Monday Markets for Writers

Monday brings the weekly batch of no-fee competitions/contests, paying submission calls, and jobs for those of us who write (especially those of us who write fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction).

  • Attention, NYC poets: The Poets House Emerging Poets Fellowship “is an annual opportunity for poets to receive guidance and instruction from a distinguished and diverse faculty and enter the next stage of their professional and artistic practice. Funded for the third year by a generous grant from the Jerome Foundation, this fellowship immerses poets in a twelve-week program consisting of workshops and meetings that are reinforced by the inspiring environment here at Poets House, including our poetry library and unique archives as well as a diverse offering of readings and conversations by leading poets and scholars. The program includes weekly writing workshops, mentoring sessions, meetings with guest speakers, free access to Poets House’s events and archival resources and culminates in a final group reading. Transportation support is available for participants. The application process is competitive; tuition is free to those accepted into the program.” No application fee. Deadline: December 10, 2013.
  • The December issue of The Practicing Writer went out to subscribers over the weekend. Plenty of no-fee competitions and paying submission calls therein.
  • “The National Italian American Foundation seeks an Assistant Editor/Social Media Manager responsible for creating and managing social media content and development, and assist editor in all aspects of planning and production of glossy quarterly magazine, all other publications, and web content.” This job is in Washington.
  • “Avalon Travel and Seal Press seek a motivated, outgoing, and detail-oriented applicant with an interest in book publishing to fill the position of Publicity Assistant.” This position is in Berkeley, Calif.
  • From The Mysterious Bookshop in New York: “We are looking for a Personal Assistant to the owner of the bookshop, Otto Penzler.”
  • Also in New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art seeks a Website Editor.
  • “The Department of English at Suffolk University is seeking a tenure-track Assistant Professor for Fall 2014, pending budgetary approval. We are interested in candidates with expertise in creative writing, specifically non-fiction prose, and a demonstrated ability to teach composition and literature courses.”
  • St. Mary’s College of California seeks part-time Writers-in-Residence for poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.
  • Sunday Sentence

    SouthernReview
    Another Sunday in which I participate in David Abrams’s “Sunday Sentence” project, which asks others to share the best sentence(s) we’ve read during the past week, “out of context and without commentary.”

    Beth knew now that her mother had been wrong, that there was something far worse than not knowing—and that was knowing that her son lay, unequivocally dead, in a hospital somewhere in Thailand.

    Source: “Gap Year,” by Lori Ostlund, a short story in the Autumn 2013 issue of The Southern Review.

    Friday Finds for Writers

    Treasure ChestWriting-related resources, news, and reflections to enjoy over the weekend.

  • “Dear Writing Geek” is a new advice column where you can ask Stephanie Vanderslice your writing-related questions.
  • Maybe it’s just me, but I simply don’t understand what’s wrong with using a period to end a sentence.
  • “What kind of nature writing does the world need now? Join two acclaimed writers whose work has appeared in Orion, Robert Macfalane and Rebecca Solnit, for a far-ranging discussion of how nature writing is evolving on both sides of the Atlantic. Moderated by Orion‘s Editor, Jennifer Sahn, this live web event is free and open to all December 5 at 3 p.m. Eastern/noon Pacific, and 8 p.m. GMT.” You must pre-register. (h/t @creativenonfic)
  • Philip Graham has written a really lovely tribute to his friend, Oscar Hijuelos.
  • And over on Lisa Romeo’s blog, Christi Craig offers an account of her recent participation in the Salt Cay Writers Retreat.
  • Have a great weekend, all.

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen

    Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • Advice on writing for Jewish publications (and getting paid for what you write!) from the talented and prolific Rebecca Klempner.
  • In The New York Times Book Review: “Each week in Bookends, two writers take on pressing and provocative questions about the world of books. This week, Adam Kirsch and Rivka Galchen on why Hannah Arendt’s ‘Eichmann in Jerusalem’ remains contentious fifty years after it was first published.”
  • This just added to my tbr list: From Kristallnacht to Watergate: Memoirs of a Newspaperman, by Harry Rosenfeld.
  • J., the Jewish news weekly of Northern California, has a rare opening for a full-time staff reporter working from our office in San Francisco’s Financial District.”
  • The Winter 2014 issue of Jewish Review of Books is online. Much of the content is for subscribers only, but you’ll find a few pieces available to all.
  • Shabbat shalom and best wishes for a joyous Hanukkah!

    Wednesday’s WIP: My First WaPo Review

    AftermathAmong the things I’m grateful for in the writing realm as Thanksgiving approaches is a brand-new, first-time byline in The Washington Post. I deeply appreciate the opportunity I had to review a new historical novel, Rhidian Brook’s The Aftermath, as well as the expert editing my work received from Ron Charles before publication last week.

    I was drawn to the book in part due to my abiding interest in fiction that involves aspects of World War II, and in part due to my ever-increasing interest in fiction written by grandchildren of those whose lives were dramatically influenced by those historical events. In this case, as mentioned in the review, Brook drew the novel’s storyline from his own grandfather’s British military service in postwar Germany.

    I hope that you’ll read and enjoy the review. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone all of this blog’s readers who celebrate it. And if you’d care to share a comment regarding something in your writing practice that you are thankful for, I’d love to read it.