Oracle: Fine Arts Review was established in 2003 and is supported by the University of South Alabama Student Government Association, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Departments of English and Visual Arts.
Run by students, this literary magazine publishes work from national and international writers and artists and is open to submissions every fall. Stop by their listing on NewPages to learn more about them.
Enjoy a week of craft talks, lectures, panel discussions, and readings (not to mention daily workshops in fiction, poetry, songwriting, or creative nonfiction) at the 2022 Chesapeake Writers’ Conference. This year’s conference takes place June 19-25. Registration is rolling. They do have college credit and scholarships available for participants.
Work closely with award-winning faculty Jerry Gabriel, Patricia Henley, Matt Burgess, Matthew Henry Hall, Elizabeth Arnold, Crystal Oliver (Brandt), Angela Pelster, Nadeem Zaman, and Heather Green and practice a wide range of genres and styles. Presenters include Sara Goodman and Kayla Lightner with Tre Johnson as guest author.
CARVE has announced their upcoming 2022 schedule of online classes.
Short Story Writing: Fundamentals consists of five lessons on Character & Plot, Point of View, Dialogue, Inner Monologe, and Description. The course runs for 6 weeks. Available dates are January 3 – February 13, March 28 – May 8, June 20 – July 31, and September 12 – October 23.
Short Story Writing: Techniques is also a 6-week course comprised of 5 lessons on Use of Senses, Imagery, Metaphors & Similies, Rhythm & Pacing, and Threading. Available dates are February 14 – March 27, May 9 – June 19, August 1 – September 11, and October 24 – December 4.
Each class needs to have at least five students and there will be weekly deadlines to completed writing exercises and provide peer feedback. There is no instructor feedback for these courses.
Subscribers to CARVE can receive a 10% discount on these classes. Learn more at CARVE‘s website.
Lauren Taylor Grad’s work was featured in Woven Tale Press Volume XI Number 9. Jennifer Nelson, WTP feature writer interviewed Taylor Grad recently on the meaning and thought processes behind several of her works along with her pursuit of an MFA.
From using found items to create sculptures to utilizing her undergraduate work in biology to create paintings, Taylor Grad’s work is diverse. One of the most interesting pieces is Tethered which is comprised of used clothing made to create two concrete boulders and a connecting line between them. She also created a video art piece to accompany the sculpture about moving these boulders around a curving path.
Nelson: Why did you feel it was important to earn an MFA?
The decision to go to graduate school and earn my Masters in Fine Arts was not one that I took lightly. It is a huge investment, both in time and money, and I wanted to be sure that it was the right path for me to take before I made that leap. I personally really enjoy academia; I think that the amount of growth and nurturing that occurs in an individual throughout art school in such a short amount of time is transformative, and unlike anything that you can get elsewhere.
Taylor Grad also talked about taking time off after earning her undergraduate degree to try out being a living artist and other avenues before ultimately going back to earn her MFA so that she can also become an art instructor.
Read the full interview here and look at some of Taylor Grad’s amazing work.
magazine-news-MAYDAYEditorialPositionsAfter a year of rigorous expansion, online literary magazine MAYDAY seeks to share its updated format and expanded vision with new audiences. To do this, they are expanding and diversifying their editorial staff to include new intellectual and cultural backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and points of view.
MAYDAY is a volunteer organization composed entirely of unpaid volunteers who can work anywhere in the world as long as there is an internet connection.
They are open to applications for production editors, social media editors, culture editors, translation editors, and visual arts editors through October 15, 2021.
Take a look at their redesigned site and content and consider joining their team. View the PDF for more information.
And there’s still time to register! The Short Story Writing: Fundamentals class consists of five lessons: Character & Plot, Point of View, Dialogue, Inner Monologue, and Description. The best part is that each weekly lesson can be completed on your own schedule.
The lessons also include detailed explanations, examples, Carve short stories to read and respond to, and up to two short writing exercises. You are also expected to provide peer feedback to at least two other students (minimum of 5 students required for the class).
The class will run September 13 through October 21. If you’re interested, register here.
