“How does one not write a depressing book about depression?”
Caoilinn 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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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 email here. [Read more…] about NewPages January 2020 Digital eLitPak
Joy Harjo: ” Everyone wants a place where they feel safe”
You 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
Online 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
The 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.
Brilliant Flash Fiction Now a Paying Market
We have exciting news for flash fiction writers. Beginning this year, quarterly Brilliant Flash Fiction is a paying market. Writers will now receive $20 via PayPal upon publication. Submissions are rolling, so go send your best flash their way now!
2020 PEN America literary awards longlists
2020 PEN America literary awards longlists will confer over $330,000 to writers and translators whose exceptional literary works were published in 2019. Spanning fiction, nonfiction, poetry, biography, essay, science writing, translation, and more, these longlisted books are dynamic, diverse, and thought-provoking examples of literary excellence.
Person of the Year 2019
Greta Thunberg, the soft-spoken Swedish teenager who became a global conscience for climate change and environmental activism, has been named Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2019.
New home for NewPages Blog!
The brand new NewPages Blog is here. Stay tuned for news on all things literary!