Scholarship Competition

DePaul University Summer Writing Conference
July 16-18
Chicago, Loop Campus

Submit 3 poems, 1 creative nonfiction piece (10 pages or less), or 1 short story (10 pages or less) for the chance to win a scholarship to DePaul’s Summer Writing Conference, July 16-18, and the opportunity to read your work at the conference. No entry fee. A winner from each of the three genres will be chosen.

Please email submissions to Chris Green: cgreen1-at-depaul.edu by June 4. Everyone who submits work will be notified by email of contest results in early June.

New Delta Review Contest Winners

New Delta Review, Spring 2010, features winner of the 2010 Matt Clark Prize for Fiction, Jaime Poissant and finalistsSarah Domet, Kathy Flann, Karin C. Davidson, and Jim Ruland, and the winner for Poetry, Sharon Charde, with finalists Jared Walls. Also featured is the winner for the first Creative Nonfiction Contest, Bobbie Darbyshire, and finalist Jennifer Jean Nuernberg.

2010 Tusculum Review Poetry Prize Winners

The 2010 volume (#6) of The Tusculum Review features two poems by Allison Joseph, the final judge of the Tusculum Review Poetry Prize, as well as works by Nancy K. Pearson who was selected as the winner of the prize. All poems Pearson entered into the contest—“It Was a Swell Fiesta,” “Left for Dead,” “Shift,” “Waiver,” “Eulogy,” & “Typeface Elegy” are published in this issue. TTR will be running a prose contest in 2011.

Poets and Technology

"The internet, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, websites, iPad, iPod, podcasts, digital video and who knows what else. What do they all mean for the poet? For Poetry?" Nic Sabastian, on her blog Very Like a Whale, has started a new series of Ten Questions on Poets & Technology, with responses so far from Amy King (5/13) and Collin Kelley (5/19).

BPJ Celebrates 60

Beloit Poetry Journal celebrates its 60th anniversary with a chapbook issue (Summer 2010) of new poems by winners of their Chad Walsh Prize. Over its seventeen-year history, the Walsh Prize has gone as often to young poets as to mid- and late-career poets with long publication records. This chapbook issue features works by Margaret Aho, Sherman Alexie, Robert Chute, Karl Elder, Albert Goldbarth, Jessica Goodfellow, John Hodgen, Janet Holmes, Mary Leader, Kurt Leland, Mary Molinary, Lucia Perillo, Sam Reed, Glori Simmons, Onna Solomon, and Susan Tichy.

And, as always, BPJ invites readers to join the online conversation with BPJ poets on their Poet's Forum. The participating poets for this issue are Jessica Goodfellow (June), Susan Tichy (July), and Karl Elder (August). Currently, Nan Watkins is on forum to discuss her translations of Yvan Goll's poems.

The Fiddlehead Contest Winners

The Fiddlehead, Spring 2010 (#243) includes the nineteenth annual literary contest winners: Eliza Roberson for fiction with honorable mentions to Sara Heinonen and Susi Lovell; and Jeff Steudel for poetry with honorable mentions to Kim Trainor and Heidi Garnett.

The deadline for the 2010 contest is December 1, 2010, with $2010 going to each winner and $500 to each of two honorable mentions.

Filmmakers & Screenwriters: Withoutabox

Filmmakers, screenwriters, festival organizers will want to check out this IMDB/Amazon affiliate website - Withoutabox:

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Cave Wall Remembers Lucille Clifton

In her Editor's Note, Cave Wall Editor Rhett Trull dedicates the issue (#7) to Lucille Clifton with this remembrance: "This year, with the death of Lucille Clifton, we lost a great poet. I had the privilege of studying with her when she was a visiting professor at Duke University. When I think of that class, the main thing I remember is her joy. She brought it with her into any room. It was a difficult time in my life, and I clung to Lucille Clifton's every word as if it were a kind of gospel, a message not just on how to write but on how to live. She made the world seem full of wonder, impossible not to love.

"This does not mean she wrote only of beauty. On the contrary, Lucille Clifton's poetry is a catalogue of the spectrum of emotions from sorrow to hope, joy to despair, anger to celebration; to each of these, she brought her sense of compassion. Above my desk hangs one of her quotes: 'You can't play for safety and make art." In my notebooks, I've saved more of her wisdom from that semester: 'Art is not about answers. Don't be afraid to leave a poem unresolved.' 'A poem should never leave you where it found you.'"

