Revisit Old Favorites & Discover New Lit
NewPages Newsletter #154 Featuring 42 Submission Opportunities & Upcoming Events
Another week has begun! Why is it whenever you have company coming and staying with you for an extended period of time it never fails that something crops up to keep you from doing what you need to get done…or is that just me? But again…Happy Monday. For those of us in Michigan this may be the nicest day all week as more gloomy and rainy weather is in our forecast. Do you know what that means? It’s a perfect time to rewatch BBC’s Pride & Prejudice for the umpteenth time or perhaps Megan Fellow’s Anne of Green Gables series and a great time to write, edit, submit your work, and repeat.
If you missed out on it last week, don’t forget to check out our November eLtiPak Newsletter featuring flyers from the Colorado Authors League, Unsolicited Press, the National Indie Excellence Book Awards, the Colorado Review, Third Street Review, The Kenyon Review Writers Workshops, Lindenwood University MFA in Writing, and the NewVoicesProject.
Next week is Thanksgiving already. If you will be traveling or if you want to scope out any literary Black Friday deals and support local businesses, don’t forget to check out the NewPages Guide to Indie Bookstores. We currently list stores with physical locations across the US and Canada. If we somehow have missed listing your favorite store, please let us know!
Speaking of literary goodies, swing by our Magazine Stand to learn about the latest issues of your favorite literary magazines. The Summer/Fall 2024 issue of New Letters continues its tradition of discovering, publishing, and promoting the best and most exciting literary writing. Enjoy work by Hema Padhu, Richard Bausch, Ted Kooser, Abbie Kiefer, Liane Strauss, and many more.
Bennington Review Issue 13 is themed “Family Gathering,” about which Editor Michael Dumanis writes in the “Note From the Editor, “While two-thirds of Americans have attended a family reunion and over a quarter say they attend them annually, high numbers report approaching them with dread. So why do we still gather?” A very appropriate question with the end-of-year holidays fast approaching, isn’t it. Give them a read to see what their contributors have to say about this topic.
The Fall 2024 issue of The Midwest Quarterly includes articles by Stephanie Alexander (“The Spectacular Feminine Body: (Re)Writing Maternity in Rich, Walker, and Cisneros”), Christopher Au (“‘I think of old friends’: Reflective Nostalgia in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Speculative Fiction Narrators”), Pingfan Zhang (“The Cinematic Past and Literary Present of Yan Geling’s Novel The Flowers of War [2012]), and so much more!
The 19th print issue of Booth includes interviews with Jo Ann Beard and Viet Thanh Nguyen; a comic by Jesse Lee Kercheval; nonfiction by Jerilynn Aquino, and K.S. Dyal; plus, so much more! Also, with this issue you can enjoy Michael Martone’s new memoir in prose poems, Table Talk & Second Thoughts.
Last, but definitely not least, The Main Street Rag’s Fall 2024 issue opens with Associate Editor Jessica Hylton’s interview with singer/songwriter Keely Faile. In this issue you can also enjoy work by Kathy McMullen, Ujjvala Bagal Rahn, Claire Scott, Eric Torgersen, Gabriel Welsch, and book reviews! Come back later this week to learn more about Colorado Review’s Fall/Winter 2024 issue and The Malahat Review Issue 228.
Love learning about new journals? Don’t forget to dive into our New Lit on the Block series which focuses on introducing writers and readers to fledgling literary magazines. You can enjoy learning about Midwest Weird which hopes that their audience will be drawn in by a certain level of morbid curiosity that will make them go, “Oooh, that show is so weird…and I can’t stop listening!” That’s right. Listening! Midwest Weird is a new audio literary magazine.
If you need book recommendations for your next trip to your local indie, our reviewers are here to help! Kevin Brow is back with his review of Sarah Smarsh’s Bone of the Bone. This book collects together thirty-seven pieces that Smarsh has published over the past decade, almost all of which center around issues of class and/or perceptions of those who live in the Midwest, including her family. “Overall, the primary focus of the book is on ‘the unseen,’ to whom she dedicates the collection. She helps readers see them in all their humanity, the goal of any good writer.”
Don’t forget to drop by our blog during the week for even more reviews and book announcements! You will be able to enjoy reviews of Maya Smith and Alvenia Bridges’ Reclaiming Venus, Dave Birkett’s The Detroit Lions, and Amie Whittemore’s Nest of Matches. You will also be able to discover Matthew Cooperman’s the atmosphere is not a perfume it is odorless.
Inspiration
Today’s inspiration again comes from a Dandelion. Classified by many as weeds, beloved by children everywhere as a flower, and used for medicinal and wine-making purposes. Dandelions are thriving in various sheltered areas of my yard as the weather seems to be too poor for them to continue on.
Food for writing thought. What do you classify a dandelion as? What can you say about dandelions or any other foliage that is stubbornly clinging on past the time they are supposed to? Can you write a poem about autumn from a dandelion’s perspective? Or how about a bit of research behind how people once used dandelions as medicine?
Can you write a story about first love shared over a crown of dandelions given to your playground crush? Or how about a poem as a recipe on making dandelion wine or dandelion tea? Or how about creating your own dandelion myth? How did a lion become a “dandy” lion?
Calls, Contests, & More
Below are this week’s writing contests, calls for submissions, and literary and writing events. Enjoy 42 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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