The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled
  • By now, you’ve doubtless heard that Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer has won the most recent Nobel prize for literature. But have you heard this? “Tranströmer lost his ability to speak and the use of his right arm after suffering a stroke in 1990. Since then, he has continued to play piano with one hand. According to The Independent, the poet will express himself through the piano.”
  • One of my literary lights, the stupendously gifted writer and human being Sage Cohen, wears so many hats that even I, fan that I am, had nearly forgotten one of them: Sage’s role as founder of Queen of Wands Press, which has just released Finding Compass, a poetry collection by Carolyn Martin. Check out this interview with Ms. Martin.
  • The latest news from the world of author archives: “The Harry Ransom Center, a humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin, has acquired the archive of Nobel Prize-winning writer and University of Texas at Austin alumnus J. M. Coetzee. Spanning more than 50 years, the archive traces the author’s life and career from 1956 through the present.” (via The Literary Saloon)
  • I’m eager to read through a special roundtable on “poetry and race” in Evening Will Come, a journal of poetics. (via the Poetry Foundation)
  • Hopefully, by the time The New York Review of Books publishes the second part of “A Jewish Writer in America,” which reflects a talk originally given by Saul Bellow in 1988, I’ll have been able to digest fully part one. Oh, so much to read and think about.

    • Quotation of the Week: Gish Jen, on Apple Computers & Writing

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    As for whether the Apple computers changed not only who wrote, but what they wrote, I can’t speak for others. I can only say that these computers coaxed out of me an expansiveness the typewriter never did. For every writer, the leap from short story to novel is, well, a leap. It involves faith, and resources, and a conception, finally, of how much room is yours in the world. I was not a person who would have looked at a ream of paper and thought, “Sure, that is mine to fill up.” But I turned out to be a person who could keep moving a cursor until I’d filled one ream, then another. It is a truly minuscule reason, in the scheme of things, for which to celebrate and mourn Steve Jobs. Still, I add my small reason to the infinity of others.

    –Gish Jen

    Source: Jen’s lovely op-ed in last Sunday’s New York Times, “My Muse Was an Apple Computer”

