Monday Morning Markets/Jobs/Opportunities for Writers

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled
  • From The Puritan (Canada): “Hurry up! The deadline for the fall issue is Oct. 1, 2011. In typical fashion, we plan to release our next issue at the end of the season it claims to represent. So, we’re opening our pod-bay doors to submissions of fiction, poetry, reviews, recipes, and interviews. Check out our submission guidelines for more information.” Pays: $20-$50 (presumably in Canadian dollars). (via placesforwriters.com)
  • “Graduate and undergraduate students, studying at American colleges and universities, or Americans studying abroad, who aspire to become foreign correspondents, are invited to apply for one of fourteen scholarships or internships to be awarded by the Overseas Press Club Foundation. Winning an OPC Foundation scholarship or internship is more than a cash award. Winners are invited to join the Overseas Press Club family. They are encouraged to network and keep the organization apprised of their career moves. The Foundation pays travel and living expenses for interns in foreign bureaus at such leading news organization as the Associated Press and Reuters, among others, and at foreign English-language media companies like the South China Morning Post and Cambodia Daily. In many cases, winning a prestigious OPC Foundation award has helped launch careers.” Application deadline is December 1, 2011. No application fee indicated.
  • Interested in a post-MFA fellowship? Check out this updated list of opportunities.
  • Practicing Writing is pleased to have a significant U.K. readership, and this opportunity is just for them: “With a title of Beautiful Britain, our family travel writing competition aims to celebrate all that’s great about family adventures in our stunning land. That might include breathtaking adventures in the Lakes, laughing til your sides ache at a family-friendly Edinburgh festival, savouring the splendour of the West Wales coastline, a Devon cream tea or a knees up at a holiday park…or of course plenty more. Wherever you love to find quality family time in Britain – we want to hear about it. We’re looking for entries about family holidays, breaks, days out or adventures.” No entry fee for first submission. Prizes: “There’s a cash prize [£200] for the winning entry, to be chosen by our two judges, family passes courtesy of English Heritage for our winner and runners-up, plus a fabulous weekend in York for up to two adults and two children for our second prize winner.” Deadline: October 1, 2011. (via the Writing-world.com newsletter)
  • From St. Lawrence University (N.Y.): “Fiction or creative non-fiction writers with significant publications and teaching experience are invited to apply for the position of Viebranz Visiting Professor of Creative Writing for the academic year 2012-2013. Publications and teaching experience in a second genre would be preferable. The individual hired will teach two genre-specific courses each semester, at the beginning and advanced level, and be an active participant in the English Department. Departmental activities will include giving a reading as part of the St. Lawrence University Writers Series; serving as a reader on a senior honors thesis, and possibly directing a senior independent project; and leading occasional workshops for senior writing majors, or giving a craft talk on writing. Evidence will be sought of a proven record of innovative pedagogy in creative writing and an enthusiasm for teaching.”
  • From Bowling Green State University (Ohio): “The Creative Writing Program at Bowling Green State University seeks a poet as the College of Arts & Sciences Distinguished Visiting Writer. The successful candidate will be in residence spring 2013; teach one workshop in our BFA program and one workshop in our MFA program; give a public reading and a lecture; and advise theses. “
  • The University of Richmond (Va.) seeks an Alumni Magazine Writer/Editor (there’s a position available for an Editor, too); Northeastern University (Boston) is looking for a Managing Editor; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) is advertising for a Senior Press Officer.

Thursday’s Post-Publication Post: September, My Grandmas, and Me

by Erika Dreifus on
15

PRACTICING WRITING IS GOING ON A BRIEF HIATUS. DETAILS LATER IN THIS POST.

As most of you know by now, my debut short-story collection, Quiet Americans, is inspired largely by the histories and experiences of my paternal grandparents, German Jews who immigrated to the United States in the late 1930s. In real life, as in the subset of linked stories within the book, these two met and married in New York, raised a son, and eventually became loving and involved grandparents to two little girls.