Malahat Open Season Winners

The Spring 2010 issue of The Malahat Review features works by the winners of the first annual Open Season Awards:

Poetry
Lorri Neilsen Glenn, “You think of Meister Eckhart”

Fiction
Tricia Dower, “Halloween 1955”

Creative Non-fiction
Melissa Jacques, “Call and Response”

A Couple Lit Mag Changes

Buffalo Carp – suspended all operations in 2009.

Carve Magazine – "currently taking a hiatus, but we plan to return before the year's end."

Perigee – "will be suspending publication indefinitely. The April 2010 issue will be Perigee's last for the foreseeable future."

Student Success in Writing Conference

Interested in teaching and learning about writing? College & HS educators (full- time, adjunct, TA) are invited to submit both individual and panel proposals addressing any aspect of student success in writing at high school or college level for the Student Success in Writing Conference, Georgia Southern University's 13th annual student writing conference, Feb. 4, 2011 in Savannah, Georgia.

New to NewPages :: U.S. 1 Worksheets

U.S. 1 Worksheets is the annual publication of U.S. 1 Poets' Cooperative, a group of poets based in central New Jersey. In addition to producing the journal, members promote poetry by meeting weekly to share and critique their own work, producing an annual literary journal, give public readings followed by open mic, and hold occasional events, including U.S. 1 Presents at Princeton Public Library.

The journal, which began in tabloid format in 1973, has been published continuously since then. While publishing the work of their cooperative members, the current issue includes about 2/3 of its works from poets throughout the U.S., as well as from England and the Philippines. Manuscripts are accepted from May 1st through June 30th and read by rotating editors from the Cooperative.

Iowa Review Changes and Updates

The Iowa Review celebrates forty years of publishing this year - with changes both inside and out. On the inside, Russell Scott Valentino takes over as editor from David Hamilton after his thirty-two years. The outside of the journal for 2010 will feature the winning design concept of Jingwen Cao, a graphic design junior at the University of Iowa. Though change can be "traumatic," Valentino writes, "We have tried to steer a middle course in the current redesign of The Iowa Review, neither sailing away into the ether nor slinking off into a backwater. As we celebrate our fortieth anniversary in 2010, we wish to re-emphasize our commitment to what has made TIR a centerpiece of contemporary American letters while exploring the opportunities that new technologies and new ideas about the world make available today." TIR welcomes feedback from its readers.

FreeFall Magazine 2009 Contest Winners

FreeFall Magazine Spring/Summer 2010 includes works by the 2009 Prose and Poetry Contest Winners:

Prose
First Place: Marilyn Gear Pilling
Second Place: Barbara Parker
Third Place: David Willis
Honourable Mention: Katherine Fawcett

Poetry
First Place: Rosemary Griebel
Second Place: Marilyn Gear Pilling
Third Place: George Amabile and Marjorie Bruhmuller
Honourable Mentions: Marilyn and Greg Simison

Polish Poetry in Translation

Aufgabe #9 features Polish poetry and poetics with translations from the Polish by Kacper Bartczak, Miłosz Biedrzycki, Andrzej Busza, Bogdan Czaykowski, Rick Hiles, Katarzyna Jakubiak, Monica Kocot, Gabriel Gudding, Ela Kotowska, Rod Mengham, Katarzyna Szuster, Mark Tardi, Alissa Valles, Frank L. Vigoda, and Ilona Zineczkoguest edited by Mark Tardi.

Interview :: Leslie McGrath

The Spring 2010 issue of Main Street Rag features an interview with Leslie McGrath (managing editor of Drunken Boat), winner of the 2009 Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award in which she discusses advice for entering poetry contests, submitting works via paper vs. electronic, and some of the influences for her winning manuscript, Opulent Hunger, Opulent Rage.

Submissions :: Poetry in a Can

Frankenart Mart, located at 515 Balboa Street, San Francisco, CA, is the kind of cool artsy-joint you wish you had near you. Some of the fun stuff they do includes films, hot dog days, The Trading Post - you bring in a piece of art that you spent at least an hour on, but made in one day, and swap it for the artwork that's on the post, and of course - art for sale, with a 50/50 consignment split.

And, the pièce de résistance: Poetry in a Can. Frankenart mart regularly cans and sells Poetry in a Can - 5 poems (Regular) or 3 poems (Tuna-sized) per can. They always need original poems from poets of all ages and skill levels.

Poets are asked to send 3 or 5 poems of their choice - you can email them, mail them, drop them off or come write them. Poets request what kind of can they want their poetry in - green beans, tuna, fruit medley, etc...You name it, they design it. Poets receive a whopping $1.00 per poem profit when the can is sold.