    Monday Morning Markets/Jobs/Opportunities for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
  • Special call for ghost stories written by women. “An anonymous flesh and blood patron of the arts has offered a $100 prize for a ghost story written by a woman. Here is what she writes: “Ghosts are with us all year round and in this season of mists they call for particular attention. I leave the definition of ‘ghost story’ up to the author and look forward to the many embodiments and disembodiments of this theme. Preferred length 1000 to 3000 words, but stories of any length may be submitted.” One submission per author. NB: “Simultaneous submissions and previously published stories are okay, but please mention that in your submission. The winning story will be offered non-obligatory publication on the Glass Woman Prize page. There is no reading fee.” Deadline: November 18, 2011. (via Duotrope.com)
  • “Diamond Light Source is the UK national synchrotron facility – a 562m particle accelerator nestled in the Oxfordshire countryside. Diamond generates incredibly bright light from infra-red to X-rays and is used by thousands of scientists every year to study all kinds of materials, from artificial hips and samples of the Mary Rose to virus proteins and potential new fuel sources.  To introduce Diamond to a wider audience we are running a short story competition, Light Reading. The rules are simple: we’re inviting you to submit a story of up to 3,000 words inspired by Diamond – the facility, the science and the people.” Cash prizes (£500/£300/£125). There is no entry fee. Deadline: November 30, 2011. NB: Check the guidelines carefully, and see as well the information on a complementary flash fiction competition. (via Pamelyn Casto’s Flash Fiction Flash Newsletter)
  • “The Hadassah-Brandeis Institute is pleased to announce the third annual competition to translate a book on a topic that deals in a significant way with Jews and gender. Applications will be accepted from both authors and/or translators, and are due by November 16, 2011. Decisions will be announced by February 16, 2012.” No application fee. Download guidelines here.
  • Wesleyan University (Conn.) is looking for an Editor/New Media Writer, The University of San Francisco seeks a Copywriter/Feature and News Writer, and The Writers Guild of America, East, Inc. (New York) is advertising for a part-time Online Communications and Web Manager.
  • “The Department of Writing, Literature & Publishing at Emerson College [Mass.] seeks to fill the position of Department Chair, with the appointment at senior rank depending on experience and qualifications. The appointment begins August 15, 2012.”
  • “The English Department at The University of Texas at Austin wishes to appoint a distinguished senior scholar or creative writer to the J.R. Millikan Centennial Professorship in English Literature. All areas of specialization are open. Ph.D. or terminal degree in field preferred. Duties include undergraduate and graduate teaching, research, publication, and service. Salary will be commensurate with achievements.”
  • “The Jackson Center for Creative Writing at Hollins University [Va.] invites applications for an endowed distinguished professorship in creative writing to begin July 2012. This is a one-year, visiting, full-time, renewable position. The distinguished professor will teach a 2-2 load, including mixed-genre advanced seminars in creative writing, focused graduate tutorials, and graduate and undergraduate thesis direction. Additional responsibilities include full participation in the co-curricular and admission activities in support of Hollins’ MFA creative writing program. Qualified candidates should be accomplished fiction writers with several published books.”
  • “The English Department of Butler University in Indianapolis seeks to fill a full-time, tenure-track position in Creative Writing at the rank of Assistant Professor, beginning in Fall 2012. Primary qualifications in prose (fiction and/or nonfiction), with secondary qualifications desirable in one or more of the following: screenwriting, genre fiction, game design and narrative, digital literature and/or publishing, science/health/environmental writing for the public, graphic novel.”
  • Pittsburg State University (Kansas) seeks an Assistant Professor of English. “To teach four courses/semester: fiction writing, craft of fiction, introduction to creative writing, literature, and composition.”
  • West Chester University (Penn.) is advertising for a tenure-track assistant professor (creative writing-fiction). “There is a four course teaching responsibility per semester, with two courses per semester in general education writing.”
  • Princeton University (N.J.) seeks “potential” part-time lecturers in fiction, poetry, screenwriting, and literary translation.
  • Griffith University (Australia) is looking for a Lecturer, Creative Writing and Literary Studies (poetry specialist).
  • “The Department of English at Sam Houston State University [Texas] invites applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of associate or assistant professor with a primary emphasis in creative writing poetry. A secondary emphasis in creative nonfiction is preferred. An MFA is required.”
  • From Francis Marion University (S.C.): “The Department of English, Modern Languages, and Philosophy is accepting applications for a tenure-track position of Assistant Professor.” What they’re looking for: “Writing specialist with interest in creative non-fiction and business/professional writing. Experience teaching first-year writing required.”
  • “The Department of English at the University of Massachusetts Lowell seeks an energetic and collaborative colleague for a full-time, tenure-track Assistant or Associate Professorship in Creative Writing–Non-Fiction.”

    • Thursday’s Work-in-Progress

    by Erika Dreifus on
    4

    Good news on a few fronts. Mainly, I’m cautiously pleased with the status of the commissioned short story that I’ve been working on. And I’ve completed a draft of my next article assignment for The Writer magazine. Two big items on my to-do list, nearly ready to check off.

    I’ve also started preparing my presentation for a November 13 appearance with the Jewish Historical Society of New York, and I’m steeling myself to plunge into the one I need to write for a visit to my home congregation in New Jersey on November 18–it will be a friendly crowd there, but a big one! And I’ve set myself an ambitious topic: “Why Is This Jewish-American Writer Different from (Some) Other Jewish-American Writers?” (Fortunately, I was greeted with so many “I loved your book!” comments when I was at the temple for Rosh Hashanah that my confidence is up. Plus, my mom’s friends have committed themselves to a home-baked cookie brigade for an extra-special Oneg Shabbat that evening!)

    But it’s not all sunshine and roses. Several more rejections have (already) come my way this week, including my second rejection from a “top-tier” residency program. I know–such is life, and such is a writer’s life, in particular.

    In other news, assuming that my doctor gives her okay when I see her today, I’ll be returning to my “day job” next week. I have been incredibly lucky with my recovery from last month’s surgery, and, as I’ve been reminded as the bills have begun coming in, incredibly lucky to have a job with pretty excellent insurance benefits. (I am also incredibly lucky to have amazing colleagues and coworkers who have not only showered me with get-well wishes and gifts, but also have pitched in to take over my responsibilities during my medical leave.)

    I am looking forward to getting back to my “away from home” office. Still, I know that I will also be returning to that eternal challenge of sustaining and nurturing a writing practice with so much of my time and energy going elsewhere (as I know many of you understand quite well!). Wish me luck!