All four of my grandparents are often on my mind and always in my heart. Throughout the process of writing, publishing, and promoting Quiet Americans I have been thinking, quite obviously, particularly of my father’s parents, Ruth and Sam Dreifus. But in the past several weeks, I’ve been thinking of them—and my maternal grandparents, especially my Grandma Rose—even more often and intensely.

Part of that is because August is a big family month for us. Among our celebrations are the birthdays of both of my sister’s children, who are named for my father’s parents. All of us in my family are keenly aware of how much joy it would have brought my grandparents to have had the chance to meet these children.

Then, a couple of weekends ago, all nine of my maternal grandparents’ great-grandchildren were together in New Jersey. My maternal grandparents didn’t have the happiest of marriages, so seeing this very tangible, positive result of it is always a little bittersweet but also, somehow, uplifting.

Every August also brings my parents’ wedding anniversary (a milestone this year!). And, as usual, my parents have been reminiscing about their wedding and everyone who was there. On this, I’ll just add that one of the things that makes my parents’ marriage so noteworthy (at least, in my observations), is the degree to which my mom and dad were each welcomed into their “in-law” family. Now that I’m older and wiser, I am deeply grateful for how well everyone got along, and how much all of that warmth enriched my own childhood and growing-up.

Now that it’s September, I have even more reason to be thinking of my grandparents, especially my two grandmothers.

(more…)

The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled
  • This was my latest #StorySunday contribution, but if you didn’t catch it then, read it now: “8:46,” a 9/11 story by Philip Graham.
  • On a related note: D.G. Myers has posted an extensive annotated list of 9/11 novels.
  • Fabulous piece by poet Philip Schultz in Sunday’s New York Times: “Words Failed Me, Then Saved Me.” If you’re a writer who has struggled with a learning disability, or you’ve ever loved anyone who has battled a learning disability, you simply must read this.
  • Smart suggestions from Midge Raymond on “Facebook for Authors.”
  • Monday marked not only Labor Day, but also the 39th anniversary of the terrorist attack on Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. Read my thoughts–and an excerpt from my story, “Homecomings,” on my “other” blog, My Machberet.
  • I always enjoy David Abrams’s “Front Porch” posts and David’s take on upcoming books. Here’s the latest one.
  • Gorgeous blog post from Susan Woodring (“The Habitual Writer”) on “When the Copyedits Arrive.”
  • The latest issue of The Short Review has gone live. This month I’m even more enthusiastic about it than usual. Guess why.

    • Quotation of the Week: Barbara Kingsolver

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    For a story to make the cut I asked a lot from it – asked of it, in fact, what I ask of myself when I sit down to write, and that is to get straight down to it and carve something hugely important into a small enough amulet to fit inside a reader’s most sacred psychic pocket. I don’t care what it’s about, as long as it’s not trivial. I once heard a writer declare from a lectern: “I write about the mysteries of the human heart, which is the only thing a fiction writer has any business addressing.” And I thought to myself, Excuse me? I had recently begun thinking of myself as a fiction writer and was laboring under the illusion that I could address any mystery that piqued me, including but not limited to the human heart, human risk factors, human rights….The business of fiction is to probe the tender spots of an imperfect world, which is where I live, write and read.

    –Barbara Kingsolver

    Source: Kingsolver’s introduction to Best American Short Stories 2001, ed. Katrina Kenison, Barbara Kingsolver (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001), pp. xvii-xix.