PEN World Voices Festival

The Sixth Annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature took place April 26 - May 2 - with over 150 writers and 40 countries represented on site in New York as well as via satellite for cross-cultural literary exchange. The PEN site now features video, audio, photos, and writing excerpts from events and featured authors. A great wealth of resources.

Will You Reprint My Work?

Wendy S. Delmater, editor of Abyss & Apex Magazine of Speculative Fiction, gives an editorial response to the seemingly repeat requests she receives from authors about whether or not A&A will accept previously published works. Her response, understandably a bit terse, provides sound reasoning through examples of what has become of some of her own works published electronically.

NewPages on the Road

NewPages is on the road this week, visiting bookstores, libraries, author homes in Illinois, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Know someplace we should be sure to stop along the way?

Lit Mag News and Reviews

New Lit Mag reviews have been posted, including reviews of CALYX, Creative Nonfiction, Eclipse, Fact-Simile, The Greensboro Review, Gulf Coast, Harvard Review, The Hudson Review, New Madrid, Saltgrass, Saranac Review, The Southern Review, Subtropics, and Witness.

Henry Tonn, who regularly reviews online magazines, has also written a special feature review of the Million Writers Award.

The NewPages Magazine Stand is frequently updated, including short blurbs and cover images of new lit mags. It's a virtual newsstand, better than any bookstore or library selection I know! Stop by and check it out to get an inside (and outside) look at the latest issues.

Press 53's Prime Number Magazine Set to Launch

Press 53 has set July 19 as the launch date for its new quarterly online magazine, Prime Number Magazine: A Journal of Distinctive Prose and Poetry. Award-winning writer Clifford Garstang (In an Uncharted Country) will serve as editor, and award-winning poet and writer Valerie Nieman (Wake Wake Wake) will serve as poetry editor. Plans include an annual print anthology featuring selected works from the editors. Prime Number Magazine will publish short stories, poetry, creative nonfiction, essays, book reviews, and craft articles on writing. The premiere issue, set to launch July 19, will contain works from invited writers, with submission guidelines for future issues.

To celebrate the launch of Prime Number Magazine, Press 53 will give away over $250 in short story and poetry collections to one lucky person. To be entered into the drawing, simply follow Prime Number Magazine on Twitter or Facebook, or register (for free) on their web site. The winner will be announced in the premiere issue.

Starcherone Imprint of Dzanc Books

Starcherone and Dzanc Books have agreed to partner beginning in 2011, with Dzanc providing production and distribution support to Starcherone, and Starcherone editors maintaining editorial control. The first titles under their new arrangement will be Stacey Levine's long-awaited new collection, The Girl with Brown Fur, and the anthology 30 Under 30, Blake Butler and Lily Hoang, eds.

Missouri Review Contest Winners

The newest Missouri Review (v33 n1) includes works by winners and finalists of the 2009 Jeffrey E. Smith Editors' Prize Contest: Fiction Winner Fiona McFarlane and finalists Diane Simmons and May-lee Chai; Poetry Winner Christina Hutchins and finalist Sarah Blackman; Nonfiction Winner Joseph Murtagh and finalists Jonathan Starke and Rachel Riederer. Other finalists whose works do not appear in this issue include Siobhan Fallon, Brian Brodeur, Jospeh Fasano, and David Bahr.

The 2010 Missouri Review Editor's Prize Contest is open for submissions until October 1, 2010.

Zero Emission Book Project

From Publicist Jessi Hector:

Come July 1st, Sacramento, CA independent publisher Flatmancrooked will release We're Getting On, the debut novel from promising young author, James Kaelan. The story follows a group of twenty-somethings who attempt to live completely off the grid, no technology, modern conveniences, etc. The first edition of We're Getting On, which will only be available exclusively through the publisher and on the book tour, includes a cover printed entirely on seed paper, hand pressed by Porridge Papers of Lincoln, NE. When a cover is planted in the ground, it will eventually grow into Spruce trees! The interior of the book is also printed on 100% recycled paper. Believe it or not, this limited edition (1000 total are available) offsets its own carbon footprint 10x over. There will also be a second edition, releasing on the same day, sans seed paper cover, available where all books are sold.



