Say Goodbye to July with Great Lit
NewPages Newsletter #138 Featuring 32 Submission Opportunities
Welcome to the final week of July! August officially will be here already on Thursday. With the end of one month and beginning of another, don’t forget that means submission opportunities are ending while some are just beginning. Hopefully you are able to stay cool, maybe in your local library or favorite indie bookstore, with a good book, good literary magazine, good company, and your laptop for tracking submissions.
Speaking of literary magazines, head on over to the Magazine Stand to discover the latest issues of new and old favorites. The Blue Collar Review: Journal of Progressive Working Class Literature Spring 2024 issue opens with these words from the editor’s note, “This Spring is marked by escalating tensions'” to which much of the work included bear witness. The Summer 2024 Colorado Review takes a unique perspective on the season. “While summer is not the season we generally associate with loss, it does offer pause: time to reflect on what has been taken from us, what we might let go of, what we hope to hold on to, what we may yet reap.”
Issue four of the online poetry journal Red Tree Review is now live. As always, readers will find poems that surprise, harrow, and awe, this time featuring work by Cortney Bledsoe, Halee Kirkwood, Mirande Bissell, and more. Discover Libre, a new literary publication in our New Lit on the Block series. LIBRE is a new online journal of prose, poetry, and art with three main goals: to uplift the marginalized voices of the mentally ill and those whose lives are affected by mental health; to celebrate the excruciatingly nuanced boundaries and expressionistic approaches that magical realist literature and artwork bring to our otherwise mundane realities; and to explore the oftentimes overlooked intersection that quietly, but stubbornly blooms between fabulist and health-oriented writing.
Don’t forget to come back to the Magazine Stand throughout the week to learn more about The Iowa Review Double Issue 2024, The Malahat Review 227, and discover Bear Paw Arts Journal. And, as this is the last week of July, enjoy a roundup of all journals with new issues in our New & Noted Literary & Alternative Magazine Issues section.
In book news, head on over to the NewPages Book Stand to learn more about Home, Rewritten: Celebrating Asian American & Pacific Islander Voices, an anthology from Fleeting Daze Magazine. “This project has been a long time in the making,” say Editors-in-Chief Rosie Hong and Caroline Zhang, “and we are so proud to be able to highlight AAPI voices and share with the world how we have redefined our homes and families through our experiences growing up.” Come back later this week for a complete list of new and forthcoming titles as well discovering Wrongland by Gazmend Kapllani, translated from the Greek by Peter Bien, set to be released in September.
In other book news, Eleanor J. Bader reviews That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America by Amanda Jones. When Amanda Jones, a middle school librarian and head of the Louisiana Association of School Librarians, spoke before the Livingston Parish Library Board in August 2022, she was one of several people advocating for diverse collections that include books to accurately address US history and much more. This led to her becoming a target of hate and harassment. “That Librarian, part memoir, part impassioned political argument against censorship and book bans, is a deeply felt exposition of the physical and emotional toll these smears exacted and a strategic workbook about ways for communities to fight back.”
Kevin Brown reviews Enter Ghost, Isabella Hammad’s second novel. The book revolves around Sonia, a British citizen with Palestinian heritage, who makes her living as an actress. Feeling stuck, she leaves English to visit her sister in Haifa and is invited to join a production of Hamlet. “Sonia ultimately learns more about herself, her family, and Palestine, but she also finds true community through the production, as Hammad reminds readers of the power of art, even in the midst of war and suffering.”
Brown also reviews Lydia Millet’s We Loved It All. This memoir combines Millet’s expertise as an award-winning writer with her work at the Center for Biological Diversity to create a poetic, meditative book exploring climate change, storytelling, hope, and despair.
Come back to the blog throughout the week to discover reviews of A Sign of Her Own by Sarah Marsh, Who’s Afraid of Gender by Judith Butler, Also Here by Brooke Randel, The Word for Standing Alone in a Field by J.I. Kleinberg, and Falcon in the Dive by Leah Angstman.
What better place to find inspiration for your own writing than a library? A treasure trove of information from academics, to literature, to genre fiction. What is your fondest memory of a library? Did you have a favorite librarian? Spend your summer checking out as many books as you were allowed? Were you ever embarrassed by forgetting to return titles on time? Do you have any funny stories or sad stories or valuable lessons learned?
Libraries hold a very valuable place in communities. How are they holding up in a modern, digital age? What about AI and libraries as you see in The Time Machine with Guy Pearce? Libraries can have reading programs for children and adults, writing workshops, story time, and so much more.
So write an ode to your favorite librarian or a letter to your childhood crush you met amidst the stacks. How about an essay on just what your library has meant to you, still means to you. You can also write a short story about the Library of Alexandria or the hijinks that happens when you fall into a book or get lost among all the stories and histories surrounding you in such a place.
Happy writing.
Calls, Contests, & More
Below are this week’s writing contests, calls for submissions, and literary and writing events. Enjoy 32 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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