    Monday Morning Markets/Jobs/Opportunities for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
  • From Witness: “The 2011-12 Witness submission season, which runs September 1 to December 1 for general work and January 1 to April 1 for thematic work, has begun. Writers interested in submitting work to Witness can learn more about the process here.” Note that the thematic issue will focus on “Redemption.” Pays: “Witness pays $25 for every 1,500 words of prose and $25 per poem, for both print and online work.”
  • From Max Perry Mueller, Associate Editor, Religion & Politics: “Recruiting emerging and established scholars and journalists of religion to write magazine-length stories on religion and politics as well as book reviews for new, online weekly journal (university center based) set to launch in early Winter, 2012. Authors work with editors on story planning and editing. Authors are compensated per article/review.” See the announcement on H-Net.org.
  • “The New York Mills Regional Cultural Center Arts Retreat program is now accepting new applications for artists’ retreats. The application deadline is October 1, for retreats from January-June, 2012….Artists from all performance or visual media will be considered for a retreat. The selection committee awards retreats to artists based on merit and plan of work during the retreat period. The retreat program provides stays of two to six weeks for artists at no cost for room. Each artist provides her or his own transportation and board. There is no stipend.” No application fee.
  • Towson University (Baltimore) is looking for a tenure-track Assistant Professor (Poetry): “Candidates must possess a demonstrated commitment to teaching and evidence of a promising research or creative agenda, manifested by at least one book or significant other publication. Three-course load each semester for initial three-year appointment; load afterwards determined by balance of responsibilities. M.F.A. or Ph.D. in appropriate discipline must be conferred by time of appointment.”
  • “The Department of English at Coastal Carolina University [S.C.] invites applications for a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor of English to join our growing creative writing program. The department seeks an experienced instructor with a creative writing background to teach courses in his or her specialty (poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction), introductory creative writing, first-year composition, and graduate-level classes in the M.A. in Writing program. The new hire will also have the opportunity to work on Waccamaw, the department’s award-winning literary journal.”
  • The University of Wisconsin-River Falls seeks an “Assistant Professor in Creative Writing, beginning August 2012, to teach in the Department of English, which has an English-Creative Writing Emphasis major with more than 80 majors and minors in the program. We are looking for an accomplished writer with a strong commitment to undergraduate teaching, publications in one creative writing genre-preferably fiction-and the ability to teach in at least one other genre. Further teaching responsibilities include teaching composition and literature courses and designing writing, cultural, or humanities courses to fit specific goals in the General Education program. Second field is open, dependent upon the applicant’s areas of expertise.”
  • Siena College (N.Y.) is advertising for an assistant professorship (fiction/nonfiction writing): “The Department of English at Siena College seeks applicants for a tenure track position in Fiction/Nonfiction Writing, beginning September 2012. MFA, Ph.D. or terminal degree required. Expertise in composition and literature preferred, as is previous teaching experience. Course responsibilities will include Writing Short Fiction, Introduction to Writing, Advanced Writing, Literary Perspectives, and other writing and literature courses. Teaching load is 3 classes per semester with the expectation of creative or scholarly activity.
  • Bradley University (Ill.) seeks an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing-Fiction: “Candidates must have M.F.A. or Ph.D. in Creative Writing – Fiction in hand by August 15, 2012. Experience teaching college-level fiction workshop is required as is experience teaching college-level composition. The ideal candidate would also possess college-level teaching experience in Creative Nonfiction. In addition, candidates must demonstrate ability to teach general education literature courses within the Department’s standard 3-course load. Significant journal publication of fiction is required. Fiction book publication is preferred. Creative nonfiction publication is also preferred. Candidates must be legally eligible to work in the United States.”
  • Columbia College (Mo.) “seeks candidates for a full-time, tenure-track Assistant/Associate faculty position in English beginning in the Fall of 2012. The successful candidate will have a strong background in both English literature and creative writing. While we seek a generalist, the department is already well-served in Medieval and Renaissance as well as Creative Non-Fiction. Qualified candidates will have an earned Doctorate in English in hand at time of appointment. Experience teaching English composition literature and creative writing. Typical teaching load is 12 hours per semester with at least half in Freshmen level composition.”
  • The Massachusetts Institute of Technology seeks a Communications Officer, the American Dental Association (Chicago) is looking for a Senior Editor, and the Nature Conservancy (Arlington, Va.) invites applications for a Writer/Editor position.
  • Don’t forget that the September Practicing Writer newsletter was published last week. Lots of paying calls for submission and no-cost competitions listed there. Enjoy!