The novel is at the center of what is being dubbed the Zero Emission Book Project. Beginning July 2nd, Kaelen will depart on a 20+ city book tour on bicycle, kicking off in Santa Monica, CA and taking him up the West Coast to beautiful Vancouver, BC. At each reading, the author will be reading excerpts from We're Getting On as well as planting a book cover from a 1st edition copy. In keeping with the sustainable nature of the project, Kaelen will be camping at local farms between each stop. We're also working on securing Kaelan as a guest on Comedy Central's Colbert Report. If everything goes according to plan, Kaelan will then ride from Vancouver to New York City to appear on the show. We're extremely lucky to have Cannondale bicycles and Bellwether apparel on board as our first sponsors of the tour!

ALR 20th Anniversary & Contest Winners

American Literary Review celerbrates its 20th Anniversary with the Spring 2010 issue, which also features both the 2008 and 2009 contest winners:

Fiction Contest Winners
Marylee MacDonald, 2009
Michael Isaac Shokrian, 2008
(both stories are available full-text on ALR's website)

Poetry Contest Winners
Arthur Brown, 2009
Roy Bentley, 2008

Creative Nonfiction Winners
Julie Marie Wade, 2009
Karin Forfota Poklen, 2008
(both works are available full-text on ALR's website)

Documentary Wins Tribeca Award

Monica & David, a film exploring the marriage of two adults with Down syndrome, wins Best Documentary Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Comics :: Kill Shakespeare

Kill Shakespeare is a new comic book series recently debuted with IDW Publishing, with co-creators Conor McCreery and Anthony Del Col, artist Andy B., colorist Ian Herring, and cover artist Kagan McLeod: "Imagine a Lord of the Rings-style adventure in which Shakespeare’s greatest heroes (including Hamlet, Juliet, Othello, Falstaff, Puck) are pitted against the Bard’s most frightening villains (including Richard III, Lady Macbeth and Iago) to discover the location of an evil wizard. That wizard’s name? William Shakespeare. It is a combination of Fables, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Northlanders… Or, with what began a small bidding war at last year’s New York Comic-Con… a Justice League of Shakespeare!" Check it out here.

Youth Drama Competition

Prick of the Spindle partners with the Pensacola Little Theatre for Outreach Initiative for Youth Drama: A drama competition, by adults, for youth. Grown-ups write it; kids see it. One winning play will be selected from three different age categories (4-8, 8-12, 12+) for production by the Pensacola Little Theatre's Beyond Boundaries program in the fall of 2010. Submission Deadline: August 15, 2010

Zone 3 Winners and Interviews

The Spring 2010 issue of Zone 3 includes the winning entries of the 2010 Zone 3 Poetry Awards: George Looney, first place, Tara Bray, second place and special mention, and Peter Ramos, third place.

Also featured is new fiction by Michael Martone, nonfiction by Ander Monson and interviews with each author.

Writing Life in Life Stories

Each issue of Brevity includes articles on the craft of writing, and the newest issue includes an article of interest by genealogist and author Sharon DeBartolo Carmack - "Flesh on the Bones: Turning Dry Ancestral Details into a Life Story" and a humorous essay "My Muse - He’s Just Not That Into Me" by Drema Hall Berkheimer.

Brevity accepts submissions from writers for this craft essay feature, as well as other content for their online publication.

New Lit on the Block :: Asian American Literary Review

Under the editorship of Lawrence-Minh Bùi Davis and Gerald Maa, the Asian American Literary Review is "a space for writers who consider the designation 'Asian American' a fruitful starting point for artistic vision and community." In addition to their twice yearly print journal, AALR will publish an online feature entitled "Dear John Okada." This monthly web exclusive "features an open letter to John Okada, Carlos Bulosan, Siu Sin Far — the shades of Asian American literature past—regarding the state of Asian American literature today." The first of these installments features a letter to Agha Shahid Ali from Dilruba Ahmed.

The Spring 2010 issue of AALR is available now and features poetry by Cathy Song, Oliver de la Paz, Paisley Rekdal, April Naoko Heck, Mong-Lan, Eugene Gloria, Nick Carbó, and David Woo; an interview by Kandice Chuh with Karen Tei Yamashita; prose by Ed Lin, Marie Mutsuki Mockett, Sonya Chung, Hasanthika Sirasena, David Mura, Gary Pak, and Brian Ascalon Roley; book reviews and a forum with David Mura, Ru Freeman and Alexander Chee.

AALR reads submissions from June 1 - September 1. Their first two issues are already closed, so any submissions sent in will be considered for publication in 2011.

AALR was also reviewed on NewPages here.

