Hi dear darlings. I don’t typically send messages on Sundays (and try to avoid email altogether on the weekends). But. There’s a lot going on this month, the events are fast approaching, and I wanted to be sure to give you all enough time to save these dates, spray them on your office wall, turn them into magnets to stick to your fridge, wallpaper every room in your home with them, etc. etc.
So without further ado, happy May, happy Cinco de Mayo, happy reading, happy writing, and here’s what’s going on…
Thursday, May 9th at 11:30 am est: Q & A with Christy Tending, Nonfiction Editor of Sundog Lit
Sundog Lit is committed to publishing pieces that engage with tension, introspection, empathy, considered positionality, thoughtful form play, emotional courage, and musicality.
Sundog Lit is equally committed to uplifting voices from all corners in hopes of breaking down ideas of who is widely read and rebelling against normative power structures that stifle expression.
We are honored to be a platform for artists to showcase their life-giving work, and we care deeply about participating in a loving, ethical, and intersectional literary community.
This interview was postponed. New date coming soon.
Tuesday, May 14th at 1:30 pm est: Lit Mag Chat with Becky
Got a question, need some clarification, want a place to blow off steam, want to meet fellow writers, looking for lit mag recommendations and resources, don’t know what to make of your latest rejection letter, not sure what goes into a cover letter, wondering who you, what’s happening, and what it all means?
Well. I’m not sure I can answer all those questions, but I can certainly answer most. And we will do our best to support one another, while trading silliness and gossip engaging in serious discussions of literary magazines.
Seriously, these are so fun. Come on out.
Lit Mag Chats are not recorded. They are available to all paying subscribers of Lit Mag News. You can sign up today just by clicking that red button.
Registration link will be sent in a separate email.
Tuesday, May 21st at 2:30 pm est: Lit Mag Study Hall with Becky
Meaning to submit your work but need a bit of extra encouragement? Do you keep neglecting to carve out the time to research magazines? Need ideas for where to send your experimental hermit crab buttercup techno-dystopia haibun? We’ve got you covered.
This one-hour session will be a focused time for writers to work independently researching markets, formatting their work, and once and for all sending that work off to magazines. Warning: Participants will be showered with cheers and animal emojis.
Study Halls are not recorded. They are available to all paying subscribers of Lit Mag News. You can sign up today just by clicking that red button.
Registration link will be sent in a separate email.
Wednesday, May 22nd at 2:00 pm est: Lit Mag Reading Club discussion of Zoetrope
This month’s featured lit mag Is Zoetrope! I’ve just gotten mine in the mail and I’m eager to dive in. We will be reading the summer 2023 issue, which looks like this:
If you would like to participate, there is still plenty of time to grab your discounted copy of the issue.
In this conversation we will talk about what we loved, what surprised us, what confused us, what inspired us, and more.
These conversations are not recorded. Anyone can join the Lit Mag Reading Club anytime by signing up for a paid subscription to LMN.
Registration link will be sent soon.
Thursday, May 23rd at 1:30 pm est: Lit Mag Reading Club Q & A with Michael Ray, Editor of Zoetrope
Founded by Francis Ford Coppola in 1997, Zoetrope: All-Story is a quarterly print magazine of short fiction, one-act plays, and essays on film. Among the most celebrated literary periodicals in the world, it has won every major story award, including four National Magazine Awards for Fiction, along with a number of design commendations. The magazine’s contributors comprise the most promising and significant writers of our era: Mary Gaitskill, Colum McCann, Rachel Cusk, Jim Shepard, Elena Ferrante, Daniel Alarcón, Karen Russell, Yiyun Li, Jonathan Lethem, Wes Anderson, Elizabeth McCracken, David Mamet, Ha Jin, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Margaret Atwood, Pedro Almodóvar, Ethan Coen, Yoko Ogawa, Charles D’Ambrosio, Neil Jordan, Haruki Murakami, and many more.
In this conversation we will learn all about this magazine, and also get to ask Michael about the particular editorial choices of the issue we are reading.
This interview will be recorded and made available for paying subscribers only.
Registration link coming.
See you soon!
I soooo enjoy what I've been able to attend and/or participate thus far. It's fun, educational and big-time community.
I find it fairly nauseating that among your list of eminent writers you do not have a single African American writer when for the last twenty years African American writers, led by the Cave CSSanem organization, have led a revolution in American literature, especially in the field of poetry, and including all the awards we all value so hardly, ie Pulitzer Prizes won by Tyehimba Jess for his pioneering long poem OLIO, Natasha Tretheway(and US Poeet Laureate, Greg Pardo. Tracy K. Smith ( who has also served as US Poet Laureate, John Keene( for Punks), Colson Whitehead ( forUnderground Railroad) and let's not forget Jessmyn Ward, the only writer in the history of American literature to win the National Book Award TWICE.
One more aspect of the entrenched an calcified bedrock oblivion of too many Americans robbed by elit snobby critics and too many upper class biggot teachers in MFA programs and elite American colleges and those who whine about "identiity politics' when for over three centuries white identiy politics have ruled the intellectual life of the United States to the cultural deprivation of its citizens , cutting us off from titanic oceans of wonder and orginality