Stay Cool with Great Lit
NewPages Newsletter #145 Featuring 37 Submission Opportunities & Events
Nothing can make you feel your age more than some physical labor. You know you are getting old when you are sore as heck the morning after working hard. Growing pains aside, here we are in September in the Midwest with no rain and 80+ weather. Really has you thinking about what autumn and winter will bring since the weather really has been very odd for the entire year so far.
With September half over with, you have our eLitPak newsletter to look forward to this week to bring you even more literary and writing goodies straight to your inbox.
Another good constant? Great literature! Head on over to the Magazine Stand to learn more about Pictura Journal, the latest journal highlighted in our New Lit on the Block series.
“I’ve always been obsessed with the idea of ‘image as narrative,’ and I wanted a name that made the same statement. I couldn’t tell you the first time I read the Latin phrase ut pictura poesis (and it would take some work for me to recall any more of the specifics of Ars Poetica), but when I was formulating the idea for the journal, ‘as is poetry, so is painting’ pointed directly at what I was aiming for. So: Pictura. I want to publish work that values the concrete image as a storytelling device, and artwork that fits well alongside it.”
-Alicia Wright, Editor-in-Chief
If you are on the hunt for an MFA in Creative Writing, you can learn more about our latest program sponsor, the University of Alabama, which is celebrating its 50th year in 2024. They are a 3-year program where all admitted students are fully funded.
Looking for some great reads to while away the hours when the nights get longer? Check out the Book Stand for new and forthcoming titles from university and indie presses. 90 Ways of Community: Nurturing Safe & Inclusive Classrooms Writing One Poem at a Time by Sarah J Donovan, Mo Daley, Maureen Young Ingram is an indispensable resource to help guide teachers through a year-long journey of poetic engagement in grades 6-12.
If you are a poet who is hopelessly lost when trying to create your first full-length collection, Katerina Stoykova is here to help with her The Poet’s Guide to Publishing: How to Conceive, Arrange, Edit, Publish and Market a Book of Poetry. The guide is designed to meet you where you are in your book creation or publication process with information on conceiving, arranging, editing, publishing, and promotion.
Don’t forget to come back to the Book Stand to discover Words That Mend: The Transformative Power of Writing Poetry for Teachers, Students, and Community Wellbeing by Sarah J Donovan, et al.
If you need more book recommendations, check out the NewPages Blog for book reviews. Jami Macarty reviews Enzo Silon Surin’s second full-length collection, American Scapegoat. “Enzo Silon Surin takes on the myth, ethos, and pathos of America in his poems, and he pulls no punches. Nor should he. There is necessity in bringing to language for readers what the Black body experiences ‘when / it is being / sized up.’”
Lauren Crawford tackles January Gill O’Neil’s recent poetry collection, Glitter Road. This collection focuses on change with poems telling the story of a speaker entering new chapters in her life after the loss of her life partner.
Come back to the blog throughout the week for reviews of Ronan Russell’s Kursid Kids, The Three Melissas by Nilan and Bowman, and Suzanne Frischkorn’s Whipsaw.
Find Inspiration
Adaptation. A way for something to change intrinsically or extrinsically to survive in a new environment. Adaptation. A new take on a classic or translating literature for cinema. Either way you look at it, adaptation is an interesting concept.
Perhaps you are fascinated by flora and fauna that have learned to adapt in harsh environments to thrive in sandy dunes or marshland. Can you write a verse on this perseverance that led to survival? Or how about a lyric essay on how you adapted to living in a new country, changed schools, or from being single to being married?
On the other side of adaptation, can you take your favorite classic and adapt the story to modern times? Or perhaps you are a lover of watching adaptations of books to movies. What is your favorite adaptation? What is the worst?
Calls, Contests, & More
Below are this week’s writing contests, calls for submissions, and literary and writing events. Enjoy 37 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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