Short Story Month

Swing by Emerging Writers Network blog, where Dan Wickett is celebrating National Short Story Month by hosting (and participating in) weekly discussions of specific short stories. The discussions will focus on two collections in particular, with up to around a dozen people discussing one story from each collection each week. It's a lot to keep track of, but rich in terms of connecting with stories, authors, and critical readers.


Dzanc Books also just announced that Luis Jaramillo, Associate Chair of the Writing Program at the New School, is the winner of their 2009 short story collection contest. Jaramillo’s manuscript, The Doctor’s Wife, was selected from more than 100 submissions. This collection will be published in October 2012.

Room Contest Winners Issue

Issue 33.1 of Room, appropriately themed "Competition," features the winners of the 2009 Room Contest:

Fiction
1st Place: “The Glorious Mysteries” Audrey J. Whitson
2nd Place: “Ghosting” M.E. Powell
Honourable Mention: “Sisters” Kimberley Alcock (available on Room's website)

Poetry
1st Place: “I told my first stranger I was pregnant” Jessica Hiemstra-van der Horst
2nd Place: “Funny Bone” Wenda Nairn
Honourable Mention: “The Virgin Mary is a Collapsed Umbrella” Julie Mahfood (available on Room's website)

Creative Non-Fiction1st Place: “April the Cruelest” Adrianne Kalfopoulou
2nd Place: “Why Wake Dayo?” Carla Hartenberger
Honourable Mention: “Behind the Glass” Ruth Morris Schneider (available on Room's website)

The 2010 contest is currently open for submissions until June 15.

Fifth Wednesday Guest Editors & New Interns

The Spring 2010 issue of Fifth Wednesday Journal includes works selected by guest editors Edie Meidav, fiction, and Monica Berlin, poetry, and fall guest editors have been announced: Amy Newman, poetry editor, and Lon Otto, fiction editor.

Fifth Wednesday Journal has also added interns to their staff for the first time, and welcome the efforts of Cassandra Clegg, Richard Clegg, and Rachel Hamsmith in this issue.

Pierre-Albert Jourdan

The Spring 2010 issue of The Bitter Oleander offers readers a 20-page special feature: Pierre-Albert Jourdan's "The Approach" - writings from his last notebooks translated from the French with an introduction and end-notes by John Taylor, and also including several b&w photos.

Issue Zero

Issue Zero: Hustle is the first "raucous experiment" of 48 Hour Magazine. Using new tools to erase media's old limits, editors Heather Champ, Dylan Fareed, Mathew Honan, Alexis Madrigal, Derek Powazek, Sarah Rich wrote, photographed, illustrated, designed, and edited a magazine in two days. "From noon on May 7th through noon on the 9th, a team circled up around the original Rolling Stone conference table in Mother Jones' offices to transform 1,502 submissions from around the world into a chorus of voices, all harmonizing around the same theme: hustle." Available via MagCloud, 48 Hour Magazine features 60 pages of writing and artwork. Plans for upcoming issues are in the works, after these folks get some sleep.

SMU Heads into Shutdown

While supportive e-mails continue to flow in for the Southern Methodist University Press, provost Paul W. Ludden intends to shut it down - temporarily.

The Southern Review's Issue with Baseball

"When The Southern Review resident scholar Andrew Ervin came to me last summer with the idea of doing a special feature on baseball for our spring 2010 issue," starts Jeanne Leiby's Editor's Note, "I was skeptical. My initial concern was that our slush pile would be overrun by Sunday-afternoon-playing-catch-with-Dad sentimentality and easy metaphors that didn't challenge, compel, or embrace the literary standards that represent The Southern Review's history and present. In short, I didn't think there was much to say about baseball that hadn't been said a thousand times." Instead, Leiby writes of her amazement at the complexity of works received, the translations representing baseball's far-reaching appeal: "the depth and breadth was astounding." And once again proved the value of literary magazines in our contemporary culture to bring out new work: "the work not yet seen and the voices not yet heard." Until now.

Donald Barthelme Prize for Short Prose Wnners

The 2009 Donald Barthelme Prize for Short Prose winners are published in the newest issue of Gulf Coast (v22 i2): winner Matthew Yeager and honorable mentions Tracy Guzeman and Joseph Hold.

Smories Now Live

Ralph Lazar & Lisa Swerling are the creators of Smories, a free website for kids to watch little films of new stories being read by other kids. Inspired by their daughter, Smories "is a place for unpublished children's story writers worldwide to get their work published free online, whilst retaining all rights. The stories will be text only (not illustrated), which will remove a common obstacle to publication for many aspiring writers."

