The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

  • 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.)
  • The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

  • Mentioned this already on My Machberet, but it’s worth re-presenting: Last week, Cynthia Ozick was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Jewish Book Council. Read Ozick’s reflections “on what it is to write as a Jew in America” here.
  • Virtual Book Tours 101, a guest post for Grub Street Daily, provides basics and background.
  • Nina Badzin adds a new post to her Twitter Tips series.
  • Former Alaskan David Abrams pays tribute to one of the state’s favorite sons, poet John Haines, who passed away earlier this month.
  • Since I have always found endings to be among the most challenging aspects of short-story writing, I really appreciated this post on the subject from Robin Black (for Beyond the Margins).
  • Speaking of short stories: Fiction Writers Review is launching a “Journal of the Week” giveaway feature, and the inaugural offerings are three free subscriptions from One Story.
  • Looking for some guest-blogging opportunities (and not concerned about getting paid)? Check out this call (for poet-bloggers) from Chloé Yelena Miller, and this one from First Person Plural, the blog of The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Md.
  • In the unlikely case that you haven’t heard yet about Téa Obreht and her debut novel, The Tiger’s Wife, this New York Times profile will clue you in. (I haven’t read the novel yet, but I did love this Obreht story in The Atlantic.)
  • The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

  • Having championed the work of Henry James in the past (including among some unreceptive MFA classmates), I was intrigued by Jay Parini’s take on James’s “afterlife.”
  • From The Missouri Review‘s Evelyn Somers Rogers: some thoughts on why some manuscripts get rejected.
  • Diane Lockward presents poet Jehanne Dubrow’s collection, Stateside, which I’ve been meaning to read for quite awhile. Must. Get. To. It.
  • The ever-reliable Midge Raymond offers up another provocative writing prompt.
  • To celebrate the success of her Dollars & Deadlines blog, freelancing expert Kelly James-Enger is offering a special giveaway.
  • And speaking of freelancing, over on Beyond the Margins Necee Regis shares tips to help freelancers stay sane.
  • Monday Morning Markets/Jobs/Opportunities for Writers

  • First things first. Our March Practicing Writer newsletter is now available (went out to subscribers over the weekend). You’ll find numerous no-cost competitions and paying calls in it. Go take a look, if you haven’t already seen it.
  • Susan Bernofsky’s Translationista blog alerts us to fellowships to help beginning translators attend the annual conference of the American Literary Translators Association. No application fee indicated. Deadline: May 15, 2011.
  • Mark your calendars: Gulf Coast Writers Association (GCWA) will receive submissions for its next print anthology of short fiction and poetry between June 1, 2011, and September 1, 2011. “Stories must be set in Mississippi and clearly capture a Southern tone.” Will consider previously published work. Pays: “GCWA will pay $25.00 and one copy OR five free copies to contributors whose work is selected for one-time publication rights.”
  • The TEAK Fellowship (N.Y.) is looking for a Summer Institute Humanities Teacher. “The curriculum seeks to improve the students’ writing and critical reading skills, and build a strong foundation for high school Humanities courses in rigorous academic environments. A syllabus has been created based on the theme of ‘American Voices’ however there is flexibility to make some modifications.”
  • “The Department of English and Writing in the College of Arts and Letters at The University of Tampa seeks a creative, innovative individual with significant professional accomplishment to serve as the founding Director of a new low-residency MFA in Creative Writing. This is a 12-month administrative position with teaching responsibilities, to begin June 1, 2011.”
  • “Lander University, a public comprehensive university in the upstate region of South Carolina, seeks a qualified candidate for a tenure track, Assistant Professor in English….The successful candidate will have a terminal degree (MFA or PhD or equivalent) with a concentration in creative writing, and outstanding promise as a writer and teacher. Duties will include teaching composition, all levels of creative writing, as well as teaching other writing and composition classes.”
  • The University of Maryland seeks a Speechwriter/Communications Specialist, the University of New Mexico is looking for a Technical Writer, and the National League of Cities (D.C.) plans to hire a Writer/Editor.
  • And last, but definitely not least: You can still win a free copy of my short-story collection, Quiet Americans. One last giveaway (for now, at least) over on the Guide to Literary Agents blog.
  • Notes from Around the Web: Literary Links for Shabbat

    Some goodies for you:

  • The Jewish Week‘s Spring Arts Preview lets us know about new books from Melissa Fay Greene, David Bezmozgis, and many others.
  • Just what is a “Jewish book,” anyway?
  • How did it take me this long to learn that Jeffrey Goldberg is on Twitter?
  • Natasha Solomons, author of Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English, describes an especially meaningful book-group visit.
  • Excellent, insightful review of David Grossman’s To the End of the Land (trans. Jessica Cohen) by the Boston Bibliophile.
  • As the winter blog tour for my new story collection, Quiet Americans, nears its end, time’s running out to enter our Goodreads & Facebook giveaways! Hurry up and enter, and maybe you’ll be one of the lucky winners to receive a copy!
  • And speaking of Quiet Americans, todah rabah to Elissa Strauss for including it in her latest new-books column on The Forward’s Sisterhood blog.
  • Shabbat shalom!