Is Songspiration a Thing? New Issue Announcements & Book Reviews, Too.
NewPages Newsletter #123 Featuring 48 Submission Opportunities & Upcoming Events
Happy Monday. Hopefully if you were in the pathway of Totality, you were able to get a good view of the eclipse that happened last Monday. Sadly, even though our area was at 94%, I did not get to take any exciting pictures or see anything amazing. Oh well. I did, however, have awesome friends and family who shared their experiences with me.
The wind has been pretty crazy, but the weather is finally starting to look more like spring. If your area is starting to have better weather, hopefully you can take a break from editing and writing to enjoy the outdoors or enjoy your writing and editing while outdoors. The month is half over with today, so that means our monthly eLitPak Newsletter will be landing in your inboxes Wednesday afternoon with more submission opportunities, upcoming events, and literary goodies. Interested in participating in an eLitPak? You can learn more here.
Since it is April 15, that means there are a lot of deadlines today! Like Lily Poetry Review Books’ Paul Nemser Poetry Prize, Switchback Books Gatewood Prize, Passager’s Writers Over 50 Poetry Contest, Blink-Ink Issue #56, Consequence, and more. Don’t miss out on these deadlines.
The Magazine Stand features the latest issues of literary and alternative magazines. Publishing this week, you can learn more about Jewish Fiction .net Issue 36. More than 1/3 of the stories in it are translations from other languages! Enjoy 13 stories originally written in Polish, Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew, and English, and in honor of the upcoming holiday, there are 5 stories set on Passover.
The Winter 2023-24 issue of Blue Collar Review is a collection of poems, short stories, literary reviews, and illustrations that “speaks to the times.” Poets rail at the utter corruption of empire and those of sacrificed to pad the pockets of the pentagon and profiteers, medical dread, the difficulties of aging, homelessness, and so much more.
Looking for some new book recommendations? Enjoy hearing from our reviewers. And our sincere apologies to Jami Macarty. We mistakenly used he in referencing this reviewer last week.
Eleanor J. Bader covers Dena Rueb Romero’s memoir, All for You. The book follows the love affair of the author’s parents, a German Lutheran mother and a German Jewish father that began in pre-Nazi Germany and lasted until their father’s death in 1980. “The book, part political and part social history, covers the growth of Nazism in Europe. But this is also a highly personal story.”
Susan Kay Anderson reviews Gabriel Palacios’ debut poetry A Ten Peso Burial for Which Truth I Sign and asks herself “Wow, what AM I READING?” “The vibe is Hotel California, but Palacios delves into an obsession with the Spanish Trail, the dignified name for what it really was and is: a trail of slaughter in the name of colonialism and conquest.”
Kevin Brown gives his thoughts on Tommy Orange’s second novel, Wandering Stars, which builds on the characters from his first novel, There There as he continues to portray struggles of a Native American family in and around Oakland. “Despite all this family has endured and the ways in which it doesn’t match up to a “traditional” family (whatever that means in 2024), they still exist. One of the main ways they continue to live in a society designed to take everything from them is through the power of story and culture.”
Brown also reviews Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity by Peter Attia. Unlike many books about longevity, Attia’s goal is not to provide the readers with life hacks or technology to extend their years. Instead, he focuses on the desire of wanting people to have a longer healthspan (the amount of time we are healthy and functional) vs. lifespan. “Readers looking for a how-to manual might be disappointed, but Attia clearly explains the realities facing people as they age and gives them strategies and tactics for how to live a long and functional life.”
Come back to the NewPages Blog later this week to find a review of the verdant by Linda Russo.
Last week we had the eclipse come across and my older sister was talking about how the perfect song that day had to be Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” Given what eclipses have mean to some cultures over the years, I also thought “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” by R.E.M. was also a good song for such a day.
Have you ever listened to songs as inspiration to your writing? When I was writing my first book in my freshman year of college, the Daredevil soundtrack was my writing muse and accompanied me on my foray into trying to draft an entire book.
If you look up the lyrics of the two songs mentioned above, what do you think? What stories are they trying to tell? What deeper meaning are they trying to convey? How can you expand upon the story? Or condense it down into verse? It’s just a fun little exercise to get you thinking and get the creative juices hopefully flowing.
Calls, Contests, & More
Below are this week’s writing contests, calls for submissions, and literary and writing events. Enjoy 48 opportunities to get your work published or to enhance your writing craft. Please note: only paid subscribers get access to this information! You can become a paid subscriber for only $5 a month and get early access to submission opportunities and events before they go live on our site.
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