These are absolutely delightful films. The audio and video quality are solid, and the young readers do a great job (the accents will be an added delight for fans of Harry Potter). I don't know how kids will respond to this, so any readers out there who want to comment on a young viewer's response, please do so.

The FAQs on the site provide complete information about rights, content, and submissions.

Passings :: Frank Frazetta

"Frank Frazetta, an illustrator of comic books, movie posters and paperback book covers whose visions of musclebound men fighting with swords and axes to defend scantily dressed women helped define fantasy heroes like Conan, Tarzan and John Carter of Mars, died on Monday in Fort Myers, Fla. He was 82. " (NYT)

Survey :: Africa in Higher Education

Ph.D. student Natasha Himmelman, University of Cape Town is conducting a survey on

African Studies
Africana Studies
Diaspora Studies
Caribbean Studies
African American Studies

in institutions of higher education. Seeking undergraduate, postgraduate, and recent graduate responses to simple 10-question survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2Z6QC7C

For further information, please do not hesitate to contact Natasha at nhimmelman[at]gmail.com

SciFi World View

World Literature Today's newest issue (May/June 2010) includes a special section devoted to speculative fiction. Editor Daniel Simon writes: "SF in WLT?" and answers with, "In the current issue, it matters less how we define the world and more how we see through it, or around it, and into the realm of other possibilities." And so, SciFi it is - featuring Kij Johnson, China Mieville, Federik Pohl, George Zebrowski, James Gunn, Lavie Tidhar, Pamela Sargent, Paul Kincaid, David Fowler, Grady Hendrix, Tom Shippey, and Davor Slamnig.

Exclusive online content includes Rob Bollmar's podcast interview with Cory Doctorow, the complete text of the short stories by Pamel Sargent and Lavie Tidhar (excerpted in the print edition), Paul Di Filippo's extended reviews of the best speculative fiction of 2009, and much more SF-related content.

the Unrorean's New Editor

Begun as an answer to Aurorean editor Cynthia Brackett-Vincent’s frequent quandary, “I wish this fit the Aurorean!”, the Unrorean publishes poems that are too long, too dark or too experimental for the Aurorean’s format. Its tagline: “$2 each U.S. (less than a cup of gourmet coffee & more satisfying). One-year subscription {2 issues} $4 U.S. (much more satisfying than just one issue!). There are no formal guidelines or deadlines, & we do not send proofs. Work sent solely to the Unrorean is not acknowledged (but we promise to take good care of your poems)."

Now, the Unrorean welcomes Devin McGuire as Editor as it expands readership and visibility as a small-press broadsheet. Cynthia Brackett-Vincent will be behind the scenes as Managing Editor.

Its format: 11x17; laser-printed; folded into 5 1/2 x 8 1/2. Various colors. 2-4 11x17 pages. Although there are no formal guidelines for the Unrorean, material submitted from approximately January-June is considered for the Summer/Fall issue and material submitted from approximately July-December is considered for the Winter/Spring issue.

Juked Fiction and Poetry Prizes

Juked Issue 7 (Spring 2010) features the winners of the 2009 Juked Fiction Prize - Jill Widner and runner-up Dan Coshnear (selected by Dan Chaon), and the Poetry Prize - Joellen Craft and runners-up Ben Mirov and Chris Pexa (selected by Dora Malech).

New Lit on the Block :: Camera Obscura

Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Camera Obscura is the kind of publication that will definitely keep readers demanding print publications they can hold in their hands. A biannual independent print journal and "internet haunt," Camera Obscura features prose & photography by established, as well as, emerging writers and photographers. Don't let the 9x6 format fool you - the high quality production makes the images on these pages fill the mind's eye (a true model of how art is best reproduced for greatest viewer appreciation).

Behind the scenes at Camera Obscura are Editor M.E. Parker, Prose Editors Meredith Doench, Tim Horvath, Shane Oshetski, and M.E. Parker, Photography Editors Kate Parker and Lisa Roberts.

The first issue is a packed 128 pages, including fiction by Claire Bateman, Joshua Cohen, Patrick Dacey, Kane X. Faucher (Editor's Choice Award for fiction), Amy Glasenapp, Cynthia Litz, Robert McGowan, Nani Power, Thea Swanson, Michael Trocchia, René Georg Vasicek (interview with Vasicek available online), and the photography of Robert Alvarado (Featured Photographer), Cheri MacCallum (Featured Photographer), Mary Brown, Holly Bown, Tom Chambers (Editor's Choice Award, Professional), Mark Harary, Catlin Harrison (Editor's Choice Award, Non-Professional), William Horton (Outstanding Photo Award, Professional), Jan Luit (Outstanding Photo Award Non-Professional), Shaylene Spaniola, Hao Tran, Chuck Uebele, Caron Van Orman, Maria-Mihaela Vass, Rachael Waller, and Shannon West.