If you are interested more in help with Techniques, their next class for that starts October 25th.
Online literary magazine The Boiler has an exciting interview series “Under Pressure.” This series highlights previous contributors and focuses on elements of craft and process – excellent reading for both writers and readers.
You can currently find interviews with Dana Alsamsam, Esteban Rodriguez, Kayleb Rae Candrilli, Jenny Molberg, Stephanie Cawley, Alyse Bensel, Dorothy Chan, Anthony Cody, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, Marlin M. Jenkins, Todd Dillard, K-Ming Chang, Michael Torres, Dorsey Craft, Tatiana Ryckman, Alan Chazaro, Malcolm Friend, Sara Lupita Olivares, Roberto Carlos Garcia, Melissa Wiley, Jody Chan, Naima Yael Tokunow, Kelly Grace Thomas, and Jessica Abughattas.
On August 17 literary magazine The Common featured a conversation between Ilan Stavans and Haoran Tong on poetry and the use of multiple languages. Besides talking on how language is used and how they consider it in their own work, you also get to learn how they grew up and learned their languages from it being completely natural with no dominance of one language over the other to acquiring a new language as being an invasion.
My English education, in contrast, focused more on practical dialogues than on literature. English was taught to me as a useful tool to acquire more knowledge, but Chinese was me. This probably explains my initial reluctance to use English elements in Chinese poems, or vice versa. Moreover, I seriously scrutinized my poems, out of guilt, for any “latinized” syntax that sounded “unChinese.”
Stavans and Tong also talk on “decidophobia” and how common it is now when in societies today choices are constantly demanded and their is always the underlying fear that you may make the wrong one.
Decidophobia is a common social trait, especially in capitalist societies: we are constantly demanding ourselves to make a choice. This, obviously, comes with the fear of making the wrong one. Is it possible to have too many choices before us? Should one try to avoid such a situation? Probably not.
And if you are interested in translation versus translingualism, Stavans and Tong have a lot to bring to the table on the subject as well: “Whereas translation tells, explains, or instructs, translingual writing shows, infuses and liberates.” Check out the interview in it’s entirety.
Phew, August has found The Masters Review making a lot of announcements.
First, they announced that Dean Jamieson is the winner of their Winter 2020-21 Short Story Award for New Writers. His winning story, “Straight to My Heart” can be read online. Plus, they also have an interview with Dean.
Corey Flintoff’s “Collection Of The Artist” took home second place. The story and an interview with Corey is also available.
Then they announced the ten finalists selected by guest judge Diane Cook for publication in The Masters Review Anthology X.
The Bird Rattle by Chelsy Diaz Amaya
Atlas, Bayonet, (War) Correspondence: An Abecedarian by Tanya Bellehumeur-Allatt
Limbs by Megan Callahan
Do Not Duplicate by John Darcy
Resurrection by Hilary Dean
Comfort Animals by Travis Eisenbise
Persimmon by Elissa C. Huang
All That Is or Ever Was or Ever Will Be by Eliana Ramage
A String of Lapis Beads by Greg Schutz
Sugar by Francis Walsh
And finally, they have announced that Nick Almeida’s Masterplans has won their inaugural chapbook contest. The book is forthcoming in Fall 2021 and you can read the titular story right now as a preview of what’s to come.
That’s right! On September 1, The Ohio State University will begin accepting applications for their MFA program in creative writing. The deadline to submit applications is December 6 for domestic applicants and November 29 for international applicants.
All admitted students are fully-funded for the entire length of the three-year program and they also receive a graduate teaching associateship, a graduate school fellowship, or a combination of the two. The program also allows students focusing on fiction, nonfiction, or poetry to cross over into other genres.
Besides the workshops and tutorials, there are some other amazing opportunities for students. The program offers an Editors Panel, a public performance showcasing creative work by third-year MFA students called Epilog, two student-faculty readings each semester, Mother Tongue evenings where MFA students get to read their work to their peers, and a Native Craft Reading Series.
Check out all the program has to offer and start getting your application materials ready.
