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).

  • Jaggery, a DesiLit arts and literature journal, connects South Asian diasporic writers and homeland writers; we also welcome non-South Asians with a deep and thoughtful connection to South Asian countries, who bring their own intersecting perspectives to the conversation. (By South Asia we mean Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, The Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.) Our hope with Jaggery is to create a journal that offers the best writing by and about South Asians and their diaspora….We publish ART, ESSAYS, FICTION, POETRY, REVIEWS, and an advice column. We prefer original, previously unpublished submissions; we solicit reprints only in exceptional cases….We’re purchasing ongoing worldwide digital rights, for use in web and possible downloaded forms (ebook, PDF, etc.). Six months after publication, you may request to have your work removed from our online archive. We follow a blind submission review process and pay $25 for prose/poetry/art.” Hurry up if you’re interested: “The deadline for submissions for the inaugural issue is July 31st, 2013.” (via @Duotrope)
  • Blank Fiction Magazine is currently accepting submissions for our first three issues! The themes for each are: Literary Fiction, Noir Fiction and Science Fiction.” Deadline for the first (literary fiction) issue is October 15. Pays: “Blank Fiction Magazine is proud to support all of our writers with a $50 honorarium for their contribution to our pages.”
  • “Soomo Publishing, an independent publisher of college-level webtexts, seeks experienced freelance writers to contribute original commentaries on world literature. Soomo is convinced that textbooks don’t have to be boring. With this in mind, we are looking for magazine feature-type commentaries to accompany important works of pre-Renaissance-era writing. The commentaries will be included in an online world literature course, and are intended to provide historical and cultural context that is both instructive and thought-provoking. Our goal is to capture students’ imagination and introduce them to the ‘stories behind the stories.’ In terms of voice, our models include Smithsonian magazine, Wilson Quarterly, and Mental Floss’s’101 Masterpieces’ series–in short, anything that makes culture relevant, stimulating, and accessible.” Pays: “Commentaries are being assigned at 1,500 words, at a rate of $0.50/word.”
  • As announced in its latest newsletter: “Creative Nonfiction is looking for new instructors for its online classes. Responsibilities include creating written lectures, reading and responding to student work, engaging in online discussion, and answering student questions on a daily basis.”
  • Coming soon! More no-fee writing contests and paying calls for prose and poetry in the August issue of The Practicing Writer, which will go out to subscribers before week’s end. Get your copy right in your e-mailbox. It’s free, and we don’t sell, rent, or share our mailing list.
  • Algonquin Books (Chapel Hill, N.C.) is looking for an Assistant Publicist.
  • Sunday Sentence Debut

    TPR-205Oh, what a creature of habit I am. I try to adhere to a nice, structured blogging schedule, and weekend Practicing Writing posts aren’t part of it.

    But today I have to break with routine and 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.” So, without further ado:

    “I breathed in the night air that was or was not laced with anachronistic blossoms and felt the small thrill I always felt to a lesser or greater degree when I looked at Manhattan’s skyline and the innumerable illuminated windows and the liquid sapphire and ruby of traffic on the FDR Drive and the present absence of the towers.”

    –from “False Spring” by Ben Lerner, in The Paris Review (Summer 2013)

    From My Bookshelf: The Property, by Rutu Modan (trans. Jessica Cohen)

    PropertyThese days, motivated in part by space constraints (I live in a New York City apartment and I’ve run out of bookshelves), and in part by financial ones, I think very hard before I buy a book. Generally speaking, I depend on libraries for many of the books that I don’t receive as review copies. And when I do buy a book, I’m often inclined to purchase the Kindle version.

    All of this a preface of sorts. Because something unusual happened a few days ago. I began reading Rutu Modan’s latest book, The Property. Translated by Jessica Cohen, this graphic novel depicts a grandmother-granddaughter pair on a journey from Israel to the grandmother’s native Poland, ostensibly to investigate the reclamation of the grandmother’s former home. About two minutes into my reading, I knew that this book was something special. And even though I read the entire book in one setting, I knew that I’d want to read it again. Maybe more than once. Maybe even after it was due back in the library. So I’ve gone ahead and purchased a copy of my own: a print copy.

    In short, I loved this book. But instead of writing a more complete review/description/analysis of my own, I’m going to point you to some illuminating items that are already available online. (I’ll also note that, to date, several of the five-star Goodreads reviews that I’ve read echo my own impressions.) I hope that these materials will help convince you to spend some time with The Property, too:

  • Review in Paste magazine (includes several sample pages/panels)
  • Profile of Modan in Publishers Weekly
  • Extensive interview with Modan in The Comics Journal (also includes excerpts from the book)
  • And a briefer, but still noteworthy, interview with Modan in Maisonneuve.
  • Finally, as a bonus of sorts, you might want to read through Modan’s account of “a week in culture” for The Paris Review (trans. Sivan Ben-Horin).

    Friday Finds for Writers

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

  • Lisa Romeo earned her MFA five years ago. What does she have to show for it? (Read this eloquent and honest piece, people. You won’t regret it.)
  • For your weekend literary listening: “Andre Dubus III & Edith Pearlman: A Reading & Conversation, Sponsored by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation,” courtesy of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP).
  • With a little help from Ben Yagoda, Carol Tice presents “7 Simple Fixes” for writing mistakes.
  • Ron Charles reflects on Amazon.com’s “New Books” suggestions. (I am compelled to add that these suggestions may have some usefulness for book reviewers looking for not-yet-published titles to review.)
  • Finally, I’m not sure exactly which of my Twitter connections pointed me to Mashable’s “Complete Guide to Twitter Lingo,” but I think that Twitter newbies, especially, may appreciate it.
  • Happy weekend, everyone. See you back here on Monday!

    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.

  • “Israeli film officials say Israeli-American actress Natalie Portman will direct her first feature film, based on an autobiographical novel by celebrated Israeli writer Amos Oz.”
  • Over on Tablet: a wonderful piece about I.B. Singer’s “The Son from America”–and what it’s like to teach the story today at a Catholic college.
  • i24news is a new source for English-language news from Israel. (h/t HonestReporting.com)
  • The Forward is looking for a Digital Media Producer.
  • Finally, in case you missed it yesterday, please forgive the additional mention of my new essay, “Beyond Birthright: How Fortysomethings Can Cultivate Jewish Connections.” Including Jewish cultural connections.
  • Shabbat shalom.