Camera Obscura is open until September 1 for prose submission with $1000 featured writer award given to the writer of a story selected for publication in each issue as determined by the editors. There is no fee for this award. All stories are eligible.

The magazine is also accepting entries for their photography competition, with categories for both professional and non-professional. Deadline September 1.

48HR Mag Live at Noon

Well, it's too late to submit, but apparently over 1500 pieces had to be sorted through yesterday in order to make today's noon publish deadline: 48HR Magazine. You be the judge.

Women Poets Writing in/Translated to English

Jessica Smith started a list - and then it grew and grew and grew. Read her 'why' first. It's brilliant. Then help her add to the list. Then share the list with others. Regularly.

For Your Friday

Check out Lollipop Noose by Todd Seabrook in the first issue of SpringGun Journal.

Writers Grant Competition

The Elizabeth George Foundation is accepting applications for writing grants for 2011. Grants will be made to provide support for unpublished fiction writers, for unpublished and published poets, and for emerging playwrights. Interested writers should send a letter of inquiry to: Elizabeth George, Director, The Elizabeth George Foundation, PO Box 1429, Langley, WA 98260. Letters need to be received by the Foundation by July 1, 2010 to be considered for a grant for the 2011 calendar year.

Cable in the Classroom

Television is emerging as the medium of choice for serious visual storytellers, says instructor Jason Mittell who teaches an entire semester using HBO's The Wire. "If you have a compelling short story to tell, film is the medium to do it," he said. "If you want to tell a long-form story or create a world where characters can grow, television is the place to do it." Read the full story on the Rutland Herald.

Job :: Web Project Manager

The Poetry Foundation Web Project Manager. The project manager is responsible for the online experience of poetryfoundation.org, which requires defining website upgrades and additions to poetryfoundation.org and for managing those projects internally through the web design, development and implementation process. Candidates with a working knowledge of contemporary literary culture and/or poetry are especially encouraged to apply. May 15

New Lit on the Block :: The Packinghouse Review

Cofounded by David Dominguez (poetry editor), Rick Garza (fiction editor), and Alma Dominguez (managing editor), The Packinghouse Review will publish fiction and poetry biannually. Their first issue includes fiction by Neal Blaikie, David Borofka, Daniel Chacόn, and Liza Wieland, and poetry by Christopher Buckley, Gerardo Diego (translated by Francisco Aragόn), Frank X. Gaspar, Rojoberto González, Lee Herrick, David Hurst, Maria Melendez, Chad Prevost, Dixie Salazar, and Michael Spurgeon.

The Packinghouse Review also includes a Student Intern Editor, a position currently filled by Cecilia Ruiz of Reedley College, California.

The publication is available for single copy purchase via Amazon.

Poetry Northwest Relocates

Last year, Poetry Northwest celebrated its 50th anniversary, "quietly" - as editor Kevin Craft notes. The publication has not survived these five decades unscathed, having suspended publication briefly at the turn of the new millennium. But Poetry Northwest came back "reestablished as a nonprofit enterprise on a foundation of community support." Facing and embracing change once again, Poetry Northwest has relocated from the Attic Writers Workshop in Portland, and returned to its birthplace of the Puget Sound region. The magazine is now "housed and published by the Written Arts Program at Everett Community College. But," Craft adds, "it will depend, as it always has, on the support and interest of community of readers all over the country."

This newest issue of Poetry Northwest (Spring & Summer 2010) features works by new and known writers: Bob Hicok, Linda Gregg, Paisley Rekdal, Sierra Nelson, Christopher Merrill, amy Greacen, Andrew Zawacki, Jason Whitmarsh, Joelle Biele, Jeff Hardin, David Sofield, Ted Gilley, Ronald Wallace, Spikanth Reddy, Kelli Russel Agodon, Rick Barot, Rod Jellema, Eamon Brennan, Lilah Hegnauer, Daniel Groves, Daniel Lamberton, Zach Savich, Jay B. Thompson, and Kevin Craft. Artwork by Claire Cowie and Jay Bryant.

