Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: Back to School

by Erika Dreifus on
10

This week marked my return to school.

To Hebrew School, that is.

For awhile now, I’ve wanted to rebuild–and, with luck, perhaps surpass–the limited ability I once possessed to read, write, and speak Hebrew. But now that I’m a “grown-up,” I’m not all that confident in my ability to learn languages. Not to mention, now that I’m a grown-up, I don’t have a whole lot of time to spare for “hobbies.”

But you know what they say: Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

The way, for me, is to begin slowly. And to do some research. After finding a variety of possible programs to try, I chose a “Hebrew Crash Course” offered locally. As far as I’m concerned, the program I chose offers two big advantages over its competitors: (more…)

Monday Markets/Jobs/Opportunities for Writers

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

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

  • Let’s begin with the Six-Word Story Prize! “Fleeting Magazine is looking for the best six-word story in the world. In return, we’re offering a stay at The Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan, where Hemingway bet the Round Table, “I can write a story in six-words.” You can send up to five six-word stories (no entry fee). Deadline: September 30, 2012. NB: “The winner’s room must be booked in arrangement with Fleeting Magazine within a year of the closing date. Alternatively, it may be exchanged for cash: £100 ($160 /€130). By entering the competition, you give permission for your name and six-word story to be used by Fleeting Magazine and other publications.”
  • Anthology call: “Margaret River Press invites short fiction, poetry, photo essays and creative nonfiction submissions that illuminate the theme of ‘fire’. The anthology seeks works that illustrate experiences of and relationships to fire: its destructive, creative and redemptive powers, its social impact, its cultural and ecological role, its terror, symbolism and its beauty.” Deadline: August 31, 2012. Pays: “Payment is a flat fee of AUD$200 for fiction and creative non-fiction works, $150 for photo essays and poetry for both Australian print rights and International Digital rights, plus a contributor’s copy of the print edition.”
  • 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.”
  • From Persea Books: “We have a longstanding commitment to publishing extraordinary contemporary poetry and maintain an active poetry program. Although our program is small, we are always on the lookout for a poet we simply must publish. Currently, our open submission period for poetry is the month of July: any submissions sent must have a July postmark.”
  • Northumbria University (U.K.) seeks a Senior Lecturer/Lecturer in Creative Writing.
  • Oklahoma State University is advertising a “tenured or tenure-track open rank position in Poetry.”
  • WRITE BOSTON, an organization within the Boston Redevelopment Authority, is looking for a Part-Time Writing Coach.
  • Los Angeles-based job: “Zócalo Public Square, a Koreatown-based non-profit that blends live events and digital ideas journalism, seeks a smart, ambitious, intellectually curious Editorial/Events Coordinator to help plan events, handle logistics, conduct outreach, manage the office, and proofread and post editorial content on our website.”
  • “The MFA Program for Writers located at Warren Wilson College (N.C.) seeks candidates for the position of Project Manager/Web Manager. The person in this full-time, twelve-month position performs a wide range of duties requiring computer/technical, organizational, customer service expertise in service of the MFA students, faculty, alumni, and prospective students, under the supervision of the Assistant to the Director. She/he maintains the MFA Program’s website as well as the alumni (Friends of the Writers) website; she/he hires and supervises the undergraduate crew; as the Program’s liaison with vendors, she/he develops and negotiates contracts; she/he aids in the production of semi-annual residency session. Among the his/her major duties beyond the maintenance of the websites are the management of the websites are the management of the application process annually, and the compilation, and the compilation and production of student manuscript books for the residency.”

    • From My Bookshelf: THE INNOCENTS, by Francesca Segal

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Just a couple of days ago I mentioned that I’ve been reading The Innocents, the debut novel by Francesca Segal. As I noted, Segal’s book updates Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence and transplants it to a tight-knit Jewish community in contemporary London.

    I picked up a complimentary pre-publication copy (and had it signed by the author) at last month’s Book Expo America here in New York City. I also had the good fortune to catch one of Segal’s tweets about a reading she was giving at a bookstore in my neighborhood that same week, so I had the chance to hear the book’s opening section read aloud with a suitably British accent.

    But it took a few weeks until I managed to start reading the book myself. Once I began, it was tough to put the book down. I’m not at all certain that all other readers will be as captivated by both elements of the book–the adaptation of the Wharton tale and the depiction of a Jewish community and its customs–as I was. But they sure captivated me.

    I’ll leave you with a sampling of brief excerpts–passages that I found so resonant that they inspired me to dog-ear their respective pages and return to think consider them more intensively. (more…)

    Friday Finds for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2

    For the weekend: some writing-related reflections, news, and resources to enjoy.

  • First up: Rachel Unkefer, whose many roles include leading Charlottesville’s WriterHouse, explains why she’s adding yet another facet to her identity: poet. There’s much here that resonates as I remember the path that led me to four online poetry workshops. For instance: “Recently there have been a few nagging ideas, though, that I haven’t known what to do with. They weren’t enough to base a short story on, even flash fiction. They could have been musings in the head of a character in a novel, but they had too much weight for me to relegate them to such a minor role. And they wouldn’t go away. Looking out my window or walking in my neighborhood triggered them. Maybe these are poems, I thought, but I don’t know how to write poems.” And so a new field of study–and writerly practice–is born.
  • In praise of the semicolon.
  • Hey, book reviewers! Looking for some fall titles to review? The Millions offers quite a preview.
  • Did you miss The International Conference of the Short Story, which recently convened in Little Rock, Ark.? Me, too. Luckily, Creating Van Gogh has a conference recap.
  • Finally, author Kyle Minor has made available an online “Sketchbook: Selections from my Writer’s Notebook, 2010-2012 (45,000 Words of Interview Excerpts, Links, Quotations, Mini-Essays, and Thoughts about the Craft and Art of Making Literature).”

    • Have a great weekend, all. See you back here on Monday!

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Every Friday, My Machberet presents a set of Jewish Literary Links to close out the week.

  • First up: I’m currently reading Francesca Segal’s The Innocents, a novel that updates Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence and transplants it to Jewish London. You still have time to read a copy yourself before the Jewish Book Council’s Twitter chat with the author, which is slated for July 16.
  • Also looking just a bit ahead: If you’re in New York, you may want to catch “Four Jewish Guys: Poetry and Performance,” scheduled for July 19 and featuring Jake Marmer, Jay Michaelson, Yehoshua November, and Philip Terman.
  • Not easy to read, but noteworthy nonetheless: “The American Girl in the Bunker,” a first-person account of a volunteer from New York serving in an IDF paratrooper unit–and dealing with rockets from Gaza.
  • Very different material, but also worth your time: Deborah Eisenberg’s new short story, “Cross Off and Move On.”
  • And over on Bagels and Books, there’s a nice recap of this spring’s Writers’ Festival in Jerusalem.

    • Shabbat shalom!