Monday Markets for Writers

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

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).

  • “St. Francis [College] is proud to once again offer its support and encouragement to the literary community by sponsoring the biannual $50,000 Literary Prize to a mid-career author who has recently published their 3rd to 5th work of fiction.” Self-published and translated works eligible. Will consider works published June 2011-May 2013. No entry fee. Deadline: May 1, 2013.
  • Bancroft Press publishes trade fiction and non-fiction, “and we publish, quite simply, what we like. We’ve done literary and commercial fiction, books on finance, sports, parenting, humor, history, biography…No topic is out of bounds for us if we think it’s done well and will make an important contribution to society.” See also the recent Publishers Weekly article on the press.
  • File this away, freelancers: a list of 45 websites that pay writers (I’m not sure about the “instantly” that’s part of the post’s title, but still, it’s an interesting collection).
  • Also of interest: Opportunities for writing about history.
  • From WritersWeekly.com: “We’re out of features! We pay $60 for around 600 words; non-exclusive electronic rights only. Our guidelines are here: http://www.writersweekly.com/index-markets.htm.”
  • “The English Arts Department at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside invites applications for a full-time (9 month) tenure-track faculty member in English, with a focus in 20th and 21st Century American Literature and Creative Writing – Poetry beginning August 2013.”

    • Friday Finds for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    4

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

  • Struggling to find your “voice” as a writer? Maybe you have more voices than you’ve realized. Thought-provoking essay by Pico Iyer.
  • Lots to think about in Kevin Young’s Virginia Quarterly Review essay “Blood Nation: Half-Breeds, Maids, Porterhouses, and the Fake Memoir.” But these may be my favorite lines: “My definition of creative non-fiction is simple. It is a radically subjective account of events that objectively took place. The moment you start making up events that you know did not take place, you’re doing another sort of work. It’s called fiction.”
  • Celeste Ng writes about the deeper value of Twitter for writers.
  • On the Ploughshares blog, Roxane Gay describes her teaching practice.
  • Choice quotations from Cynthia Ozick, to mark the author’s 85th birthday this week. (h/t @dg_myers)

    • Everyone, have a good, safe, restorative weekend. See you back here on Monday.

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • Can you describe your Jewish mom in six words? The Forward would like you to try.
  • “This is a complicated story, but here goes.” So begins Joan Acocella’s (The New Yorker) tale of book-reviewing, Primo Levi, and Israel.
  • This month’s Jewish Book Carnival is hosted by the Jewish Book Council, and there are some real goodies included.
  • A fascinating glimpse into Albert Einstein’s last speech.
  • Finally, I wish I could attend the “Holocaust Lives” panel at this weekend’s Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Panelists include Jonathan Kirsch, Jewish Journal Books Editor and author of a book I’m especially eager to read: The Short, Strange Life of Herschel Grynszpan. (See Michael Berenbaum’s review.)

    • Shabbat shalom.

    Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: Playwriting 101

    by Erika Dreifus on
    10

    OrphansLast weekend, and thanks to my TDF membership, I had the opportunity to see a performance of Orphans, a new play starring Alec Baldwin that is currently in previews on Broadway. And I was reminded, as I am nearly every time I go to watch a play, that I’d really like to learn how to write a play of my own.

    So this post is more a request for resources than anything else. I’d love to receive suggestions regarding:

    1) online introductory playwriting courses that you might recommend;
    2) “how-to” books on playwriting that you have found to be useful; and/or
    3) any other suggestions on how I might incorporate playwriting into my writing practice (for instance, I’m guessing that reading actual play scripts would be helpful, and I actually have a script or two on hand, but I’d be grateful for recommendations of scripts that have worked especially well for you, whether you’ve been teaching or studying playwriting).

    Thank you all in advance!