Heaven in Literature

Ten of the best visions of Heaven in literature by John Mullan, Guardian UK.

Fiction Noir

The newest issue of Criminal Class Review (v3n1) is devoted to fiction noir. The independent publication self-described as "Literary Scum," initially set out to publish "hard luck tales that went unheard," according to editor-in-chief Kevin Whiteley. "Our stories and poems seek to transcend the gap between song and story. We are interested in where the 'hard luck' songs originated, and the tales from the street which spurned them. Punk rockers, Hooligans, outlaws and the like...C.C.P. is not a shoulder to cry on, a place for broken hearts, or an album for family stories rather a fictionalized confession booth for felons, scumbags, and psychos. We don’t take anything less than blood, violence, and abusive aspects of life."

Given that, it's no wonder CCP was receiving more and more noir submissions, which resulted in this issue, featuring works by Rick Villanueva, William Hillman, Marguerite L. Harrold, George Tabb, Sam Allingham, Andrew Riconda, David S. Pointer, Daniel Porder, John Haggerty, Gleb Boundin, Douglas Thomas Wallace, David Corbett, Brian Murphy, Mickey Disend, Scott Palmer, Jim Goad, Lex Sonne, and Stephen Elliot.

Heidi - German or Swiss?

Heidi's origins are brought into question by German Scholar Peter Buettner, and the Swiss aren't happy.

New Lit on the Block :: Lo-Ball

Quietly entering the scene, Lo-Ball has all the promise of becoming an established publication. Editors D.A. Powell and T.J. Di Francesco mean to keep the production simple, touting the magazines as a "no frills" publication. This production approach passes no judgement on the magazine's content, however, which includes in its first issue new poetry by J. Peter Moore, Rachel Zucker, John Casteen, Erin Belieu, Camille T. Dungy, Ely Shipley, Paisley Rekdal, David Trinidad, Katie Ford, Timothy O’Keefe, Ryan Courtwright, Ryan Call, Randall Mann, Kristen Tracy, Kristen Hatch, Luke Sykora, Stephen Elliott, John Beer, Peter Covino, Ash Bowen, CJ Evans, Ilya Kaminsky, Rachel Loden, Derek Mong, Benjamin Paloff, and Alex Lemon.

Published semiannually, Lo-Ball is available by single copy or two-issue subscription via PayPal - at one of the most low-ball prices I've seen on a lit mag in a long time ($4.99/issue). Printed by Bookmobile with glossy cover and nice stock, they're not out to make money on this one (thus the .org, I'm guessing). And my favorite promotional line in the publication, "Lo-Ball respectfully reminds you to have your pets spayed or neutered. Or both." How can you resist?

Another Sad Loss

Lair Hill's Great Northwest Bookstore, located in 120-year-old former church, on W. First Ave in Portland, Oregon, was destroyed by fire Sunday, May 2. Read the full story and see photos in the OregonianLive.com

The Sonnet

Annie Finch traces the evolution of the sonnet in "Chaos in Fourteen Lines": Reformations and Deformations of the Sonnet published in the December 2009 issue of Contemporary Poetry Review.

Visual Poetry

In addition to fiction, reviews, and spoken word, the newest issue (57) of The Pedestal Magazine features a Visual Poetry Gallery edited by Bob Grumman and John M. Bennett, and includes works by: Reed Altemus, Geraldo Baron, Guy R. Beining, Tom Cassidy, K.S. Ernst, Scott Helmes, Márton Koppány, Paul Thaddeus Lambert, Jim Leftwich, J. Michael Mollohan, Marilyn R. Rosenberg, and Andrew Topel. [Pictured: 'sploded pome by Geraldo Baron]

Jobs

The English Department of Bowling Green State University seeks strong applicants for the College of Arts & Sciences Distinguished Visiting Writer. Screening of applicants will begin June 14, 2010.

Visiting Professor of Poetry Oklahoma State University. May 3 until filled.

Briery Creek Press Poetry Prize Winner

Candace Pearson has been awarded the Briery Creek Press Liam Rector First Book Prize for Poetry for her manuscript Hour of Unfolding. Dos Passos Review features a dozen of her prize-winning poems in the most recent issue (6.2) Finalists for the prize were John Wilson and Melody Gee.

Bill Murray Reads Poetry to Construction Workers

Filmed last year during the construction of the Poets House's new location in New York' Battery Park.

Interview :: Ian McEwan

Caught Bob Edwards Weekend show interview with author Ian McEwan. Good interviewers make for good interviews. This one is worth a listen.