The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled
  • Kelli Russell Agodon is coordinating another Big Poetry Giveaway!
  • Warning: This post is likely to make you want to move to Indiana and sign up right away for Cathy Day’s Advanced Fiction Writing course for fall 2011.
  • Also on the subject of the teaching of writing: Andy Selsberg’s “Teaching to the Text Message” in Sunday’s New York Times offers suggestions for teaching “shorter”: “I don’t expect all my graduates to go on to Twitter-based careers, but learning how to write concisely, to express one key detail succinctly and eloquently, is an incredibly useful skill, and more in time with most students’ daily chatter, as well as the world’s conversation.”
  • Curious about Goodreads? Canadian mag Quill & Quire recently interviewed Patrick Brown, the site’s community manager.
  • Coming soon: a free workshop here in NYC for would-be literary translators. Susan Bernofsky is the workshop leader. (If it weren’t taking place during a very busy week for me, I’d apply to participate.)

    • Writers Respond to “There Is a Mirror in My Heart: Reflections on a Righteous Grandfather”

    by Erika Dreifus on
    1

    Uncharacteristically, my mother and I arrived a few minutes late. We missed the introductory remarks, but we managed to find two empty seats together in the large room that was filled with listeners who had gathered Monday evening at the Yeshiva University Museum/Center for Jewish History to hear poets present original writings in dialogue with an exhibition titled “There is a Mirror in My Heart: Reflections on a Righteous Grandfather.”

    (more…)

    Monday Morning Markets/Jobs/Opportunities

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
  • Some helpful hints on breaking into Writer’s Digest magazine.
  • Teachers & Writers Collaborative (T&W) has once again been invited to nominate a fiction book for the Ellen Levine Fund for Writers award, which is administered by the New York Community Trust. The annual award established by Ellen Levine is given to an author who has previously published (not self-published) a print edition of one or two books of fiction, and who doesn’t currently have a publishing contract for a second or third book of fiction. The winner of the Ellen Levine Fund for Writers award receives $7,500. In 2008, the first year of the award, one of T&W’s nominees, Gabriel Brownstein, won the award for his novel I Was Here, But I Disappeared. In 2009, Kathleen Lee received the award for her novel Taxi to Elsewhere. The 2010 Ellen Levine Fund for Writers award went to Travis Holland for a novel in progress, Windsor Park. Submissions to be considered for nomination by T&W should include contact information for the author (mailing address, e-mail address, and phone number(s)), a brief bio of the author listing the one or two works of fiction already published, an outline of the book, and 75-80 pages of the manuscript. Submissions should be mailed or hand-delivered to: Amy Swauger, Teachers & Writers Collaborative, 520 Eighth Ave., Ste. 2020, New York, NY 10018. Submissions will not be accepted via e-mail or fax. Incomplete submissions will not be reviewed. The deadline for submitting work to T&W is 5:00 PM (Eastern), Monday, May 2, 2011. T&W will review submissions and select one to nominate for the award. The winner of the 2011 award will be notified by the New York Community Trust in late summer/early fall. Please send questions regarding the 2011 Ellen Levine Fund for Writers award to aswauger@twc.org, or call 212-691-6590.” (NB: Teachers & Writers does not currently maintain a website listing for this opportunity, which is reprinted here with permission.)
  • “Jabberwocky is seeking poetry of any length and prose of up to 5K words (this is firm). Payment is $.01 per word for fiction and $10.00 per poem. Payment is upon publication. For examples of the kind of work we like, please see our archives.” (found via Duotrope)
  • “Signal Fire provides residencies in the Mt. Hood National Forest to selected artists from a range of practices. Each summer we bring the artists out to the forest and provide them with food, maps, a bicycle, battery power and shelter for work and sleep space.” There are two week-long residencies for eight artists. In 2011, these residencies will take place July 9-15 and July 17-22. “The artists stay in large 12×12 wall tents. They are supplied with kitchen utensils and food for self-served breakfast and lunch. Each tent is set apart from the others, but within a short walk to a base camp. Signal Fire organizers are stationed at the base camp, available for emergency and unforeseen needs. Additionally, the group gathers for dinner each evening, served at the base camp.” NB: “At this time, we do not offer travel stipends, but are able to offer places to stay in Portland for people arriving from away.” No application fee. Deadline: April 1, 2011.
  • Pacific Lutheran University (Wash.) seeks a Visiting Assistant Professor of English (Fiction Writing).
  • Luther College (Iowa) is looking for “a Visiting Instructor or Assistant Professor of English, a one-year leave replacement position beginning Fall 2011; potential for renewal.” Details: “Full time teaching load (three courses fall, one course January Term, three courses spring). English is a collegial, thirteen-member department with a strong commitment to interdisciplinary learning. Teaching responsibility will likely include Paideia I, Creative Writing: Poetry and Fiction, The Writer’s Voice, Rhetoric, and American Novel. Paideia I is an interdisciplinary reading/writing/research course required of all first-year students with a common syllabus across 36 sections. For a full program description, see http://www.luther.edu/paideia/.”
  • Columbia College-Chicago is advertising for an Assistant Professor in Creative Writing-Poetry.
  • Dartmouth College (N.H.) seeks a Senior Writer, the American Museum of Natural History (N.Y.) is looking for a Development Coordinator/Writer, and Village Voice Media (Houston) is taking applications for a position as Arts & Culture Editor/Writer.

    • Friday Find for Writers: Open House at The Writer Magazine

    by Erika Dreifus on
    3

    From our friends at The Writer magazine:

    We’re having an open house on WriterMag.com from noon on Thursday, March 17, through Thursday, March 24, and we hope you’ll stop by to take a look around! Everything on the website will be open for anyone to view. During our open house, you can:

    • Search through the market listings
    • Read subscriber-only articles
    • Review our Web columns: Web Savvy, Ask The Writer, Critique My Query, Watch Your Language, Writing for Children, Critique My Query, Dueling With Words and The 30-Second Commute
    • Look through the forums and read the what our members are talking about*
    • Investigate any other feature on the site

    If you like what you see, you can take advantage of our features for registered users by signing up on WriterMag.com. It’s easy—and free! Just look for “Welcome to WriterMag.com” on the right side of our home page and click on the “register” link.

    You’ll find the full announcement here.

    As you may know, I’m a contributing editor for The Writer, and I’ll be busy this weekend drafting my next book review for the magazine. So please go enjoy the Open House for me!