Reviewing the Review

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Bloggers (and others) are abuzz about Sunday’s article, “The Book Review: Who Critiques Whom–and Why?”, written by New York Times Public Editor, Byron Calame. In this piece Calame unveils something many of us find mysterious: the book-review process at his own paper. Calame explains that his own inquiry was prompted by the NYTBR‘s recent list of “100 Notable Books of the Year.” After the list was published earlier this month, he says, “calculations from several readers and bloggers soon turned up in my in-box. Of the 61 nonfiction books on the list, they noted, six were by Times staffers–enough to pique my interest in the overall book-review process at the paper.” It should be enough to pique your interest, too.

Current No-Cost Contests

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Two no-cost contests to report–both with deadlines early in the new year.

First, if you’ve read Bruce Holland Rogers’s article on fixed forms for prose writers in the January 2006 Writer magazine you may already know about the Fixed-form challenge, a 69-word story contest. Rogers will judge the top 20 stories. The winner received $50 and a free subcription to The Writer; two runners-up will receive subscriptions; winning stories will be posted on the magazine’s website. Deadline: January 2.

Then, the current Maisonneuve Literary Contest is up and running, with a January 3 deadline. The editors are apparently looking ahead to springtime: “It’s time to defrost! Along with pollen and the smell of wet grass, that little thing called love is in the air. We want to celebrate spring, so we’re calling for stories of young love–ironic, unrequited, dejected or entirely genuine.” You should send “8-800 brilliant words of poetry or prose.” Submit one prose piece OR two poems. First prize includes $100 and publication in the print magazine. Second- and third-prize winners will receive a year’s subscription and their work will appear on maisonneuve.org. Note that “all other entries may be published online.”

Good luck!

Words and Pictures magazine seeks submissions

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Words and Pictures magazine, a publication “devoted to written and visual expression, and the inevitable commentary that springs from living in the global societies of the 21st century,” seeks submissions for its Spring 2006 print issue.

Send your work (preferably by e-mail) by January 1, 2006.

Pay rates (on publication): $20 per poem; “up to $50” per prose piece; up to $50 per image.

Full guidelines available here.